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Sampler questions

SSP Questions
#1

Okay I need a manual lol. what does everything mean?
For instance

  1. I can’t unstack the layers. I want to delete layers, is that possible?
  2. I just want one sample to play when I trigger it… I send a trigger and get a blip/click. So I send a gate and it plays longer… I can’t always send a gate in a modular environment, sometimes we rely on triggers only to trigger samples. It makes much more sense for default behavior to be trigger in > sample plays through until next trigger then it resets and starts playing again from beginning.
  3. Changing sample tuning doesn’t seem to work?
  4. Actually I don’t know how to trigger this module. I tried
    a) input module, receiving trigger from outside… trigger is recognized, but doesn’t trigger the when aimed at gate. Long trigger still doesn’t trigger when sent to gate.

Input>gate Sampler > Output = nothing
Input> gate envelope> sampler > output = nothing
Sequencer > sampler gate and amp > sound happens, but I can’t turn off hits on sequencer once I have loaded them up and seems to just trigger all the time… not useful

can you walk me through a very basic sampler patch. I mean I literally just want to play a percussion sample… Just play it, make it come out… I’ve tried 6 different ways and I just cannot get this thing to work.

#2

We’ve sent a link to the manual to all users together with the tracking number of their SSP. In case you missed it here is the link:

You can’t clear individual sample slots at the moment but we have it on our todo list to add a clear button so you can clear a specific sample slot. You can step through the sample slots using the View button.

Good point, maybe we’ll add a toggle button to switch the default behaviour.

There is an “Auto” button you need to turn off, before the sample can be pitched up or down. Otherwise the sample is played back at its default speed.

The trigger signal you send to the gate input of the sampler, can trigger any of the 8 slots in the sampler. The signal level determines which slot. If you want to always trigger a sample regardless of level you have to load samples into all the 8 slots.

Make sure to verify that you see the trigger signal on the gate input of the sampler. You can do this by scrolling through the modulation inputs using the 3rd encoder, and then highlight the gate input, and then watch the scope underneath the list to see if the trigger/gate signal is being received by the sampler module or not. If not you have to check your input/output modulation settings on both sampler and input module and also double check that you enabled (using toggles 1-8) the correct output of the input module, on the P-page which shows scopes for each of the input jacks (use left/right cursor keys to browse through rows).

The output of the envelope is used with the amplitude modulation input of the sampler. You have to send a gate to the gate input of the envelope to start the envelope (or run it in looping mode which is the default). So you would have to send the incoming gate signal from the input module to both the sampler and envelope modules in the above example.

The step sequencer sends a gate signal to the sampler on each step, obviously.

I’ll write a short description tomorrow of how the sampler works and will post it as a reply in this thread. I will also include it in the manual.

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Sampler
#3

The sampler allows you to load up to 8 samples, and then trigger these samples using the signal from the step sequencer, for example, or you can loop them using the (loop + layer) settings, which will mix all 8 samples together and loop them.

Each level of the incoming “gate” signal corresponds to a different sample slot. So depending on the level you play back a different sample. If the slot you are playing back is empty you will not hear anything. So you have to load samples into all slots ideally.

Per default there are already a list of samples available in the sample directory on the SD card. Of course, you can also add your own samples to the sample directory on the SD card.

1. Sampler Inputs/Parameters/Settings

Pitch: input which follows the 1v/oct standard. Typically used with e.g. the MIDI module pitch output.

Gate: typical gate input to trigger samples.

Amp: used to amplitude-modulate the output signal of the sampler. You can apply any modulation signal to this, for example from an envelope or LFO.

Sel: scroll through the list of samples using the 1st encoder. You can add additional samples in the samples directory on the SD-card (see instructions in section \ref{sdcard}).

Crse Freq: sets the frequency of the oscillation/looping. This only works when “Auto” (auto-frequency) setting is switched off.

Fine Freq: sets the frequency of the oscillation/looping. This only works when “Auto” (auto-frequency) setting is switched off.

Start: choose the start of the waveform.

Lgth: choose the length of the waveform.

CalA1/2: after applying a pitch signal to the pitch input, for example from a CV keyboard, press the A key in an octave on your keyboard and press this button. Then press the A one octave up and press CalA2. The sampler will then know what the voltage difference is and use that to figure out how to correctly track the keyboard. This feature also appears in other modules. The calibration is already done for standard 1v/oct signals so there is no need to use this normally.

CalRs: Resets the above calibration data to the default.

Auto: frequency of the oscillation/looping is set to automatic. If you switch off the auto-frequency setting, you can set the frequency of oscillation/looping using the coarse and fine frequency.

Loop: run the sampler in loop mode, needs to be used together with layer.

Layer: layer the samples. This will mix all 8 samples together and then loops them (important to enable loop as well).

Load: to select a sample click “Load”. Each time you click “load” the selected sample will be added to the next slot.

View: gives a visualisation of the samples that are stored in a certain slot. Each time you click “view” the visualization of the next sample is shown.

2. Example

Trigger samples of a sampler using a step sequencer, after which the signal is sent to the output module.

Step Seq => Sampler => Output

                         Inputs                     Outputs
  Step Seq               /                        Sampler:Gate
  Sampler               Sampler:Gate              Output:Input
  Output                 Output:Input                  /
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#4

great work @celine
so if i want to load and loop 1 sample i also engage layer & loop?
a 1 shot / gate mode (e.g. from drum samples) could be most handy
maybe introduce a button where you can “re-distribute/callibrate” the spread of the gate signal in case you use < 8 samples?
i think the current situation is as this : 1 sample resonds to -5->-4V, second sample responds to -4->-3V etc
if we were to define the gate range that the sample is triggered (esp. in <8 sample situations) that is most convenient
an auto-distribution (where e.g. 2 sample situation is distributed after button press to first sample, gate input -5->0 V, second sample, gate 0->5V) button would improve user experience further

how MIDI note messages are transfered into this sample selection stuff? (MIDI note 0->11 selects first sample, 12 -> 23 second sample etc) or are MIDI note messages only used to determine the pitch of the sample ? (as set up in the SSP MIDI module)

#5

if you just want to load one sample you can load it in the slot you want to use, enable loop, and then make sure to choose that slot using the gate input (which selects the slot that is playing back) … should not be necessary to enable layer, unless you want to load 8 samples and mix them together and use them as 1 loop.

in that case just turn off loop and then use the gate input to trigger/select the sample you want

@Mercurial has suggested to extend the sampler so it has 8 gate inputs, and @IvanS has suggested to make the sample select a seperate input. Please join that discussion so we have a good idea how to implement it, for me it’s still unclear what the selection input dus if you have 8 seperate gate inputs for the 8 slots and 8 outputs.

so if we do it like this, it’s no longer necessary to have a “cv value to sample slot mapping” feature?

you can use the midi pitch output of the midi module to select the sample if you want, so i guess in that case the 8 samples are spread out over all the octaves. you could at the same time use it for pitch of the samples as well (although there is a bug / problem at the moment with the pitch input of the sampler and I need to look into that).

I think once you have seperate gate inputs and/or a selection input for the sampler you will have more flexibility to use it in various ways.

Sampler, ways ahead
#6

this is not exactly what i meant, i mean there is a clear difference between triggering a sample by gate and let it play from start to finnish/length (1 shot) and triggering a sample by gate and let it stop after the gate stops (gated)

#7

Sounds like a great use for a VCA module.

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#8

the sampler has an amp mod input as well so that can also be used.

#9

like @jason wrote I think a trigger input is enough instead of a gate input because gating the sample can be done using the amp mod input OR a VCA module.

#10

Cool, thanks for the explanation on this! :thinking:

#11

the Sampler has been changed in the software update I posted yesterday - it no longer has a selection input or layering feature. It now has 8 gate inputs and 8 outputs for the sample slots. So you can trigger each sample slot directly and individually. More info in the update.

#12

So I’m playing with the sampler, and I am able to 1 shot it with a trigger now. That’s good. I get how to trigger multiple samples. seems good.

problem: I am sending pitch CV from a sequencer. I can see it coming in on chan 2. I send that to the pitch of sampler… sampler pitch enabled showing that (1) is coming in… no pitch change during playback… @bert, what am I doing wrong here?

Input > ch2 (shows the pitch moving in the box) pitch sampler
Sampler pitch enabled (1) incoming… nothing…

#13

Confirmed pitch doesn’t seem to be working. I have a LFO modulating AMP input the sampler too btw.

Next question… so I see how I can trigger each sample independently. I see how I can independently select which one gets sent to the output module.
If I have a 2nd output module, I can’t direct anything there… it chooses every sample that I have enabled.

Question: Is there some mixing available so I can adjust the relative level of each sample> If not, then this is going to be worthless. May as well be a single channel sampler, because I’m going to load up a separate sampler module so I have independent channel outs. Right now there are no independent channel outs???

I don’t understand the behavior of the P screen of sampler.
For instance, how do I know what sample is playing? I’m on sample 3, and I pressed the encoder to load into chan 3 of the sampler, and it changes the channels 1 or 2 sound… Chan 3 is not enabled, I was just looking at “03” screen.

Question: Does start/lgth change for ALL samples as ONE sample? If so, again, this is really just a single chan sampler with the weird ability to layer samples. Now that I know that I’ll use it as a mono sampler.

Next issue is I have no idea how to unload a slot. I also don’t know how to go to a next slot without loading another slot… I also never know what slot I’m loading? I’m looking at “03” but when I “load”, chan 1 or 2 are changing sounds! why is it doing that? Why would it change ANY slot other than the slot I’m looking at?

#14

You need to send the sampler a gate signal as well. I have to update the step sequencer to output both the step/pitch signal and gate signal. See the step seq thread as well.

To make the sampler track pitch on the pitch input you have to disable the AUTO setting in the sampler. Otherwise it ignores the pitch signal.

The sampler has 8 slots which are output to its 8 module outputs. So you have to route those multiple outputs to one or more output modules.

#15

You have to route the outputs of the sampler modules that you want to use to as many output modules you want to use and then configure the output modules on the P-page so they send to the output jacks you want to use.

#16

Please read the other info here on the forum about the output module and how it works as well as how to scale modulation signals in the patcher grid using the shift keys and ecoder 3/4. You can send multiple modulation signals to the inputs of an output module which automatically sums them.

#17

Each time you press the load button the selected sample is loaded into the next slot. It circles around so after slot 7 you will come back to slot 0. You can press the view button to cycle through the slots without loading anything so you can see what is loaded.

The slots are triggered using gate 1-8 input and each slot has its own seperate output.

#18

The settings of the sampler including start/length work across the 8 slots. If you don’t want that then you just use multiple sampler modules.

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#19

A feature to clear a slot has been requested already and will be implemented.

I wrote an explanation here above how the loading works. When you are on slot 3 and load a file it will not change the contents of slot 0 and 1.

#20

@bert okay I haven’t downloaded the update yet, but what was listed sounds really great. It’s exactly what I was thinking and then some. I’ll check it out. I’m starting to appreciate the layering concept. I mean… I’m dumb, I layer samples all the time and it’s part of what creates a unique sound/feel… but for some reason I was approaching the sample module as a single shot single layer sampler, but now that I see what you’re doing with it, I can tell it CAN be now used as a single layer for a simple kick or whatever, but can also be a sculpting tool that layers samples…
Anyways, thank you for these updates. They sound really good and I’ll check them out soon

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