The Best Sampler App for Android (Koala Sampler)

I review and demo Koala Sampler (including the Samurai edition), which is one of the best music production apps for Android and a viable Android alternative to Andrew Huang's Flip Sampler (which I still really want to try). It's like a PO-33 for your phone, but more powerful.
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[@mazbox]

Hey Gabe! Thanks a lot for making this video - I’m the developer of koala, really glad you’ve found it enjoyable and also thanks for spreading the koala love!!

[@EnriquePage91]

A legend of mobile music production...! Thanks for Koala and please consider turning it into an AUv3! 🙏🏻

[@bjamminsincebirth3494]

@@EnriquePage91 I agree!

[@ForecastGrim]

The Newest update truly has me questioning my main hardware choice. An MPC live 2. With the latest update I'd have to say with the addition of an app or two Koala Sampler is the most intuitive, and powerful sampler available.

[@aikighost]

@@EnriquePage91 and your wish was granted :)

[@phatplates]

@@ForecastGrim not quite but use them together

[@HotStrange]

The koala app is actually very good for experimental music as well. I’ve been sampling a lot of glitch and noise synths into it, sequencing them, and using the effects for performance, and I’ve made some of the craziest things I’ve ever done in that app. It’s amazing.

[@derrylallen]

Koala sampler is JUST like a sp 303 to me , xcept its a 1000 times easier to get started . And the longer you sit with it , the deeper your music will go . Super happy they made this , making beats on a Dj app was becoming a hassle

[@PaulSalamoneComedy]

100% agree, one of the best UI designs for an audio app ever

[@FreeBeat]

I've honestly been avoiding this for way too long. Glad you posted a video, it'll get me off my butt to make my own lol. Great work as always!

[@SEONNTHAPRODUCER]

Awesome video on Koala. The app is super powerful, yet it maintains a simplistic design. Great call to use other apps to do complex synthesis, then importing it back into Koala.

[@playpm]

Glad you jump on board man, fire demo beats especially for the Caustic one!!!

[@tobiaslofi]

I saw someone connected a Akai USB pad controller and a audio interface to his iPhone with koala to make his own DIY mpc/Maschine. Very cool :)

[@SwiftDreamer]

Yes. I needed something like this. Thanks for putting me on

[@burrabeats6036]

You can also record from youtube or spotify by opening them up as pop ups with the koala app open.

[@AngryCagen]

Who's happening Gabe. I bought your sample pack, cuz who doesn't like modding samples out to your own sounds. Man...huge props. Thing is loaded and then all the extra kits. Organized and labeled. Well done sir. I know I have entirely way too many samples, but it was hard to pass up. If you can think of anything you might want. A particular drum set or synthetic or any sound from 4very instrument ever to someone whistling just eerie enough to use an an intro to a Karl Casey score. I got ya. I have an android and an MPK Mini and I'm ready to actually play on a keyboard I can glide over. You like your mini freak? I think that's what you have huh?

[@johnchesters81]

An amazing app. Like an SP404 in your pocket. Probably even more powerful.

[@cokecl]

There even is a "Koala Sampler vs SP 404 World Tournament"

[@johnchesters81]

@@cokecl yeah I’ve heard the album on bandcamp, some very good beats on that.

[@resnauv]

I've been in this since the beta, don't really remember how I got in. But I remember Dibia$e who's a legend on the SP-404 would put up beat challenges being made in this app. Most submissions were made in the app as well. I always thought of it as the SP-404 in app form but it probably is more like a PO-33.

[@koalacreativecommunity]

Yeah bro it’s on the channel 🐨🔥🔥

[@JJ-vp3bd]

what gear works best with koala?

[@resnauv]

@@JJ-vp3bd I've used an Akai MPK mini with my iPhone and it worked pretty damn good. I think the pads are upside down though compared to what's on screen.

[@domingoleija3436]

Hands down, best wflow for a 60 year percussionista who tired of manuals 🎧😎

[@suomega]

Great vid (plus clap) and a well deserved review! I made some sweet beats with the koala sampler samurai and it’s so easy! Especially the import video to sample option for screen recorded KZbin videos makes for some sweet sample flipping! Makes me wonder why I still have an SP... connect your midi controller to this and it’s pure awesomeness 😎👍

[@domingoleija3436]

I've followed you since covid and I almost spent $$ too much on a shoebox hardware sampler till Michael the You Tube hero 🎼saved our spending 💰 Glad you showing this

[@GabeMillerMusic]

Thanks for rocking with me for that long! Glad to show off a tool like this, it's excellent.

[@theboxoftech]

Just wanted to let you know that I've learned so much from your channel. Keep it up.🙂

[@juliekovich-recordingartist]

I love the game tune! Thanks for this intro to Koala.

[@GraemeMarkNI]

Yes Gabe! Welcome to the Koalective.

[@chuckvicious]

This is off topic but you're going to be super excited they just added looper export to the MC 101! And scene chain!

[@GabeMillerMusic]

Yeah it's great to see Roland continuing to make it even more powerful! I'll try to dive into it when I have more time.

[@boyavatar2000]

Excellent video. You have yourself a new subscriber. I dug the tracks too.

[@Two-Eyed_Boy]

Well worth the price of admission! It's super helpful to make/keep a library of samples to feed your other devices. Have not had any luck with the pattern sequencer due to latency in Android (Moto G 2020) but it's still a keeper app

[@mazbox]

Hey two-eyed boy - not sure if this will work but if you switch off “safe audio”” mode in koalas audio settings, it might help latency (or not work at all) - Motorola phones have some pretty dodgy audio hardware and drivers. Fingers x’d it helps!

[@Two-Eyed_Boy]

@@mazbox hey thanks I'll give it a try! Love the app either way in my setup but it'd be cool to be able to use the sequencer

[@rokko_fable]

This is a fantastic app. I can't believe it took me so long to find it. There are a few things easier to do in Caustic, but unfortunately Caustic hasn't been updated in quite a while and newer versions of android break the PCM Synth being able to access samples. I know koala is made for a live workflow, but i wish it could record automotion or effects on a single sample/pad. not just the "hold" feature.

[@bjamminsincebirth3494]

This is the best sampler! It’s the ultimate pocket operator on your phone. It’s the ultimate SP404 on your IPad. It’s just the best!

[@bjamminsincebirth3494]

You can record acoustic guitar into the mic of your IPhone and chop it or just play it in your track. It’s amazing!

[@AngryCagen]

What is the name of the sample used for the bass at 6:41. Is that in your sample pack I bought? There is a ton of sounds in your pack, so I'll have to go thru it again. Thanks for all the great tutorials! I always go back to Caustic myself. Wondering if you could do a quick video on recording and playing in Caustic. Not like entering notes in the piano roll, but by actually hitting record and then playing it live? When is it better to record in song mode versus pattern mode? Great tune you made. Look fwd to more great videos!

[@ForecastGrim]

I'd love to see an update on this since the newest update. Being able to run multiple instances of Koala inside a DAW is criminal!

[@mattlumpkins6130]

What's a good app to go with this? I lost iMpc since I switched to Android and I'm just wondering what you'd recommend to get more effects and stuff.

[@Murgoh]

Probably stupid question but is it possible to control this from a MIDI-keyboard through USB? I would love to use a phone/tablet to play sound effects during live performance and trigger them using the pads on a MIDI-keyboard.

[@forsale313]

OMG, gotta have it, lets see how in works on a good tablet. Thanks for the video.

[@ruffark]

How are you not all over the mc 101 firmware update ? :) We got export looper track to the samples folder, this gives us 'endless' tracks. On topic Koala is awesome, fastest way to mangle some samples. Thanks for the video.

[@GabeMillerMusic]

I stockpile videos in advance, and I just haven't had the time to dive into it yet. But I'll get there, it looks awesome.

[@cokecl]

Koala and circuit a match made in heaven, first app I will connect it to

[@feierzwang]

Could that be done by connecting Circuit and Phone directly with a normal (or otg) usb-cable?

[@cokecl]

@@feierzwang Circuit is midi compliant, you just need an OTG cable for android or camera kit for ios. Then you should map koala sampler accordingly.

[@fitzhughmasoniii6335]

Just watched your video on Caustic 3 as well! Are there any other Android apps that you enjoy? Keep up the great work!

[@GabeMillerMusic]

Unfortunately I haven't found any others that I vibe with yet, those are the main two I keep coming back to.

[@brianwredfern]

I didn't realize how powerful this is, I'm working on a new physical modeling based app for android

[@brownbubbletheory]

Use ableton lite, which comes with Koala, activate ableton link on the app. Plug in your mc101 usb into the computer and Ableton becomes the master clock. Hit play on ableton and both devices are syncd!

[@NewtrendsMe]

Does this also work on Android?

[@spijtig]

exellent sampler! good work, just one thing, i can't record audio with my mic, how can i enable this?

[@Nik.leonard]

I was looking for a excuse for buying Koala Sampler, and now I have one, so I did it. Also, talking about chopping samples, MC-101 1.71 is now out, and it have a lot of new functions including metronome count in and the most gamechanger for me, export looper track to wav file, so you can sample from usb or from the machine itself and chop the result in a drum track, and take advantage of the bigger 6 min stereo sample block instead of the 1 minute looper memory block. (But still no undo)

[@JJ-vp3bd]

what tablet works well with koala??

[@DjPositiveP]

So dope! Thanks for sharing!

[@leonlalo31]

This app in king of the KINGS

[@LukeLendrum]

Preach. I was just using it today and sampling my voice and turning into super weird awesomeness.

[@GregDixson]

Nice👍🏻really neat and lots of capabilities

[@DopamineOverload]

You’re late, brotha! Haha. Koala is THE SHIT. Worth all the pennies.

[@patrickbodine1300]

Love it!😉👍

[@GoGo10170]

I'm thinking about getting this but one thing I'm wondering is that is there an option for when you tap a pad that it will play forever until you tap it again (not sure what it's called) is that an option on this?

[@GigiDAmico]

can I trigger the samples using a computer keyboard attached to the phone?

[@googlerep366]

Hey what file manager are you using foe android and does it play the sound before you add it to koloa?

[@GabeMillerMusic]

I'm using whatever the default file manager is on my OnePlus, I just kinda store everything in my downloads folder tbh. And yes, any sound will play when you select it so you can preview stuff before adding it.

[@friendly_conifer]

Glad to see some Koala loving... No idea if on purpose, but you omitted whole resample from app part along with funky effects on top ;) PS. pairing it with mpd218 kept me fooling around for days. Your latence may vary.

[@GabeMillerMusic]

Yeah there's a LOT off stuff in here, I just wanted to keep it focused to the stuff I use the most when using the app.

[@Sascha-p4z]

That was a great video I love it

[@marknhopgood]

Truly an amazing app. Have already make a couple of beats in the first 5 minutes. Thanks @gabe and @marek

[@dewille-pl]

I bought brand new iPad just for Koala (I have an Android phone but wanted iOS because of rest of great music app) I needed sample because of my MC-101 limitations.. and a week after purchase Roland released 1.71 firmware which is true gamechanger and with new clip export feature it almost make me not using Koala :) Did you reviewed this great Roland update already?

[@JJ-vp3bd]

should i get a ipad instead of a tablet for koala?

[@kaanpiyano1]

can you give an advice to me? İ am using ethnic solos in wave format while playing on the keyboard, what I want is, I should load the sample in a bank and create a preset for every song, then play the sample

[@deveyous6614]

Add automation and it's a done deal. Without that it's not really viable, unless you also have a DAW to export it to and add after.

[@QuantumKatmusic]

I beleive you can also hook up midi controllers to your phone and really make some magic

[@dastas8850]

Having issues with importing samples on koala sampler on my android. Any ideas?

[@derfaust3208]

thank you so much! what maximum sample's duration does koala support?

[@jonnyhead]

There are three ways the third way is from a stereo source into a usbc sound card

[@stevegriffiths566]

Hey Gabe great video Can you import a song say yazoo don't go and then isolate each part like a stem I think and assign it to a pad? Perhaps you could do a video of this please

[@Fallingoverbackwards]

I love this idea, but is the quality there on the DA converters on an android phone vs like the korg volca sampler for example. Could use a usb interface for the phone which would do wonders.

[@GabeMillerMusic]

You can export wav files directly, just like any other DAW, so you can bypass the issues of converters entirely. If it sounds a bit weird in this video, it's because I was using a screen recording app to capture the internal audio.

[@beatprocess]

This is nuts

[@SaintMFLow1]

Thanks for the dome. I actuallyjust purchased it today ! Don't see the auto chop options though. Is missing😳

[@g.cap._]

Hi how did you access the extended piano roll?

[@eastsidegz6814]

Nice i just bought ur beat package

[@Shhmoke]

How do I sample from KZbin

[@ironmedsvr]

My koala kinda glitchy, i can have a sample loop in the sequence, close the app reopen it and the melody loop won play unless i turn off stretch and turn it back on. Also it will overlap the sequence loop causing it to be distorted at this point i have to stop the loop and push play. But the app is great tho...but i dont know why it glitches on my phone i have a s10+.

[@СтаниславЧ-я7ъ]

It's Perfect

[@luismp8548]

will sample that Gabe

[@luismp8548]

clap

[@GabeMillerMusic]

Haha awesome

[@timofej_asejev]

Woow, 09:50 reminds me Canabalt ost :) Love ths game, sry. GJ

[@hugtown4648]

Hook up a Nanopad 2 and *chef's kiss*.

[@drowsyspook3455]

Why is there no stretch option for me

[@nickyspacebum]

Looks super interesting. Two questions please... 1... how many sequences can you use per project? and can you chain in various orders? 2... Can sequences be different lengths in the same project? Sorry, that's three questions. Cheers for the review 👍 Nevermind, I took the plunge. Very fun, cheers Gabe First tune... kzbin.info/www/bejne/an-4YZ95a7Sdg6s

[@mazbox]

You can have up to 32 sequences. You can’t chain them exactly but you can make one long sequence by dragging them onto each other Sequences can be different lengths, up to 64 bars each I think

[@nickyspacebum]

@@mazbox Thanks for the reply. Very fun app to use. Using it with the OP-1 will be cool 👍

[@danmoor]

Interesting 🧐🤔🎉 tumb up

[@krisgakakrisqu0717]

how do you cope with the latency?

[@GabeMillerMusic]

For my specific phone (OnePlus 6), the latency has been small enough to not get in the way of playing stuff in live. If it's a lot worse on a different phone, I'd probably stick with programming notes in.

[@sinewaymusic]

@@GabeMillerMusic 300 ms delay on my Huawei Mate 20 Pro. Unusable unfortunately.

[@mazbox]

David Tenser try turning off “safe audio” in your koala audio settings - it might help, some huaweis are greatly improved with this option turned off, some don’t like it at all. If you have any troubles please feel free to get in touch at elf-audio.com

[@tobiaslofi]

This app looks and does things in a way like SeratoStudio and Maschine had a baby and out came Koala sampler. This is like a NI Maschine with much more intuitive and more powerful workflow (Maschine doesn’t have scales like this app so this app beats Maschine!)

[@irfanhadis7604]

Any have koala fitur for export audio file ?

[@tobiaslofi]

I have a really old iPad lying around which would be perfect to be used for this but it’s too old :(

[@GT-yw6dg]

Can you import stereo samples?

[@shadadfarias]

Yes

[@MartianOnEarth-p3l]

Can u use a midi?

[@jimmythebold589]

yes,

[@runnerkidal]

🤯

[@thekariosghost6935]

Ill take koala sampler and take a 3.5 mm to trs stereo into the line in of my verselab. You’re welcome

[@GabeMillerMusic]

Yeah that's definitely something I've been wanting to try!

[@thekariosghost6935]

@@GabeMillerMusic I didn’t realize koala had samurai mode until this video lol

[@doctorworm3735]

This app is difficult af to figure out. I just wanted to loop impeach the president in the back and cannot figure out how to even loop a basic loop without having giant chops in the sample. It is by no means easy to use. It's not like I am an idiot either. I prechopped the samples using other software and is WAY TOO FRUSTRATING listening to the metronome and trying to get the timing right with no chops for half an hour. Makes me wonder why I wasted $5. Why can it not just be simple. Every time I try to use this crap it does not do what I want, I have to look up 3 hours of tutorials, and then try to figure it out. I have tried to give this a chance a few times. You are better off using a crap program such as virtual Dj to make and chop loops. This app is unnecessarily difficult. Just give me a basic looper and a sequencer. Even when it does what I want it creates empty spaces between the loops making it sound like trash.

[@HazyJ28]

BAHP! BAHP BAHP BAHP BAHHPP!

[@LucidMusicIncRecordings]

Needs pad/track muting and a better skin

[@HazyJ28]

Kinda reminds me of Andrew Huang's "FLIP" iOS app. FLIP looks better though :/

[@GabeMillerMusic]

The day when/if FLIP comes to Android will be a good day

[@HazyJ28]

@@GabeMillerMusic A very good day, my friend. A very good day.

[@mazbox]

Flip is ok, but you don’t get 24 effects, timestretch, and it’s limited to 9 samples, koala can have 64, plus you can import videos that you screen record from KZbin so you can basically sample anything

[@oudadenoudaden3510]

Il a fait la promotion de la seule appli payante....aprés il nous sort qu il n est pas sponsorisé mon cul ouai...

[@enanisrael7532]

Here's ok sampler app pocket sampler