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NI's Kontakt 3 is one of the best software samplers around

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2. Section loop

Looping is a one of the most common sample techniques and allows you to set points around a chosen bit of audio, which will then play round and round - hence its name. You can set any loop length you like and for the previous example it would make sense to loop a one, two or four-bar phrase but equally, it's great to find a short section and loop just that bit.

In this example, we've let the whole phrase play as before. However, we've also set our phrase up on three other keys, and for these we've set loop points round just a tiny bit of audio.

The result is that when these keys are triggered, rather than hearing a bit of the phrase, the audio becomes a strange buzz - less like a stuck record and more like a damaged CD.

As our phrase plays though, we've interspersed it with these little loop fragments, which gives it a glitchier feel. This is a technique that's favoured by Fatboy Slim and Squarepusher. You can here an example below.

Audio - Loop bits

You can choose your extracts from anywhere, and don't be afraid to experiment with different loop lengths - even the tiniest of changes will make a lot of difference.

2 Loop Bits.mp3

3. Filtering

The filter section of a synth is responsible for its tone, or timbre. Filters set a cutoff point, above or below which frequencies are cut. In other words, you can reduce the volume of either the bright or dull bits of a sound, leaving the rest present.

Which parts of the sound remain and which are lost is dependent on the type of filter you use - low-pass filters leave bass while reducing the volume of treble, whilst high-pass filters do the opposite. In this example we've filtered our loop using a low-pass filter. You can hear that as the tone of the sound changes, the bass always remains present; it's just a question of how much treble is present at any time.
Alongside the cutoff control is resonance, whose job it is to boost frequencies at the cutoff point. If the cutoff frequency is towards the top you'll notice the treble is sharp and super-crisp, whereas if the cutoff point is at the bottom end the bass gets a lot warmer and boomier.

Audio - Filtering

In this audio sample we've adjusted the cutoff and resonance so that the tone goes from bright to dull and back again.

3 Filters.mp3

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