List all VST or standalone samplers here that can actually sample - I dare you

[himalaya]

I don't know about the above site in particular, but EMU X3 is still supported. Authorisations are carried out for me without a glitch. I had to authorise my X3 on a new laptop just a few months ago and it worked seamlessly via the online process (I own a licence for many, many years now).

As to the EMU X3 itself, I love it. It's old, the GUI is really bad in many places, but as a sampler it rules supreme for me. I still turn to it for all my looping needs above any other sampler. Readmatica's Autosampler (or Apple Autosampler in Mainstage now) is the only program that can beat EMUX3 here due to the Penrose algorithm, which makes looping a doddle. However the way it's implemented in Apple Mainstage makes general sample editing/preparation a real headache.

Before I re-installed EMU X3 on my new laptop I went through each sampler out there to see if it fullfils my own particular set of requirements and unfortunately nothing I've tried was able to beat EMU X3. But my needs are different to the OP's.

[logburner]

Ableton Live's "Resample" mode. Super quick to record any channel or input. Also Live's Looper effect does the same I think. From there just export or drag it to a drum-rack/simpler.

Exactly, Ableton complies with all the OP's requirements except for the individual wav slice export, I did see a youtube video that explains in about 4 clicks how to export the individual WAV slices from any loop.
I can only assume the OP is a bit lazy in that regard

Correct me if I'm wrong. Even though Ableton Live does fulfills OP's requirements, I find wave editing in Live awkward because it doesn't show zero-corssing points nor support mouse-wheel zooming. So when it comes to slicing samples, it's actually more comfortable in a standalone software wave editor or sampler with wave editing function.

I do agree that resampling is quick and easy in Live though.

[kurodo]

Correct me if I'm wrong. Even though Ableton Live does fulfills OP's requirements, I find wave editing in Live awkward because it doesn't show zero-corssing points nor support mouse-wheel zooming. So when it comes to slicing samples, it's actually more comfortable in a standalone software wave editor or sampler with wave editing function.

I do agree that resampling is quick and easy in Live though.

True Ableton isn't the ideal choice for Wav editing, its not bad but I prefer to use Audacity for surgical editing which I select in the preferences as my default editor.
Having said that I don't have much of an issue using Ableton's in built editor, for zero crossing points I simply use the mixer to create a guideline, in that way I am able to edit to the zero cross level.

I usually zoom a bit closer than in this image.

[kingtubby]

@kingtubby and others who got X3 - if you get it working, can you please post your experience here? Just for sampling I'd like to know how good it is and what the options are. There don't seem to be very many videos on it unfortunately.

Specifically - can it sample based on start and stop threshold like Geist? Can it write waveforms to a pre-specified folder easily? Can I chop a loop and export its individual slices easily?

I had no problems installing and registering it. It was 3 or 4 years ago and I've since moved from win 8 to 10 and it didn't require re-registering.
To be honest though, I've never tried to use it in the way that you want to, and it doesn't appear to have the all the specific features you're looking for.

This thing looks interesting though, and it's free - again, probably doesn't meet all your requirements.
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 2&t=463121

[pc2000]

I don't know about the above site in particular, but EMU X3 is still supported. Authorisations are carried out for me without a glitch. I had to authorise my X3 on a new laptop just a few months ago and it worked seamlessly via the online process (I own a licence for many, many years now).

As to the EMU X3 itself, I love it. It's old, the GUI is really bad in many places, but as a sampler it rules supreme for me. I still turn to it for all my looping needs above any other sampler. Readmatica's Autosampler (or Apple Autosampler in Mainstage now) is the only program that can beat EMUX3 here due to the Penrose algorithm, which makes looping a doddle. However the way it's implemented in Apple Mainstage makes general sample editing/preparation a real headache.

Before I re-installed EMU X3 on my new laptop I went through each sampler out there to see if it fullfils my own particular set of requirements and unfortunately nothing I've tried was able to beat EMU X3. But my needs are different to the OP's.

Who supports it exactly- since I'm certain there aren't any updates being released nor help available? Maybe servers are still up for past customers, but what's in place for people that bought the sketchy product from that site?

[AnalogGuy1]

I don't know about the above site in particular, but EMU X3 is still supported. Authorisations are carried out for me without a glitch. I had to authorise my X3 on a new laptop just a few months ago and it worked seamlessly via the online process (I own a licence for many, many years now).

As to the EMU X3 itself, I love it. It's old, the GUI is really bad in many places, but as a sampler it rules supreme for me. I still turn to it for all my looping needs above any other sampler. Readmatica's Autosampler (or Apple Autosampler in Mainstage now) is the only program that can beat EMUX3 here due to the Penrose algorithm, which makes looping a doddle. However the way it's implemented in Apple Mainstage makes general sample editing/preparation a real headache.

Before I re-installed EMU X3 on my new laptop I went through each sampler out there to see if it fullfils my own particular set of requirements and unfortunately nothing I've tried was able to beat EMU X3. But my needs are different to the OP's.

Who supports it exactly- since I'm certain there aren't any updates being released nor help available? Maybe servers are still up for past customers, but what's in place for people that bought the sketchy product from that site?

OK - I'm the guy who bought the sketchy product. It actually does seem to be legit - I received an email from Creative with a working serial number the day after I purchased it. The S/R system behaved a bit oddly, and it reported briefly that it wasn't licensed and would operate only in temporary mode, but that message hasn't appeared since. I suspect there is very little support. They sent me the working serial before I requested it (their email was routed to my spam folder) and they ignored my email request for assistance. But in the end, it does work, and it does do in-program sampling from a mic.

But given how sketchy the entire process was, I'm not sure if I could recommend this discontinued product as a solution to the OP, even though some of the sound sets are very nice. Any future version of Windows could introduce some sort of sandboxing that could break compatibility, like UAP did with Vista.

[Buka]

+1 on Emulator X3

It's capable of

one click sampling, manual slicing and one-button wave export of all slices.

and supports 64bit OS (win only).

Downside is the product support has ended a while ago and doesn't work properly as vst in some environment. Not in Ableton Live 9 at least. But still rockin as a standalone sampler. I use it for wave slicing and batch exporting. Some fx on it are great, too.

how can u export all slices with one button?

u cant do that in X3! u can only export midi file of a sliced drum beat.

[chk071]

Always wondered what the need is on a software sampler, if you so easily can sample with your DAW, or your audio editor, and have loads of additional editing functionality. I figure that is what devs think too, otherwise they actually would implement a sample function.

[fmr]

Always wondered what the need is on a software sampler, if you so easily can sample with your DAW, or your audio editor, and have loads of additional editing functionality. I figure that is what devs think too, otherwise they actually would implement a sample function.

I completely agree. The most advanced samplers in the market (Kontakt, HALion, Falcon - can we still call them samplers?) don't sample, yet they don't get a single but diminished by that. I would never think of firing a software sampler (especially since the vast majority even work just as plug-ins inside a DAW anyway) to sample anything, when I can easily do that and much more with a DAW or an audio editor. It is much more important for me that the samplers implement an easy way to create batch import sample routines and easy ways to create sample maps, and sample based programs (and ways to import the most common sample program formats, like sfz, SF2, Akai, EXS, etc.

[pdxindy]

Always wondered what the need is on a software sampler, if you so easily can sample with your DAW, or your audio editor, and have loads of additional editing functionality. I figure that is what devs think too, otherwise they actually would implement a sample function.

I completely agree. The most advanced samplers in the market (Kontakt, HALion, Falcon - can we still call them samplers?) don't sample, yet they don't get a single but diminished by that. I would never think of firing a software sampler (especially since the vast majority even work just as plug-ins inside a DAW anyway) to sample anything, when I can easily do that and much more with a DAW or an audio editor. It is much more important for me that the samplers implement an easy way to create batch import sample routines and easy ways to create sample maps, and sample based programs (and ways to import the most common sample program formats, like sfz, SF2, Akai, EXS, etc.

I use Geist for sampling my synths. It is so much faster than using the DAW. I think 'samplers' like Kontakt, especially when they work standalone, should actually sample.

In my mind, Kontakt is not a sampler. It is a sample player.

[fmr]

Always wondered what the need is on a software sampler, if you so easily can sample with your DAW, or your audio editor, and have loads of additional editing functionality. I figure that is what devs think too, otherwise they actually would implement a sample function.

I completely agree. The most advanced samplers in the market (Kontakt, HALion, Falcon - can we still call them samplers?) don't sample, yet they don't get a single but diminished by that. I would never think of firing a software sampler (especially since the vast majority even work just as plug-ins inside a DAW anyway) to sample anything, when I can easily do that and much more with a DAW or an audio editor. It is much more important for me that the samplers implement an easy way to create batch import sample routines and easy ways to create sample maps, and sample based programs (and ways to import the most common sample program formats, like sfz, SF2, Akai, EXS, etc.

I use Geist for sampling my synths. It is so much faster than using the DAW. I think 'samplers' like Kontakt, especially when they work standalone, should actually sample.

In my mind, Kontakt is not a sampler. It is a sample player.

If any sampler did a good job at that there would not be such things as Auto Sampler or similar. If a sampler would go to implement actual "sampling" then it would has to be something in that vein, with auto instrument creation, looping and sample mapping, not just audio recording. For that, we have plenty.

[pdxindy]

Always wondered what the need is on a software sampler, if you so easily can sample with your DAW, or your audio editor, and have loads of additional editing functionality. I figure that is what devs think too, otherwise they actually would implement a sample function.

I completely agree. The most advanced samplers in the market (Kontakt, HALion, Falcon - can we still call them samplers?) don't sample, yet they don't get a single but diminished by that. I would never think of firing a software sampler (especially since the vast majority even work just as plug-ins inside a DAW anyway) to sample anything, when I can easily do that and much more with a DAW or an audio editor. It is much more important for me that the samplers implement an easy way to create batch import sample routines and easy ways to create sample maps, and sample based programs (and ways to import the most common sample program formats, like sfz, SF2, Akai, EXS, etc.

I use Geist for sampling my synths. It is so much faster than using the DAW. I think 'samplers' like Kontakt, especially when they work standalone, should actually sample.

In my mind, Kontakt is not a sampler. It is a sample player.

If any sampler did a good job at that there would not be such things as Auto Sampler or similar. If a sampler would go to implement actual "sampling" then it would has to be something in that vein, with auto instrument creation, looping and sample mapping, not just audio recording. For that, we have plenty.

Like I said, Geist is significantly faster than my DAW. I would like to see sample players like Kontakt do actual sampling. Geist has threshold record. I play a note, wait for it to finish completely, then another note and each is automatically a separate audio file and can be propagated to pads in bulk.