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  3. What is the best format choice for VSL

  • What is the best format choice for VSL

    F
    F
    [*-)]: I am new in this forum, and I intend to buy VSL complete Package for our Recording Studio.
    We are actually working on both plateform PC and Mac, using the following softwares
    Cubase SX, Halion 2.0, Kontakt 1.2. (both version are supposed to read Giga programs but with which accuracy ?)

    My questions are:
    As we don't have either Gigastudio nor ESX24 what is the best format to buy in order to get the best of the Library in terms of compatibility of the programs using Halion or Kontakt?
    is the performance set usable with Halion, or Kontakt.
    Does anyone have experience the conversion of format using application such as CDXtract 4.1.2 or any other like Translator is the convertion accurate?

    You are probably going to suggest me to buy Gigastudio in order to get full compatibility but I will not consider this alternative at this point of the discution.

    PLease give me your advise, VSL is a very valuable product but I don't want to make any mistake on the choice for such investment.

    Thanks a lot for your feedback.

    Fred
  • T
    T
    Fred,

    There is no simple answer to this problem.

    I have used CDXT to with varying degrees of success. Akai to just about anything being the most sucessful.

    I think there is still quite away to go before we see perfect translations between samplers - if ever. And quite frankly the costs are so minimal these days that having an arsenal of samplers will not break the bank.

    HALion is as stable as a mountain in Cubase SX with samples designed for it but misbehaves badly with anyone elses samples. The samples will map but not perfectly and many factors get lost in the process.

    I think that Kontakt is far better that HALion but I have not been able to make much headway with 'VSL' or 'Pure' Libraries - ESX(VSL) and GIGA(Pure) with direct translations - but if you map the samples yourself the results are very good. It is time consuming.

    Additionally Kontact is the sampler of choice for the 'possible' main contender to VSL.

    On the face of it I would suggest (and only suggest) that of the two versions of VSL currently available Giga is probably your best bet if you intend sticking to your current set up - but you will still face considerable tweaking - and you would not have a reference to work from.

    Saying that you will not entertain Giga (or even ESX) is a bit limiting to say the least. The ESX 24 SP will work with Cubase SX but I have not tried this with VSL yet.

    At the end of the day it depends how much you want/need this and what you are prepared to do to get it. I admit I am very heavliy biased - (we use Cubase SX - Pro-Tools and Logic) - and I would take Logic anyday of the week - after two weeks learning Logic you would wonder what all the fuss was about. Further more you would have access to the Performance Tools built in to the sampler.

    I guess it really depends on how you look on it - I am from the old school - we are used to acquiring the samples and mapping them ourselves - for me it always has been and always will be the Sample First. This is where VSL have really scored - the samples are excellent - the fact that they have mapped them for Giga and ESX is icing on the cake. The Perfomance tool speeds up the process of programming.

    Just my thoughts.

    Happy composing,

    tattie
  • P
    P
    I feel that Giga is your best choice because you can expand it. With the EXS 24, you're limited to one machine since the EXS does not operate independently.

    I disagree with Tattie. There is a lot of reference for GIga. First, there's the GigaStudio Mastery Tutorial by David Govett who's one of the Forum leaders here on VSL. Talk about an advantage.

    Then, we have our X-treme support for all our VSL customers (http://www.truespec.com/store/samplelibraries/ilio/vsl.shtml). So between these two references and the people on this forum, I feel there's lots of reference for you.

    Also, the Pro Edition, which is being beta tested now, is phenomenal. There's nothing like it with any other library. At 230 GB, this is the set to have. But at 230GB, you also need more than one system to maximize it. With Giga you can do that.

    Cordially,

    Peter Alexander
    peter@alexuniv.com
    www.truespec.com
    310-559-3779
  • L
    L
    With FXTeleport you CAN run EXS on multiple machines. All you need is a standard LAN network. You open EXS on your within your DAW, and it automatically runs on another computer. The audio is streamed over lan, at low latency. You don't even need to put a soundcard in the slave computers.

    www.fxteleport.com
  • T
    T
    Peter,

    By reference - I mean that without the Giga player (or ESX for that matter) you have nothing to reference your re-mapping to.

    Fred does not want to purchase either the Giga or ESX(Logic) he wants to know which is the best version of the library to convert to HALion or Kontakt.

    Also the reference to ESX and one machine is perhaps a little missleading - I have maxed out with 122 intances on a single machine (not with all VSL samples that limit is getting close to 40).

    Agree totally that VSL is the single best source for Orchestral Samples short of the real thing and is set to only improve.

    What is interesting, judging from the recent posts, is that people are remapping and finding ways to use the performance tools in Samplers other than Giga or ESX. More than anything that speaks volumes for the power of this unique library.

    Regards,

    tattie
  • N
    N
    Leon, FX Teleport only works with VST instruments at the moment, so your suggestion hinges on the VSL working with the VST version of EXS. I suspect that it doesn't (but I don't know with 100% certainty).

    Fred, I use EXS and Halion on my main Mac every day. But the complicated orchestral libraries like VSL are way too big to fit on one machine, and you'd have to be mad to consider converting the entire VSL into another format. A few instruments, sure, but it's not a practical solution for the above-average punter. That's why there are two versions of the library.

    So for me the issue was simple: since I'm going to need more than one machine, I'd rather dedicate cheap Windows machines to running sample libaries than keep buying Macs at almost exactly three times the price. And since the PC version of EXS has been knocked on the head, that pretty much limits the choice to three things: Giga, Giga, or Giga.

    However, I haven't yet worked with the EXS version to know how much you can squeeze out of one Mac or how practical it is working with the Freeze command. That could qualify my opinion.