Piano library advice - Sampletekk

[dougsyo]

I've got two pianos (White Grand Jr and Rain Piano) which sound great, but are too big for tracking. Are there any Sampletekk pianos that are good for tracking. For someone with a shitty computer that is.

If I were you, the first thing I'd consider was a new computer. I believe that Rain Piano at 710MB or so is the smallest Sampletekk piano there is. If your machine can't handle a piano that size - with a streaming player like K2 - then you have some significant performance or memory issues.

That notwithstanding, if you already have a Sampletank engine (I believe you can get a free download for one if you have SS2 or Philharmonik), get the Piano Collection Expansion Tank from SR. Either that, or get in on the SS2 group buy that's on now, which will get you ST2 engine and Piano Collection to boot.

I also think I may have one or two unused/unregistered ST2LE licenses floating around, but that player is deprecated (XP and PPC Mac only) - PM me and I'll check.

Doug

[funkychickendance]

Sale is a great way to stock up...I'm thinking pretty hard about the Vertikal Pop, although the Steinway Black Grand Ambient and Close are a bargain at the sale price. On one hand, I don't need another piano. On the other...well, duh, at these prices...

Now, salvation will truly have arrived if the Precisionsounds people go for a year-end sale, too.

/fnx

[GreyLion]

I'm definitely interested in some of the Sampletekk libraries if they go on sale or do a group buy. However, I don't own Kontakt, Halion, or EXS24. I do own GS3 Ensemble from the ScitScat deal, but I've never installed it, and probably won't.

I do have FLStudio, though I haven't loaded it yet, and the specs say that it will load these formats.

Anybody here using DW for this, and is there a preferred format of the Sampletekk packages that I should buy if I'm going to try to use it?

[dougsyo]

I do have FLStudio, though I haven't loaded it yet, and the specs say that it will load these formats.

Anybody here using DW for this, and is there a preferred format of the Sampletekk packages that I should buy if I'm going to try to use it?

I have FLS w/o DW, so I can't help you there. What I can tell you from experience: it won't work well uness DW streams or you have lots of RAM. I used EXSC to convert Rain Piano to DimPro sfz format, and it never finished loading before the machine choked. Given that at 710MB Rain Piano is the smallest Sampletekk piano (7CGjr is closer to 4GB, Emperor and Old Lady are comparable), don't count on a lot of success without a streaming sampler.

Their non-piano instruments (renaissance flutes aka recorders, harpsichord, pump organ, Solina and Prophet) are smaller. I believe that unless noted, the Kontakt format are K1, not K2 - potentially easier to use in a third-party player (DirectWave, VSampler, SampleLord, etc).

Doug

[GreyLion]

Thanks, Doug!

If I remember correctly, DW doesn't stream. I seem to have read that it was a much-requested feature, and there's hope that the new dev might add it eventually, but that's all pretty vague right now.

It looks like I'm going to have to figure out another way to go with this. Just trying to avoid buying more software if not needed.

I still want to buy a couple of sets if they get discounted, probably one of the close grands, Rain Piano, the small Rhodes, and both synths. The demos just sound too damn good...

[dougsyo]

It looks like I'm going to have to figure out another way to go with this. Just trying to avoid buying more software if not needed.

IIRC Wusik4 now streams, so if you have that, you just need EXSC to convert. EXSC is good for other things too - for example the IK Piano Collection I mentioned above is ST1 format IIRC, and that can be converted with EXSC.

I've also seen Kontakt2 in the marketplace a few times recently, if you can find a used copy it'd be worth it. The K2 library is pretty good - sufficient that I'm in no hurry to upgrade to K3.

The typical Sampletekk GB sells out to 50% off pretty quickly, so that for $100 you can buy four different pianos (for example Rain Piano, 7CGjr, Old Lady and Emperor, as I have).

Doug

[morelia]

I think Rain Piano upright is practically the smallest Sampletekk piano there is, if even it is too big, then you're pretty much out of luck.

I thought as much

Perhaps he just needs a better computer system...?

Yes I know, but I can scrape by with my abacus. With a little urchin on the way I don't really want to spend more one me.

If I were you, the first thing I'd consider was a new computer. I believe that Rain Piano at 710MB or so is the smallest Sampletekk piano there is. If your machine can't handle a piano that size - with a streaming player like K2 - then you have some significant performance or memory issues.

That notwithstanding, if you already have a Sampletank engine (I believe you can get a free download for one if you have SS2 or Philharmonik), get the Piano Collection Expansion Tank from SR. Either that, or get in on the SS2 group buy that's on now, which will get you ST2 engine and Piano Collection to boot.

I also think I may have one or two unused/unregistered ST2LE licenses floating around, but that player is deprecated (XP and PPC Mac only) - PM me and I'll check.

I do have the piano collection. I just really like the Sampletekk pianos. And I am not a big fan of the piano collection. It'll do for tracking though. Thanks for the offer of ST2LE engine. I might even look at that group buy. IIRC there are new samples in ST2.5.

[P.T.]

I think the SampleTank expansions come with ST2LE.

[GreyLion]

I think the SampleTank expansions come with ST2LE.

Yep, they definitely do. I just bought the Bass Collection, which is on sale for $30 at Musicians Friend.

FWIW, you can get the Piano Collection at Florida Music for $39 here:

http://www.floridamusicco.com/proddetai ... npiano.htm

You have to add it to your cart to see their price. I don't own it, so have no idea how good it is.

Doug -- Again, thanks for all your info. I'll probably eventually end up with Kontakt, since I'm able to get it for a killer academic price. I'm still kicking myself for not getting EXSC when they had the great Wusik promo price. Thought I'd never need it. I was wrong....

[funkychickendance]

Doug -- Again, thanks for all your info. I'll probably eventually end up with Kontakt, since I'm able to get it for a killer academic price. I'm still kicking myself for not getting EXSC when they had the great Wusik promo price. Thought I'd never need it. I was wrong....

ESC is pretty good, and you should watch for a special offer. I'm sure the chances increase toward year-end...I certainly got mine on the second Wusik promo, not the first.

Funnily, I just went and ordered Kontakt 3 due to (a) an upgrade path and (b) a 10% off deal at AudioMidi.com. To me, $225 for K3 seemed like a no-brainer, especially after pumping my system up to 3GB by adding a couple of memory chips (for only $75 )

/fnx

[soulata]

The groupbuy is on.