EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

At 12:44 AM 12/22/01 +0000, you wrote:
>yeah!
>ive converted quite a few disks now, and for me its a bit of a
>black art. what i landed up with is converting only a handful of
>programs first of all, then checking the levels that way before
>converting the entire disk.
>it would be very helpful if sample cd makers were to include
>specific notes about their product and exs24 - things like which
>programs are mergable or not.

Some sample CD documentation is good, some fair, few lousy. I think at the 
very least they do tell you whether you regard a Program as a single 
entity, or whether the Volume is considered the entity (in that case all 
the Programs in the Volume represent part of the "Instrument" and are all 
set to the same MIDI channel and Program number).

The point of merging is to imitate how the Akai treats the sound, which is 
really the proper way to do it.

So I wouldn't agree with your implication that they don't tell you what's 
intended to be merged - I think they do.

Perhaps the Akai Convert dialog could note what the MIDI channels/Program 
Number are on the dialog. That would be handy.

>hmm, interleaved or not. all of mine are interleaved, but just
>recently i wanted to swap left and right sides of a tom sample
>and it seems not to be an option. as far as i know this is
>because its interleaved and therefore acts as a single entity.
>id quite like some pointers regarding thie interleaved question
>too.

Well, the point of interleaving more has to do with what is a "stereo" 
sample, and what is a "dual mono" sample.

How a sample is stored is irrelevant to how the sampler treats the sample. 
Generally, if a sample is stored interleaved (meaning 
sampleoneL-sampleoneR-sampletwoL-sampletwoR), it tells the sampler to load 
it in that way into memory, and it's engine will play the two pieces of 
data in a phase-locked fashion. Additionally, in the EXS, you can use one 
Zone to represent two discreet pieces of data.

If "Create interleaved stereo files whenever possible" is checked, I assume 
that the EXS attempts to combine dual mono files in the Akai (which are 
usually named -L and -R with the same 10char name) and interleave them and 
give them the same attributes. I don't have time to experiment, but I don't 
know the extent of this.

For example, on many occasions the Akai has a two samples, let's say, 
called BRASS     -L and BRASS     -R. The right side has different loop 
points than the left side. This will work against you if you interleave 
these samples, because you can have only one set of loop points. One side 
will not have the right loop points.

I don't know if the Akai will never combine these, or whether it always 
combines them if the above is checked.

Regarding switching sides of a tom sample, you can either (all involving a 
sample editor, which is mandatory, basic, necessary, and advisable to 
anyone halfway serious with working with music in a computer):

-Split the sample into two mono samples, then add a Zone in EXS and 
reference both samples. Pan each how you want
-Switch the two sides in the sample editor. Most do this, either the long 
way or short automated way. Save as a new stereo sample, then rereference 
the sample in EXS, or overwrite the original sample if you always want it 
that way.

BTW, I assume you want to switch the sides because it's a stereo sample as 
recorded in standpoint of the kit itself; that is, one side is louder and 
more present that the other. Consider just panning the stereo sample in the 
Zone to the other side.

Sample Editors worth using:

Mac: Peak, Alchmey, SoundApp, SoundHack, Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat
PC: SoundForge, CoolEdit2000, CoolEdit (the shareware one), WaveLab, Office 
XP, NotePad, and Norton Utilies (especially the Anti-Virus part - I 
crossfade using this all the time)


Garth Hjelte
Sampler User