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[Oliwerko]

Hi there!

I am pretty new to this, and I have a difficulty choosing the right samples for my track.
I have like hundreds (or even thousands?) of samples, and I just don't know how to start choosing them. I hope you get what I mean. How do you do it? Do you have the song in your head and then you just roam around your collection and play them all until something rings a bell in your head? Or have you an exact sound in your head that you are looking for?

Thx in advance.

[Saga Musix]

when i just start a fresh song, i often load some "standard" sampels into my tracker, e.g. a bass drum, snare, hi-hat, bass, etc. and I'm going to exchange them lateron if they don't fit into the track anymore. sometimes, i also have a special melody in my head which i can associate immediately to a specific sample on my hd. for this purpose, you should kinda organize your sample folder: create folders for drums, bass samples, strings, lead insturments, pads, etc.... And then browse your folders and listen to every single sample. Then decide which may fit best into your song. If it doesn't, you can still exchange it.

[raina]

I don't keep a very organized library of samples which is probably both good and bad. But the way I work on my tracks is I first have something down as a basis, a hook, a drum track, a bassline, a chord progression, some loop or maybe even a lead and then I go randomly poking in my dirs to find something that matches. Sometimes it works great, sometimes the song just ends up on my pile of hundreds of unfinished tracks. Then there's the odd moment when the track just sounds like it needs a certain something I can pretty accurately picture in my head. That's when I find it easier/faster to just create the sample(s) myself using soft synths and whatnot instead of starting to browse sample collections which can easily take too much time to hold on to the inspiration.

[Kmuland]

each time I try to live more free about music. I went back from VST world to the trackers world. I stopped collection sampleCDs libraries to use any sample that I find on my HD.

Dont waste so much time on big sample libraries. Currently I just use a small sample collection that I donwloaded here from modarchive. Just few samples of drums/loops and basic instruments.. and really thats all. In milkyracker I can boost freqs with the EQ if some hihat doesnot have enough high freqs.. or cut low freqs in other instruments when needed.

When I look for some special sample.. I rip something from any mp3 or video taht I have currently liyinh on the HD

About chiptunes Im more lazy.. I load milkytracker and draw the samples that Ill use.


Life free... make things easy.

[Oliwerko]

That's exactly how I started... Drawing my own chiptune samples in Milky.
But I guess I will later move on to VSTs. But until then, i need muuuuuuch practice...

[Ceekayed]

When I compose I usually have a very clear picture what I want from the song, and that applies to picking the samples too: I hear the sounds in my head and pick my samples according to that. If I can't find the right kind of a sample, I'll just make a one that fits my needs. As some of you know already, I'm a technical wanker who loves balanced sound, so I guess it's understandable.

[woolters]

I've always had my samples ordered per category. Saves A LOT of time looking up the right samples. I often get inspiration while listening to other songs of mine, so then I use the samples that were already loaded.

There are many different approaches to sample selection.
- Some do it in advance of the tracking process, wether or not with a clear idea in mind, selecting a more or less standard sample set (drums, bass, accompaniment,  leads).
- Others do it as they go along, trying different instruments for one melody, only proceeding when they're (more or less) satisfied.
- And there are people who first have a set of samples, finish the song and then try different sounds for different parts of their songs.
(I myself use all three options variably)

I think it is best for yourself to find out which approach works best.

As you gain experience in tracking, you also get to like and dislike some samples, the former which you use more often ofcourse. For example, when I plan to make a Reggae song, I load an earlier Reggae song of mine and use its samples, because they have proven to be good before.
I mostly start of by laying down a basic reggae pattern of drums, or accompaniment/chords. after that I start improvising on bass and melodies.

[Oliwerko]

And do you have large library of samples to choose from ? Because when the library is small, you have perfect overview, but little variety. If it is huge, than very large selection but very little overview. My collection now has approx. 10 000 files.

Also, what do you use most often? VSTs? Do you even use loop samples (I personally don't like them, it's like ready made part of song...)? Or do you just stick with classic ones?

[Saga Musix]

I have almost 13.000 and there's no problem with it since they're all in sub folders which indicate what kind of sample it is or to which library it belongs. Plus, I occasionally rip samples from other modules which enhances the collection of course. I know every sample that I made myself and also many others, so there's no problem finding special samples. I also use loops somtimes, but it's important to not use them in the standard way - split them up, use a different frequency, etc... It will make them more interesting.

[necro2607]

I have never really used samples made by other people, other than when first messing around with a tracker in 2000 or so, which was the first time I had made music on the computer.  Even then, I started very very quickly synthesizing my own sounds with Absynth (which by the way was a pretty crappy experience, I found the program really arcane or something).

These days I produce full songs in Logic and have not touched trackers in about 7 years,  until just last week when I found MilkyTracker and realized trackers are a lot cooler than I thought, years ago.

Regardless, even now, if I keep working in MilkyTracker (as a side project,  since I require a full DAW+hardware studio for my band),  I will be synthesizing my own samples with my hardware synths.  I've got a pretty diverse set of synths that can create some very very nice sounds, and frankly I wouldn't feel good about using sounds someone else made.    For me,  what's the point in doing some creative artistic work, if I'm working off someone else's product?  I can understand using some samples of, some 303 squelch, or something,  but even then, I will make that myself anyways, and give it my own unique touch, with some extra modulation or who knows what.

That said, I also set extremely high standards for myself , and how I go about doing things, so this probably isn't that common of a perspective in the tracking scene... I don't know, though. I've never had even the slightest involvement in "the scene", until the last week or so. 

The only samples I still use today are a small handful of nice simple drum sounds, which I actually re-shape and modify very excessively to fit my tastes.