sampling

Question 1

what does a tape recorder do?

Answer 1

• captures sound then cuts + splices the tape to make loops
• playback can be reversed but you can’t change speed without changing pitch

Question 2

what year was the mellotron released?

Answer 2

1960

Question 3

what was the mellotron?

Answer 3

• the first widespread sampler
• used multiple banks of pre-recorded tapes
• it was expensive and fragile

Question 4

what can digital samplers do?

Answer 4

• they can record audio as one-shot, single note or short loop samplers
• audio can be stored to playback and apply processing

Question 5

what was a disadvantage or trouble with digital samplers?

Answer 5

early digital samplers had limited memory so bit depth and sample rate were lowered which created lo-fi hiss

Question 6

what is a historic sampler from the 1950s?

Answer 6

AKAI S900 - 1956

Question 7

what is a historic sampler from the late 1970s?

Answer 7

Fairlight CMI - 1979

Question 8

what is a historic sampler from the 1980s?

Answer 8

E-MU emulator - 1981

Question 9

what is a historic sampler from the 1990s?

Answer 9

E-MU ESI series - 1994