EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

At 12:22 PM 8/10/2005 +0000, you wrote:

>No it's a about the half opened hihats almost always sound better when played
>polyphonically but if you do that in the EXS you can't easily mute it by 
>hitting ie a pedal hihat.

This was the part of the mystery that I didn't get. How is it that hi-hats 
played polyphonically sound better? Doesn't that mean there are two sets of 
hi-hats (which in a drum kit isn't the case)?

It's true that mute-groups "don't exist" in the EXS-24, but in theory what 
happens underneath in "mute-groups" is a voice allocation scheme, so the 
EXS method is pretty much in the ballpark - have Groups have a Voice 
parameter so you can dictate how many Voices the Zones assigned to that 
Group take up.

Standard "mute-groups" work like this under the hood: every sample 
reference assigned to a mutegroup only gets one voice for allocation. They 
cut each other off. If you a two sample references assigned to the same 
mutegroup assigned to the same key, only one will play. Pretty simple.

The ORIGINAL complaint was:

"With the 2 voice example, if I hit the open hat [which cannot be cutoff by 
itself, the user wants it polyphonic] and leave it to ring, then hit the 
closed hat, instead of the open hat stopping and the two closed hat samples 
playing instead, only one of the closed hat sounds (the lowest zone) and 
the other sample clicks. The open hat keeps sounding until it decays."

So, what we are working around is actually a bug. The "mute-group" feature 
(like in the S-5000) couldn't fix this, as it's limited to 1 voice 
allocations. Kontakt works in this regard, as the "mute-groups" are called 
"voice groups" and you can assign a voice amount to each one.

The problem is in the premise: "...I want to be able to play the open hat 
polyphonically as it sounds much better." Again, how? Real drums don't work 
this way. It should be said that you are playing them polyphonically on 
different keys, because most samplers work in that playing a same key cuts 
off voices that are still playing from that key (another built-in 
allocation scheme).

I understand that playing an open hi-hat with repeated strikes sound like 
the hits fall into each other, and thus SOUND polyphonic. I still think 
your premise isn't the best, but if you want it that way... try this:

Zone 1  Open Hat        D2-D2   Group 1 (assigned 1 voice)
Zone 2  Open Hat        E2-E2   Group 2 (assigned 1 voice)
Zone 3 Closed Hat       B1-B1   Group 1 (assigned 1 voice)
Zone 4 [null]           B1-B1   Group 2 (assigned 1 voice)

You can play the open hats on different keys, which will sound like they 
fall into each other on repeated hits. B1 will cut both off.

Is this what you were looking for, and if not, why?

Sorry if this has been suggested.


Garth Hjelte
Sampler User