does koala sampler sound... bad?

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one opinion that, for *years*, I kind of taken as a fact, is that Koala Sampler, for all of its insane features, sounds... kinda bad?
to me, every beat I have ever made on it sounds quite muddy and just not super clear, at least compared to what I produce on other machines or in a DAW. and, as a Koala Sampler super fan and aficionado, that kinda broke my heart because I realised I wasn’t using it as I wanted to, because of this very reason.
turns out... it's not really Koala's fault... but it kinda isn't my fault either. let me explain...
00:00 intro
00:37 my problem with koala
02:00 testing my theory
04:20 about volumes, clipping and compression
06:41 my sherlock holmes moment
07:27 a sudden realisation
09:07 morale of the story
09:55 tips to get the BEST sound out of Koala
11:15 bye!
#koalasampler

[@mazbox]

Hey @BIGUMAMI! Marek here - thx for bring this to my attention. I will add an option to normalise on export so it doesn't clip, and maybe I could just put in a checkbox that disables the effects just for export.

[@BIGUMAMI]

MY DUDE! first of all, thank you. as I said many times, Koala is nothing short of a miracle. this video is a labor of love and I hope it came across as such. both of your ideas would be a welcome addition to your wonderful product and if I may, I'd suggest a third one: how about having an option to normalize to -6db? maybe under the tools-normalize menu. that way it'd be easier to keep levels in check even before they hit the bus or master. many sample packs offer samples that are fully normalized and often we lose sight of that and we end up clipping straight away after loading a couple samples. for example, simpler or drum rack in Ableton load samples at -12 by default. I guess it's for that very reason! what do you think?

[@domdigital435]

great idea!

[@DanielD.mp3]

a checkbox for disabling FX on export (stems or otherwise) would be perfect!

[@isseylelayMusic]

Oh yes !

[@stuartdavid8493]

The compressor is an approximation of the vinyl sim compressor on the Sp303. It’s not meant as an all purpose transparent compressor for everyday use. It’s an effect, specifically to emulate the pumping on Madlib tracks.

[@tom-541]

Great rundown and made me laugh out loud a few times! Thanks for the vid Umami!

[@BIGUMAMI]

glad you enjoyed it!

[@theunboundsound]

Valuable insight and definitely appreciate the in depth analysis! I was wondering about the iOS screen recording levels as well and I think you may be on to something regarding it possibly having some sort of built in limiting software. Anyway great video & much appreciated! Peace ✌️

[@BIGUMAMI]

I should've probably made it more empirical but once I realised I was just being dumb with the volumes everything made sense lol

[@michaelgerber7878]

I adore Koala Sampker and use it every week to make a track… like clockwork. Even as a big fan though, I realize the limitations of a one button (it’s a slider, I know) compressor. How good could that be, seriously? I highly recommend the full featured compressor in the new Mixer feature. However if you really must use the Performance tab compressor I recommend you not push it past the text (that says Compressor) on the slider. I agree it’s not great and it’s terrible when pushed even a little bit. I will say the Dirty performance effect can be pushed harder and coupled with the compressor performance effect you can get an acceptable compressed gritty sound. As for your mistake. Don’t feel bad dude we literally have all experienced the pain of leaving the HOLD on the performance effects. It sucks but it’s like a rite of passage.

[@BIGUMAMI]

the fact is... I didn't leave it on by mistake lol. I wanted some crazy aggressive compression. I don't know what I was thinking lol

[@shadowcat4372]

great breakdown and explanation!! the detective vibe reminded me of a counterstrike youtuber haha

[@BIGUMAMI]

I'm trying to get into the investigative essay game aha

[@herrlogi]

Great info thank you 💯

[@Boumclap]

Cool detective video ! And yeah the Og comp is often bad it flatten the kicks and pop shitz, agree with you the one thing koala is bad ! But got some beats where I put it on full level and strangely made good results

[@BIGUMAMI]

if the individual samples are actually at a medium volume, it doesnt sound all that bad!

[@beatprocess]

It's weird, native instruments maschine and mpc beats software sounds better to me than reaper and other daws. Hmm. Maybe it's just me.

[@heavysystemsinc.]

There is *something* here but I think it's less about samplers and the effects applied as you noted. I think a firm example would be to use no effects, just volume it just right and try that. That said...there's a huge difference in generational hardware in terms of sonic clarity despite the fact two machines can have the same bit and sample rate and all that...but one will just sound sharper. It's so strange. I also remember when Renoise first released, it had a weird sound to everything compared to, say, reason. Maybe it was in our heads back then too!

[@BIGUMAMI]

yes. when I used no FX and kept volumes reasonable, there was no audible difference. what i've learnt is if you keep the volumes decent there are virtually no differences between DAWs. once you get closer to 0dbFs, various software or various systems treat clipping differently. also when you get into hardware you also get into AD/DA converters and that's a whole nother can of worms. of course I can't expect the converters on an iPad to be as goo as the ones on a 5k interface... that's why I imported files/screenrecs and never recorded anything via physical inputs!

[@brandonpert7312]

Thanks for the great video! One thing that is still baffling me is that if i use koala as an effect in Cubasis 3 or AUM, put it in monitor mode and send to Youlean LM, my true peak max is 3.7 dB lower when monitoring through Koala. It seems that there is some built in attenuation in Koala that one can’t turn off. Really wish that was possible. Yes i could turn it up on the mixer, but would rather the levels in be the same as the levels out.

[@SGeorgeL]

Good stuff, subbed 👍

[@BIGUMAMI]

thanks for the sub!

[@gdd9]

I think a few of us needed to see this without knowing it 🤣 Nice info bro

[@tomblaze2]

Thanks for keeping it real - the sum on koala sampler and the stock garaband iOS don’t compare to Ableton/fl studio/pro tools - 🛠️- even sounds better to export stems and bring into your DAW

[@BIGUMAMI]

it shouldn't... but it does doesnt it?

[@benc4189]

Definitly a shutter island vibe. YOU was the murderer of your own track. PSYCHOPATH

[@BIGUMAMI]

🤪

[@MulkeyBlueQuartet]

7:39 I've done this so much already accidentally lol Sometimes doing it on purpose (especially with new fx) is really cool but it has been the bane of my existence Also, for.like 6 months, all of my input samples were mono becuase I didn't switch it haha Live and learn and continue to make ill minded music lol, even of it means a gb or 2 of beats is so overblown you'd break car speakers lol

[@BIGUMAMI]

lol oh mannnnn we've all been there, even the mono samples thing my god lol

[@MulkeyBlueQuartet]

@@BIGUMAMI lmao The worst thing is being in the middle of trying to choo a sample, and then going "why does it sound so muddy? And blamingni5 on the record lol

[@DizzyMakavelli]

Even with the mixer released I still use the old compressor to glue everything together since I really suck at using a regular compressor. I really love when apps comes with a compressor like this or the one on iMPC. 😂

[@BIGUMAMI]

yeah I get it! and again, if (unlike me) you have decent volume management, I think the old compressor might actually sound decent too ahah

[@hashvvilliams]

I’ve fucked around with koala but ultimately I’m glad I can play real instruments instead of this 5 dollar bullshit. I’ll fuck with some chops trying to get a groove and it either shows the trash can up to delete it or just fucking asks me if I want to mix it or add to end bullshit and I’m just trying to feel a groove. GarageBand it’s so much better. Only thing that’s halfway decent about this is slicing chops. Everything else about this program sucks cock

[@someblackguy100]

You have to go into sequence mthe reason why the chops are deleting and mixing is because you're in edit mode

[@ameeqalli8115]

What’s a real instrument????? Um something that can produce something musical based on the audience so bs is interpreted through the perceiver

[@1LoDeezydotcom]

I mean, the name is koala SAMPLER. Not koala beat machine or groove box

[@the_glove]

Skill issue

[@Dru_Won]

That's a long ass comment for someone who didn't know what the fuck they were doing. You don't play shit while you're in edit mode. It's for editing.