EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

On that same page where Steinberg is offering LAW/PC users a deal to 
go over to SX, at the bootom of the page they announced also that the 
new upgrade of Halion will read EXS24 files at the end of this 
month..:o))

Maybe NI will do that with Kontakt.   :o))

kind regards,
/df

David Floyd wrote:
>On that same page where Steinberg is offering LAW/PC users a deal to 
>go over to SX, at the bootom of the page they announced also that the 
>new upgrade of Halion will read EXS24 files at the end of this 
>month..:o))
>
>Maybe NI will do that with Kontakt.   :o))

That would be a great solution for me -- a Sampler with a future ;-)
I hope NI comes to the party.

Regards,
M

>  >On that same page where Steinberg is offering LAW/PC users a deal to
>>go over to SX, at the bootom of the page they announced also that the
>>new upgrade of Halion will read EXS24 files at the end of this
>>month..:o))
>>
>>Maybe NI will do that with Kontakt.   :o))
>
>That would be a great solution for me -- a Sampler with a future ;-)
>I hope NI comes to the party.

You could always buy CDXtract. It supports EXS24 and Kontakt support 
is forthcoming I think....

Regards - Colin

At 01:21 PM 8/07/02 +0200, you wrote:
>>  >On that same page where Steinberg is offering LAW/PC users a deal to
>>>go over to SX, at the bootom of the page they announced also that the
>>>new upgrade of Halion will read EXS24 files at the end of this
>>>month..:o))
>>>
>>>Maybe NI will do that with Kontakt.   :o))
>>
>>That would be a great solution for me -- a Sampler with a future ;-)
>>I hope NI comes to the party.
>
>You could always buy CDXtract. It supports EXS24 and Kontakt support 
>is forthcoming I think....

Yes -- that would be plan BI guess. But how would it work -- CDXtract can
convert EXS to GIGA and SF2 but both of these include the audio files --
not just the definition -- correct? You quickly double your sample storage
needs/backup requirements. I would prefer a simple instrument definition
file in the manner of EXS.

Regards,
Murray

Colin Shapiro wrote:
> You could always buy CDXtract. It supports EXS24 and Kontakt support
> is forthcoming I think....

Yeah well, from what I know CDXtract doesn't support .exs as an input
format.

Anyways, while HALion supporting .exs *might* be a good solution for the
future, I am more than ever pretty much sure that I won't switch too early.
From what it seems SX still has some major handling flaws, major bugs and
what not. So, if you care about ergonomics, LAW 5.x IMO is the best
sequencer you can get for Windows - and it will defenitely stay like that
for at least another year, maybe even a LOT longer, all depending on how
good the last update will be.
I am not allowed to tell you about any details, that'd be against my NDA,
but 5.2 will be a VERY good update, pleasing a lot of people!
So, here's the maths: Emagic will deliver support for 5.x for quite a while,
let's say for one year (or so), the last version they will release will
certainly be a very good one, keeping you up to date for another year, even
without further updates (unless you need some specific SX features right
now, but then one should switch anyways, regardless of the Apple deal).
This in the end will give you around two years of time to decide whether you
want to switch to another program or buy a Mac. And even Mac prices should
lower quite a bit in that time - my assumption would be that with all the
new blazing fast Opteron CPUs to be expected next year or so, Apple will
have to do something to keep users from migrating. Only aquiring a company
such as Emagic certainly isn't a strong enough thing.
For now, as a PC user, I'd get a fast machine (that's what I will do at
least). With all those new CPU optimizations Logic delivers kickass
performance. I don't give a damn about offline bouncing if I can just run
all my mixes natively - and my next CPU update will most likely allow me to
do so.
I have been like a/b-ing SX and Logic in the shop, and while SX has some
truly stunning features, ergonomically it just sucks, a plain nightmare
(yes, really!), you seem to run out of monitor space all the time,
everything is stuffed with menus and buttons, you can't link editors (or any
window for that matter) and part handling is clumsy to say the least. When I
switched to Logic after fooling around with it for quite some hours, Logic
just felt SOO much home... and hey, I am an old Cubase user, so I defenitely
knew where and how to look for things in SX. Still didn't make it any
better.

And hey, regarding EXS vs. HALion - you don't want to switch, believe me,
you just don't want! I own HALion for quite some time now, and I NEVER use
it. Even if its filters are pretty much more versatile, their basic sound is
not halfway as good as the EXS filter. And, apart from the zone editor,
HALion's GUI is like a dilemma - just as SX's... Steinberg should really
think about hiring some better UI designers...
If at all, the only thing to replace the EXS for me would be Kontakt, which
indeed is amazing.
For now I can get a lot of things done with the EXS though. It's easy to
use, nice on your CPU (Kontakt isn't exactly) and a stable and trustworthy
workhorse. And while it could need an update, I am still very fast on doing
my own patches and all.

Just to calm you folks down a bit.

Cheers,
Sascha

Sascha Franck wrote:
>Colin Shapiro wrote:
>> You could always buy CDXtract. It supports EXS24 and Kontakt support
>> is forthcoming I think....
>
>Yeah well, from what I know CDXtract doesn't support .exs as an input
>format.
>
>Anyways, while HALion supporting .exs *might* be a good solution for the
>future, I am more than ever pretty much sure that I won't switch too early.
>>From what it seems SX still has some major handling flaws, major bugs and
>what not. So, if you care about ergonomics, LAW 5.x IMO is the best
>sequencer you can get for Windows - and it will defenitely stay like that
>for at least another year, maybe even a LOT longer, all depending on how
>good the last update will be.

Yes -- what an irony it is. I started on Notator (briefly) and then did the
upgrade to Logic 2.0 (midi only). When Logic Audio PC 2.5 was released this
time six years ago I bought it in the first week. And what a load of crap
the audio - to - midi synch was in those days.  I persisted with the
program through 3.x mainly for midi -- still using tape for audio mainly. 

Since Logic 4 and the arrival of decent low latency 24 bit audio
interfaces,  Logic has been great. I have found it an inspiration to work
with and the program has become so much more than we could have anticipated
 --  Audio Instruments, the full set of native and 3rd party plugins on tap
etc. 

If Logic 5.2 is all that is claimed then Logic as a cross platform system
has exceeded its promise. Amazing that having reached such a level it
should just be junked on the 97% platform. So much work has gone into
making it such a terrific system for music creation. I wonder how the
people who did the work and all the testing feel about this right now.

[SNIP]

>I have been like a/b-ing SX and Logic in the shop, and while SX has some
>truly stunning features, ergonomically it just sucks, a plain nightmare
>(yes, really!), you seem to run out of monitor space all the time,
>everything is stuffed with menus and buttons, you can't link editors (or any
>window for that matter) and part handling is clumsy to say the least. When I
>switched to Logic after fooling around with it for quite some hours, Logic
>just felt SOO much home... and hey, I am an old Cubase user, so I defenitely
>knew where and how to look for things in SX. Still didn't make it any
>better.

I haven't used Cubase since Atari days but I will take the chance to look
it over myself tomorrow.

>If at all, the only thing to replace the EXS for me would be Kontakt, which
>indeed is amazing.

Can you build your own instruments efficiently on it?

>For now I can get a lot of things done with the EXS though. It's easy to
>use, nice on your CPU (Kontakt isn't exactly) and a stable and trustworthy
>workhorse. And while it could need an update, I am still very fast on doing
>my own patches and all.

Yes it is has been my main workhorse -- despite a few annoying shortcomings 
of the Instrument editor it has been so useful, so reliable. 

>Just to calm you folks down a bit.

Yes ;-)  I think more than a few of us could use a cup of tea and a good
lie down after the last week.

Regards,
Murray

--- In exs-users@y..., "Sascha Franck" <saschafranck@s...> wrote:
> Colin Shapiro wrote:
> > You could always buy CDXtract. It supports EXS24 and Kontakt 
support
> > is forthcoming I think....
> Sacha wrote:
> Yeah well, from what I know CDXtract doesn't support .exs as an 
input
> format.

Correction...
EXS is now one of their source formats, wich means that it can be 
converted to all their destination formats, includíng halion.
And more soft formats is due to follow ASAP, as you mentioned. It´s 
what I´ve been told from cdxtract support. 

Best regards
Mikael Adle
http://www.mp3.com/MikaelAdle

>Colin Shapiro wrote:
>>  You could always buy CDXtract. It supports EXS24 and Kontakt support
>>  is forthcoming I think....
>
>Yeah well, from what I know CDXtract doesn't support .exs as an input
>format.

Yes - it already does. And it converts to Halion, Reaktor, Soundfont and more.

Regards - Colin