Sampling

Hoping someone can answer the following:

I've taken a 6 second sample of a KN7000 choir voice, saved it as a wav file and imported it for use in the Tyros 2, it works fine but i'm unsure of a few things.

1) What's the best length of time to sample?
2) For best results do you let the sound fade away naturally? or crop it before the fade?
3) is there anywhere on the internet that has info, samples etc.
4) Is there software for perfecting the sample to loop easier, and smoother.

Many thanks for any help that can be given.

Kind regards

Peter

[This message has been edited by Peter Lowden (edited 09-03-2006).]

1- The time lenghth of the sample is always a compromise between the realism of the sample itself and the memory available inside the instrument.
2- Cropping a sound gives always unnatural results; better let it fade away or -even better- create a good loop (if the sound is a sustaining one, of course)
3- Plenty of info on the net for sure, but I am not sure where, since never had the need to find out. Both the Harmony Central Forum and the Keyboard Player Forum have discussion sites dedicated to sampling and the issues related.
4- The first program that comes to mind is Sound Forge; try to do a Google search about it.
Sorry for being concise, but I am not at home now...

Many thanks for the info, really kind of you

All the best

Peter

I'm very interested in this topic .
On the KN7000 there is a super "female soprano soloist " voice it comes from one of the 4 expansion boards I had installed .
I would love to know how to carry out this operation and then load into my GEM XP expander !! (which is much smaller for gigs)
I did a gig for a friends wedding in Italy a few years ago and I brought the house down !! so to speak with my arrangement of "Nessun Dorma" using the almost Human sounding female voice!! and half way through the song adding a driving House beat rhythm !! from a stunned surprised audience every one suddenly got up to dance !!! I'll never forget that moment !!
It also goes done well in the Uk and the USA

So any tips on how to carry out the sampling would be most appreciated !!

I should add that I'm a midi accordionist rather than a keyboard player

regards ...........Giovanni

Hey guys, great topic.

Why don't we share some of the samples you are playing with. I've made a few and if there is interest, I will share them as well. We can pass around the .WAV files this way they will not be instrument specific.

How about it?

Great idea , but please explain someone how you go about making the sample ?

regards .............Giovanni

Giovanni,

There are several ways to make the sample. One way is to take an existing mp3 or wav file, copy the parts of it you want, transfer it to your keyboard, then create a voice file in your target keyboard.

You could also use a microphone or a line input from an audio source to sample directly into the keyboard.

Hi there.
With the Tyros 2 you can't sample directly into the keyboard, it only offers you sample playback.
You can however import any WAV or AIFF that you have prepared previously into the T2 for editing.

Using Pro Tools, Sound Forge or some other audio editing software is best, or you can also use sounds from commercial sample libraries as long as they are in these formats.

It's not any easy process, but you basically call up the Wave import menu which is found under the voice creator option. You then select one of the elements shown, add the WAVE (.wav or .aif) and press file import.

The fun part is setting up the parameters.
I can't really type to explain it as it's far easier when you are sat in front of the T2. If I remember correctly page 94 goes through the entire process.

It would have been nice if Yamaha had gone into more depth regarding using your own sampled sounds, but I'm guessing with the quality of the internal sounds they possibly didn't think many would be interested in creating our own?

Hi Giovanni,
you'd have to read the Gem instructions on how to go about. ie does the expander only play back samples or can you actually record them.

I decided to try it on my sd1. I used a clarinet soundfont which I split up into individual wav files. Loaded them into the sampler etc etc.

I wasn't overly impressed with the result. The onboard clarinet sounded better.

The only reason I'd bother with creating or loading an intrument sample/s would be, if it was a sound that the keyboard didn't already have. I found it a lot of work and I used a wav file. Sampling is even harder to get a good result.

One thing I would consider is adding additional drum samples ( & drum loops for the sd1) & possibly some SFX samples as the SD1 has no where near the range of sounds that the PSR's & Tyros has.

best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Giovanni:
[B]

Thanks for your reply Rikki ,
The Gem can read sound samples .
It's just that the Technics has this great Female soprano opera voice (it really sounds life like !! )it comes from one of the 4 extra Expansion boards I had fitted when I bought the KN 7000 several years ago !!
I'm still trying to get the hang of the Gem it has a different operating systm to what I'm used to !! so it's very early days for me to get to this advanced stage !!

regards ..........Giovanni

Hi Giovanni,
I know the one you mean. I had all 4 expansion boards for my kn7. ( foolishly I sold KN a couple of years ago). It was a fantastic voice.
Unfortunately your Gem will have a learning curve,it's a very sophisticated arranger.
I ended up with an sd1 at xmas, had to read the manual 3 times before I started to work it out. Some keyboards are harder to learn than others.
Bought a PSR1500 a couple of days ago, & I've got most of the basic stuff worked out.
( I did own a 9000pro a few years ago, so maybe that helped) The Psr's are a bit closer to how the kn's worked.

You may be safer & waste less time if you get familiar with the gem operating system. You have the comfort of knowing it can load samples, & you may be able to record your soprano voice in the future.

There are software options you should be able to use if the gem doesn't actually sample.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Giovanni:
[B]Thanks for your reply Rikki ,