EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

NEW ZONE PARAMETERS:

xmix map: 	[off/A/B/ ...]
xmix source: 	[mid/vel/wheel/ctrl/rand1-x ... /cycle1-x ... ]
xmix sens: 

pitch source 	[mid/vel/wheel/ctrl/rand1-x... /cycle1-x...]
pitch sens:



///USAGE:///
Basically, direct control of a zone's level and/or pitch, with 
controlling values routed via factory-preset value mappers.



==MAP==
Assigning a zone to use preset range "A" or "B", allows an increase 
in controlling value to bring the zone's level up ("A" zone) or down 
("B" zone). Switch to "off" and you have default behaviour (no 
change). 


=SOURCE=
[velocity]
Layering two zones and setting one to "A" and one to "B", with source 
set to "velocity" then gives velocity crossfading.

[wheel/ctrlX, ...]
Setting source to a different controller source allows manual real-
time control. 

Note that each zone is still totally independent, in this scheme a 
zone being crossfaded doesn't need to "know" who its partner(s) are 
(or even if they exist), it's just responding to control values 
routed via a preset lookup table. Setting different combinations of 
zones to different controller numbers lets you adjust levels (or 
other things) real-time via a faderbank, or from environment faders, 
so you can adjust relative zone levels or mixes inside your patch as 
part of the song.

[randomX]
Setting the source to one of the "random" sources generates a new mix 
value randomly for each keypress, so if you have layered and xmixed 
string samples or hihat samples, each note played could have a 
slightly different (or very different!) mix balance. Very useful for 
making a repetitive hihat track come alive (some drum machines have 
a "human feel" function that does this).
Set zones to use the same random[X] source if you want them to be 
controlled by the same random values (eg random mix A/B), set to 
different random[X] sources if you don't. 

[cycleX]
"Cycled value" sources run through one of a preset chain of valued 
when triggered, so "cycle1" might just alternate between minimum 
and maximum, cycle2 might step between three values, and so on.  

=SENS=
"Sensitivity" would adjust how strongly the mapped source affects the 
mix, so for two zones being crossfaded, low depth values mean that 
you get almost a 50:50 mix over the full range with only slight 
variation via controller, the default central value allows continuous 
control from "full on" to "full off" over the controller range, and 
higher values produce "shelving" with a smaller central transition 
range.



=PITCH SOURCE AND SENSITIVITY=
Having zone pitch source and depth parameters would allow similar fun 
things - you could have the pitch of a sound's percussive component 
altering with velocity while the tonal part had constant pitch (quick 
cheaty resynthesis), or you could have a subtle random variation in 
pitch on each keystrike (humanising a boring string patch or making a 
hihat line more interesting without affecting the other drum 
instruments), or a more dramatic variation for arpeggiator-style 
cycling pitches, or special effects (eg random-pitch noise shots as 
part of a drumkit). Imagine a layered hihat where each strike 
simultaneously used a different mix of hihat samples (>Random1) and 
an independent random variation in pitch (Random2), and allowed a 
third  "strike" sound component whose level was independently 
adjustable by controller number and have /it's/ pitch cycling around 
a pseudo-random loop (random3) or alternating between a pair (or 
sequence) of pre-set values (Cycle1, 2, 3...) 
Fun!


//ADVANCED APPLICATIONS//

If we wanted to get carried away, there could be a range of other 
preset "zone mix" or "zone window" options that could be called up to 
facilitate fading or switching between more than two layered zones. 
So assigning a zone to use map "3f-A", "3f-B" or "3f-C" might call up 
a response map that corresponds to the start, middle or end of a 
three-zone fade, or using "3sw-A", "3sw-B" or "3sw-C" might allow the 
zone to sound at full level, but only over a window representing a 
(preset) third of the range.


Taken together, these extra parameters would mean that you could then 
do things like taking a guitar patch and fading a feedback tone in 
and out with the modwheel, and using another controller to bend the 
pitch of the feedback while the note stayed constant, or have pseudo-
arpeggiator effects operating on part of the sound, and alternating 
background fret noises on every other note, or every third note 
(and/or have the background "fretnoise" sample changing pitch or 
level at random, or cycling around a loop).  

Or you could have the ultimate sampled TR808 kit, where the user can 
call up a range of samples on different keys by controller number 
(one fader switches between different kick samples, another calls up 
different snares, etc) or have a range of snare samples that can be 
continuously mixed between, and the varying mix played into a song, 
or have the mix between three or four similar 808 snare samples 
changing on every note, to provide a nice natural-sounding variation.



I think all this ought to be fairly easy to implement, it's not 
adding any complicated extra layers ot the EXS structure, just a few 
extra parameters to the zone edit bit, and adding a few preset 128-
byte lookup tables, and implementing the random/cycle presets.

Oh, and some sort of patch "notepad" would be handy, so that the 
person writing the patch could tell the user exactly what's been 
programmed into the patch for controllers, human feel, expression, 
etc. 

=Erk=