EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

g4 tower, 450 mhz sawtooth, 896 mb RAM
digi-001 (via direct i/o)

using logic 5.3 with pluggo, evp73 and es1


is the exs24 a doable thing?  i'm trying to convince myself not to buy an
akai z8 at a pretty good price =)


thanks.


-- 
yours,
niall.
.. .  .   .    .     .       .           .             .                 .
aleph null.                             a simple insinuation around silence.
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At 16:22 Uhr -0400 08.05.2003, niall munnelly wrote:
>is the exs24 a doable thing?  i'm trying to convince myself not to buy an
>akai z8 at a pretty good price =)

I think the things to consider are:

1. Usability: The Akai is good and sounds good, but what about 
editing samples, mapping (even though this is not the strongest on 
the EXS, it still beats the little display, or does the Z8 come with 
the software control?)

2. Timing: the timing of internal instruments  seems to be a lot 
better as you go around the MIDI thingy (*shudder*)

3. Accessability: You have your whole library at your fingertips, all the time.

The downside: With the machine you described you may not be able to 
use as many samplers as you would like (even though I think you can 
use more than you could do with the Akai), but you can always bounce 
to audio and free up CPU power.

If you want to have the spefific sound of the Akai there is no way 
around getting it!

I for one am selling my ESI 2000 as it's a pain to use... even though 
it's not that complex but the little display is just... ah well... 
rambling.

Cheers
Hans

At 10:50 PM 5/8/2003 +0200, you wrote:
>At 16:22 Uhr -0400 08.05.2003, niall munnelly wrote:
> >is the exs24 a doable thing?  i'm trying to convince myself not to buy an
> >akai z8 at a pretty good price =)
>
>I think the things to consider are:
>
>1. Usability: The Akai is good and sounds good, but what about
>editing samples, mapping (even though this is not the strongest on
>the EXS, it still beats the little display, or does the Z8 come with
>the software control?)

The sampler comes with a mac based editor which can use your choice of 
audio editor (such as peak, etc).


>2. Timing: the timing of internal instruments  seems to be a lot
>better as you go around the MIDI thingy (*shudder*)

I am sure the timing is better in Logic, but people have been making music 
with MIDI long before EXS with no problems.


>3. Accessability: You have your whole library at your fingertips, all the 
>time.

You can keep your entire Akai library on your computer with the Akai and 
access it from there at will.


>The downside: With the machine you described you may not be able to
>use as many samplers as you would like (even though I think you can
>use more than you could do with the Akai), but you can always bounce
>to audio and free up CPU power.

The biggest benefit to me is launching a song and all the samples and 
everything. With the Akai you have to load the sounds seperately.

Colin Miller

On a fine day, 08-05-2003, niall munnelly wrote:

>g4 tower, 450 mhz sawtooth, 896 mb RAM
>digi-001 (via direct i/o)
>
>using logic 5.3 with pluggo, evp73 and es1
>
>
>is the exs24 a doable thing?  i'm trying to convince myself not to buy an
>akai z8 at a pretty good price =)

Yes, doable.  I have a G4/350 with a Digi 001 and run 8 EXS's at times...

-- 
Hendrik Jan Veenstra  <h@...>
Omega Art: http://www.omega-art.com/

niall munnelly wrote:

> g4 tower, 450 mhz sawtooth, 896 mb RAM
> digi-001 (via direct i/o)
>
> using logic 5.3 with pluggo, evp73 and es1
>
> is the exs24 a doable thing?  i'm trying to convince myself not to buy an
> akai z8 at a pretty good price =)

Yes it is doable. I have a G4 500, 1 gig ram, Digi 001. A very similar setup. Obviously the horsepower for running lots of EXS voices is somewhat limited, relatively speaking, compared to newere machines. But with Logic 6, you can freeze tracks and regain more EXS functionality; all depending of course on how you use the EXS and your working style.

The one thing to be aware of is, notwithstanding third party software, I find that converting AKAI CD libraries via the internal EXS conversion routine, always compromises the original programming of the AKAI disks somewhat.

Even relatively simple conversions (like Advanced Orhcestra) yield clicks at the end of the samples sometimes, inelegant instrument mapping/grouping/sorting, etc. It's all easily fixable, but a drag when you are paying money for propietary sample CDs specifically to have this done for you. And forget about sophisticated filtering, ASDR envelopes, etc getting translated properly. OTOH, there is third party software that does a much better job at this.

All IMHO of course.


--
Eli Krantzberg
Nightshift Orchestra / Almat Productions
http://www.nightshiftorchestra.com