Was editing drum sets to add extra sounds and noticed some of the drums had multiple samples of the same sound and velocity group. Some had 3 of the same sound, well they sounded similar to my old ears anyway. Just curious as to why that is.
There are (usually) very slight differences. These differences are not apparently audible, but if you opened the wav files themselves you might find them. The reason for the similar samples is to reduce or eliminate the so-called machine gun effect, when multiples of the same drum are played in rapid sequence. It makes the drums sound more realistic and less like a drum machine.
When I prepared samples for my drums in the LBDM 4BB package, I generally used techniques that had .1db or less variance in the samples, and less than one sample cycle in start position difference.
Thanks for that. So it’s really a perfectionist touch? I found when adding other instruments I was running out of available space and culling some of the duplicates freed some up. I had an idea that was the case, thanks for clearing that up.
Yeah, when I alter kits to add an instrument, that’s what I do, too. It’s nice to have at least the second sample, but, when necessary, even one sample per velocity group will suffice.
Phil, in this configuration does BB choose one random sample from the velocity group or are they all played at the same time?
It chooses a random sample from the velocity group. Although, I don’t know how random they are. When a similar approach is taken in Apple’s Sampler within Logic, Logic plays the samples in order. They call this a “round robin.” BB appears to choose the samples randomly.
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