EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

I use CDXtractor 4.1.5 to import akai sample disks. EXS does the giga conversion 
automatically. I have a G5, 1.8mhz, OS 10.3.5

Is there any way when importing/converting sample to exs format that the EXS can assign 
the samples "MEANINGFUL" instrument names that make sense and mean something. 
Cause everytime I import a cd all I get are names that show up in EXS that are hard to 
dicpher abbreviation or just plain ole cyrptograms!!  :)

Why dont sample instrument names show up as  like  "brass slide 1",  Eb tympani, muted 
trumpet, woodwind section 2, ....whatever.. as oppose to meaningless crap like...

STB XLWRV-SS.exs, 63WETSECT CH.exs, ER LOOPSA144.exs...  

this crap means nothing musical to me. Is there any solution for this.

Thanks for any1s help!!!

Maestro
Songwriter-Producer
ASCAP

> From: phillymaestro <phillyMaestro@...>
> Reply-To: exs-users@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Thu, 02 Sep 2004 22:55:06 +0000
> To: exs-users@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [EXS] Odd Sample Names!!!
> 
> I use CDXtractor 4.1.5 to import akai sample disks. EXS does the giga
> conversion 
> automatically. I have a G5, 1.8mhz, OS 10.3.5
> 
> Is there any way when importing/converting sample to exs format that the EXS
> can assign 
> the samples "MEANINGFUL" instrument names that make sense and mean something.
> Cause everytime I import a cd all I get are names that show up in EXS that are
> hard to 
> dicpher abbreviation or just plain ole cyrptograms!!  :)
> 
> Why dont sample instrument names show up as  like  "brass slide 1",  Eb
> tympani, muted 
> trumpet, woodwind section 2, ....whatever.. as oppose to meaningless crap
> like...
> 
> STB XLWRV-SS.exs, 63WETSECT CH.exs, ER LOOPSA144.exs...
> 
> this crap means nothing musical to me. Is there any solution for this.
> 
> Thanks for any1s help!!!
> 
> Maestro
> Songwriter-Producer
> ASCAP

I agree, it's pretty stupid, but remember, the AKAI disk format was a
descendant of the old DOS school of thought with a limited number of alpha
numeric characters allowed in the file name.  You can easily just go to your
sampler instrument folder and rename them anything you like.  Just be sure
to keep the .exs extension at the end of the name.  Tedious, but I think
it's the only way.

James

At 07:32 PM 9/2/04 -0400, you wrote:

> > Is there any way when importing/converting sample to exs format that 
> the EXS
> > can assign the samples "MEANINGFUL" instrument names that make sense 
> and mean something.
> > Why dont sample instrument names show up as  like  "brass slide 1",  Eb
> > tympani, muted trumpet, woodwind section 2, ....whatever.. as oppose to 
> meaningless crap
> > like... STB XLWRV-SS.exs, 63WETSECT CH.exs, ER LOOPSA144.exs...
> > this crap means nothing musical to me. Is there any solution for this.

>the AKAI disk format was a descendant of the old DOS school of thought 
>with a limited number of alpha
>numeric characters allowed in the file name.  You can easily just go to 
>your sampler instrument folder and rename them anything you like.  Just be 
>sure to keep the .exs extension at the end of the name.  Tedious, but I 
>think it's the only way.

James is right. Hardware samplers were manufactured when memory and design 
limitation were significant.

Now, if you are cyncial, you say - "why do modern hardware synths and 
samplers have the SAME name limitations!"

Gosh, I don't know! Maybe it's because the engineers know that the display 
can't handle that many characters. It's sort of a Catch 22 - a reasonable 
display name tops out at 32 characters, really. YOu can tell when you 
program an Emu sampler. That handles 16 characters, and still you wind up 
with having to abbreviate.

At least the Emu deals with lots of characters. The Akai only dealt with 
uppercase letters, numbers, and a few other characters. And only 12 
characters - 10 if you were dealing with stereo.

But - on the constructive end of the argument... that's a great idea I'm 
going to suggest to be put into Translator.

Right now I'm looking at a set of Akai samples that look like this:

CL LGFFD#4-L
CL LGFFD#4-R
CL LBFF A5-L
CL LBFF A5-R
...

Imagine if you had a user-defined palette of substitution name, or even 
something that used regular expressions. In this case the "LG" would be 
replaced with "Long ", "FF" with "ff ", and the "CL" with "Clarinet ".

This would address this persons complaint.

James idea need more explanation, though - you just can't go in and rename 
sample files - then the EXS loses track of them. You'd have to rename the 
sample files and then reattach them. UGGG


Garth Hjelte
Sampler User

I know some developers that do this on purpose so it is hard to figure out which samples are exactly which so that the raw samples can not be reused or reprogrammed. Some devs even go as far as to break samples up into different folders with all these nonsensible names to take that thought one step further.

Not saying this is the reason for the current set of samples you are looking at - but it may be something to keep in mind... Garth, some of the devs might not like your uncoding... ;)

LastLibs doesn't do this - our naming scheme is pretty clear and straight forward.

Alan Lastufka | LastLibs.com

--
----------
A.J.L.
tel: 815-919-0524
site: http://www.alanjoseph.com
--------
--

I don't think this is about sample naming but about patch naming.
Personally, I don't give a damn about sample names (unless I'd like to reuse
them), but I DO give a damn about patch names - and admittedly, especially
some older AKAI disks are using funny patch names, so you allways need to
have the booklet handy to get a clue about wtf is going on with those
patches.

However, I do it like this: Once I found a patch pleasing me, I simply do a
"save instrument as" action and give it a more meaningful name.

- Sascha

> 
> James idea need more explanation, though - you just can't go in and rename
> sample files - then the EXS loses track of them. You'd have to rename the
> sample files and then reattach them. UGGG
> 
> 
> Garth Hjelte
> Sampler User


I was referring (as I believe was the original poster) to instrument names,
not sample names. Of course you don't want to change the sample names.  That
would be a nasty error from which recovery would be quite tedious.  As
someone mentioned today on this forum, who cares what the sample names are.
We rarely come into contact with them on a working day.

James