Before you progress into working with the Wavetable you should
have a general understanding of what the term
Sample
refers to. In
the case of
Wavetable samples
, a sample refers to a small audio file
which may be triggered to produce that sound within a song.
One of the powers of sampling is the ability to take a single waveform and
play it at many different notes. This is known as
Resampling
.
For example, resampling would allow you to record one note of a
piano, thus play various notes. Unfortunately in most cases problems
arise when playing notes too many
semitones
away from the
originally recorded pitch (tone). This problem is solved by using
Multi-samples
(also called Instruments).
A multi-sample is basically a group of samples with specific attributes
assigned to each sample.
In Aldrin, this includes
loops
and
envelopes
.
In most cases each audio sample is assigned a range (known as a split) of
notes. Therefore when you play a specific note, the Wavetable triggers the
sample assigned to that note.
Other instances of sampling do not require
resampling
of audio. In the case
of Drum Machines, only one individual note per sample is required, therefore
notes are not even available but rather
Triggers
instead. This is
true in the instance of playing a kick-drum or a snare.
To add confusion, a
Sample
is also the term for the smallest unit
of time within an audio sample. It is equal to one byte. Most samples within
Aldrin play at 44Khz (although higher is possible through a method called
oversampling
). This means that they have 44,100 samples per second
of audio.
Unfortunately the term "sample" doesn't even stop
here. To add to even more confusion, there exists a
verb;
"
sampling
". The very method of creating
samples is called Sampling.
Therefore to
Sample audio
refers to physically recording that audio
for the purpose of using those samples in other music.
Lastly, the term
Sampler
refers to a device which accomplishes all of these feats. A combination
of the Aldrin Wavetable Editor and any Sample-oriented machine (for instance the Mathilde
Tracker) forms a nice Sampler device.
Important Note:
Aldrin does not completely fit all of the characteristics
of a sampler, as it does not allow you to physically record samples. Other
applications such as Syntrillium's
Cool
Edit
and Sonic Foundry's
Sound
Forge
(both great tools) allow you to create samples for use in
Aldrin.