KVR Audio

memyselfandus · Post by **memyselfandus** » Tue Jan 26, 2016 4:43 pm

What ever happened to TASCAM GigaStudio?

marce · Post by **marce** » Tue Jan 26, 2016 4:52 pm

Garritan bought it.

memyselfandus · Post by **memyselfandus** » Wed Jan 27, 2016 11:31 pm

Forgot about that. did they discontinue it?

flugel45 · Post by **flugel45** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 5:10 pm

Discontinued. And pretty much forgotten.

Those of us who still have Giga files load them into Kontakt, or one of the 3rd party players like Samplelord or G-Player.

Otherwise, it's a dead format. Even if they decided to resurrect it, I can't see any dev wasting valuable resources going down that deserted road.

I don't know what Garritan was planning/thinking when he bought it.

vintagevibe · Post by **vintagevibe** » Sat Jan 30, 2016 10:41 pm

Garritan only bought certain underlying technology. They did not buy the actual Gigastudio application. Tascam, the company that has Cakewalk under its auspices, took Gigastudio, which was the most powerful sampler ever developed at the time, and killed it. They turned it into a spreadsheet and Kontakt knocked it out of the market. It was already dead when Garritan bought its carcass.

keyman_sam · Post by **keyman_sam** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 6:58 am

Such a shame - I have fond memories of Gigastudio 3. My puny computer at the time could handle GS3 heavyweight libraries without difficulty compared to Kontakt and the like.

The interface was dead simple to use, no fuss, no mess. I still miss the convo. reverb. Such a damn shame. Imagine what happened to all the wonderful libraries devoted to GS.

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 7:00 am

Man, that's a blast from the past!

musiclover55547 · Post by **musiclover55547** » Tue Feb 02, 2016 11:23 pm

Here is the real reason for GigaStudio's demise: Copy Protection

http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=1770
Then, prior to the release of GigaStudio 3, Tascam made a decision that affected all sample library developers.

Sample developers had asked Tascam to create a copy protection mechanism so that their samples in GS3 would be protected. After all, Tascam had copy protection for GigaStudio. The developers needed it, too. But Tascam decided no, there would be no mechanism for protecting the library developer’s samples because it interfered with the customer’s ability to do creative programming.

When Tascam made that decision, as it was publicly well known at the time, EastWest chose not to develop the Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra in Giga format. Instead, they developed QLSO and many other popular libraries using Native Instruments’ Kompakt player, where after installation, the samples could then be used in Kontakt for more customized programming and manipulation by the composer.