2001-12-07 by Rubber Chicken Software Co.
At 10:07 PM 12/7/01 +0800, you wrote:
>I think there is something wrong with my
>paradym about using sample libraries.
>Take one like Advanced Orchestra where
>there are gads of different attacks and
>articulations for each instrument. It seems
>like the pieces are there to build a plausibly
>realistic sounding line...but it also seems
>like since they are all in different patches
>that it would require many different midi
>channels to achieve this..a trill on one
>channel, a half step slur on another,
>section slides on another and of course
>that one octave run...it could go on like this
>until you didn't have any midi channels
>left...what are you guys doing?
It's also difficult to use the Akai simply because of the 12-character
naming. It inhibits me, at least.
Eric answered this very well - I agree.
>I recently bought the Quantum Leap Rare
>instruments library for Akai...it was originally
>programed for Gigasampler using a lot of
>key-switching and as a result was very
>"user friendly" So... the low Irish Whistle
>was a single 95 meg patch in
>gigasampler...In the akai version it's about
>30 different programs ...I understand the
>reasoning behind this programming...but
>my destination is the EXS and fat programs
>aren't a problem if you have the ram. Is
>key=switching something peculiar to
>Gigasampler...or is that something that I
>could recreate in the EXS....Or... please
>send me to someplace where these
>questions are more appropriate. Thanks
Really, all key-switching is, is the ability to "turn off" a sample with
some type of controller. Mod Wheel, MIDI note (note on or note off),
velocity value, pedal, whatever. The term "turn off" could describe
lowering the amplitude to zero, or literally removing the sample reference
from the "program." Then there's the issue of "if the amplitude is zero,
does the playback engine remove the note from voice allocation?" - just to
confuse things...
Most samplers allow some form of "key switching," if you take this broad
approach. Take a mod wheel and bring it up to take out a sample and bring
in another. But the Giga - and especially HALion - take this concept and
address it specifically. The very ability to turn a sample or groups of
samples off and on with a on-off switch (compared to a continuous
controller with 0-127 values) - and the most obvious on and off switch is
the keyboard MIDI notes themselves - is very powerful. Especially with your
topic of temporary articulations.
(I should note at this juncture, for the glee of former and present Ensoniq
owners (Jer?), that the Ensoniq EPS and ASR samplers did this a long time
ago with the patch select buttons. It a shame that the very idea of patch
select buttons as a standard controller feature wasn't picked up and done
by other companies. To me, it's clumsy to think of hitting keys on the
keyboard (which intuitively are supposed to make sound) to change the
settings of a patch. Better to do it with dedicated buttons.)
HALion, with their Mega-Trigg, really expounded the concept of turning
samples, voices, and references on and off with any controller. There's a
wider variety to choose from than Giga, and you have three levels, with
boolean AND/OR decisions. Beautiful implementation. I'm really looking at
EXS and Giga to respond to this.
Garth Hjelte
Sampler User
