what kinda external effects would def make my sample better

I've heard people use things like guitar pedals,moog low pass filters and even guitar amps and run there samples threw them to give them character. what is your experience on using this kinda things and what would be a good start for me?

dmajor100 wrote:I've heard people use things like guitar pedals,moog low pass filters and even guitar amps and run there samples threw them to give them character. what is your experience on using this kinda things and what would be a good start for me?

Every effect is good, BUT -> in the beginning you will use too many effects and after grabing some skills you will search for more effects using them less and more wisely

Nothing beats free, so download Audacity. There is also a free plugin that has about 90 additional effects. If you want hardware, the SP-303/404 or the Kaoss Pads are nice; even for live usage. After trying any of the above, you will find out for yourself if you need something better.

I keep it pretty simple. Filtering, EQ, and reverb.

What I usually use:

-UAD Studer A800
-UAD Moog Filter
-UAD rt-140 plate reverb
-A Waves SSL EQ if I need to cut some frequencies somewhere.

It doesn't sound simple to use four plugins, but sometimes I just use one or two. Depends on what I'm going for. Also.....the UAD hardware and software plugs are expensive and you might not think they are that much better than waves.....until you try them yourself.

http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/

^ excellent free plugins. EpicVerb is the best reverb i've used.
i know these aren't external, but i had to recommend them anyway
why do you want external fx? not enough cable-spaghetti in your studio?

I bought a Pod HD500 late last year on a whim to run my bass through, but it doubles up quite nicely as a separate multi-effects unit. I wish I'd gone for the rack version in retrospect though.

Depending on what sampler you're referring to, some already have decent onboard efx.

The asr10 borrowed its efx from the ensoniq dp4. Kurzweil, korg, yamaha & roland samplers aren't any different either where their efx were derived from their efx only counterparts.

I still have a couple of external efx modules that I really don't use at all anymore because of the abundance of efx plug-ins that are out these days.

But like some of the other suggestions, I'd look into checking out some of the free-be's that can be found just by searching the net.

There is no process that will always "make a sample better". The only two things you can apply to almost any sample is filtering though a nice hardware filter, or some subtle analog overdriving/saturation. Thinking about it now you could also bus some compression before the sampling inputs on all your drums for a kind of old school drum machine/rhythm box sound, but not loops. Other than that there is really no "one size fits all" and even with those simple fx youll want to dial in different amounts on each sample. IMO the only globally allocated "fx" that sounds good is lofi processing techniques. But even then I think most people dont apply degradation to every sample/at the same amount.

What's better sound to you? Some people like messy midrange tape distortion/compression, others like sounds filtered to an inch of their life, others like super-clean digital mixes. All are subjectively as good as they are bad.

Be super aware of the music you make & the music you love more than anything else & study their production style. If you buy a bunch of guitar pedals when its a tape deck or DAW that suit your style best you may have just wasted cash.

Personally I like a clean mix with character & artifacts from the sample source left in place. Gonna buy a BBE 382i for recording, only gonna use shitty cables for sampling CDs & records.

use the korg KP3 for sampling thru sometimes added LFO and other random stuff while sampling. but if you use effects while sampling you wont get back the original sound. i still use the kp3 for tracking out beats when i am going into daw as well.