- If you're looking for a
simple way to elevate your sets,
be sure to stick around
because today we're talkin'
about the sampler in VirtualDJ 2018.
This powerful tool has the potential
to unleash your greatest creativity.
With this feature, we
can add audio samples,
video clips and still image overlays
to enhance your performance.
I love having my DJ drops, remix tools
and sound effects
available at my fingertips.
Now this is a little intricate, so today,
we're just going to focus on the basics.
I want to go over where
to find it, what it does,
how we can customise the
look and functionality
of the sampler and then
finally we're going to talk
about how we can create our own
custom sample banks to
enhance those DJ sets.
Diving on in, we're workin'
with the default skin today.
We can access the sampler in
a few different locations.
First we can come down to
the side view menu bar,
click on the button with the little boxes.
This is going to pull up
the side view sample area.
We can also use our performance pads
if we come to this dropdown right up here
by either one of our decks
and select this dropdown.
You'll see the option for the sampler.
And lastly, if we move on over
to our left hand folder view,
nested under Lists & Advice,
if we click this dropdown,
we'll see an orange sampler folder here,
and then if we do another dropdown,
this is where we can see all
of the banks we have created.
We also have a lot of options
to customise them in this view
and we'll get to that in just a minute.
Virtual DJ comes with
some default sample banks
and to toggle through our banks,
we can use these directional arrows.
We have Video and Scratch, Audio
FX, Famous and Instruments.
Now impressively, the
programme allows a user to have
an unlimited number of these banks.
In addition, we can have
up to 64 individual samples
in each bank, so I have
Audio FX pulled up here.
We have air horn, siren,
explosion, applause and laugh.
I now can put an additional
59 samples in this one bank.
I can also have 64 in
here, so on and so forth.
So your options in creativity are
limitless with the sampler.
We have a lot of options
on how we can customise
the look and function of the sampler.
If we come up to this
little white dot here,
the sampler option side
view and click that,
we get a dropdown menu.
Now I'm going to go over
what everything is here,
but first let's start with the pad layout.
Virtual DJ gives you a lot of options.
We can either have a one column look
all the way up to eight.
Now I recommend leaving this on automatic.
This way, the software can make a decision
based on how many samples you
have in that particular bank.
We also have image size available.
We can choose small, large or full.
It's really all about
your personal preference.
Another way we can change
the view is by coming up
to this side view trigger pad.
Once I press this, it
will put all of my samples
in a list format and also
give me a few other options.
Here I have the ability to adjust
the volume on each one of these.
I can still trigger them.
(various sound effects)
And if I right click, I
have the ability to remove,
assign to a different group
or open up the sample editor.
Now I'm not going to
dive too deep into this,
but Virtual DJ gives you the
ability to crop and trim
your samples, so you're
only playing what you want.
So by coming down here to
this little blue playhead,
I can drag this and
literally crop my sample.
There's also one on the right.
So now, by cropping
this, I am only playing
this specific section of my sample.
Once I hit save, it's
going to save it over here
and then that's what it's going to play
every time you select that sample.
We can also customise the
audio output of the sampler
meaning where we hear
it, so if I come back up
to this side view dropdown,
select audio output,
we have a few options.
Now by default, the sampler
is routed to the master
and headphones, so if I select master,
it's coming out of the master.
If I select headphones only,
only I as the DJ can hear it.
Now the headphones only
option will not be available
if no headphones are
available in the audio setup.
Trigger deck means that
it will route the sample
only to the deck where the
sample was triggered from
and then I can also
select individual decks.
Now what's cool about this,
is I can actually have
the effects on my deck affect
the way the sample sounds.
So if I select deck two
and then I come back
into audio output, you'll now see
that apply deck effects has been selected.
So now, if I activate a
sample, (sound effect)
I have the ability to change
how it sounds with these effects.
(sound effect)
Lastly in our options, I want
to talk about trigger mode.
Now this will allow me
to change the behaviour
of the sample, meaning what
it does when I press it.
And I'm going to go over all
of these in just a second,
but I want to make mention
that I am using a mouse today
for demonstration purposes,
but if you want to do this
with your controller, you absolutely can.
Now if there's a particular
effect where I say
you have to right click to deactivate it,
in order to do that on your controller,
you would simply use the shift key.
So to get started,
on/off, this simply means
that when I press a
sample, it's going to start
playing from the beginning
and to turn it off,
I have to click it again.
So I pressed it to activate it (applause)
and I press it again to turn it off.
The next one is hold.
Now this means the sample
will play from the beginning
as long as I have the sample pad pressed.
(applause)
As soon as I let it go,
it's going to deactivate.
The next one is stutter.
Now the sample will
play from the beginning
each time I press the sample.
The only way to deactivate
it is by right clicking.
So I have it pressed, it's
going to continue to play
and every time I press
it, it's going to start
from the beginning, and
it's very responsive.
Now if I want this to
stop, I have to right click
to turn it off and again, on my controller
I would simply use the shift key.
And the last one is unmute.
So what this means is
sample is going to be mute
as long as I have it unpressed.
So as soon as I press it, it's
going to unmute the sound.
So I have it activated, I'm pressing it,
you can hear it, I let it go, you don't.
I press it, you can hear
it, I let it go, you don't.
So it gives you kind of a cool effect.
I'll do it with the siren, so again,
I have it activated,
you don't hear anything.
I have it pressed, (siren blaring)
I let it go, you don't.
So you can kind of have
that skipping effect.
And again, to deactivate, right click.
So these are our options
on how we can customise
how we activate our samples.
So now that we've covered the basics,
let's talk about setting up
a personalised sample bank.
Now on my laptop, I have
a lot of these setups
specific to the types of events that I do
or a type of moment I want
to be able to enhance.
And what's cool is Virtual DJ
allows you to combine
all file types within the same bank,
meaning you can have audio,
video and graphic overlays,
there's no need to separate these out.
So here's some examples of how I have
my sample bank setup on my computer.
So I have one dedicated
just for Halloween.
I have some spooky
graphics and sound effects.
I have another one for holiday parties,
where again, I have holiday
themed background and graphics,
but I also may put a
corporate logo in that folder
of the company that I'm doing.
So if I wanted to do some video mixing
and pull up their logo for
a little extra something,
it's right there.
I also have one for happy
birthday where I have
a couple of versions of
the song put in there,
as well as some happy birthday graphics.
I also have one setup for sound effects.
And these are things
that I wouldn't have time
to really type into my
search bar and pull them up.
So something like a
comedic drum, a clap track,
a laugh track or some
type of funny whistle
or maybe the Jeopardy
song, things again that can
kind of enhance or create
these funny unique moments,
but you wouldn't have time
to actually type them in
and pull up that sound bits.
It's a great way to be
spontaneous and fun.
I also have separated my male DJ drops
and my female DJ drops
so I can kind of decide
what I want to use in the moment,
but I don't have to worry
about hitting the wrong one.
So the samples can really be customised
to the type of DJ you are,
the type of things you need
and any way that you want
to enhance your performance.
So let's take a look at how we do this.
Creating your own bank is really simple
and we have two ways we can do this.
First I can come over
to the right hand side.
Simply right click this title bar.
In the dropdown at the
bottom, we can click New
and that's going to generate a new bank.
Now I can't change the
name of this over here.
In order to do that, I have to come over
to the sampler folder on the left,
come down to the new bank I just created.
I can right click and then select rename
and from here, I can
call it whatever I want.
So for today's example, I
will say DJ Rachel Drops.
Then once I click okay,
you can see that it changed
the name of the bank right over here.
To remove what I just made, I can
right click and select delete.
Now adding your personal samples
is literally drag and drop.
And you can do this either
through a browser window
on your computer or use
the one within Virtual DJ.
So for today's example,
I'm going to be making
a sample bank with my DJ drops.
So if I come to the folder
where my drops are located,
I can literally click and drag these over.
Remember, we can have up to 64 of these.
Now if I made a mistake and I
want to remove some of these,
I can do this one of two ways.
I can either hit Control +
Left Click and select remove,
or I can come over here on
the left, select the folder
and then right click
and remove the sample.
The most convenient
features of the sampler
is the fact that we
can combine both audio,
video and graphic files
in one sample bank.
So here's an example of that.
Right here, I'm going to
drag over an audio DJ drop.
Right here I have one of my video DJ drops
and then right over here on
the right, I have my logo.
So in this one bank, I'm
able to have all three
of these file types and
activate them as needed.
- [Voice Sample] You are
now tuned in to DJ Rachel.
(explosions)
- And then my graphic logo.
Now I'm not going to get
into how we can customise
or even touch upon video mixing.
I just want to let you know
that the sampler is capable
of accepting all three
file types in one bank.
And as we rap up, there's
a few other things
I think are worth mentioning.
So if I come back over
to my left side sampler
and click on one of these banks,
here I will have the option
to change the length of the sample.
(drum beat)
I can also access many
of the other features
that I could elsewhere in the software
and access the sample editor.
We can also change the
order of these as well.
So as you can see, Virtual DJ
has gone through great lengths
to give the user complete control over
how their samples sound,
react and are organised.
That's going to do it for
us here at Digital DJ Tips.
Hopefully this video has motivated you
to dive into the Virtual DJ sampler.
I hope you're inspired
and are looking forward
to unleashing your greatest creativity,
the sky is the limit.
Be sure to show us some love,
feel free to like and share
and as always, we'll see
ya next time, happy mixing.
