AI Sample Finder — Find, Match, or Identify a Sample
Describe a sound, upload audio to find cleared matches, or fingerprint a recording. Start with what you mean by “sample finder.”
What are you trying to find?
The same phrase can mean three different jobs. Pick one and we'll open the right search without making you start over.
Describe the sound in your head
I understand moods, instruments, BPM, keys, eras, references, and producer slang.
Every result comes from Selekt's cleared catalog and links to its source and license record.
How to dig here
- Find: describe the vibe and add BPM, key, mood, era, or instrument when you know it.
- Match: upload a focused reference and choose its strongest 5–10 second section in Drop the Needle.
- Identify: use Copyright Check when you need commercial recognition, metadata, match locations, and a saved report.
Find, match, or identify a sample
People use sample finder to mean different things. You may know the sound you want and need an AI sample search; you may have a reference track and want similar cleared sounds; or you may need to identify a recording from its audio. Selekt gives each question its own path so a similarity result is never presented as fingerprint identification, and a fingerprint match is never confused with a recommendation.
AI sample search — find samples by describing them
The AI Sample Finder lets you find samples by describing them. Instead of stacking filters, you tell it what you're after in plain language — a vibe, an instrument, a tempo, a key, or a bit of producer slang — and the AI sample search pulls matching sounds from our cleared catalog. It's built for producers and composers who know the sound in their head but not which folder it's in.
Because it's an AI sound search over cleared material, every result is public domain, CC0, or CC-BY and royalty-free. Describe and find samples, preview them in place, and take the ones that fit straight into a mix — each with a license certificate documenting its source, license, and any attribution required.
Match an uploaded track to similar cleared sounds
When you already have audio, use the matching path to open Drop the Needle. It turns a focused section of your reference into an acoustic profile and ranks cleared catalog samples by how similar they sound. This is useful for finding a replacement texture, a complementary loop, or a starting point with the same feel; it does not claim the returned sample is the original recording.
Identify a recording with audio fingerprinting
When the question is “what recording is this?” or “does this audio contain a recognizable commercial recording?”, use the identification path to open the Copyright Check. It fingerprints the whole file and can return title, artist, label, ISRC, UPC, release data, and exact match locations when available, plus a report you can keep. A match is recognition evidence to review; it is not proof of ownership, registration, permission, or platform policy.
Frequently asked questions
- What can the AI Sample Finder do?
- It gives three different meanings of sample finder a clear starting point. Describe a sound to search the cleared Selekt catalog, upload audio to find sonically similar cleared samples in Drop the Needle, or upload a recording to Copyright Check for whole-file fingerprint recognition, returned metadata, exact match locations, and a saved report.
- How does describing a sound find samples?
- You type what you want in plain language — "dusty jazz piano," "hard funk drums around 95 BPM," "dark, moody classical strings" — and the AI sample search reads your intent, then matches it against our catalog's genre, mood, instrument, BPM, and key data. You describe and find samples the way you'd ask another producer, instead of clicking through filter menus.
- Can I find samples that sound like an audio file?
- Yes. Choose “Find samples that sound like my track” and upload a reference. Your file opens in Drop the Needle, where you select a focused 5–10 second section and search the cleared catalog by sonic similarity rather than keywords.
- Can I identify a sample or recording from audio?
- Choose “Identify or check this recording” to hand the file to Copyright Check. It fingerprints the complete upload in back-to-back windows and can return a recognized recording title, artist, label, ISRC, UPC, release information, and exact match locations when that data is available. Recognition is evidence to investigate, not proof of ownership or legal clearance.
- What is the difference between matching and identifying audio?
- Matching looks for cleared samples with a similar tone, texture, or musical feel; it does not claim they are the same recording. Identifying uses acoustic fingerprints to check whether the uploaded audio is recognized as a known commercial recording. The AI Sample Finder keeps those jobs separate and routes each one to the correct tool.
- Are the samples cleared for commercial use?
- Yes. Every result comes from our cleared catalog — CC0, public domain, or CC-BY — so it is royalty-free and ready for commercial projects. Each download carries a license certificate documenting the source, license, and any CC-BY attribution required, with no per-use fees or royalties on the samples themselves.
- What can I search by?
- Genre, mood, instrument, BPM, key, era, and even producer slang all work. Ask for "a lo-fi boom-bap loop," "something cinematic and tense," "blues guitar in the key of E," or "a break around 90 BPM" — the AI sound search understands loose, descriptive queries as well as precise ones.
- Is it free?
- Browsing and streaming the catalog is free. AI sample search runs on a signed-in account like the other studio tools, and each result links straight to the sample so you can preview, add it to a mix, or download it with its certificate.
