A History Of Sampling (and I stress the "A")

[@ScottMcDavid-Music]

In my teens and early 20s, my Dad had a 1960s made Nagra iv-L. I didn't know of its significance then (about 1978), I just thought it was cool to be able to walk around with it and capture sounds. So I did a lot of that. The sound of an axe gashing into a big tree from up close, and then from 10 feet away. The 10ft away came first, then I wanted it closer. I acquired a Teac 4 track (with Simu-sync!) used from a friend and I took the Nagra back to the house with my axe recordings and played the Nagra into the Teac, stacking the sounds together across the 4 tracks, by way of a ridiculous number of misses before getting a hit on top of a previous capture point. I had a count off, but the start switch on the Nagra took me a while to get a feel of the timing. Eventually, I had a 4 track stack of 4 axe chops pretty well synced. I was impressed with myself for my ingenuity... but really I was ignorant of what was available, but I wouldn't have been able to afford them anyway. Later, in about 1981, A local studio (Birmingham, AL USA) had installed a Synclavier II. I got to know all those guys and brought my Nagra recordings to them and we sampled everything I had. I had to buy like 20 5.25" floppy discs to store the samples on. The sample rate was like 16k or something at 8bit - I remember using that axe sample as a snare drum on something, but sadly I did not take care to preserve that cache of discs, or have them stored on newer media, so, I kick myself for that, but admittedly it was mostly rubbish. That is my first experience with Sampling. By the mid 80s I started touring the country and had someone else managing my keyboard rig, and got away from it. But I have been returning to the sampling universe in a small way, and its quite fun again.

[@TheCrowHillCo]

Scott McDavid great story thanks!

[@classicalbanksy4908]

Just read the news - sincere condolences, been there, it’s an awful wrench losing your father...

[@e.g.systems6146]

About 25 years ago I was recording a girl singer who wanted a demo tape to get work on the cruise ships. She was having trouble with one of the songs because she was meant to start singing a line at 1-and (i.e. the off beat) but after 30 mins she still kept coming in on the 1, she just couldn't seem to understand the timing. I used an Akai sampler to grab her vocal, told her I was just doing something with the gear in the control room, and played her back in the right place, then told her to come and listen. She said "I told you I'd get it in the end!" :O) To this day she doesn't know, but I can tell you she got through an audition, and went on to sing on the ships for years. Result! On a sad note, sorry to hear about your father, my condolences.

[@andrewpye1980]

Great video as always Christian. So sorry to hear about your father. Having been in a similar place this year my heart goes out to you and your family. On a side note If anyone is wondering. the mixing bowl sample is in Christian Henson ‘f**Knox’ which was linked in an earlier video.

[@AndriSoren]

Christian this was Such an enjoyable video, and for so many reasons. Firstly, your descriptions of sampling chime so much with my experiences of it, and are both wide-ranging and full of passion. Secondly I really appreciate the effort that’s gone into the editing and how this also keeps our twitching skip-happy instincts at bay. Thirdly I’m so absolutely fascinated to hear (summarily) the story of Spitfire, which was brought right onto the middle of my radar thanks to the BBC SSO release. Very very tempted by it!! Lastly as someone born in Edinburgh, but now living elsewhere I’m really happy to see someone doing something like you’re doing with so much passion whilst also taking us up Arthur’s Seat. Lastly lastly I’m also a KZbinr/musician and there’s some lovely inspiration here for what I hope to get up to in the future. Thanks for the video, once again. My heartfelt condolences to you and your family. Andri

[@flyingfisbeefilms]

Thank you for this wonderful video! My first experience of samples is LABS! Still stunned and grateful that you made them available to us poor mortals...they have helped me understand what sampling is all about and why they are such a powerful tool when composing...they have opened up a world beyond my wildest dreams. And I understand that you are going through a difficult time at the moment...even so you keep giving back to the community. Respect and thank you again!

[@daleturner]

Thanks for sharing :-) Our thoughts are with you and your family, this holiday season. Very sorry to hear...

[@jjohara9625]

Sorry to read about your family's loss. Although Fawlty Towers will always be legendary, a few years back a bout of insomnia and a tea break from writing through the night led me to stumble across Lucky Feller, sat of the sofa with the dogs at 4:30am go GOLD. It was a particular rough time and the light relief that program, your dad & David Jason bought will always be special. Best wishes to you all.x

[@GenuineHeather]

So sorry to hear of your father's passing. I lost my dad to lung cancer in 2002. I've only recently discovered your KZbin channel, but I have to tell you how wonderfully insightful and inspiring I've found your videos. This latest one is no exception. Condolences to you and your family.

[@angeruroth]

I really liked this video. To know where things come from makes the big picture less muddy and helps when trying to look at it from different perspectives. Cheers

[@Sesaon3]

I've just done a similar cathartic thing on FB as I was challenged to list 20 albums that influenced me. Propganda's A Secret Wish pricked my ears in 1985 with their use of samples with great melodies. My first sampler was a Casio FZ1 & one of my regrets is selling gear to fund the next. Work, golf and building a plane paused my journey but for the last two years I'm getting back on track. Thanks to you Christian I have fallen back in love with sampling and looking forward with great enthusiasm. M&W Piano

[@totalmusicfreedom]

First of all Christian, I want to askknowlwdge your recent loss, a time of reflection, insight, grief and even gratitude for what your dad meant to you. My thoughts are with you. My first experience of sampling was playing guitar in a band in the early 90s and the keyboard player had a Korg M1 (I think it was) with its onboard sampling and memory slots. He amazed us by sampling the famous flute lines in Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer which made our band sound so cutting edge! My personal introduction to orchestral samples was a pirated copy of Miroslav Philharmonic (So thanks to them is due now where I couldnt afford it back then Im ashamed to say) before deciding to honour the work of sample instrument makers for real and become a signed up member of the Spitfire users community. I'm 2 years older than you Christian so thanks for giving me the orchestral musical gift that I so wanted missed as a budding musician in the 70s and 80s but didn't have access to.. I feel I have been musically reborn. Regards, Greg.

[@JayTheLane]

Such a fascinating video Christian. This compels me to create. Thanks mate.

[@eikarumba429]

Enjoying watching and learning. Thank you.

[@ScottGlasgowMusic]

Rona's RNO Samples! I was a sample cutter on that project as were many (I think Pinar Toprak was also on that cutting samples). It was a job back then.

[@JazzGuitarScrapbook]

Heya! Just wanted to say how much enjoyed your programme on Radio 3 the other week. Interesting vlog too. Thanks!

[@guyonkeys]

Christian, although I have heard many of these stories before from your Vlogs, I was still transfixed to this. I could sit in a pub and listen to you for hours. All I would add would be a respectful nod now and again!!! Just wonderful. My first sampler was an expansion for a ZX Spectrum. I had to build it from the pages of a magazine (can’t remember the name of it but it came with a cassette every issue with demos etc... on it). This was mid 80’s!! I got a job in a recording studio in the late 80’s as music college for me was well out of reach (Grade 8 in primary instrument and Grade 5 in secondary 🤣). I scraped a Grade 5 in violin. Had the best 2 years learning everything I could. We used a Roland S10 which was the baby brother to the S50. Sample time was really short but it was great to be able to manipulate sounds on it (unimaginable on anything I had owned before). I then moved on to an Akai S2000, Emu E6400 Ultra before buying my first Mac and getting Logic (with EXS which I think I had to buy separately back in the early 2000’s). I now work totally ITB (Logic X) with an Uber-portable setup (thanks to you). The thing I now try to embrace is that samples don’t have to sound perfect (like I always tried to do). You can create magic from the crapiest sample. I could even dust down a violin (which I haven’t played since I was 17. I am now touching 49). That said, I don’t think even the sampling community is ready for that yet!!!

[@dancegod1691]

You gave the mixing bowls away in another video but they're not in labs

[@jimsanger]

Great video as ever, my sincere condolences to you and your family Christian. Your Dad must have been incredibly proud of you and your brothers.

[@edelweissrecords]

Cheers for the video. My first sampling experience was getting my hands on the mighty Zoom GFX-707 guitar multi-effects pedal, which could sample an entire six seconds into on board memory. As one of only a few musicians in my small school it expanded my horizons. Suddenly I could play a riff, sample it and then write a solo line over it. The big chunk of plastic even had cheesey built in drum loops. It helped me transition from mediocre guitarist to composer. I still have it and it still works.

[@NicholasBryantBonzaiSequoias]

I still have mine, the 2 octave pitch shift is wonderful!

[@edelweissrecords]

@@NicholasBryantBonzaiSequoias I was a massive fan of that big flanger/distortion combo. Raw cheese. I'll have to dust it off and give it another whirl sometime (even if only to check I don't have mist on my rose-tinted glasses!)

[@jmichaelking51]

So sorry to hear about your father. Please know you have many people across the globe thinking of you and you family during this time. Peace and love to you and yours...

[@birdlingbrains]

Never had a real sampler or any sampling software. I looked for recordings of instrument groups playing one single note (most of my orchestral tracks were built off a violins section playing just a high D,) stretched them to ~6-8 seconds in Cool Edit '96 (Cool Edit eventually became Adobe Audition,) loaded them into Adobe Premiere 5.1 (this was the early 00's), and either sped them up or slowed them down to make the note I needed. Scored 2 features and a handful of shorts that way.

[@dapperchapmusic5336]

My introduction to music tech was the 8 Track sequencer on my Yamaha PSS 790. I would make arrangements of the iconic BBC sports themes that seemed to fill the schedules every Saturday. I wasn't interested in the sport so I would traipse off to my bedroom and try to recreate the Grandstand theme from memory. Later I got a PC with a Soundblaster Live sound card and this opened up the magic of Soundfonts. It was around this time that my school drama teacher asked if I could write the soundtrack for a play called The Machine Stops - a futuristic dystopian tale that needed a lot of sci-fi mechanical type sounds. Using a Creative microphone and a portable minidisc player, I took recordings of the fridge, the washing machine, camcorder, video recorder, cd rom drive and put them all into a Soundfont on my PC. I took that and my Midi keyboard to the rehearsals and "played" the machine live for each cue. I got my A in drama and a great introduction to what sampling could do. Thanks Christian as ever for this amazing public service for composers. I'm a music teacher now and I always point my students in the direction of LABS when they want to get started - as well of course as evangelising about the importance of making your own sounds. I'm going to practice what I preach. This Christmas I'm going to sample my old Lipp upright at the family home so I can pop it on a hard drive and take it back to Thailand with me. Being able to write music seven thousand miles away using the same piano I learned my scales on is truly magical. My sincere condolences to you and your family on your loss, Christian.

[@Pinchy99]

Way back in the 80s at the same time as buying a D50 from ‘Strings’ in the IOW I bought my first sampler, an Akai S612. Enjoyed sampling on that with mainly the vocal impressions of Careless Whisper type tracks. For live I used the Oberheim DPX1 with its floppy drive where I ‘cheated’ and used pre-recorded samples, but this was the first time I could play a Steinway live. This is where composing started for me.

[@josie_mshrm]

I'm just now starting my sampling journey. I've started diving into learning Kontakt scripting in order to develop more advanced level samples for personal use, and to share with others around me. I haven't finished any of my sampling projects yet, other than half of a piano that I've put together (will end up on pianobook once it's done) but the entire sampling process really interests me and I'm very interested in exploring what more I can do with this technology, and where the technology is headed in the future.

[@jamstudiostheshed1]

That a nice sound and the Armadilo fabulace no wonder you exsighted boom , star sampling .

[@stephenbishop9641]

Thank you for an inspiring video. So sorry to hear about your Dad, great part in Fawlty Towers, my condolences to you and family.

[@Table-Top]

Christian, its been said by someone else in the comments already, but I'd also like to send my sincere condolences to you in the loss of your Dad. I thought of you yesterday when I saw the news.

[@PUSH4LIFE]

Really enjoyed this insightful video Christian.... thanks for all your work!

[@elklatham9830]

My Sampling history started at a collage that owned a Kurzweil K250, EMU system EIII, and EMU EMAX with a Mac SEHD. They had MasterTrack pro as a sequencer, Alchemy for waveform editing/sample dumps, and digidesign Q sheet software. My first sampler was a Baldwin branded EMU EMAX that was handed down to me while working for passport designs in 1993. It was the same year that the company shipped me off to winter NAMM to do show floor demo's of Alchemy with a K2000. At this point my personal rig was a EMU Emax, Roland Juno 6, Yamaha QX3, and a Tascam potastudio one. In 1995 I started working for digidesign and swapped out the potastudio for a 4 channel pro tools rig running on a Mac 2ci with Alchemy (for Sample dumps), and opcode systems Vision with OMS as a sequencer. In those day Pro Tools had no MIDI editing capabilities so Vision with OMS was needed. I eventually added a power Mac 8100, digidesign Q sheet software and Three EMU EIIIxp samplers (32 megs each). Q sheet was basically a EDL style MIDI sequencer for writing cues while sync to picture. Over the years the pro tools rig got bigger, and I moved onto using Kontact as my main sampler. For me, sampling on a computer full time didn't happen till around 2010. Ive even started translating some of my work from my EIIIxp's into the Kontact format that I like to call the BLACKELK collection. I now work for a collage that has a music tech program. Within that program , I find my self as the one that pushes the magic of sampling as if it's some kind of lost art form.

[@dawghead8576]

Very sorry to read of your sad news Christian. Thanks for all you do for us enthusiastic musicians. Please know how valued you are by this community. Family is everything.

[@galacticecho7027]

Alright, I get it, Christian! I'll make my own sample library. Thanks for all you do!

[@simonleesax4788]

Wow! I use to have an ESI 32. Mainly used it for drum sampling to make Jungle tracks.

[@skylightmusicshowree]

👍 ESI 2000, 64Mb RAM Scsi CD-ROM and ZIP 250 plus the Producer's pack and various CD-ROM libraries. I still use some of the samples and sound libraries today...and no, this is not a listing for Ebay 😂

[@JoshuaBatch]

Wonderful video, C. Also my condolences about your Father x

[@mu_zines]

Like many of our age, I watched in awe at the odd TV spot of Fairlights on Tomorrow's World or Micro Live, and was very aware of the sampler's influence on popular music and culture of the time. Probably my first usable sampler was Replay 16 on the Atari, which I used to create samples and send them over MIDI SDS to a Yamaha Drum Module (512K RAM). A real upgrade came when I bought the EXS24, for my Logic Platinum 4.8, and that was like getting an S1000 for a couple of hundred quid - certainly a game changer for me. Really enjoyed this one, thanks Christian.

[@mu_zines]

It certainly beat spinning in audio clips from a micro-cassette dictaphone I liberated from my mum's office (which I once used to sneakily record a rather cranky/crazy English teacher having a rant at us and turned into a pre-viral cassette hit at my school...)

[@justlisa1599]

I Love the Mixing Bowls and have used it a lot. It was in both the "Life in Samples" grab bag and the "New Year's Freebies" give aways here on Christian's channel. Christian, your channel and attitudes have opened a new world to me this year. I never knew what anyone could do with a sample until last February when I recorded a cowbell I found in an antique /flea market place and gave the wav files to some friends. Inspired by what they did with it, I started exploring the capabilities of my DAW and needing information was how I found your channel and Pianobook. I've started pestering Presonus about making better export formats for Studio One. Thank you! : )

[@synthesiseur]

Great insights as always, thanks Christian- so sorry to read sad news, thoughts are with you and your family, Joni

[@ShadowOpus]

A friend of mine purchased a sampling keyboard around 1989/1990. I think it was some kind of Emu sampling keyboard. We were all dumbfounded by this thing because it didn't already have sounds and you had to load them in. We just didn't get it back then. A few years later I purchased an Ensoniq ASR 10 but could never really get my head around it or see the potential. I eventually parted ways with it

[@cornerliston]

Nice to see and learn more about your history of sampling. Being 16 owning a Kurzweil is probably very rare. My first sampler experience was with the Emulator II at the local synth shop. But I didn't dare asking them turn it on and show me how to load sound! Bloody hell. So first time I played a sampler must have been the S-50 in 1986. And probably my first interaction with a “orchestra sound”… the infamous Orch Hit sound. My own first sampler was a second hand Yamaha TX16W very late 80s, run from my Atari 1040. I then in early 90's, regrettably, sold it for a PC and all of the tight midi was gone. So I switched to my first Mac in mid 90s. Sold my TX16W and got an Emu 6400 in 1996. Which then were stolen in 2004. And by then only used software "samplers". (My first synth however was a software controlling the C64 SID chip.) Future of sampling has AI in it. For good and for bad. Hope you all get a very good holiday.

[@navidhendrix]

I'm watching your video and getting some serious flashbacks from my emagic and O2R days. Look how far we have come. I also read your Twitter feed. My condolences to you and your family.

[@peterjames-stephen]

My First Sampler was the IS Digitiser, this plugged in to my Atari ST and with 4meg you could get 3 minuets of mono 8 bit sampling! not bad for 1987! I still have it on the shelf in the studio... I then got an Ensoniq mirage them a Sequential Prophet 2002 then most of the Akai's then an Emulator 2 then an emax 2 then all the rack mount emu's! When Emu went software with the EMU X in 2004 I set up Athena Systems uk Ltd and produced the worlds first PC Rack mount sampler the Vampire Rack. This was a 2 unit 19" rack mount pc with 6 swap raid drives full scsi and midi and with the help of chicken systems software could read and right to any sample format It was way ahead of its time and was given a centre page spread in october 2004 Music Tech mag where it got 7 stars ... and the thing that let it down was Windows XP Constantly wanting to update its self It cost me 7k to develop and I only sold 3 !! Still got one working in the studio! together with all the synths and samplers I have owned! Now I'm back writing music again the best sampler I use all the time.... Is your BBCSO I marvel at how far spitfire have brought sampling on! here is a link to the Midi association interview www.midi.org/articles-old/peter-james-stephen-digmyrig-top-ten I'm starting my V-blog next year and I will film all of the samplers in action (If I can find the Atari ST ...)

[@micindir4213]

Playstation 1 "Music 2000" 1999 game contained a library of samples and pretty convincing audio editor: crop, reverse, apply fx, loop points. It had a sampling from cd too (it topped ram faster than internal samples).

[@jsaproductions5]

Dear Christian- so very sorry to hear of the loss of your Dad- Surreal that you just told me in New York of his role in Faulty towers- It is never an easy day to loose a parent - some solace in the fact he raised an amazing son, who had a family. History goes on and the circle remains unbroken. Cheers my friend - may light perpetual shine on him.

[@duncanthompson957]

Happy Christmas, Henson viewers! 🥂🎵

[@russell_szabados]

Duncan Thompson: to you and yours as well.

[@NicholasBryantBonzaiSequoias]

The first sampler I played.. 1978 a Mellotron in a music shop! After that a friend had a Casio SK-1 (mid-80s).. fun but limited. Eventually (1997) I got an Ensoniq Mirage which I used live, followed by an Akai S-612 (even more fun because it samples so quickly) and an Emu E-5000 plus, recently a Korg Electribe 2 sampler. From 1998 I have used Reaktor (2.3 - 6) and have not had as much fun (and inspiration) as the simple hardware provides. I am getting my 24-track studio (Alesis HD-24 and Mackie mixer) set-up soon. The samplers will be sampled!

[@waveguider]

I'm close to your age and liked your recap of samplers in the "80's." Don't forget Roland/Boss had a digital delay pedal that had a "sampler" function. With that and my cassette 4 track I had a blast at 16 years old.

[@BrianFields]

My first sampler was also the first 'proper' synth purchased on my own, and not unlike yours. It was a Korg DSS1, 12 bit 256 KB of ram. Most importantly, it had a 720K Floppy disk drive so you could actually save your samples for later use.

[@classicalbanksy4908]

Fabulous! Glad you reminded me just how good Labs is/are! Gonna use Scary Strings on the Belsen documentary...

[@dafingaz]

Next you are in New York come on down to DC! LOL...Also, continued prayers for you and your family. Thanks for all you have done for the music and composer community!

[@Herfinnur]

I didn't realize this, but I've really missed seeing you make music. When the video started with you sitting by the keyboard actually playing, I got a lump in my throat and a surge of endorphins, only to realize that this might not be one of those episodes after all. Anyways I'll continue to watch the rest of the video now. This episode will of course prove to be excellent as always. Edit: YES!!! My first foray into sampling was making *.MOD music using Fast Tracker II and later Modplug Tracker. I sampled the hell out of NIN's 'The Fragile', and other 90's fare, like Marilyn Manson, Faith No More and Trent Reznors' sountrack for Quake, plus my perhaps favourite record: A bargain bin recording of some Debussy orchestral works. Unfortunately I stopped sampling when I moved on to 'traditional' DAWs, and earlier this year all my external hard drives and my laptop stopped working all at the same time (probably from the constant shaking due to heavy traffic), meaning all my samples and music pieces might be lost, unless I somehow gather enough funds to have someone recover the data. But I have plans to sample small local organs, harmoniums and pianos while I'm on the Faroe Islands with my Zoom H6 and Oktava stereo pair, then see if I can make them into sample libraries for the iPad. Edit: My sincere condolences, Christian.

[@PlugInGuruVideo]

Akai S612 with the 3.5" floppy drive (dual sided!) at a music store chain that isn't around anylonger in Seattle, Washington. Also sold the Korg DSS-1 and DSM-1. Worked with everything since then (even sold Kurzweil's at the same store in Seattle.) I was and am still close friends with Bob Daspit who built those multi-articulation maps for Hanz inside S-760s (another buddy of mine made a 4x switcher where a single monitor & mouse could be used with 4 S-760s). Looking forward to meeting you in person at NAMM and wish it wasn't NAMM so we could find time to laugh at sample stories from hell over a pint! Merry Christmas to you and yours (and I'm very sorry to hear of the loss of your father.).... JSL

[@stevesm2010]

I'm literally about to begin my sampling journey after watching your glass bowl escapade (ooops! :D ) I have always been fond of ringing sounds and I too have a mixing bowl, a bit larger than your one that I intend to make an instrument out of. I have got a couple of beaters from a well known online shopping emporium so no need for carrots :D I really enjoyed the video with all it's retro tech.

[@MACEASY2]

In answer to your question about the future of sampling, I very much like your own suggestion about getting away from linearity of composition. This is where things get really interesting, the interface between the samples and the user. For a long time we have been conditioned/restricted by the software to a combination of tape track based layering and button/mouse pushing imitations of hardware. I can see how with your evo’s and so on you are finding other ways to think about this, and I find this area most interesting. Anybody who has witnessed a great instrumental player will admit that you can’t get close to the immediate nuance and expressive nature they possess with samples, however good. But looked at from a different angle, maybe we can find nuances and details which emerge from the way we work and interact with the samples, so that it becomes more like playing an instrument than programming a computer. Maybe the grids are just a first step that way. It would be exciting to go down this road, getting away from thinking about imitating orchestras and ensembles, finding ways of using their raw material to fashion sounds and compositions which express our own ideas through means unique to us and our way of working. If that’s where you are going count me in.

[@DarkSideofSynth]

Ah... the good old days of the Atari ST. I had a 1040 STe back in 1990 but MIDI only with Cubase ;) Basically.. 30 years ago.... time DOES fly ;)

[@StudioOrchestrations]

Hi Christian - really interesting video and great to hear more of your sampling story. My mother-in-law collects brass bells and my son was playing with them the other day. Not hard to tell the idea I've had... (it'll be my first time too - scary). On another note, I was really sorry to hear about the passing of your Father. Your family will be in my thoughts and prayers in the coming days. Take Care, Paul

[@jbloomfield]

My first sampler was the Akai S2800 which I think was around the early 90's and it cost me around £2k (on the never never) This was around the time of the Atari 1040STE using Cubase on a green screen monitor. It was also around the time of early Prodigy, New Order etc I still remember the floppy disk box that I had just full of drum samples that I had stolen from various records or breakbeat vinyls.

[@dexgarvey]

My first sampler was an Akai S612, then I got an S330 and a DSS-1. These days I have an Akai S6000, an E-mu e64 & E6400 Ultra, and at last an S-550. A combination of shyness and bad timing has meant I was never able to collaborate and learn from others. KZbin & twitter are a godsend for geeky young people let me tell you. After a n almost 50 year detour I'm studying film and making my own soundtracks. My hope is Spitfire someday puts out a Hip Hop/Go Go/Funk library to bring those sounds to composers at HBCU's with all the thick cinematic richness missing from other libraries. Native Instruments has its place, but had I known about Spitfire three years ago they would have been my primary composing tool for a while now.

[@jppagetoo]

I am new to the sampling world. I find it just as fascinating in my world today as you did in your world 30 odd years ago. Yes, I can play a violin, piano, a whole orchestra, or even a Charango. But, how can I make it into something that pulls in my ear? How can I use this in a song? I haven't come to grips with it all yet. It takes time and experimentation. The tools today are really good and a newbie like me has access to deep end of the pool, where as 30 years ago, that same pool was off limits.

[@richdewhittaker1746]

My 1st sampler/tape machine was an oblong hand held all in one unit-buttons,cassette insert bit,built in mic,& speaker. I would record Buck Rogers off the tele,and then with my mothers kitchen tupperware/pots&pans-a pair of chop stixx...and my voice...-would emulate/record it...then compare the two and become very frustrated that my version didn't sound like the tele version...thus beginning my journey into sound/music production.

[@mmturner89]

A second hand Akai MPC 2500 that my parents bought me for my 18th birthday (through SOS reader ads). I wanted to be the next DJ Shadow and started 'serious' record collecting looking for cool sounds and drum breaks to sample and collage together. It was a proper addiction and so much fun. It was the only gear I used for many years, intentionally boycotting any form of DAW in a bid to keep it 'strictly old school' 😄. I eventually learned that it wasn't really going to cut it if I was to attempt to make anything of it, so I moved on and began to embrace the idea of computers. However, the DAW-less mentality has stayed with me to this day.

[@UncleBenjs]

I stuck with mpc 2000 and mpc 2000 xl for many years, with an s2000 and roland s330 to go with, couple of roland jv's etc, all midi'd up and multi tracked into a yamaha desk. Still pretty much out of the box (for the most part), but sold a lot of that gear, recently as it goes, and moved onto using an mpc live. I have a small pc audio set up, mostly to finish bits off, with a lovely prism lyra interface and a couple of nice mastering bits

[@skylanderlad]

Hi Christian, you may not remember but a long time ago, you approached me in The Orange in West Kensington and said you and Joe wanted to play in a band with me. We recorded a couple of tracks in your home studio (which was a four track synced to Cubase 1 or 2) with you funking things up on a Fatar keyboard and doing the most amazing drum programming and Joe had one of the most perfect bass sounds and playing styles that I have heard. I still have those recordings and I learned a lot of the basis of how I do midi from watching you. I came across you over the last couple of years ago on KZbin as the Spitfire guy and really enjoy your videos, as much for entertainment as for education. The future of sampling - well - for me the bug wasn't about samplers initially, it was about recording on the first of two hard disk recorders in the UK not long after I met you and seeing how you could edit and take any bit of audio and do what you wanted with it - that hooked me - and still does. Been thinking lately that synthesis has reached it's outer limits. But sampling is infinite and I am very excited recently with synthesis using sampling - but still, sometimes to just capture audio in the bosx and have it there on the timeline and explore the infinite possibilities of what you can do with it - that is just magic. And very sorry to hear about your Dad, I'm sad to hear that - hope you and your family are ok.

[@TheCrowHillCo]

Alantis Lad wow a blast from the past!!! My studio was in a boiler room back then. I don’t know how my neighbours tolerated me!!!

[@skylanderlad]

@@TheCrowHillCo Ha! I forgot about the boiler, that's funny. Anyway, great video - it wove in with some of my own thoughts about sampling and brought to the fore some background thoughts about things that I want to explore and or develope with sampling. Cheers Guv ☺

[@russell_szabados]

Last year I was going to throw out my Roland S-220 sampler from 1988 but this channel convinced me to keep it. I’m very glad I did, it’s been a blast revisiting it. Too bad its storage medium (QD disks) are out of production.

[@AndersEngerJensen]

Aah, The S-760 💖 I still have mine, which was expanded with the OP-1 and 32MB of EDO RAM. I also got hold of A-ha’s S-770 from their 1993 tour. Great units both of them. :) Cool video, I’m impressed by the way you shot all these narrative parts on the go and the sheer editing process! 😎

[@demagmusic]

First time viewer. this video was a great intro to your "though process" and general vibe. New sub. I'll be back.

[@AlistairMelville]

Just brilliant Christian...wonderful insights.

[@DexWilliamsMusic]

Thanks as always... Before watching this I just made my first sample from a finger click recorded into my phone and transferred to Logic EXS... and I know nobody has this sound! Will upload to PianoBook if it works out obviously :)

[@DavidJohnAshman]

I put my love for music down to 3 things. My parents being musicians and lovers of classical music. My Maths teacher at school being a former rock star and Rob Hubbard for answering my letter I sent to him after telling him how much I loved his music. In fact my earliest memory of sampling for me was the Rob Hubbard 'Skate or Die' game soundtrack which was the 1st time he included samples alongside the SID chip synth. At the time I remember him saying that the samples elevated his C64 music and I think that soundtrack was the peak of the C64 era. I am sorry to hear about your Father. I am sure his spirit will live on through you and help keep that laughter and music going!

[@anders_wall]

Fun video, thanks for sharing. My first kind of sampler was a Quadraverb (think it was called Qv. Plus) got it on 91/92-ish. Not a proper sampler but it could store a sample in its Ram and you could trigger it by midi. First thing I sampled was me barfing and the first thing I played with it was Van Halens Jump, still got the cassette somewhere. So there you go :O Best, Anders

[@chrismatarazzomusic8086]

I'm 52 this year, and my history of sampling is a short and silly one. I vaguely remember a keyboard player I was in a band with trying to record my kick drum into his Ensoniq sampling keyboard...decades ago. He said he was "sampling" it. I shrugged and moved on. It sounded like ass, but he stored it into his keyboard anyway. My musical path took many routes, mostly songwriting and playing, acoustically. Our first son was born in 2001, so my energies went into raising him and the brother who followed. I was recording on a Tascam multi-track with synths and acoustic instruments all of this time; even did a whole CD on a Yamaha 8-track mini disk recorder at one point. After the boys got more independent, I decided to explore computer recording (around 2015) and I bought an iMac and StudioOne. One day I accidentally found the low-budget sample library in the DAW and I felt like the guy in the sci-fi movie who wakes up after a century of sleep. What was this brave new world? Haha. I missed the evolution, but, man, was I happy with the world outside of synths... I have since built up my sample libraries, bit by bit. What a wonder.

[@franm6569]

I became interested in sampling & sound modules in the 90s. I found, after taking a few classes for writing on the computer that because of the price of the instruments I could only write in the lab, so put it aside for a while. My first sampled instruments was a bowed handsaw last year. The Spitfire one is much better. As you've quoted before, "It's not a race." All the best to you and your family.

[@keiththeodosiou]

It's always great to hear how musicians evolved their own style and way of using instruments. Mine is pretty boring though, in the 80's I had a double cassette recorder so that's how I multitracked but I I didn't have a drum machine so I used to record myself tapping the mic in different areas for 3 mins to make a beat then ad my instruments on top layering it all lol.

[@TheCrowHillCo]

that is literally the opposite of boring

[@keiththeodosiou]

@@TheCrowHillCo Well like you, I don't have photos of it but I do have loads and loads of cassettes of them days lol

[@16914]

I had a ensoniq Mirage. sorry for the spelling in 1994 very challenging had no expression, no effects. and wasn't great in sounds .. I was able to find another one. and have it. cheers

[@MACEASY2]

Ah, I remember a lot of those landmarks too - Art of Noise especially with their signature orch hit, the voice sample and the tennis racquet thwacks from Wimbledon! How we all fantasised about us too having a Fairlight. There were indeed stories of people remortgaging their houses for one at the time. My first one was the very affordable (at the time) Casio FZ1, around which a whole cottage industry formed, supplying all manner of home made and converted from other library samples. Sending away for floppy disks of samples was very exciting - lo rez versions of Fairlight and Synclavier samples, Japanese flutes, drum machines and so on. In addition to the hours I spent ransacking the kitchen for percussive sounds. All of which made it on to some soundtracks for Channel 4 and the BBC, with the help of the ubiquitous Atari and Cubase. I didn't know much, figured it out as I went along, and now sometimes I wish I had the same naivety and self-belief! That's why I like Labs and lofi solutions - there is something more characterful and fun to work with. Terabytes of sample libs weigh me down with the expectations they seem to demand. Which is also why I like that you are releasing some low cost simpler sample sets.

[@JazzGuitarScrapbook]

The way you talk about sampling makes me think about received wisdom in jazz education, and how these communities are startlingly intolerant of dissent.... I don’t use any sampling in my own music at all, but doesn’t mean it’s not interesting. Tbh I want to make music more human to make it harder for you guys to copy haha! Your way of dirtying up the machines, humanising them, is kind of fascinating, inspiring and deeply terrifying all at once. OTOH I think the instrumentalists recording a lot with daws and clicks become more robotic, self quantising haha.

[@cutupmusic]

Amiga 500 as a sample player in 1989. Starting sampling when I got the 1995 PC.

[@okay1904]

Awesome history. Awesome indeed - Triumph through adversity - extremely encouraging for all of us. From the ashes comes forth Gold.

[@simenhaugepaulsen4166]

Many condolences and please do not feel rushed to put up loads of content during this time. (Unless of course it's therapeutic to do so).

[@WillWilson]

Thanks for still sharing content at such a difficult time for you. Big Hugs buddy! x x

[@marksadventures3889]

Transfixed, I love a bit of "back int' Day" rediscovered. Very generous of you to do this. Thank You. I do have a full selection of mixing bowls - now where's that Rhode gone? I've used a hand mixer before - I wonder if Kenwood would want royalties for that? I've also done the college University course and well, it seemed to me directionless without my own work and I thought - F*Ck! I could have done all this myself and saved a fortune. Found Sound is what colleges of music title it as, Sampled noises, rustling leaves, dogs barking - (5 different breeds of) - the entire kitchen - everything i could think of, footsteps, people in pubs talking and then changed to obscure the conversations by mangling the voices, throwing tin cans, bottles and boxes down allies, stairs etc. 46 mb of library noises in files and put them of a disc and promptly lost them in the boxes labelled, UCLan - (work). I did not enjoy the courses I did, I did them to get credits to teach music and promptly went back to kitchens when I realised my chosen occupation was redundant. I realised much of what I was about to teach and how was redundant and that there were far better teachers out there than me with far more knowledge - but that wasn't the whole reason, The whole reason was no one bothers until a few years - decades after they've been hands on - getting stuck in. Then I had to decipher what was needed and what was just arty farty b*ll*cks that only deans and masters took seriously. I'm still on that journey, but playing jazz for fun here and there. Now how do I swap £13K for a few bits of fancy paper?

[@jjjjj2220]

They sampled in the 60s Hendrix use to steal tape from other people and looped 4 bars of the tape. Regge producer would take an old song wipe everything that wasnt bass and drum and recourd a new song over it

[@davetbassbos]

I remember hearing a K250 for the first time in a music store, Absolutely amazing!, now I have a K2000 sitting on a stand that I mostly use as a shelf lol(never for food though).

[@davetbassbos]

Cool history!

[@RickMcGuireMusic]

Thanks again for coming to NYU! I’m so sorry to hear about your father

[@carlstephenkoto619]

Great stuff as always. Sometimes when I walk past a toy department or toy store I get the urge to go in and hit the limit of my credit card. On that note, ever think about getting a Fairlight just because,..? Anywho, I hope your dad knows how many folks around this crazy planet care about you these days. Thanks!

[@samshrimpton407]

I think like with orchestral instruments, because of sampled instruments, world music genres will gain in mainstream popularity with listeners, due to access to essentially rare instruments becoming easier and easier for more and more musicians, globally. Therefore those sounds becoming more and more common in mainstream genres, as producers look for something to make their tracks stand out. I think theres already hints of that emerging. Its the direction of globalisation, but from a mostly positive angle. The merging and blending of all these different cultures and musical ideas and identities into one big melting pot, rather than lots of little ones, where new identities and shared cultures can emerge. Because of that, the boundaries between cultures themselves, between ‘us’ and ‘them’ may slowly begin to erode. Most cultures as far as I understand it, create in some way, a sense of belonging or identity around musical styles or aesthetics. So, I guess what I’m saying is, on a long enough time line sampling equals .....world peace🤣....Thing is, I’m only half joking! I can legitimately see sampling and sampled instruments to some degree breaking down cultural boundaries between people and groups. It already happened in the west, between the orchestral and contemporary music worlds, so why not on a wider cultural scale. Thats all presuming social media doesn’t get us to all murder each other first! But thats just my (admittedly) likely overly optimistic opinion.

[@Johndoe19512]

Hah, I actually came across the forum posts that got you banned while I was looking for info on that very nylon guitar library once. It's interesting to hear that a little forum spat so many years ago played such a key part in the creation of Spitfire.

[@carlosleao1460]

Gr8! Vlog!

[@fernandoperales7152]

Lovely video! Amazing editing! Btw, you pronounced correctly "Charango" (and I come from the charango country, Argentina)

[@thedamnchicken]

I used an early version of Audacity to cut together different tracks for years in school in the mid 00's. Tweaking samples with things I didn't understand was very fun, and my family can confirm my terible ways of fusing several tracks together incoherently. My angsty impacient teenage self loathed the pacing in modern music at the time, and why discard or tweak the songs to your liking if you could? It was in 2014, when I wanted to pull a prank on a class mate at uni that I sampled for the first time. He was working at his PC, and looking for a funny bit to manipulate, but because report writing is void of funny bits, I only left with a mouse click, and 5 min. of white noise. That mouse click was the key though, because with some streching it became a wierd snare, the white noise was amazing as a pad. Using Audacity seriously to make something from scratch was very difficult though, and with little experience and time I had little progress over the weeks, and with the piling work at uni, I soon had to leave it out of priority. Fast forward to mid 2015, I went to South Korea for a collaboration between KAIST and DTU (universities). The circadas there sounds amazing (nobody agrees), so naturally I wanted some samples! I had no patience for Audacity though, so after some research I decided to give Renoise a go, and started on a track. This time, I had all the tools to actually write something, now with 200% more circada noises.

[@dafingaz]

Let's not forget this iconic scene: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnrQZ6ujhN6CbLM

[@farley333]

I'm very sad to hear the news, please take care. 😥 Totally unrelated, but a good friend of mine moved to Glasgow and I fly visit him once or twice a year. Usually via a flight to Edinburgh. It's kinda cool to see the familiar airport in the background! 🙂 It's a very slim chance, but I quite like the idea I might randomly bump into you there one day and have a brief but nerdy talk about sampling. 😊

[@nicebluejay]

hi christian, thanks for a very interesting video! "mixing bowls" is not on labs. can you guys put it on there? thanks!!!!

[@gregoryivesdolbyatmosmusic]

Chewing apples to reel to reel tape and slowing it down then speeding up to faster tape speed as kids to make a sound of moon people eating bones I seem to remember at the age of 8 years old. Concerting is the hard part for me. Execution is easier once I have an idea these days. Using my mind to create an idea.

[@howardatkinson8126]

so sorry to hear your sad news christian .....................surviving cancer for 20 years your dad must have been made of strong stuff

[@JoshClarkson]

Made by armadillos, with armadillos, for armadillos.

[@MrTomDangerous]

"Close To The Edit" and "19" are both stonewall classics.

[@MrTomDangerous]

And "Unfinished Sympathy".

[@MrTomDangerous]

And "Play Dead".

[@appaxis7136]

MPC2000 circa 2001. #MotorcycleDiariesChangedMyLife

[@pjdahmen]

I like it

[@peniku8]

21:30 Christian "playing with himself"