The Sample engine: Start, Length and Loop
Choose where a sample starts, how much of it plays and which way, and where it loops.
In the Sample engine the three sound knobs become a sample player. Wave is the Start point: 0 is the beginning of the sample, 100 is the end. Timbre is the Length, from -100 to +100: a negative length plays backwards from the start point. Shape is the Loop point: a crossfade (a smooth blend) between the start and the end of the part that plays. The model uses a two-bar drum loop as its sample.
- What Start, Length and Loop do in the Sample engine
- How a negative Length plays a sample backwards
- How to play a whole sample in reverse
- How the loop point works
The steps5 steps
- The sound is on the Sample engine and plays the loop. Press a few keys.
Stuck?
Click two or more keys. The built-in loop plays the part of a voice.
- Turn Wave, which is Start. As you turn up, playback begins further into the sample. At the top you start near its end.
Stuck?
Hold a key and move Wave up and down, or play a note after each move.
- Turn Timbre, which is Length, down below the middle (near the middle the length is very short, so you hear little). A negative length plays backwards from the start point (it is clearest with Start set high). Above the middle it plays forwards.
Stuck?
Timbre fully down is a Length of -100.
- Turn Shape, the Loop point, and keep playing. The loop point blends the end of the sound back into its start, so the part that repeats changes. At the top the loop is very short.
Stuck?
Hold a key and move Shape.
- Play the whole sample reversed: put Wave (Start) at the top and Timbre (Length) at the bottom, then play a note.
Stuck?
Wave all the way up, Timbre all the way down, then a key.
Start picks where, Length picks how much and which direction, Loop is a crossfade between the start and the end. Start at 100 with Length at -100 plays the whole sample in reverse. Filter and envelope shape the result like any other engine.
On the real MicroFreak
On the real synth the sample you play is the one chosen with Shift + Type, and a sample slot can be an Assign destination or recorded in a modulation track. At Loop 100 the loop point sits right at the end and is very short.
Where the model differs
The model plays its built-in drum loop in this engine, because it cannot load the synth's sample slots.
Questions2
What does a negative Length do?
It plays the sample backwards from the start point. With Start at 100 and Length at -100 you hear the whole sample reversed.
Why is there no sound?
The Sample engine plays the sample in the slot you chose. Check that the chosen slot holds a sample.