Sampling Stereo or Mono?

[Producer1]

Does the MZX only Sample in Mono?I sampled a panning Sample and it only played back in Mono.

[Lobbard]

On 3/26/2018 at 12:49 PM, Producer1 said:

Does the MZX only Sample in Mono?I sampled a panning Sample and it only played back in Mono.

Hi there,  I think the MZX samples only in mono.   Using the handy all-in-one manuals PDF (from Rick Sterling) searched for 'stereo'.  Refers just to Audio Recording and Pan Position etc, but no mention of sampling of stereo that I could see.  Hope this helps.  (see Rick's combinedManuals link below): 

 

http://www.rickster.org/CombinedManuals.pdf

[Brad Saucier]

Lobbard is correct.  Samples are mono.  Two mono samples panned left and right make stereo tones.  You can create stereo tones with the MZX sample manager but I'm not aware of a way to make stereo pads.   

[Tson]

Too bad!  That seems like another serious limitation.  Pads and sampling is a great feature, but losing stereo capability stinks.

[Producer1]

Thanks all for that info.

[Rick Stirling]

20 hours ago, Tson said:

Too bad!  That seems like another serious limitation.  Pads and sampling is a great feature, but losing stereo capability stinks.

 

I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that MZ Pads are all MIDI data that point to sample data. So if a Pad points to a stereo part like the Concert Grand Piano you will get the stereo effect of that part.  I must confess, the Pad system on the X500 has not been easy to wrap my head around so I have basically ignored it. ;-)

[Brad Saucier]

Rick, pads can record their own audio samples from either internally generated sounds or the line inputs, or import them from USB wave files.  Those samples are stored separately in the pad area and can only be assigned to pads or user drum kits. Phrases are the MIDI sequences that can trigger mixer parts. 

[Rick Stirling]

Just now, Brad Saucier said:

Rick, pads can record their own audio samples from either internally generated sounds or the line inputs, or import them from USB wave files.  Those samples are stored separately in the pad area and can only be assigned to pads or user drum kits. Phrases are the MIDI sequences that can trigger mixer parts. 

 

Brad,

 

Thank you for the clarification. As I said, I haven't yet spent the time to fully understand the PAD system. It all seemed a bit overly complex at first glance so I've basically ignored it. ;-)

 

[pquenin]

So if you load a stereo sample on a pad, it must be a stereo pad. And I suppose that if you record from the stereo Line In, the result sample woulb be in stereo.

[Brad Saucier]

Pad samples are always mono.  When I say "pad samples", I mean samples that are stored strictly in the pad sample banks.  There is another area of sample memory in the MZ-X500 that is not "pad samples" per say.

 

I'm surprised no one here is thinking outside of the box.  There are ways to use that 256MB expansion memory to play samples on the pads.  You can then play stereo samples, play much longer samples and have many more samples available at once.  Be creative and you'll find a way.  Hint hint.  😉

[Tson]

13 hours ago, Brad Saucier said:

There are ways to use that 256MB expansion memory to play samples on the pads.  You can then play stereo samples, play much longer samples and have many more samples available at once.  Be creative and you'll find a way.  Hint hint.  😉

“There are ways...” ?

Can you be more specific?

 

What are the downsides of this “creative” outside-the-box (undocumented) discovery you’ve made?  Memory?  Delays of sample triggered?  

 

Why the “hint-hint” comment?

 

[Brad Saucier]

Hint hint, because I gave a hint....256MB expansion memory. Ask yourself how samples stored in that memory can be played by the pads. It's not really "undocumented" and probably not even outside the box.  It's done by using MZ-X500 features as intended.  

[pquenin]

Maybe you can create a "drum"" tone with Sample Manager and use a phrase with only one note on a pad to play one of the instrument of the "drum" tone (and a single "drum" tone can have up to 128 samples assigned, so a single "drum" tone can be a bank of 128 samples)  ?

[Brad Saucier]

You are on the right track.  Pads can play sequencer data in the form of phrases.  That can be used to trigger notes.  Tones created by the MZX Sample Manager can have different samples for each note up to the allowed limit for the type of tone chosen.  For example, if you create a tone with samples of various drum loops on different keys, you could trigger those loops using a phrase.  Loop timing is still determined by the pad settings.  Each pad can play a different note to access different loops in that tone. This also allows the use of DSP for pads if you choose to let the pads target upper 1 for the sampled tone.  

[Tson]

On 3/30/2018 at 7:46 AM, Brad Saucier said:

Hint hint, because I gave a hint....256MB expansion memory.

 

1) Are there any downsides to this technique?  ex., lag time, timing, etc?

 

2) Can you estimate how many samples (stereo) can be stored using this expansion memory method?  Approximately.  Perhaps give me an average of what a 30 second stereo sample eats up in memory?

[pquenin]

I think 30s of stereo CD quality is 5 Mo.

[Brad Saucier]

There is no lag.  Sample memory usage is approximately half the size of the uncompressed 44.1/16 wav files used to make the tones.   

[Tson]

On 4/1/2018 at 3:30 PM, Brad Saucier said:

There is no lag.  Sample memory usage is approximately half the size of the uncompressed 44.1/16 wav files used to make the tones.   

And sooooo, a 30 second stereo sample would be ..... how many MB?

[Carter]

Sounds like a tool/hint for composition to me. Only thing is I don't see anyone doing much of anything with the MZX....we talk about the specific capabilities all day but if no one showcases or proves it can be done then....

 

 

[AlenK]

On 2018-04-03 at 1:31 PM, Tson said:

And sooooo, a 30 second stereo sample would be ..... how many MB?

 

Raw sample data would be 44,100 samples per sec X 2 bytes per sample X 30 seconds X 2 channels = 5,292,000 bytes = 5.0 MB, where MB (megabyte) is 1,024 X 1,024 = 1,048,576 bytes. Brad says approximately half so about 2.5 MB.