EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

Sascha, I understand some of this, but I don't understand the part where you
are actually doing the CD conversion.
How does the program know which Akai Samples folder to place samples into -
or am I just being thick!!!!!

David Tobin




Here's some things that just come to my mind (sorry if anything has been
mentioned allready but I just returned from 10 days off):

1) There's no immediate need for EXS files (instrument files, .exs that is)
to be in your main sampler instruments folder.
As soon as you create a subfolder to your song directory called "sampler
instruments" and place some .exs files in there they will appear as a song
dedicated folder on top of your instrument list only when the desired song
is loaded.
This is extremely useful as soon as you want to use some parts of the song
with the EXS (e.g. vocal snipplets and such) which wouldn't make any sense
in your general folder.
Also pretty handy once you want to alter one of your general instruments
(let's say replace a snare in some drumset) just to fit a certain song.
Of course I allways copy all the used audiofiles to my song folder as well
(in case I want to back it up or transport it to any other machine).
Unfortunately on a "copy audiofiles" the EXS still doesn't update its file
references (major drawback which is driving me mad since day one, Logic
itself offers such an option when dealing with "plain" audiofiles), but for
a backup/transport it's just good enough in most cases. So, my songfolders
almost allways contain a subfolder called "sampler instruments", inside that
one there's all my songbased .exs files and some subdirectories for the used
samples.

2) You can create shortcuts for almost anything.
Here's what I do for AKAI conversion:
- First thing is that I created a shortcut called "AKAI samples" in my Logic
directory (so the "true" folder doesn't exist any longer). This shortcut in
general points to G:\Samples\EXS\Akais. I use that one to try out things (as
you will know, the EXS preview feature is creating a sample each time you
preview one - god only knows why this is necessary...). I regularly clean up
that folder.
- As soon as I'm sure I really want to convert some CD (or parts of it), in
my Samples/EXS/Akais folder (btw, this EXS folder mirrors exactly what is
happening in the general instruments folder inside my Logic program
directory, I found that to be extremely convenient in case I want to sort
out stuff) I create a subfolder called like the CD (again mirroring what's
happening in my sampler instruments subfolders where I create the same
directory for the .exs files).
- After that I copy the info of the folder (let's say
G:\Samples\EXS\Akais\RealMegaDrums\). On Windows this can be done relatively
easy by copying from the explorers adress bar.
Then I will look at the properties of my "AKAI samples" shortcut and paste
the copied folder info there (it's handy to have two explorers opened at the
same time to do so).
Now, when I actually start the conversion process, all the samples will
automatically be placed on my sample storage drive inside a folder named
like the CD.
When I'm done I'm allways changing back the "AKAI samples" shortcut to point
to the general folder.
Yes, this sounds like a lot of work (and I believe the EXS should be
improved regarding these issues), but it's still faster than manually moving
the samples and having the EXS look for the files once you load your
converted AKAI sets (as the file info will be printed into your .exs files
straight in the first place), especially when dealing with complete AKAI
CDs.
I don't know how to do such things on Macs but I'd guess the process would
look similar.

3) I do exactly the same as in point 2) for SF2 conversion. Works
identically.

4) Even if it would be possible to create a shortcut for the main sampler
instruments folder as well, personally I don't use that option as they are
pretty small files and therfor can very well stay inside my Logic folder
(which I backup pretty much regularly anyways).

So much for now, regards,

Sascha