If a project contains steps with the action ‘Random Sample’, using the Delete Unused Samples feature will lead to changes in the way the project sounds. It’s a destructive operation, so the user won’t be able to go back. It happened to me actually.
Steps to Reproduce
Create new project.
Load a sample folder.
Configure a step with Chance = Always, Action = Rnd Sample.
Start playback and listen. Different samples are triggered each iteration of the loop.
Perform Delete unused samples.
There is only one sample in the sample pool.
Start playback and listen. Only one sample is being triggered.
This is by design, as random samples aren’t considered used samples. The workaround I use if I want to delete unused samples while keeping samples in the bank for randomization is to add the samples I want to pull from for randomization to a separate pattern on the grid. This allows me to carefully curate what the random pool is and then select delete unused samples.
Alternatively, you can add samples to the random pool after deleting your unused samples, but random samples randomize the sample each time playback occurs, so it will pull from the samples on the device.
To clarify - the difference between random and chance is that randomize is baked in with the save feature, and chance pulls from the active samples every playthrough. So if you want to randomize a sample in the folder for a track - then just hit save, and it won’t delete when you select “delete unused samples,” but the chance would just pull from what is in the current folder.
@Mitch
The topic was closed so I had no chance to reply.
Yeah, I know the workaround and use it. The thing is, this behaviour once almost have broken my project when I wasn’t aware of it. I was lucky that I made too few changes in the workspace, so I just reloaded the project from the project folder. Users must be aware of a potential loss of their work. Maybe worth mentioning in the manual along with the workaround? Alternatively, the clean up algorithm could take into account random sample action and mark all samples from a folder as ‘used’. That’d be a perfect solution
@katzi, I understand that loss of work can be one of the most frustrating things, and I apologize for the experience. We’ll update the manual with a note on this.