Powerhouse Samplers

Jun 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Geary Yelton

Digidesign Structure (Mac/Win)

Digidesign has introduced an RTAS sampler plug-in that is so new, it is still in public beta as of this writing. Structure (price TBD) is compatible with all versions of Pro Tools 7 and later, and like Pro Tools, it's copy protected using an iLok USB dongle. The plug-in supports 24-bit audio at rates up to 192 kHz and surround formats up to 7.1. Though you can limit polyphony to as few as four voices, it is theoretically unlimited, and it is 128-channel multitimbral (if your computer is up to the challenge). Structure is not a standard RTAS plug-in, however, because it's closely tied to Pro Tools' audio engine, which manages the distribution of sampler voices and audio tracks.

Structure's user interface provides easy access to a variety of windows. On the main page, the patch list is on the left, the parameter panel is on the right, and the keyboard/smart-knob section is below that. The latter furnishes an 88-note onscreen keyboard, six reassignable knobs, the Master output knob, and a wide parameter display (see Fig. 4). The knobs are linked to whatever parameters you choose, and each can be linked to multiple parameters. Associated parameter names appear above each knob, and turning one shows its value in the display.

The main page lets you access parameters such as tuning, glide, and effects sends, depending on which tab you select. You can draw waveshapes or step patterns for the two LFOs, choose from six destinations, and set up randomization. The Effects page gives you five sends, each with slots for four global effects. Clicking on the effects processor's name displays its parameter controls. The browser lets you search your directories and display only certain file types, if desired, and the database lets you search previously scanned files.

In Structure parlance, a patch contains one or more parts, which are either multisampled instruments, insert effects, or MIDI effects modules. The parameter panel's content depends on what's selected in the patch list; if it's a patch, you can choose from four pages — Patch, Control, Mod, and Output — by clicking on tabs. If it's a part, you get five page tabs — Part, Filter, Amp, Mod, and Output. Selecting audio effects in the patch list displays the effects processor's control panel, and selecting a MIDI Module displays its parameters.

Structure's MIDI Modules serve more or less the same function as Native Instruments' Kontakt Script Processor or Tascam's iMIDI Rules Manager (which I'll discuss later). MIDI Modules change the way a part is played by randomly transposing controller values in response to how long it's been since the previous Note On, for example, or by triggering a particular response when you play a chord.

In the patch list, each patch has an Edit button; clicking on it opens an Editor window you can enlarge to any size you like. That's where you modify sampler parts within a patch. It has Treeview, Mapping, and Edit sections. The Treeview section lists the parts and all the samples within them. The Mapping section displays the selected part's keyboard and Velocity assignments and lets you graphically modify them. The Edit section displays controls for sound-shaping parameters such as the filter and two EGs. The resonant filter offers 20 modes, and you can edit the 10-stage envelopes graphically by clicking-and-dragging breakpoints. If Wave is selected, the Mapping section displays the selected sample's waveform and allows you to define loops and crossfades and perform other edits.

Structure was designed for quickly creating your own sampled instruments, and the ability to drag-and-drop Pro Tools regions directly into Structure takes advantage of the tight integration between recording and sample playback. Because it's still in beta at this point, I can't tell you much about what content Digidesign will include except that it should be larger than 10 GB. Judging from the handful of patches that accompany the beta version, though, it's obvious that Structure's content makes heavy use of keyswitches to play alternate articulations. In addition, Structure can load EXS, SampleCell, and Kontakt (versions 1 and 2) files just as if they were its own file format. Additional formats such as Akai, E-mu, and Giga will be supported through a free conversion tool at some point after Structure's release date.

E-mu Emulator X2 (Win)

In 1981 pioneering synth builder E-mu Systems unveiled the first dedicated sampler, the original Emulator. It was an 8-bit digital instrument that stored samples on 5.25-inch floppy disks. E-mu continued to build increasingly sophisticated hardware samplers until making the jump to software in 2004 with the introduction of Emulator X. The latest version, Emulator X2 ($399.95), is a 64-part multitimbral standalone application and a 16-part VSTi plug-in. It supports 24-bit sampling rates as high as 192 kHz, and it allows you to record samples directly into software using techniques familiar to hardware sampler users.

Emulator X2 comes with its own hardware, a 2-in/2-out USB MIDI interface called the XMIDI 2×2, which serves as a dongle and is required for the software to run. If you own an E-mu sound card or USB MIDI controller, however, those can serve as dongles too. An E-mu sound card offers the additional advantage of using PatchMix DSP to handle audio signal routing within Emulator, as well as DSP-accelerated effects.

The software is organized in a modular fashion and inherits some notable features from its hardware counterparts, including Z-Plane morphing filters and a hierarchical data structure with its roots in EOS (Emulator Operating System). Emulator's fixed-size GUI has two panes and a toolbar across the top, and you can optionally display a free-floating keyboard (see Fig. 5). The pane on the left contains the Tree view, a browser that enables you to locate sample content. When you open a bank, the Multisetup page appears on the right. It contains 64 slots (4 groups of 16, selected with tabs), each with settings for volume, panning, effects, and output assignment. You can select one preset for each slot and link MIDI Control Changes to various parameters.

Typically, you'll save a Multisetup with all the presets you'll need in a song or sequence. A preset contains one or more voices assigned to respond to a single MIDI channel. A voice is a sample or a multisample assigned to keyboard and Velocity zones. Voices and Zones pages allow you to adjust voice parameters such as levels and tuning. The Voice Processing window offers sound-shaping sections such as a single multimode filter and modulators.

Fifty-five filter types range from 2-pole lowpass to Morph Designer, a user-programmable filter with up to six stages. Modulator tabs let you select from three 6-stage EGs, two 17-waveform LFOs, a lag processor, and three FM generators. Voice Processing's Cords section lets you connect 95 modulation sources to 105 destinations that include two lag processors, three function generators, and even other mod routings.

Emulator has a full complement of effects that can be part of a preset or a Multisetup. Each has plenty of user parameters and flexible routing. All the classic effects types are available, from reverb, chorus, and compression to parametric EQ, tube simulation, and beat-synced tremolo.

Emulator X2 has several additional features I should mention. One of these is TwistaLoop, a beat-detection function that analyzes a sample's rhythmic components in the same manner as time-slicing, and helps to locate and select loop points and regions. It also improves the quality of time compression and expansion and enables you to continuously control a loop's playback speed and choose which loops play and repeat in real time. TwistaLoop turns Emulator into a versatile groove sampler.

Another feature that other samplers lack (though third-party utilities offer similar functionality) is SynthSwipe, which automatically samples MIDI instruments and creates finished Emulator presets. After you set up parameters such as input level, note range, interval, Velocities, and durations (key up, key down, and pause), just click on Record, wait for completion, and save your new bank and samples. Emulator X2 can also resample its own output.

Emulator X2 ships with more than 3 GB of sample content that comprises four collections: Beat Shop One, Studio Grand, X-perience, and X Producer, which includes selections from Proteus X and a complete General MIDI sound set. Additionally, the included Emulator X File Converter application can convert Akai, E-mu Emulator III and ESi, EXS, Giga, HALion, and SoundFont files into Emulator's native EXB format.

Emulator X2 Platinum, slated to ship soon after this article appears, will include 32-bit and 64-bit native applications for Windows XP and Vista, the ability to stream from hard disk, and more than 20 GB of sample content. Emulator X 2.5, a free upgrade to X2 owners, should follow a few months later.

MOTU MachFive 2 (Mac/Win)

Still in beta as I'm writing this, MachFive 2 ($395) is the successor to MOTU's sampler plug-in, which first shipped in 2003. Version 2 adds standalone operation, a modular synthesis engine, and more. It supports AU, DXi, MAS, RTAS, and VST plug-in formats, and it opens most foreign sampler formats without the need to convert them to its native M5P format. MachFive allows you to drag-and-drop audio directly from Digital Performer and other supported hosts. It has extensive loop-editing and beat-slicing capabilities and full-screen waveform editing with unlimited undo and redo. It even offers a built-in tuner and real-time spectrum analysis.

MachFive supports 24-bit, 192 kHz audio and surround formats up to 7.1. Theoretically, it can play an unlimited number of multitimbral parts, and you can even specify which parts stream from disk. Unless you disable streaming, you can specify how much sample data will be preloaded into RAM. Polyphony is also unlimited, and it can receive on 256 MIDI channels. Like Digidesign Structure, MachFive uses an iLok USB key for copy protection.

Most of MachFive's GUI is in a single window, which is divided into sections such as a browser, parts list, display area, and so on (see Fig. 6). MachFive makes good use of contextual menus and windows you summon by right-clicking; right-clicking on almost any knob, for example, opens an Automations and Modulation window for defining control sources.

You can view eight parts at a time, each containing a preset; scrolling reveals additional parts. You can assign instruments to some parts and loops to others, and then save all the parts collectively as a performance. You can assign as many parts as you like to the same MIDI channel. MachFive's Expert mode opens a window for defining key ranges, Velocity zones, and keyswitches. You can create any number of layers within a preset and apply MIDI rules for switching between them.

MachFive's Mapping Editor lets you create voices from scratch using the Create Synth command and then layer them with recorded samples. Raw Oscillators lets you stack as many virtual analog oscillators as you like, each with a choice of five waveforms and individual gain, pan, and tuning. Organ Emulator provides nine onscreen drawbars for specifying harmonics, as well as percussion and rotating-speaker parameters.

Each of MachFive's two filters lets you choose from eight filter types, including lowpass, highpass, bandpass, notch, and comb. A filter topology menu determines the filter routing in series with the effects and overdrive. Six loopable EGs can be either AHDSR (ADSR with an additional Hold stage) or Multi; a Multi envelope can have any number of breakpoints. An Edit button in the EG section opens a large window for editing envelopes, and you can save and reuse any Multis you create. In addition, you can modulate the amplifier, pitch, or filter frequency with any of 19 sources.

Two buttons near the display area let you toggle MachFive's Mixer view and waveform editor, and two others let you expand the waveform editor to fill most of MachFive's GUI or open it in a separate, full-screen window for detailed editing. The editor offers Sample, Stretch, and Slice modes. In Slice mode, you can enable MachFive's Loop Lab, in which you can define, stretch, rearrange, and map beat slices manually or automatically.

MachFive has a long list of multichannel effects processors with hundreds of presets, and you can save user presets. Effects include a simulated tape delay, a talkbox filter, an 8-band EQ, a 3-band compressor, and a convolution reverb with a large selection of impulse responses. You can link four effects and save them as a group, and you can apply as many as four insert and four part effects for each part simultaneously with four aux and four master effects. You can also apply effects and effects groups to individual samples and key groups. All time-based effects can be synced to tempo.

MachFive can now open foreign formats directly — even CDs for Akai, E-mu, Kurzweil, and Roland samplers — with no translation needed. It opens EXS, Giga, Kontakt, SampleCell, and SoundFont files, as well as loops in Acid, REX2, and Apple Loops format.

MachFive 2 comes with a whopping 32 GB of content that includes assorted loops and phrases, synths and ethnic instruments, vocals and sound effects, an 8 GB grand piano, and orchestral instruments from Vienna Symphonic Library. The bundle also supplies a handful of instruments and drum loops sampled in surround and at high sampling rates.