®ÂØÒňΠ™ Workshop Sampling on the Fantom-X No.
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About the Fantom-X Workshop Series The Fantom-X Workshop Series is a collection of booklets describing how to get the most out of some of the exciting features of the Roland Fantom-X family of products. Much of what’s discussed in the series also applies to the Fantom-S keyboard and, to a lesser degree, the original Fantom. Each booklet covers a single topic, with easy-to-follow explanations, procedures and illustrations. Have fun learning to master the Fantom-X in convenient bite-sized pieces.
A Very Few Important Concepts. Really. Sample Creation How Much Sample RAM Do You Need? = Thump! A sample is simply a digital recording of a sound. There are three ways such a recording can get into your Fantom-X: • • • In case you’re curious, “RAM” stands for “Random Access Memory,” and “SDRAM” stands for “Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.” You capture the sample—recording, or “sampling,” the sound directly into the Fantom-X.
The Fantom-X provides two places to store samples. Both utilize a form of long-lasting memory called “flash” memory. You can store your samples in: • • user memory—The Fantom-X contains 32 MB of user memory for permanent storage. card memory—You can install a PC memory card (purchased separately) in the Fantom-X’s rear-panel PC CARD slot for up to 1 GB of permanent storage. You can also use a Compact Flash or Smart Media card with a Compact Flash-to-PCMCIA or Smart Media-to-PCMCIA adaptor.
Skip Back Sampling stashes the audio it’s buffering in sample RAM. If there’s no room left there, Skip Back Sampling’s not available. When your Skip Back sample’s been captured, the Fantom-X presents you with a screen on which you can assign it to a pad for playing. Press the desired pad or turn VALUE to highlight it in orange onscreen, and then press F8 (Exec) twice to place the sample on the pad.
The Sampling Standby Screen Parameters On the Sampling Menu screen, press the F button for the desired type of sampling—the Sampling Standby screen appears. The Sampling Standby screen offers a selection of options that allow you to set up your sampling session. When you’re sampling from the AUDIO INPUT jacks, set your sampling level by turning the Fantom-X’s LEVEL knob as high as you can without causing its PEAK indicator to light.
The Auto Trigger Level parameter is available only when F2 (Auto Trig) is enabled, as described in “Start Sampling Automatically” below. • Gap Time—During Auto Divide sampling, this parameter sets the length of silence that causes the creation of a new sample. Dividing Audio Into Separate Samples on the Fly During sampling, you can manually divide up your audio into separate samples. To do this, press F8 (Divide) whenever you want a new, separate sample to begin.
Applying Effects as You Sample The Fantom-X allows you to add up to four effects to an incoming audio signal as you sample so the audio is captured with the effects permanently applied. Use the remaining parameters and buttons on this screen to set up these effects. The first of the four effects is called the “input effect.” • F7 (In FX Sw)—Press this button so it turns red to enable the input effect.
The Five Flavors of Sampling Resampling (Basic) Sampling Basic sampling captures audio coming into the Fantom-X while nothing else is going on—no patch or rhythm set is being played, no arpeggios or rhythms are playing, and the sequencer isn’t running. ������������� ������ Resampling captures the sound of the Fantom-X itself, or, more specifically, the stereo sound of its main OUTPUT A signal. It allows you to: • ������� To perform basic sampling: 1.
Mix Sampling With Mix sampling, you can simultaneously capture audio coming into the Fantom-X input(s) along with audio from its keyboard, pads, rhythms, arpeggiator or sequencer. Mix sampling allows you to: • • Auto-Divide Sampling ������������� ������ ������� ������� perform “live bouncing”—You can combine already-sequenced or sampled materials with new live sounds to create new samples.
Solo Sampling Solo sampling allows you to play or ������������� sing along with music playing on the Fantom-X, and capture only the live audio. ������ ������� When you want to record audio—such as vocals, guitars and such—to add to ������� sequenced tracks on the Fantom-X, use Solo sampling. Once you’ve sampled the audio and assigned it to the keyboard or a pad, you can place it into your arrangement. 6. If you haven’t set Stop Trigger and Sampling Length, press F7 (Stop) to finish sampling. 7.
How Patches and Rhythm Sets Keep Track of Samples Sample-playing patches and rhythm sets identify the samples they play by their locations in user or card memory. Every sample—even a new one—is assigned a memory location. • • Samples you’ve saved—are stored in the user or card memory locations you’ve selected. Unsaved new, imported or edited samples—are automatically allocated temporary memory locations for use as long as the Fantom-X remains powered-on.
Placing a Sample into a Patch or Rhythm Set You can create a patch or rhythm set for playing a sample—or add it to an already-existing patch or rhythm set—before or after editing. Before placing it in a patch or rhythm set, store the sample in user or card memory first as described in “How to Save an Individual Sample” later in this booklet. As noted earlier, you play a sample—or use it in a sequence— as an element within a patch or rhythm set.
Creating a One-Sample Patch—Sample List Screen 1. Highlight the desired sample in the sample list. 2. Press F7 (Load Utility). Adding a Sample to an Existing Rhythm Set You can add a sample to the currently selected rhythm set starting from the Sample List or Sample Edit screens. In either case, you send the sample to its pad on the Assign to Pad Screen. 3. Press F1 (Assign to Kbd)—if you’re in: • Patch mode—The Assign to Keyboard screen appears.
Adding a Sample to a Rhythm Set—Sample List Screen 1. Highlight the desired sample in the sample list. 2. Press F7 (Load Utility). 3. Press F2 (Assign to Pad)—the Assign to Pad screen appears. Adding a Sample to a Rhythm Set—Sample Edit Screen 1. On the Sample Edit screen, press F6 (Assign KB/Pad)—the Assign to KB/Pad window opens. 2. Press F7 (Assign to Pad)—the Assign to Pad screen appears.
Multi-Sample Patches vs Rhythm Sets Since multi-sample patches and rhythm sets both play more than one sample, what’s the difference between them? In a Multi-Sample Patch: In a Rhythm Set: The Fantom-X maps each sample to multiple keys—stretching the sample’s pitch up or down above and below its designated note—so there are no silent keys between samples. Each sample plays only on its own single drum key. All of the multisamples are played by the same patch tone, so they share tone parameter settings.
Saving and Loading Samples Saving Samples, Their Patches and Rhythm Sets To store samples and their patches and rhythm sets: 1. Save the sample or group of samples—to user or card memory before placing it in a patch or rhythm set since the patch or rhythm set will need to know where the samples permanently live. Skip Back sampling always sets aside locations in user memory for its samples that are large enough to also serve as permanent storage locations.
Samples are measured in bytes, the way things are usually measured in computer-based devices. Since most samples you record are thousands of bytes in size, the Fantom-X counts them in thousands to make life easier. Each thousand bytes is called a “kilobyte,” and is abbreviated on the Fantom-X’s display as simply “KB,” as in “100 KB,” “32752 KB,” and so on. Samples in the Preset sample list can demonstrate how a sample’s length—and whether it’s stereo or mono—affects its size.
How to Save an Individual Sample When you save a stereo sample, its left and right sides—which are really two separate samples—are automatically saved together in a consecutive pair of memory locations. 1. Press WRITE—the Write menu appears. If you were on a sampling screen prior to pressing WRITE, sample-saving is already selected onscreen, as shown here. To name a sample: 1. The first character position is underlined, so turn VALUE to select the first character of the sample’s name. 2.
Deleting an Individual Sample Here’s how to completely erase a sample from user or card memory—and from sample RAM: 1. Press SAMPLE LIST and highlight the sample you want to delete. If you want to delete multiple samples, checkmark them as described earlier. 2. Press F7 (Load Utility). 3. Press F5 (Delete Sample). 4. When the Fantom-X asks if you’re sure, press F8 (Exec) to remove the sample from user or card memory and from sample RAM.
2. Either: • Press 3, 4, 5 or 6 as necessary to highlight Save Song + Samples as shown on the previous page and then press ENTER, or • Press F1 (Save S+S). 3. The Song File Name screen appears on which you can name the song file using the name-entry techniques described earlier—when you’re done, press F8 (Write). 4. Use F3 (↓) and/or F2 (↑) to select the Fantom-X’s internal user memory as the location in which your data is to be saved, or to select Card if you’ve installed a memory card. 5.
Loading All User or Card Memory at Once The Fantom-X’s Load All Samples operation loads the entire contents of user memory and card memory into sample RAM at once. You can use Load All Samples only when sample RAM is the same size, or larger than, the amount of data you intend to load. When you use Load All Samples, the sample data you load replaces what’s in sample RAM. If there’s something in sample RAM you don’t want to lose, be sure to save it before using this feature.
2. Using a USB A/B-type cable, connect the A-type USB plug to a USB jack on your computer, and the other end to the B-type USB jack on the Fantom-X. USB A plug The Fantom-X establishes contact with the computer and displays “Connected” when communication is established. The Fantom-X’s user or card memory appears in a new window or on the desktop of your computer as a removable storage device. The Fantom-X user memory appears as “FANX USER.” Card memory appears as “FANX CARD.” USB B plug 3.
Using the Import Audio Command 1. Press SAVE/LOAD—the Save/Load menu appears. 4. Press 6 or 5 as necessary to highlight the audio file you want to import. 5. Press F8 (Import Audio). 6. When the Fantom-X asks for confirmation that you want to proceed, press F8 (Exec). The Fantom-X imports the audio file into sample RAM, and sets aside a location in card memory for the new sample. If there’s no memory card installed, the Fantom-X assigns each imported sample a temporary user memory location.
4. To automatically: • load the Fantom-X demos’ samples at startup—set Load Preset Samples at Startup to On. • load all of your user and card samples at startup—set Load User Samples at Startup to On. 5. Press F8 (System Write) to save your settings. You can’t load more sample data at startup than your sample RAM can hold, as described below in “Avoiding Startup Auto-Load Overload.
Setting Sample Parameters Probably the best first place to go when editing a sample is to its Sample Parameter screen, which holds the sample’s basic settings that determine its behavior, as well as important information for the Fantom-X’s Tempo Sync feature. • • Loop Tune—allows you to change the pitch of the looped section of a sample, from -50 cents to + 50 cents. Original Key—maps the sample to a keyboard note or pad where the sample will play at its original pitch.
The Sample Edit Screen To display a sample’s Sample Edit screen, highlight the sample in the sample list and press SAMPLE EDIT. In the top of the Sample Edit screen, you can see an overview of the entire sample. The middle of the screen shows a section of the sample magnified as desired. On the Sample Edit screen, you can set the sample’s: • • • Start Point—that determines the location in the sample that starts playing when you strike the sample’s key or pad.
Sample Modify Tools • The Fantom-X offers an array of sample-modifying operations —we’ll focus on a few important ones here. To learn about the Emphasis, Amp and Combine Sample Modify tools, see the Fantom-X Owner’s Manual. To display the Sample modify tools from the: • • Sample Edit screen—press F3 (Sample Modify). Sample List screen—press F6 (Sample Modify). The Sample Modify buttons are animated to give you an idea of what each tool does.
2. Press F3 (Sample Modify) to display the Sample Modify tools. 3. Press F1 (Truncate). 4. Turn on F6 (Overwrite) if desired. 5. Press F8 (Exec). 6. When the Fantom-X asks if you’re sure you want to trim the sample, press F8 (Exec) to complete the operation. Normalize It’s always best for a sample to be captured as loudly as possible in order to take fullest advantage of the Fantom-X’s audio fidelity—once captured this way, you can always turn the sample’s volume down as needed.
When you’ve chopped up a sample into a group of smaller samples, it’s easy to create a new rhythm set out of the samples, as we’ve seen. Rhythm sets don’t have to contain rhythmic materials—they can hold any sample you’d like to trigger from the pads. The Fantom-X chops up a single sample by dividing the sample at every “chop point” it encounters—each chop point signifies the start of a new sample. The difference between Chop and Auto Chop is simple: • • Chop—divides the sample at chop points you’ve set.
The chop points are shown as vertical dotted green lines. If more than 16 new samples are created, they won’t all fit on the pads at once. 7. Play the pads to try out the chop points. If the results aren’t close to what you want, you can try different Auto Chop settings. Press F7 (Cancel), followed by F3 (Sample Modify), F6 (Chop) and F5 (Auto Chop) to return to the Auto Chop window. The Fantom-X sets aside a location for each of the new samples, even when you cancel the Auto Chop operation.
Time-Stretching a Sample Unlike Tempo Sync—which only affects how a sample plays back—the Sample Modify Time-Stretch operation permanently changes a sample’s timing. You can re-clock a beat loop you’ve imported or sampled yourself as the basis of a song you’re creating, and lock in its new timing. To time-stretch a sample: 1. With the desired sample selected, display the Sample Modify tools from the Sample Edit or Sample List screens. 2. Press F5 (Time Strtch) to display the Edit Time Stretch screen.
