A sample library is a collection of digital sound recordings, known as samples, for use by composers, arrangers, performers, and producers of music. The sound files are loaded into a sampler - either hardware or computer-based - which is then used to create music. Sample libraries appear in a variety of forms:
- As a tempo-based musical phrase that can be looped (repeated in tempo with the arrangement), or edited in a cut and paste collage fashion (often utilizing programs such as Propllerhead's Recycle).
- Collections of note-by-note recordings of musical instruments for playback on a digital sampler, known as multi-samples. This method of sample playback is to construct a playable instrument, or emulation of another instrument, from a sampler or computer.
- One-shot hits or stabs of non-tempo based audio. Particularly used for sound effects.
The term sample library, when used in a commercial context, implies a collections of samples that have been produced and licensed for the purpose of being used as samples. Such a library, sometimes called a sample pack, can be distributed either physically (by CD or DVD), or over the internet. Some sampling websites, such as The Freesound Project, utilize user-generated sample libraries.
Famous quotes containing the words sample and/or library:
“As a rule they will refuse even to sample a foreign dish, they regard such things as garlic and olive oil with disgust, life is unliveable to them unless they have tea and puddings.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“With sighs more lunar than bronchial,
Howbeit eluding fallopian diagnosis,
She simpers into the tribal library and reads
That Keats died of tuberculosis . . .”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)