Software Samplers & Synths....

[Equality 7-2521]

Sup

I have, up untill now, been a Reason user but I recently got Protools and it is indeed the shit, apart from a few things...

I now need a dope soft sampler and soft synth plug-in. Im basically looking for something I can use in Protools which is the equivelant of the NN-XT (sampler) and Malstrom (synth) in Reason.

So far, for a soft sampler Im looking in the direction of Steinberg's HALion (rated #4 soft sampler in 2004 by Future Music Magazine) or MOTU's MachFiveUniversal (Rated #1 soft sampler of 2004 in Future Music Magazine). Most likely MachFive. Some things which i really need my sampler to be able to do are: load multiple samples at a time (say up to 20), show the waveform in the sampler and allow it to be edited non-destructively, have individual envelopes and shit for each sample.

as for a synth, Korg Legacy Collection got #1 in future music for '04. Steinberg XPhrase got #8 but looks real nice.

help me on my quest to find the perfect soft msuci production setup and voice your opinion on the best soft samplers and synths and why you like them so much....

pz

 

[2_nice]

for sampler machfive is definitely good....... for synth i recommend you check out aas ultra analog..... or you could just buy sample cdeed with 'real' sampled analog synth banks. way out just released an rtas arp 2600 emulation which seems good

note.... do not trust magazines with reviews they have vested interest in recommending shit or writing a favourable review (notice the same companies have ads in their mags they aint gonna say a paying companies product sucks)
i don't think halion is a very good sampler myself (not as intuitive as kontakt or mach5) and i think kontakt is also a good option. mach5 is truely a beat tho (i would put machfive and kontakt on a par with one another

 

[Equality 7-2521]

point taken about magazines having vested interest. i agree. i think future music is a pretty reputable organisation though. like they test equipment and software to its limits and give detailed reports on what they find. on that note Future Music gave Mach5 the number one spot and they placed Kontakt at #2. so looks like your opinions are similar to theirs! anyways this is not the point...

you seem like you have a bit of experiance with soft samplers (i have non except for Reasons devices). do mach5 and kontakt do all the things i listed in my original post? i imagine they do all that and more but i was just wondering.

cheers for your suggestions 2_nice.

anyone else?

 

[Equality 7-2521]

Cold Truth where you at man!?

i remember you saying that Sampletank 2 kills Kontakt which I just peeped. Im interested if you still feel the same was now that Kontact Version 2 has been released. It looks dope as hell. I noticed you said the main factors making sampletank 2 better were the FX but is there anything else?

i would use sampletank 2 (i already have it.....thanks to you i believe?) but it does not offer a window where you can see the waveforms which have been imported. i need to be able to see the waveform and do some non destructive editing, in particular the start and end points of the sample. i need this so i can easily/visually chop up a sample in the sampler ya dig?

im looking at kontakt as my first choice ahead of machfive because you can have 128 samples at a time instead of 16.

can anyone tell me if kontakt is a propper plug-in? like can i run it through a protools session and when i close my session and reload it, the settings in kontakt will still be there? im assuming so. its just that motu make a big deal that the machfive does this but i would have thought they all do it.

 

[Formant024]

Linplug RMIV, does drum synth emu ( 808/909 style ) and samples. Sounds fresh, comes with lotta parameters and 8 assignable outputs ( also some very usefull cut features ) and 18 assignable drumpads.

FL5 (multi vsti mode), nuff said...reads rex in slicer, more than enough parameters.

EXS24, reads rex, good filters and envelopes.

Emu Studio X with 0404 card is like fitting a E4 Ultra in your pc. Read up on it on the emu site ( or download the manual somewhere).

 

[Cold Truth]

ok, here go my thoughts, eq!

ok, ok where i judged sampletank and kompakt, it was in terms of overall library and effects-(wahs, rotary, etc) essentially rompler stats, basically. sampletank has a much larger library in terms of sheer number of patches. kontakt has a far deeper engine in terms of actually shaping sound via envelopes, various filters and whatnot. you can, with kontakt 2, load any library out there. the kontakt settings should remain- i know this is a problem with sampletank, where it doesnt keep the volume settings.

kontakt 2 is an excellent choice, butbeware of the RAM drain kontakt has on your pc, although you can get a disk streaming extension.

hope this helps.

 

[Fade]

Actually, I just fixed up parts of the Downloads section, you should check it out, especially the Samplers page:
https://www.illmuzik.com/downloads/index.php

 

[Equality 7-2521]

thanks everyone.

Cold: so does that mean if i have Kontakt 2, i can load sampletanks sounds into it? (so in otherwords id have the many great sounds of sampletank 2 and be able to control them in the kontakt 2 evvironment)

ps: dope shit fade.

keep the input coming everyone...

 

[Cold Truth]

EQ- no, i should clarify- its a univeral sampler, meaning it can import any sample library- but sampletanks sounds arent a sample library. it sounds confusing, but they are sounds formatted specifically for sampletank, as are their add ons. they are similar to the expansion boards on, say, a fantom. they wouldnt be accesable to through, say, a triton.

 

[Equality 7-2521]

aight i think i get what ya sayin. i checked the kontakt website for more details and had a look at what sounds the program is compatible with so saal good.

i was playing with sampletank last night. indeed a dope program. but there are two things which make it almost useless as my main sampler....1: waveforms cannot be edited & 2: start and end times of a sample cant be changed (from what i can see).

have you been using version 2 of kontakt Cold? or an older version?

anyways i downloaded the kontakt demo and am looking forward to seeing what its got to offer. aparently kontakt two is dropping at the end of this month (March).

is there anything else i should know or look out for when making my final decision?

 

[Cold Truth]

actually, it looks like kontakt should be your main sampler. that is geared specifically for phrase sampling. kontakt 2 has features that borrow from it, so you should check that out as well before making a final purchase.

 

[2_nice]

equality...... sounds like you might find it easiest and fastest with battery 2 (doesn't sound like you intend to use your sampler to load banks etc.) battery 2 has a good adsr (excellent) good layering, voice groups really good looping function etc. window start end shit really fast interface... battery is good for mpc 2000xl style production (loading self sampled shit) it is similar just a whole lot better (function wise also very fast)
hope this helps
(if you want to load banks and do all of the above kontakt 2 rocks..... but if it is mostly your own samples i would say battery 2 is a good choice very quick)

 

[Equality 7-2521]

word 2_nice i had a look at battery but i gathered that sampler was specifically for drums and percussion? i assume you can use it for any sound but i gathered it was modled around making drums. ill have another look at it though. does battery have a keyboard where you can assign samples to the keys? and can you see the waveform?

yo im wondering does kontakt and all these other samplers allow you to map slices of a sample onto the different keys like reasons nn-xt or does it only let you load one sample onto the keyboard mapped chromatically? i hope its the former cos otherwise its useless to me...

doesnt anyone else use soft samplers and synths out there? shit i thought there would be a larger number of responses to something like this...oh well.

 

[Cold Truth]

^^^it is, but so is the mpc, come to think of it.

 

[Fade]

yo im wondering does kontakt and all these other samplers allow you to map slices of a sample onto the different keys like reasons nn-xt or does it only let you load one sample onto the keyboard mapped chromatically? i hope its the former cos otherwise its useless to me...

Yes you can map different samples. I just started using Kontakt but from what I've done, do this:

- Let's say you want to map 2 samples, Kick, Snare.
- Load up both samples.
- Click on Edit, then click Mapping Editor (lower left).
- Now click in the lined area once, it will now be yellowish.
- Drag your mouse around and I think that way you can set your root key.
- Go to the ends of the keys and drag the yellowish area to where you want (depending on how much you want to map the sample).
- If you right click too, there's tons of options.

I tried it yesterday and I was able to map a kick and a snare across different areas of my keyboard, so it's pretty easy. But like I said, I just started using it so that's all I've figured out so far for mapping!

 

[Equality 7-2521]

^^^^^dope cunt thanks Fade!! ill try it out...