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Classic Mac OS Software => Digital Audio Workstations & MIDI Applications => Sampler Software, Sample CDs, & Sample Libaries => Topic started by: supernova777 on December 22, 2014, 01:02:43 PM

Title: turning samples into music (1997)
Post by: supernova777 on December 22, 2014, 01:02:43 PM
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/sep97/samples2music.html

Quote
SAMPLE MASSAGE THERAPY

Once the samples are in the computer, you can customise them before transmitting them to the sampler -- you might want to EQ, truncate, or time-compress or -expand to match tempo with a different loop. Digital audio editors and sample editors provide a graphic window on digital audio; most digital audio editors read WAV or AIFF as their main formats and save to and from the computer only, whereas sample editors can also communicate with samplers hooked up through SCSI or MIDI.

For the Mac, older versions of Sound Designer support older samplers, but the current version communicates only with Digidesign's own SampleCell. However, its sibling program, Turbosynth, is a cross between a sampler and synthesizer -- it takes your sample and lets you twist it in fiendish ways (although you still need a way to get the sound to your sampler).

For sound editing, BIAS Peak runs in PowerPC native mode (it's also compatible with many older Macs) and is very fast. It supports SMDI (a SCSI-based file transfer protocol) and third-party DSP plug-ins from Adobe Premiere, CyberSound FX, and Waves. It can also copy loop points and move them in real time -- wonderful for dance mixes.

Alchemy, an industry standard for years, limits sample size to available RAM, and the DSP is primitive. However there's extensive sampler support, easy navigation, SMDI, and a unique window for adjusting the amplitude of every harmonic in a short sample.

Infinity specialises in looping just about any AIFF file you throw at it. It sounds too good to be true, but it works extremely well. Tom Erbe's Mac shareware SoundHack (commercial version also available) offers unusual DSP functions (phase vocoding, binaural filtering, ring modulation, 'spectral mutation' and so on).

The PC has lagged behind the Mac, but is catching up. SampleVision supports SDS, SMDI, Ensoniq EPS/ASR, and Akai S900/950. DSP options are extensive: distortion, flanging, delay, 4-band parametric EQ, time compression/expansion, frequency analysis and so on.

Sound Forge, while designed for 2-track digital audio editing, supports SDS, SMDI, and SampleCell II. It boasts very good DSP (noise reduction, vinyl restoration, reverb, and other goodies), file translation, and batch processing (with an optional plug-in). QSound is also available as a plug-in. WaveLab has no sampler support but is a fast audio editor with decent time compression/expansion options, pitch correction, and parametric EQ. It also builds up an audio database of samples -- very convenient -- and handles AIFF and WAV files interchangeably.

Even some hard disk recording programs are in on the act: Samplitude Pro and Samplitude Studio allow for SDS transfers (no SMDI, though) and offer looping, EQ, a variety of DSP functions, and spectrum analysis, amongst other features.

The shareware Wave-To program concentrates on file-format translation but also receives and transmits SDS, and includes tools such as cut/copy/paste, loop point adjustment, and resampling. Syntrillium Software's Cool Edit (currently shareware, but a commercial version is due soon) is a full-function editor that's heavy on the DSP. It offers real-time previews of many processes.

There are other possibilities you might not expect. PC programs Fast Eddie and EdDitor can handle basic WAV file processing (cut, paste, EQ, and pitch-shifting), and on the Mac, Studio Vision Pro can convert audio into MIDI data, for editing and subsequent conversion back into audio again, while Digital Performer's hi-fi pitch-shifting algorithms are outstanding in their ability to minimise the artifacts often produced by this process.

Once your samples have been suitably customised, it's time to send them to the sampler.
Title: Re: turning samples into music (1997)
Post by: supernova777 on March 20, 2015, 05:04:26 PM
ANTARES INFINITY
we need to find a working copy of this  8)  8)  8)