CR8

Creative Sampler

User Guide
 Contents
CR8 CREATIVE SAMPLER ................................................................................................................................................ 3
Getting Started................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Presets ......................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Controls ........................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Sampler View ................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Waveform Display ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
Playback Controls ...................................................................................................................................................... 10
Sampler Controls Panel ............................................................................................................................................. 13
Filter Section .............................................................................................................................................................. 15
Keyboard Zones ............................................................................................................................................................ 17
Sampler Zones Controls............................................................................................................................................. 18
Keyboard Zones Graph .............................................................................................................................................. 19
Mixer View ..................................................................................................................................................................... 21
Modulating the Controls ................................................................................................................................................. 22
Modulator Types ........................................................................................................................................................ 23
Modulators: LFOs and Sequencers ............................................................................................................................ 25
Envelopes: ADSR 1–4 ............................................................................................................................................... 28
Other Controls ............................................................................................................................................................ 29
ADSR Panel (main view) ............................................................................................................................................ 29
Global Controls .............................................................................................................................................................. 30
COSMOS SAMPLE FINDER............................................................................................................................................. 31
Getting Started............................................................................................................................................................... 31
Searching....................................................................................................................................................................... 32
Tag Menus ................................................................................................................................................................. 33
Tagging and Modifying Samples ................................................................................................................................ 34
Working with Samples ................................................................................................................................................... 35
COSMOS Views ............................................................................................................................................................ 36

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

2
 Introduction
Thank you for choosing Waves! To get the most out of your new Waves plugin, please take a moment to read this
user guide. To install software and manage your licenses, you need to have a free Waves account. Sign up at
www.waves.com. With a Waves account you can keep track of your products, renew your Waves Update Plan,
participate in bonus programs, and keep up to date with other important information.

We suggest that you become familiar with the Waves Support pages: www.waves.com/support. There are technical
articles about installation, troubleshooting, specifications, and more. Plus, you’ll find company contact information
and Waves Support news.

CR8 Creative Sampler

CR8 is an easy-to-use, versatile sampler. With CR8 you can use any audio material and instantly turn it into a
playing virtual instrument. Stack up to eight sampler layers, whether one-shots or loops, mix them together or spread
them across MIDI keyboard zones. Experiment with real-time modulations using classic Waves modulators; almost
any parameter can be customized to quickly design your next sounds.

CR8 becomes even more powerful when used with the built-in COSMOS Sample Finder. Together, they help
you find, audition, and load your samples inside CR8, within the context of your session. Plus, COSMOS
automatically classifies the recorded instruments in samples, which helps CR8 pick up the suitable time-stretching
schemes.

CR8 is simple yet feature-rich. Simply drop samples onto the CR8 Waveform display to play them with your MIDI
keyboard. For advanced sound design, CR8 provides a wide array of filters, modulators, tune and speed controls,
and more. CR8 helps you to create new instruments from your samples, play and stack synchronized loops, and
launch one-shots quickly and easily.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

3
 Getting Started

Pretty simple. Drag a sample onto the CR8 editing panel. Play from your MIDI keyboard. That’s it!

You can drag samples from your DAW or host computer or from Waves COSMOS Sample Finder.

Click the Find icon to open COSMOS.

Other good things to know:

• Drag a sample file onto the “+” icon to create a new sampler for it.
• Drag a sample file onto an existing sampler tab to replace its contents. This resets all parameters for the
sampler. Click the Swap button in the upper-left corner to preserve settings (see p. 9).
• Drag a sampler tab onto the “+” icon to duplicate it.
• Click the “x” on a sampler icon to remove it.
• Click the “+” icon to open a blank sampler.
• You can have up to eight samplers.

Of course, CR8 can do far more than play samples, but everything starts here.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

4
 Presets
If you’re new to samplers or you want to get started quickly, try a preset. CR8 provides a diverse selection of
factory presets. Use them for instant sampler gratification or as starting points from which you can tweak controls
to quickly create a custom sound. Plus, presets are a great way to learn.

Click the down arrow in the WaveSystem Toolbar at the top of the
window to open the Presets menu.

The Waves Factory Sample Pack is installed with the plugin. But if you
chose not to install it, or if you moved the folder, use Locate Factory
Sample Pack to establish the link—otherwise the presets won’t work.

Save with Samples As… lets you save a CR8 preset with all its
associated audio files. The sample folder is created next to the preset’s
xps file and will be named “[Preset Name] Samples.” This enables you
to move your project to another computer and take your sample files
with you.

Use Save MIDI Map to New File to save a preset with only the MIDI
Learn assignments. MIDI Map presets are marked “[MIDI]” at their
preset name. These presets do not load or save plugin parameters
other than the MIDI learn assignments.

The Setups presets do not contain audio, only settings. They can serve
as convenient starting points when creating new sounds.

The WaveSystem Toolbar is also used to compare settings, undo and redo steps, and resize the plugin.
To learn more, click the icon at the upper-right corner of the window and open the WaveSystem Guide.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

5
 Controls
CR8 is made up of four views: a Sampler view for adjusting the sample length and loop, as well as its sound, a
Keyboard Zones view for determining how samplers interact with the keyboard, a Mixer that displays essential
controls for each sampler, and a Modulation panel for controlling modulators and envelopes and assigning modulators
to CR8 controls.

SAMPLER SELECTION TABS

Move between the samplers with the tabs at the top. You can select a sampler from any view.

1. Selected sampler
2. Solo this sampler
3. Reset/Remove this sampler
4. Sampler On/Off
5. Create a new blank sampler or copy
an existing one
GLOBAL CONTROLS 6. Keyboard Zones tab
7. Mixer tab

Settings for the entire plugin are controlled in the panel on the right side. These
controls are described in the Global Controls section at the end of this user guide.

TOOLTIPS
Hover over any control and its name and value will be shown in the lower-right corner
of the interface. Turn tooltips on and off in in the WaveSystem Toolbar drop-down
menu, next to the Save button.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

6
 Sampler View
This is where each sampler is defined, shaped, and modulated.

Access COSMOS Global Controls

Sample Browser Controls affecting the entire plugin.

Grid Controls
Waveform Display Grid offset, snap, crop
Set start, end, and loop markers
Create fades

Sample Controls
Set sample characteristics
Click Auto icon to reanalyze

Filters Section ADSR Controls Shortcut

Filter and shape each sample Shows the control of the assigned ADSR
Collapse Modulator Section
Click a modulator or ADSR selector to expand.

Modulator Section
Adjust modulators and ADSR controls.
Assign modulators to other controls.
Available from all views.

To preserve existing parameters settings while loading a new sample, click the Swap Samples button (see page 9).

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

7
 Waveform Display
Use the waveform to set the start, end, and loop locations.
SETTING START AND END TIMES

START MARKER
Drag the marker to adjust playback start.
FADE IN
Drag this marker to create a fade in that begins at the Start
Marker.

END MARKER
Drag the marker to adjust playback end. In Loop mode, the End marker is the Loop End marker.
FADE OUT
Drag this marker to create a fade out that ends at the End marker. In Loop mode, this marker controls the
crossfade.

DEFINING A LOOP
Click the Loop button to enable looping.

LOOP START MARKER

When the Loop button is On, the Loop Start marker defines the beginning
of the loop. Alt+click on the Start marker and it will become the Loop Start.
The End marker is the end of the loop.
CROSSFADE
In the Loop mode, the fade out icon becomes an “x” that controls the
crossfade between the Loop Start and End markers. You cannot control the
crossfade from the Loop Start.
LOOP AREA
This blue line identifies the loop area. Drag anywhere in this area to move the loop position without changing its
length.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

8
 OTHER CONTROLS

Loop O

SWAP SAMPLES
Click the tab in the upper-left corner to keep sample parameters when a new sample is
added. This includes markers, sample controls, filters, modulators, and ADSRs. It does not
include Sample Gain, Key, BPM, or an un-synced Loop Length that is dependent on Sample
Length. A yellow frame indicates the Swap Samples mode.
RULER
Drag up or down on the Ruler to zoom. Drag the Ruler horizontally to pan left or right. If you cannot move
horizontally, it’s likely that you’re looking at the entire sample.
SAMPLE FILE NAME
GRID OFFSET
Repositions the grid without affecting playback.
SNAP MODE
Sets grid snap-to behavior: no snap, snap to beats, snap to transients.
CROP
Removes unused segments from the Sampler (i.e., audio outside the Start and End markers).

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

9
 Playback Controls

PLAY MODE
This drop-down menu sets the playback behavior of a note once a key is pressed.
Play (hold key)
Probably the most common mode, Play is used to treat the sampler as a virtual instrument. The note sounds
until the key is released, subject to the ADSR settings.
Launch (one-shot)
1) Plays the entire sample, between the Start and End marks, when triggered by MIDI notes. This mode is
usually used for drum hits, special effects, and cued sounds.
2) In Launch mode, the regular ADSR doesn’t take effect; the sample is played from beginning to end. The
assigned ADSR controls are disabled, except the velocity depth, which is still determined by the ADSR.
3) Samplers in Launch mode can only play monophonically. The last triggered note is the only playing note (i.e.,
a new note mutes the note that is currently playing).

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

10
 SCHEMES (STRETCH ALGORITHMS)
Use this drop-down menu to choose how to time-stretch and pitch shift a sample. For cleanest results, the time stretching
scheme should suit the content of the sample. You may need to try more than one scheme to achieve the best results.

Beats Use this scheme when preserving the transients of the sample is more important than the
preserving the sustain. Examples are drum loops and other percussive samples. The
transients of the samples are kept in their position, while the audio between them is
stretched up or down without further intervention by the algorithm. When stretching or pitch
shifting to extremes, a short silence may occur before the transients.
Harmonic Used on polyphonic and complex samples. This scheme works well on guitars, pianos,
synths, strings, etc., and can also handle monophonic sounds.
Melodic This scheme can successfully stretch and pitch shift melodies in monophonic instruments
like bass or saxophone, and, of course, vocals. Because of the detector’s accuracy, Melodic
has a “Flat” switch, which forces the internal pitch changes in the sample to a single note.
Voice Voice uses the same pitch detector as Melodic. It provides formant correction for pitch
shifting that is less than two octaves up or down. This scheme is extremely useful for (you
guessed it) human voice.
Classic When there is no need to preserve the original length of the file or to sync it in time, choose
the Classic scheme for simple sample rate conversion. There is no time stretching: as the
pitch shifts up, the sample plays faster/shorter, and vice versa.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

11
 SYNC AND VOICE CONTROLS

SYNC ON/OFF
When Sync is Off, the sample plays at its original speed, disregarding host BPM.
SYNCED TO HOST
The sample playing speed is adjusted to fit to the host BPM (works with the analyzed BPM of the sample).
SYNC LOCK
Works like Synced mode, with the addition that when playing a note to the sampler, CR8 waits for the next Beat
(1/4 note) from the host to trigger it. This ensures that the sampler is always in sync with the host.
PRESERVE TRANSIENTS
Reduces the amount of stretching around the detected transients of a given sample.
UNISON
Enriches the sampler playback with extra duplicated voices. The added voices are played back with slight changes
in tune and are spread to the extremes of the stereo fields, creating a wider stereo image
FLAT
Forces the internal pitch changes in the sample to a single note.
SOFT MONO
Forces a particular sampler to not play more than a single note at a time, even if the global number of
voices is polyphonic and multiple keys are played in its zone. Soft Mono plays only the last incoming
note.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

12
 Sampler Controls Panel
Use this panel to adjust the pitch and tuning, tempo, playback behavior, and output signal characteristics of
the current sample.

GAIN
Drag over this value box to adjust the gain of the current sample. When a sample is loaded, it is normalized to
0 dBFS. The value box shows how much of a gain offset was required to reach 0 dBFS. To reset the sample to
its original gain, hold opt (Mac) or Alt (Windows) and click on the value box. Range: -36 dB to +36 dB

ROOT
Root is the center key of a sample, the point at which no pitch shifting will occur. Root describes the keyboard, not
the source. However, when setting the Root to the sample’s pitch, the entire keyboard is in tune: every key plays its
corresponding pitch (A3=440Hz).
Click the clef sign next to the value box to automatically set the Root to the pitch suggested by CR8’s detector. Note
that some files may have more than a single pitch or may be too complex to analyze.
Default Value: C3
Range: C-2 to G8

BPM
Sets the BPM of the sample for the time-stretching algorithms, adjusted to fit the sample length to whole bars. The initial
value is derived from a BPM analysis algorithm. Click the metronome sign to impose the analyzed BPM onto the sample
without adjustments.
TUNE
Transposes the pitch of the sample in semitones. This control can be modulated.
Range: -24 semitones to +24 semitones

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

13
 FINE
Used to fine tune the pitch in cents. Range: -100 cents to +100 cents
LOOPING ON/OFF
Enables looping of the sample or a defined region of the sample. When Loop is On, the Loop Marker and
Loop crossfades are visible. The sample will play from the Start marker, reach the End marker, and then
loop between the Loop Start marker and the End marker.
LOOP LENGTH
Use the value box to adjust loop length, in musical notation, based on the sample/Host BPM. When Loop is Off,
Length Source and Loop Length are disabled. Range: 1/64T to 8 bars
LENGTH SYNC
When the Note button is On, the Loop Length is determined by the Host BPM. When Length Sync is
Off, the length is determined by the sample’s own BPM, as analyzed in the BPM setting.

SPEED AND DIRECTION CONTROLS

SPEED/OFFSET
Sets the speed at which the sample is played. When Freeze is On, the Speed
control is replaced by the Offset control. Turn this knob back and forth to scrub the
cursor and determine the Freeze point of the sample.
Range: ±64x sample’s native playback speed
X2 Doubles the selected speed value.
:2 Divides the selected speed value by 2.
For synced samples, use the x2, and :2 controls to stretch the sample while keeping it in sync.
This is not available in Classic algorithm mode.
FREEZE ON/OFF
Pauses the sampler’s play head on a certain segment.
REVERSE ON/OFF
Sets the direction of play (start to end or end to start). When reversed, the loop starts
playing from Sample End to Sample Start. When Loop is On, it plays from Sample End to Loop Start.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

14
 SEESAW
The sample plays back and forth. When Loop is Off, the sample will reach the End marker and then play in reverse until
it reaches the Start marker and stops. When Loop is On, the sample will play back and forth within the Loop region.
IMAGE AND VOLUME CONTROLS
Use Width and Pan to control the stereo image of the sample.
Width controls the size of the stereo image
Range: zero (mono) to 1 (sample’s natural width) to 2 (very wide stereo image)
Pan controls the position of the sampler in the sound image.
Range: -45 to +45
Volume controls the playback volume of the sample.
Range: -inf to +12 dB

Filter Section

FILTER ON/OFF
When Off, the filter section is bypassed.
FILTER TYPE
Sets the filter type.
Range: Lo-Pass, Hi-Pass, Band-Pass and Peak (only resonance)

FILTER SLOPE
Sets the order of the filter.
Range: 12 dB or 24 dB per octave

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

15
 CUTOFF:
Controls the filter cutoff frequency.
Range: 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz

RESONANCE
Controls the amount of filter resonance. Higher settings boost frequencies near the cutoff frequency.
Range: 0 to 100

DRIVE
Controls the amount of overdrive added to the filter signal.
Range: 0 dB to 36 dB

FILTER GROUPS
Groups link Filter controls between samplers. When filters from more
than one sampler are assigned to a group, their filter parameter
controls will move together. This lets you simultaneously control filter
settings for several samplers.

To create a Filter Group from scratch, follow these steps:

1. Select a sampler and adjust its filter settings as needed. Assign the sampler to a filter group.
2. Assign other samplers to this new group. The filter settings of the first member of the group (step 1) will be
copied to samplers as they are assigned to the group.
3. From this point on, filter parameter changes made in any group member will be duplicated in all other
members of the group.
Once a group is established, assign a sampler to it and the filter settings of the group will be applied to the
new sampler.
All filter controls, including modulator assignments and depth, are controlled with the group.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

16
 Keyboard Zones
Use this view to set the keyboard ranges of pitch and velocity for each sampler. This determines the spread of
the samplers across the keyboard by incoming MIDI Notes. The zones can be set using the graph—
represented as rectangles that can be dragged—or with the of controls below it.
.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

17
 Sampler Zones Controls

These controls are used to define the range of

notes that will trigger the sampler.

Sample name Abbreviated sample name (10 characters).

Pitch Range of keyboard keys that will activate this sampler. This is illustrated by the width of
the zones on the graph.
Determines the note velocity values to trigger the samplers. This is represented by the
Velocity
height of the zones in the graph.
Sets the note that will be center point of the sampler’s pitch. Click the clef sign on the
Root sampler to reset the Root to the pitch suggested by CR8’s detector. Click the clef next
to the Root title (left) to automatically set the suggested pitch for all samplers at once.
The amount of pitch shifting that occurs while playing above or below the Root note.
When scaling is set to 100%, (default) pitch shifts one semitone for every key on the
keyboard. When scaling is set to 0%, there is no pitch shifting from the keyboard, and
Scaling all the notes play the same pitch. Values greater than 100% increase pitch shifting by
more than one semitone per key. A value of 200% results in a whole tone per each key.
Values less than 100% result in the scale being inverted: the pitch goes down as you go
up at the keyboard.
Solo Only this sampler will play.

Sampler On/Off Same function as the On/Off buttons on the sampler tabs.

Selected sampler The pitch/velocity zone of this sampler is highlighted in the graph.

Returns the Pitch and Velocity settings for all samplers to their default values.
Reset
(Pitch=C-2 to G8; Velocity=0 to 127). As a result, all samplers play on every note.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

18
 Keyboard Zones Graph
Use this graph to set which MIDI notes will activate the selected sampler, and to control velocity distribution
for each sampler.

The keyboard at the top spans

from C-2 to G8 and reflects the
activity of the MIDI keyboard.

The graph indicates the

relationship between the
keyboard and each sampler.

• The horizontal axis of the graph displays the range of the keyboard that applies to each sampler. Only the keys
within the zone will play for the sampler.
• Drag an edge of a zone horizontally to narrow or widen the pitch range; drag the entire zone left or right to move it
along the keyboard while maintaining its range.
• Notes will play within their entire range, even if zones are overlapped. Two or more samplers will play where
zones overlap.
• Velocity range is adjusted vertically.
• Dark areas between zones will not play, as they are not assigned to any note.
The zone of the selected sampler is shaded blue.

LISTEN MODE
Listen Mode enables you to monitor the sampler’s distribution. When Listen is On, each click on the
graph plays back the appropriate MIDI note from CR8. Listen must be Off to edit zones in the graph.
You can momentarily enter Listen Mode by holding the Shift key while clicking on the Zones graph.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

19
 SETTING EQUAL RANGES
You can evenly spread all activated samplers across a keyboard range: velocity zones and pitch zones.

Click the small “=” button to Horizontal and vertical arrow

the right of the keyboard. markers will appear on the
minimum and maximum points of
the graph axis.

Use the arrows to set the zone in which all activated samplers will spread as evenly as possible.

Drag the arrow markers Drag the vertical markers to

on the keyboard to define define a velocity pitch range.
a range. All available All available velocity zones
pitch zones will be spread will be spread as evenly as
as evenly as possible possible within this range.
within this range.

Moving these arrows overwrites the current pitch and velocity settings.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

20
 Mixer View

The Mixer view provides a

side-by-side overview of the
critical controls of each
sampler.

In the Mixer you can control several samplers in one view and link controls.

Use the mouse to draw a box around the controls you want to adjust together. The controls will move as a group
until you click elsewhere. You can select controls that are not adjacent by holding Shift while you click the desired
controls. Refer to the WaveSystem user guide to learn more about linking controls.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

21
 Modulating the Controls

CR8 offers several ways to modulate most of its controls. There are four LFO/Sequencer modulators, four ADSR
envelopes editors, and six MIDI keyboard modulators. Click any “M” or “A” button at the bottom of the screen to
access the Modulation/Envelope section. To collapse the section, click the small arrow next to the A4 Modulator
button.

There are two ways to assign a modulator to a control:

DRAG A MODULATOR ONTO A CONTROL

Grab and move a modulator’s label. The controls that are available for
modulation will be highlighted. Modulation controls themselves can usually
be modulated.

Drop the label of the modulator onto any available control. In this example,
“M2” is being assigned to the Drive control. Once the modulator is dropped,
it will appear in a modulation slot below the control. Each control has four
modulation slots.

Click and drag vertically over this populated slot to adjust the modulation
depth.

A small arc inside the modulated control knob indicates the applied depth
for each modulator. The arcs are color-coded to match the modulator label.
A dot outside the knob moves in real-time to indicate the knob position
while modulated. It reflects the sum of all modulators assigned to the knob.

Hover over a modulator slot to see its numeric value.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

22
 SELECT A MODULATOR FROM A CONTROL

You can also assign a modulator directly from a control. Right-click on a modulation slot—whether
empty or populated—to open a list of the available modulation sources. Select the desired
modulator.

To remove a modulator assignment, select “None.”

Modulator Types
Click any of the “M” or “A” buttons at the bottom of the screen to access the Modulator/ADSR section. To collapse the
section, click the small arrow next to the A4 button.
MODS 1–4
These modulators can be set to LFO or Sequencer. You can determine their Rate and Shape and decide how they
are triggered.
ADSR 1– 4
These act as traditional envelope modulators that are triggered by incoming notes. Note that A1 is normally
connected to the gain of the internal oscillators and the noise generators, as they control the opening and shutting of
the synth voices.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

23
 KEYBOARD MODULATORS

There are five MIDI modulator shortcuts visible in the modulators bar:

KY Keyboard Uses the pitch of the incoming MIDI notes to modulate controls. Center is 60 (C3),
notes above it modulate up and vice versa.
AT Aftertouch Where applicable, the pressure applied to the keyboard while MIDI notes are held
will determine the modulation value. Note that not all MIDI keyboards support
aftertouch.
PW Pitch Wheel Applies modulation by the pitch wheel on the MIDI keyboard. Note that the pitch
wheel normally affects the pitch of the entire instrument (Global Controls, Bend).
MW Mod Wheel Applies modulation by the modulation wheel on the MIDI keyboard.
VL Note Velocity Applies modulation by the velocity value of any incoming MIDI note.

One additional control is available from a control’s modulation slot.

PA Poly Poly Aftertouch works the same as Aftertouch, except that the pressure applies to
Aftertouch each note independently, rather than to the entire keyboard.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

24
 Modulators: LFOs and Sequencers

TYPE
You can change the behavior of a modulator by switching it between LFO and Sequencer. Most of the controls
remain the same, but certain behaviors are different, depending on the Type selection.
The sequencer’s values are quantized to whole numbers between -24 and +24. They represent semitones when the
modulator is assigned to “Tune” or “Frequency” when the modulation depth is set to 100%.
When LFO is selected, “Rate” determines the time it takes to complete a full cycle; in Sequencer, it determines the
time to complete a single step.
Range: LFO/SEQ

SHAPE CONTROLS
There are several ways to shape the modulator:
Draw Mode (pencil) allows you to manually draw the shape you
want.
Erase resets the currently loaded shape to “None.”
Click on the folder icon to Browse a factory library of LFO
shapes and sequencer patterns, depending on the current Type.
Click on a shape to replace the one you’re currently using.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

25
 SAVE (DISK ICON)
Click on disk icon (next to the Trash) to save the current user-drawn modulator shape to an empty cell. User shapes appear in
blue. Factory shapes are purple. You can manage and access the saved shapes at:
Mac: /Users/Shared/Waves/Plug-in Settings/OVox/LFOShapes
PC: C:\Users\Public\Waves Audio\Plug-in Settings\OVox\SEQShapes

DELETE (TRASHCAN)
Click the Trashcan icon, then click on the user shape you wish to delete. You cannot delete factory shapes.
LFO TRIGGER
Determines when the modulator resets its position. It has five states:
Sync locks the modulator to the host. It syncs to BPM, as well as transport position.
Retrigger resets the modulator every time a new note is received.
Legato resets the modulator whenever a new note is received, unless another note is already playing.
Poly triggers a new modulator per voice for each new note. When patched to polyphonic destinations
(e.g., the internal synth controls), an independent modulation will be applied to each voice.
Free sets the modulator to be free running, never reset.
Range: Sync, Retrigger, Legato, Poly, Free
PLAY MODE
Sets LFO playback characteristics. Select a playback mode from the MODE panel.
One Shot: the modulator completes a single cycle and stops running.
Loop: the modulator plays continuously in a loop.
Seesaw: the modulator moves back and forth within its cycle.
Hold: the modulator pauses at its current location. You can use the Phase control to alter its relative position.
STEPS (ONLY IN SEQ MODE)
Determines the number of sequencer steps.
Range: 2 steps to 16 steps
RATE
Sets the rate of the modulator. Display units and range are dependent on the Rate Sync setting.
Range: 0.06 Hz to 30 Hz or 1/64 bar to 8 bars

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

26
 RATE SYNC ON/OFF
Toggles the Rate knob values. When On, the rate of the LFO is calculated by the Host BPM and displayed in
musical notation. When Off, values are displayed in Hz.

PHASE
Controls the starting position of the modulator.
WARP
Warps the speed of the modulator, but keeps the overall timing of the cycle. When Warp value is lower than 1, modulation will
start at a slow pace and increase its speed toward the end of the cycle. When set above 1, the pace is fast at start and then
slows down at the end. Essentially, this is applying pulse width modulation on the cycle of the modulator.
Range: 0.1 to 100 (a value of 1 is linear)
SMOOTH
Applies smoothing to the modulation curve. Low settings result in distinguishable onsets and may result in clicks. High settings
smooth the overall modulation curve, and in some settings may result in very low energy.
Range: 1 ms to 1000 ms
LEVEL
The overall level of the modulator. When the Level of a modulator is set to 0, no modulation takes place.
Range: 0 to 1

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

27
 Envelopes: ADSR 1–4
Four traditional ADSR envelopes triggered by
incoming notes provide control over the
Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release of a note
and its curves.

ADSR values can be adjusted with the control

knobs or by dragging the ADSR graph.

ATTACK
Sets the attack time of the ADSR envelope.
Range: 0.1 ms to 10,000 ms
DECAY
Sets the decay time of the ADSR envelope.
Range: 0.1 ms to 10,000 ms
SUSTAIN
Sets the sustain level of the ADSR envelope.
Range: 0 to 1
RELEASE
Sets the release time of the ADSR envelope.
Range: 0.1 ms to 10,000 ms
CURVE
(available for Attack, Decay, and Release)
Sets the curve of the time function. A setting of 1 results in linear behavior. Values lower than 1 yield exponential curves.
Values higher than 1 display logarithmic behavior.
Range: 0.1 to 10

Pitch and Frequency Modulations

When any modulator is assigned to a pitch- or frequency-related control (e.g., Tune, Cutoff), and the modulation
depth is set to 100%, maximum movement will be precisely two octaves up and two octaves down.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

28
 Other Controls
LEGATO ON/OFF
Determines whether to reset or continue the envelopes when playing samplers.
Legato Off: Each note retriggers a new ADSR and all of the samplers attached to it.
Legato On: While holding more than one note, new notes join the ADSR and sample positions and do not retrigger.

VELOCITY
Determines how MIDI keyboard velocity affects the ADSR. A velocity setting of 100% means that the ADSR will have the
same dynamic behavior as the keyboard. If set to zero, every note will exhibit the same velocity, regardless of how it is
played.
Range: -100% (inverse velocity correlation) to 100% (complete correlation)

ADSR Panel (main view)

The ADSR panel in the main view lets you adjust the ADSR that is assigned
to the sample while the Modulator panel is collapsed. To close the expanded
view, click the small arrow next to the A4 button.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

29
 Global Controls

THE CONTROLS IN THE UPPER-RIGHT CORNER AFFECT THE ENTIRE PLUGIN.

TUNE
Transposes the tune of entire instrument. Range: -24 semitones to +24 semitones
FINE TUNE
Refines tune adjustment in cents. Range: -100 cents to +100 cents
BEND
Determines the range of pitch bending (in semitones) controlled by the MIDI keyboard pitch wheel.
GLIDE TIME
Sets the time in milliseconds for the portamento time between notes (pitch transition smoothing).
Range: 0.1 ms to 5000 ms
VOICES
Sets the number of “notes” that can be played together. Set this value to "1" to make CR8 monophonic. Range: 1 voice to 16
voices
OUTPUT LEVEL
Sets the output level of the plugin. Range: -inf dB to +12 dB; output range: -80 to +12 dB
OUTPUT METERS:
Peak meters with red clip indicators. Click on the meter to reset clip.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

30
 COSMOS Sample Finder
COSMOS is designed to find your sample files, even in the messiest of folders. COSMOS analyzes each sample file
and extracts useful information (such as instrument, BPM, key, length, one-shot or a loop, and more) and organizes it
using tags. Since you can search and filter by any number of categories, you will quickly find the sample you want,
along with others that share its characteristics. Then you can create collections of samples, so that your samples are
organized just the way you want. COSMOS supports these formats: WAV, AIFF, OGG, and FLAC.
COSMOS works hand in hand with the Waves CR8 sampler. One click on a sample in COSMOS, and it’s loaded in
CR8, along with the relevant metadata.

Getting Started
SIGN IN
When you launch COSMOS, you’ll be taken to a login
page. Enter your Waves credentials (the same you use for
Waves Central), and COSMOS will open. Click the small
user icon in the top-right corner to log out.
SELECT USER FOLDERS
Click the Folder icon to open the Local
Folders panel. This is where your samples
folders are listed and managed. To help you
get started, the Waves Audio Factory Pack
folder is supplied with COSMOS. It contains
2,512 diverse, multi-genre samples.

ADD USER FOLDERS

Click the “+” button to add an audio samples folder. COSMOS will scan the content of the folder, extract data, and
create search tags for each sample. Scanning can use a lot of computer resources, so we suggest that you don’t
scan during a CPU-heavy session. You can stop and resume the scan from the Local Folders panel, or right click on
the COSMOS tray bar icon.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

31
 Searching
There are several ways to find samples.
SEARCH
Search by file name or other specific information. This is the
widest search.

LOOP VS. ONE SHOT

The most basic filter is Loop vs. One Shot, since samples are either one or the other. If you
know which of these you’re searching for, choose it. This greatly reduces the number of files
you must search through.
TAGS
A tag describes one attribute of a sample file, such as content, instrument, acoustics, style, and so forth. Tags are
used to limit the scope of a search and make it easy to locate samples. Every time you add a tag to a search, you’re
creating a more specific set of results. When you select a tag, suggested tags are added or removed or changed in
the Tags Suggestion bar. Tags that classify the instrument or the instrument family of a sample, such as “Electric
Guitar” or “Strings,” always start with capital letters. Tags that describe other characteristics of the sample, like
"dark" or "acoustic," are lowercase.

In this example, the “acoustic” tag is selected, and the suggested tags reflect this choice. Press “Clear” to remove all
selected tags and start a new search.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

32
 SEARCH AND REFINE
You can start your search with a name and then filter the results. Here, a
search for “clap” yields 41 results. When filtered with the tag, “Snare,” the
results are reduced to three samples.

Tag Menus
Three drop-down menus offer different ways to use tags. Filtered samples are displayed in the Search Results list,
along with their names, waveforms, and assigned tags.
FILTER BY INSTRUMENT
Machine learning enables COSMOS to determine the
type of instrument, or family of instrument, played in a
sample. This provides very focused search results that
would otherwise be difficult to attain.
FILTER BY TAGS
This is a list of all tags that are available, based on
previous search and filtering choices.
FILTER BY KEY AND BPM
Enter the BPM in the text box. Use the bidirectional slider to
set the search range around it. Click the “X2” or “/2” buttons
to include double- and half-time samples in the results.
When COSMOS is used with CR8, there is no need to
enter BPM, as CR8 sends this information to the DAW.
To filter by the musical key of your session, use the
small keyboard. The selected key is shown to the right of
the keyboard. Select “Major” or “Minor” to filter for a
specific scale. Use the “Relative Key” switch to include
samples that share the same key signature and may
work with your session.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

33
 Tagging and Modifying Samples
When a folder is added, COSMOS automatically classifies
and tags each sample file. Usually, analysis is done with
impressive accuracy. There can, however, be mistakes in
certain tag attributes.

To modify tag classification, click the three dots on the right side of a sample (circled above),
or right-click on a sample’s name or waveform. From the drop-down menu, choose “Edit
Tags” or “Edit Attributes.”

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

34
 Working with Samples
To audition a sample, click on the play/stop button or the sample name. In the Waveform view, you can also click on
the waveform itself. When using COSMOS with CR8, click on the sample name or double click on the waveform to
load the sample into the sampler.

Use the up and down arrow keys to browse audio or load samples into CR8. Your last action determines the
behavior of the up/down arrows. If the last action you performed was auditioning a sample, pressing the down arrow
key will play the next or previous sample in the list.

FAVORITES
Click the star at the top of the plugin to display only your favorite samples. To assign a sample to your
favorites list, click the star next to the sample name.

COLLECTIONS
A Collection is a virtual folder that helps you organize samples that you have located. Create Collections using
the “+” button in the “My Collections” sidebar.

Click the “Add to Collections” icon next to the sample name to assign it to your virtual collections. You
can also drag the sample to the desired collection folder.

Once a sample is assigned to one or more collections, the “Add to Collections” icon next to it is turned
on as an indication.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

35
 COSMOS Views
COSMOS has three views: WAVEFORM, LIST, and COSMOS.
The Waveform and List views display search results as lists. Waveform view displays the sample waveforms, with
fewer search results visible, while List view shows more results, without waveforms.

COSMOS VIEW
In COSMOS view, your one-shot
samples are analyzed and scattered
throughout the COSMOS. Similar
sounds will appear close to each
other.

You can change the way that

samples are arranged using the Map
selections. This alters the weight on
the horizontal axis given to certain
characteristics of the sound when
spread across the COSMOS.

In this example, the “Space” map, dry samples appear on the left, wet on the right. The “Brightness” map arranges
the darkest sounds on the left and the brightest sounds on the right of the screen, and so forth.

The Instrument map is slightly different, as samples of the same instruments are grouped into the same “galaxies.”

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

36
 The Gradient On/Off control changes the color scheme of the samples to suit the selected map.
When Gradient is Off, the samples are shown in their default colors (which are determined by the
instrument families). Gradient On/Off is disabled in the Instrument map.

The selected sample appears at the top right of the screen. Press the arrow symbol to
expand it and view adjacent samples. Use the up and down arrows (or the arrows on
your computer keyboard) to browse through the neighboring samples. The selected
sample can be dragged, loaded to CR8 (double click), or added to collections and
favorites.

Use the left and right keys of the History Bar to browse back and forth between samples
you previously auditioned. You can also use your computer keyboard arrow keys.

CR8 Creative Sampler / User Guide

37