EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

Martin, Jeremy wrote:
> Hey everyone. I'm finally about ready to purchase EXS24 and was just
> thinking about which converting software I should get.

Before you start buying any software, you should check out if the EXS's
internal convertion eventually does its job for you. It will read and
convert both AKAI/CD and SF2/Disk formats and I found it to be pretty much
sufficient for my needs. I only have a few AKAI CDs and using the EXS for
them was OK. I had to do some manual corrections but that was about it (and
it seems to be the same with *any* existing converting software so far).
There's a bunch of drawbacks when dealing with the internal conversion (it's
slow, previewing files is even slower, converting individual patches
sometimes doesn't work as good), but if you don't have too much CDs to
convert, try it before you buy anything else.

This is not meant to diss either CDxtract or Translator, these certainly do
a better job in case you need flexibility and broader file format support,
but as said above, for a "few" discs the EXS may be sufficient.

Re: AKAI vs. Audio CD:
Go AKAI whenever you can. As you said yourself, these usually contain a much
wider array of information. Looppoints being all set, patches too,
audioloops being cut properly straight after importing, etc.

Regards,
Sascha

Hi Jeremy,

> 1) When only AKAI or Audio formats are available for a given sample CD,
> getting the AKAI CD would probably be better, right? It's my current
> understanding that AKAI cds can hold data about loop points etc while a
> regular audio cd can't store any of this data, it would just have the raw

> sounds and no 'programming'? 

IMHO, *always* go with the Akai format CD.  Even though they are more expensive
than the audio counterpart, many times, the audio only contains loops and not
the hits.  Also, you need to trim and keymap the samples yourself when using
an audio CD.  When you factor in all of the extra work that you must do, the
Akai format is usually a bargain.

> 2) Right now I'm leaning towards CDXtract since it's about half the price
of
> Translator, and because I don't need any other obscure sample formats
> converted (e.g. Ensoniq EPS/ASR etc)... Just AKAI->EXS and maybe SF2->EXS

> (since I've heard a lot of times you can get SF2 sample cds at a fraction
of
> the cost of AKAI/Audio sample cds, at least thats what a Sound On Sound
> article said). 

Search for some of my posts on this from a few weeks ago.  I really recommend
that you perhaps check out both CDXtract and Translator.  They both have demos
that are freely available online.  When I tried out both, I found that Translator
did a better job on conversion.  CDXtract was good and I like the interface.
 However, I found that there were many samples that contained clicks in the
loops when converting using CDXtract.  I also found this with the exs-24 built-in
converter too.  I have yet to find a badly converted loop in Translator.  I've
converted about 10 Akai CD's so far and they came over really well with minimal
tweaking.  CDXtract does, however, convert the programs and loops fairly well.
 Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make it out like it is a bad product.
 This conversion stuff is very difficult and extremely tedious.  I don't envy
either of those companies' jobs.

> I was wondering if you all can let me know if there'd be any big difference

> between Translator and CDXtract for these relatively simple conversions?
No
> special Roland filters to emulate, etc... Just regular AKAI -> EXS
> conversions. I know I've heard Bernard say anytime a user has a problem with

> a particular CD he'll update CDXtract, and I assume Garth has the same
> policy... Basically I'm just wondering if there's any reason to spend nearly

> twice as much on Translator given my (relatively simple) needs. 

If all you ever need is simple conversions (percussion and drum conversion
are pretty simple) you will probably be happy with CDXtract if cost is an issue.
 I have some orchestral CD's as well as some synth and guitar CD's where I
need the loop points and programming to be brought across.  For me, I needed
the extra accuracy that Translator provides. 

I really recommend that you try both with some of your CD's and decide for
yourself.

Good luck,
fernstudio
=================================================================
Internet service provided by telus.net  http://www.telus.net/

Thanks everyone for all the useful information - I really appreciate it! All
of your posts made making my final decision much easier.

Thanks again,
Jeremy