WingsOfAnAngel
Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 3
Apple's Logic Pro 7 is the only DAW on the market that comes with a built-in sampler as part of the application, EXS24 mkII. Although there are several third-party sampler plugins compatible with Logic Pro 7 and other DAWs, having one integrated into the host program is a major asset.
Software samplers enable you to load recorded instrument samples into memory and play them via a controller keyboard just like synthesizer patches. But there's a huge difference in the sound quality between synthesizer emulations of instruments and actual recorded instrument samples. Most listeners will be able to tell if a stringed instrument sound is generated by a synth, but they'll have a harder time distinguishing between a sampled violin and the real thing. EXS24 mkII comes with a large sample library, and there are numerous third-party sample collections that can be purchased to extend the choices.
In this tutorial, we're going to look at how to create a custom instrument from individual samples in EXS24 mkII's sample library. While EXS24 mkII includes a variety of predefined instruments that don't have to be built, there's nothing like a unique instrument tailored to your exact needs. By assigning various samples to specific keyboard zones, you can assemble an entire orchestra as one "instrument." Or, an entire drum kit, as we'll do in this example.
To start building a custom instrument, you open Logic Pro 7's EXS24 mkII Instrument Editor [Audio>EXS24 Instrument Editor]. This brings up an empty window with a keyboard at the top. The empty space at the bottom is your workspace, which will soon be filled with Zone dialog boxes for the samples that make up your instrument.
At the very top of the Instrument Editor are four drop-down menus. Go to the first one, Instrument, and select New. Then go to the third menu over, Zone, and select New Zone. When you do this, a small gray box called Zone 1 appears below the keyboard, with a bunch of parameter settings in it. The first of these parameters is labelled Audio File. Click it to browse through the EXS24 mkII's factory samples, which are all installed by default in the Logic folder in Application Support. [Macintosh HD>Library>Application Support>Logic>EXS Factory Samples].
There are several drum kit folders in the list of samples, including Dry Standard Kit and GM Standard Drum Kit. For this tutorial, we'll use the GM Standard Kit folder, which has 38 sampled drum sounds, including various kicks, snares, toms and crashes. Scroll through the list and click on one of the Kick drums; I chose Kick BB 21.aif. Its name appears in the Zone 1 Audio File parameter.
Now you want to specify which keys on the keyboard will activate the kick. This is done by selecting a Zone Range. Generally, the kick drum is assigned to the lowest keys on a keyboard, and for easy reference here we'll allot the kick and each subsequent drum one octave on the keyboard. In my case, that means the kick drum gets assigned to the C0 through C1 keys, since the lowest key on my controller keyboard corresponds to the C0 key on the Instrument Editor's virtual keyboard. (Your keyboard may have a lower range).
A white bar under the keyboard indicates the current zone assignment, which by default covers the entire keyboard range. You can drag the left and right sides of this bar to assign the kick drum to the C0 through C1 keys. Now when you depress any key in this octave, the kick drum will sound. It can be previewed on the Instrument Editor's onscreen keyboard, or on the physical controller.
For the next drum sound, select New from the Instrument menu again, and then New Zone from the Zone menu. This time, choose a snare drum, by clicking in the Audio File parameter box and browsing through the snare samples in the GM Standard Drum kit. I chose Snare RO o5.aif. Assign the snare to the next keyboard octave, D1-D2.
Repeat the process to build as many drums as you want into your kit. The kit I assembled also included a high hat, a crash cymbal and three toms, each assigned to one octave on the keyboard. You can assign the samples to any keyboard zone you want, even one key per sample if you like. Choose a keyboard layout that will suit your playing style, and the instrument you have assembled. Using exactly the same procedure, you could assemble a jazz duo, with a string bass on the bottom half of the keyboard and a piano on the top half. Or a string quartet, with a cello, viola and violins. Just remember, you only have two hands, so you can't play all those instruments at once!
After the components of your instrument are chosen, go to Instrument>Save, so all your hard work won't be in vain. Make sure that the instrument is saved in the same place as the other EXS24 mkII instruments, so you'll be able to find it. For final tweaking and tailoring to specific musical situations, there are also a variety of editing tools built into EXS24 mkII, (and in Logic itself) that can apply separate processing to each of an instrument's individual samples.
Software samplers enable you to load recorded instrument samples into memory and play them via a controller keyboard just like synthesizer patches. But there's a huge difference in the sound quality between synthesizer emulations of instruments and actual recorded instrument samples. Most listeners will be able to tell if a stringed instrument sound is generated by a synth, but they'll have a harder time distinguishing between a sampled violin and the real thing. EXS24 mkII comes with a large sample library, and there are numerous third-party sample collections that can be purchased to extend the choices.
In this tutorial, we're going to look at how to create a custom instrument from individual samples in EXS24 mkII's sample library. While EXS24 mkII includes a variety of predefined instruments that don't have to be built, there's nothing like a unique instrument tailored to your exact needs. By assigning various samples to specific keyboard zones, you can assemble an entire orchestra as one "instrument." Or, an entire drum kit, as we'll do in this example.
To start building a custom instrument, you open Logic Pro 7's EXS24 mkII Instrument Editor [Audio>EXS24 Instrument Editor]. This brings up an empty window with a keyboard at the top. The empty space at the bottom is your workspace, which will soon be filled with Zone dialog boxes for the samples that make up your instrument.
At the very top of the Instrument Editor are four drop-down menus. Go to the first one, Instrument, and select New. Then go to the third menu over, Zone, and select New Zone. When you do this, a small gray box called Zone 1 appears below the keyboard, with a bunch of parameter settings in it. The first of these parameters is labelled Audio File. Click it to browse through the EXS24 mkII's factory samples, which are all installed by default in the Logic folder in Application Support. [Macintosh HD>Library>Application Support>Logic>EXS Factory Samples].
There are several drum kit folders in the list of samples, including Dry Standard Kit and GM Standard Drum Kit. For this tutorial, we'll use the GM Standard Kit folder, which has 38 sampled drum sounds, including various kicks, snares, toms and crashes. Scroll through the list and click on one of the Kick drums; I chose Kick BB 21.aif. Its name appears in the Zone 1 Audio File parameter.
Now you want to specify which keys on the keyboard will activate the kick. This is done by selecting a Zone Range. Generally, the kick drum is assigned to the lowest keys on a keyboard, and for easy reference here we'll allot the kick and each subsequent drum one octave on the keyboard. In my case, that means the kick drum gets assigned to the C0 through C1 keys, since the lowest key on my controller keyboard corresponds to the C0 key on the Instrument Editor's virtual keyboard. (Your keyboard may have a lower range).
A white bar under the keyboard indicates the current zone assignment, which by default covers the entire keyboard range. You can drag the left and right sides of this bar to assign the kick drum to the C0 through C1 keys. Now when you depress any key in this octave, the kick drum will sound. It can be previewed on the Instrument Editor's onscreen keyboard, or on the physical controller.
For the next drum sound, select New from the Instrument menu again, and then New Zone from the Zone menu. This time, choose a snare drum, by clicking in the Audio File parameter box and browsing through the snare samples in the GM Standard Drum kit. I chose Snare RO o5.aif. Assign the snare to the next keyboard octave, D1-D2.
Repeat the process to build as many drums as you want into your kit. The kit I assembled also included a high hat, a crash cymbal and three toms, each assigned to one octave on the keyboard. You can assign the samples to any keyboard zone you want, even one key per sample if you like. Choose a keyboard layout that will suit your playing style, and the instrument you have assembled. Using exactly the same procedure, you could assemble a jazz duo, with a string bass on the bottom half of the keyboard and a piano on the top half. Or a string quartet, with a cello, viola and violins. Just remember, you only have two hands, so you can't play all those instruments at once!
After the components of your instrument are chosen, go to Instrument>Save, so all your hard work won't be in vain. Make sure that the instrument is saved in the same place as the other EXS24 mkII instruments, so you'll be able to find it. For final tweaking and tailoring to specific musical situations, there are also a variety of editing tools built into EXS24 mkII, (and in Logic itself) that can apply separate processing to each of an instrument's individual samples.
