Hi, here are some notes I made on sampling awhile back. Appologies to original posters, I did not save their names.
A big help for me was setting the sample length. There is another function (I forget) that will tell you sample length, rem this # and input it for sample length.
I also purchased a smart media card so I could use wave editors on my PC. XD + SM adapter is much cheaper however.
read the manual
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<b>assign the sliced loops to the drum parts individually</b>
Hit "1/ST" (for an example)
Hit "PART EDIT" twice (trust me)
Select a sound that has been sliced and hit your trigger again to be sure
Hit the down arrow by the "PATTERN" button
Spin the big knob to select which slice...
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<b>sampling loops properly</b>
Method #1 - The Computer
The easiest way is to sample the loop on your computer equipped with a
decent soundcard, audio file editing software (e.g. Wavelab, Peak,
SoundForge), and SmartMedia card reader/writer because then you'll be able
to perform this function using the visual display of the computer system.
You could then accurately truncate the start and end points so that when the
recording of the loop is cycled across its "physical" length it will play
with a constant downbeat.
Some purists may consider this technique "cheating" however.
Method #2 - Your Ears
Yes it is possible to accurate cut loops without the aid of a visual editing
interface. I did this for many years on my Ensoniq EPS16+ without complaint
(I also used to slice up break beats using nothing but a calculator prior to
luxuries like computer sample editing packages like Recycle being invented
however I digress).
The technique is simple ... it's called using your ears !
It's important to record the sample properly in the first instance. You can
make your life easier by doing the following when actually recording the
loop from your audio source.
1) ALWAYS be sure to include at least the first Beat of the next bar (i.e.
usually the first beat of the next bar will be a kick drum) even if you
don't want anything from the proceeding bar. I'll refer to this as the "Tail
Hit" from this point on. The Tail Hit will give you an audible reference as
to exactly where to cut the end of the loop so that it can loop on itself
with a constant downbeat.
2) If your loop starts from silence (e.g. you're sampling a drum loop from a
track right at the beginning) make use of the Auto start recording sample
feature of the ESX1. This will save you time from having to cut off the dead
air at the start of the sample.
The following ESX1 Rules will be your best friend for editing samples:
Rule #1: The ESX1 will never let you set the Sample Start Point AFTER the
Sample End Point
Rule #2: The ESX1 will never let you set the Sample End Point BEFORE the
Sample Start Point
So after sampling your loop from CD, Record, etc using the Autosample
feature (being sure to keep at least the 1 beat of the bar following the
loop you actually want) let's cut the loop to the correct length by finding
the End Point as accurately as possible.
First of all ensure the Autosampling feature hasn't accidentally skipped
recording the attack transient of the first Hit in the loop (i.e. the kick
drum normally) through having the threshold detection level set too high. If
so you will need to rerecord the sample. Hit the play button to audition
this.
Next confirm there is no dead air at the start of the sample.
Rapidly press the Play button repeatedly and temporarily reduce the playback
speed of the sample by turning the Pitch knob all the way to the left. You
could consider this the audible equivalent of "zooming in" if you were
editing audio on a software based audio editor. With pitch set low, if rapid
triggers of the Play button show there is a lag before hearing the onset of
the first hit, gradually increase the Sample Start point until the sample
plays immediately when you strike the Play key.
If you've had to make edits to the Sample start point due to dead air at the
start of the sample then use the Truncate Sample function (Press and hold
Shift then press the Step Key with the word Truncate printed above it).
Confirm the action. The dead air at the start of the sample has now been
discarded (and more importantly there is no danger of losing the Start point
we spent so much time finding!).
"Zoom Out" by returning the Pitch knob back to its centre position to hear
the sample playback at normal speed. OK - the Sample Start point is set and
"set in stone" .... Half of the work is now complete !!!!
Now let's forge on to setting a Sample End point ....
Increase the Sample Start point so that it is equal to the Sample End point
(turning it the knob continuously until the value no longer increments will
indicate that you have accomplished this - you can scroll rapidly through
the sample frames by pressing and holding the SHIFT key while turning the
knob). The Sample Start point will stop increasing when you hit the maximum.
The maximum of course is the Sample End point. Press the Play button to
audition - you should hear either silence or a slight little click ...
that's because you're now at the extreme end point of the sample.
The aim of the next few steps is to locate the onset of the Tail Hit and
place our Sample End point as accurately as possible so it occurs just prior
to the start of the Tail Hit.
Repeatedly trigger the Play button while gradually reducing the Sample Start
parameter. Keep reducing the Sample Start while triggering auditioning with
the Play button until you hear the onset of the Tail Hit at beat 1 of the
bar.
The idea now is to ensure there is no dead air prior to the Tail Hit in the
same way we didn't want dead air at the Starting Hit of the sample. The most
accurate loop point (such that the drum loop will playback with a constant
downbeat and not sound badly looped) is one that is precisely 1, 2 or 4 bars
(,etc, etc) in length.
Now "Zoom in" by reducing the playback speed of the sample using the Pitch
knob like we did earlier. Trigger the Play button rapidly while now
adjusting the the Sample Start point so that the Tail Hit is heard instantly
when triggering the Play button. The Sample Start Point will now be set as
closely as possible to bar 1 beat 1.
The steps that follow will make sense in light of "Rule #2" mentioned
earlier ....
Reduce the Sample End point as much as the ESX1 will allow you to (i.e.
until the ESX1 stops you decreasing it any further). The Sample End Point is
now basically "equal to" the Sample Start point. Reduce the Sample Start
Point as much as the ESX1 will allow you to (i.e. until the ESX1 stops you
from decreasing it any further). The Sample Start point will now have
returned to the very start of the loop. Because we discarded the dead air
from the start of the sample using the Truncate function earlier it will be
very accurately positioned on the 1 beat at the start of the drum loop.
"Zoom Out" by returning the Pitch knob back to its centre position to hear
the sample playback at normal speed. Press the Play button ... you should
now have an accurately cut loop. You should not hear the Tail Hit (which we
intentionally included when recording the sample purely as an aid to editing
the loop length). If you do hear a small amount of the Tail Hit peeking
through at the end of the loop (maybe it will sound like a little click) you
need to further reduce the Sample End point under it **only just**
disappears (you don't want to trim too much or the loop will sound like it
has been cut prematurely and which will not "feel" good). Remember it's
always possible to use the Pitch knob as a "Zoom Control" to hear what is
happening at a slow rate while making edits.
Final step ... Discard the Tail Hit using the Truncate function again as
described earlier.
Ta da ... you should now have a perfectly cut loop !
Be sure to use the Write function after this intense session of editing to
avoid losing the settings made.
So .... Who said you NEEED to edit samples on a computer to edit sampled
loops accurately?
Granted the visual display of the waveform of a drum loop makes setting
Start and End points faster and more convenient using software based
computer editors however it's not essential. We cannot assume that every
Electribe ESX1 owner on the planet will want even to use a computer (or have
a computer) and editing software at their disposal.
, is what tips do yall have for sampling sounds in so it won't do that.
