Sampler ?

[Sidhu]

Wusikstaton might limit me to the sounds i can use (maybe im getting a little paranoid). Vsampelr, again a little confusing for me, but i really havnty spent time with it, does not come with a soundset. I could perhaps spend another 100USD and get myself Kompact with a soundset.

Sidhu

[Sidhu]

Vsampler or Kompact ?

Kompact seem to come with a comprehensive soundset.
Vsampler (i think) is more flexible in that it can also do beat splicing and all ?

Both cost bout the same.

thanks
Sidhu

[kevink]

Kompakt is a ROMpler that will only play back compatible samples, though as sidhu says, it comes with a reasonable starter set of samples. I don't know what formats NI claims Kompakt is capable of importing (other than Kontakt/Kompakt), but you should not take it on faith - NI's statements about Kontakt/Kompakt capabilities have been consistently exaggerated, and their support of end-users has been just this side of insulting - and I say this as a long-time Kontakt user. VSampler 3.5 is a much more capable program than Kontakt - it imports more formats, allows you use VST audio effects, and it allows you to build your own sample sets. However, the user interface is much more obscure. I don't know if it will do beat splicing - ask in the user forum at www.vsampler.com.

I use both Kontakt 1.5.3 and VSampler 3.5, sometimes both on the same project. Kontakt is simpler to load-and-go *if* the sample set is compatible, but for Halion/EXS/Giga playback, sometimes VSampler is required.

[Sidhu]

Yes. I am inclined towards thew Vsampler too... it's that im finding it a wee bit expensive... I am also a little concerened about investing a lot of time making libraries with a sampler which i cannot use in other samplers. The Vsampler native format is not very popular i suppose. If i change my sampler tommorow, or say the company goes kapuut! (not too likely, but still)

sidhu

[kevink]

I've never actually used the feature, but if you're concerned about portability, VSampler also exports sample sets as SF2 soundfonts.

[Sidhu]

OK. Thanks for letting me know. And what feature have you not used ? I suppose if you import annother library into Vsampelr (say Giga ot SF2) Vsampler needs to save it into it's native format before it can use it proper ? Or am i wrong ?

Sidhu

[kevink]

VSampler generates temporary .wav files when you do an import, and deletes them when you shut down the program, unless you tell it to keep them around. If you save in the native format, you can avoid repeating that minor hassle.

I just did the experiment of Importing a Giga file and Exporting the result as an SF2. It worked just fine, with no need to do an intermediate save in the native format.

[ericj23]

"Kompakt is a ROMpler that will only play back compatible samples," - completely wrong

you get such romplers but kompakt the basic NI product is a fully functioning sampler - just nowhere near as fully functioning as kontakt

[Sidhu]

So i can use Kompact to import other formats such as SF2 Halion .kit etc ? That would make it very attractive. I cant find a feature comparison chart on the NI webstite. What major differences are there ?

With Vsampler, i find that using the sampler with libraries loaded in the preview page, withought importing them fully, causes VS to do something, (reload, save, i think) every time i press save in the VST host. This can icrease the save time within the host significantly...

I hope i could explaing the problem, please tell me if im wrong.

Sidhu

[kevink]

"Kompakt is a ROMpler that will only play back compatible samples," - completely wrong

you get such romplers but kompakt the basic NI product is a fully functioning sampler - just nowhere near as fully functioning as kontakt

Do you actually own and use Kompakt? NI's own web site calls it a "Kontakt-based sample player", not a sampler. It's got EQ and effects that you can apply to the samples that have been loaded, and you can save your EQ/FX settings as part of an "Instrument" (or as part of your Sonar/Cubase project), but I can't find anything on the NI web site that even suggests that it's possible to save or export samples.

[kovacs]

Kompakt is a ROMpler that will only play back compatible samples, though as sidhu says, it comes with a reasonable starter set of samples. I don't know what formats NI claims Kompakt is capable of importing (other than Kontakt/Kompakt)

Kontakt samples are NOT officially supported by Kompakt (not even mentioned on the product box, IIRC). Kompakt will give you a warning saying "These samples were created for Konktakt and may not sound as expected" (or something like that).

Kompakt does, as has been pointed out, have some sampler capabilities but they are severely limited. I used them mostly to tweak the native sound set (which, as has also been pointed out) is very good.

AFAIK Kompakt is EOL'ed but I may be wrong about that.

but you should not take it on faith - NI's statements about Kontakt/Kompakt capabilities have been consistently exaggerated, and their support of end-users has been just this side of insulting

The worst thing about Kompakt is that it is a darn good product that has been disowned by NI since they released it. I owned it for two years and was extremely happy with the product and extremely disappointed with the support.

I would advice against choosing Kompakt as anything but a good sample library.

[kevink]

So i can use Kompact to import other formats such as SF2 Halion .kit etc ?

Be very very careful what you believe. NI has advertised import of fomats like Halion and EXS24 every since Komtakt/Kompakt were released, but they have never worked (and according to Kontakt 2 users on the NI forums, they *still* don't work). Gigasampler import was hopelessly broken in the first revs, but that at least works most of the time now. AKAI import works for most people, but there are CD-ROM drives that the NI import logic can't manage. I've never had a problem with SF2 import - but if all you want to do is play SF2's (and there are worse ways to work!), then just download sfz from RGCaudio. It's free.

Anyone seriously considering investing in Kontakt/Kompakt should spend a few minutes browsing the user forums at NI: http://www.nativeinstruments.de/forum_us/ to get a feel for the level of confidence and support NI provides to their "sampling line" customers.

[kevink]

Kompakt is a ROMpler that will only play back compatible samples, though as sidhu says, it comes with a reasonable starter set of samples. I don't know what formats NI claims Kompakt is capable of importing (other than Kontakt/Kompakt)

Kontakt samples are NOT officially supported by Kompakt (not even mentioned on the product box, IIRC). Kompakt will give you a warning saying "These samples were created for Konktakt and may not sound as expected" (or something like that).

From http://www.native-instruments.com/index ... eatures_us :

"Import and Compatibility:
AKAI™ S-1000/S-3000, EXS24™, EXSP24™, HALion™, Gigasampler™, SampleCell™, KONTAKT™, BATTERY™, SoundFont2™, LM4™, AIFF and WAV up to 32 Bit and 192 kHz"

So they certainly do claim Kontakt import - but then again, they're claiming EXS24 and HALion, and those are also known not to work.

[kovacs]

So they certainly do claim Kontakt import - but then again, they're claiming EXS24 and HALion, and those are also known not to work.

Interesting. Wonder if someone has an old Kompakt box and can let us know what it says on there. Like I said I don't think it was specified on the box (but I may be very wrong...).

I had no problems importing Kontakt samples but got tired of seeing all the warning popups all the time.

But I think we're in agreement about Kompakt and also about the NI support for the product (or let's say "active lack of...").

[Sidhu]

O...K....