Help with building sample kits.
2002-04-21 by HELP@MusicBootCamp.com
I was putting some new kits together tonight and realized that I had overcome a major obstacle I have often complained about it. I'm in the habit of grabbing samples off of places like samplenet.com and others, amassing 100s of samples, and dumping them quickly into the EXS for immediate use. What this means is that I go into the EXS editor: create new instrument, load multiple samples with the chromatic setting. Well tonight I decided to pull in the kick drums in one set, then the snares, etc. The problem is when you bring in the next chromatic set, it starts at C1 again and your samples are now overlapping. Here's where it gets good. Since I have assigned key commands to "shift samples to the left/right and change root note accordingly", I simply shift the new set of samples to the right and nudge them into the correct position, immediately after import. Since I can't dictate the starting note of a chromatic set, this is a hell of a workaround--I love it. It was easy to bring in a grouped set, name the group, start on the next one, move it into position and name its new group title. Making huge drum sets is now a dream. For those familiar with the terms in this description, have fun. Building massive kits has never been easier. Those two key commands are a life saver, and are not just for moving the occasional sample or two around. It's a lot more powerful a tool. Also, don't forget you can select a group of samples by what group they are in if you have the group selected (which hopefully you have named (such as Kicks) and left the group intact. You'll find this option in the edit drop-menu. Then you can still shuffle your groups of kicks, snares, hats etc. around at will without having to click-add each sample to the selection. Ok it's not drag & drop, but the fact that I can do the work in nearly the same time is a huge (and I mean huge) timesaver. Anyway, just thought I'd share some helpful insights. -Jer