Sampler Channel Settings (SMP)

The Sampler Channel Settings page holds properties specific for the Sampler generator. It also appears in plugin generators that support custom shapes for their oscillators. In such case, only the sample bank is visible in this tab.

1. Sample Bank

The sample bank contains the wave that Sampler uses for synthesis. Left-click the button on the left side to browse a sample or SimSynth/DrumSynth preset for the sample bank. The Open dialog has been enhanced with Favorites section. The combo box on the right side displays the name of the currently selected sample. If you left-click it, a history list with recently opened samples shows.

2. Wave

Contains general wave handling routines.

• Keep on Disk - Turning this option on lets you save memory by streaming the sample from your hard disk, instead of loading it entirely in the memory. Note that to be able to use this option, the sample needs to be in 44100 kHz 16 bit Stereo format. Also, you can not use precalculated effects (4), because they are applied to the whole wave at once.
• Resample - If your sample is not at 44100 kHz 16 bit Stereo format, you can click this option to let FruityLoops resample the wave for higher quality output. However, it is not recommended to turn this on for looped samples. Since all loop points are sample aligned, resampling may cause clicks. Note that while this option improves the real-time playback, it requires additional CPU and memory (resampled waves are bigger). Also, if you export your wave/mp3 with hermite curve interpolation or better, then the quality of non-resampled waves won't be degraded.

3. Loop

Contains options concerning sample looping.

• Use Loop Points - If the sample contains loop points (this is visible in the Sample view described below), you can check this option to make the sample loop. It will start playing from the beginning, then when it reaches the loop end point, it will "jump" back to the first loop point, thus creating sound with unlimited length, useful for instruments like strings, organs etc.
• Ping Pong Loop - This effect will take the wave between the loop markers and insert it reversed right before the loop end marker. The audible effect is like sample "ping-pongs" between the start and end loop points, instead of just jumping back to the start loop point.

4. Precalculated effects

It is a set of effects and processing routines for the sample loaded in the sample bank. None of them requires additional CPU power to play your song, because they are all applied precalculated - FruityLoops processes the sample and then it loads it in the memory with all effects already applied. However, this fact makes the automation of precalc effect impossible (see Automation). Also, they can not be applied to streamed samples (when the Keep on Disk option is turned on), since they need to process the whole wave at once.

• Center DC - Removes any DC offset in the loaded sample.
• Reverse Stereo - Switches left and right channel in the loaded sample.
• Reverse - Reverses the sample.
• Fade left to right - Creates a fade from left to right channel in the sample.
• Boost (FX1) - This effect is useful for boosting up & overdriving your sample.
• Sine FX - Applies a sine modulation to the sample. The first wheel controls the amount of modulation; the second one controls the sine frequency.
• Pitch bend (FX3) - Applies pitch bend to the sample. Useful with drum samples.
• Attack & Decay (ATT & DEC) - Turn right the attack wheel to create a fade in effect in your sample. Decay creates fade out (this is not true instrument envelope. To use a real AHDSR envelope, use Instrument Channel Settings instead).
• Reverb - Use this effect to add echoic ambiance to your sample. You have two different modes of reverb available - A & B. The wheel controls the amount of reverb applied to the sound. This effect may extend your sample at the end to fit the whole reverb (it is recommeded that you use the real-time reverb effect included with FruityLoops - Fruity Reeverb, see Effects).
• Cutoff & Resonance (CUT & RES) - Applies a low pass cutoff and resonance filter (for a real-time automated cutoff and resonance filter, see Instrument Channel Settings).
• Amplify (AMP) - You can use this effect to make louder low volume samples.
• Stereo Delay (S.DEL) - This effect applies a short delay between the left and the right side of the sample, which creates a pseudo stereo effect. Turning the wheel to right slides the left channel forward, while turning it left slides the right channel forward. Note that it is recommended not to use that effect on looped samples. Since all loop points are sample aligned, sliding either channel may cause clicks.

Precalc Effects Apply Order:

This is the order in which all precalc effects are applied to the sample:

Stereo DelayReverseFX3SineCutoff & ResonanceAttackDecayAmpFX1Pan/FadingFinal ClippingReverbRev. StereoEnd Silence Removal

5. Stretch

Left-click and drag up and down to set a number of steps (16-th notes) the sample will be stretched to. This is a real-time effect, so it will follow properly tempo changes during the song. However, note that samples are stretched with pitch non-preserving technique, so you can not have different pitches (tones) with one tempo. This makes it more suitable for use with drum loop samples instead of instrument samples. You can also right-click the LCD to gain access to a menu with several predefined stretch lengths. To turn off the effect (so the sample can have different pitches - notes, slides), just drag down until the LCD displays four dashes.

6. Sample View

The sample view displays the loaded sample (with all precalc effects applied to it). It also shows the loop points, if such exist (loop points can be set by using an external wave editor). The first vertical red line is the loop start point; the second one is the loop end point. Left-clicking the sample view previews the sample. Right-clicking it shows a menu with additional channel settings and commands. It contains exactly the same entries as the menu you can call by clicking the button at the top left corner of the Channel Settings window.

7. SimSynth Preset

This panel appears only when a SimSynth preset is used to fill the sample bank.

Enable the Use Riff option if you want to generate the whole riff in the preset (this option is disabled if the preset you used does not contain riff data). The Tempo wheel lets you set the tempo of the generated riff.

8. DrumSynth Preset

This panel appears only when a DrumSynth preset is used to fill the sample bank. They are few parameters that define the generated sound and they are identical to the same options in DrumSynth standalone.

• Tone (TONE) - Sets the loudness of the sine oscillator in DrumSynth.
• Overtone (OVER) - Sets the loudness of the second oscillator in DrumSynth.
• Noise (NOISE) - Sets the amount of white noise added to the sample.
• Noise Band (BAND) - Sets the loudness of noise band generator in DrumSynth.
• Time (TIME) - Sets the length of the generated sample.