5 mins in, guy hits Arm, triggers threshold, Geist 2 records the sample and auto stops recording when the sounds goes under the minimum threshold. It can even be set to record the next sample to a new pad/layer, ect. I have Geist 2 but it's acting up, as usual.

Ultimately what I need to do is: Computer>Hardware Sampler>Computer

I'm looking for a forgiving workflow as I have about a 1000+ samples to do, to start with.

I'm using a couple of old samplers so easy transfer is not an option, besides, it's the conversion that I need, the grit. Plugins are simply not cutting it. They all suck for this task imo.

 

Last edited: Jan 18, 2019

Looks like Apple's MainStage 3 has an auto-sample feature and it's only $30. Unfortunately it's also bloated with stuff I don't need. Maybe I can trash most of it. It'll have to make do if a better option doesn't come along. There's SampleRobot 6, but that's really expensive.

 

MainStage is definitely the best bang for the buck, the "bloat" is a collection of very good instruments btw.
I cannot help unless you go into more detail about what you're going to sample and what you expect from the sampled library.
Each sampling task has a different workflow.

 

Yeah, that's the bloat I'm talking about, stuff I don't need or want polluting my drive. I'd prefer something light, but 30$ is hard to beat. That's a tremendous deal considering, plus there's a 10 gig download if people want that. I don't.

I'm not sure what other details you need. I'm going to sample sounds from my computer, one shots in this particular case, to my hardware samplers (80s Ensoniq/E-mu) and then get those samples back into the computer just so they can end up in a software sampler because: virtually endless memory, layering, and other neat tricks not possible in those old samplers. -Computer>Hardware Sampler>Computer-

When I'm done with that, I need a quick way to sample mono synths to make poly patches, just to transfer them back to another hardware sampler. (2000's E-mu) Transferring that will be easy because options: SCSI/HD/Floppy/Zip/ect. I may even be able to do that in the sampler itself, it's been a many, many, years since I've used it, I have to look into it. That said, If I'm going to buy the soft, I might as well get the most out of it if it saves me time.

From the looks of it, MainStage 3 can do this. I'm just just not sure what files I'll be dealing with yet, I'm thinking it's like Logic? .exs file along with .aiff or .wav, I'm interested in wav, or if there's a lighter alternative I'm passing over, somewhere in the neighborhood, price wise.

 

OK, so you don't need velocity layers, just a bunch of individual samples.
The most laborious task will be to get the samples into the hardware samplers.
A: Sample from the analog input on the sampler and if I get you right, you want as much character from the hardware as you can get - it's not only about the DACs, it's also about the ADCs, right?
My Roland S-760 has a quick sampling feature which makes sampling a breeze but I don't know how yours are. Guess it's going to be a laborious process. If you do it, make sure the samples from your computer have roughly the same peak level and always stay below -3dB on the hardware sampler when recording from your computer's audio interface outputs.
B: Use an SMDI utility to batch-transfer samples to your hardware samplers
C: Get an old version of ReCycle (I guess v2.0 was the last one with SCSI support), append all wav files into one, let ReCycle slice them and send them to your sampler(s) via SCSI.
ChickenSys Translator can write AKAI ISO images and E-mu samplers can read them, but Ensoniq? I don't know. I had most luck building SF2 files from my samples and converting these to an AKAI S1000 ISO.
Yes, MainStage will build EXS files plus wave files. And it will only help you getting the samples back into the computer.

 

A: Yes. Of course I'll be going for the classic approach to get grittier samples.

As for the more modern sampler I'll be using for the mono analogs I can just dump everything on a drive and I'm good. It's just a matter of programing after that. Some of these software auto-samplers can auto loop as well (can't recall at the moment if MainStage can) which would save me some time, that is my thinking with the software approach for this job.

For the one shots job, I'm trying to avoid having to manually edit each and every sample once back in the computer If I possibly can, that's where the software auto-samplers comes in, otherwise I'd just use my DAW to record back the samples from the hardware samplers and get to cutting. I already edited/processed each and every sample one by one. This would save me a 1000+ steps and a lot of time. So that's why I'm in search of the perfect cheap auto-sampler soft that runs on macOS. Geist is actually good at this, but unfortunately it's buggy for whatever reason on my system. I have to keep restarting the damn thing.

BTW, yes ChickenSys Translator can handle Ensoniq files, but I'm not going to buy it, for my immediate use it defeats the purpose, which is the conversion/sample rates.

I'll keep that peak level tip in mind, thanks.

 

I've recently finished sampling about 20 presets from a VA synth with different key distances, including auto-loop using the old AutoSampler from the now defunct Redmatica company. I haven't used the AutoSampler feature in MainStage yet so I can't tell you how well it works in comparison.
You may have to try different looping algorithms - I've found that the one that sounds the smoothest in AutoSampler will also change the character of the sound more or less audibly in the looped region. Not all samples can be looped perfectly without doing some DSP tricks. No matter what, I would make sure to sample for long enough so the un-looped phase is more than 3..4 seconds when sampling a sustained sound.

BTW, can Geist 2 auto-loop?

 

Nope.

And yeah, I know to go for length. I try to get away with as much as possible.

If there is another soft, that doesn't cost a lot like SampleRobot and runs on macOS, I can't find it, so MainStage it is.

Hey thanks for your help and time. I appreciate it!

 

Sample Robot is quite expensive!!! I was looking for an auto sampler too, but at that price I would rather pay an extra 100$ get the Halion 6... its got tons of extras stuff on top of what SampleRobot can do!!! Samplit seem to do the job too at 139$... anyone has better suggestions before I really commit to Halion 6? (I need to save up a little more though... take a few more months)