I never use one hit samples like drums because i generate my drums through the MD engines so i can controll them all in a more experimental manner. I only use the rom space from 1 to 4 bars loops. Because the rom space is extremely limited i have problem with my live performance due to the fact that i can have only a limited number of loops in it (4 to 5 ,2bar loops max) i dont have the + feature so i have to live with it.
Which is the proper way to prepare big loop samples that are big in size to send in the machinedrum via midi.
Of course i am sampling only mono. Sometimes i dump samples from an akai S series which are already small and i am importing them to the MD.
Direct sampling from the MD’s input is not an option
What you do? a more faster way to make samples that are big in lenght but small in size (kb) so you can use the most of the ROM space?
this doesn’t directly address your question, but i use a few tricks to work around the md’s limited memory space. in case it helps:
-if you have a uw model, don’t forget you can switch samplebanks without stopping the sequencer. it takes a bit of menu diving but it only takes a few seconds … you can get access to far more loops this way.
-you can also create your own loops with the internals and resample them multiple times with different ram machines. it tends to give the resulting loops a coarser feel that provide a nice textural combo with the internals that play directly. have a bunch of them presequenced, and as long as you have enough ram left to sample the ones you need at the moment without fidelity loss, you can repeat as often as necessary.
-old trick framed for the md: try sampling shorter loops and slicing them up / resequencing them by plocking the start and end parameters. you can get lots of variation out of a small sample this way.
Your options will be more limited using loops but here are some ideas.
Reduce sampling rate. You can probably get by with 22.5k on some loops, maybe even lower - this depends on the high freq content.
Similar to the above (same effect really), is to speed up all your samples - whatever your software does to effect both pitch and tempo (in Audacity this is the change speed effect, in the real world we call it resampling, on a turntable it would be changing speed from 33->45rpm). You will loose high frequency response again but this is how it used to be done back in the day with old samplers. Can provide nice artifacts actually.
Chop up then reconstruct your loops on the MD. For example, chop the snare into one sample then reuse the snare from step 5 on step 13. This will greatly depend on the sample.
Find a model with the +drive so you can use sample banks as suggested above - though this will not work with just a UW, it needs to be a +drive as well.
A complicated method would still involve chopping your samples into pieces, and then adjusting the sample rate specific to each slice. For example a chunk with only bass notes would benefit from a lower sampling rate, but the cymbal parts would need higher rates.