EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

Colin Shapiro wrote:
> You could always buy CDXtract. It supports EXS24 and Kontakt support
> is forthcoming I think....

Yeah well, from what I know CDXtract doesn't support .exs as an input
format.

Anyways, while HALion supporting .exs *might* be a good solution for the
future, I am more than ever pretty much sure that I won't switch too early.
From what it seems SX still has some major handling flaws, major bugs and
what not. So, if you care about ergonomics, LAW 5.x IMO is the best
sequencer you can get for Windows - and it will defenitely stay like that
for at least another year, maybe even a LOT longer, all depending on how
good the last update will be.
I am not allowed to tell you about any details, that'd be against my NDA,
but 5.2 will be a VERY good update, pleasing a lot of people!
So, here's the maths: Emagic will deliver support for 5.x for quite a while,
let's say for one year (or so), the last version they will release will
certainly be a very good one, keeping you up to date for another year, even
without further updates (unless you need some specific SX features right
now, but then one should switch anyways, regardless of the Apple deal).
This in the end will give you around two years of time to decide whether you
want to switch to another program or buy a Mac. And even Mac prices should
lower quite a bit in that time - my assumption would be that with all the
new blazing fast Opteron CPUs to be expected next year or so, Apple will
have to do something to keep users from migrating. Only aquiring a company
such as Emagic certainly isn't a strong enough thing.
For now, as a PC user, I'd get a fast machine (that's what I will do at
least). With all those new CPU optimizations Logic delivers kickass
performance. I don't give a damn about offline bouncing if I can just run
all my mixes natively - and my next CPU update will most likely allow me to
do so.
I have been like a/b-ing SX and Logic in the shop, and while SX has some
truly stunning features, ergonomically it just sucks, a plain nightmare
(yes, really!), you seem to run out of monitor space all the time,
everything is stuffed with menus and buttons, you can't link editors (or any
window for that matter) and part handling is clumsy to say the least. When I
switched to Logic after fooling around with it for quite some hours, Logic
just felt SOO much home... and hey, I am an old Cubase user, so I defenitely
knew where and how to look for things in SX. Still didn't make it any
better.

And hey, regarding EXS vs. HALion - you don't want to switch, believe me,
you just don't want! I own HALion for quite some time now, and I NEVER use
it. Even if its filters are pretty much more versatile, their basic sound is
not halfway as good as the EXS filter. And, apart from the zone editor,
HALion's GUI is like a dilemma - just as SX's... Steinberg should really
think about hiring some better UI designers...
If at all, the only thing to replace the EXS for me would be Kontakt, which
indeed is amazing.
For now I can get a lot of things done with the EXS though. It's easy to
use, nice on your CPU (Kontakt isn't exactly) and a stable and trustworthy
workhorse. And while it could need an update, I am still very fast on doing
my own patches and all.

Just to calm you folks down a bit.

Cheers,
Sascha