KVR Audio

sonicod · Post by **sonicod** » Tue May 30, 2006 11:08 am

Hi,

I used to own an ASR10 which I used as my primary workstation and would like to get some use again from my library. I have all the instrument files on my local HD. Questions:

1) What VSTi/sample converter imports ASR10 libraries the best?

2) What VSTi compares the best with the ASR10 feature set? The main thing I am looking for is the legato/mono abilities and the looping options.

Any leads would be appreciated!

Thanks,

geoslake · Post by **geoslake** » Tue May 30, 2006 11:16 am

1) Awave, i guess
2) Directwave, i guess
(doesnt have killer asr effects, but still has nice ones)

sonicod · Post by **sonicod** » Tue May 30, 2006 11:24 am

Has Directwave been released yet? Last time I looked it was only available for FL?

horn · Post by **horn** » Tue May 30, 2006 11:35 am

sonicod wrote:1) What VSTi/sample converter imports ASR10 libraries the best?
2) What VSTi compares the best with the ASR10 feature set? The main thing I am looking for is the legato/mono abilities and the looping options

I own an EPS16+ and since I wanted to convert just a few disks Awave was a good choice for me. You can try out the 30 day-trial version:

http://www.fmjsoft.com/download/awave.html

Or buy a chicken systems translator They offer special versions that convert just one source to one destiny format.

http://www.chickensys.com/products/sw_i ... l+Editions

Concerning your second question: Native Instruments Kontakt imports original EPS/ASR10 Multisamples. They have a demo which is very limited, but you can imagine the features you get when you buy the full version.

horn

sonicod · Post by **sonicod** » Tue May 30, 2006 2:27 pm

Directwave looks like it was released four days ago. I'm downloading the demo now and from the feature set it looks promising.

geoslake · Post by **geoslake** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:37 pm

Yes, working with DW is a breeze. Great gui and more cpu friendly than kontakt. No stupid protection scheme either...

sonicod · Post by **sonicod** » Tue May 30, 2006 10:02 pm

I own Battery V1 and it clicks and pops under load which has turned me off other NI instruments. Also I did play with a demo of Kontact 1 a while back and it didn't seem very intuitive.

I've been playing with the Directwave demo for about three hours and I really like it. It did choke on some of my bigger battery kits with the zones not mapping properly though. I loved the ability to load my old Amiga mods and play with the samples.

Observations:

- The auto sampling feature worked really well on the 5 or so VSTis I tried
- The sample edit window needs a "jump to next/prev zero point" for the loop points
- The Find Optimal loop was a bit hit and miss, but not a huge issue
- Audio quality is pretty good
- Very easy to edit patches and decent UI all round

I'll add Directwave to my shopping list I think. Now to have a play with Awave..

Thanks for your replies guys.

geoslake · Post by **geoslake** » Wed May 31, 2006 10:58 am

sonicod wrote: - The sample edit window needs a "jump to next/prev zero point" for the loop points

+1

chickeneps · Post by **chickeneps** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:50 am

sonicod wrote:1) What VSTi/sample converter imports ASR10 libraries the best?

2) What VSTi compares the best with the ASR10 feature set? The main thing I am looking for is the legato/mono abilities and the looping options.

Kontakt is the only software sampler that loads Ensoniq Instruments. It also is the best at emulating the Ensoniq architecture, because of the following:

Can emulate the Dual Filters
Has more than an AHDSR envelope - uses a Flex Envelope with the same stages (5) as the ASR-10, and can emulate the curves of the ASR-10's envelopes
Does forward looping and bidirectional looping
Has a good set of corresponding effects, integrated in the same way as the ASR-10
The Patch Selects can be turned into Keyswitches, or you can just just use Ctl #70 for extenal patch select buttons

The Kontakt 2 conversion deals with some of the above attributes - past that, you'll have to program your own.

chickeneps · Post by **chickeneps** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:52 am

Translator, along with Awave, supports converting out of and into Ensoniq format. Translator was actually developed 8-9 years ago with the intention on improving the Awave conversions.

sonicod · Post by **sonicod** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 8:24 am

Back in 97/98 I bought some software from Rubber Chicken (early name of chickensys I assume) to convert my ASR disks. Unfortunately the software never worked. It crashed so often it was simply not usable and I think I paid about $99 for it.

I'm unlikely to touch any chickensys stuff at all due to this bad experience.

chickeneps · Post by **chickeneps** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:25 pm

Seems silly to waste your money.

Update to the latest version, try it. If there are any issues, get your $99 worth, let us know what the problems arem we take care of things quickly. It's not that difficult.

We have a 20 year history with Ensoniq stuff, there aren't too many comapnies that know Ensoniq better than us.

Raindog · Post by **Raindog** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:16 pm

Hi Sonicod,
it doesn't make sense not to touch a software because of a bad experience with the developer some 8 years ago. Otherwise Microsoft wouldn't make any sales at all.
I think 8 years ago software was different and even more buggy than nowadays. I owned (and still own) the Rubber chicken CD-ROMS which contained about the best sounds you could buy for the ASR 10.

Though I still own (and won't sell) my ASR-10 I have converted some sounds to Kontakt 2 (which contains Garth's converter technology) and I must say that it works great though the batch import works only since the 2.1 update. But now it's a great tool. All of the ASR functions are translated.
BUT...be aware that a lot of the ASR 10 sound has to do with the effect section so you will have to apply effect plugins (though I sometimes use my Ensoniq DP4

).

So I would say Kontakt is the way to go when you want to carry your ASR-10 into the digital world. It works and it sounds good.

BTW: Garth now that I have you online...

I would have one suggestion for an update of Kontakt's import function: When importing, the folder structure of the CD ROM one converts from should be preserved. Currently when you try to batch import a whole CD you end up with hundreds of sound files which had been neatly ordered in folders on the CD-ROM but not in the destination. This makes batch importing more diffficult than it should be. Just a suggestion.

regards
Raindog

BERFAB · Post by **BERFAB** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:58 pm

Well, it's good to see an assemblage of Ensoniq users. I've owned their stuff since the Mirage first came out and still currently use an ASR-10 Rack with a KS-32 as my main controller for my PC based DAW. Tons of ASR sounds from Garth (at Rubber Chicken/Chickensys)are in my library, and he also sold me the increased RAM for the ASR-10 as well as the ZIP drive to keep everything organized (probably a dozen or so years ago--great company BTW--very passionate about their craft). I really miss the Transoniq Hacker!

From reading the above thread, I'm very curious about getting my ASR sounds into my PC based DAW. I've got Kontakt 2.1 and run Cubase SX. My ASR-10 sounds are all on old 1.4mg floppies or the aforementioned ZIP drive. Even if I had a floppy drive on my PC (which I don't) would I be able to read the data off of the disks?

I should mention that the ASR is only connected to the PC through a USB soundcard (Tascam US-122)and I thus can only record 'live' audio (not MIDI) with it.

Am I missing something here? Is there a way that I could be connecting the ASR directly to a PC? And what's the best way to get my ASR library into the PC so that I can read it in Kontakt?

Much appreciated if you can get me sorted.

Cheers
-B

Raindog · Post by **Raindog** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 8:17 pm

BERFAB wrote:Well, it's good to see an assemblage of Ensoniq users. I've owned their stuff since the Mirage first came out and still currently use an ASR-10 Rack with a KS-32 as my main controller for my PC based DAW. Tons of ASR sounds from Garth (at Rubber Chicken/Chickensys)are in my library, and he also sold me the increased RAM for the ASR-10 as well as the ZIP drive to keep everything organized (probably a dozen or so years ago--great company BTW--very passionate about their craft). I really miss the Transoniq Hacker!

From reading the above thread, I'm very curious about getting my ASR sounds into my PC based DAW. I've got Kontakt 2.1 and run Cubase SX. My ASR-10 sounds are all on old 1.4mg floppies or the aforementioned ZIP drive. Even if I had a floppy drive on my PC (which I don't) would I be able to read the data off of the disks?

I should mention that the ASR is only connected to the PC through a USB soundcard (Tascam US-122)and I thus can only record 'live' audio (not MIDI) with it.

Am I missing something here? Is there a way that I could be connecting the ASR directly to a PC? And what's the best way to get my ASR library into the PC so that I can read it in Kontakt?

Much appreciated if you can get me sorted.

Cheers
-B

Don't mention the Transoniq Hacker

. Those were the days

I don't think you can convert from floppy discs (maybe garth can comment on this though). CDs like the RubberChicken CDs work well. I copied my Ensoniq harddisks to CDs using Toast (a Mac programm) and my Syquest disc through a SCSI card in my previous computer. Now I do the conversion from the CDs. Works very well.
Regards
Raindog

Any ASR10 users out there?