Sampling advice in Logic Pro 9?

January 27, 2012 10:37 AM

I want to be able to record snippets of field recordings (branches, air conditioner drones, etc.), and then play them with a midi controller: one key per sample. How might I do that in Logic Pro 9?

I have Logic but I'm one of those people who really should just use Garageband given my level of recording prowess. Still, I doubt GB can do what I need it to...

Basically, I want to be able to load a lot of short samples that I recorded myself into some kind of interface so that allows me to play them as if they were a single software instrument. The desired outcome is to be able to sit down, hit record, and lay down a track as if I was using one of the pre-set drum kits, but it's composed entirely of different samples I've assigned to different keys.

(E.g., when I depress this key of my midi controller, the 'branch snapping' sound comes out, and when I depress the adjacent key, the 'rock scraping' sound comes out. By contrast, I don't need to be able to play the same tone at different pitches.)

If this can be done in Logic, how do you recommend doing it? Is there a sampler I should use? Any advice would be appreciated.
posted by Beardman (4 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

I'm just learning Logic 9 now myself, but it seems like you want to get familiar with the EXS-24 Sampler that's part of the app.
This video
gives you an idea of how to assign samples to your midi keyboard. In that example, he uses the same sample and has it pitch up or down for every key, but I'm sure with more tweaking/googling you could figure out how to assign different sounds for every key.
I probably could have figured it out but it's Friday and I'm going to drink beer and watch a movie now.
posted by chococat at 7:40 PM on January 27, 2012


Thanks, Chococat. I'll look into the EXS-24.
posted by Beardman at 5:28 AM on January 28, 2012


As chococat said EXS-24 can do this, but I'll make another suggestion that may be a little easier, especially since you don't need pitch-shifting: Ultrabeat.

Ultrabeat is the drum machine that comes with Logic Pro 9, but it has a really slick feature called "Drag and Drop Sample Kit" in the presets menu. When you select that it just gives you a bank of empty keys and you can drag and drop in any audio files from your browser menu. These keys will map to any class-compliant USB midi keyboard or drum machine controller.

Here's a video tutorial...they're building a drum kit but the exact same principles would work for what you want to do.
posted by Doleful Creature at 12:57 PM on January 28, 2012


Cool, thanks Doleful! That sounds simple. I'll give it a try tonight.
posted by Beardman at 8:08 AM on January 29, 2012


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