Can't stop playing with XLN's XO...Is it just me?

[BERFAB]

Excellent tips, yellowmix. Looking forward to trying these out.

My Noiiz folder was one of the first I scanned. Great stuff in there, but I wasn't sure how to drill down like you suggest, so thanks for that.

I had not scanned my AD/AD2 stuff because I wasn't sure that AD hits were in a recognizable format. I will have to go back and check that out. Other than Battery, almost all of the NI percussion instruments (Damage, Kinetic Metal, Evolve, Discovery series, Studio Drummer, Etc.) are in proprietary formats (.nkc?) and won't scan in. Disappointing especially for some of the stranger hits that live in the Heavyocity titles.

[mxbf]

I demoed it and I think it's very good. Definitely choice.

[mxbf]

I do kind of wish I didn't have to click multiple times to insert a new sound into the part. Like if I could just click in the space map and it would automatically just put the sound in instead of making me click through shit.

[BERFAB]

I do kind of wish I didn't have to click multiple times to insert a new sound into the part. Like if I could just click in the space map and it would automatically just put the sound in instead of making me click through shit.

That would make it difficult to quickly audition sounds in Space without committing, no? And it's really just one more click to insert the sound from Space into the kit.

[yellowmix]

I had not scanned my AD/AD2 stuff because I wasn't sure that AD hits were in a recognizable format. I will have to go back and check that out. Other than Battery, almost all of the NI percussion instruments (Damage, Kinetic Metal, Evolve, Discovery series, Studio Drummer, Etc.) are in proprietary formats (.nkc?) and won't scan in. Disappointing especially for some of the stranger hits that live in the Heavyocity titles.

To clarify, XO won't add or scan ADpak files. What I was saying is that the factory library contains samples used in ADpacks and giving a way to search just for those.

ADpaks are protected similarly like Kontakt protected monoliths. There are two sample monoliths used by Kontakt, NCW is unprotected, NCX is. NKCs are cache files that index where the individual samples are in a monolith. One exception: IR samples are housed in NKR (resource) files along with graphics and scripts.

If a sampler instrument requires "Full" Kontakt (i.e., has NCW files) there's a chance you can get directly to the samples. If the instrument is not password protected then you can re-save it as patch + samples which gives you individual files. This will take up more space since monoliths are compressed. But you get the advantage of using the samples outside of Kontakt.

Note some EULAs prohibit this and have other terms as to how you use them. But if the end result is indistinguishable from EULA-compliant behavior then I think you're working within the spirit of the purpose of a sampled instrument. If I find a particularly tasty locked sample I'll bounce it to audio and save it to my personal library that is segregated from third party ones. I ensure I document where it's from (in the filename and metadata) so it never gets shared (if it's copied to a project for example).

There are some developers who allow this type of usage and I am happy to give them my business. I found this invaluable with 8Dio Mini since I want my tools to index the 5000+ unique samples instead of digging around in Kontakt for them. PureMagnetik and Hideaway Studio are also notable, as are many on Kontakt Hub. Even better are SFZ developers like Karoryfer and Production Voices who commit to an open format.

[yellowmix]

I do kind of wish I didn't have to click multiple times to insert a new sound into the part. Like if I could just click in the space map and it would automatically just put the sound in instead of making me click through shit.

How are you loading sounds into a slot? Once a sound is selected either via map, similarity, or shortlist, there's a tab with a < that appears next to the slots, you click that once and it's loaded into the selected slot.

Are you asking for the currently selected sound to be automatically assigned to a slot? That ends up being the same number of clicks, since you have to select which slot to target first. And since you can navigate all over the map you could be putting a sound in any slot, so you're back to the original behavior plus a click.

[mxbf]

I do kind of wish I didn't have to click multiple times to insert a new sound into the part. Like if I could just click in the space map and it would automatically just put the sound in instead of making me click through shit.

How are you loading sounds into a slot? Once a sound is selected either via map, similarity, or shortlist, there's a tab with a < that appears next to the slots, you click that once and it's loaded into the selected slot.

Are you asking for the currently selected sound to be automatically assigned to a slot? That ends up being the same number of clicks, since you have to select which slot to target first. And since you can navigate all over the map you could be putting a sound in any slot, so you're back to the original behavior plus a click.

the reason I don't like this is because you can't hear the sounds in the context of your beat. it doesn't audition into the pattern so you can't hear the selected sounds in the "SPACE" page until you assign them using the < tab

personally I'd at least prefer the option to be available to "AUTOASSIGN" sounds from the space if someone wants that.

[yellowmix]

the reason I don't like this is because you can't hear the sounds in the context of your beat. it doesn't audition into the pattern so you can't hear the selected sounds in the "SPACE" page until you assign them using the < tab

personally I'd at least prefer the option to be available to "AUTOASSIGN" sounds from the space if someone wants that.

Ah, gotcha. The thing is, XO doesn't want you to have regrets. It's non-destructive at heart. Fortunately, they had the foresight for this workflow and implemented it with the Hot Swap Browser!

If the pattern is playing, look at the slots on the left. Notice the circle that is pulsing when the hit is triggered? Click on that, that is the Hot Swap Browser. Now you can navigate Space, and it'll play the currently selected sample in-place. Like something? Then click the check mark above the circle and it's commited. Have ragrets? Click the X below it, and it's like nothing ever happened.

Also, the two arrows left and right of the circle can audition the Similarity list.

[BERFAB]

I had not scanned my AD/AD2 stuff because I wasn't sure that AD hits were in a recognizable format. I will have to go back and check that out.

To clarify, XO won't add or scan ADpak files. What I was saying is that the factory library contains samples used in ADpacks and giving a way to search just for those.

I see. Got it. More great tips, thank you.
I'm wringing some great stuff out of XO. Fantastic fun tool to be sure.

Cheers
-B

[bob swans]

They just reset all the trial licences if anyones after another play before buying it
https://www.facebook.com/28467761825921 ... 985499818/

[mxbf]

the reason I don't like this is because you can't hear the sounds in the context of your beat. it doesn't audition into the pattern so you can't hear the selected sounds in the "SPACE" page until you assign them using the < tab

personally I'd at least prefer the option to be available to "AUTOASSIGN" sounds from the space if someone wants that.

Ah, gotcha. The thing is, XO doesn't want you to have regrets. It's non-destructive at heart. Fortunately, they had the foresight for this workflow and implemented it with the Hot Swap Browser!

If the pattern is playing, look at the slots on the left. Notice the circle that is pulsing when the hit is triggered? Click on that, that is the Hot Swap Browser. Now you can navigate Space, and it'll play the currently selected sample in-place. Like something? Then click the check mark above the circle and it's commited. Have ragrets? Click the X below it, and it's like nothing ever happened.

Also, the two arrows left and right of the circle can audition the Similarity list.

problem solved! very nice.

[plexuss]

I saw the title of this thread and decided, ok I'll demo it. Now I own it. Amazing. The UX is excellent - it's very intuitive to use and has a ton of features but doesn't bog me down. Normally I don't work with tools like this: samples, loops etc. But XO makes doing this fun - just like the title of the thread. And, the ability to now use all my orphaned single-hits from various places is great! It adds a lot of value to my sample library - I rarely use single-hits and XO now makes those valuable. I was hesitant to pay $180US although now after using it for a few days I think the price is warranted. Better yet I found a license at a great price in forsale. The loops out of XO now supplement my algo drum tools and BFD very nicely. Thanks for the heads-up on this!

[Echoes in the Attic]

Tried it with the new demo. It is pretty fun. I like recording the output of dragging over a bunch of samples, you get some crazy noises that way.

[plexuss]

Does XO discriminate about what samples it imports in terms of ignoring loops, synth sounds etc? Is this in the (RT)FM? Where is the FM?

[yellowmix]

Does XO discriminate about what samples it imports in terms of ignoring loops, synth sounds etc? Is this in the (RT)FM? Where is the FM?

XO doesn't want loops, it's focused on one-shots. With that said, short loops can make it in, not sure what the exact time cutoff is. If it's short it'll accept it and try to categorize it. However, there is a "drumlike" score and it automatically excludes the bottom 10%. So really tonal synth stuff, non-transient FX, vocals, can be found there. Change the slider to 0% and you can play them in the map and you'll see what I mean. On my map they're on the bottom in orange/brown.

As for the manual there isn't really one. There's a PDF quick start guide you can access from the plugin itself in the upper right menu. They intend this to be mostly intuitive and it is IMO, just play around with everything, there are tooltips and they are self-evident. But some people may be scared to mess things up, though you really can't in XO like you can in other software. With that said, they also seem to be providing information via video tutorials which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... ron67NCRgD (click through for the playlist)