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To Giga or not to Giga...

Spartan

New Member
After purchasing and getting comfortable with several sampler-bundled libraries - GPO, Miroslav, EWQL Gold - I'm about to take the plunge a get a dedicated sampler. Any suggestions, comments, preferences, rantings or ravings are welcome in this debate.

Availability of respective libraries and ease of use are the main issues with me.

Thanks,

Spartan
 
I'm rather biased, of course, but I think Giga still has the most sample libraries going for it. Most libraries are built in Giga and then ported to other platforms, but many sound their best in Giga. The translated libraries never work 100% of the time. (Feel free to prove me wrong on that one.) You might want to wait for the plug-in version coming soon, GVI.

Not to mention GigaPulse, iMIDI rules, etc. Giga is super cool. Only losers don't use Giga. Rah, rah, sis boom bah. Bugs bunny, bugs bunny, rah rah rah.

How's that for an impartial recommendation?
 
I'm rather biased, of course, but I think Giga still has the most sample libraries going for it. Most libraries are built in Giga and then ported to other platforms, but many sound their best in Giga. The translated libraries never work 100% of the time. (Feel free to prove me wrong on that one.) You might want to wait for the plug-in version coming soon, GVI.

Not to mention GigaPulse, iMIDI rules, etc. Giga is super cool. Only losers don't use Giga. Rah, rah, sis boom bah. Bugs bunny, bugs bunny, rah rah rah.

How's that for an impartial recommendation?

To comment on some of your points:

1) no translated libraries work 100% of the time, whether hardware or software sampler.

2) Some libraries that come out in GS format may be ported to another format, but from there are programmed specifically for the new format. Other companies program their library from the ground up in other formats.

3) Today, many libraries are in GS format, and your move to GVI, once it releases, will help sustain those libraries. However, with respect, the newer hotter libraries are not in GS format, they're sample players in either Native Instruments/HALion format or, as VSL has ably demonstrated with Vienna Instruments, in their own proprietary formats. This is a growing trend and by 2007, more companies will have their own independent VSTi players.
 
Giga sounds great. It's a great sampler. It's just a pain in the ass that you basically have to dedicate a whole computer to get the most out of it. GVI will change all that. I'm looking forward to it as I always found the Gigastudio sound to be quite pleasing.

K2 rocks. It sounds awesome too. I use it everyday now and it comes with a kick ass library too.

basically it will be a two format world for a while. Get both.

The new VI's that are coming out will change the game. But also there's a lot of smaller guys that have kick ass libraries that won't be able to afford their own VI's so they'll use k2's scripting like Westgate has to synthizes their own version of VI's.

It's going to be a great time in the next few years. We're lucky.

Jose
 
There will be VIs that use Giga as the engine under the hood. Already TASCAM and Sonic Implants have these coming, and more announcements are on the way. I still say that the hottest libraries are developed on Giga then ported to other samplers because the Giga Editor is good at what it does.
 
There will be VIs that use Giga as the engine under the hood. Already TASCAM and Sonic Implants have these coming, and more announcements are on the way. I still say that the hottest libraries are developed on Giga then ported to other samplers because the Giga Editor is good at what it does.

Giga 2.54 is the new Akai. For now, GS has the largest base, and for anyone who wants to develop you go with the largest install base, as that's also the base with the largest import filters.

The decision has to do with math, not the editor.
 
Thabks to the need for CP, most developers are abandoning Giga in order to encapsulate their libraries. This is a tremendous disservice to those of us who prefer to roll our own variations of the original samples. But Tascam has not addressed the issue, and Kontact 2 is still very unreliable.

I have booth, Giga is my sampler/librarian, and Kontact 2 plays the Garritan Strad and Giovani. I have not been able to purchase any new libs for Giga for some time now, the new stuff I've seen is either already well-represented or is the cheaper, one-or-two-layer sample libs.

So if you want a sampler, check carefully to match your needs with existing libs for either platform, as there may not be a lot more for Giga.
 
I'm rather biased, of course, but I think Giga still has the most sample libraries going for it. Most libraries are built in Giga and then ported to other platforms, but many sound their best in Giga.


Hmmm...how do you figure? If you're talking about sheer number of libraries then I think Akai still rules over any other format. If you're talking about relevant current high-end libraries, then QLSO, QLSC, Stormdrum, Stylus, VSL VI, GSO, Garritan Stradivari, Colossus, RA and on and on seem to indicate otherwise.

Sonic Implants Orchestra libraries are pretty much the main reason why someone would be forced with GS nowadays.

I second Kontakt 2 as the wisest choice.
 
I appreciate all of the comments. Fact is, it may be a situation where there is too much of good thing - too many choices - which equates into too much analyzing which = too much fault-finding.

For anyone in the same boat, I might offer the following suggestions:

Determine what sounds/samples you need to fill out your library or, in my case, to finish those compositions that are lacking for want of better/different instruments - find the holes. Get to know your current libraries so that you can be as specific as possible to your needs.

Compare, compare, compare - mercifully, you'll be using DSL for downloads (I'm stuck in "dial-up-hell"). Again, be specific to your needs. Redundency is fine, but don't let those incredible woodwinds tempt you to buy a certain library when your goal is to upgrade your solo strings.

Determine available formats, then get user feedback regarding stability and ease of use for each format.

Count the pellets in your wallet and then...

Well, like I said, too much of a good thing. If you've got the peltage, buy both... buy it all. Otherwise, throw out some more posts and do it all over again.

Thanks again.

Spartan
 
Soundsmith is right about developers encapsulating their libraries to prevent copy protection. Companies have gone to Kontakt for a stand-alone player -- which is why it seems that Kontakt has so many libraries -- but soon they'll have GVI to consider as well. And many are.

But yeah, when it comes down to it buy the sampler that plays the libraries that you want.
 
Soundsmith is right about developers encapsulating their libraries to prevent copy protection. Companies have gone to Kontakt for a stand-alone player -- which is why it seems that Kontakt has so many libraries -- but soon they'll have GVI to consider as well. And many are.

But yeah, when it comes down to it buy the sampler that plays the libraries that you want.

Companies went to Native Instruments for players because Tascam turned them down, and also had no Mac implementation so that the players would be dual platform. I know two companies who approached Tascam and I was one of the two. There were perhaps others.
 
There's a bi-platform plug-in version of Giga in development which is better suited to this application. If the request was made today, we would have a solution. I know of several major sample developers who are in discussions with us right now.
 
I use both K2 and GS3 and its tough running 2 sampler engines at the same time on the same machine. Which is one of the reasons I deplore the recent craze for big sample houses to start developing their own playback engines. Can only make matters worse for everybody. Hoping that independent vendors might start providing cross-grades to ease the situation.

Howard
 
There's a bi-platform plug-in version of Giga in development which is better suited to this application. If the request was made today, we would have a solution. I know of several major sample developers who are in discussions with us right now.

As I pointed out in "another" forum....seems like a case of too little too late to me. Good luck making up the 3 plus year head start that Kontakt based products have.

Oh, and yeah...I'm definitely biased against GS...seeing how they snubbed us Mac users for so many years.
 
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