J Dilla’s Use Of Boss SP-303 Sampler Inspires $3 Sampling App

The late producer used the sampler and a little 45 record player to create a lot of the music heard on Donuts.

J Dilla‘s impact as a beatmaker lives on, particularly through a new sampling app called Koala. Created by Marek Bereza, the Koala sampler allows its users to record samples through their device’s microphone, as shown in the video below. Anything from the rim of a glass to the snap of one’s fingers can be sampled and sequenced into a beat.

READ: J Dilla’s Legacy Lives On In The World Of Lo-Fi Hip-Hop

From there, the beats created can be put through different effects.

According to Bereza, the inspiration behind Koala was Dilla’s use of the Boss SP-303 sampler when he was in the hospital.

“During all the time he had to spend in hospital, he would make tracks, which eventually turned into his last album – Donuts. Most of the tracks (29 of 31), he purportedly made with a BOSS SP-303, and a bunch of records,” Bereza said. “It turns out this myth might not totally true, but it inspired me!”

“When I heard this rumour he’d made Donuts on an SP-303, my jaw dropped,” he continued. “I’d never used one, but if you look at the front panel, you can see how straight-forward it is…Yet it was enough of a vehicle for him to make such a stellar album.”

There is some validity to Dilla’s use of the SP-303 to create Donuts. Members of the indie record label Stones Throw had brought the sampler and a small 45 record player to him in the hospital.

“They brought him a little Boss [SP] 303 sampler and little 45 record player,” Karriem Riggins said previously. “That’s what brought him through to make a lot of music that we hear on Donuts.”

The app can be purchased for $3 here.