Hi, all -
My new Rample is on its way from France to my studio in Michigan. While I’m anxiously awaiting its arrival, I thought I’d get signed up on the forum, read the manual, etc.
One question I have: is it possible to load individual samples from different kits, or will Rample only load a full kit of 4 samples? I’d love the flexibility to load individual samples on the fly, but it kind of seems like Rample is set up to only load a full kit.
Thanks for any clarification you can provide!
You select a kit
( rather than load as it’s played from as card)
With each kit there are 4 slots, but each one of those has access to 12 samples ( layers )
Given the limited UI space this makes navigation and organization really simple and quick.
OK, that makes sense - thanks! It doesn’t quite have the flexibility I was hoping for, but I can make that work.
My thought was that I’d probably upload kits of different kinds of sounds (drums, chords, breaks, etc) to the SD card, and then load individual samples from those (perhaps a kick drum on SP1, clap on SP2, chord on SP3, break on SP4) from their various folders.
Instead, it sounds like the organizational structure is that a folder (kit) would contain variations on those sounds organized by sample slot, and all those sounds would need to be in the same folder. Basically, it sounds like I’ll need to organize samples by composition, not by sample type.
Is selecting samples across multiple kits is already a feature request for Rample?
Hey there.
I think this is how it works:
Depending on how you want to interface, and please note i havent checked out latency on this, but each SP (of which each Rample has 4) can have 12 layers.
Each layer can be sliced up to 64 slices.
Layers and Slices can be addressed via MIDI. Im not sure what the proc would be with CV.
So that’s a matrix 768 samples per SP that can be addressed via MIDI and perhaps by CV.
For each SP.
For one Rample.
Again Note: i havent tested latency on this beyond 16 slices as my last tests were before the update that expanded slices to 64.
Also, Layers have built in random and cyclic functions, and Slices do not. This can be achieved with MIDI at least in my experience. I dont CV but i imagine that’s a clearly usable option, just limited to 4 CV inputs
Edit to Add: Squarp has constantly forced me to think in 3 dimensions, with the Pyramid and now the Rample. On the Rample: one axis is Slice, second is Layer, and third is SP. The first two are exclusive, of course. Although one can look directly at each slot being an addressable and independent entity, organisation and workflow IMO demands a system or approach. I have some ideas, but I keep getting side tracked. If you approach like this, what is your “system”? I imagine factoring in things like a native Cyclic or Random addressing is paramount
yeah I ‘forgot’ to mention slices.
the issue (and i have this with the Octatrack too) with slices is you have to prepare them, since you have to precisely concatenate them . (using something like octachainer)
It’s not hard, but for those of us that find managing samples a pain, it’s yet another laborious step.
(hmm, perhaps I could write a command line tool that chained samples automatically!)
also… I need to test this over midi, iirc (need to test) start pos is not v/oct or cc +1 = slice, so sequencing is a bit of a pain. (sent FR to squarp about this)
BUT for sure the layers and slicing is a really powerful feature on the Rample.
what makes it so powerful (in my mind) is that because the samples are not read into memory, they can be very long e.g. that ‘slice’ could be 5 minutes long!
as for kits vs individual sample selection…
I cannot see a different way on a device with such a small UI. there is no way you could display longer filenames in the UI… anything above a few characters is hard to read imho.
unfortunately my experience with any kind of sample instrument module, is there is always some kind of organisation task… its a pain, but it is what it is.
my only wish on the Rample is that it could display a ‘kit name’, I understand the bank/kit number model - its a good one, and fits midi very well BUT its hard to know what S24 really is. even a 8 character description would help … thoughts @Thibault_Squarp ?
Good points on the Slices v prep work.
In the workflow I’m trying to define for myself, Slices are defined as samples that belong together - such as variations of the same percussive hit or different velocities of a melodic sound (parameters other than those I would use on the other end of the sample, such as Level & Env - I mean, things like timbral changes that are velocity based, etc).
This way, a single sample chain is a one "unit’ with its own variations as a nice neat little package, for example. Oh, and with 64 slices v 128 velocity values gives me dang good control.
Then these can be Layered willy nilly, even separate sample chains as different Layers, which can be called up via MIDI or CV. Let’s say, I have my super hard Kicks as Layer 1’s, and more muffled, spongey ones as Layer 3. To ‘switch kits within kits’ I just have to send a different msg for switching Layers. Switching which sample chains requires popping out the SD card, granted…but I can still pack a bunch of different combinations of sounds in one Kit.
So, extending this technique, a Rample Kit contains 4 SPs, each of which contains 12 instruments (Layers) that have 64 variations of each (either modulations destined for increasing random variation or timbral changes destined for Velocity control). Or of course an ‘instrument’ can be a loop, of course.
I’d think this fits the OP case, and I’m only restating this for depth in the conversation and as support for others who look for an organisational scheme to approach their device.
And of course, because I’m an idiot.
Or rather: I have other things to focus on and I don’t like being bogged down by tech or setup overhead.
Speaking of tech/setup overhead - in my workflow, I don’t necessarily enjoy building/rebuilding sample chains which is a big negative for the OT for me. The OT is brilliant if it’s the brain of my rig, tho I can’t stomach the counter intuitive (IMO) Microsoft-esque menu diving. Mostly my issue is that I can’t just call up a patch from my external controls (Pyramid, BomeBox, kybd/button box) in addition to the substandard MIDI Sequencer.
Also Note: I’d swear I used OctaChainer for a test with the Rample for Slices. Does your second paragraph above insinuate OctaChainer doesn’t work for Rample files? Did I dream using it and actually make it with Ableton? hrmmm I’d test that this week but I’m off on a different project. I love the Rample because the learning curve is like stepping off the curb.
Wait…is that a bus…?
no, I explicitly said you could use octachainer… (obviously only the wav file is used not .ot) - what I meant afterwards, is that Id much prefer a command line tool , rather than a GUI tool like octachainer - I find the command line much faster.
but honestly, my frustration with samples is mainly about sample management…
its so tedious having lots of sample files on your computer, and then having to put them in different formats (sr, mono or stereo, directory structures) … its ok, when you have one daw , or one piece of hardware but as soon as you start using them with a daw, and a couple of hardware devices it gets tedious fast (at least for me)
I probably should look to see if I can find a piece of software than can alleviate this, so I can get a bit more ‘dynamic’ with my samplers 
oh, got it.
Apologies.
I am RIGHT THERE with you on the sample management.
Painfully so.
Possibly moreso because I get confused at least 100x more often and more deeply than you.
I only use 1 sample device these days because if this confusion.
Again: sorry for misreading/misunderstanding
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