Root Key (Sampling)

Although most of today’s high-end sample players use one sample for each note to be played (that is, middle C, C#, D and so forth are all individual; there is no transposing), older gear (or less expensive software samplers) still have to rely on at least some transposition. The Root Key is then the actual note without any transposition. For example Middle C might be the root note in a set of samples and the B below it, as well as the C# above it are created digitally from the Middle C sample. In the early days of sampling, transposing a note by as much as three whole steps wasn’t unheard of.