I have also, never heard a good bitcrush effect. On the boss 202 it records in various quality levels which include a change in sample rate and the recording is fixed to that rate. From my understanding, sample bit rate or data bit rate for that matter, is the number of bits in the code which represents the sample. Higher bit rates contain more bits of data therefore can be higher quality representations of the sound, but it also plays off of the sample rate when concerning the quality of the playback.
So if a 12 bit sample is recorded as a data string like 000011110000 and 16 bit sample of the same sound is represented as 0000111100001111, maybe thereās software or decode/recode thatās part of the UI that changes the 16 bit data string into a 12 bit data string, but that sounds more like a 12 bit sample playback than a 12 bit sample recording and I donāt know how to differentiate that from bitcrushing.
It would be hard for me to imagine that it has enough memory to record a 12 bit and a 16 bit of each sample, because if it did, then it would be like switching between storage areas when you accessed the 12 bit mode and that would make sense, but that seems like it would be so resource intensive I canāt imagine they would do that. It has a tape effect mode, but 12 bit mode didnāt seem like an effect so maybe it is actually more along the lines of bit conversion, but like I said I just donāt know how to tell the difference between what constitutes bit reduction from bit rate conversion of a sample, I just would think even if you did lofi a sample it would create a permanent change after the fact, so there would have to be a second backup of the higher res sample in order to toggle back to it.
My knowledge base is probably just archaic, maybe thereās a very reasonable way to do it that Iām just unaware of.
I follow the exact same reasoning here.
I donāt think they use a second slot or buffer for the other sampling rate.
But youāre right: I thought it would be like my roland 12bit sampler: printing the bitdepth in with recording. Then I could use for example software to extract the sample from the midi-sds dump. It would be really 12-bit.
As I see it, if I could extract the sample here, it would be an 16bit sample because it is an effect not baked in.
If I can find the time I will do a A/B test versus the roland S-10, with the same sample.
Or maybe try to extract the sample from the lofi-12 midi dump. I donāt know if thatās possible.
What file type are the samples stored in? is it specified in the manual for upload via sysex?
I also suspect 16 bit is a permanent bitrate because you could create a 12 bit file by removing bits from the 16 bit but it wouldnāt be a 12 bit recording, it would be a 16 bit file truncated to 12 bits ala bit removal/reduction. You could not take a 12 bit file and improve it by making it 16 bits because the same amount of audio data is present no matter how many bits itās coded with.
Big question mark for me. I hope when you find time to look into this you can do a little detective work and report back here about what you figure out. Itās interesting. I looked into this equipment quite a bit and was left with a lot of question marks still remainingā¦
I have the lofi-12 for a few months now. Still puzzled by the bitdepth thingy. If only some of the Sonicware guys were here, they could provide some info.
I havenāt made a backup yet. I presume it is a sysex midi sampledump protocol like on the machinedrum.
I will test this hopefully this week. At least do a comparison video.
I appreciate the information. Does every track need its own channel? Or is it possible to put say, tracks 1 and 2 on channel 1 and tracks 3 and 4 on channel 2?
Also, Iām curious to know how well changing the sample or changing the sample start point works over MIDI. Do you need to send the message prior to triggering the note or can you send the message with the note?
I sold mine after a while because it was a bit too fiddly for me to really like working with it. It wasnāt too hard to learn the shift combos (although some feel awkward) but i didnāt like the feel of the workflow and the buttons too much.
I have limited time to make music and so i only find out after a few weeks if iāll really use a new device enough to keep it. Itās still a great little sampler, especially for the price. And if it was my only sampler i would have probably kept it.
Parameter locking is cool and the sound has a nice raw quality to it. But at the moment iām digging the SP-404 mkii a bit more.
Cool sampler, my only quibble is having to use the overlay card, soā¦ Iām thinking it would be cool to design a skin for the Lofi 12 which shows all the controls without needing an overlay.
Perhaps this is a question for a new threadā¦ But how on earth would I go about designing and printing a skin? Does anyone have any experience of this? Might just be easier to get a sharpie out
You first need to design it in a drafting program if you donāt want to pay somebody to do it. Then you could go upload it on the website and see what it looks like, then if you like it, you order it.
Youāre talking about styleflip right? thatās how you do it there when you design your own skin. Theyāll print what youāve designed. Most of theirs have the option to do the factory labeling but if you custom order, they print whatever I think.
Never used Styleflip, but that looks like the sort of thing Iām thinking, although they donāt have Sonicware templates. So Iām assuming Iād have to do some accurate measuring and design up on CAD, Adobe Designer or something similar? I might contact Sonicware and see if they can provide a CAD file of the faceplate. Doubt it but worth asking
Yes, itās worth asking otherwise I think a headache will ensue. If you provide styleflip with accurate files I assume they will print it for you because historically they like money. The first thing I would do if not available from sonicware is start with the button overlay as a guide and then try to find a scanner large enough to get that into a computer (at a print shop or anywhere you have to go) because the button layout will be the hardest part to get accurate, and if you have that to scale in a file the rest of it will be easier.
If you want to approach them about a top only skin, it will probably make your life easier because then there is less need to bring it into three dimensions and you might get away without an autocad file, although you will need to find out from styleflip the file type required so you make sure you arenāt making extra work for them unless you want to pay for their time. I would want to pay as little as possible, just personally.
I believe style flip or like company did some custom jobs for a naut here. Maybe @DonovanDwyer, if not sorry! They had to send in their hardware for fitting if I recall. Maybe an option worth asking unlesss I was high and none of this actually happened.
Didnāt get a reply from Sonicware so Iāve just added the overlay card mappings to the unit with a chalk pen. Working well so far and adds to the lofi charm
I looked at some pictures of the bottom of the unit and fwiw I think it would be easy to take this thing apart and put it back together if you wanted to get some tracings done in order to scan them. I donāt see there being a lot to the construction. pull off some knobs, remove the screws from the bottom, lift off the top panel. Everything else is just slide through so there would be nothing else to disconnect or reconnect, the outside is just a shell.
