E-Mu ProteusX Operation Manual page 164

10 - Appendix
The Proteus X File Converter
Tascam GigaStudio
The Nemesys Gigasampler was the first product that became GigaStudio. Its sampler
software played endless waves (technology developed and licensed from Rockwell)
directly from disk. Gigasampler does provide looping, and that is good. Gigasampler
uses the DOS disk format, since it is a Windows computer program.
Nemesys then expanded their product line to include the Gigastudio, which is essen-
tially Gigasampler 2.0; It has an improved interface, added functionality, and greater
polyphony. Gigasampler and GigaStudio are very similar - we will refer to them as Giga.
The basic Instrument unit on Giga is the Instrument, or .gig file. A gig file can hold up to
128 Instruments; they hold the parameters and the wavedata to be played. An
Instrument holds a maximum 4 (GigaStudio maximum 8) keymaps, arranged in a
horizontal mapping system called Regions (same as a Keygroup on Akai samplers,
except they do not overlap). You can have a Region for every key on the keyboard, and a
Region can specify up to 4 (8 for GigaStudio) samples (called Layers). Stereo interleaved
samples are supported (they take up two Layers, of course), but a Region cannot hold
both Stereo and Mono samples. You can also specify up to 32 velocity splits (wow), but
this is lessened the more Layers you use. The envelopes are semi-regular PADSR's.
Giga also supports Performance files (.prf in Giga 1.0, .gsp in Giga 2.0), which are essen-
tially macros that load Instruments into the different MIDI channels. The Proteus X
Converter supports the Giga 1.0 .prf format, as well as 2.0 .gsp GigaStudio files.
There are quite a few commercial Giga libraries that use a special compression
algorithm; these files won't permit .wav extraction, and make the file smaller in size by
about 20%. These .wav files aren't looped.
One very interesting thing about Gigasampler is that the file format had a copy-
protection feature on it. A sound-development company would be able to produce files
that cannot be loaded unless a code is entered; after that, the sound resides in that
computer while being authorized by that code. This could have helped protect the
company from having pirated samples floating around. Interestingly, GigaStudio does
not retain this protection, although it gives you some hard time dialogs that post
warnings.
SoundFont
Introduced in 1993, the SoundFont sample-based synthesis format has become a
standard with the proliferation of the Creative Technology sound cards. SoundFont
technology is a sample format that was invented by E-MU for the purpose of creating a
flexible wavetable synthesis solution for Creative Labs. E-MU added their expertise and
created a solution that would be embraced for consumer and professional applications.
SoundFonts are .wav file samples that have been transformed by a SoundFont editor,
such as Vienna, into MIDI-controllable instruments. They're also referred to as .sf2 files,
patches or programs, and are generally put together in groups known as SoundFont
Banks, which can contain definitions of up to 128 instruments and one drum set.
Emagic EXS-24 Mark I and Mark II
The Emagic EXS-24 is the internal sampler that is available for Emagic's popular Logic
DAW. It also comes in a VST flavor called the EXSP-24 that can be used within or outside
of Logic.
EXS-24 files can exist on PC- or Mac-formatted disks. The Proteus X Converter can access
and convert both types, as it can view both PC and Mac drives.
The Mark I and Mark II use the same file format; the Mark II just has more features. The
EXS-24 uses the .exs file extension, although, especially in the case of Mac files, it is not
164 Proteus X Operation Manual