Getting started with playing samples
Tip: You can enlarge any screen shot on this page by clicking on it.
Tip: Mopis doesn't play back a sample-- it reconstructs the sample. So Mopis may work differently from other samplers.
Step one: Start with an empty program
Here are two ways to get an empty program.
- Open the Mopis editor and press the Reset button. This will erase the current preset.
(You can restore the default presets; see Managing banks and programs.)
- Or, go to the Assign page and press the New button on the Bank panel. This will create a new bank file full of empty presets.
Whichever you choose, when you're done, the Timbre page will look like this:
Resetting an empty program.
Step two: Load a sample
Mopis expects a sample to have a single, definite pitch-- like a single human voice or a single note from an instrument. Samples such as a chord or a noisy cymbal may not work the way you expect.
Tip: Feel free to try any sample with Mopis, even ones that do not have a single definite pitch. There's always the possibility of getting a new sound you've never heard before. At worst, you'll just get garbage, but you won't break anything.
To start, try a clip of human voice. You can use your own sample or use ours:
Listen: human voice sample
Now load the sample:
- Go to the Sample page.
- Make sure waveform A is selected.
- Click on the first sample slot for waveform A.
- Press the Load button and select the file.
Loading the sample may take a little time. Mopis has to analyze the sample and perform some calculations before you can play with it. Once you save the sample in a Mopis program or bank, Mopis doesn't have to re-analyze it, so next time loading the sample will be quick.
When your sample loads successfully, you'll see a graphic like this:
Loading a sample.
Step three: Play some notes.
That's it. Just play some notes to hear your sample.
One thing may surprise you when you start to play: Mopis thinks musically. Our sample sound is the G above middle C. On other samplers, if you play middle C, you'll hear the G exactly as it was recorded. With Mopis, if you play middle C, you'll hear .. middle C.
That's what we mean by musically intuitive. The note you play is the note you get.
The sample will sound best within about an octave up or down from the original pitch, so you may want to try different octaves until you find a comfortable range.
Now that you're making sound, you can start tweaking. Some things for you to try:
| If you want to... | Follow the steps at... |
|---|---|
| Slow down or speed up your sample | Playing with speed |
| Loop your sample | Looping samples |
| Play melodies with your sample | Using legato playback |
| Play with vibrato | Adding vibrato |
Tip: Many of the controllers are sliders. For finer control, hold the shift key down when you move the slider with your mouse.
Playing with speed
- Set OSC1 Speed to 50% and play a long note. You'll hear your sample played at half its original speed.
- Set OSC1 Speed to 150% and play a long note. You'll hear your sample played 50% faster than its original speed.
You can even adjust the speed control while a note is playing.
Also, you can manually control the playback rate:
- Set OSC1 Speed to 0%.
- Hold down a note.
- While the note is playing, slowly slide OSC1 Offset from 0% to 100% and then back to 0%.
Before trying the other examples, return OSC1 Speed to 100% and OSC1 Offset to 0%.
Looping samples
- Open the Timbre page.
- Set OSC1 LpBeg (loop begin) to 0%.
- Set OSC1 LpLen (loop length) to 100%.
- Switch OSC1 Loop to On.
- Hold down a note. You'll hear the whole sample repeat until you release it.
You can also loop just a small portion of a sample:
- Set OSC1 LpBeg to 15%.
- Set OSC1 LpLen to 0%.
- Hold down another note. You'll hear just a tiny part of the sample repeat.
Unlike with other samplers, we didn't have to do anything to remove a click in the sample loop. With Mopis, close is good enough for loop points.
Using legato playback
- Open the Timbre page.
- If your sample is short, slow it down by setting OSC1 Speed to 50%.
- In the Voice panel, set Legato to On.
- In the Voice panel, set Porta to 4.
- Play a melody in a legato style. You'll hear the sample slide from one pitch to the next rather than restart for each note.
What do we mean by "legato style?" Play a note and hold it down until after you play the second note.
Setting up legato playback.
You can also use the pitch bend wheel to slide between pitches.
Adding vibrato
- Open the Timbre page.
- Set LFO1 to Tri.
- Set Freq1 to about 3.
- Open the Assign page.
- In the first row of the assign table, set the source to "LFO1".
- Set the destination to "OSC1 Finetune".
- Set the modulation slider to 20%.
Setting up LFO1.
Creating vibrato.
If you want more control over the vibrato effect, you can control it with the mod wheel:
- Open the Assign page.
- In the first row of the assign table, return the slider to 0%.
- In the second row of the assign table, set the source to "Mod wheel."
- In the second row, set the destination to "Assign 1 modulation amount."
- In the second row, set the slider to 20%.
When you're done, the assign table will look like this:
Controlling vibrato with the mod wheel.
Now you can use the mod wheel to adjust the amount of vibrato while a note is playing.