User guide
Tracktion 4 Reference Manual
83
The Tracktion Sampler
Tracktion has a built-in, light-weight, sampler that, thanks to an efcient user-
interface, is extremely quick to use for simple tasks, and uses very little of your
computer’s resources (Fig. 3.4.13).
The sampler supports key-ranges, so different sounds can be assigned to each
note, but it does not support velocity layering. If you want to create highly realis-
tic sounding instruments that change timbre depending on how hard the key is
struck (velocity), you may want to use a more fully featured 3rd party sampler plug-in.
Clicking on this lter will display the sample patch editor in the properties panel (Fig. 3.4.14).
Samples can be imported into the sampler either by clicking the add button and navigating to the le
on your hard-drive, or by dragging them into the le list box. If a sample is added to the list twice, only
one copy of it is actually kept in memory.
Removing samples from the list is as simple as selecting them in the list, and clicking the “remove”
button, or using the DELETE / BACKSPACE keyboard shortcut.
Sometimes it is desirable to dene the range of keys over which a sample plays. This range is called
a key-range, or key-map. To set the key-range for a sample, select the sample from the list of loaded
samples. Once selected, you will see three arrows pointing down towards the piano keyboard. Two of
the arrows are joined, and it is these arrows that dene the key-range. Simply drag them to point to the
lowest and highest keys you wish this sample to play.
If both key-range arrows are set to the same key, the sample will only be heard when that key is
struck, which is useful when setting up percussive sample sets.
The third arrow, which should be shown in a different colour, controls the root-note. The root-note of
a sample is the note at which the sample should play at its native pitch. Dragging this arrow down an
octave will therefore have the effect of transposing the sample up an octave.
Figure 3.4.15 shows two samples loaded, each set to play across different two-octave ranges. In this
case, the rst sample has a key-range spread from C2 to C4, and by setting the root-note to C3, the
sample will play one octave either side of its natural pitch. The second sample has a key-range spread
from C-1 to C1, and by dragging the root-note to C0, this sample too will play an octave either side of
its natural pitch.
Figure 3.4.13
Figure 3.4.14
Figure 3.4.15