Callum Hoskin
Senior Member
Is there a way to programme true legato patches in EXS24???
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 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.
The strings too..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've been trying to work this out too. I wondered if it was a "faked" legato - some manipulation of attack time or similar.
FWIT, the manual describes it as "polyphonic true legato."
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208461