EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

On Aug 4, 2008, at 7:04 PM, tom mclaughlin wrote:

Hi Tom,
great post here. Let's see if I can add some useful comment:

> When typing values into a numeric field I expect to be able to hit  
> the ENTER key and have that data entered. I recently found, through  
> much trial and error, that typing the �ENTER� and then the �ESCAPE�  
> key enters typed data. In my experience with computers typing  
> �ENTER� is the norm. A friend of mine who is a Logic instructor for  
> Apple said he has never heard of such a thing. Is there a reason for  
> this variance from the norm?

The data *is* entered after your press Enter. However, the focus  
remains on the fields and you can keep editing/typing. This is not a  
variation respect to the standard: open the Safari preferences, go to  
General>Homepage and type something there, then press enter. You will  
see how the focus is still there and you can keep typing.

Having it work this way lets you edit the same value multiple times  
(and listen to results) without having to click the field with the  
mouse again and again after each edit

The Esc key simply aborts editing and also removes the focus from the  
field.

> When editing samples I expect a sample to play from the beginning to  
> the end of a selected (highlighted) area. When I select ALL I expect  
> the sample to play from the beginning until the end (or loop) when I  
> hit the space bar.

The default keycommand assigned to the space bar is "Start from  
cursor". If you want to start from beginning, then you can use shift 
+Space bar. Again, you can customize key commands as you prefer.
In Keymap, the playback cursor is never tied to selection, but only to  
to cursors. This is as designed, and allows you to performs edits  
independently from playback.


> The Slider on the Sample Editor page is innovative and visually  
> attractive and works well with individual samples, but it is  
> difficult to use with multisample recordings as, with so much  
> information to cram into the time line, the resolution for  
> individual notes / samples is small.

If you have a very large screen, the overview resolution might become  
small because there are only so many pixels on the screen, but I would  
say that this is still better than not having any kind of overview.
BTW, if you are using a Mighty Mouse the scroll ball gives you control  
about scrolling and zooming, and this will greatly improve your  
"scrolling/zooming" experience: a single quick spin down of the ball  
will show you the complete file. Select a section, and give a single  
quick spin up and you are there.

> SAMPLE PLAY FROM START button on SAMPLE EDITOR page is at the very  
> bottom of the page, far away from the loop screen. This requires  
> much going back-and-forth with the mouse when editing loops and  
> auditioning .
> Likewise, HARMONIC RESYNTHESIS parameters on the SAMPLE EDIT page  
> are at the bottom of the field. Could these be raised to the upper  
> most portion of the fields? My mouse is getting tired.

Good suggestions.

> EDITING OUT PORTIONS OF SAMPLES  When selecting an unwanted portion  
> of audio, other editors allow being able to choose a cross-fade  
> length and curve, select CUT or DELETE and have that data removed  
> leaving a smooth crossfade through the join point. This sample  
> editing feature is important when looping samples to get rid of out- 
> of-tune portions, clicks, pops, unwanted noises and performance  
> artifacts. It is also important when merging the attack portion to a  
> looped portion of a sample, cutting out all but the attack and the  
> loop to save storage space or get �straight to the point� of the  
> sound being designed if the loop is the focal point. (Sometimes you  
> have to crossfade through a lot of material to get the loop you  
> want.)An �OPTIMIZE SLICE CROSSFADE� option would be very helpful in  
> this respect to keep the data phase-coherent. And �SNAP TO ZERO  
> CROSSING� would help too. I am getting used to doing this on the  
> SLICES page, but simply selecting and highlighting an area displayed  
> audio to be deleted and crossfaded through the remainder is more  
> intuitive through past experience with other sample editors and  
> looping software.

Every time you edit (cut) a portion of a sample, Keymap automatically  
adds a non-destructive, realtime crossfade to the remaining parts. The  
default crossfade values (length and shape) are set in the preferences  
(slice crossfade in "Default Values"). You can at any time change the  
crossfade length/shape using the Blend mouse action in the sample  
editor (you can check the Keymap V1.5 addendum, page 57 for more about  
this).

> Is it possible for SLICE VOLUME to be able to increase volume in  
> addition to reducing volume as it does now? And maybe even NORMALIZE  
> SLICE?

Not at the moment. Good suggestions.

> The Slice XFade In and Out Length could be longer ... as much as the  
> data within a �sub-sample� of a multisample recording will permit  
> without encroaching upon a loop. I know many people will use the  
> SLICES page for rhythm and performance loops (which is not my  
> forte�, but I do look into exploring this) but for creating sustain  
> loops in pitched samples all this would really be of help.

Good suggestions.


> dB markers at start and end of sample BLOCK THE VIEW OF SAMPLE DATA.  
> I find it hard to believe that sample editing software would block  
> important attack transients from view.

We definitely tried to place these values in places that should not be  
critical for the waveform visualization (so, it's not exactly at the  
waveform end, etc...), but of course they consume some area anyway.
We'll probably add the option to disable those readings in the future.

> Loops with crossfades through very end of sample render with audible  
> click.

We are not aware of such a problem. Can you please send us a very  
simple KMP project (one sample file) demonstrating this problem when  
you export, so we can check it here?

> Can samples be rendered and saved individually without having to  
> create an EXS instrument.

Yes, by alt-cmd-drag and drop to a folder/finder, but not as a "Save  
as" menu function.

> Rendering samples SEQUENTIALLY seems to number samples randomly with  
> no relation to their placement on the virtual keyboard. This has  
> happened so many times that I�ve ruled out �user error�. I expect  
> samples in a multi-sample to be numbered sequentially, from low to  
> high as mapped out on the virtual keyboard.

Well, this is your way of looking at that, but other users might have  
a different opinion. (They have! This is not the first time we hear  
this comment and everyone seems to have a different idea). What  
happens when you have more than one sample for a note, over  
velocities? Should the sequential number go from low velocity to high  
velocity or from high to low? What happens if you have multiple layers  
for the same notes, should the number start from the low layer to the  
highest layer or from high to low, etc?

That's why we let you create own way to define the new sample names  
starting from arbitrary combinations of layer names, notes and  
velocities (both as numbers or note names), and many other parameters.

> Also, sequentially numbered samples are always in 1,000�s. Software  
> should analyze the number of samples to be rendered and then use the  
> lowest number of digits needed to execute that sequence of  
> samples ... to save on characters.

The reason is that we like consistency.  If you want to fine tune the  
names, you can always use the Keymap rename functionality to strip  
extra zeros.

> Also, a series of samples I rendered (97 samples C1 - C8) to be  
> numbered sequentially AND with note names rendered all samples with  
> the prefix 0001.
> This required me to manually rename each rendered sample with its  
> proper number, a process that took considerable time.

Most probably this happened because you enabled the "Independent  
sequential numbers" option. It's explained at page 51 of the Keymap  
1.5 Addendum. Basically, if you enable this, there will be a separate  
sequential numeration for each different name (as defined by the other  
tokens), instead of a single number going up for each sample. In your  
case, as you also added a note to the sample name, each sample name is  
different than the others, and so gets its own separate sequential  
numeration starting at 1.

Example: let's say you have 3 samples at C3, C4 and C5 in your  
project, you are rendering these to new sample files and the model for  
the newly created sample names is "MySample-$RN-$SEQ", ($RN stands for  
root note and %SEQ for sequential number) then you will get those two  
different results:

With "Independent sequential numbers" OFF :
MySample-C3-0001.wav
MySample-C4-0002.wav
MySample-C5-0003.wav

With "Independent sequential numbers" ON :
MySample-C3-0001.wav
MySample-C4-0001.wav
MySample-C5-0001.wav

The ON setting is useful if you want to have different sequential  
sample numeration for layers/groups: let's say that the sample name  
model is "MySample-$LAY-$SEQ", and you have two samples in each layer,  
then you would get:

with "Independent sequential numbers" OFF :
MySample-OneLayer-0001.wav
MySample-OneLayer-0002.wav
MySample-AnotherLayer-0003.wav
MySample-AnotherLayer-0004.wav

with "Independent sequential numbers" ON :
MySample-OneLayer-0001.wav
MySample-OneLayer-0002.wav
MySample-AnotherLayer-0001.wav
MySample-AnotherLayer-0002.wav

> When undoing a �slice remove�, it would be convenient to have the  
> sample zoom out automatically to the original magnification.

The zoom settings are not handled by undo, and generally this is a  
good thing to do, even if occasionally it might be inconvenient.

> Selecting Render at -6db does not seem to increase sample level by  
> +6db after rendering. Sample sets I have rendered at -6db remain at  
> -6db.

The level is increased by +6dB in the zone volume parameters in the  
EXS instrument saved to disk.

> Loop View Display shows a bad loop join ... until loop join is  
> examined under a higher magnification. Not that the loop join is  
> actually bad, it just looks that way in the display.

This is a side effect of looking at the waveform when you have more  
than one sample for each pixel. You can see the difference in  
precision, because the waveforms are (on purpose) drawn with jaggies  
when they are not sample accurate. If I might add, the loop view  
reason of existence is that you keep it zoomed at high magnification  
to check the join section..... there's simply no way you can check it  
if you do not zoom-in enough....

> Hitting green dot on Instrument Page should center page on computer  
> vdu screen as it does with other pages.

The green dot is disabled because the instrument editor window is not  
resizable. This is standard OSX behavior.

> When playing sample while looping on instrument page and going to  
> move loop point or crossfade point, if you aren�t careful to direct  
> the mouse EXACTLY onto cursor points the sample is triggered to open  
> in looping page! Ordinarily this requires a double-click.

Opening the sample editor always requires a double click, not a single  
click.
The cursors are edited in the usual click and drag way. If you are not  
clicking over the cursors.... well,  of course the software interprets  
it as something else.

> To my experience, cursor �nodes� could be a little bigger.

Message received.

> I rendered a chromatic set of velocity switching samples - soft,  
> medium, loud. 255 samples. The soft set came out with a suffix of  
> �1�, medium �0�, and loud �2� !!?? What happened? It would have been  
> more convenient to have them numbered 1, 2, 3 or 3, 2, 1. Is this  
> possible? Actually ... it would be most convenient to have each  
> velocity set delivered to its own Folder. Is this possible? This  
> would make porting velocity switching samples to other samplers,  
> like Reason, easier.

Well, how samples are named depends completely on how you set the name  
and folder models for your samples in the  "SaveAs" panel. You can  
certainly have samples automatically saved to different subfolders  
depending on velocity, layers, note, groups, etc. You can check the  
Keymap manual, page 281for more about this, and you can email support@redmatica.com 
  if you have more detailed questions/examples.

> Is there a way to have the data after a loop discarded when  
> rendering loops?

Select all zones and perform a "Zones>Loop>Set end to loop end" menu  
command before saving.

> MANUAL
>
> New users want to be able to use software as quickly as possible  
> without reading any more of a manual than necessary. Not just  
> Keymap, any piece of software. I found it very frustrating that I  
> had to sit down and thoroughly read the manual (and sometime re-read  
> sections a number of times) before I could make use of the software.  
> I have had Keymap for months now and am just getting to grips with  
> using it somewhat effectively.
>
> In the current version of the manual it is often necessary to read  
> through a lengthy explanation of the benefits of a process or  
> parameter, often mentioned more than once, before the reader finds  
> information on how to actually use it. There are several facilities  
> in Keymap that to date I cannot locate in the manual how to use, and  
> I�ve had to find out how to use others by trial and error. FIX:  
> briefly mention the process or parameter, explain HOW to use it,  
> point out keyboard shortcuts, then go into a more thorough  
> explanation of the benefits and applications. A good model is the  
> Logic manual.
>
> The index really does want to be expanded to include specifics  
> rather than only page numbers on which a topic appears.
>
> I estimate that about 1/5 - 1/4 of the manual could be edited out  
> for clarity. An American or British Editor could help make the  
> language used in the Manual easier to read in English.

We had a very skilled native english technical writer working on this,  
and in all honesty I think he did a good damn job. You have to  
consider that while you are certainly a very experienced user and some  
sections might look boring, the manual needs to address also the less  
experienced users.  That said, we always welcome comments, and we'll  
certainly try to make good use of yours.

> Having done audio engineering and sound design professionally, I  
> found Logic instantly useable. With Keymap I feel like I�ve had to  
> learn another language.

I understand what you mean, but.... it IS a different application :-)


> ___________________________________________________
>
> wish list:

I'm skipping the wish list section, as we do not comment about future  
things.....
....but "we hear you" :-)

> All of this said, Keymap has some wonderful attributes and  
> facilities. It still crashes from time to time, but I work it very  
> hard.

When/if this happens again, please send us the crash log!

> I thank Redmatica for it�s forward vision and, undoubtedly,  
> countless hours of calculating and programming. Be assured that  
> Keymap may just change the way the world makes samples

... and we thank you for using our apps, and even more for taking the  
time to write this very long, very detailed, very interesting email.


Best Regards
Andrea Gozzi | Redmatica Srl
www.redmatica.com | Piazzale R. Finzi 2 | 42015 Correggio (RE) ITALY



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