#53

from what i’ve gathered, the mpc is much more versatile but SP’s simplicity means less menu/touchscreen time.
biggest drawback to the SP (at least for me) is that all tracks share the same pattern length. for async stuff one could just skip the sequencer, i suppose.

#54

Oh, that is a bummer!

That is one thing that I like about the octatrack. all kinds of async pattern possibilities and all that.

#55

i don’t have one, but a friend of mine uses it exclusively live and loves it. super flexible and immediate, good for jamming.

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#56

@WhiteNoise
Maybe take a look at the Elektron Model:Samples… it certainly has more time limitations than the sp404 but it is infinitely more fun and capable from a performance perspective, IMO.
Based on your desired features, I’d say it’s a choice between those two.
Sp takes the win if you don’t care about the m:s sequencer, which is incredibly fun and deep.

Pretty much every other hardware sampler/sample player I have any knowledge about has been mentioned already, but I’ll toss out the odd ducks that I personally enjoy anyway.

Mpc 500. The only Mpc I’ve ever felt comfortable leaving the studio with. Maybe worth considering though there’s no live effects or performance features outside of playing your pads really well and have some creative pre planned thing happening in your songs/samples.

Akai mpx - again, no effects or performance anything. Just a sample player.

Korg microsampler - sample time per bank is limited, but I love mine to death. Not suggesting this one at all but it is a sampler so it’s getting mention.

Polyend tracker - literally modeled after a computer workflow so probably not desirable for you either, also the same price as Mpc One, though the performance tools it has are top notch and it’s being updated almost daily.

#57

You can have long samples on Microgranny. It’s monophonic and you get 6 per “preset” but flipping between presets is pretty quick, moreso if you keep your samples trimmed to the parts you need.

I run two microgrannies chained together with a little connector doohicky to save a midi cable. This setup is kind of crazy powerful between preset flipping and flopping back and forth between the two.

And nothing mangles quite like Microgranny, such a fantastic noise. Also you can run samples at a higher sample rate if you load them. People favor the crushed sound on Microgranny but it has a pleasant (though def not “pristine”) higher resolution sound as well. This is handy if you like to switch up sample rates within a piece for additional texture.

You could get 7 microgrannies for the price of an octatrack. Obvs different sound world you’d be making though hahah.

(Now I’m strongly resisting the urge to empty my bank account an order five more microgrannies.)

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#59

This is what I wanted to hear. I am planning to get a microgranny and an eventide space to run it through 4 xmas :slight_smile:

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#60

Depending on your creative practice, the monophonic nature of it might feel like a limitation–only one sound at a time will come out of the Microgranny. In my setup, with two, that allows for one to run percussion and another to run longer chord/melody/texture/field recordings etc. So there can be an overlap of sound. Or flop back and forth between them (a few percussives and a few “melodics” on each microgranny). You’d mentioned you run stems so if you want them to start/end and overlap each other, you might find it a better fit with two MGs. Twice as $ though haha.

Also, MG takes a filter beautifully too. If you have any spare guitar pedal wah or something that will do. Or euro or whatever really.

#61

I have a live 2 and would be happy to answer any questions you may have. Ive had it for a couple of months now and im quite enjoying it.

#62

I love my mpc 1000 but I’ve realized I haven’t touched it in years. I’ve come to realize that sample chopping and preparation and song making, for me anyway, are two separate tasks.

With that said, does anyone have any recommendations for portable “on the couch” sample preparation? I’ve tried to look for iOS apps but can’t find ones that sample directly from the music library. Any other extremely portable (always with you) devices?

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#63

I’d be interested to see what other people say regarding this. The OP-1 is an expensive but effective solution. I wish I jived with it more, because the portability factor is second to none. Right now I have a battery pack for my Octatrack which is fine for working in my non-normal location, but I wouldn’t call the setup “extremely portable”. Not like the OP-1 anyway.

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#64

On iOS - if you have an ipad - I quite like the slicing/sample prep UI of Beatmaker 3. It hasn’t been updated in a while, and some say it’s getting unstable - but it’s working fine for me. I imagine the instability comes from loading up a bunch of AU/inter-app stuff. I just use samples and built in effects.

one follow up detail: i use an ipad with the apple pencil. multi-touch for moving around with the precision of the pencil is a great combo. i think if i was just using my finger tips the whole time i wouldn’t enjoy it as much.

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#65

Here’s my current setup for sample based work. Record anything interesting into H6 recorder.
Transfer to PC and think about how to use them. Edit on PC then transfer them to Norns via cyberduck.
Use Norns and Grid plus a suitable script to get the most from the samples. Performance play them whilst recording with ‘tape’ on Norns. Transfer recordings from Norns back to PC.

Yes it’s a little long winded, but its worth it. The magic happens when you sit down with Norns and Grid and your script of choice for the process.

That said even without Grid it’s still a satisfying workflow. There’s a collecting stage, a preparing stage and a performance stage. Sometimes gaps in the workflow or taking a step back can influence decisions and yield better results I found.

Edit : I missed the Eurorack domain in the OP. In which case I would put the samples into Radio Music or Bastl grandpa. I have heard good things about the 1010 music modules though.

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#66

While you’re in Euro throw it through Phonogene. I don’t know what the deal is with it but the way it degrades sound is magical in a way other things (including, disappointingly, Morphagene) are not.

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#67

Two words. Polyend Tracker.

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#69

I recently bought a MPC Live 2, after using an OT for years. The MPC definitely feels more like a solid music workstation than the OT. The advantage of the OT is its immediacy and unique approach of course.
For the last few days I started to use the MPC with my (very) unfinished eurorack. It’s basically an Audio I/O, Mum M8 Filter and two envelopes. Still, I had great fun playing around with the CV/Gate-tracks on the MPC. Especially the Note Repeat-mode is great, if you patch one Gate to an envelope trig and the velocity to the filter cutoff of the Mum M8 :slight_smile:

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#70

It’s interesting to me that so many people consider the chopping and “prep” to be separate from the track making.

For me this is all 100% the same thing. I might have some idea of what record I want to start by sampling first (sometimes tho I’ll just start playing albums I don’t remember how they sound to find something that inspires), but the process of chopping and playing around with it is what gives me the idea what record to move to next. Sometimes it works better than others but that whole method of working in the moment is related to how I work when djing so it comes very naturally for me.

It may require some ability to shift between playing and chopping, kind of faster and slower activities, but for me the ability to sample and chop quickly while working is what it’s all about. I take inspiration here from old school hiphop.

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#71

Great thread!

I just posted an episode on Sampling Hardware, using a 1960s hypnotism recording:

Here’s the demonstration section, which talks about sampling workflow and ideas with Radio Music, a pair of SSL Samplecorders and my favorite sampling tool for over a decade, a Korg MicroSampler:

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#72

does anyone here use any particular hardware sampler for structuring/composing primarily sampled field recording/layered concrete material that is not beat or necessarily pattern oriented? I’d like to find one that also processes audio flexibly but i think that’s asking a lot

#73

The easy answer is Octatrack.

Manually triggering short or long recordings, supremely versatile fx, easy resampling, timestretching, sequenced fx so on and so on.

This was done with field recordings done by festival participants on their phones and some iPad processing all loaded up and remixed on the OT.

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#74

I used the Octatrack for this purpose for years without ever pressing play on it. just using it for hand playing samples, modifying parameters and processing w/ the built in effects modulated by LFOs and the crossfader as well as using the cue outs like an effects loop to process the sound further through a eurorack skiff.

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