josker
436
The SP won’t get you a halfway realistic piano. The chromatic features of the SP are no substitute for multisamples, and you can’t play samples polyphonically without jumping through weird hoops. It’s a fantastic device, but just isn’t geared towards that type of stuff.
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I don’t know where the bank breaking threshold is, but a recent MPC would be good for all you asked for, and then some.
Thank you all for the advice.
@TanaBarbier unfortunately a recent MPC would be about twice as spendy as I’d like. And maybe a bit too complicated for my basic sampling and sequencing needs.
@josker thanks for confirming what I suspected. The 404’s chromatic mode looks fine for basic melodic sample playback, but what I really need is multisample support with numerous velocity layers to properly play nuanced piano. It doesn’t look like the 404 is the tool for that.
I think the 404 is still the frontrunner for me, if I ditch the multisample playback requirement. There are some nice enough sampled pianos on iOS that I can play through my Midi keyboard, and sample into the 404. Does that seem like a reasonable workaround?
Yeah, if you used something like Decent Sampler on iOS, that would get you plenty of good quality multisample instruments covered. You could of course look at Koala Sampler if you were going to include an iPad in your setup. That gives a pretty versatile 404-esque way of chopping, slicing, drumming with samples
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The MPC One will run those new plugins that came out with the MPC key, so maybe it is not that far if you find a second hand one?
Anyway the 404 looks fun too!
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I hadn’t come across Decent Sampler, looks great! Though I may just end up getting a dedicated piano sample app like Pure Upright that I can set and forget, mainly due to option paralysis and a bit of a screen aversion. I tend to be less creative when I have a wide palette to choose from. Limiting myself to just a few sound sources seems to work best for me.
I really should have noted earlier that I don’t like using a DAW and tend to dislike screen-heavy interfaces. Hence the 404 Mk2 appealing more than the Bitbox/Blackbox, MPC or iPad.
I really like the workflow of my Elektron Model:Cycles, and would probably be more than happy with a Model:Samples or a Digitakt if they could play back longer samples. Alas.
Given all this, and my limited budget, is there anything other than the 404 I should be considering? Or is it still my best bet?
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if piano is important, what about getting a Yamaha Reface CP instead of trying to have one sampler do both jobs? they sound great, and you can both use it standalone as part of a smaller portable setup OR midi it up to a larger keyboard as a sound module brain. I have a couple friends who use them in similar ways, and I’ve thought about grabbing one myself.
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There is also this person’s instruments : https://salmacis.wixsite.com/hansysynth/blue-gadgets
They are a bit original, different, and some use samples, I feel they are generally interesting options, different takes on classic ideas, worth a read IMHO.
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Please excuse my vast ignorance re: sampling, but I’m looking for any software or hardware that would allow me to upload 5-15 wav/mp3 files and allow for random triggering and irregular playback position of each. Control of scrubbing speed, manually adjusting playback buffer, and ability to selectively mute samples would also be nice.
Hopeful that description makes sense given the fact that I have never once used a sampler. 
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I have been digging into this type of workflow recently, and believe that Geist 1/Geist 2 does this well. The downside is that both have been discontinued, although you should be able to buy a second-hand copy from someone on KVR, for example.
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The Blackbox does multi sample and it’s quite capable, no? If not very geared towards live manipulation… Might be a good compromise if you’re willing to pair it with a controller or two.
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Higaru
448
“Decent Sampler” on iOS with plenty of pianos from
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/
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t3h
449
for me there would be two ways to do that: the easy way and the hard way. For a fast’n’easy workflow I would prepare 8 samples and upload to Elektron Digitakt. Assign to 8 tracks, set the track length and tempo, assign triggers to all the tracks with 50% of probability. Set the LFO1 to change the starting point of the sample. Set the LFO2 to change the Tune parameter (playback speed). I did something similar (not so radical and with added reverb) in my spoken word compositions Kivid Tulevad Tagasi
The hard way would be to program this in MaxMSP so that I could point to any sample set and it would automagically load the files and develop a generative composition that would evolve and change its parameters over time.
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That is super cool! I know most people prefer the ease of playing multisampled instruments on a computer or iPad, but it’s great to see a standalone sound module. It’s almost exactly what I’m looking for, if only it could handle multiple velocity layers, rather than just a global velocity setting. While that makes it less than ideal for acoustic piano samples, it seems great for organ, electric piano or percussive sounds.
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Thanks so much for your response. Completely unfamiliar with the Elektron ecosystem- would this also be feasible with Octatrack?
Wondered myself whether Max/Pd might be the best option though was hopeful random/probabilistic parameters might have been implemented in other sampling environments. On to my next Max tutorial…
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t3h
452
it would work slightly be different on Octatrack (and other samplers), my goto tool is Digitakt as it’s the fastest but it has it’s limitations. Generally speaking - samplers with fixed track topography have their own limitations for this type of compositions compared with digital playground type of environments like Max. However, I’m not familiar with Norns, maybe it’s also worth considering for this type of composition.
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angel
453
If you’re interested in trying max, what you’re trying to achieve corresponds exactly with one of the patches of chapter 5 from the second volume of Cipriani and Giri’s Electronic Music and Sound Design book.
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I’d double suggest this - max, pure data, reaktor, supercollider all would suit this idea very easily (presuming you can use those environments).
An easier option would be Ableton and follow actions that randomly select other clips.
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Thanks for pointing me in this direction! Downloaded the pdf and exploring now.
Sounds doable with the dirtywave m8 too.
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