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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sampler.meiji.industries/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Meiji Sampler 1.0

The biggest release of Meiji Sampler ever. 119 changes since v0.16.0, headlined by native MIDI, Splice support, three vintage sampler emulations, an improved timestretching engine, intelligent chopping, three new in-app radio stations, and our first official documentation site. This is also the version that earns the 1.0 badge — production-ready, fully documented, and stable across macOS, Linux, and Windows (including Windows ARM64).

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At a glance

  • MIDI is here. Full MIDI Learn covers pads, individual chop slices, loops, scenes, mixer mutes, and transport — and mappings keep working inside Channel Detail and Chop views. Built-in MIDI Monitor for identifying devices and events.
  • Splice support. Sign in with your Splice account and browse Splice’s growing library of over 2 million royalty-free loops & samples. License and download with a single keypress.
  • Three vintage emulations. SP-1200 Mode (4 styles, refined against a real SP-1200), ASR-10 Boost (3 levels), and rebuilt S950 Butterworth HPF/LPF.
  • New timestretching engine + smarter chopping. Formant-preserving spectral stretch replaces the old engine, plus intelligent spectral transient snap (Shift+[ / Shift+]) color-coded by frequency band.
  • Six new audio formats. MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG, ALAC, and CAF in addition to WAV/AIFF.
  • Meiji Sampler Radio. Three live 24/7 stations — Drums, Originals, and Originals II — usable as sample sources in-app and online at radio.meiji.industries.
  • Official docs site at docs.sampler.meiji.industries.
  • Vim-style navigation (h j k l) everywhere.
  • Tap tempo and manual project BPM override.
  • Linked pad triggers, choke groups, playback overrides, and Sample Offset for layering and humanization.
  • Tabbed Settings with a dedicated Project management category.
  • Optional login — skip sign-in, skip telemetry.

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Tentpoles

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1. MIDI, Splice, and Documentation

The integrations release. Three things you’ve been asking for, all shipped together.

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Native MIDI mapping

The new MIDI tab inside Settings provides a complete mapping workflow over the entire action surface:
  • MIDI Learn — move a control on your device, then navigate a hierarchical menu to assign it to any action
  • Built-in MIDI Monitor — identify devices and inspect incoming events in real time
  • Loop actions — slot triggers, mute, solo, undo, or clear individual slots
  • Scene actions — trigger, cue, or stop scenes
  • Mixer actions — mute individual channels
  • Pad chop mapping — map controls directly to individual chop slices on any pad
  • Transport — play/stop and record/overdub independently
MIDI mappings keep working when Channel Detail or Chop overlays are open, so you can trigger pads and control transport without leaving these views. Stateful surfaces (Settings, Bounce, Trim, Search, MIDI Learn) still block MIDI to prevent mapped actions from dismissing work in progress. See MIDI and External Gear and MIDI Implementation Reference.

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Splice support

Sign in with a Splice account directly from the Splice browser and browse Splice’s growing library of over 2 million royalty-free loops & samples — without leaving Meiji Sampler.
  • Navigate with filters, natural-language search, and preview
  • Automatically license + download sounds with one keypress — Enter licenses and loads the selected result at full quality
  • Licensed files live on disk by Splice sample id with a license sidecar, next to your recordings for unified file management
  • Long samples open directly in Trim for fast chopping
See Splice Integration.

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Official documentation site

Meiji Sampler now has a real documentation site at docs.sampler.meiji.industries — guides, recipes, troubleshooting, full keyboard shortcut reference, and a release notes archive. Built on Mintlify and updated alongside every release.

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2. Vintage sampler emulation

Meiji Sampler now models three pieces of legendary sampling hardware. Stack them per channel for the exact tonal signature you want.

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SP-1200 Mode — four output styles

Incredibly accurate modeling of the E-mu SP-1200’s four hardware output pairs, refined repeatedly against a real SP-1200 for optimal tone matching:
  • Unfiltered (7 & 8) — raw SP-1200 crunch
  • Filtered (1 & 2) — SSM2044 dynamic ladder filter with an 8-bit-stepped cutoff envelope
  • Filtered (3 & 4) — aggressive active low-pass around 9 kHz
  • Filtered (5 & 6) — gentler high-treble low-pass for pads and melodic content
All settings run the full SP-1200 DSP chain: 11.07 kHz input anti-alias, tape saturation, 12-bit quantization, and a 26.04 kHz multiplexed DAC + sample-and-hold stage. SP-1200 sits after pitch in the signal chain, so aliasing and quantization respond to pitched content just like the real hardware. See SP1200 Filter.

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ASR-10 Boost — three intensity levels

Accurate emulation of the famous ASR-10 “Boost” mode — a per-channel signal chain that combines tape-style hysteresis saturation → soft-knee limiting → 18 kHz analog output filter.
  • Lo (+4 dB) — subtle warmth
  • Mid (+8 dB) — classic character
  • Hi (+12 dB) — aggressive
Cycle with Left/Right in Channel Detail (Tone section). See ASR-10 Boost.

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S950 Butterworth HPF/LPF

The HPF and LPF have been rebuilt from the ground up using three cascaded biquad sections with the exact Butterworth Q factors from the Akai S950’s MF6-50 switched-capacitor chip. The result: a maximally flat passband, a precise -3 dB point at the cutoff, and a steep 36 dB/octave cliff beyond it. Cutoff changes are now smoothed in the log-frequency domain with a 5 ms time constant — no more zipper noise on rapid sweeps. PerformFX uses the same biquad core and now supports proper resonance via Q-factor scaling.

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3. Loop sync, stretch, and smarter chopping

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New timestretching engine

The time-stretch engine has been completely replaced with a formant-preserving spectral stretcher.
  • Better quality for melodic and vocal material — formants stay put when you stretch
  • Tighter loop sync — synced chop stretch reuse eliminates redundant computation and removes audible artifacts at loop edges
  • Stem playback now stretches correctly alongside the rest of the channel
No workflow or shortcut changes. It just sounds better and syncs tighter.

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Intelligent Transient Snap

The trim view can now snap the playhead to useful transient points before you set a trim point or place a chop marker. Inspired by Cool Edit Pro’s bracket-key snapping.
  • Shift+[ / Shift+] — previous / next snap point (legacy { } still work)
  • Subtle ghost markers show possible snap points on the waveform
  • ReCycle-style sensitivity — raise for softer hits, lower for stronger candidates; press a to autochop the first ten accepted markers to 1-9,0
  • Color-coded by frequency band — low hits, midrange attacks, and high-frequency details are easier to scan
  • b cycles between All / Lows / Mids / Highs when a sample is crowded
  • < / > make snapping stricter or more sensitive
  • Snap targets are refined to nearby zero crossings to reduce click risk
  • Chops and trim points snap to safe playback boundaries automatically
See Chopping And Slicing.

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Six new audio formats

Meiji Sampler now reads MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG, ALAC, and CAF alongside the existing WAV and AIFF support. Drop any of them into the browser, Splice library, or recordings folder.

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Bounce in your bit depth of choice

The bounce modal now exports WAV at 16-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit float. Default is 24-bit. The setting persists. See Exporting And Bouncing.

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Recording normalization

Press N during recording review to toggle peak normalization to -0.1 dB. Compare normalized vs original before keeping the take.

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4. Meiji Sampler Radio

Three new Meiji Sampler internet radio stations that double as sample sources inside the app — perfect for inspiration and quick ideation:
  • Drums — live 24/7
  • Originals — live 24/7
  • Originals II — live 24/7
Tune in directly from Meiji Sampler as a sound source, or listen anywhere on the web at radio.meiji.industries. Hear something you like? Sample, chop, and build with it inside the same workflow.

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Everything else, stack-ranked

The full picture beyond the marquee work, ordered by user impact within each section.

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Workflow & navigation

  1. Vim-style navigation (h j k l) everywhere in the app — browser, pads, loops, scenes, mixer, editors, modals, settings. See migration notes for key remaps (e.g. h-on-loops moves to Shift+H).
  2. Linked & copied sample playback — assign the same local sample to another channel and choose Link (shared loop/trim/chop/pattern-end via file defaults) or Copy (snapshot then diverge).
  3. Per-channel playback overrides — loop mode, trim points, and chop edits now write per-channel overrides instead of mutating shared file defaults. Significant workflow change; see Per-Channel Playback.
  4. Linked pad triggers — link a secondary pad to any channel so both fire on every hit. Layer kicks with subs, double snares with claps. Only the source pad is recorded into loops.
  5. Per-channel choke groups — assign channels to one of 10 choke groups for hi-hat exclusivity or any one-at-a-time variation.
  6. Sample Offset — delay pad and chop playback from +0ms to +100ms in 1ms steps. Humanize quantized parts without moving the recorded events.
  7. Tap tempo + manual project BPM override — Settings → Project → Tempo. Tap, type, or nudge with arrows; reset to auto-detected with R.
  8. Tabbed Settings with Project management — save, save as, open, new, browse recents, delete projects, all inline. Categories: Project / Audio / Addons / General.
  9. Settings as a top-level tab — open with , or via Tab cycling (which also reveals Perform when PerformFX is enabled).
  10. SPACE transport guidance — pressing Space on Pads/Loops/Scenes is now row-aware, with toast guidance instead of silent no-ops. Loop slot keys also follow the queued-stop feel of scenes during playback.
  11. Hide loops & scenes rows until needed — cleaner default layout that surfaces UI as you actually use it.
  12. Channel Detail sample actions — manage assigned samples directly from Channel Detail without leaving context.
  13. Bounce WAV bit depth selection — 16 / 24 / 32-bit float; persisted.
  14. Recording normalization toggle (N) — peak-normalize takes during review.
  15. Confirm before replacing autochops — protects existing chop work from being clobbered.
  16. Trim view improvements — snap playhead to sample edges with up/down, e restarts from start point, o toggles loop mode (replacing l), better playhead visibility, wrapped hotkey hints, smaller Shift+arrow step size.
  17. Auto-navigate into single-pack downloads — one-pack factory downloads jump directly into the new pack.
  18. Random colors for loaded audio sources — visual variety without fiddling.
  19. Settings source availability page — see which sample sources are configured at a glance.
  20. Wider Settings pane layout — more breathing room for dense forms.
  21. Compact hotkey labels — input device modal and other dense surfaces.
  22. Tab for top-level navigation, , for Settings — predictable and one-keypress.
  23. Optional login — skip sign-in entirely; telemetry is disabled when you do.
  24. Caps Lock detection — warning callout when caps is on, since the app is heavily case-sensitive.
  25. Grooves renamed to Originals — clearer naming for your own loop content.
  26. Replaced Shift+digit combos for better international keyboard layout compatibility.

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New sample content

  • DK Presents — Detroit Breaks sample pack (factory)
  • DK Presents — Memphis Breaks sample pack (factory)

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Audio engine & DSP

  • New timestretching engine — formant-preserving spectral stretcher, better quality for melodic and vocal material
  • S950 Butterworth biquad HPF/LPF with proper resonance support and log-domain cutoff smoothing
  • SP-1200 Mode with full DSP chain (anti-alias, tape sat, 12-bit quantization, 26 kHz S&H stage) and four output styles, refined against a real SP-1200
  • ASR-10 Boost with hysteresis saturation, soft-knee limiting, 18 kHz analog output filter, three intensity levels
  • Synced chop stretch reuse — eliminates redundant stretch computation
  • Stretch ratio computation deferred until after decode — prevents stale ratios
  • Stretched loop edge rendering corrected
  • Stretching for stem playback fixed
  • Chop playback applies time-stretching correctly when source is stretched
  • MP3 / AAC / FLAC / OGG / ALAC / CAF decode support added

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Platform & distribution

  • macOS deployment target lowered to 11.0 via SwiftTerm upstream fix — broader Mac compatibility
  • Windows ARM64 Demucs bundle published — native ARM64 stem separation
  • Windows demucs CLI builds added (x64)
  • Windows installer fixes — VM dev build path and font-bundled installers unblocked
  • Windows ARM64 ssstretch build corrected
  • Linux + Windows dev environment improvements for contributors
  • Switched remaining CI jobs to Blacksmith runners for faster builds

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Reliability & fixes

  • Trim modal CI SIGSEGV resolved
  • Late transient marker placement corrected
  • First transient detection in autochop fixed
  • Loop start delay on playback removed
  • Loop playback issue resolved
  • Delayed loop-triggered pad offsets corrected
  • Inverted sync speed multipliers fixed
  • Quantize key hint labels corrected
  • MIDI pad + chop trigger conflict with Channel Detail dialog resolved
  • DEL no longer exits trim unintentionally; confirm-discard added for unassigned samples
  • Enter on stems install prompt behavior fixed
  • Playback event loss between loop tick and UI tick eliminated
  • Pending stretch and stem playback are now cancelled on stop
  • Downloaded sample files preserved when URL cache evicts entries
  • Radio streaming log spam from blank-source proliferation eliminated
  • Radio metadata corrected for stream identification
  • Radio deploy healthcheck, metadata, and silence-gap fixes
  • Idle VU placeholders now scale by channel gain
  • Caps Lock warning prevents silent input failures
  • Skip no-op transient sensitivity steps
  • Windows nonce TTL test stabilized
  • Tutorial copy corrections

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Internal & contributor improvements

  • Mintlify documentation site — full content authoring infrastructure with local dev tasks
  • Documentation authoring skill + CLAUDE.md acceptance criteria for AI-assisted doc updates
  • Cargo target lock contention across worktrees avoided
  • Local test workflows sped up significantly
  • Removed unused feature flags
  • Expanded unit and integration test coverage across the codebase
  • DRY’d channel detail layout rendering
  • Hardcoded analytics event counts removed to prevent merge conflicts
  • Inlined claude-skills, removed submodule
  • Default to git worktrees for issue branches
  • /merge-and-resolve-conflicts and /wipe-pr developer skills added

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Upgrade notes

A few breaking-ish changes worth knowing about:
  • Vim navigation key remaps — h on the loops row is now Shift+H (shorten loop by half), j on pads is Shift+J (jump mode), k in Perform is Shift+K (kill all FX), l in browser is Shift+L (toggle loop mode), and l in trim is now o. See Upgrade And Migration Notes.
  • Per-channel playback overrides — channel detail and trim view edits now write per-channel overrides instead of mutating shared file defaults. If you relied on file-level edits propagating everywhere, you’ll see different behavior. Browser and details preview still edit file defaults.
  • F1–F4 navigation removed — replaced by Tab cycling and , for Settings.
  • Shift+digit shortcuts were replaced for international keyboard compatibility — see the keyboard reference for new bindings.
  • Stretch cache schema bumped to v4 — legacy caches are purged automatically on first launch. No manual action.
  • Splice login is required for downloads (Sounds+, Creator, or Creator+).
Full details in Upgrade And Migration Notes.

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What 1.0 means

This release earns the version number. Meiji Sampler now ships:
  • Stable across three platforms — macOS, Linux, Windows (x64 + ARM64)
  • Documented — full guide, recipe, reference, troubleshooting, and migration content at docs.sampler.meiji.industries
  • Integrated — first-class MIDI, first-class Splice
  • Sonically opinionated — three vintage modeling effects covering the most influential samplers in hip-hop and electronic history
  • Privacy-respecting — login is optional, telemetry is disabled when you skip it
  • Self-published — no GitHub access required, downloads at sampler.meiji.industries
Pure keyboard. Zero mouse. All terminal.