Processing Vocal Samples in Kontakt Tone Machine Mode

There are countless tricks you can use when using a nice sampler, especially when working with vocals! This helpful video tutorial shares some amazing techniques you can use in Kontakt Tone Machine mode.

This lesson takes the idea of using a vocoder and launches it into space! Using the Kontakt Tone Machine mode allows you to accomplish something very similar to the classic vari-phrase technology found in old school polyphonic samplers. When you can separate the timing from the pitch, as this tutorial shares how to do, you give yourself nearly unlimited control over how a sample can be used and how you interact with it. There are so many ways to use this type of approach that it may seem overwhelming at first, but I guarantee you that when the ideas start flowing you will find ways to use it in your projects.

When working in Kontakt Tone Machine mode, it is important to have the Legato feature triggered to accomplish what is being shared in this lesson. With this feature enabled, you will be able to change the pitch of your sample without having to re-trigger it! This is incredibly powerful if you stop and think about what it means you can do. This is where it is similar to using a vocoder or talkbox, but it allows the actual voice to shine through and is all being managed by the Kontakt sampler which also provides advanced control and manipulation capabilities before the sounds ever even hit your DAW. Truly incredible stuff.

Taking the idea of using Kontakt Tone Machine mode to transform your vocal samples into highly dynamic polyphonic instruments is just the beginning. Now you can begin to use some of the other features Kontakt offers to really bring it all to life. Modulating the pitch of your sample with a subtle sine wave driven LFO, for instance, provides a natural vibrato effect, making the playback of this re-imagined vocal performance more life-like. The more time you spend with this approach to sampling, the more ideas you can experiment with. This is a great way to learn more about Kontakt in general, too!