Sampler: AUX Env and LFOs

Sampler's modulation section is where a sample stops being a recording and starts being an instrument. Two things to know: the spare envelope, and the three LFOs.

AUX Env: the spare envelope

Volume, filter and pitch each have their own envelope already. AUX Env is a fourth, wired to nothing — you point it wherever you like using the A and B destination selectors at the bottom of the Modulation tab.

Which makes it the envelope for the thing you actually want to move: loop start, sample offset, an FM amount, pan. Anything on the destination list.

The LFOs

LFO 1 is hardwired to Volume, Filter, Pan and Pitch — the four obvious ones, ready to go. LFO 2 and 3 are free, and route through the same A/B destination selectors as AUX Env.

That gives you five independent modulators in one instrument, which is more than most synths.

Do this now: granular pads out of any sample

Modulating loop points is where this gets genuinely fun, and it turns any sample at all into a texture.

1. Drop any audio file into Sampler — a vocal, a string note, a field recording. Long and boring is fine.
2. In the Sample tab, turn on Loop and pull Loop Length right down until you are looping a tiny fragment. It should sound like a stuck record.
3. Set the loop mode to Ping Pong — it removes the click at the loop point for free.
4. Turn up Crossfade a little. Now it is smooth instead of stuttering.
5. Go to the Modulation tab. Assign LFO 2 to Loop Start, slow rate, small amount.
6. Hold a chord.

The loop is now crawling through the sample while you hold the note, and every note is slightly different from the last. That is a granular pad, built out of a device most people only use to play back drum hits.

Push it

• Add LFO 3 to Loop Length as well. The grain size now changes too.
• Assign AUX Env to loop start with a long attack — the texture evolves over the note instead of cycling.
• Set one LFO to a synced note value and leave the other free-running. The interference between them is what stops it sounding mechanical.
• Detune the whole thing slightly and add a reverb. That is a finished pad.