Playing samples live

LennyNero · #1 11-04-2002, 08:53 AM

Hi there,

I'd like to play some samples live (Backing tracks, some noise... well, nothing specific, source could be wave-files or a simple AudioCD).

What would be the easiest (and cheapest) way to do that and being able to control that via a midipedal (that sends PC and CC).

Thanx,
Lenny

bammbamm · #2 11-04-2002, 10:33 AM

What kind of equipment do you have at this point?
That may help in giving you the best way to accopmlish this.
Bamm

LennyNero · #3 11-04-2002, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bammbamm

What kind of equipment do you have at this point?

Well, nothing. My PC, but that doesn't count for the stage (I will not rely on Redmond when playing live...). And I am having a spare MIDI-Pedal (Digitech Control

which sends Program and Command Changes. That'S all...

Lenny

bammbamm · #4 11-04-2002, 12:16 PM

You need to either find a sampler rack that you can use or a keyboard that will handle sampling. From there, you can assign a specific controller # to trigger a sample or use an outboard footswitch as a trigger.
You can find the Akai S20 digital phrase samplers pretty cheply anymore as well as the old Roland MS1's. Boss has a line of basic 4 or 8 channel models that have 4-8 different samples that you can select from.

Look around online for samplers that are for sale, there are TONS of resources to find out about features and options. http://www.synthsite.com has a vast resource for samplers, synths etc...

You need to locate a sampler that is going to fit your budget as well as what you want to do.
Research is the key at this point.

Bamm

darren wilson · #5 11-04-2002, 01:03 PM

If you have a laptop, consider using a software sampler like Ableton Live or the sampler built into Reason.

Ableton Live is particularly amazing, because it's totally geared around live playback/performance and manipulation of samples. Version 2.0, which is due in December, can do real-time time-stretching and compression, and tempo matching based on a tap tempo input. Very cool.

My band is using a combination of a few pieces of software for all of our electronic stuff live, (Ableton Live 1.5, Reason 2.0, Absynth) and it works like a charm... Our keyboard player's Apple iBook just needs more RAM to have it all running at once!

LennyNero · #6 11-04-2002, 01:16 PM

Hi again,

thanx for the quick answers...

Quote:

Originally Posted by bammbamm

You need to locate a sampler that is going to fit your budget as well as what you want to do.

Well, I visited the site you recommended and did a search on ebay (samplers). Actually there were many things and to be honest, I am not quite sure where to start.

What I am thinking of is on one hand stuff like Pink Floyd did (soundsamples out of live, like the helicopter on "the wall") and maybe some keyboards (we do not have a keyboard) tracks to play "along" with (would it be good having a "click" running along for our drummer).

Thanx,
Lenny

Two hands31 · #7 11-04-2002, 03:17 PM

I've seen bands that use a mini-disk player for backing/sampled stuff, especially for electronic/effected drum/keyboard stuff. Which would be basically the same idea as a CD. They had a very faint click in the track, and just played it along with the music, and the drummer just had it fed back to him louder than through the house speakers so he could hear the click, the band drowned out the click.

bammbamm · #8 11-04-2002, 03:52 PM

A click track is good to keep things level and in tempo, I have done the sync the band to dat tape thing in the past, but if your drummer misses a beat...forget it !

The one saving grace of a non sequenced sampler is that you can trigger real time. The problem there is its another button to push during your performance, but assuming you're doing Floyd-type stuff, you most likely won't be soloing during the sampled portion. My advice would be start simple and increase the technology as you gain experience. A bad experience or too steep a learning curve will turn you away from something that can add a lot of depth to your live shows.

Keep it simple

Bamm

Drew · #9 11-04-2002, 04:26 PM

www.elementalrecords.com

Buy Floater's "Sink" album. Now. Or, buy their live disc, "The Great Release," to hear them pulling that stuff off live. These guys are at least as good as Floyd when it comes to their use of samples, IMO, and just rock in general.

Nothing like a little peer pressure...

-Drew

somata · #10 11-04-2002, 04:31 PM

why is it important to for it to be controlled via midi? just curious...

a few cheap (midiless) options-

boss loop station...
or
zoom 707II- with a smartmedia card, you can store up to 5 six minute tracks...which could then be loaded onto your pc via a smartmedia reader
or
line 6 delay modeler

those are the few off of the top of my head...

good luck!!

DLHelfand · #11 11-04-2002, 04:57 PM

I just saw a great band on Friday that did that. They were called Baby. I think they have a song or two on their website, which I think is www.babynyc.com I am not usually into sampled stuff, but they did it well. The guitar player was sampling stuff. I could see him step on something but I don't know what. I do know that he had a Pod Pro, which might have been controlling a sampler through midi. Check out the songs, I think they did a cover of the Stones, "Miss You" with a techno/rock vibe. They were WAY better live.

LennyNero · #12 11-05-2002, 08:44 AM

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by somata

why is it important to for it to be controlled via midi? just curious...

a few cheap (midiless) options-

boss loop station...
or
zoom 707II- with a smartmedia card, you can store up to 5 six minute tracks...which could then be loaded onto your pc via a smartmedia reader
or
line 6 delay modeler

Well, Midi maybe because I have the pedal standing around doing nothing. As for the Loop-Station ir the Line6 delay modeler... I will not do loops of my own playing live. I imagine somthing like a playlist on winamp, remote controlable (since I play guitar I do not have the hands free), but I do not want a computer (well, neither PC nor Mac) on the stage. I never worked with the Zoom, but from what I read I can record with it to transfer it to the PC, that is not waht I plan. I'd like to prepare these on my computer and having them on a device I could use live.

Thanx anyway,
Markus

somata · #13 11-06-2002, 09:34 AM

i knew you didn't want to loop your playing, sorry for any confusion...anyways, all 3 of the pedals i mentioned do have memory, so you could create something on the pc, send it out through your line out and into the pedals...the downside is that the loop station and line 6 don't have extensive memory capabilities, the zoom has a pretty big memory (at least for a $150 pedal-up to 5 tracks, 6 minutes each) via the smartmedia cards...but again these are inexpensive, low tech suggestions...

something else that i have, that is a completely different animal, but i'll talk about it anyways-lol-, is a yamaha psr-292 keyboard that has a 6 track recorder built into it. you can't put outside sources into it, (keyboard only--well, it does have midi ports so maybe you could import sounds from the computer...) but there are a lot of great sounds in it that make good ambient/noise backing tracks