A small sampler, tape looper and lo-fi effects box in one, modelled on the TAPE and TEMPO firmware of the open-source CHOMPI sampler. Sample a sound, play it across the keys, loop and overdub it on a virtual tape, and run it all through delay, reverb, drive and a one-knob filter.
Chombi is an independent emulation. It is not an official CHOMPI Club or Chase Bliss product, and it uses none of their names, marks, panel art or factory samples.
The idea
CHOMPI is a hand-held sampler whose firmware is open source. Chombi follows that firmware closely, quirks included, so it behaves like the device rather than like a reinterpretation of it. An Engine switch picks between the two firmwares.
Tape is the sampler-and-looper side. In Melo mode one sound plays chromatically across the keys; in Hitkit mode the white keys become pads, each with its own sample and settings. A tape looper records, overdubs and plays back at any speed, forwards or in reverse, and the effects can sit before or after it.
Tempo is the rhythmic side. A clock drives an arpeggiator and pattern player, either through a Chromatic engine that plays a sound across the keys or a Slice engine that cuts a loop into sixteen slices. Its glitch delay is clocked too: repeats retrigger, reverse and jump in pitch on the beat, and Freeze locks the current repeats into a loop.
Controls
On the Tape page, six encoders each have pages and a Shift layer:
- Pitch and Level for the current sound, with Pan on Shift. With stepped pitch on, Shift moves the pitch in musical intervals.
- Start, End, Attack and Decay set the part of the sample that plays and its envelope. On Shift, Window moves start and end together.
- Space, Drive and Filter, then Time, Warble and Reso. Space is a macro for ping-pong delay and reverb together; with Split space on, the lower half is delay only and the upper half reverb only. Filter is a DJ-style filter: low-pass below the middle, high-pass above it. Warble adds tape wobble.
- Tape sets the looper's speed and direction.
- Volume and Input, with a final compressor on Shift.
The Play, Loop and Sample keys run the looper and record new sounds: tap Loop to cycle from record to overdub to play, and hold Sample to capture your input into the live slot. The Shift menu holds the mode, bank, input source, monitoring, effect position and overdub level.
On the Tempo page, the encoders cover Pitch, Volume, Filter, Start, End, Attack and Release for the engine, the delay's Delay, Mix, Random and Feedback, the Tempo, and on Shift Pan, Reduce (a sample-rate reducer) and arpeggiator randomness. The Play and Latch keys run the arpeggiator, and the clock can run free, follow tap tempo or sync to incoming MIDI clock.
Getting started
Chombi takes an audio input for sampling and looping, and notes from your keyboard, the on-screen keys or a MIDI controller. Every new instance comes with a factory card of sounds made for it: seven melodic sounds (e-piano, nylon pluck, kalimba, vibraphone, pad, organ and bass), three Grey Studio drum kits, and four one-bar loops for the Slice engine.
Try Maru Keys to play the e-piano through tape echo, or Grey Studio Kit to play drums from the white keys. Tape Echo, Lo-fi Drive and Wide Hall show the effects; on the Tempo side, Glitch Steps, Crushed Slices, Dub Echo and Card Keys are good starting points. To use a slice loop, choose Slice and then a slot key.
Good to know
- You cannot load your own sample files yet; new sounds come from sampling the audio input.
- Loops are not saved with your project, and the looper holds up to 60 seconds of stereo audio.
- Notes from MIDI 24 to 72 are used. The Tempo engines ignore velocity.
- Tempo's scenes, slot saving and MIDI output are not available yet.