Filter Large Files #
By default, large audio files (2mb or larger) are filtered out and skipped. This is because long, drawn-out audio samples typically are not the type of sounds producers want in their drum kits. However, if you want to allow all sizes of audio samples, you can disable this filter.
Process Pre-Grouped Kits (Folders of existing kits) #
Some drum sample packs already have the kits pre-grouped into kit folders of up to 16 samples. These premade Kit folders already have a kick, snare, hi hat etc that work together well. These type of packs expect the user to use the samples of each “Kit” folder together; each folder already has drum samples that are meant to be in the same kit.
For these style of sample packs, use the Process Pre-Grouped Kits option found in the menu bar ( Extras > Process Pre-Grouped Kits).
Then choose the pack folder that contains the folders of pre-grouped kit folders. For example if a folder is called “Boom Bap Kits” and inside are folders called “Hard Kit”, “Street Kit”, “Loud Kit”, the user should select the parent folder called “Boom Bap Kits.” This will create kit presets from each 16-sample kit folder and title the kits correctly so you end up with “Hard Kit”, “Street Kit” etc as they were intended.
NOTE When using this feature, do not choose a single kit folder on its own, but rather the next folder directory up. Choose the folder that contains the kit folders as sub folders.
Process “Splice Beatmaker” Presets #
Splice has a feature called “Splice Beatmaker” where you can buy pre-grouped kits on their sample service. These are pre-grouped kits as explained in the manual above in the Process Pre-Grouped Kits section.
In Kit Maker, choose the menu option “Process Splice Beatmaker Kits” (under Menu > Extras ). This should automatically find any downloaded Splice Beatmaker Kits you have on your computer and create organized, labeled kits from them.
Keep in mind that Splice Beatmaker Kits do not always come with a “full” 16-sample collection of sounds. Some kits have less than 16 samples, which of course will result in some some pads being empty on a 16 pad drum layout.
TIP If you know you have Splice Beatmaker Kits downloaded to your computer, but this option is not working, you can process the folder of Splice Beatmaker Kits manually by finding the folder manually and using the Process Pre-Grouped Kits option described above.
The folder to process is called “From Splice”:
Mac: Macintosh HD/Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/Splice/Beatmaker/Presets/From Splice
Win: C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Splice\Beatmaker\Presets\From Splice
More information on the Splice Beatmaker Kits directory can be found here.
Sort By Filename button (formally Auto-sort) #
There is also an “Sort by Filename” button in the app (bottom left of main screen) — formally called Auto-sort.
This an advanced option to prepare your sample pack before importing it into Kit Maker.
NOTE Most users will not need to use this feature. It is an advanced feature for OCD levels of control. If a pack has less than 3 category folders, it will automatically be sorted by filenames in the normal Kit Maker “Make Kits” process.
Click the button, choose a sample pack folder and Kit Maker will use the filenames inside to create an organized copy of the sample pack, but the pack will now be organized by category folders. It creates this copy of the pack on your desktop. This gives you more control to reorganize a pack exactly how you want before you process it yourself. From there, you can further organize the pack or import it into Kit Maker.
The standard Sample Pack mode Import and process will already do the filename sorting process if a pack that has less than 3 category folders. Sorting by filenames is already built into the Kit Maker “Make Kits” function if this is the case.
The Sort By Filename button has the advantage of forcing a pack to be organized by filenames, even if it has category folders. And has the additional benefit of allowing the user to tweak the categories and sample organization before processing begins. For example, if you have a bunch of unorganized messy samples in a folder, and want to prepare and fine tune the pack and make sure it is organized the way you want.
Want more info on how to customize your kits in detail? Check out the article on Customizing Kit Maker Kits
Make Your Own Sample Pack
(and Make Kits From It) #
NOTE Most users will not need to use this feature. It is from early Kit Maker days when the user had to pre-sort the samples into folders themselves. Now that Kit Maker can detect keywords in sample folders and sample names, it is not as necessary.
However, making your own sample pack from scratch can still be useful to have full control over exactly how your samples are categorized, and make it easy to get started making your own custom sample pack of various sounds.
If you have a Sample Pack that is not organized using folders or filenames, or you want to put together your own custom Sample Pack with the most control possible, click the “Make Blank Sample Pack” button to make a blank Sample Pack folder to use. This creates a new folder on your desktop that contains empty folders of each drum category type that Kit Maker uses (ie “Kicks”, “Snares”, “Percussion” etc)
Rename this folder anything you want (ie “Hard Trap Pack”), but leave the category sub-folders with their original titles (“Kicks”, “Snares” etc).
On your computer, copy your own samples into these empty sub-folders, depending on which sound types they are (“Kick” etc).
These samples will later be placed on pads as they are labeled in the pad layout.
About the Pad Labels
See the Pad Labels section under Layouts and Customizing Kits