Conversion to sfz or gig files

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stanlea
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Conversion to sfz or gig files

Post by stanlea » Sun Jul 03, 2011 5:10 pm

I'm trying to solve some problems (not all...) with soundbanks :

1 LS can't play some sfz or gig files that I have downloaded (a message says LS cannot find the samples)

2 I use Extreme Sample Converter under Wine and it works fine. But sometimes the conversion (from nkm or exs24) gives good results, sometimes the banks seems to load fine, but doesn't produce any sound (both in SFZ, SF2 or GIG format).

I don't understand why, but as SFZ is just a text file, is there a way to tweak things inside the file, or tips for making it works ?

typewriter
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Re: Conversion to sfz or gig files

Post by typewriter » Sun Jul 03, 2011 9:13 pm

If you convert files with keyswitches it may be the case that you have to press a keyswitch first before you can hear anything at all since sometimes the conversion kills off the default keyswitch.

stanlea
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Re: Conversion to sfz or gig files

Post by stanlea » Sun Jul 03, 2011 9:56 pm

Thank you for answering but..hem... what is exactly a keyswitch ?

typewriter
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Re: Conversion to sfz or gig files

Post by typewriter » Mon Jul 04, 2011 1:43 am

In some patches you have more than one sound / articulation, e.g. staccato, sustain, pizzicato etc.

To switch the sounds the patches sometimes use keyswitches. This means another key on the keyboard is used as "switch". So you could play staccato sounds press C0 once and then play sustain.

Fantasia shows the keyswitches on its keyboard.

Other problems with your sounds not loading could be:

You are using the wrong LS engine. LS does not recognize if you load an SFZ or giga sound. You have to pick the right engine first and load the sound afterwards. Otherwise you'll receive an error message. Frankly I didn't know that the first time I tried to load SFZ files and got quite frustrated... ;-)

Your SFZ file does not find the samples because the path to the samples ist wrong. You can open the file in an editor and check where the file is looking for samples

stanlea
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Re: Conversion to sfz or gig files

Post by stanlea » Mon Jul 04, 2011 10:20 pm

I've already checked your suggestions, but I found no errors in the sample paths, and I select the good engine.
I tried to compare the sfz with another working one, I did not notice any differences. The syntax is quite simple.

typewriter
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Re: Conversion to sfz or gig files

Post by typewriter » Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:03 am

If the path to your samples is correct I have no ather idea.

Maybe Andreas can help?

Andreas
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Re: Conversion to sfz or gig files

Post by Andreas » Sat Jul 16, 2011 8:55 am

typewriter wrote:Maybe Andreas can help?
Maybe it's still the paths: linux has a case sensitive file system, whereas Windows hasn't. So some sfz files have paths or filenames that don't match the case of the real paths and files on disk.
Other than that I don't think I can help without some example file.

stanlea
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Re: Conversion to sfz or gig files

Post by stanlea » Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:25 pm

mmm thank you Andreas, I'll look another time at the names, more carefully. If I don't find something, may I give you a link by pm to text the sfz by yourself ?

jsevi83
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Re: Conversion to sfz or gig files

Post by jsevi83 » Fri Oct 07, 2011 1:49 pm

I am also using Extreme Sample Converter to convert some .nki files (with a WAV sample folder) to a format that LinuxSampler can recognize. Which of the following would be the best option? I am new to this...

- Gigasampler bank
- Gigasampler instrument
- Gigastudio 3 bank
- Gigastudio 3 instrument
- SFZ

typewriter
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Re: Conversion to sfz or gig files

Post by typewriter » Sat Oct 08, 2011 10:09 am

This depends on the complexity of the source material.
Frankly - you have to try - and compare the results with the original.

You won't have banks in Kontakt so converting to "banks" would not make sense.
I would give the older gig format a run - all old VSL samples are in this format.
ESC is also a good sfz converter.

But as I said - you have to try it out.
I had mixed results with conversions from NKIs. Even with old EWQL SO samples.

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