NWB - Community Blog

13 Sep 2011

Advice Again- Sound Effects "sequencer"

Filed Under : Music , Gear

Posted By : Andy Mack | Comments : 8

NWBrs You have not let me down yet- throw advice at me!

Long shot and Another long story=

I need a device- cheaply-

Floor mounted (if poss) and I need about 10 sound effects ( that I can programme in MP3s ) that are ten played through a PA-

Similar to a radio DJs silly sounds and jingles- any ideas or links to gear appriciated-

I understand MIDI a bit- I have MIDI drum machine run off a keyboard for recording-

Is there such a device I can just put MP3 sounds into and press a button and it plays- :-)

Fankoo

Comments

# Posted by Synthy Mike - 13/09/2011, 12:06 (GMT)

You've got three options as far as I can see it.

The floor mount option Boss Loopstation - The RC-30 (the double-pedal one) would probably do you - though they're about £250 I think - mega bucks - plus you'd have to scroll through the sounds you want.

The more elegant solution would be to get something like an Akai MPC 500. It comes with 16MB memory (which is bags of sample time) and can be upgraded to 128MB (which is stupid amounts of sample time). It's got more features than I can list and is an astonishing piece of kit, though quite expensive though (£250 ish).

However, the cheap and cheerful solution would be a Korg Electribe ES-1. They're getting on a bit but for what you're doing they could be ideal. You simply record in whatever noises you'd like into it and assign the sounds to the buttons on the front of it. Come gig time, just press the button you want for the sample. Easy! You can also do loads of clever stuff with it too, such as using it as a sequencer or a drum machine. It has a memory of approximately 95 seconds (in total for all sounds you want), which is a bit pants by modern standards but might do for you. You can get them for buttons on ebay.

# Posted by Andy Mack - 13/09/2011, 13:22 (GMT)

That Korg seems right- BUT still a bit expensive- will have about 10 sounds MP3 longest about 30 seconds rest really short- - may use ipod shuffle thingy-

just wanted the ease of floor mounted- that Korg on ebay going for about £100

is there a cheap keyboard with a similar option?

# Posted by Synthy Mike - 13/09/2011, 13:46 (GMT)

I've spotted one on the £40 mark at the moment:

www.ebay.co.uk/.../140605117866

Keyboard-wise, I'm not sure to be honest. Sample keyboards kind of went out of fashion from the early 90s until recently. The early ones are too short on memory for what you need and the only cheap modern sample keyboard, the Korg Microsampler tends to go for about £400 - though it is bloody brilliant - it might be a touch out of your price range.

# Posted by Kingpin (Keith) - 13/09/2011, 13:49 (GMT)

Cant you get a minidisc with a footswitch controller, there must be soloists duos on here that trigger stuff from the floor?

Have a look at this mate

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=9777

# Posted by Synthy Mike - 13/09/2011, 13:55 (GMT)

Minidisc isn't a bad shout, though of course you'd have to skip through the tracks in the order they're on there - plus there's a latency between tracks so if it's cuing sound effects it might not be ideal. On the plus side, Minidisc is as cheap as chips these days and it gives comparively bags of storage space. Depends what Andy wants to do!

# Posted by Kingpin (Keith) - 13/09/2011, 14:15 (GMT)

Exactly Mike, I suppose everything can be done more easily but it will come at a cost, just thought minidisc would be cheap these days and I'm sure Andy might be able to get around the ordering of the tracks just like a guitarist with presets in a foot controller

something like this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/ctg/Sony-MDS-JE480-Mini-Disc-Player-/66870286

# Posted by Synthy Mike - 13/09/2011, 14:27 (GMT)

It's deffo worth a go, minidisc is great. If money were no object, my sampler of choice would be this badboy, though I'd need to get a gym membership first to be able to lift the thing onto the stand!

www.ebay.co.uk/.../280735584659

# Posted by Andy Mack - 13/09/2011, 16:11 (GMT)

Ill be honest with you- its for a litle project i am putting together and its to play "sound effects" on the go- for example a wolf whistle, a falling over noise slapstick nonsense- I think a small MP3 player will do it with the sound effects in the order they are needed- :-)

but more suggestions please-

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