Hi folks. I’m new to the world of samplers/drum machines, so please forgive me if this question is either obvious or obscure.
I need a sampler to create rhythm-based sound textures in a live performance setting; one that I could interact with live, but also walk away from to play other instruments, allowing it to supply changing and complex textures for an entire song. I’ve really taken to the hands-on playfulness of the Model:Samples, and was close to purchasing until I realised it does not have a song/chain capability. I’m aware that the Octatrack has this capability, but it’s too complex and expensive for me.
My Question: is there another dedicated device (not a laptop) that I could attach to the Model:Samples, through usb or midi, that could trigger various tracks stored on the Model:Samples into a pre-arranged sequence, thus creating a chain of tracks, a.k.a., a song?
Thank you.
Great question; such a device would be a great pairing for the Digitakt as well. Even something that just sends program changes would be enough.
That would be perfect.
Look at the 1010 Music Blackbox. It might do what you need. It is also a great device on its own.
Zoia is a powerful mate for this
The Model:Samples does support pattern chaining, it just doesn’t store the chain between reboots. But if you arrange your song parts sequentially (pattern 1, pattern 2, etc.) then you could just recreate the pattern each time, takes about 30 secs. You can also ‘rearrange’ your song by changing the order of the patterns. Also, it will loop your pattern chain indefinitely, so you can walk away from it.
I’m not performing live yet, so perhaps I don’t know what I’m talking about, but here’s how I imagine organizing songs for live performance:
Each project is a collection of up to 6 songs. Each Bank (A - F) is one song. Each song has up to 16 parts (patterns 1 - 16). A standard song would be a chain of patterns 1 - 16, in sequential order.
So each song can be rearranged by changing the order of the pattern chain, but you could even create weird rearrangements/remixes by using different parts of different songs, like this:
A1 - A2 - C2 - E5 - A1
So certainly you could use an external piece of gear to manage all of this, but I think that’s a lot of money to spend to save a minor bit of hassle. And if a future firmware update allows the M:S to store pattern chains through reboots (not sure if that’s a hardware or software limitation), then the external gear wouldn’t be needed anymore.
I am curious what the cheapest piece of gear is that would do this, my guess is that a phone/tablet app would be the least expensive option.
Hey, thanks for taking the time to explain that. Given what I’ve been learning elsewhere, since I first posted this, what you say makes sense. I’ve just picked up a barely used Model:Samples, should have it by mid-week. I’ll make a dummy-run with your chaining suggestion, as if I were live onstage, find out how it feels and post some feedback here 
Sounds great! Would love to hear your feedback. I’m always hesitant to give advice to performing musicians since I’m not there yet myself! But I love thinking about workflow and process.
Edit: Just saw this, looks like it might do what you originally asked about:
Wow. THANK YOU!
Oh, and that process of pattern chaining that I said takes about 30 secs? I just figured out a way to do it even faster! Assuming your song is arranged sequentially on patterns 1 - 16, press and hold pattern + trig 1 with your left hand. With your right hand, press trig 2 and quickly drag your finger across the chromatic keyboard, hitting all trigs (2 - 16). Since you are hitting each trig button in the right order, it will add them all into a long pattern chain, 1 - 16. Then hit play. Takes less than 5 seconds 
I’m loving this. Really can’t wait to get my hands on this and really can’t thank you enough!
the linear patterning chaining approach sounds interesting for a song. I would like to give this a try. Just wondering what happens when you want to bring the level of the snare up or change a sound? Do you then have to do that again for every pattern? If you had 16 versions of the same pattern, this could get hard to manage. Is there a workaround or how do you approach this?
Yes, that’s defined per per pattern. It is, for me, a major downside to my model:cycles (same in this respect to the samples).
I’ve seen feature requests to Elektron to change this, but I have a gut feeling that it won’t change.