Creating Sample Packs with XO: Tips and Tricks for Quick & Easy Sampling
Tutorial | Mon Jan 10 2022 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
In this video, I showed viewers how to use the XO sampler to quickly and easily create sample packs, kick drums and drum loops. I demonstrated how to layer sounds, use FX2 and frequency shifters, adjust the loudness and reverb, and use the sample combiner to create different loops. I also shared tips on how to analyze kick drums and make sure the bottom part stays the same while the top part changes. Finally, I mentioned that you can use a hard clipper to check if the samples are aligned and gave advice on how to optimize the drums.
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Questions & Answers #
Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:
What is XO and what are its capabilities? #
XO is a sampler by XLA in an audio. It has the capability of classifying samples from the hard drive and it is also a great tool for creating sample packs. XO has a range of settings to help shape the sound, such as sub bass, frequency shifter, distortion, reverb, and a peak limiter. It also has a sample combiner which allows you to combine multiple samples into one.
How can I use XO to create sample packs? #
To create a sample pack with XO, you first need to search for a bass layer and top layers, such as kick drums and acoustic samples. Then, you can use the settings to shape the sound and add effects like reverb and a peak limiter. You can also use the random button to create different variations of the samples. Lastly, you can use the sample combiner to combine multiple samples into one.
What is the FX2 trick and how do I use it? #
The FX2 trick is a technique used with XO that involves using a frequency shifter and distortion in the high band. To use it, you
Transcription #
This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.
[00:00.000] Welcome back guys. In today's video, it's about XO, the sampler by XLA in an audio.
[00:05.680] It has some nice capabilities of classifying your samples from the hard drive and it's nice to find samples also from the hard drive.
[00:12.560] But today I want to show you some tips and tricks how I use it to create samples, sample packs pretty easily and quickly.
[00:19.520] And it's also a nice practice of, you know, making drums and
[00:24.720] creating sample libraries for yourself, for your future productions. So let's start.
[00:33.280] So let's say you want to create a sample pack with a lot of kick drums and the kick drums should be sound kind of the same but different each time.
[00:41.680] So you want to have the same bass layer.
[00:43.600] So to have the same energy in all of the kick drums. So what I usually do, and I also already did this, the past to create some nice sample packs.
[00:57.840] You can also create drum loops this way, but I'll show you in a minute.
[01:01.680] So what you do is you basically search for a bass layer, let's say kick drum with a lot of
[01:07.120] a lot of energy in it. So I feel like this, and then some top layers acoustic ones.
[01:22.000] So I feel like this, or something like this, maybe a rimshot,
[01:32.080] for the click, and then you just play together, right, which sounds probably shit.
[01:42.320] But then you can use your all the settings, for instance, the sub bass here,
[01:48.480] it could be not that long, maybe shorter here, let's see.
[01:53.520] So I feel like this, but you can also here cut everything out above one of the turrets.
[02:04.960] You just need sub layer in here. From one of the turrets upwards, we can use here this one, if you also
[02:14.880] use a bit shorter. This one too, and this one is just a click on top,
[02:30.960] and should be pretty short. Let's see how this sounds.
[02:35.760] Nice, okay. You can use it to transform or to increase the loudness,
[02:49.200] not too much. You can also bring in some reverb, some point,
[02:56.400] maybe use dark room, bright room, just a short reverb to make it kind of roomy.
[03:27.200] Okay, maybe add to any cue at the end, just to narrow everything a bit more down.
[03:43.360] You know, it's all like a taste thing here, where you boost frequencies.
[03:48.880] It also depends on what kind of style you're going for, but I just want to give you
[03:52.720] general advice, how you can layer sounds or create samples easy and fast.
[04:01.520] So we have this now. Maybe you also use this FX2 trick I use all the time with the frequency
[04:07.760] shifter in the top, in the high band here, with the distortion on top. Maybe too much.
[04:25.040] I like this peak limiter. I should be nice.
[04:44.960] Nice too much here. We have to find sweet spot for everything, and when you're done,
[04:51.280] you can bounce this here and say, this is my new kick drum. You can also just use here the sample
[05:03.040] combiner, and say I want to leave the sub-pondamental sample, the bass layer for this one.
[05:14.080] So I want to stay with this throughout my sample pack. So every kick drum basically has the same
[05:20.640] bass sub-energy, but everything else changes, so we can use the random button now.
[05:27.280] And I have the second bass drum on this.
[05:30.960] Let me go to the next one. Next one.
[05:53.360] You can basically just replace your other samples. You can use even more samples.
[05:57.760] You don't need to use just here for layers. Sometimes I used all these layers here.
[06:03.520] Maybe I'll also introduce some snare sounds, awesome random fade in sounds at the end.
[06:09.840] So everything to get a nice sample.
[06:31.360] So we have basically now here four bass samples, one, that's one, that's one.
[06:48.800] And they all sound kind of different in the top range, but they have the same energy at the bottom.
[06:54.720] So when you are making a lot of semi tunes, let's say you make melodic techno or you make
[07:02.400] techno or dubstep and you prefer some kind of kick drum over others, then maybe analyze what's
[07:12.320] happening in the sub part of the kick drum, and then make a lot of samples that have changing
[07:20.640] top ends and the bass part stays the same. So you are probably going to end up with using
[07:31.840] these samples because you like the sub base or the sub part of it.
[07:39.200] And also when you have maybe one tune and you want to change up the kick drum, but not that much,
[07:44.480] right? When you have one kick drum throughout the whole track and then you change the kick drum
[07:49.360] for something completely different than it sounds strange. But with these kind of samples,
[07:55.680] it's not that strange because only the top part changes, not the fundamental or the main energy
[08:03.520] of the sample. So easy way of creating samples or kick drums.
[08:16.160] Sometimes I do also use this to create drum loops. For instance, let's go with this one here.
[08:26.080] Let's say I want to make drum bass loops, right? So I do the same.
[08:33.360] So after basically the kick drum part here, already done. And we use the second, it's all.
[08:46.160] But the snare part need to do the same with the snares. Let's use
[08:51.360] just a easy sample or maybe in 909 snare.
[09:10.640] Something like this. And then use some rim shots or claps.
[09:15.280] And see what we can do with these samples.
[09:24.720] Right. And then let's get the meaty part. It's probably around
[09:34.480] two, three and maybe something like this. Make this clicky.
[09:52.960] This one will be pretty short.
[09:54.720] Let's
[10:02.560] maybe bring in also the shot pre-bub.
[10:32.560] Something like this.
[10:52.560] Sometimes when you have like samples that don't start really at the beginning here with
[11:10.680] the right attack, maybe you have to fiddle around here with the starting offset of the
[11:17.200] XOR samples and do this here by just clicking the sample and change here the starting offset.
[11:25.400] Sometimes you have to do this but you will hear it.
[11:27.880] If you have good speakers or good headphones and you compress or use maybe a clipper and
[11:35.840] put a clipper on the snare, you will hear that you have a slightly different sample
[11:43.480] offset, it's not really aligned but you can hear that you don't need to use a scope
[11:49.680] for that in my opinion.
[11:51.440] Can do use a scope but it's easier when you can hear it and if you use a hard clipper
[11:57.120] maybe on this one and when you crank up basically the input and clip the fuck out of the sample
[12:08.720] you can hear it at some point that something is not really aligned.
[12:15.240] But also it's not a big problem because you're separated here to frequencies of all the
[12:20.240] samples so they are not basically overlapping so it's not that much overlapping.
[12:26.960] But sometimes when you have like a pretty sample with a lot of padding in the in front
[12:33.600] of the sample right it starts not exactly at the first sample here then yeah you have
[12:40.600] to adjust that.
[12:41.760] So keep that in mind maybe also you're an EQ on end.
[13:09.760] So we have a kick drum and maybe another XO for the hi-ads.
[13:29.560] And then you can just use a sample combiner then and exchange everything and we can create
[13:36.200] different loops easily so let's go for hi-ads here.
[13:48.200] So select this, create an easy one here, yeah let's go with this one.
[14:11.200] So hard clipper on this one.
[14:40.440] So we can open up here this one, this one, this one you can go on the sample combiner here
[14:54.440] just to play or we need to leave this at this one here.
[15:24.240] And maybe we need also here to group for that and maybe optimize here the drums even
[15:40.600] more but you can see in which direction this is going and you can bounce out a lot of
[15:50.160] these drums then and create easily hundreds of loops and maybe there are not all that
[15:59.440] great but sometimes they give you a nice starting point, sometimes they are nice for layering
[16:29.400] this.
[16:31.160] Kick drum is maybe 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3,
[16:56.160] Yes maybe the first nail.
[17:33.360] So, this is something I do sometimes to layer sounds, but like I said, you can use more
[17:47.320] of these samples here, for instance, the kick drum, right, you can layer also some effect
[17:53.560] sounds in here to give some more room and some more interesting texture to the kick drum.
[18:06.520] So, I don't feel like this.
[18:35.480] I also feel like this, just, you know, to make the samples interesting or the loops interesting
[18:53.440] enough to give you a nice starting point, and sometimes it's also a nice practice where
[19:00.160] you just sit down and try to make good sounding drum loops, drum samples, and practice just,
[19:09.520] you know, the craft of making samples or making good sounds.
[19:13.440] Yeah, that's what I want to show you with the XO.
[19:17.120] You can also use Atlas for that if you want to use Atlas, but I use this one here because
[19:24.600] it's so easy with the controls here, off-pitched, tonality, EQs, and separating the frequencies
[19:33.640] easily, and also having a small step sequence on the right side.
[19:39.920] And yeah, nice way of doing samples.
[19:44.080] Thanks for watching this video.
[19:45.400] If you don't own XO, then there's a affiliate link down in the description, where you can
[19:50.080] buy XO and also help me out on this channel.
[19:53.040] If you liked the video, then please leave a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel if you
[19:56.520] want to, and also, there's a Patreon link down below if you want to support my future content.
[20:02.000] So, thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.