Reaktor For You Community - Sampler Loop - setting loop start and loop length 8/2/09 3:57 PM

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Sampler Loop - setting loop start and loop length

reaktorforyou April 11th, 12:57

Today we're going to work with Sampler Loop and play with it's loop start and length. I won't show you how
you should set it simply, instead I'm going to use few tricks, as well as mouse control over loop. Before we
start I suggest you to read manual concerning Sampler Loop part, also learning Sample Map functions will be
plus for this tutorial.

Sampler Loop

I'll start by describing Sampler Loop inputs and outputs, as well as how it works in general. Sampler Loop is
stereo sample player (L&R) with Pitch, Frequency & Amplitude controls. It works as usual Sampler or Sampler
FM, but it has loop control. That means you can set loop start and length of sample. If you want to switch that
mode, you need to go inside Sample Map and set Loop on mode on chosen sample. There are 0 values by
default, that means sample will be looped over and over with it's length.

Gate input of Sampler Loop is used to trigger sample from start position which is set in milliseconds in St
input. Pitch is used for pitch input. Gate is usually connected to Gate module and Pitch to NotePitch. Sel input
is used to choose sample from Sample Map and if it isn't connected, Pitch input is used to select it. F input is
for frequency control of sample. This can be useful for some effects like reversing sample or speeding it up
(for example when you want to build Dj deck).

You shouldn't confuse St input and LS. St input is used for start position when there is Gate triggers, while LS
is used for start of loop in milliseconds. LL is used for setting length of loop in milliseconds. If it will be long
enough, there won't be any sense in loop - it will play it till end of sample. A input is used for amplitude
control. There is very important feature of Sampler Loop - it has Len output which outputs length of sample in
milliseconds. That's very convenient - you'll understand it when we go through our tutorial. L & R output are
used for stereo channels.

Setting loop start and length with knobs

Okay, this isn't going to be hard if you're familiar with some math. We're going to use Len output for this. Let's
imagine with have sample with length of 5000 milliseconds (5 seconds). If we want our loop to be 1 second
and start from 3rd second we will have to multiply sample length by 0.6 (as 0.6 * 5 = 3) and to get loop length
of reminded piece you should subtract loop start from sample length and multiply by 0.5 (5 - 3 = 2, 2 * 0.5 =
1). If you try to analyze this, you'll see that this way we will avoid values, which lie behind sample length or
loop length. For example, if you want subtract loop start from sample length and simply multiply sample length
by any value you can get out of sample loop length. As you see knob value should have range of 0..1. I would
suggest to set step size of knob to 0.001 and mouse resolution to 250 to have better control over loop length.
In the end with all modules you should get following structure:
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Reaktor For You Community - Sampler Loop - setting loop start and loop length 8/2/09 3:57 PM

In the end with all modules you should get following structure:

However I would strongly suggest you to set St position equal to Loop Start, because each time you will press
key on your keyboard sample will start from start position instead of loop start. Anyway, it depends on effect
you want to get.

More advanced solution will be to make full stop of sampler if your gate is off. In this case you should read
this thread with very interesting comments:

Sampler Loop full stop (http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/showthread.php?

t=81228&highlight=sampler+full+stop)

In case you want to get random loop length and position, you can use for it any oscillator, randomizer or
whatever with values between 0..1.

Setting loop start and loop length with mouse

We will do it by using Mouse Area module that will overlay Sample Loop. Insert it first and adjust its sizes
according to picture field of sample. It will look like this:

Light-grey field is Mouse Area module overlaying Sampler Loop. You should notice that it shouldn't overlay
name of sample in grey field as you don't want loop start or length to change when you press button on that
field.

However, there are many issues regarding setting loop values with mouse. It's not that easy to implement,
that's why we'll start by building basic buggy scheme with moving further and further. First of all, we will
decide how it works. I suggest to use left mouse button for setting left loop diapason (loop start and start
position), while right mouse button will set right loop diapason (loop length). Mouse Area allows us to do it.
There are three outputs we will use. First one is X position. If you just connect it to your multiply modules, it
will set values simultaneously. Theoretically we need to send value to first multiply when we click left mouse
and second multiply when we click right mouse. Also that would be nice if when we set loop value it

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Reaktor For You Community - Sampler Loop - setting loop start and loop length 8/2/09 3:57 PM

and second multiply when we click right mouse. Also that would be nice if when we set loop value it
automatically starts to play sample again.

There is very good module in Event Processing - Value. It will send value only when there is trigger strikes. We
will use it. So, when we press left mouse on mouse area (or area of our sample) we will send X value to first
multiplier (loop start and start position). Same with right mouse. One more issue before I will post my
screenshot of implemented scheme. Instead of our previous case, we will use subtract module not to subtract
loop start from sample length and send it to second multiplier input, we will subtract loop start from loop
length, because overwise we're going to get strange behavior of setting loop positions - it won't be set
according to your mouse clicks, and that's obvious, because it will try to fit sample length.

Also, we're going to use Merge module from Event Processing. It allows to go through all our events. So, when
we change loop positions of any side it will strike Gate input of Sampler and sampler will play sample again
according to new loop positions.

In the end it will look like this:

(http://pics.livejournal.com/reaktorforyou/pic/000137ss/)

Now you should be able to set your loop positions with right and left mouse buttons.

There are three problems which you still need to solve:

1) You can set loop length or loop start behind or after each other - this can cause loop with zero length and
you won't hear anything, except some strange clicks. For solving this problem you should use Compare
modules, so when value of loop start is less than value of loop length, it goes through, otherwise it doesn't.
Same with loop length.

2) In the beginning when there are both loop start and loop length are equal to zero and you set loop start and
loop length until you won't press gate your sample position slowly moves. That is because pitch is equal to 0.
You should set it to lower value, so it will hardly move. For this you should use Merge module before P input
with NotePitch input on higher input of Merge module and -300 constant input on lower input of Merge
module.

3) When you click mouse button and move position of loop you won't see it in real time and in the end you
will hear loop with new parameters only after one play. However it is not very important - it can be done using
Separator modules with 0 Threshold, and Hi output for Merge.

Solution of these problems will be your homework.

If you have any questions regarding this tutorial, please, feel free to ask.

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Reaktor For You Community - Sampler Loop - setting loop start and loop length 8/2/09 3:57 PM

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