EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

>Hi All,
>I am fairly new to all this and you are all way over my head. I have 
>taken Electronic Music classes for about three years now. The 
>equipment they have used in class has varied and been continually 
>updated, so I'm told. (I liked the first program they used, Unisyn.) 
>My instructor persuaded me to become more independent and get my own 
>set up. So, now about $3000 later, I have an Apple 10 and EMagic's 
>Logic 5 and EXS24.
>After all this, I only have, what I like to call, a "motley pick up 
>band" of about 14 or so patches, that came with the EXS24 
>installation kit. EMagic sent me a disc of "Factory Sounds", but 
>most of them were duplicates of the motley band; I only gained about 
>three patches.
>
>I am very despondent over all this. I want to write for big band or 
>full orchestra, and it appears that I will have to morgage the house 
>to do so.
>I addition, I am eclectic, so I like to decorate my compositions 
>with instruments that don't really belong with the others in the 
>assembly.
>
>The other students in the class are using the equipment provided by 
>the school: Apple computers, Logic 5, Korg synth (forget it's model 
>number), and a Roland sampler. Each of these sound modules have, I 
>think, about 128 sounds. Thus, in class, when we all play our 
>compositions for each other, they all sound exotic and wonderful, 
>with their "Crystal" and "Fantasia"---and here I am with that motley 
>bunch. I did manage, last semester, to do a wonderful composition, 
>but I wrote it, first, at home on my PC on Sibelius, my notation 
>program. I recorded this composition onto the EMagic set up and did 
>my best to select some appropriate instruments. But, alas, I need a 
>sitar, a tubular bell, trumpets that don't go poof before they make 
>a sound, and a bowed bass. It appears that I will have to sell my 
>house to make this wonderful composition sound right.
>
>So, you all appear to be very happy out there, and I assume that you 
>still are eating and have roofs over your heads. Not all of you, I 
>would assume, are working for movie magnates, so----please----what 
>do I do?
>
>Sara Steele in New Jersey
>

Hi Sara. I'm sorry to hear that your experience with the EXS has been 
kind of negative so far, but, trust me, you have some incredible 
tools at your disposal for making music. Having used hardware 
samplers for years, and hating them, EXS 24 has been a godsend as far 
as I am concerned.

What you need are more samples, obviously. I too am pretty cheap, and 
not supported by any magnates, movie or otherwise. So for the last 
few months I've been searching for as many useable free/cheap samples 
for the EXS. First place to look is in the footer of each message on 
this list:

>To unsubscribe from this group, send a blank email to:
>    exs-users-unsubscribe@egroups.com
>For a list of places to get free samples please see:
>    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/exs-users/links/
>

Follow the links, and download what you find. It'll take some time if 
you have a slow connection, and then it'll take time to audition the 
samples to see if they are anything you'll use, but it's worth it. I 
recommend you start with:

http://www.cone.nl/test/exs.htm
this has links to the AKAI sample archives, as well as the exs 
instruments to use them in Logic/EXS. The AKAI sample site is very 
slow, and sometimes not online, but the samples are worth it.

There are also sites that allow you to buy individual sample sets 
online. I've used http://www.wizzoo.com and http://sonomic.com, and 
gotten some very nice samples. Wizzoo has a wonderful double bass, 
and I just today bought a set of Cello ensembles and solo samples 
from sonomic that are very nice.

EXS also reads soundfonts, and there are a lot of free soundfonts 
online. http://www.hammersound.net has a pretty large archive, though 
some are compressed in formats I haven't figured out how to 
uncompress. Also, http://www.soundfont.com has soundfonts made from 
many of EMU's synthesizers, these aren't free, but they are cheap and 
very high quality.

Good luck! I hate to see you disappointed with such a great tool as Logic/EXS!