A few questions for those of you who regularly use Sample Packs.
Are you looking for Packs that are tailored to a specific Style/Genre and go with the Sounds as they come or do you use them more broadly (maybe as a base for your own Sound Design)?
What content do you miss most in Sample Packs?
Is it important to you to have the option to choose between Dry and Wet Sounds?
Is there any type of Sample Pack you wish there were, that you haven't found yet?

 

Great question Paulsen, I'd love sample packs that get close to or try to emulate artists/records out in the real world. Or themes that mirror such content with similar themes. Kind of like what Tonepusher is doing with their Carpenter, Industrial Metal and 80s Horror themed preset/sample packs. Those are hitters! Just in general there aren't enough metal themed samples, especially preset packs. I piss myself in excitement when something like that falls into my lap because it's rather rare by nature since it's geared towards outcasts I guess.

Personally I want a sample pack/ preset pack that have keyboard sounds you hear in metal. This may end up being very niche though. But maybe there is room for many to enjoy because I rarely see the keyboard side of metal come up. Some metal/rock/punk drum sample packs of 90s revival stuff would be great and early 2000s as well. I feel like this is largely unexplored territory, at 20 years past this point it's unfair to say "too soon"

As far as Wet or Dry samples, I want both to be included. But if I have to choose one then I choose dry because I want them to be available to be processed, not pile a process on top of another process by watching dominoes fall. But both would be nice so I can see what it could see the potential in the process but then go back and flip the sample myself, my own way.

 

Last edited: Jan 14, 2022

Interesting! That's a genre I hadn't considered at all before in this context, because honestly I'm a little out of the loop concerning the metal world ^^ But that's a niche I would be interested in exploring as a Sound Designer. Do you prefer Presets (if so for which Instruments) or Samples/Loops?

 

I want crate dug b-side soul samples and drum one shots/percussion (shakers). midi packs are for losers, construction kits are for losers and melody packs are cringe af

 

Now that's a good question.
I sort my sample library in a mixed way between genre folders (for example "House", "Techno", "Hip Hop", "Trap" or "Reggae") and instruments/uses (for example "Drums", "Vocals", "Guitar", "Exotic" or "Ambient") ... so yeah, I guess I like it, when there are some genre specific sample packs. On the other hand, there are some great sample packs, which are not easy to classify. Therefor are some wider categories like "Various Electronics" or "Downtempo/Lofi" or "Soul Jazz Funk" or "FX" ... I don't want things to get overly complicated. I don't like too many folders in my main sample folder.
Some things I like in sample packs are:
- Chords, Pads and in general atmospheric content
- of course good sounding drum/percussion one shots

"What content do you miss most in Sample Packs?"
- There could be some more drum loop stems (meaning Kick Loops, Hat Loops) and less Full Drum Loops ... on the other hand it feels satisfying to chop those to single stems on your own.
- well recorded single instruments are always nice to have

"Is it important to you to have the option to choose between Dry and Wet Sounds?"
No, I don't think so. Dry is nice... but also wet sounds, cause it is fun to make them even more wet and weird.

"Is there any type of Sample Pack you wish there were, that you haven't found yet?"
Hmm, there could be some more very specific packs... like "Fender Rhodes Pad Atmosphere" or something, with nothing else in it, just those pad sounds from this instrument in many variations. In many cases sample packs have too many different things they go for. In a vocals sample pack I want to find vocals... no guitars, no piano, no drums, no synths...

Personally I don't like packs with mainly construction kits inside ... the way they are often structured doesn't fit to my workflow. It took me a long time to organize the amount of samples in a way which suits my workflow. This way I can have a huge library and feel prepared for many situations, without having to search all the time.

 

>Dry and wet
I very much prefer only dry. Less space used and less garbage in the collection. But! I understand why they keep putting the wet sounds as well. Sometimes you only get wet sounds and that is unacceptable.

>Specific vs general
A general pack doesn't really exist does it? It's always going to fall under a broad category. Specific sample packs are useful, but most of the time you really need to be creative to use the loops in them effectively. Oh and about loops: I hate when they don't provide one shots...
Midi packs, I found them quite useless, but again they might be useful for other people.

>Packs missing
I am at a point (I think all of us maybe) where I have such a huge array of tools... we don't really need new stuff at this point. I would love more vocals, actually usable vocals. And I don't mean acapellas. Ethnic chants and shouts, native singing, recordings, etc. but for that there is always sampling.

>Organizing
0. Personal stuff
1. Layering and single shots
2. Specific packs
3. Vengeance (always useful to have them around)
4. Ethnic/World
5. SFX/Animals
6. Glitch/Weird One Shots and Loops/Ambient
7. Grandad's Samples (old AKAI stuff, 90s; most of this shit I need to delete)

Cheers

 

Last edited: Jan 14, 2022

I would love to see a tape loop pack, basically a collection of long luscious 20sec pads arranged by "deep" "mid" and "high". The idea would be these 20sec pads can be recorded onto a cassette tape of which you would make your own cassette loops to play back into a daw. These arent just "pads" where someone holds a chord for 20 seconds, it would be achord held for 20secs with loads of delay/reverb/modulation wich creates movement... I love when people think arps are somehow ambient.. ambient is drone music or repeating slow, washed out melodies. I do this some time for my own stuff, but would be cool to see a tape loop sample pack...

 

Thx for all the responses! I'm creating a portfolio of my own Sample Packs for commercial use at the moment, which is why this is very helpful as a guidance for me. I think I'm gonna try to find some niche areas to cater to and go a little bit against the grain (not focusing on Loops or MIDI).

 

I thought about it something similar, too
I collected a ridicolous amount of pad sound/chord progression wavs over the last few years....
But yeah, I don't even know, if there is interest in the sample pack scene