For users who love the gritty, dirty and noisy side of sampling, a system-wide lofi mode would be a very cool feature. The idea would be to set the tracker in another working mode on project level with limited sampling rate and bit-depth throughout the whole signal path (e.g. 26.04kHz/12 Bit, or simpler 22.05kHz/12 bit).
This would include sampling from external source and also down-sampling at import.
As a theoretical benefit, there could perhaps free up some recources to use otherwise (e.g. stereo-sampling, pich-shifting, …)
I would not expect any compatibility between projects done in “lofi-mode” and “normal-mode”. Projects would be loaded in their dedicated mode.
What should this feature achieve?
A Polyend variant of that “oldschool” sound
Free up resources (RAM, CPU)
Faster processing for offline effects
Are there any workarounds?
Partially: Today, users can turn off aliasing system-wide and also reduce bit-depth on instrument level. This is quite a good variant, but it has to be done for every instrument and also does not affect the sampling rate. AFAIK, the recording is not affected too, only the playback.
Any links to related discussions?
I couldn’t find any…
Any references to other products?
Not aware of one. Polyend Tracker(+) could be the first!
Nice catch! @type27 could you please take a peek at the wish @gravedraq linked. Would like to know in your perspective if it covers the same ground as your wish.
Cheers!
Hey there, I know this workaround I’m going to suggest is not a solution for your problem, but it might speed up your current one:
I have myself a “LoFi-project” as a starting point / template, where for the first half of the sample slots I already populated those with the same short sample. They all have a reduced bit-depth (12 for me) and overdrive on 1, because I like the result. When you load a new sample over one of those instrument sample slots, they already have those settings applied. (I also have some other ADSR start settings applied, e.g. no release etc.) When you import with the low quality setting as well you will get a 22kHz version imported.
To stop my own confusion I renamed the sample to “empty” before copying it to the other slots so I know which ones I actually want to use and which ones are just placeholders. This took me about three minutes to set up, but I think it was worthwhile, to reduce those little frictions when starting fresh
I know this isn’t the same as an SP-12 - type lofi sound, but at least you are safe from setting this up every effing time
Hey David,
Thanks for your input - I already know and use this technique as a workaround… but it would be great, if there was a more convenient way… Also batch converting is not a problem at all, but one of the biggest advantages of such a great machine for me is to avoid the pc
gravedraq already gave the answer (thanks for this @gravedraq)… he has another approach, but in the end for the same goal. But my idea is not only to have the lofi sound, but also to lower the system load. Half the sample-rate and a reduced bit-depth should make some resources available. Even if they are not used for new features like “lofi-stereo samples”, e.g. the application/preview of sample editor effects would be faster. And as biggest advantage for me, all the (known) workarounds would be dropped. For me the regular “hifi” workflow on the tracker is already super fast - but apply the bit reduction and the down-sampling sometimes interrupt the creative flow.
