
Samples II soundforce €165 / $199, available now
4HP, eurorack
The perfect sampler? Well...maybe. A quick intro: 4HP, USB drive, 5 channels, and at this price point? It's so unfair, and I know it makes manufacturers nuts to hear us pick apart their creations.
Things like: "They could have definitely squeezed another attenuverter over here," or, "I don't see why it can't do this at the same time as it's doing that."
But we must be objective about the new soundforce Samples II eurorack module.
There was a "samples one" module, but the samples were pre-baked in.
On the other hand, Samples II is a 5-channel sample player. You load samples on the USB stick on the front panel. You trigger them. It plays them. It couldn't be easier. And I think it really is nearly perfect, but like everything, the devil is in the details. I hate that saying, and typing it felt like crap, but it fits, my friends.
Details.
The first detail I noticed was that it was a solid aluminum panel with excellent construction all around. So many manufacturers are moving to PCB panels for various reasons, and for this writer, it's still nice to feel the heft of a heavier module. Even at 4hp, you can feel it. Yeah!

Limitations.
You can use five channels however you want, right? Well, no. The processor you can squeeze onto a 4HP module, as well as the module's USB 1.0 port, are limited.
The fanciest USB stick you throw at this module won't make it work better. I was convinced it would solve some of my problems, but I was wrong.
What I wanted was to have 5 channels of pure random samples being accessed and turn this little thing into an Autechre shit-box.
But...You can't have 5 channels acting this way. This kind of sample access is hard on the processor, so you can have only two channels working in this random "multi-sample" mode, and the other channels must be set to regular playback. How do you change these settings, you ask?
On a text configuration file on the USB stick, of course! It's super easy to open and edit, and has helpful comments throughout the file guide you. You can't fail.

Rules and workflows.
A few words on file workflows and some rules to be aware of. Some of these suck. Some make sense, must be learned, and are not a big deal. But it's good to know these kinda things going in.
It will play stereo files but doing so takes up two channels of the 5.
2. You can assign pitch to channels, but it takes a channel (the sample lives on channel 1, but the pitch CV has to happen on channel 2. It would be the same workflow for channels 3 & 4 if you wanted pitch control of a 2nd sample. It's reasonable, but again - it's good to know going in.
3. For mono use, each channel has its own output, but channel 5 can also be a summed mix of all. This is some powerful stuff.
4. Files under 30 seconds are converted to 16bit/44hz auto-magically on the module. It's amazing. I like to use Adobe Media Manager for the files I dump on the drive for my conversions, but I did test the onboard conversion, and it's remarkable how fast it works with short samples.
5. Changing sample sets (ie: folders) is done by pressing the button on the front. Imagine the possibility of swapping a whole set of samples underneath a killer transition and then coming back with a set of different drum sounds or textures. Come on, that's awesome.
6. File naming is a little funny. (if you want to use samples with any intention)
Alphabetically or numerically, you have to do your work beforehand to have a good experience. More on that next...
Pre-production.
Like working with any sampler, software, or hardware, it's all about pre-production on the computer. Getting your files converted and named nicely or put into the right folders makes all the difference when you get to the most important part—making music. We all have our styles. But we can all agree that the time you spend jockeying files on the PC will make your experience with samples much more fun. And that's why we're doing this...to have fun...right?!?!
Specs and MORE.
The specs, manual, and sample libraries can be found here, as well as Ben's (DivKid) fantastic video here. A few words from the creator, Nicolas Toussaint.

"So the original 2020 Samples was a basic 6-channel fixed sample bank drum module.
That was conceived in the first weeks of the Dutch Covid lockdown in a couple of evenings.
That was a way to keep busy and deal with the events at the time, I guess.
When I could squeeze 6 channels in only 4 HP, I thought I had something there.
Even though it offers no modulation possibilities, it still packs a lot of sounds into a minimal footprint.
People seemed to really enjoy it, and many users asked about the possibility of changing the sounds, of course.
So, that was clearly the next step for me.
But because of the DACs' limitations and the lack of user storage, I kept the original Sample series very basic and cheap and started to work on a next version with better-quality audio converters and user storage.
From September 2023, I started testing the read speeds of micro SD cards with STM32 micro controllers and also did a test with USB sticks.
I don’t enjoy micro SD cards much because they were so small and easy to loose.
The test with USB was very exciting, it mounted really fast and reliability. Read speeds were good on the latest STM32 chips. Enough for 7 channels of basic playback, so some headroom for 5 channels and special playback.
The USB connector could still fit on the bottom of the module, where the 6th channel used to be on the V1.
The prospect of writing firmware for a 5-channel USB audio player was super exciting.
I never did anything like that and also never dealt with proper I2S audio DACs.
The more I worked on it, the larger its scope became. Friends and users gave me many great ideas. However, the most important aspect for me was avoiding forcing users to convert their audio files to a specific bitrate/sample rate ormono/stereo.
So, auto-converting audio files was necessary. Deep-diving into sample rate conversion was quite a challenge and it took a while to get it just right.
I became obsessive about it for a couple of weeks, and I learned a lot, which always motivates me when I start new projects.
I even considered MP3 and AAC conversions at some point, but that’s yet another can of worms.
Ultimately, it’s one of the products I am the most proud of. I really squeezed a lot of this 4HP /2cm / 0.78inch thing.
And the feedback is good, users enjoy it a lot."

My final thoughts.
You can't do better for $200. You just can't.
The 2HP play and a few others try but are too finicky for my taste. Samples II isn't perfect—it's not. The processor's limitations are a bummer. The file naming rules for multi-sample playback are a little tedious.
But, man...this thing is a solid workforce if you can get around the limitations. I use the Bit Box Micro exclusively for sample work, and it's often filled up with sample playback and CV.
I can see Samples II sitting very nicely in a workflow that could keep more of the larger samples and "fancy work" for a larger sampler and leave Samples II for the "meat & potatoes" percussion work.
The bottom line is that this thing is useful, and I know it fills a need, which is the whole point from a maker's standpoint. So, well done, soundforce. The link to purchase is at the top of this article.
soundforce sent us this module for review, but doesn't have any input into what I'm writing. ie: This is a review, not an advertorial.
Thanks for taking the time to review the module Johno!