How important is the root pitch of the samples you use?

[William Brave]

Drums it does not matter unless they are used melodically. And even then BARELY. Everything else needs the root to be determined either by ear or in an audio editor. I usually chop my Samples in Edison in FL studio and run "detect pitch regions" then I look at what pitches are present and determine the key.

[mitchAUS]

Ive been chopping samples I've ripped off vinyl into sound kits that i load in to exs24 in logic. Lately ill map say 5 or 6 notes from a melody I've sampled then randomly pitch a sample up till it sounds decent. ill then pitch up the rest of the samples so they are in key with the first sample but not in any particular order. Ill then set a breakbeat on loop and jam to it until i find something i like. I have learnt a fair chunk of theory in the past and it seems to let me rely on my ears which can spark my creativity. I always end up analysing what I've played eventually so i know the key. Makes harmonies and drum tuning a shit load easier!

So id say i do both.