Samplab

Samplab is a revolutionary AI-powered tool designed to transform the way music producers work with audio samples. Founded in 2020 in Zurich, Switzerland, Samplab's mission is to give musicians creative 'superpowers' by making sample manipulation easier, faster, and more intuitive than ever before. It functions as both a standalone desktop application and a VST3/AU plugin, integrating seamlessly into any production workflow.

At its core, Samplab uses sophisticated AI algorithms to deconstruct audio files. It can take any polyphonic sample—be it a piano loop, a guitar riff, or a full instrumental—and identify the individual notes within it. This allows producers to edit the audio as if it were MIDI, changing melodies, fixing wrong notes, or completely rewriting musical phrases without needing to re-record. The tool also excels at chord detection, displaying the harmonic progression of a sample and allowing users to edit chords, which automatically stay in key. These chords can even be exported as a MIDI file for use with other virtual instruments.

How to use Samplab

Using Samplab is designed to be straightforward and fit perfectly into a producer's workflow. First, you load an audio sample into the Samplab plugin within your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) or into the standalone desktop app. The AI then processes the audio on Samplab's servers, analyzing and separating it into its core components. Once analyzed, the audio is presented in a piano-roll-style interface where you can see and edit individual notes. You can click and drag notes to change their pitch, adjust their timing, or delete them entirely. Similarly, you can modify detected chords, change the overall key, or adjust the tempo. All changes are rendered in high quality, allowing you to make any sample fit perfectly into your project.

Core Features of Samplab

• AI-Powered Note Editing: Change, add, or remove individual notes within any polyphonic audio sample, including complex chords and melodies.
• Chord Detection and Editing: Automatically detect the chords in a sample. Edit them, and they will intelligently stay in key. You can also export the chord progression as a MIDI file.
• Stem Separation: Split any song or sample into its constituent parts: vocals, drums, bass, and other instruments, giving you full control over each element.
• Tempo & Key Matching: Automatically sync the tempo and key of multiple samples, making it easy to blend different loops and ideas together harmoniously.
• High-Quality Audio Warping and Pitch Shifting: A powerful audio engine allows for extreme time-stretching and pitch-shifting while maintaining superior audio quality, often outperforming built-in DAW algorithms.
• Resynthesizer: An advanced feature in the 'Complete' plan that recreates your audio with a built-in synthesizer, giving you deep control over the sound's harmonics, texture, and timbre. It also allows for morphing between two different samples to create entirely new sounds.
• DAW Integration: Available as a VST3 and AU plugin, ensuring seamless integration with popular DAWs like Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro, and more.

Use Cases for Samplab

Samplab is a versatile tool for various music production tasks. For remix artists, it's a game-changer, allowing them to isolate a vocal from a full track and build a new song around it. For beatmakers, it means any sample can be repurposed; a vintage soul loop can be transposed to a new key, its tempo changed, and its melody altered to fit a modern hip-hop track. Sound designers can use the Resynthesizer to craft unique, evolving textures by blending disparate audio sources. It's also a powerful corrective tool, enabling producers to fix a single sour note in an otherwise perfect guitar take without needing to re-record.

Advantages of Samplab

The primary advantage of Samplab is the creative freedom it offers. It breaks the rigid boundaries of audio files, turning them into flexible, malleable material. The quality of its AI-powered separation and audio manipulation is a key differentiator, praised by professional producers like KSHMR and ill.Gates for its clarity and lack of common audio artifacts. Its intuitive interface lowers the barrier to complex audio editing, making powerful techniques accessible to producers of all skill levels. Furthermore, its seamless integration as a plugin means it enhances existing workflows rather than disrupting them.

Pricing and Plans

Samplab offers a flexible pricing structure to suit different needs:

• Basic: Free. Includes the Samplab Plugin & Desktop App for audio files up to 10 seconds in length and in mono.
• Premium: $7.99/month (or $95.88 billed yearly). Unlocks support for stereo audio files of any length, plus premium note controls for finer editing.
• Complete: $9.99/month (or $119.88 billed yearly). Includes all Premium features plus the powerful Resynthesizer plugin for advanced sound design.

Additionally, the Resynthesizer can be purchased separately as a perpetual license for a one-time fee of $129.99.