A MIDI keyboard connected to the computer is normally used to trigger the computer's soft synths, samplers, and sequencer. Computer soft synth and sampler programs are often as feature-rich minus keyboard , but are significantly cheaper.
MIDI sequencer programs on the computer far outshine the keyboard workstation versions, with graphic timelines, note and parameter editing capabilities. Usually, a single pitch is sampled, for example, a musician samples a trumpet player sustaining only a middle C note.
Then, using the voice architecture of the sampler, simultaneous, multiple playbacks of that one looped waveform can be played, with each instance being at a different pitch. In this way, for example, the musician can play a C Major chord ie, C, E, and G notes using that one looped waveform of the middle C note.
Here's how that works: when the musician presses the middle C key, one of the sampler's "voices" ie, the hardware that handles playing back digital audio data to a DAC is put into action, and it starts playing back the waveform at the originally sampled speed, thus giving that middle C pitch.
When the musician presses the E key, while still holding the C key, a second "voice" in the sampler is put into action, and that voice plays the waveform at a faster rate so that the middle C waveform is transposed up to an E pitch.
Pressing the G key, while holding the other two, brings a third voice into action, in which the waveform is transposed all the way up to a G pitch. Now you have 3 different pitches derived from that one looped waveform of a middle C note, all playing polyphonically.
A Sampler excels at reproducing the sounds of real acoustic instruments since it uses those very sources to obtain its waveform data. On the negative side, the complexity of these waveforms makes the process of looping them very difficult. Often, one can hear the telltale "thunk" of mismatched loop points or the "thin tone" of a too tight loop ie, all of the "human" variances in volume and timbre that can typically be heard while a real musician sustains a note can't fit into a too short loop.
That gives the loop an artificial, boring, sterile sound. Synthesizers don't have that problem. Also, samplers require large amounts of memory to store sample data. Finally, transposing a sample ie, playing it at pitches above or below the original, recorded pitch can produce unnatural effects with the waveform's envelope and pitch, although most samplers allow "multi-sampling" so that you can use several different waveforms recorded at various pitches to cover the MIDI note range, rather than trying to transpose a single waveform all the way up and down the entire keyboard.
Also, many computer cards have "Wavetable synthesis" which means that the card has samples burned into a ROM chip inside of it, and these are played via a DAC. Furthermore, cards with digital audio tracks are a form of sampling. The user controls this process by knobs, dials, sliders, and other input controls on the control surface of the synthesizer — whether this is a hardware synthesizer or a soft synth.
Under the hood, a synthesizer could be using a variety of mathematical methods, including additive, subtractive, FM, AM, or wavetable synthesis, or physical modeling. This method of creating sounds may not result in making the exact sounds of a musical instrument. Many samplers allow you to manipulate the samples with methods and parameter settings similar to those in a synthesizer.
It generally has basic patches settings that serve as a starting point, prescribing, for example, the initial waveform and how it should be shaped. That patch is loaded in, and the user can make changes from there. You can see that both devices pictured allow the user to manipulate the amplitude envelope the ADSR settings , apply modulation, use low frequency oscillators LFOs , and so forth. Sequencer 5. For example, if I use pro tools for making music, can I replace and modify all the sounds that those devices produce by using a keyboard connected to pro tools?
Which of those devices can be recorded with new sound effects and which can only use system-default sounds? Synthesizers can make almost any kind of sound you can imagine, and have a wide range of controls.
The most common hardware synthesizers include a piano like keyboard so you can use them all as one unit to make music. Software synthesizers usually work as a plug-in in some host software and the software may generate the note input or a controller may be connected to the computer to generate the note input. Sequencer: A device or piece of software that you can program to send a predetermined set of note and other control information to a hardware or software synthesizer. Usually the information programmed is sent to the synthesizer over and over again, causing the synth to play a loop or sequence.
Some synthesizers have sequencers built into them, so they can sequence themselves. There are many many different types of sequencers with different ways to program them. The Novation Launchpad is a hardware device that you connect to your computer to let you control Ableton Live. The Ableton Push is a similar controller that has many more capabilities than the Launchpad. One major use of samplers is to record the different sounds and notes made by real instruments and play them back based on note and control data from a keyboard or sequencer.
This is a popular way to imitate real instruments without actually having the instrument and performer available. Another way samplers are often used is to record small bits of music and play them back at specific times. This was very popular in the early days of rap and hip hop because it made it easy to create entire songs without ever playing a musical instrument. This technique has become less common since a court case was decided that meant pretty much all samples had to be paid for, which means a single song could cost thousands in sample rights.
Hardware samplers usually have some way to play back the samples, like a keyboard or pads, and also usually include a sequencer so the sample playback can be programmed and looped. Most popular music production software packages, including Ableton Live, include a sampler component.
Some editions of Live come with two samplers. Ableton Live is a complicated package that includes software synthesizers, software sequencers, and software samplers into one package.
You can control Live with external keyboards, sequencers, and control surfaces, and Live can control external synthesizers, sequencers, and other hardware and software. You can link multiple computers running Live together to have them all operate as one huge system. The 60s, 70s, and 80s is when those devices were first developed and improved, and much of what we do today is influenced by what was invented back then.
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