Getting Started with Earthwire

Build a Kit (OP-1 / OP-1 Field)

1. Open the Kit Designer (the home page). On your first visit you'll see a landing screen. Click Build a Kit to enter.
2. In the Sample Browser on the left, search Freesound for drum and instrument samples, or Bird Sounds (Xeno-canto) for field recordings. You can also upload your own files under My Sounds.
3. Drag a sample onto one of the 24 slots in the Kit Builder on the right, or click a sample to preview and then drop it into the next empty slot.
4. Click the ✂ trim icon on a slot to open the waveform editor and set trimStart/trimEnd for that slot.
5. Click tune on a slot to set its pitch and gain. Both are free and both apply to the audio itself.
6. Pick a device mode: OP-1 (mono, 12s max) or OP-1 Field (stereo, 20s max).
7. Click Export to download a ready-to-load .aif drum kit. If any slots come from Freesound, a -credits.txt sidecar is downloaded too.
8. Copy the .aif into your OP-1 / OP-1 Field's drum folder and load it like any other kit.

Importing an Existing Kit

import .aif at the bottom of the kit panel loads a drum kit you already have, whether you built it here, made it elsewhere, or pulled it off your device. Earthwire reads the OP-1 metadata, splits the audio back into its 24 slots, and drops them into the editor so you can retrim, reorder, repitch or swap individual sounds.

A few things worth knowing. Importing replaces your current kit, so you will be asked to confirm if there is anything in it. The device mode and kit name come from the file. Slots arrive already trimmed to the regions the kit defined, and playback modes are preserved. Pitch and gain start at zero, because an imported kit already has both baked into its audio and there is no reliable way to recover the original values.

The file has to be a real OP-1 drum kit. A plain .aif with no OP-1 metadata is rejected with a message saying so, rather than importing as one long slot.

Pitch and Gain

Every slot has a tune button, sitting just after the playback mode icon. Click it to open pitch and gain for that slot. Once either is set, the button shows the values instead, so you can see at a glance which slots you have changed.

stpitch

Shifts the slot by semitones, up to two octaves either way. Previewing plays the pitched version, including when the slot is reversed, so what you hear is what gets exported.

dBgain

Sets the level from −24 to +6 dB, which is how you balance a loud kick against a quiet field recording. Earthwire already lifts very quiet samples automatically on export, and gain applies on top of that lift, so 0 dB is the level you hear when previewing. Pushing well past 0 on an already loud sample will clip it.

Both are applied to the audio itself rather than saved as device settings, so they sound identical everywhere and leave the OP-1's own controls free for playing.

Pitching changes how much of your budget a slot uses. Pitch a two second sample down an octave and it becomes four seconds. Watch the bar above the slots. If a kit runs past 12s or 20s the last slots get clipped to fit, the same as when you add too many samples.

Playback Modes

Each slot has a playback mode, cycled with the button next to the ✂ icon. The mode is written into the exported kit and takes effect on the device:

⇥one-shot

Plays the whole trimmed sample once per press, however briefly you tap the key. The default, and what you want for most drums.

▶gate

Plays only while you hold the key and stops the instant you let go. Good for sustained sounds you want to cut short.

∞loop

Repeats the trimmed region over and over for as long as the key is held. Useful for textures and sustained tones.

Ggravity

Bounces back and forth through the sample, forwards then backwards, while the key is held. The OP-1 calls this gravity.

⇤reverse one-shot

Plays the trimmed region backwards once per press. Previewing in the browser reverses too, so you hear what you will get.

◀reverse gate

Plays backwards while you hold the key and stops on release. Reverse and gate combined.

What it costs

Nothing. Every part of Earthwire is free and always will be: unlimited searching across Freesound and Xeno-canto, all 24 slots, both device modes, every playback mode, the waveform trim editor, pitch and gain, and as many kit exports as you like. There is no account, no sign-up, and nothing is stored on a server.

If you like what you see, you can buy me a coffee!