Intro
From the primitive hardware instruments of the late '80s to the in-the-box multisampling behemoths of today, digital samplers have revolutionised composition. Thanks to digital technology, any audio file imaginable - the tiniest snippet of YouTube audio or an entire collection of orchestral recordings - can be instantaneously played back up and down the keyboard. Entire genres are based on this single premise, and sampling has now transcended the functional, becoming a complete culture of its own.
Sampling was once a more long-winded process: you had to physically record a source sound into your instrument’s inputs before playback, then edit it using only a tiny LCD display. Today, this is no longer an issue, of course, as all virtual samplers allow you to drag and drop audio files straight in, and offer intuitive, synthesis-like controls for speedy editing. Every DAW comes packaged with at least one native ‘vanilla’ sampler, which is enough for basic tasks; and then there are the big boys, such as NI’s Kontakt, Steinberg’s HALion and UVI’s Falcon, which let you fill your project with giant multisampled libraries captured from the world’s greatest orchestras, pianos, choirs, drum kits, analogue synths and beyond.
So basic audio manipulators and sizable multisamplers are obviously now ubiquitous, and producers take the technology for granted. Yet an interesting middle ground has emerged between stock and super-samplers: tools created by imaginative software developers looking to fill the gaps in the electronic musician’s arsenal of do-it-all virtual instruments. Here are half a dozen of our favourites…
