For about a year now I’ve been in love with a iOS sampler called KoalaSampler I’ve never been this in love with a musical workflow. The simplicity and immediacy of it is incredible. In a lot of ways it works like the Roland SP404 or so I’ve heard. I’ve never owned one.

Limited as it is, somehow that’s exactly what keeps my creative juices flowing. Once you know how it works you get to the business of creating music. From idea to action it gets out of your way.

I even bought a mpd218 akai midi controllerfor a more tactile experience. Over the course of this past couple years or so of using it daily, I’ve noticed a marked improvement in my ability to finger drum and by accident improved my timing on guitar.

My traditional go to was to start a blank project in reaper. Since there are no limits, my productions were layered nuanced but too clinical at times. Almost too perfect and on the grid.

I’d often get bogged down in the details and lose the vision for the idea. There is a sort of creative tyranny to that. If you know, you know.

Now I leave mistakes in if it’s not too distracting. I don’t stop to second guess myself, I’m experienced enough to know not to listen to the critic in my head. Flow is almighty and the muse waits for no one. People seem to connect more when you do. Funny how that works. I digress.

Koala is an instrument un to itself. I find myself endlessly crate digging, building my crate from old vinyl I find at antique stores or straight from YouTube using samplette It makes me feel closer to culture and history. It gives me a great excuse to listen to music I’d never listen to otherwise. It scratches an itch in my brain.

That entire process from discovering the sample to creating chops, slicing if you will, and placing it perfectly in a new context is sacred to me. It’s love for sure.