A sampler records audio segments into digital memory and replays them at different pitches and tempos, triggered by performance input such as a keyboard or MIDI signal. Its parameters include sample length (how much audio is captured), play mode (one-shot, loop, or granular), pitch shifting (time-stretch or resampling), and envelope shaping (ADSR for amplitude modulation of playback). It persists as a dedicated hardware device or software plugin that stores samples in volatile or non-volatile memory and uses a real-time playback engine. [formal: sampletrum | substrate: mind | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
sampler
A sampler records audio segments into digital memory and replays them at different pitches and tempos, triggered by performance input such as a keyboard or MIDI signal. Its parameters include sample length (how much audio is captured), pla…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A sampler is a human-made electronic musical instrument built to record, store, and playback audio fragments (samples) triggered by performance input. It is designed to reuse previously captured sounds as playable material, extending the range of available timbres beyond what acoustic instruments or synthesizers can produce. Its persistence depends on digital storage and a playback engine.
Names and aliases
- sampleren · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- storageDEPENDS_ON →
A sampler records audio segments into digital memory and replays them; without storage the samples cannot be retained for later playback, so the sampler stops operating as a sampler. Remove storage now and the device cannot fulfill its sample-replay function.
- cms63ndki02vki9iqrg5ir2vnINSTANCE_OF →
Pinned sense: sampler AS A MUSICAL PERFORMANCE INSTRUMENT. The target's accepted definition explicitly carves 'musical ... instruments' as members of the kind (surgical, musical, optical, computational). A sampler is a human-made device for controlled operation in a specialized musical domain — triggered by performance input (keyboard/MIDI), requiring calibration (pitch, sample tuning) — which is exactly the instrument boundary the definition draws against general tools. Pinned to instrument-as-performance-device, NOT as signal processor (its output is stored-sample playback, not a modification of an input signal, which is why it is not an audio-effect). Nearest kind on the board: no musical-instrument node exists (checked music, musical-notation, musical-composition, musical-form — none is the device kind).
- cmr784rhz003os1262yaiijpeDEPENDS_ON →
A sampler records and replays audio at precise sample rates. Remove the clock — sample playback timing becomes unstable and pitch drifts — and the sampler cannot reproduce audio accurately. Clock-driven timing is essential to the sampling operation.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Sep 7, 2026, 5:47 AM UTC
- Content hash
- e1bb7f4863b2f506743c283a841932d97b25941e438eeb247f4722f9f1161822