EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

Thoughts from the mind of uswitalski@..., 20-12-2002:

>sorry if this was discussed before,
>
>could someone enlighten me on how
>"select sample"
>  as modulation destination works?

Using 'select sample' with 'velocity' gives you the good old velocity 
layering.  Using e.g. modwheel instead of velocity enables you to 
"scroll" through the layers with the modwheel instead.  If 
additionally you also turn up some xfading, you can get rather cool 
"morphs" from one layer to the ,next by playing with the modwheel.

>also in the instrument editor in the group panels there i find "select by"
>and i may choose "goup" now what does that do?

That's a vague one.  I posted a description of what it does some 
weeks back, shortly after the mkII was out.  See below.

>also, i could not find any real documentation (obviously or i wouldnt have
>ot aks here) to the mk2 feature set...

The only docs is the (rather, uhm, short) mkII-readme that comes with 
LA 5.5.  You have that, don't you?

About the "select by groups", here is what I wrote a few weeks back:
(in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/exs-users/message/6780)

--------
I hadn't even noticed, but indeed, in the Instrument Editor, if you 
pick a "Select by" option in a Group, a second "Select by" is added 
in which you can pick another selection criterion. This is all quite 
esoteric stuff, I must say, and afaik hasn't been documented at all. 
I just played around with it a couple of minutes, and think I got it 
figured out -- the theory at least.

First of all, all Select criteria must be satisfied *simultaneously* 
before a Group actually sounds. I.e. if you pick C1 as the Note to 
select Group1, and additionally set the 2nd "Select" to "Controller 
1, values 0-63", then Group 1 will only play after you've hit C1 
_and_ CC1 has a value between 0 and 63.

So suppose you have 3 groups: group1 and group2 are both assigned to 
Select by Note C1, and group3 is set to Select by Note C#1. You also 
set group1 to Select by CC1, 0-63 and group2 to CC1, 64-127.
Now hit C#1: group3 plays, plain and simple. Hit C1: group1 or 2 
plays, depending on the current CC1 value.
So you could use this to have two Notes select between e.g violin and 
trumpet, and then use the modwheel to select between either violin 
staccato/legato or trumpet staccato/legato. I'm not sure though why 
you would do it this way: you might as well assign the 4 groups to 4 
different keys, and use that to select between violin-s/l and 
trumpet-s/l. As I said: this is the (or: my) theory. Any ideas for 
real-world applications are welcome.

As for the Select by Group#, this is the most puzzling of all imo.

Again suppose there are 3 groups, G1, G2 and G3. Set G1 to Select by 
Group:start, set G2 to Select by Group:G1, and G3 to Select by 
Group:G2.
Now play staccato (i.e. unconnected) notes: you'll hear the notes 
being played by G1, G2, G3, G1, G2... respectively. I.e. if G1 has 
played, then the next note will be played by G2, since G2 is set to 
Select by G1.

However (this is where it gets puzzling): play a note, and keep the 
key down. Suppose you happen to hear G1 playing. Now play additional 
keys: they'll all play G1. I.e. as long as you play legato 
(overlapping notes) the next group will _not_ be triggered -- all 
notes will be played by the same group. Only as soon as you release 
all keys, and then hit a new key, will G2 sound.

Furthermore: one of the Groups must be set to "Select by Group:start" 
for this feature to work. This is probably the way to "get the EXS on 
its way". I.e. the EXS must know which group to start with. You can't 
have 2 groups set up like "G1 selects G2, and G2 selects G1" - you'll 
simply hear nothing.
Also the groups should be picked out uniquely. You can't have G1 set 
to 'start' and then have both G2 and G3 selected by G1: only one of 
the groups (G2 or G3) will actually sound.

Still there? Fine :-). I'm not sure how you would ever use this 
"Select by Group#". One application (although not too sensible imo) 
would be to have e.g. 6 kick-drums assigned to the same key, each in 
its own group, and then have group2 be selected by group1, group3 by 
group2, etc, so that each new kick-hit (which usually is unattached 
from the previous hit) triggers the next kickdrum. This way 
successive notes would cycle through all 6 kicks...

Rather pointless imo. What you _would_ want (maybe) is 6 layered 
kicks, and each note picks out a _random_ kick-sound -- to give a 
kind of natural variation. But _that_ can be achieved in the EXS 
itself (not in the Instrument Editor I mean). Set the 'Select Range' 
in the Instrument editor to adjacent ranges. With 3 groups (kicks) 
that would be e.g. 0-42, 43-84, 85-127. In the EXS set the modulation 
matrix to "dest: sample select, source: LFO1", and set LFO1 to a 
random wave (2nd from below). Set an appropriate speed for LFO1, and 
off you go.

If anyone can think of some sort of sensible way to use the "Select 
by Group" stuff, I would be very curious to know.

----------

Sascha then wrote:

 From what I know, one purpose of this feature would be to allow for 
very realistic string sounds. You could then have all your "bow 
downs" on one
group and the "bow ups" on another.
Might also make sense for more variations in hihat patterns or
even guitars.
And there might be tons of other possibilities...

-----------

And Dave Marsed wrote:

I can think of a couple of uses for the Select By Group function. 
Some of the really good real drum libraries have left and right hand 
samples for each drum. Each could be assigned to it's own group and 
via Select By Group they could alternate automatically on a fast 16th 
note fill for example.

More usefully, some of the Giga libraries have multiple variations of 
stacatto samples, for example up and down bow strokes in Garritan 
Orchestral Strings as Sascha mentioned. The SAM Horns library has 
four variations of Staccato sample for each note. Auto alternating 
via Select by Group of the above would be great for the above.

I'm assuming the Select By Note function is similar to Gigastudio's 
Keyswitching function where different articulations of an instrument 
play depending on which of the assigned Keyswitches have been 
triggered.

You could for example have a violin patch where hitting C1 meant you 
got a legato articulation, D1, detache, E1 stacatto etc. Then if the 
stacatto samples also had a "Select By Group" condition set up you'd 
get the auto alternation to get rid of the machine gun effect. This 
is good stuff that even Gigastudio can't do on it's own if my 
assumptions are correct.

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-- 
Hendrik Jan Veenstra  <h@...>

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