User Manual

WAVELAB
28 – 658 Using samplers and creating loops
Introduction
This chapter describes various operations related to samplers. WaveLab
has the ability to communicate with most audio samplers on the market,
making it possible to receive and transmit audio.
Connected to this functionality is the possibility to create good loops.
Looping is a common technique used in samplers to simulate the infinite (or
at least very long) sustain of many instrumental sounds. WaveLab has tools
for creating smooth loops, even for the most complex types of sounds.
What we normally refer to as audio files in WaveLab are probably called
“samples” in your sampler. In this chapter we will adhere to this terminol-
ogy and call audio recordings “samples”.
Background information
About the various communication methods
Samplers from various manufacturers are very different when it comes to
communication possibilities. The following section tries to categorize the
various means of communication that are available:
Generic SDS (Sample Dump Standard)
SDS is the most basic and widely spread way of communicating with a
sampler. It is part of the MIDI standard. SDS allows you to send and re-
ceive samples, but does not support any type of name handling. Specify-
ing which sample to send/retrieve is done using numbers.
Recommendation: Use SDS only if no other means of communication is
available. It works well, but it is slow and not very practical.
The WaveLab implementation of SDS requires two way MIDI communica-
tion between the sampler and computer (MIDI In to MIDI Out and vice
versa). “Open loop” (one way) transfers are not supported.