CT-S1000V and Sampling

[Chas]

I'm having a blast exploring the features of my new S1000V, and I'm currently exploring its sampling capabilities. However, I'm stuck on actually saving samples.

 

As per P.215 of the user manual, the S1000V can import WAV files from a USB stick. I prepared a short test .WAV file, copied it to a USB flash drive (FAT 32 formatted) - IMPORTANT- the .wav files MUST be placed inside a folder called "MUSICDAT" otherwise the 1000V will not see it. The S1000V will create this folder on the USB flash drive the first time you mount it to the S1000V, or you can create a folder called "MUSICDAT"  in the USB flash drive root directory via your computer. I then confirmed that the sample plays back correctly from the flash drive (via VLC Player), then followed the instructions to mount the USB flash drive into the S1000V. The S1000V states "Mounting", then all seems to be in order. I'm then able to import the sample into the S1000V and play it back. I also tried sampling using audio in and that installed and worked fine too.

 

However, I can't for the life of me work out how to save samples (for when I've used the audio in sampling option). if I go to P.253 of the User Guide, "USB FLASH DRIVE OPERATIONS" and under "DATA TYPES", there is a table that shows all the different types of file extensions used, and it states that Melody samples are saved with the .SPM extension, and drum samples are saved with .SPD extensions. How do I save/ export samples FROM the S1000V onto the USB flash drive? There doesn't seem to be an option to do so. And if the sample is exported as .SPM or .SPD, how can I use/ edit this via an audio editor on my computer?

Also, in the looping option (P.221), maybe I'm missing something regarding the UNITS and  multiplication number. I get that UNITS is the length of a musical note, and that it corresponds to how long the sample will play, but  how is it actually acting on the sample? Does the sample always start from the beginning and the UNIT denotes how long it will play before it loops?  And what exactly does the TIMES function actually do, as at the moment the sample will only loop (indefinitely) if I hold the key down and immediately stops if I release the key.

 

Other than that, the sampling feature is a nice bonus to have, even though it's quite limited in many respects. However, I've already found that adding DSPs to the sample really opens up immense sonic possibilities. In combination with all the S1000V's other features, you can use it to come up with some very interesting ideas! 

[Brad Saucier]

Looping samples, "unit" is the note value you want, like a quarter note.  "Times" is how many times the keyboard will count off the note value before the loop starts again.  Say you want a sample to play a loop that is 3 quarter notes long, set unit to 4 and times to 3.  The loop is indefinite in melody mode as long as the key is held.  

 

For saving to a flash drive, press menu, media, save, sampling, choose from melody or drum and continue.  Don't forgot to use the arrow button to reach more menu items. 

 

As far as file types, I'm not sure any software can open the files.  

[moontom]

Related sampling questions:

is it possible to capture say a 2 measure drum groove (as long as it doesn’t exceed 10 seconds) via audio in?

Is it then possible to loop that? (I remember this being tricky on the MZX).

and is it possible to save the loop on Usb stick or internal memory?

 

thanks….

[Chas]

10 hours ago, Brad Saucier said:

Looping samples, "unit" is the note value you want, like a quarter note.  "Times" is how many times the keyboard will count off the note value before the loop starts again.  Say you want a sample to play a loop that is 3 quarter notes long, set unit to 4 and times to 3.  The loop is indefinite in melody mode as long as the key is held.  

 

For saving to a flash drive, press menu, media, save, sampling, choose from melody or drum and continue.  Don't forgot to use the arrow button to reach more menu items. 

 

As far as file types, I'm not sure any software can open the files.  

 

Cheers Brad, that did the trick for saving the sample from the 1000V onto the USB flash drive. I must have missed the bit in the manual where it says you need to go to the main menu and then select "media" to save/ export the data, not do it from within the actual sampling menu. It appears this applies to saving data to the USB drive from all other sections of the keyboard too.

 

As far as the actual exported sample file goes, as mentioned, it's saved with a .MSP extension (for melody samples). I tried to play it in VLC player to no avail, and even changing the extension from .MSP to .WAV in the hope that it was actually a WAV file in disguise didn't work. However, I was able to load it into Audacity and play it by using File>Import>Raw Data, but using the standard import settings the sample was much too fast/ short. I played around with the import settings and found that  if I changed it from "signed 32 Bit PCM" to "signed 16 Bit PCM" the sample now loaded and played at a slower speed, but not exactly the same as the original sample. However, there is some weird stuff going on as there is some strange very short pulse looking waveform data at the beginning of the sample just before the sample actually starts, and a brief click at the very end of the sample. I'm assuming that this is some kind of encoding unique to the 1000V so that it recognises the start and end of a sample. Maybe.

 

Seems kind of weird that the 1000V will happily load in .WAV files, but it exports them using a different proprietary format. My conclusion regarding this would be to do all the actual sample capturing elsewhere, i.e. with a computer based sound recording device or any device that records captured audio as WAV files, carry out all editing of the sample in an audio editor such as Audacity, re-save them as WAV files then transfer/ import a copy of them to the S1000V using the flash drive. This means that if you ever need to edit the sample again, you can do so using the original WAV file stored on a computer rather than mess about trying to convert and read the 1000V's proprietary file format. This also means that I wouldn't advise using the line in sampling feature of the S1000V unless you are absolutely sure that you never want/ need to edit or use the sample elsewhere at a later date. Or maybe Casio will release a Data Editor that can convert samples as they did with the XW-G1?

 

Oh yes, I finally got my head round the looping sample "Unit" and "Times" thanks to your explanation. Initially I thought "Times" was how many times it looped the sample before stopping! No wonder I didn't understand why the sample was endlessly repeating when I held the key down and looping at different points when I changed the Time value!

Edited February 4, 2022 by Chas

[Chas]

4 hours ago, moontom said:

Related sampling questions:

is it possible to capture say a 2 measure drum groove (as long as it doesn’t exceed 10 seconds) via audio in?

Is it then possible to loop that? (I remember this being tricky on the MZX).

and is it possible to save the loop on Usb stick or internal memory?

 

thanks….

 

I've tried doing this, both by capturing a drum groove sample via audio in and also by importing a drum groove sample via USB. The answer is yes, you can capture a 2 measure drum groove via audio in, and yes, you can loop it. However, I was not able to find a loop point to make it loop seamlessly (I sampled The Human League's "Open Your Heart" drum intro), whatever combination of Loop "Unit" and "Time" that I tried it either repeated too early or too late. If I manually triggered the sample to start again each time it had finished I could make it "loop" seamlessly, but I am pretty certain that you want it to loop automatically, not have to manually retrigger it every 2 measures.

And yes, you can save the loop(s) to a USB stick, and also the internal memory (only one long sample or 10 short drum samples at any one time in memory), but see my caveat in my earlier post about the samples being saved in a proprietary format. Unless there is a a way of converting them to a standard WAV file, they won't be of any use except for when used in the S1000V. But you can at least store multiple samples on the USB flash drive and load them into the S1000V when required.

[Brad Saucier]

Groove looping, okay. Sample loop timing is done musically, using the set time signature values, and follows the internal clock (system tempo), same as rhythms do.  So let's say you want to playback a sample which was originally a 4/4 110 BPM groove, set the keyboard's tempo to 110, and configure the loop time signature accordingly.  It should loop accurately. 

[Chas]

@Brad Saucier- I feel stupid now. How did I miss that important fact?! 🤦‍♂️

 

Later today I will try to work out the BPM of the Human League's "Open Your Heart",  set the BPM in the S1000V to match and then set loop unit and times again for the sample.  I'll report back! 

[Chas]

I got the sample to loop seamlessly!

 

It was the BPM/ tempo setting in the S1000V that was key - I was focusing on the wrong area (I was messing with the Unit and Times settings in the Sample section).  In the end, I had Unit set to "1" and Times set to "1" also, then I pressed and held down the middle "C" of the keyboard to play and loop the sample back at its original pitch and speed. While it was doing this, there was a gap between the end of the sample and when it restarted. I went to the Tempo setting of the S1000V then started to increase the BPM from its setting of 118. As I increased the BPM the time gap between the end of the sample playing and restarting got shorter, until when I set the BPM to 132 the sample of the two measure drum groove now looped in perfect timing. 

 

Therefore @moontom, the answer is yes to all your questions. A sample can be captured/ loaded, looped seamlessly and saved to both the S1000V's memory and also to the USB flash drive. 👍

[moontom]

Thanks Chas! Thanks Brad! That's tremendous.