Roland MV-8000 Workshop Manual page 3

Some Things You Need to Know About Sampling
How a Sound Becomes a Sample
Here's how a sound winds up on your MV-8000 as a sample:
1. The MV-8000 receives the sound, or "audio," you want to
sample from one or more of its analog input jacks—Use the
PHONO inputs for connecting a turntable. Use the MIC/
LINE inputs for connecting microphones—or "mics"—and
instruments.
2. The MV-8000 converts the audio into a digital "sample"—It
stashes the sample in an area of memory called "sample
RAM, " so you can play it and work on it.
A new sample stays in sample RAM until you shut off the MV-8000 or load a
different project. If you do either of these things before saving the current
project, your sample is lost, so, um, don't.
3. You save the current project—The samples in sample RAM
are stored in the project's SAMPLE folder on the MV-8000's
hard drive. Once you've done this, you can turn off the
MV-8000 or load a different project, and you can always
get back your samples by re-loading their projects.
You can also sample a CD player's outputs using the methods we'll discuss
in this booklet, but you'll get even better results importing audio from a
CD using the MV-8000's built-in CD player. To learn how to do this, see the
MV-8000 Workshop booklet called Importing a Sample from CD.
For most of the examples in this booklet, we're working in a new, empty
project. You can add samples to an existing project, or start out fresh with
a new one. To learn how to create a new project, see the MV-8000 Creating
a New Project Workshop booklet.
Two Ways You Can Use Samples
There are basically two ways to use samples on the MV-8000.
You can use them:
• as audio phrases.
You can play audio phrases and patches from the pads or an
attached MIDI keyboard, but they're not the same thing—each
one is designed for a different musical use.
Anything you play from the MV-8000 pads can also be played from a
connected MIDI keyboard. We'll talk only about the pads to make things
easier to read—but remember you can always use either option.
You can also simply record on the MV-8000 just as you would with any
digital multitrack recorder. This is sampling, too, in a way. To learn more,
see the MV-8000 Direct Recording Workshop booklet.
What's an Audio Phrase?
An audio phrase is a recording you trigger by striking a pad—
to stop it, you hit its pad again. An audio phrase can be a:
• sampled beat loop.
• a sampled vocal.
• an instrumental performance.
What makes audio phrases interesting is that you record them
on audio tracks that can keep them locked in time to your
song's tempo. If the audio phrase's original tempo is different
than the song's, the MV-8000 adjusts it to fit. If a song's tempo
changes, the audio phrase automatically stretches or shrinks
to match it. This makes audio phrases great for beat loops.
You can put an audio phrase on every pad in a project if you
like. With 16 pads, and 32 banks of pads, that's 512 audio
phrases in a project, provided you have enough sample RAM.
• in a patch.