What sample format would you like...

[FAL]

*cough* VSTi or DXi *cough*

[7XL]

What about Gigasamples?

That's my choice.

[george]

Another vote for Gigasamples, specially v3! (drool).

[george]

Forgot to add... I gigasamples.

[Lunch Money]

I went for sfz, though sf2 and ds-404 are my alternate choices. Mostly because I'm skint and don't have a commercial sampler.

Greg

[Squids]

Thanks for taking out HighLife

I tried to put HighLife and a few others on the poll list but I didn't know you could only have this number of options in the poll. But, I do want to know who would like to have library support for HighLife. The poll choice number limit was a bummer inh this case. I can't even go back and swap any of them either so... those are the choices in the poll but people can post other requests here.

[Squids]

I voted Kontakt too.

I was also thinking of converting the Sonic Synth libraries when I get them to Kontakt format anyway using Extreme Sample convertor - is that allowed? It might mean I don't need to get the Sampletank engine installed at all if I can (I'm always wary of installing more software than the bare minimum I need).

It is allowed for your own use as long as it isn't redistributed to others. You may not get the exact same results because Sonic Synth sounds sometimes are proprietary to ST. Sonic Station however was designed specifically to work natively with Kontakt, HALion, EXS etc.

If you check out the other esoundz group buy thread poll you can vote for Sonic Station with an extended wave bank as a possible next group buy. This doesn't exist as a product release but the extended wave bank part is a large selection of vintage synth waves that we've used as part of Sonik Synth 2. That along with Sonic Station in Kontakt is "sort of" a bit like Sonik Synth 2 in the raw. It's not exactly the same but it would still be good if you like to do your own patch programming in Kontakt.

[george]

Thanks for taking out HighLife

I tried to put HighLife and a few others on the poll list but I didn't know you could only have this number of options in the poll. But, I do want to know who would like to have library support for HighLife. The poll choice number limit was a bummer inh this case. I can't even go back and swap any of them either so... those are the choices in the poll but people can post other requests here.

Adding "Other" in the poll would have been enough Nevermind.

[Squids]

Thanks for taking out HighLife

I tried to put HighLife and a few others on the poll list but I didn't know you could only have this number of options in the poll. But, I do want to know who would like to have library support for HighLife. The poll choice number limit was a bummer inh this case. I can't even go back and swap any of them either so... those are the choices in the poll but people can post other requests here.

Adding "Other" in the poll would have been enough Nevermind.

I had other in there too. Actually, what happened was I hit submit accidentally and then did one edit of it adding more. When I went to submit it again it said there were too many poll choices so I just deleted them from end (incl other and others I had wanted in this poll such as DR008, Highlife...). Then after I hit submit the second time I looked at the list it would allow. I went to edit a third time and it wouldn't let me change any of them (to "other" for example). Now I can't go back and change it. So, it is only what it is as far as the poll goes. Oh well. If I knew that before I posted the poll would be different. It would at the very least have "other". Next time...

[TVD]

The more soundfonts the better.

Interesting, not one vote for Machfive.

In other words, Kontakt is still king of soft samplers (for now)?

[aMUSEd]

One reason I like formats like Kontakt and EXS (for Logic's sampler) is they leave the original wav (or aiff) files in a folder intact and just add an additional file containing info pertaining to how they are arranged in the instrument. That makes it easy to take out individual wavs to edit or use somewhere else or even to fix them.

Formats like SF2 and GIGA although relatively common are closed off and need a dedicated programme such as Awave or Vienna to get into them.

[Sascha Franck]

Not sure what I'd like.
I only use non-embedded formats for my stuff (EXS, Kontakt, and pretty much rarely HALion), but SF2 isn't all that bad either because almost any sampler will import them more or less fine, and in the end (after conversion) the used audiofiles will be non-embedded anyways.

Thing is, depending on the material presented, if I were you, I'd try to take advance of some of the individual format's options.
Soundfonts for instance don't allow any real filtering or LFO stuff because the format is still more or less based on some oldschool shit soundcard.
At least there's nothing like a "common" filtersound or whatever along all those apps loading or converting soundfonts.
So in that case you'll lose a lot of sonic options.

I own Emagics Xtreme Analog and Xtreme Digital libraries for the EXS, and while the used waveforms are of pretty good quality, they're nothing THAT special either.
But, what makes them patches really nice is the way they make use of the EXS's options (mind you, they're even only in EXS MKI format).

So, in case I'd buy a sample library not only dealing with natural sounds (for those filters and such might be slightly less important, other features like keyswitching however might become more of an issue), I'd defenitely prefer if the patches were made for my specific sampler.

Also, there's some folks (such as Wizoo and AMG)) selling their libraries for different samplers on different CDs, even if the samples aren't embedded - this I can't find too nice.
Let's say I'd purchased a library in EXS format, why would I have to pay again for it just because I switched to Kontakt?
Yes, Kontakt would load the mappings, but all the individual sampler settings usually get lost.

However, i'd say, go for one version with all the non-embedded formats (EXS, Kontakt, HALion, Mach5 (?)) on one CD (or DVD) and for some other versions using embedded formats. Maybe Giga and SF2 would be OK.
That way almost all people could get some format that fits their needs.

In case you have to decide for one single format, I'd say SF2. Even if it wasn't the format I'd like to buy.

[rsmus7]

I voted sf2,
cause I had only 1 choice.
I can use Reason NNxt too.
and ST2 if it is possible to load in the ST2 LE that comes with the bundles (in my case the groove capsule).