EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

Hello everybody!

During recent months I've converted most of my CDs library to EXS-24 through
CDXtract, Translator and EXS itself. I'm pretty satisfied with the result.
However there's one thing I can't stop thinking about: why Sample Library
Producers like Ilio, Spectrasonics, East-West etc. don't sell "converted"
libraries?

What I see is that to convert well a CD you need a lot of tweaking and work.

First there's the problem of merged programs. Sometimes it's OK to convert
with "merge" on, sometimes not; there isn't a rule about this. Eventually
you've to go through many programs to learn what setting you should use.

Then there's the problem of doubled programs, like ones with "more release"
or vibrato, etc. I don't need all this stuff anymore, as usually I prefer to
edit such parameters on the fly, and I don't want to waste a program for
this.

There are even programs which used Akai or E-mu internal effects, which are
useless on EXS.

The main problem is: standard quality of the product. When I don't see any
official converted library, and knowing that the world is going to soft
samplers, I assume that original producers are happy about the conversions
and rely on final result every user may achieve. But these producers spent
originally hundreds of hours tweaking their library to the maximum level,
adjusting them to specific features of a particular sampler. When you
convert to EXS some of this effort is lost. Not all musicians have time to
double check and fix every program. Some are not even able to do this job!
I've seen friends saying: "this CD sucks" only because the conversion was
not OK. Don't get me wrong, I think CDXtract, Translator and EXS already do
already a good job, but when I see the perfectionism of guys like Eric
Persing, I can't accept a standard conversion. In other words, while the
conversion made by those programs IS generally good, the final result must
be adapted to EXS standard, lack of internal effects, etc.,

For example in The Ultimate Piano Collection - Akai by East West you need to
manually merge different programs to create a complete 64MB piano. Those
programs are even in two different Akai partition. Originally you'd need 2
AKAIs to play this 64MB patch, today this is not a problem anymore. But
again you've to merge the programs manually.

Naming is an other issue. I've seen programs like "BSAX SSV (LP)". They
could be renamed to something as  "Bari. Sax Sustain Vibrato Looped", as
today text space is not an issue anymore.

For me the most difficult format to convert is definitely Roland, because it
has such a deep tree structure, in which same patches are used more and
more, often summed with other patches in a Performance. You'll need really
lot of time to check how and if to mix patches in a performance, leaving you
to decide most of the time.

After converting a lot of CDs I'm happy, because I know my library as I
never did!
But still I'm wondering: why the original producers didn't provide me what
THEY know is their original and source standard?

Eric Persing at Spectrasonics has clearly expressed their future commitment:
virtual Instruments. They're not producing anymore CD libraries for specific
samplers. I'm very, very happy about this decision, as I personally don't
use hardware samplers anymore, as majority of musicians. But there are
terrific libraries in CD format that have to be converted, and again I think
that, to guarantee the quality of a CD converted to EXS, the original team
who assembled the CD should convert it to EXS, and sell this to people who
already own the CD license in an other format.
They could even sell programs only, while the end user would extract samples
from their CD, definitely the easiest part. The end user should demonstrate
he or she owns the license of samples, showing the invoice, etc.
Alternatively, there should be some tips or advices on how the original
producer wants you to convert their libraries to maximum result. Or if, say,
you own a Roland formatted CD, there should be a crossgrade path to Akai,
which is easier to convert, or best Giga, the most perfect format for
conversion. After all, I already bought the samples and programs license for
one format, so I could upgrade easily to an other.

What do you think about this?


Emanuele Ruffinengo
Milan (Italy)

I agree.  I would be willing to pay an upgrade fee to get my 
sample libraries in new formats.  

I could not pretend to know every detail I am missing from a 
patch/program and I would prefer paying for the original sound 
designers and programmers to provide upgrades.

Hopefully, they could do this at a fair price, since we've already 
purchased the liscenses to use these samples.

Mark Miller

> 
> Eric Persing at Spectrasonics has clearly expressed their 
future commitment:
> virtual Instruments. They're not producing anymore CD 
libraries for specific
> samplers. I'm very, very happy about this decision, as I 
personally don't
> use hardware samplers anymore, as majority of musicians. 
But there are
> terrific libraries in CD format that have to be converted, and 
again I think
> that, to guarantee the quality of a CD converted to EXS, the 
original team
> who assembled the CD should convert it to EXS, and sell this 
to people who
> already own the CD license in an other format.
> They could even sell programs only, while the end user would 
extract samples
> from their CD, definitely the easiest part. The end user should 
demonstrate
> he or she owns the license of samples, showing the invoice, 
etc.
> Alternatively, there should be some tips or advices on how the 
original
> producer wants you to convert their libraries to maximum 
result. Or if, say,
> you own a Roland formatted CD, there should be a crossgrade 
path to Akai,
> which is easier to convert, or best Giga, the most perfect format 
for
> conversion. After all, I already bought the samples and 
programs license for

> one format, so I could upgrade easily to an other.
> 
> What do you think about this?
> 
> 
> Emanuele Ruffinengo
> Milan (Italy)