Easiest way to use acidised samples 'within' T ?

[timmyo]

Not at home to play yet, but snipped from the manual:

6. Global Controls
We will refer to the controls on the grey metallic part of AMG ONE/solo’s user interface as the “Global
Controls”. This is because they are always visible regardless of the display screen page selected. These
controls are as follows (from left to right):-
• Load
Loads a sampled loop into the plug-in. When this button is clicked a standard fi le browser will be
displayed. Windows users will have to select (using the drop-down selector at the bottom of the dialog
window) which sort of fi les they are browsing for. Mac OSX users will not have to do this – invalid fi le will
appear greyed-out in the browser window.
You can only load sampled loops that have been specially “sliced” and saved in an appropriate format.
Sampled loops sliced in Propellerhead Software’s Recycle, for example, will have the fi le extensions REX,
RX2 or RCY depending on the version of Recycle used.
Loops saved in Sony’s ACID software will have the fi le extension WAV. However, you should note that WAV
fi les saved from other programs may not have the special ACID properties that Sony software embeds in
the fi le – you may get an error message trying to load a WAV fi le that doesn’t have any embedded slice
data.
AMG ONE/solo also implements its own fi le format with the extension OPF (ONE Program File). This fi le
format is not only capable of storing the sample and slice points, but it also contains all the parameter
settings and utilises a proprietory form of lossless compression that squeezes an OPF fi le down to around
half the size of the original WAV!
• Save
Saves the current loop as an OPF fi le. When this button is clicked a standard fi le browser will be displayed.
Use the dialog to navigate to the folder you would like to save your fi le in, provide a fi lename and click
“OK”.
• Loop
Switches AMG ONE/solo’s internal slice sequencer on or off (when the blue bar in this button is glowing
the slice sequencer is active). When the slice sequencer is active, AMG ONE/solo will only respond to
the two octaves of notes centred around middle C (MIDI note 60). If you play middle C on the master
keyboard you have linked to the plug-in, the sampled loop will play back at the speed set in your host
program and at the same pitch it was recorded. The sample will loop for as long as you hold the key
down and playback will stop as soon as you release the key.

If the slice sequencer is made inactive, AMG ONE/solo can no longer automatically synchronise to your
host program’s tempo setting. Instead, each “slice” of the loaded sampled loop will be assigned to MIDI
notes 0 upwards. So a sampled loop with 16 slices will have successive slices mapped to notes 0 to 15
in ascending order. You can then play the slices manually from your keyboard or load some MIDI data
into your sequencer to play the slices automatically (see the section on exporting MIDI data later in this
manual).
• Test button
The small button labelled with a “T” in the title bar of the plug-in’s user interface can be clicked on to test
the currently loaded sound. When the test feature is active (or whenever a MIDI message is received by
the plug-in) the button will glow bright blue. Note that the test button only functions when the Loop
button is clicked and the slice sequencer is active.
• Patch Name
The name of the currently loaded sampled loop is displayed in this box. Double-click on the text to
change the patch name.
• Export MIDI
Exports the current loop slices as MIDI information. When this button is clicked a standard fi le browser
will be displayed. Use the dialog to navigate to the folder you would like to save your fi le in, provide a
fi lename and click “OK”. The slice data is saved as a Type 0 MIDI fi le – this can be imported into many host
sequencer programs – import this data onto the same track as AMG ONE/solo, and then switch Loop
mode OFF. Then you can edit the data in your MIDI sequencer to change the order and timing of the
slices. By using this function you can create hundreds of variations on your sampled loops!
• Pan
Sets the balance between the left and right output channels. If a loop is stereo, panning 100% left will
cause only the left channel of the loop to be played, and panning 100% right will cause only the right
channel of the loop to be played. Mono samples (such as REX version 1 fi les) will be “panned” into the
appropriate spot in the stereo soundstage. Note that this control is pre-mapped to MIDI controller
10 (Pan). If your host supports the sending of default pan values to tracks, this control will respond
automatically!
• Volume
Sets the overall output volume of the plug-in. Note that this control is pre-mapped to MIDI controller 7
(volume). If your host supports the sending of default volume values to tracks, this control will respond
automatically!

[rockstar_not]

timmyo,

Please provide a review when you get the chance - this might have just made my 'which T2 to get' decision.

I think I'll save my money for solo, if it works as promised, and just go for the cheap download.

-Scott

[lkingston]

I tried the demo. Solo One sounded fine with Rex loops but it's Acid loop playback sounded terrible.

[Lunch Money]

Damn Sterling pounds. I see the number 30 and think, "Cheap!" and then do the math. $70CDN still isn't cheap enough for me.

I do a similar thing to what flanneljammies does, except I use the free Cakewalk Plasma Express that came with a Computer Music guitar special that came out about 2 years ago.

Greg

[timmyo]

Can someone give me a run down on exactly how you use Solo to play Acidized loops in Tracktion? Thanks.

OK finally had a go with the demo of ONE/Solo after a few problems getting samples to load (see the Muon support forum for my thread)

Basically you simply slap an instance of the Solo plugin on to a track, then use the simple GUI to Load a sample (Acidised .wav (regular wavs or those made in older Acid formats will not load), .rex .rcy .rx2 and an AMG format .opf ). The loaded sample default to 'Loop' mode so when you trigger the sample to play via midi it will play the sample (for as long as you hold the midi note so you can stop mid sample if you like) at the midi pitch and host tempo you set. If you untick Loop mode then each of the Acid slices are assigned to a different midi key - this is not something I would use or can think of a use for but then I am an uncreative soul

I can see it being quite useful if, say you have a track with bass guitar midi on you could split the midi in to clips and drag a per-clip instance to one section and have a regular bass sample, then another instance on the chorus with a slap sample etc etc allowing you to mess about with different sample sounds in different areas of the track.

Extreme pitch shifts or tempo changes obviously reveal themselves but I upped a bass riff sample tempo significantly and it hung together fine and would therefore no doubt be perfectly fine in a mix, ditto some drum loops I tried (borrowed a sample CD to try the solo demo out but will now probably get soem of my own)

There are some useful Filter and Modulation controls which the GUI spreads across 3 easily accessable pages - these are simple to use and you can audition the effect they have on the sample by clicking on the GUI.

There are loads of midi controllable parameters that I have not even looked at but it would seem you can drive the Filter and Mod side of things with midi control.

Someone else said that the Acid wav support didn;t sound great - I'm far from an experienced recordist but it all sounds OK to me but bear in mind I am not familiar with other ACID apps so have no real comparison.

In short this does what it says it will do - adds Acid wav and Rex support to a host through a cheap plugin, which is what I was looking for. Also my initial queries were quickly answered on the Muon board which bodes well too.

Tim

[rockstar_not]

timmyo,

Thanks for the update. I'll have to give the demo a go now, and probably just get the $20 T2 download as a result.

-Scott

[braj]

For those looking for a midi control surface, I'd recommend buying a controller like the UC-33e that comes with a lite version of Live and rewire that to T. I tried Solo a while back and I don't like the workflow.