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Getting Started

This quickstart takes you from a fresh install to your first playable, exported instrument in about ten minutes. We'll keep it to the happy path — one velocity layer, one round robin, a single export format — so you can see the whole loop end to end. Once you've done it once, the Guides go deeper on every step.

What you'll need

  • A Windows PC. Sampling Assistant is Windows-only today (macOS is on the roadmap).
  • A sound source — a hardware synth, a Eurorack setup, a drum machine, or any instrument you can play over MIDI and record over audio.
  • A way to connect it: a MIDI output from your computer to the instrument, and an audio input from the instrument back into your computer (typically through an audio interface).
  • A license key. Sampling Assistant is a paid app — see Licensing & Activation if you don't have a key yet.

The five steps

  1. Install & First Launch — download, install, and open the app.
  2. Connect Your Gear — route MIDI out to your instrument and audio back in.
  3. Configure the Basics — name it, set the note range, pick a duration.
  4. Sample It — press Start Sampling and watch the grid fill itself.
  5. Export It — save a ready-to-play instrument for your sampler.

One velocity, one round robin

The quickstart records the simplest possible instrument: a single sample per note. Velocity layers and round robins make instruments more expressive — we cover them in Velocity Layers and Round Robins once you've got the basics down.

Ready? Start with Install & First Launch.