Sampler instruments overview in MainStage
A sampler instrument is the file type that is loaded into Sampler. You load sampler instruments with the plug-in Settings pop-up menu.
When you load a sampler instrument, the associated audio files are automatically located on the hard disk (or disks) and are loaded into computer RAM. You play and record the loaded sampler instrument in the same way as any software instrument.
Sampler instruments can use keyboard mappings, articulation settings, and other options to emulate natural elements of real instruments or to optimize them for live performances. For example, some percussion instruments in the App Presets library contain special performance patches that make it easy to play these instruments with a MIDI keyboard.
A sampler instrument tells Sampler which samples—audio files—to use and how to organize them into zones and groups.
A zone is a location into which a single sample—an audio file—can be loaded from hard disk.
Zones are assigned to groups, which provide parameters that you use to affect all zones contained in the group. You can define as many groups as you like.
Sampler is compatible with the following audio file formats: AIFF, WAV, and CAF.
Sampler is also compatible with the SoundFont2, DLS, and Gigasampler sample formats. See Add SoundFont2, DLS, and Gigasampler files in MainStage.
Each audio file is loaded into Sampler as a separate sample and is automatically assigned to a zone in the Zone and Mapping panes. You can edit and organize these zones into sampler instruments. See Sampler Mapping and Zone pane overview.
You can also create sampler instruments with the Auto Sampler utility plug-in.
Important: Audio files are not contained within a sampler instrument. The sampler instrument only stores information about the files, including filenames, parameter settings, and locations on the hard disk. If you delete or rename an audio file, any sampler instrument that uses this file will be unable to find it. You can move audio files to another location on your system, however, because Sampler automatically searches for files when you load a sampler instrument. The search mechanism uses Spotlight, so you should make sure that Spotlight is running and updated for all your drives.
See Sampler storage locations and Sampler instrument management.