creating my own instrument samples-is it possible?

[seanv]

Hey, I am new to the mixing scene, and I'm sorry if this is a newbie question. I have read the stickies and some threads but I haven't learned much besides what I already know.

Basically, I want to take various instrument samples (some directly from N64 games) and input them into my songs. Like, I have a single note of a single instrument, and I want to be able to turn that note into a melody nearly like the N64 hardware does.

I've been looking all over the internet and all I can find are premade samle libraries for downloading. From what I can gather it's either called "soft sampling" or "instrument samples," but I can't find any programs that actually state that you can import your own instrument samples to synthesize.

I've got my eye focused on Project5. Can Project5 do soft sampling? Are there any other programs that can do this? Or is this impossible?

[Yoozer]

Basically, I want to take various instrument samples (some directly from N64 games) and input them into my songs. Like, I have a single note of a single instrument, and I want to be able to turn that note into a melody nearly like the N64 hardware does.

I've been looking all over the internet and all I can find are premade samle libraries for downloading. From what I can gather it's either called "soft sampling" or "instrument samples," but I can't find any programs that actually state that you can import your own instrument samples to synthesize.

You can of course make your own stuff. However - in order to sample directly from an N64, it's probably better if you use an emulator. Some emulators allow you to disable and enable music tracks, which allows you to grab a single instrument or melody line which you can use.

I've got my eye focused on Project5. Can Project5 do soft sampling? Are there any other programs that can do this? Or is this impossible?

No, it's possible; but it is generally a plugin that is able to sample, not a sequencer.

Another way; sample your stuff with a wave editor, and process it; then import the .wav into the software sampler.

[Nineko]

Use a tracker.

you just need to create a plain .wav file with a note of a certain frequency (or more than one wav file, maybe one per octave and so on, to get more quality), and import it with the tracker instrument editor (Fast Tracker 2 and Mod Plug Tracker, for sure, have it).

Play around a bit with the pitch to get the exact tuning on your samples, and then save the instrument as .xi, you can import it with Fruity Loops (if you use Fruity Loops; since I use a tracker, the first step will be enough for me )

[sgx]

I've got my eye focused on Project5. Can Project5 do soft sampling? Are there any other programs that can do this? Or is this impossible?

Any sequencer with a sampler plugin (Project5, Reason, FLstudio, Live, Sonar, etc come with samplers of some sort) will be able to do what you want I think.

[seanv]

wow, I had no idea some emulators could mute music tracks. I'm pretty sure PJ64 doesn't, but does 1964? They usually seem to have more features.

I've actually found a program that extracts files from the roms themselves and converts them to wavs. I've got all of Mario's "woohoo"s and a bunch of dying screams from Goldeneye. Of course, along with the sound effects comes the instrument effects. I can't extract from the Zeldas, though, because they use a different compression format. Being able to mute tracks in-game would be awesome.

These programs, Fast Tracker 2 and Mod Plug Tracker, can they export the notes as a file readable by sequencers? Like, export into VST or anything?

GOOD NEWS: I found out that the samples I took from SM64 are all in A4 already!

So, if I want to use mario music, and I don't have a soft sampler, isn't it possible to create all the notes I want simply by making separate .wavs for each? Like, I would take that A4 note and speed it up by 2^(n/12), right?

*EDIT*actually, my ear isn't as good as I thought. They might not be in A4... Other than comparing the notes with a sin-generated tone(which isn't that accurate), is there any other way I can make sure?

[Yoozer]

w

So, if I want to use mario music, and I don't have a soft sampler, isn't it possible to create all the notes I want simply by making separate .wavs for each? Like, I would take that A4 note and speed it up by 2^(n/12), right?

You really do not want to do this - you will want to leave this job to the software sampler itself.

Besides, there's free softsamplers, too.

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/156.html

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/196.html

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1388.html

*EDIT*actually, my ear isn't as good as I thought. They might not be in A4... Other than comparing the notes with a sin-generated tone(which isn't that accurate), is there any other way I can make sure?

It doesn't matter that much what they're in; you'll be off better with adjusting this with the software sampler's "fine tune" parameters.

[seanv]

w

So, if I want to use mario music, and I don't have a soft sampler, isn't it possible to create all the notes I want simply by making separate .wavs for each? Like, I would take that A4 note and speed it up by 2^(n/12), right?

You really do not want to do this - you will want to leave this job to the software sampler itself.

Besides, there's free softsamplers, too.

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/156.html

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/196.html

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1388.html

*EDIT*actually, my ear isn't as good as I thought. They might not be in A4... Other than comparing the notes with a sin-generated tone(which isn't that accurate), is there any other way I can make sure?

It doesn't matter that much what they're in; you'll be off better with adjusting this with the software sampler's "fine tune" parameters.

thanks a lot, man, I love you. I'll try these out.

These...these are plugins, not programs, right?

btw, the first one is broken to me.

[Yoozer]

These are indeed plugins. Seeing as they're free, relatively uncomplex, one should not have problems substituting for the other.

It's that or getting something like E-mu's Emulator X, which costs more but comes with an audio interface .

[seanv]

I've got a problem. I got kontakt's demo, and that does the sampling I need, but apparently the "latency" is off. Unless I set the latency really high (like 70ms) the sound is very crackly. The manual says this is because of the CPU load, but even at 7ms kontakt only uses 3% of my CPU...

[sgx]

Try going into your host's audio driver options and choosing a different driver(ASIO is often good if you have it).

[Yoozer]

What sgx said; maybe your soundcard just sucks. Nah, I'm kidding. See if the stuff at www.asio4all.com can solve your problem. Or otherwise, the guy at http://www.asio2ks.de seems to be doing something similar.

It's not because of the CPU load; it's because your soundcard does not support a certain standard (WDM or ASIO).

[seanv]

actually, your first option is more of the truth. I've got a laptop, and while it's great computationally, the soundcard is either integrated or nonexistent. I think it's the reason my sound quality drops when I record anything using my stereo mix instead converting it in-program.

I installed AISO, selected it, and messed around with the settings, but I never got any sound.

[DZComposer]

Are you using Kontakt as a plugin or stand alone?

Now my Soundcard is ASIO compliant, so I don't have much expiriance with ASIO4ALL, but have you played with it's settings? Look there too.

[seanv]

Yeah, I've played with all the settings, it just doesn't play. 70ms latency doesn't really bother me, though, since I'm just using Kontakt stand alone and I'll just export it.

Yoozer said some emulators "allow you to disable and enable music tracks," but I haven't heard any of this on any of the emulators I've read about. What emulator can I do this on?

[OverCoat]

70ms latency doesn't really bother me

!

[seanv]

70ms latency doesn't really bother me

!

well, it's only for the previewing, right? Once I get a sequencer I can worry about latency.

[Nineko]

These programs, Fast Tracker 2 and Mod Plug Tracker, can they export the notes as a file readable by sequencers? Like, export into VST or anything?

(...) then save the instrument as .xi, you can import it with Fruity Loops

mainly, with a tracker, you can import N samples (the more you have, the better will be the instrument) and give them a pitch, a volume envelope, a lot of other cool things. then you save the instrument as .xi (the native instrument format for FT2, also supported by MPT). Fruity Loops can import .xi samples, do you want to try? here is a lead I use often in my remixes: Right Click, Save As. Of course I'm not sending you a registered/copyrighted sample, it's just a shitty 8-bit one, just to let you see how it works. for what I know, you can import it in fruity loops. I'm not sure because I don't use FL, but it should work.

for any info about importing/tuning/etc. the samples in FT2/MPT feel free to PM me.

[OverCoat]

I can make instrument samples! I can loop them too

Like this! Bam! Instant seamless-looping vocal sample.

[chokst~1.bat]

Nice work.

[seanv]

I can make instrument samples! I can loop them too

Like this! Bam! Instant seamless-looping vocal sample.

well, that sure was interesting!

But does anybody know of the emulator Yoozer was talking about?

[DZComposer]

Some [N64] emulators allow you to disable and enable music tracks, which allows you to grab a single instrument or melody line which you can use.

Sorry for the bump, but I really don't thinlk this question is worthy of it's own thread.

Anyone Care to tell us which emulator and/or emulator audio plugin does this? Even better, how bout a USF player that does this?

[Yoozer]

The first time I saw this was with a C64 SID player; you could mute/unmute channels. This should work with an SPC player, too. Since the audio format on the N64 isn't mixed but also channel-based it technically should be able to do that, too.

Don't ask me which one, though .

[Jens Wulvik]

I've been goofing around a lot with the music on N64 with different emulators or plugins and there is no way you can mute tracks by will!! Ripping samples are possible with some N64 games, with a utility called "N64 Sound Bank Ripper"(http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=128758)

Try it on "Super Mario 64", "Banjo-Kazooie" and on "Space Station Silicon Valley", they got some nice samples!!

[Dafydd]

If you haven't already, I suggest you check out this site.

Also, there are tools to extract instrument samples (the same as used in the actual soundtrack) from SPC files, but I'm not sure that's possible with USF files.

EDIT: I just read the post above this one. I'm gonna check out that N64 sound bank ripper, it seems like a sweet tool.

[Jens Wulvik]

Yeah, it's very sweet but it doesn't work on many games though. You really should try it on Space Station Silicon Valley!! It got some "high resolution" organs and pianos!!

It's a shame that it doesn't work on Diddy Kong Racing...lots of samples there I would like to get..