I am missing my old MPC, and abletons sampler (where I used a specific preset from like version 8 that I had to find on github with the most recent versions) where I could easily slice up samples, it would auto assign them to be oneshots on the pads/midi keyboard, then i could tweak the samples from there. I use reaper now, haven't stumbled across a good alternative yet. I think reaper has some slicer options, i know there are some floating around like HY slicer... does anyone have any good suggestions or want to share what they enjoy using?

 

Serato Sample 2.0

 

In Reaper I use MKSlicer for this.

 

I like Serato Sampler 2 recently as well, but obviously it doesn't have a full compliment of functions I would like in a sampler, but it's a great fun tool that is fun to start with sometimes and then continue on with something else if needed...

 

My favorite way for years has just been in FL Studio's playlist. So many useful tools for chopping and if you get your settings correct you can zoom in and slice atoms....not quite, but close. We be chopin milliseconds bro

 

It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I still love Geist 2 for this. Audiomodern's Loopmix is a different approach but you can achieve some very decent results, quickly, imo.

 

Air Music Transport 2

 

MPC and Serato Sample

 

Speedrum. (period)
https://www.apisonic-audio.com/speedrum2.html

Lets put it this way. When I freeze an image of my "time-capsule" audio production/mixing PC from 2018-2024, and re-install the image on a compatible system in the year 2040 to bring up archived projects, this plugin will be included, and ready to rock!

 

Last edited: Jun 20, 2024

In 2040 I´ll be fiddling the knobs on MPC XXX

 

I use Serato for MPC style chopping (mainly with tonal material) and BItwig's Drum Machine for drums. If you're after a plugin you might want to check out TAL sampler and TAL drum machine.

 

Speedrum in my opinion is a great great plugin when it comes to that, it's so versatile, like I love Serato but you cant use it for drums or bring 2 different samples in the same plugin.

What I don't really understand about Sampler plugins is why most of them do not allow the mapping of the sample start and end? and the ones that allows that you cant move it with precision. Speedrum is the only exception to that rule that I know of. Poise also allows that but it's too small and an upgrade would be highly appreciated.

 

Initial Audio Slice.

 

Serato Sample - Fast and easy workflow. Auto chop or manual are both great. Added bonus of individual pitch, time stretch, attack, release etc for each sample. Seriously super easy to use, but quite powerful. Also has Stem separation baked in, which is awesome. Does a pretty good job as well. Detects key of your sample too. Many swear Serato's time stretching algorithms are the best.

Initial Audio Slice - Auto and manual chop. Built in effects. Built in sample sequencer, Drum sequencer, and Bass sequencer. So its really three parts per instance. Your sample chops, a drum kit, and a bass section (which can really be any one shot), each with their own sequencer page. Settings for the sample chops are global, meaning no per chop time stretch pitch etc. Also no randomization for the sequencer section, which is a major oversight imo. Would take it to the next level.

Ableton simpler - still one of my most used. its just a powerful little sampler.

Koala Sampler - iOS / Android, as well as Auv3 for M1 macs. Killer app. Its so good. Its affordable, extremely simple, yet also pretty deep. super fun and inspiring, and you can chop and sequence on the go. Great built in FX in both a "performance FX" section, and a mixing rack.

Weirdo Stuff:

Loopmix - Fun, easy to use but can be pretty deep. Great randomization. Beat juggles between 6 different samples. Really fun for chopping breaks, or melodic content too.

Palindrome - glitch machines - i dont even know what the hell this thing does lol. I just know i load some samples and start pressing buttons and moving knobs and it makes some crazy shit. Some sort of crazy granular sampler

SUPER FUN, one of the best plugins ive ever bought - Rando from Monkey C - its its own thing. It pulls samples randomly from your hard drive. If you have a large collection of samples it can yield some wild, inspiring results. It automatically syncs everything in key and tempo, so you just start playing keys and get some very unique and inspiring results. Its hard to explain, best to just watch a video.

 

Logic Drum Machine Designer and Q Sampler. It detects the hitpoints to create slice points, creates a Midi file on the channel, and loads every slice into it's own Sampler instance. Those sampler instances are automatically loaded onto their own individual channels as part of a group which is a Summing Stack. In about 3 mouse clicks.

 

It absolutely depends on what I'm doing, but for sampling-sampling with/while-using hardware it's either an MPC, an AKAI controller, or a Maschine MK1 with V2 software (because I don't need Close Encounters lights on a 4k screen yelling at my face.)
As far as software, I went from Poise to Nuance, kinda back to Poise, started kinda using Vice, then found Speedrum (and still use Poise sometimes for simple stuff; if you have a large monitor, the 23px15p interface isn't too painful.) So, currently, Speedrum and Maschine are my sampler solutions. Also, years after release, Sitala sort of clicked with me finally, for quick tasks. It's not real unique as far as choices in 2024, but I'm all for having as close to only what I need in a sampler (Speedrum has more than enough; I often use the Lite version despite owning the full version,) and I don't use sequencer or any features that are more often associated with that newfangled electronic party music.
But if I'm spitballing ideas for compositions, and in the drums phase where I'll be cycling back and forth between finding drums to fit a musical idea(s) and finding drums that inspire a direction with an instrument(s), I'm just going to be chopping out chunks of breaks with Edison or Vice; I dig their bone-stick-stone stupid select-'n-export workflow.
Also? Kinda strange no one has mentioned TAL-Sampler or TX16Wx. I had my rounds with them. XD

I wasn't aware of this. Without trying to piss off an army of Reaper fans, it's never been my go-to DAW for recording and/or creating because the workflow is cumbersome and claustrophobic, but it is firmly my secondary DAW, so this is solid info.

That software never meshed with my projects and workflow, but I always felt it was underused and underappreciated.

Years ago (a lifetime ago, feels like,) when I dropped FL for a more suitable DAW, I kept Edison around. SliceX is a solid tool tho. I'm half-tempted to go back and have another run with it, ya'know, FOMO and all that.

You look out your window lately? I think our species hitting the 2040 mark is a bit on the optimistic side—but you do you.

 

I chose V10, even though they were on V11 or V12 at the time, for the same reason. After V10 they started getting popular enough that, much like PreSonus has been doing for some years now, they stopped actually improving their internal shit and just started populating the DAW with shiny new toys. I forget what my main gripe with FL was at the time, but it may have been similar to what PreSonus seems to have an inability to make themselves tackle, the core/threading issues that are deal-breakers for me. IL never nailed that down.

I never felt comfortable in FL Studio it was just the easiest transition out of audio programs and into an actual DAW. I wasn't trying to find the perfect DAW(s) when I first dove into ITB stuff, I just needed a place to record MIDI and audio in a single environment, and to learn more about audio/mixing outside of what I already knew from amps and sound boards and pedals an and all that. I'm a multi-instrumentalist, done minor studio work, some fill-in work for people (make all the jokes you want about drummers never showing up to sessions, anyone who plays an instrument is just as bad,) and essentially worked FOH enough that I knew what I wanted as far as features and functionality, but I needed a DAW that was easy to learn, and that was also able to take down sketch tracks and ideas and throw-togethers quickly in a variety of genres. FL Studio never was anything but a stepping stone and I stuck with it for some years because it wasn't initially holding me back, and then stuck with it even after it was because I ended up spending about... shit... a year and a half? testing out a bunch of DAWs for months at a time to try and find one that fit the way I work, both recording and mixing. I ended up staying with Studio One (which was at... V3.?.? at the time,) and kept Reaper around too (who knows what version... V4.?.? maybe?) And I have zero desire to be hopping between DAWs; my ideas/projects/songs folders, and their general organization and upkeep is a large enough time-sink already without adding a multi-DAW setup to the equation. (If I wanted to fiddle with DAWs and software almost exclusively, with music taking a far back seat, I'd have chosen Reaper, got my script game on. )

 

if you come from mpc style workflow serato sample is nice
recycle (use it like pre production,for all daws)
but if you come from sampling & like it to be daw independant
New Sonic Arts is the bomb
Vice is like a slicer/player in one
Nuance is a nice little sampler
but all their stuf i like