Samplisizer

There's a whole bunch of different activities you can perform on a computer and music is one of them. With the possibility to plug in various instruments into your PC or simply mix a selection of sounds, anyone can make music with the right application. Amongst others, Samplisizer is a powerful utility equipped with multiple samples and neat support for audio file formats to create unique tunes.

When the main window pops up you're immediately convinced to spend at least a few minutes going through its set of features. This is because of the strong impact and good impression the visual design makes, with every button and knob, slider and menu, as well as indicators benefiting from highly-detailed industrial-like textures and neat animations that gives it personality.

The canvas is fitted by default with a mix of several sounds so you get an idea of what can be accomplished. Up to twelve individual tracks can be used to add audio parts, with the possibility to overlap, considering it sounds good. Playback controls are at your fingertips. These can be used along with the repeat option to continuously receive feedback as you edit.

Resources you get to use can either be presets or audio files on your computer. The library of presets is rich, with a drop down menu letting you select from drum loops and tracks, bass, chord, trace, FX loops, parts and pieces, as well as three slots for your own samples. What's more, each category is fitted with a few different sample groups for more diversity, while amount of content can force some decision making.

File support is neat, both for import and export. Although not many, WAV and MP3 are more than enough, but it would have been useful to also see MIDI amongst supported formats. There's also a built-in recorder to use with a microphone.

Sadly, the application mostly helps you assemble different audio parts, not edit them. Little to no variety is found in terms of adjustments. You're narrowed down to specifying beats per minute, volume and reverse a track, with no effects or enhancements to apply. However, with the amount of presets and import options, lack of effects is a minor inconvenience.

When it comes to assembling the final product, you can save either as WAV or MP3. A small screen is brought up so you can select destination, audio attributes, whether or not to apply initial fade, as well as volume adjustment. Needless to say that hitting the “OK” button successfully delivers the new file.

Samplisizer is a small but practical audio tool with which you can create various mixing samples or even songs, with the clever initial length adjustment options based on time, cells or measures. Although editing is incredibly poor, the rich library of sounds and different import options make sure you have all you need to get flawless, high-quality results.