EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

Hi Pupkid,

> I must admit I'm slightly annoyed that I had to even consider buying
another
> piece of software when the ESX is advertised as Akai-compatible.  Might I
> suggest a future addition would be the ability to mount Akai format
volumes
> that aren't only on CD, and to convert Akai samples to SDII, AIFF and WAV
in
> bulk.

Don't feel too bad in regards to having to consider buying another piece of
software.  For the most part, the exs-24 will read the Akai libraries.  As
you found out, there are exceptions so its implementation is not 100%.  I've
found that loop points are not correctly read on Akai CD's many times and
there are clicks at the beginning of Akai samples sometimes.  Some CD's
convert seemingly flawlessly.

I bought an E-mu E-5000 nearly 2 years ago now which is supposed to be
Roland compatible.  While E-mu doesn't hide the fact that filter and
envelope settings are not converted (although you have to get this info for
yourself), many times loop points are messed up.  What saved me back then
was the fact that I already owned Sounddiver and had all of my S-760
performances and patches stored in libraries.  I was able to re-program a
bunch of my favourite samples into E-5000 presets by viewing the library.

So, Emagic are not the only guilty parties.  I seem to recall that Emagic
mentioned once or twice what the conversion utility is not capable of.
They're not going to make an advertising campaign out of this though.  From
my understanding there are problems in the Gigasampler Akai conversion
utility as well.  I would not be surprised if Halion had some non-100%
conversions also.

Unfortunately, it is this way in the music equipment and software industry
nowadays.  Unless there is tons of pressure on Emagic to provide this kind
of support, I don't think that it will really get that much improved.

My preference is that Emagic improves on the exs-24 implementation and
features rather than conversion utilities.  There are a couple of programs
which seem to do the best job out there right now and have other features as
well.  These are Translator and CDXtract.  Unfortunately, for you they are
both PC only and you would need to run Virt PC in order to run them.  I've
ordered Translator myself as I have a need to convert a bunch of different
formats and don't have time to re-program a bunch of sampler patches.  If
I'm going to spend my time programming, I would much rather do it with some
of my own samples rather than commercial 3rd party samples.  Why should I
re-invent the wheel in other words.

Anyhow, this is just MHO.  You're free to disagree with it if you like.

Fernando