#15

interesting - it uses the same SOM board/processor as er-301. which means it also has i2c pins. not sure how likely it would be for rossum to support i2c in the future, but thought it’s interesting that it’s theoretically possible.

4 Likes
#16

Has yours arrived? Would love to hear your impressions of it

#17

yep, received mine, only had just enought time to rearrange my cases this weekend - can’t wait to try it, will report back once i spend some time with it.

1 Like
#18

how’s the assimil8or @scanner_darkly? I’m on the verge of pulling the trigger

#19

disclaimer: still learning mine and only using it in a very basic capacity right now (as a one shot sample player), so take what follows with a grain of salt.

things i like:

  • having such a straight forward layout helps a lot. which is somewhat negated by…

  • you can assign any CV inputs to any sample slots, which means you’re not limited to 3 modulation CVs per sample (you could have all 24 CVs assigned to one sample, assuming there are enough parameters to modulate…). this also allows controlling some parameters globally (and you can control attenuation per each sample slot), or you could mix&match - really nice.

  • having 2 encoders, one for coarse and one for fine adjustment is great, makes for a very quick workflow

  • when you switch between sample slots it stays on the same parameter - super useful as you can quickly adjust, say, pan position for all 8 sample slots.

things i don’t like:

  • the screen is a little busy, but this will likely improve as i get used to it

  • the folder structure / no sample preview. you can only use samples located in the current folder. when combined with no sample preview it means that you can’t organize your folders by types (kicks, hats etc) - well, you can, but if you have 100 kick samples and you just want to try different ones you have to: open the kick folder, import a sample, load it, audition, if you don’t like it you have to delete it (since you also don’t want a bunch of unused samples sitting in your folder as it doesn’t allow nesting). repeat until you find the one you like. with the samples already loaded in your folder you can just assign them and audition them that way, but for other folders it’s not a usable workflow.

  • importing from a different folder - when you open a list of folders you need to double press the load button to open a folder. if you at this point press on the encoder instead it will load that folder overwriting any unsaved changes in the process (what’s strange is that it asks you to confirm importing a sample - which is a much less destructive operation). this makes importing workflow even less usable as it’s very easy to accidentally overwrite your changes.

things i wish it had:

  • sample preview

  • envelope followers for each slot and the ability to set individual outputs to output those envelopes instead - this would be great for cross modulating samples (like doing a side chain compression, for instance)

1 Like
#20

I’m on the fence myself. Just got paid for a buncha sound design stuff—definitely getting one of the next batch of ER-301s—havent had a chance to see what makes the assimil8or so unique aside from the generous amount of outputs and the phase modulation—which is a moot point, as I’m in the process of designing kyma patches to work with CV so i don’t really need another way to “elasticize” pitch and time…

I messed with the Morpheus over at patchwerks in seattle here, and I love the sound—but the dealbreaker for me was that it seems every “cube” resets any gain or attenuation you’ve edited on the presets back to whatever it was saved as… and the knobs are too close—not very playable :frowning:

i guess i’m worried that the assimil8or is gonna have that “one thing” that puts me off from actually loving it.

#21

New update out today. Fixes a lot of issues:

The latest version of Assimil8or software is 1.10_181001 (released October 2, 2018 ).

Here’s what’s new:

Functions

– File lists (files in folder file browser, sample lists, and folder lists) now display in alphabetical order.

– The sample inputs can now be monitored in the Mix outputs. Set this function on the Pan/Mix screen. The left and right inputs may be set individually. Choices are:

Off : The input will not appear in the mix output.

On : The input will always appear in the mix output.

Auto : The input will appear in the mix output when sample arming is “armed” or “HOT” and will not appear in the mix output when sample arming is “unarmed” or “Safe.”

These settings are saved as part of Sampling Setup.

– Channel Solo/Mute . Channels may be individually soloed or muted. This can be accomplished in two different ways:

  1. On the Pan/Mix screen, cursor to the desired channel and select “ – “ (normal), Solo (S), or Mute (m).

  2. At any time, press and hold the Pan/Mix button and press a channel button to solo that channel. Hold the Pan/Mix button and press the channel button again to return it to normal mode.

At any time, press and hold the Mutate button and press a channel button to mute that channel (Mutate, Mute, get it?). Hold the Mutate button and press the channel button again to return it to normal mode.

Solo and Mute settings are persistent across new preset selections and new folder loading.

Solo/Mute Indication – The channel number of any channel that is muted (either because it has been directly muted or because one or more other channels are soloed) is displayed in gray on the Loaded Channel Map and Selected Channel Map.

Solo/Mute Reset – Pressing Mutate + Pan/Mix together clears all solos/mutes.

Help Text – There is scrolling help text (with timeout) describing the hidden key presses, when any solo/mute parameter on the Pan/Mix page is highlighted.

Bug fixes

– Fixed a problem that could cause a display lockup during Channel Copy.

– Fixed a stereo sampling bug where the left side of a stereo pair (Master channel) was not correctly initialized as part of the pair immediately after sampling, resulting in the right side not triggering when the left side was triggered.

– Fixed a bug that resulted in improper levels of newly formed stereo pairs when editing a channel’s Mode.

– Fixed a problem where a preset set to Auto-Trigger would start before all of the preset’s samples were loaded. New behavior: presets with multiple samples wait until all samples are loaded, then Auto-Trigger.

– Fixed a problem where sample length would be shown as “0″ on Sample Info dialogs (Channels and Zones pages) for unloaded samples. The dialogs now display the correct length for unloaded samples.

2 Likes
#23

I’m using it for drums and percussion, sometimes drones, and usually a bass and melodic part. It’s responsible for about half of the sound generation in my 6u setup.

I sequence it with a nerdseq and find them to be a great combo.

1 Like
#25

I used to use 4x Pico Drums for percussion and load them up with my own samples. The Assimil8or was a great way for me to continue this idea but with greater capacity for space and more paramaters to modulate, not to mention the obvious one of sampling your own system on the fly…

I often use it to record jams or other synth noodles if I haven’t turned on my computer which often become sample sources for other stuff.

I have started using it as a utility also, recording in various noise sources and my own LFOs, which is great cos I had to move my modcan quad lfo out to make room for the Assimil8or.

1 Like
#26

That album is all euro->mixer->stereo out->Zoom H2, with a little Ozone on the stereo file. It was also all recorded before I got the A8, fwiw. Basically one patch per song.

Lately with the A8/Nerdseq combo I’m keeping the patch more static while relying on sequences and sample presets for bigger structural changes. It’s a little less freeform this way, but it’s been great to recall projects so easily.

#27

At least the envelope follower thingy you can set up in a way:
Channel 1 with Audio-Sample (e.g. Kickdrum)
Channel 2 with CV-Sample (e.g. Envelope)

Now you just Link Channel 1 & 2, mute Channel 2 on the Stereo-Output (assuming you use that)
and patch the individual Output from Channel 2 to a destination of your choice ( e.g. 1a)

I used this technique to create drums from basic waveform or noise. Setting the Pitch and Amplification to be controlled by said envelope, maybe some FM or PM.
Also you can set up the zones on channel 2 to use switch thru different Envelopes, LFO-Shapes or even Audio-Rate things.

Pretty obvious but nonetheless useful.

#28

I’ve had mine a couple weeks now. Lots of fun to be had with samples of the same length placed in zones with continuous mode enabled then crossfading between channels.

1 Like
#29

I wanted to bump this thread a bit to ask if some of you are using the Assimil8or for non-percussive sounds? I am mainly interested in treating the channels as OSCs by looping some drones or to record sounds from the rest of the system on the fly to mangle them.

How immediate is the sampling and loading/finding sounds on the SD card?

And bonus question for ER-301 users: Do you favor one module over the other when it comes to just sampler purposes?

#30

I use mine to do this, not primarily as a drum machine.
I record samples within the system and from external sources, such as a Waldorf XT for weird pads/drones. The module is awesome for this because it has great dynamic range and conversion and has a lot of built in relatively low noise gain.

The latest update makes stereo operation easier too.

1 Like
#31

Very cool, thank you! Something I use a lot with samples are filters. Often to just cut out some low end. Is it easy to e.g. set up a sound, resample it through an external filter and then replace that sound with the new version?

#32

Yes, it’s easy to bounce stuff, resample, and change sample channel destination.

I’m not sure if there is a bounce and replace option like a DAW, though. I don’t think so, but I never looked for it.

1 Like
#33

That’s good news. Thank you!

1 Like
#34

Of course. I can’t praise the sound quality enough. In terms of high depth capture and playback, it sounds as good as my Apogee Symphony and notably better than Elektron devices.

5 Likes
#35

Hey, I can’t get my assimil8or to load my samples.

I tried exporting 24 bit PCM signed wav files from audacity to the SD card.

I am on Windows 10 and can’t find any program with specific mention of integer wav format. I found info in my searches equating PCM with Integer format, but that is all.

Has anyone had this problem? Maybe I am missing something simple. My custom folder is visible but upon loading all slots are empty.

I’m excited to get this problem fixed so I can actually try this module.

#36

are your samples in folders (not nested) at the root level of the SD card?

for exporting, if not satisfied with audacity for whatever reason, you could consider reaper.