Sample Conversion

[michieldeiman@hotmail.com]

Hello,

For a few days now I'm struggling with conversion of Akai & Giga Libraries to Kontakt2 and EXS.
It turns out that although they both support these formats the results are stunning differend.
There are for example differend Attack and Release values (for the same patch in the two differend samplers) and somtimes even the tuning isn't right.
Especially the Akai conversions result in spectaculary differences.

So now my question is;"are the conversion result of dedicated software like CDXtract significat better than the conversion of the samplers itself?"

I hope someone can help me with this!

Greetings,
Michiel

[chickeneps]

For full disclosure, I'm the programmer for the conversions on Kontakt2 and one of the third-party convertors (Translator).

Regarding Kontakt2, the best thing you can do is to make sure you are using the latest version 2.1.1.001. I would be extremely surprised if you found any tuning issues, or even attack or release issues, as they were tested by a large beta squad and with many test CD's and files. If you do find any issues, please forward them to NI - they'd like to know about it, and more importantly, they'll address your issue directly and immediately (like today).

My understanding and research is that EXS imports Akai fairly well, more in regards to tuning. I don't think the attack and release works out perfect though, but keep in mind you can always tweak after the fact, and sometimes that's better anyway - you get what YOU want, not necessarily whats programmed.

The above goes for Akai and Giga sources.

To directly answer your question, I don't think the convertors do better then Kontakt2, although I do think they do better than EXS on the whole.

[fugga]

The art of extracting & sampling is all still soooo new to me.
I got hooked after my first encounter with a akai cd, when i cam to relise how many instruments & Hardware synths that i had dreamed on having had been sampled onto CD/DVD so that you can at least get apart of your dream for a quarter of the cost.

I've also recently been experimenting on the difference between akai conversions. I agree that there is a noticeable difference between the conversions.
So far I only own cdextrct. I do plan on buy'n Chicken.System.Translator. in the near future.
Maybe we should team up and review and compare, different conversion methods. anyway...
these are a few methods that i noticed a difference in conversion....
When I Import' ISO direct from disk using battery ....it works .
OR
When i Import the same patch that I extracted using cdxtract4 -> into kontakt format ... it works
Now they both sound great, but yes there is a difference! not a bad difference, just different.

I read through the manual of cdxtract a few times.... and one thing I read said,
that some akai's are tuned to 442khz compared to the usual 440khz.
There is an option for tuning, so I tried it , and yes different again.
I also tried importing direct from akai disk again, but this time I saved the kit threw battery2....
yep- a slightly different conversion again. but i'm not sure if kontakt uses same engine as battery.
so now I got 4 different results.

ohwell , i'm just a happy that we can get a result period.

GOT A QUESTION for GARTH....
I reliase you gunna be bias towards your work.... but in your opinion what is the best way to use akai format...
I.E. direct from disk? or what sample conversion programs?
Also...... to convert to what format? since most samplers except rival programs "kits/progams/banks".

thanks
fugga

[chickeneps]

I reliase you gunna be bias towards your work.... but in your opinion what is the best way to use akai format... I.E. direct from disk? or what sample conversion programs?
Also...... to convert to what format? since most samplers except rival programs "kits/progams/banks".

This is maybe too broad of a question. The best sampler to convert to is YOUR SAMPLER, I guess. =) Most samplers mimic the Akai's functionlity (fairly basic), so that's not a problem.

As far as the output sound of an instrument comparing Akai to something else, they are going to sound different, due to different filters, different D/A convertors, etc. I think of it as as different lighting on the same subject - the subject is the same, but it's just shaded a bit differently.

Never be afraid to tweak!

[michieldeiman@hotmail.com]

Hi Garth and Fugga,

Thanks for both your reactions.

I did some extra tests today, and it turns out; it is actually the conversion of an Akai Cd in Kontakt2 that courses a tuning problem. Most of the paches works great, but a few are some cents out of tune. (as far as know, it only occures with this particularly cd!)
I converted the cd with EXS, Kontakt1 and Kontakt2 and only the Kontakt2 was out of tune. Is it possible that it has something to do with Logic Preferences? (maybe there is something wrong with the cd!)

Greetings,
Michiel Deiman

[chickeneps]

Do this:

1) With K2, find a particular program that you know is out of tune a bit
2) Drag that from the browser to the rack
3) It should, play it and verify it is out of tune
4) While the Instrument is loaded, go into the KConvert Temp folder outside of K2
5) You'll see an .ak1 file that represents that Program
6) Email it to me at nisupport@chickensys.com

I'll check that for you.