Chapter 9: Working with Sampler, Quick Sampler, and Auto Sampler

Logic Pro was the first digital audio workstation to include its very own software-based sampler, the EXS24, at a time when GigaSampler was really the only other choice. Many of its competitors still don't include a free one; you have to buy theirs.

If you used Logic before the 10.6. update, you'll recognize this:

Figure 9.1 – EXS24

Many users felt that it had gotten a bit long in the tooth, and begged for a more modern and powerful sampler, and in 10.6, they have one.

It's simply called Sampler, and as the French say, vive la difference:

Figure 9.2 – Sampler

If you used Logic before 10.6 and are used to loading patches in the EXS24 and are familiar with its architecture, comprising sampler instruments in one folder with the samples in another, you needn't worry that anything has changed that will not allow you to use your Sampler...

Loading instruments into Sampler

You can load patches that work with Sampler from the Library, just as we did in Chapter 5, Recording MIDI.

Because the Library is contextual, if you have a Sampler already instantiated, you will see patches that work with Sampler. As you know, it will load however not only the sampler instrument but also some FX plugins, which you may or may not want.

If you prefer, hold the mouse down where you see Factory Default on the Sampler interface and scroll down to see Factory instruments, GarageBand instruments, and any third-party libraries you have purchased or instruments you created.

Scroll down to Factory instruments and load any instrument that interests you.

Since this a beginner's book, I am not going to go deep into all the controls that you can use to edit this sound, but notice that we see five panes:

• The Synth pane contains options for global pitch, panning, volume, and filters for the sound, as you will find in any of...

Working with Quick Sampler

If you again open Logic Pro and choose New from Template, you will see that with 10.6, in Project Chooser/Tutorials is an option for for the Quick Sampler that you may want to spend some time with.

For now, open a new empty project and in the Software Instrument field, choose Quick Sampler. It looks like this:

Figure 9.3 – Quick Sampler

There are lots of ways to bring a sample into the Quick Sampler and work with it. Let's explore some of the ways.

Loading Apple Loops to Quick Sampler

The following steps will show us how to load Apple Loops to Quick Sampler:

1. Press O to open the Loop Browser.
2. Choose the loop pack called Disco Funk.
3. From the Instrument tab, select All Drums. I like one called Glitter Nights Beat. It's 16 beats long with 4 bars:

   Figure 9.4 – Glitter Nights Beat

   In Quick Sampler, we have four choices for behavior in the interface: Classic, One Shot, Slice, and Recorder...

Getting familiar with Auto Sampler

Auto Sampler is a tool to convert patches in hardware keyboards and other software instruments into playable sampler instruments in Logic. Have a favorite sound in your Yamaha Motif that you would like to have? How about a sound from a Kontakt library that is resource-demanding?

Sounds great, and it is. A couple of caveats, though:

• It isn't going to always sound exactly like your hardware synthesizer. Your synthesizer has filters and FX that will not translate to the Auto Sampler.
• If your example Kontakt library has a bunch of different articulations or true legato (recorded intervals going from one note to the other), Auto Sampler will not capture that because Sampler does not have that capability, at least not at the time of writing this chapter.
• Depending on your choices and how large the instrument is and how fast your Mac is, it can take quite a while.

Still, it is very useful, and I have created several instruments...

Summary

You have now been introduced to Sampler, which is the revamped version of Logic's EXS24 sampler. You have learned about the power and ease of use of my favorite new feature, Quick Sampler. Auto Sampler, a feature of MainStage that allows you to convert patches from hardware keyboards or other software instruments and their libraries, is now also part of Logic Pro.

In the next chapter, we will become familiar with working with Live Loops and its cells and scenes. We will also see how to play cells and scenes live, as well as record and edit cells and scenes.