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True Legato???

If you mean true legato in the way that many Kontakt libraries do it - by splicing together multiple samples (note A, transition from note A to note B, then note B) - then.... no.

At the moment, the EXS engine doesn't have that capability, although way back in the early days of Vienna libraries they did figure out a way to make it happen - by using external MIDI processing (in Logic's Environment I think), to analyze incoming MIDI data and generate controller data which would switch between elaborately configured sample groups in the matching EXS Instruments they provided, and I think this did basically accomplish what Kontakt does with scripting.

I think it analyzed incoming MIDI data, and if a new note was played before a previous note had been released, it would determine the interval between the two notes and send the appropriate MIDI CC to switch to the Group that contained the correct interval-transition samples, then send the MIDI Note to trigger that transition sample. It worked but routing the MIDI was a bit of a hassle, and I can't remember how it dealt with continuous legato playing, or if that even worked at all.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some genius could accomplish this with a MIDI Scripter plugin for Logic, but it would also require that the receiving EXS Instrument corresponded exactly to what Scripter was in place.

I haven't looked too hard at the latest Logic Instruments called Studio Strings and Studio Horns to see if they have legato transitions, but I know they're built on the EXS framework but with a new user interface - basically "skinned" EXS Instruments much like the Drummer Instrument is.

The EXS Instrument framework is surprisingly flexible, with multiple nested "Select Group By" conditions, but building super-complex Instruments can get confusing and the Editor starts to look messy as all hell.

So.... in short: It's possible but not probable that anyone will release true-legato EXS libraries. To do so would require using those Instruments with a Scripter plugin in place at the very least.
 
If you mean true legato in the way that many Kontakt libraries do it - by splicing together multiple samples (note A, transition from note A to note B, then note B) - then.... no.

At the moment, the EXS engine doesn't have that capability, although way back in the early days of Vienna libraries they did figure out a way to make it happen - by using external MIDI processing (in Logic's Environment I think), to analyze incoming MIDI data and generate controller data which would switch between elaborately configured sample groups in the matching EXS Instruments they provided, and I think this did basically accomplish what Kontakt does with scripting.

I think it analyzed incoming MIDI data, and if a new note was played before a previous note had been released, it would determine the interval between the two notes and send the appropriate MIDI CC to switch to the Group that contained the correct interval-transition samples, then send the MIDI Note to trigger that transition sample. It worked but routing the MIDI was a bit of a hassle, and I can't remember how it dealt with continuous legato playing, or if that even worked at all.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some genius could accomplish this with a MIDI Scripter plugin for Logic, but it would also require that the receiving EXS Instrument corresponded exactly to what Scripter was in place.

I haven't looked too hard at the latest Logic Instruments called Studio Strings and Studio Horns to see if they have legato transitions, but I know they're built on the EXS framework but with a new user interface - basically "skinned" EXS Instruments much like the Drummer Instrument is.

The EXS Instrument framework is surprisingly flexible, with multiple nested "Select Group By" conditions, but building super-complex Instruments can get confusing and the Editor starts to look messy as all hell.

So.... in short: It's possible but not probable that anyone will release true-legato EXS libraries. To do so would require using those Instruments with a Scripter plugin in place at the very least.

I seem to remember that the capability to legato was built into EXS, but then it was removed when they came up to Logic V9. It was def a part of EXS, as there was a window tab for the Vienna stuff. I think it was only the Vienna stuff that worked with the EXS legato. I had their Chamber strings, and after a certain update, it just was no longer available. I don’t think it was ever an environment thing. I just stopped using that library in EXS after that. Pity.
 
Yeah, I don't really remember how that VSL EXS library worked - I remember trying it out for about a minute and moving on. I think at that point I had some legato VSL libraries in GigaSampler? Was that ever a thing? In any case, I had no use for it at the time, and by the time I wanted a true legato cello or whatever we were in VSL's own player, and then Kontakt.
 
The new studio brass instruments have (kind of?) legato articulations. At least they doesn't sound like a simple "monophonized" sustain phase as far as I remember. Have to have a look into it again...
 
I had their Chamber strings, and after a certain update, it just was no longer available. I don’t think it was ever an environment thing. I just stopped using that library in EXS after that. Pity.

They never ported it to the 64bit version. For a while i used Logic 9 in 32bit mode when i wanted to use microtonal scales that i've programmed in Logic's tuning menu in combination with VSL instruments.
 
The new studio brass instruments have (kind of?) legato articulations. At least they doesn't sound like a simple "monophonized" sustain phase as far as I remember. Have to have a look into it again...
The strings too..
Would be interesting to find out what’s going on there.
 
No, dgburns, the EXS24 never had True Legato capability built in. VSL however with the EXS24 version of the Cube had a "Performance Tool" that tricked it.
 
If you load one of the Studio Horns Single Instruments from Logics sound library you can definitely hear legato transitions when playing legato. There's even a checkbox to switch them on and off. The instruments are locked like the Garage Band instruments but I'm sure there's an EXS behind it.

Legato.jpg
 
Wow Saxer, that's interesting.I will check that out. GarageBand sampled software instruments have always been dumbed versions of EXS 24, because if you loaded one and then changed the instrument to an EXS 24, it kept the patch.
 
Saxer, I don't think these are true legato, aka legato intervals. When you increase the release time, you don't hear that.
 
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