Playing a sample across the keyboard

T

TDOT

New member
If chop a sample, lets say a one shot of a horn or a synth stab.
If play the one shot on my keyboard, is it safe to say that the key I play the sample on lets say I hit C# for example, that the sample would be played in that key, or would it just be played up or down the amount of semitones away from the samples original key?

This sounds confusing but please help?

I want to be able to just sample an instrument and then lets say play the FMaj Scale on my keyboard and use the sample as an instrument
 
i think it goes by semitones, each key plays a faster or slower sample, not actually a note above or below...i think there is another process to get it how you want it, but not 100% if im right so this reply was useless haha
 
the reply above is spot on.

however, if you want to map a specific sound across the keyboard , you are going to find that it will run more quickly than you like the higher you go, and more slowly the lower you go - this is why in the bad old days of 12 bit mono samplers, you would have a a new samnp,le every few semitones, to minimise the crud that followed from trying to play the same sample too high or too low.

If you insist on using the one sample, then make sure that you set
  • a loop start point and
  • a loop end point and
  • that these two points do not lead to zero-crossing errors

i.e. set your loop points so that the sample will continue to sound for as long as you want it too without it glitching as it tries to cross the zero point (this is sampling 101, but sometimes it needs to be spelt out simply to remind us that it needs to be done right)
 
It depends on the sample. Some things, like say a sample of a sine wave will transpose pretty well, and there is not much reason to use more than one sample across the whole keyboard. Some things, like human voice, tend to sound unnatural when transposed more than a few semitones. (Having higher bit depth doesn't really help here, in fact modern 16 or 24 bit samples often use far more samples than in the old 12-bit). For a natural-sounding acoustic instrument, you usually need to have many samples across the keyboard - one reason for this is resonance from the body of the instrument, which will stay at the same frequency no matter which note you play, while if you just transpose a sample upward, you would shift all the resonances upward along with the played note.

Most samplers have a what is called a root note associated with each sample - that's the note at which the sample plays back unaltered. So if you set the root note
to be C3, then playing C3 will cause the sample to play back unaltered. If you then play C#3, the sample will play back one semitone higher etc.
 
TDOT said:
If chop a sample, lets say a one shot of a horn or a synth stab.
If play the one shot on my keyboard, is it safe to say that the key I play the sample on lets say I hit C# for example, that the sample would be played in that key, or would it just be played up or down the amount of semitones away from the samples original key?
Click to expand...
The sound is always played relative to the "root note" of the sample. If you cet that to C3 but the actual note is an E2, then hitting the C#3 key will produce a tone tuned to F2 (one semitone higher). So if you want to have the pitch corresponding to the key you use, you need to set the root note correctly.

This said, if you want to have a playable range of more than a few notes, you'll have to repitch the sample yourself and use every repitched sample for only a few notes. Otherwise the lengthening/shortening becomes very obvious. Unless you use looped sampling of course (as said by the others)
 
Sweet thanks guys need to try this out and I get what you guys are saying,
I just want to play it accross the keyboard without altering the speed of the sample.
i used to use kontakt for this using a time stretch feature where I can play the sample across the keyboard at different pitches but still maintain the tempo
 
When i make instruments out of samples I put it through a pitch correcter first so that I can find out the note. Once I've found out what actual note it is, I adjust it to C. Than export that note and use it for my instrument. It is important to know the key of your starting note, or else nothing will make sense later.
 
There's a faster way to find out the rootnote of a sample, without additional software and exporting/inporting.
Justt open the file in Edison, right click on the wavefile and go to regions>detect pitch regions. You will see what note(s) are played. Then open the file in a sampler and go to misc tab, in the piano at the bottom, right click the correct note. Now if you play the C key, the sample wil be played in C, iinstead of the previous rootnote.
 
beatbyestu said:
There's a faster way to find out the rootnote of a sample, without additional software and exporting/inporting.
Justt open the file in Edison, right click on the wavefile and go to regions>detect pitch regions. You will see what note(s) are played. Then open the file in a sampler and go to misc tab, in the piano at the bottom, right click the correct note. Now if you play the C key, the sample wil be played in C, iinstead of the previous rootnote.
Click to expand...
You have to be very careful using this method (or using pitch correctors), as many of those tools (included spectrum in Ableton) give an approximate pitch, not an exact pitch. If you're more than 10 cents off, it'll not sound in tune. But the difference with automatic pitch detection can be 25 cents (or more with complex sound textures). So you best check against a good tuning device, and use your ears as well.

Plus you have to take into account the wholetempered nature of our scales. In fact, if you want to sound in tune over different octaves, you'll have to repitch anyway.
 
Last edited:
Those are good all good ways, I'm curious to try the Edison detect pitch method like dude above said but like someone else said, it may just be approximate and not exact.
 
For many samples, there *is* no unique pitch, as there will be many different "pitches" present simultaneously in the sample, and consequently there is no foolproof way of extracting *the* pitch using a computer program. Using a pitch-detecting program can be a handy shortcut, but be aware of the fact pitch-detection programs may come up with a pitch that just does not sound right, so you should always check with your ears. (That's why you need a skilled human, and not just a machine, to tune your piano)
 
Last edited:
here we have the difference between someone who is thinking about a specific situation in sampling (stealing something from a pre-existing recording) and someone who is thinking in more general terms as in sampling a single sound with your own mic and software sampler.

Your arguments are only valid within the narrow confines of stealing someone else's recording; the advice given above yours has been aimed at the more general task fo sampling and mapping that sample across the keyboard.
 
Gymnor said:
You have to be very careful using this method (or using pitch correctors), as many of those tools (included spectrum in Ableton) give an approximate pitch, not an exact pitch. If you're more than 10 cents off, it'll not sound in tune. But the difference with automatic pitch detection can be 25 cents (or more with complex sound textures). So you best check against a good tuning device, and use your ears as well.

Plus you have to take into account the wholetempered nature of our scales. In fact, if you want to sound in tune over different octaves, you'll have to repitch anyway.
Click to expand...

How do you repitch your notes in increments less than one? I have encountered this issue and just given up on the sample.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top