GIGASTUDIO

[BOOKUMDANO]

I also posted this question on Roger's board. I'm thinking of buying the Gigastudio 96 or 160. Also the Chicken translator so that I can get all my Roland, Akai, Wav, and Ensoniq samples into one format. The ads and reviews look good. Anyone using this stuff? Opinions?

[ssinitskikpmg.com]

I just began using the Giga LE 1.6. I don't know what the full studio has, but I've talked to one guy who uses it over at Acid Planet, and his opinion was that the full package was not necessary.

 

The LE version has a very good interface, and has many advantages. For example, you can layer instruments (up to 4) per channel. Also, by running my snth on an audio in/board and hooking up the midi cables, I can play all of the gigasamples layered in with my synth. Its great being able to lay in sampled violas and cellos over a synth string. The sound is wonderful.

 

I've only had the program for a week, and I've already begun to recognize its versatility. And by streaming the samples from your hard-drive, you free up a lot of RAM for other applications that you can use with it simultaneously.

 

Before you spend the extra 250.oo on the whole suite, figure out just how much sample power you need. The LE runs just $70.

[dinopop]

I would tend to agree that starting with the LE version and working your way up is probably a smart way to go if you're not sure whether you want to take the plunge.

 

Nemesys have a very generous upgrade policy. (In fact I figured out that it's cheaper for me to upgrade from Gigasampler LE to Gigasampler 64 to Gigastudio 96 than to upgrade to 96 directly - go figure.)

 

The higher level versions do add some nice features (aside from just more midi ports).

 

The Gigasampler 64 adds a midi capture which means you don't have to go through a normal recording process if your using DAW.

 

They also add the ability to route midi channels to multiple audio outs.

 

Have I mentioned I love this product. I do plan on upgrading after the Christmas bills are paid. (Or maybe Santa's listening)

 

-Layne

 

BTW: What is your studio setup PC platform, etc? These are factors to take into consideration as well.

[Ex]

Giga is a great product. The sound quality that you can get with it (combined with large samples streaming from the hard disk) is incredible. I have Gigasampler 64. The only thing that I will warn you of is that if you're using on the same computer as your digital audio sequencer (Emagic Logic, Cubase, Cakewalk, etc) you could run into some problems, depending on the version of the program that you use.

 

Logic and Giga don't mix very well (from my personal experience). I have also read on some user forums that Giga doesn't mix well with some of the other audio programs. In this case, it's best to run Giga on a separate computer all to itself. Giga, however, does work will with non-audio sequencers (perfectly). As a work-around to buying a new computer to run Gigasampler, I use my old version of Cubasis (sequencer only) to sequence with Giga. I then export the file as a standard MIDI file and continue in Logic with Audio and other MIDI keyboards if necessary. Just be warned.

 

If you are using a Mac for audio and sequencing and are buying a PC for Giga only, then all that I said will not be an issue for you. Giga is a great program, I also recommend it highly.

 

Rev E

 

[This message has been edited by Rev E (edited 12-11-2000).]

[Guest]

I am a big fan of GigaStudio and would highly recommend it. Be careful with regards to the Chicken Translator. I'm a registered user. A number of the format conversions are under development and not yet available. Double check with them to make sure what you want to do is currently shipping. I had some stability problems with Chicken Translator. They have been good about sending updates, but I have not kept up on these updates so I don't know if stability would be better on my system.

http://www.purgatorycreek.conm

[Guest]

I'm not a user, but I must say that I'm really impressed by the amount of major players who are buying PC's just to run Gigastudio. These range from Jeff Rona to this month's Keyboard cover story, to Hans Zimmer. The Zimmer endorsement really impresses me (especially with that huge plasma screen!) because that means he now has the entire London Symphony Orchestra on one machine instead of his 40-odd S760's! I'm also glad to hear that he likes the filters on it.

I am rather disappointed, though, that they chose to make yet another proprietary plug-in format. I think that if they had VST or some standard plugin format that there just wouldn't be an issue about whether or not to buy it - you would just have to have it.

 

Buying Gigasampler LE, as a starting place, will be my next main purchase, I think.

[Anderton]

Well, the math is pretty compelling...a good computer and Gigasampler is more than competitive with hardware units, given the capabilities. Thankfully RAM is cheap, or it would be a different story.