The "Too many Samples" problem

The fact that we can have unlimited # of samples available to us sometimes presents a creativity problem.

With most bands all you have is a Rythm Guitar, Solo Guitar, Bass, Drums and sometimes a keyboard.
So all their music is done by about 5 instruments. And the music is not monotonous.
But when u have unlimited samples you sometimes end up w/ a problem of choosing the right sound. U waste tons of time looking for that one sound to use as the "right" instrument for a certain track. And I find this sometimes impedes the creative process of beat making.

Opinions please .......

well, you can apply that principle to other things too...having too much gear can get you very unconcentrated and out of focus on your work...some people are having no difficulties at all though with this...i guess its the same with samples.

I think it's a personality thing. Some people can have tons of gear, samples, instruments, etc. and create great stuff. I myself have difficulty focusing on more than 3 pieces of gear at a time. I used to have a Titanium laptop with all the Propellerhead software, Logic Audio Platinum, Oxygen 8 controller, etc. and I couldn't come up with anything worthwhile. When I switched to just the MPC, mixer and Juno106 synth I started actually enjoying myself instead of being frustrated with too many options. I feel that limiting myself has made me more creative. Also, the limitations of the MPC work environment has made me more resourceful.

I understand exactly what you mean about the band thing. I used to play in a few local bands and all we had were guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Our music always sounded fresh even though esentially we were using the same sounds for every song. Maybe you should pretend you are conducting a band and limit yourself to certain instrument sounds and samples. It's a difficult thing to do because you always sit there and go "if I had this piece of gear or this program, doing this would be faster/easier". I believe it's a pitfall that the software companies have created to get you to buy more stuff.

I go through the same thing all the time. Since I have a 1 bedroom apt I normally don't midi up all of my stuff. I usually make songs on just one peice of gear. I have about 15-20 sample CD's that I've acquired and get like 2-3 every month from friends.. I got too many samples and I spend too much time listening and choosing. I've narrowed myself down to 2 cd's with my fave samples and I work with that. I leave my other stuff in the closet until I need it. Too much stuff does make you lose focus though..

man, i have been a gearwhore for all of 2002 and part of 2003. i know what i am talking about. all that new stuff didnt gimme anything i hoped for. now i am doing things with a MPC, one Synth, one Effect and a turntable... and its running again...I understood, that i dont need many things, but the few things i use, have to be of the highest quality and have to provide a workflow that doesnt stop too easy with setting up Midi, swapping zip drives, configuring synthsetups, reading one of those manuals in the big pile, etc etc etc..

Its all about your focus, and how you keep it...

for some people great variety is helpful, for me it was disastrous..

I used to buy gear like crazy.....at one point I thought if I brought this it would be cool but then I needed something else and it just never seemed to stop......I got the 2kxl and xp-80 and then I saw I had been tripping all along.....I picked up a mixer and a recorder.......just recently picked up a computer but I am done I have sold all of my other stuff, planet phatt, eps-16, asr-10, sp12 & 1200, emax keyboard, tr 909, xp-10,30, & 50.......Long story short you dont need a lot of stuff......its how you use what youve got.......my sample cds are out of control I do like Lampdog, I just use a few and the rest is in stacks I need to put them in a box and put them away........





Mad Love N Respect,
Phatz

eightsixteen wrote:I understand exactly what you mean about the band thing. I used to play in a few local bands and all we had were guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Our music always sounded fresh even though esentially we were using the same sounds for every song. Maybe you should pretend you are conducting a band and limit yourself to certain instrument sounds and samples. It's a difficult thing to do because you always sit there and go "if I had this piece of gear or this program, doing this would be faster/easier". I believe it's a pitfall that the software companies have created to get you to buy more stuff.

yeah its a catch twenty-two, you think you need more sounds or gear or whatever, but then you time gets eaten up organizing samples, hooking up gear, reading manuals... having less stuff means you learn to get more out of it...

i try and make myself wait for at least six months between buying things...
though i would have killed for your set-up, phatz! why'd you get rid of all of it?

Phatz wrote:Long story short you dont need a lot of stuff......its how you use what youve got.......
Mad Love N Respect,
Phatz

I feel you... my gear is based on my MPC, a TT, Mixer and my G3 Labtop...
Most of the time, all my music is made on the MPC, when I´m using softsynts on my labtop, I sample them back to the MPC to get the right feeling. I messed around a lot with gear the last years, but with the mpc, it`s like back in the days, when me and my homie started makin`beats. the only piece of gear we had was a roland w-30 with 780 Kb sample memory. No computer, just the internal sequenzer. But it was a good school to learn about the basics of sampling, midi and sequencing.
You just have to master the equipment you have. I own amy MPC for about 5 years now, but when I read this Forum, I allwas find somthing new, new things to try, new technics etc...

Rock On to All of you! Stay real

I dont know, I love having unlimited sample resources...Plus seems like my taste in samples is always in flux so the more I got Im able to put into ish when time the time comes.