Specifications

ParT 3: MOTIF basIcs
In this episode we will discuss some basic
terms which play an important role in the
MOTIF series. Anyone who would like to se-
riously work with his instrument should be
aware of them.
saMPles and wave-
rOM
The MOTIF series synthesizers (including
Rack, MO, MOX, S series) are - apart
from the plug-in boards for MOTIF and
MOTIF ES - completely based on samples.
In the field of music sampling is understood
as a digital audio or music recording that is
used in a new context. Every kind of acou-
stic and electronic sounds come into questi-
on for being sampled, for example, noises,
atmospheres, sections of recorded music
(„loops“), real existing musical instruments,
synthesizers, human voices, etc.
In the first part of this series it has already
been stated that conventional synthesizers
were not sample-based, but working with
analog oscillators. The result is a kind of
sound that even today is still very popular -
analog synthesizer sounds.
A sample-based tone generation is extre-
mely versatile compared to other sound
synthesis and has therefore prevailed itself
in the range of current synthesizers and
workstations.
It is basically possible with sampling to imi-
tate any instrument. This is perfectionized
by the so-called „multi-sampling“. In this
method an instrument or another playable
tonal sound source is recorded in different
pitches, in order to avoid the transposing
of samples, which would result in an un-
natural sound. The more different pitches
are recorded, the more realistic the origi-
nal sound can be reproduced. An extreme
case would be a „chromatic sampling“, ie
the sampling of every pitch the instrument
can produce. For a sound that is played
over five octaves, this would result in 61
samples, which are then arranged on the
keyboard („mapping“). But because the
sample memory in synthesizers and work-
stations is limited, a sample usually covers
a number of keyboard keys. This is called a
Keybank, and a group of Keybanks make
up a Waveform (= multi-sample).
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