SamplerBox

Update: Remove drums from song with the VST DrumExtract!

 

SamplerBox is an open-source DIY audio sampler project based on RaspberryPi.

Website: www.samplerbox.org

Install

SamplerBox works with the RaspberryPi's built-in soundcard, but it is recommended to use a USB DAC (PCM2704 USB DAC for less than 10€ on eBay is fine) for better sound quality.

You can use a ready-to-use ISO image from the Releases page or do a manual install:

0. Start with a standard RaspiOS intsall. The following steps have been tested with 2021-05-07-raspios-buster-armhf-lite.zip.

1. Install the required dependencies (Python-related packages and audio libraries - the current version requires at least Python 3.7):

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt -y install git python3-pip python3-smbus python3-numpy libportaudio2 
   sudo apt -y install raspberrypi-kernel  # quite long to install, do it only if necessary, it solves a "no sound before 25 second on boot" problem
   sudo pip3 install cython cffi sounddevice pyserial
   sudo pip3 install git+https://github.com/SamplerBox/rtmidi-python.git     # now also works for Python3.9+ and Cython3 ; for Windows, see below
   

2. Download SamplerBox and build it with:

   git clone https://github.com/josephernest/SamplerBox.git
   cd SamplerBox
   sudo python3 setup.py build_ext --inplace
   

3. Reboot the Pi, and run the soft with:

   sudo python3 samplerbox.py
   

   Play some notes on the connected MIDI keyboard, you'll hear some sound!

4. (Optional) Modify config.py if you want to change root directory for sample-sets, default soundcard, etc.

How to use it

See the FAQ on https://www.samplerbox.org.

Notes

A few remarks:

• the current version works on Pi 2, 3, 4 (re-tested on Pi2 & Pi4 on 2022-08-09)
• the current version also works on Windows if all the required modules are installed
• MIDI via GPIO/serial should be re-tested with the current version, see #49
• 7-segment display confirmed working as of 2022-08-09, see requirement

ISO image

The ready-to-use ISO images available on www.samplerbox.org are built with the help of a script that can be found in isoimage/maker.sh.

Platforms

• SamplerBox has been primarily made for Raspberry Pi / RaspiOS
• It also works more generally on major Linux distributions
• It also works on Windows, but you are a bit on your own with no support ;) Example: to install the dependency rtmidi-python, you have to do: pip install cython, git clone https://github.com/SamplerBox/rtmidi-python.git, cd rtmidi-python, python setup.py install.

About

Author : Joseph Ernest (twitter: @JosephErnest, mail: [email protected])

Sponsors and consulting

I am available for Python, Data science, ML, Automation consulting. Please contact me on https://afewthingz.com for freelancing requests.

Do you want to support the development of my open-source projects? Please contact me!

I am currently sponsored by CodeSigningStore.com. Thank you to them for providing a DigiCert Code Signing Certificate and supporting open source software.

License

Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0