Banks and keys

Four banks of sixteen

The grid shows sixteen pads, but a sampler holds four banks: A, B, C and D. That is sixty-four sounds in one kit. The bank key in the bottom bar shows the current bank. Press it to choose another.

Switching banks changes which sixteen pads the grid, the editing panel and the sequencer show. Everything follows the bank together.

What that means for a beat

The sequencer works on the current bank. A pattern refers to pad positions, not sounds, so switching banks makes the same pattern play different sounds.

Keep the sounds for one beat in one bank. Use banks to separate ideas, such as a verse kit and a chorus kit, rather than spreading one beat across four banks.

Playing pads from the keyboard

With a physical keyboard, four rows of keys mirror the grid:

• 1 2 3 4 play the top row of pads
• Q W E R play the second row
• A S D F play the third row
• Z X C V play the bottom row

Each pad shows its key in the corner. The keys play the pads in the current bank.

Changing which key plays which pad

Press Keys in the panel beside the pads. Press a pad, and its key starts blinking. Then press the key you want to assign.

If that key already belongs to another pad, the two pads swap keys. Every pad always has a key.

Changes are a draft until you press Save. Undo steps back one change at a time, and leaving without saving restores the previous map. A saved map is remembered by your browser.