Rompler

ROM and Sampler

The term ROMpler comes from a slang term given to sound modules that feature stock presets based on samples stored in ROM. They generally lack in-depth synthesis technology and sampling capabilities. The term is a conjunction of the terms ROM and Sampler. In the early 1990s, ROMplers became quite popular due to the proliferation of the E-MU Proteus series sound modules and other efforts by competing manufacturers. Lending quick access to relatively high-quality sounds and voices meant that composers and songwriters did not have to be synth programmers or sampling wizards as well as musicians to achieve their musical goals.

The History of Rompler

In the 1990s, they first came in the form of hardware, and one of the most popular of them was the E-MU mentioned above, Proteus. Simply put, romplers are the ROM-based sample players. Many hardware synths and samplers are romplers. Despite the implication that the samples in ROMplers can`t be changed, some synths and modules allow you to buy new ROM cards to plug in specialized slots on the system. These cards provide additional samples for the system.

Additionally, they contain program information to make these samples available as a patch. Many different patches can use the same sample set. ROMpler sometimes refers to software sample players that use a fixed collection of waveforms.

VST

Recently, the term ROMpler has most often described sample-based software instruments such as VSTis. These cannot record new samples; samples are replayed from computer RAM after loading them from the disk. Some Popular examples of software romplers are reFX Nexus and IK Multimedia Sampletank. In this context, a software instrument can only be considered a rompler if it restricts users to certain bundled sounds without allowing them to load their samples.

Hardware Synthesizers

Hardware synthesizers that use a sampled waveform are not ROMplers. They are PCM-based synthesizers because the sampled waveform is not such that it would be used or captured with a sampler. A PCM waveform is usually only made of a single complete wave cycle and would, therefore, be a fraction of a second in length. In contrast, a sampler or rompler would usually play samples of a much larger size of at least several cycles long, such as a recorded drum hit or piano note. The ROMplers are very much used for live use. They offer as many sounds as you want, great sampled instruments, and more than decent synth sounds ready to go in one keyboard.

Resources

• Rompler