Sampling all My Synths into One

[a zombie]

I am wondering if there is a way to take all of my synths (mostly casios and yamaha cheap digital synths) and sample the sounds that i use on them into one keyboard for live use, So that I don't need to bring a triple keyboard stand to every show?

Anyone know how this is generally done?

[mamonu]

How about samplerobot?
I think that is tailormade for things like that.... have a search in google about it...

[ctrlshft]

with a laptop and midi controller usually.

i use reason's NN-XT a lot for sampling synths and make refills out of em for easy access later on. one could do the same thing with vst samplers (Virtual Instruments: Samplers | Sweetwater.com).

[nofi]

yeah, any basic multitimbral sampling keyboard with a bunch of memory would work fine. kurzweil k2000 and above, for instance... or a laptop with a generic midi controller?

The level of effort required really depends on how accurately you want to do it - but provided the sounds don't change too dramatically over a key range you can get away with a couple of short samples and a little bit of programming (loop points and envelopes) or just a bunch of raw sampling every few keys for each synth patch you want to use. Though short samples and programming will give you much more patches in memory at any time, and much faster load times!

[ignatius]

autosampler 2 works great for this kind of thing. automatic sampling

Redmatica

[e-smile-z]

the emu emulator x2 has also a kind of autosampling called synth swipe.i have sampled my favorite fantom x patches into it.with the emulator x you have a bad ass sampler with many modulations more then 50 different filters to tweak the patches... maybe you can use the emulator on the v-maschiene

[PeeWeeGee]

Originally Posted by ignatius

autosampler 2 works great for this kind of thing. automatic sampling

Redmatica

Works like a champ!!

[a zombie]

I don't want to have to deal with a laptop on stage, but what would be a good 61 or 49 key unit to sample and playback with?

I dont have alot of cash, so what are my options under 1000 bucks, preferably under 500?

[a zombie]

I checked out the k2000 and it looks awesome! Very good price as well.

Any opinions on the k2000 or suggestions of other units?

Heres my current situation

[Oli]

How about a rack sampler, and use one of your current keyboards as controller? I'm not trying to say that would be a better option, but something to consider. It can certainly keep the budget down.

How much real time control do you need over your sounds, while performing?

[Yoozer]

Seconding the rack sampler idea - Akai S5000 will do just fine. Keyboard samplers went extinct before rack samplers so the ones you find may not offer the convenience. Sample on your computer, then transfer to rack - done.

The originals themselves don't offer a lot of control and they aren't velocity sensitive either so that makes your job a lot easier.

[a zombie]

One problem with a rack sampler is that none of my keys except the dx7 have midi.

I also just like the simplicity of a single unit, no midi cables less to carry around, less to plug in, and all the controls right there in front of me. Is the k2000 really that archaic? It seems pretty full featured.

Its also cheaper than that akai s5000 and it is supposedly a pretty neat synth as well.

[golden beers]

i love my K2000
problem you'll have is lack of RAM.

i'd go laptop.

[a zombie]

Originally Posted by golden beers

i love my K2000
problem you'll have is lack of RAM.

i'd go laptop.

16mb ram wont be enough? I really dont want to buy a laptop and then have to deal with software live...

Its possible to upgrade to 64mb's too

[golden beers]

Originally Posted by a zombie

16mb ram wont be enough? I really dont want to buy a laptop and then have to deal with software live...

Its possible to upgrade to 64mb's too

it depends how much sampling you're going to do.
if youre gonna multi sample losts of sounds then 16mb is tiny.
if you must go hardware then have a look at the AKAI Z4 &Z8 these can hold up to 1GIG RAM (i think) anyway they can hold a ton of RAM and they're dirt cheap..

[Entrainer]

[a zombie]

I am not going to be doing a ton of sampling, and it will all be very straight forward. A few samples per song. The k2000 also has an internal SCSI drive and floppy's.

RAM is just used for the loaded samples and the sampling process itself right?

[ohmicide]

i think you'd look like a BAMF with all the keyboards on stage

[shadowfac]

Dude, I'd love to hear what kind of music you make with those keyboards. I love those cheap-ass sounds and wish I still had my Yamaha PSS-20 and Casio CA-100. I still have my SK-5 somewhere in a closet but it's all smashed up.

[shadowfac]

BTW.- except for the DX7, all those keyboards seem PCM-based, and I don't think they have a big sized ROM. I'm sure you could get away by sampling in mono, one note per octave, and with a low samplerate (e.g., 16 or 22.05 KHz). That should greatly reduce the memory requirements (16 Mb may be enough).

[golden beers]

Originally Posted by a zombie

I am not going to be doing a ton of sampling, and it will all be very straight forward. A few samples per song. The k2000 also has an internal SCSI drive and floppy's.

RAM is just used for the loaded samples and the sampling process itself right?

if you found a K2000 with working internal SCSI drive: grab it!
my guess is you won't be wanting to sample the others after playing on it for 10 mins!


all K2000s have SCSI but they don't all have a hard drive!

[a zombie]

Originally Posted by alehoe

i think you'd look like a BAMF with all the keyboards on stage

Hah! i know Ive been workin the custom triple stack but but i think i'm maxed out

Dude, I'd love to hear what kind of music you make with those keyboards. I love those cheap-ass sounds and wish I still had my Yamaha PSS-20 and Casio CA-100. I still have my SK-5 somewhere in a closet but it's all smashed up.

I almost got a sweet PSS yesterday but it didn't make sound, i was looking forward to the "machine gun" sound

BTW.- except for the DX7, all those keyboards seem PCM-based, and I don't think they have a big sized ROM. I'm sure you could get away by sampling in mono, one note per octave, and with a low samplerate (e.g., 16 or 22.05 KHz). That should greatly reduce the memory requirements (16 Mb may be enough).

Thats what i was thinking as well, I'm not going for super high quality samples i just need a live solution that is true to the source. My Yamaha's are FM based and my Casios are PCM. I don't have to sample my DX7 either because I use it live on a separate stand

16 mb's of ram+ a SCSI drive to hold everything seems like it would be enough.

Are there any all in one sampler+keyboard units that anyone recommends besides the k2000?

[shadowfac]

Originally Posted by a zombie

Are there any all in one sampler+keyboard units that anyone recommends besides the k2000?

Yes. I would also suggest a Yamaha EX5/EX7 keyboard. It's a very powerful workstation with 128 voices (64 on the EX7) and sampling, and besides 64 Mb of RAM you can add up to 16 Mb of Flash RAM to it, so you could keep all your samples in flash and forget about hard drives and loading times.

Not saying this is the best option, but I think you should consider it.

[a zombie]

k I'll check out the yamaha,

Does this one seem like a good buy?

Kurzweil K2000 with Sampling Option - eBay (item 120500431524 end time Dec-08-09 06:46:09 PST)

[golden beers]

very much so

[Oli]

Love the Voltron reference. That's kind of what I was thinking when I read the thread title. I thought it was an attempt at layering sounds into a super-synth ensemble.

[Yoozer]

Originally Posted by shadowfac

Yes. I would also suggest a Yamaha EX5/EX7 keyboard.

It's also awfully heavy and big, and it's got a slow CPU. I think it weighs more than all the keyboards in the pictures, total.

The Korg Microsampler might also be an option. Yes, the mini-keys are kind of meh - but at least that's easy to solve.

[a zombie]

Originally Posted by Oli

Love the Voltron reference. That's kind of what I was thinking when I read the thread title. I thought it was an attempt at layering sounds into a super-synth ensemble.

lol

It's also awfully heavy and big, and it's got a slow CPU. I think it weighs more than all the keyboards in the pictures, total.

The Korg Microsampler might also be an option. Yes, the mini-keys are kind of meh - but at least that's easy to solve.

k2000 is looking the best so far.

do the new keys and cracked case seem like they could be a problem?

[nofi]

it's a small crack in the case, and 2 new keys are way better than 2 dead or 2 broken keys!!!!!! I say go for it.

have you done much sampling and synth programming before before?? the basic loop point thing is pretty straightforward, and envelope setting will be fast if yu've done a lot of synth programming already. for someting with 16MB of RAM, you'll really benefit from having small tight patches.

have fun!!

[golden beers]

Originally Posted by a zombie

lol


k2000 is looking the best so far.

do the new keys and cracked case seem like they could be a problem?

you'd have to ask why its cracked. ie: was it dropped. is that what broke the keys?. a craked case indicates a dropped synth. i droped synth will be more likely to have problems. so you can take a chance or you can demo the synth. if it works, it works.

PS if you do buy that synth you can sell me the digital out from it if you like!