sampling and associated technologies

UFCEXR-20-1Multimedia Sound Production

Sampling and Associated Technologies

Multimedia Studio UFCFY5-30-1 Theme: Multimedia Sound Production

Agenda

Equipment and Connectivity Setup Overview of Sampling and Related VST / AU Applications Recording Considerations Storage and Retrieval Issues Sample-based Software DAW Applications


The Setup: Audio Hardware, DAW, Speakers


Audio Interface


Legacy Sound Card

Speaker-out

Line-out

Microphone-in

Line-in

Game / midi port


PCI Sound Card


Sound Card with Digital I/O


Drivers!


Drivers for USB Devices?

Some USB devices are ‘compliant’i.e. no drivers required to work with Windows OS or Mac OSX


Line v Speaker Connections

Speaker output signal usually has volume, bass and treble modifications - poorer quality for recording

Line connectors provide a neutral signal without any added amplification (gain) or equalization, i.e. ‘flat’


Audio Recording Considerations

Audio waveform with appropriate recording level set

Audio waveform with recording level too high resulting in ‘clipping’ of the waveform edges (distortion)


iLOK aka Dongle : software licences stored on this device

original

current


Pedals and Foot Switches


This model is just a switch i.e. on or off

Some models have 0-127 settings – the virtual instrument must also support this facility

Foot Switch (Sustain Pedal)


Overview of Sampling

Sampling is the process of recording real sound as an audio clip (sample) that can be played back as a tone (voice) in a music device

These sounds may be natural environment sounds or more typically they are recordings of real instruments

The process of sampling real instruments usually requires lengthy and detailed professional recording sessions to accurately reproduce the timbre of the real instrument for the audio sample

Many factors must be considered in the recording of the instrument to enable the individual nuances of the acoustic instrument to be authentically represented.


Sampling Considerations : Piano

88 individual notes

Note Volume

Note Length

Chords

Polyphony

String Resonance

Sustain Resonance

Soft Pedalling (Uno Corda)

Microphone Positioning


Sampling Considerations: Orchestral

Note range of acoustic instrument

Note volume

Note length

Articulations (expressive play)


Sampling Considerations: Snare Drum

Zone

‘Rim Shot’

Material - various types of wood or metal

‘Stick sound’


VST / AU Sampled-based Software Applications

VST = Virtual Studio Technology (Windows)

AU = Audio Units (OSX)


Steinway Piano Virtual Instrument

Multimedia Studio UFCFY5-30-1 Theme: Multimedia Sound ProductionToon Track: EZdrummer

Drum Kit Virtual Instrument


Electronic drum kit with mainly ‘pad’ drum heads

Multimedia Studio UFCFY5-30-1 Theme: Multimedia Sound ProductionToon Track: EZdrummer

Electronic drum kit with ‘mesh’ drum heads


System Requirements

Audio samples will be of a specific resolution e.g. 16 bit or 24 bit Higher resolution require faster data transfer rate and larger

storage requirements. Hard Drive spin speeds will impact on transfer rates Need at least 7200 RPM - most laptops are 500 RPM Best results are from external device such as USB 3.0 or

Firewire drives Firewire 400 and 800 better at handling continuous transfers

needed for sampling. Firewire 800 better if available. Latency


Transfer Rates Compared

Firewire 400 Mbps (400 Million Bits Per Second) Firewire 800 = 800 Mbps USB 2.0 = 480 Mbps SATA 3 (Hard Drives) USB 3.0 a potential of around 5 Gigabits per second

(Gbps)


External Hard Drive (Lacie)


Reason Virtual Mixing Desk

Instrument Tracks

Reason has an excellentcollection of orchestral samples

Reason can run inside a host application, e.g. Logic Studio, as a ‘Rewire’ application

Transport Controls

Reason is a sample-based

virtual software instrument


References

BFD Drums www.fxpansion.com

Ivory Pianos www.synthogy.com

Roland www.roland.co.uk

Reason www.propellerheads.se

sampling and associated technologies

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