What is your favourite Cubase sampler? (Clarification post)

Cubase
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I have recently spent a few weeks organising my sample library, which has not only been satisfying, but I feel like it has enhanced my ear’s vocabulary, as well as my vocational vocabulary of music in general, and I realise in my last post about ‘sampling’ I was not clear about my questions.

I want to hear from users, what sampler(s) in Cubase do you use, and why, and for what tasks? What pro tips, or specific features stand out in Cubase sampler(s)?

Having my samples organised now: when it comes to my music shots and loops, it would be nice to do a variety of articulated-techniques with the samples, that I have organised, and I am not sure how to do these in Cubase:

  1. Is there anything that automatically detects transients and places markers/slices on said transients as suggested by a threshold? For loops, be it drums, or a melody sample, how can I then assign these slices onto keys of the piano, and then jamming these slices on individual keyboard notes. I started in SX and alongside this ProppellaHead - so Recycle 2.0 from almost two decades ago seems to be able to out function Cubase on this one… or am I wrong?

  2. If I have a folder of 50 unique percussion hits and I want to place my favourite 36 on the same piano roll - what would be your choice to do this? This could work well for other collections of sounds that I have, from music, vocal chops, drums, and so on, and so in theory each key on the piano would be a different shot.

    3. What sampler is best to load a single sample assigned to the scale of the keyboard? Say for example I have a nice Rhode Chord, and I want to jam a riff with it as a root sample. Ideally - and bonus points - is there a way to target a specific section or say slice - say it is a piano loop and I want the third Chord… any sampler(s) do this better than others?

    4. How do I do the same thing as ‘3’ but adjust the sample root note to C3 vs. what the sample ‘may’ or ‘could’ be? What are folks preferred sampler to do this? Again PropellaHead have been smashing this for decades now…

  3. Do any of these samplers have what Media Bay has in terms of previewing and locking to a specific root-Key? I was pretty excited about this feature in 14 Pro Media Bay, with the ‘preview in tempo’ and ability to ‘lock’ the root key of the preview, not going to lie, ESPECIALLY after the horrors I had in Cubase 10 Pro, which were laughable that this was a product of ecommerce, never mind a decades-old DAW. However, having said this, I am completely grossed out by Cubase’s Media Bay - and baffled as to how in 2025 someone could design something with such a painful interface and aesthetic, but hey, love is like a dog’s breath. Don’t get it twisted, I love Cubase.

I’ve rarely been impressed with Cubase on this side of things. I have 14 Pro now, but not fully dived into it - yet - as I am waiting for new desk and chair to be built.

Looking for treats and wisdom when it comes to what I referred to as ‘sampling’ in Cubase (in my previous post) but otherwise I have ZERO clue how else to phrase it than sampling. I do not mean how do I record a sample, that I already have, to make it sound more aliased or dynamically-sonically different, I mean how do I jam out to cut up riffs and samples like the good ol’ days.

I make tones of styles - so all these techniques carry infinite cross over to my production - I just do not know where to start in Cubase. Re organising my sample bank ‘copying & pasting’ folders I like and then auditioning out the good, bad, & the ugly is going to be a game changer. If anyone does this make sure to keep your original bank intact, and ‘copy & paste’ into new folder before starting.

Because I make a lot of styles, prioritising my main genre drum bank held a nice cross over into two other genres, and then I was able to make two to three more folders for specific genres, such as ‘house’ ‘trap’ ‘funk’.

So for example if I am making Hip Hop song, I have a primary DNB drum folder to go to, or a house folder that has more 808 style-type drums. I have no drum folder for hip hop, other than a loop folder called ‘downtempo’ which is more so about the tempo than say Hip Hop. Once I am completed it will have a specific Hip Hop breaks folder too. For DNB I have a fair few breaks folders as this is the main genre I make.

Happy Cubasing!

Thank you :dizzy:

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Hi I haven’t read all of your post yet (I will get back to it) OK point one recycle type editing from the past.

First you can do this in the Cubase audio editor without a sampler.

Two it’s a common mistake that the included groove agent SE is only for drum type sampling. The beat agent is a very powerful sampler. Think of each pad as a different piano key, example the pad that the kick drum is usually on plays C1 on a keyboard etc.

To answer your question. Yes you can load / drag a loop on to a GA pad. Detect the transients (hit point detection) slice the loop with each slice moving to consecutive pads / midi notes / keys on a controller keyboard. It’s very quick and easy and well documented on the internet. I hope this is helpful.

I’ll read the rest of your post now.

1 Like
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To address your other points. Between the sampler track and groove agent SE I think you’ve got everything covered.

If you don’t mind spending some money, Halion (the full version) is a sound design including sampling monster. Worth checking out. It’s my favourite VST instrument. Much more powerful than NI Kontakt.

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Totally agree with Mrhehon - Groove Agent is great for slicing.

It sounds like you’ll also like the hot swapping in the new drum tracks.

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99% of my sample work is still done by hardware. But I do use Groove Agent to chop and prep samples first. That way I can set GA’s output channel to go into my EMU or Akai (depends on the material), hit ‘record’ and just one shot the thing straight into the sampler.

Groove Agent is very similar to a plugin version of an MPC’s sampler section. Makes slicing, time stretching, etc super fast and quick. Halion works very much the same but it’s a keyboard sampler, not a ‘groovebox’ type thing. Despite preferring my old EMU and Akais, I paid up for the full Halion and Groove Agent because on top of being awesome ‘prep tools’ they will easily replace the boxes if/when they stop working one day.

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In Cubase you can do this

  • on an audio track (hitpoints → events)
  • using a Sampler Track
  • using Groove Agent SE

I would use Groove Agent SE.

The Sampler Track would be the easiest here. As for your bonus request: this might require a full blown virtual sampler, ie. Halion or a 3rd party sampler. There are some free or cheap ones on the net.

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I do mind spending money actually - I’m tired of being completely ripped off by this blood draining company.

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Why are they charging for grove agent se? This forum just seems like a bunch of sales reps pushing a greedy agenda.

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I just use the audio editing capabilities of Cubase. Don’t know if the native sampler in Cubase has been discarded. Seems it hasn’t been updated. I edit a lot of things from media bay. Grove Agent SE comes with Cubase I think.

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They are not. It’s included in your Cubase.

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Don’t buy Halion then completely your shout. (Halion SE is free) Like I said IMO it’s a sound design monster, I don’t know why you would expect it as a freebie.

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@alex107 We are in a good mood today, huh?

Cubase comes with tons of options to do all the things you’ve been asking for (see previous posts). No need to buy anything unless you want to take it a step further.

Familiarize yourself with Cubase first - that’s time much better spent than lashing out here for no apparent reason.

FYI - this is a user forum. No sales reps around here.

2 Likes
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Uhh they don’t, Groove Agent SE isnt even a retail product smart guy. Its free with Cubase.

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I’m annoyed because I have never been sold a consistently stable product.

The company do not make good content to explain there forever changes, it’s always long winded slow ‘let’s keep them here for 11 minutes’ nonsense.

Rarely when I watch tutorials on Cubase does it actually provide me with a clear cut explanation or functioning suggestion.

I’m pissed off because I am not some fake artist who is going to stop making music becuase ai can do it, and I seem to be constantly ripped off by Cubase, as the product is never consistent in its issues, and it’s more temperamental than myself - which for a paid product is not acceptable!

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Back on point.

Your original post was multi questions on sample use within the current Cubase. I believe all your questions have been answered by fellow users trying to be helpful.

In most cases (I think all) there are different ways to achieve what you want without you having to spend any more money.

Enjoy your sample editing (sample track is great creative fun BTW).

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When it comes to manuals and tutorials that hasn’nt been exactly Steinberg’s strong suit in the past, I give you that. However, they made some veritable progress on video tutorials and supporting new content creators, lately. If you are looking for video tutorials that are well-structured, straightforward and to the point I highly recommend Chris Selim’s Youtube channel “Mixdown Online”.

The other part about being “ripped of by Cubase”: Invest your time to get to know Cubase and find out what it can do for you. Since you aim at a professional level of skill sets you got to do it anyways.