EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

On 30/05/2004, at 8:41 PM, Murray McDowall wrote:


> It's just a question of personal preference.

There are functionality questions involved with the different methods 
also.

> You can do it 3 different ways.
>
> 1. Use multiout kits and apply your compressors and Eq on the Aux 
> objects where
> your additional outputs are routed

The big crunch with this way is that you loose your plugin delay 
compensation. This is a real pain when using the Mixtend drums since 
the ambient drum versions rely on sample accuracy for phase alignment.

> 2. load kit parts (Snare, Hats, Kick etc) into separate instances and 
> contol
> the kit with a single midi sequence. Any pre-programmed kit can be 
> easily
> broken down into components by selecting out all of one group with a 
> key
> command ( eg the snare group) and pasting it into a  new instrument. 
> If you
> have a lot of snare instruments like this you can put them in a folder 
> and step
> through them with a key command while the song plays.

A little better than # 1 IMO but still pretty boring for me. This comes 
down more to how you like to organise your library. With acoustic kits 
I almost always use the Mixtend series since I got it because of it's 
ambient choices so there is a real benefit in not breaking up complete 
kits since you'd have to do the same to the overhead and/ or room mic 
variants. As for the 808/ 909 kicks and hats etc I almost always use 
the Wizoo Electronic drum series since my Novation Drumstation died. 
Even these are 7-9 velocity layers deep.


> 3. You can also load the whole kit into multiple instances and send 
> only Kick
> midi parts to one and only Snare midi parts to the next etc - ie 
> multiple midi
> sequences - not so great for hyperediting. The additional instances of 
> the kit
> use no additional RAM but the extra instances of the EXS24 do I 
> believe.

This is my preferred method. Even way before EXS when using hardware 
multitimbral drum boxes I preferred to have each drum sound on it's own 
midi channel so it was always quick to globally edit one sound - either 
in the box or the midi data. It also allows me to use the EXS filter 
and amplitude envelope - which is also a time saver in that you don't 
need to save edited versions of a stock kit. It's all done when you 
save the song.

> I tend to use the first two options.
>
> I set up a folder full of about 50 kits with the same multiout 
> configuration
> (eg Snare routed to Alt 3-4 etc). I have an autoload that has the Aux 
> objects
> configured and the compressors and Eq and FX sends set up and I can 
> step
> through the kits with a key command while the tune plays.

This is a clever way of doing it once you've gone through and set it 
all up the way you want - which for me would take a long time since my 
library is pretty darn big. There's no doubt that it's vital to 
actually KNOW what's in your library otherwise it's all but useless 
unless you're prepared to step through and listen to every sound EVERY 
time you need a sound. But having had to organise sample libraries as 
far back as when they were a box of 3.5" floppies I try to avoid like 
the plague spending any more time in this type of activity that I have 
to - and I don't think my drum productions suffer as a result.

YMMV