GS 3 Instrument Editor?

[Dennis B]

Hello All,
I was just looking through the features of GS 3. It looks like a very nice upgrade indeed.

One thing I don\'t see mentioned is an improved Intsrument Editor which is something of great importance to sound developers and users who do alot of tweaking. Or, is the Editor more combined into the same interface this time around much like in Kontakt?

Personally I\'ve found the Giga Editor in version 2.5 to be quite awkward and not very elegant. I find myself when testing out new samples to go to Kontakt first because it\'s so quick and intuitive. I\'m not flaming GS here .... Kontakt is definitely not without it\'s own problems. It\'s just REAL easy to quickly audition a set of samples in Kontakt for evaluation purposes.

Anyone privy to this aspect of GS 3.... Dave G.- anyone?

thanks for any insight!

[Bill]

> Kontakt first because it\'s so quick and intuitive

Quick and intuitive? I guess different brains work different ways.

[Dennis B]

Quick and intuitive? I guess different brains work different ways. <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Well I\'m sure you\'re right (about the brains images/icons/smile.gif ).

But anyway - Perhaps it\'s because I\'ve been away from Giga for a while and I\'m rusty .... but an example or two come to mind.

The main thing is the \"editor\" is really not a separate entity to the sample player in Kontakt... it\'s part of it. It doesn\'t see the need to resave samples and interrupt the work flow the constantly the way the Giga editor does. The Giga editor needs to have an option simply letting you work entirely in the RAM domain if you have enough RAM in your PC if you wish.

I was working with some mono & stereo samples in Kontakt in the same \"instrument\"... no problem at all. I go to do the same thing in Giga using the \"combine instruments\" command and it tells me I cannot do this and that the samples need to be reconverted or something along those lines.

You want to audition a sample in KTK, you look at your browser, double click and it\'s layed out on the Keymap already. Assigning a root key doesn\'t require going to a separate tab and typing in a C#3, and hit APPLY... just drag the root key orange key and it\'s where you want it quickly.

When it comes to \"creative\" sound design ... KTK has the Giga editor absolutely killed I feel. You want to check out this or that exoctic filter on a set of samples it\'s a breeze.
You want to quickly audition a layer or crossfade, it\'s a matter of dragging a region, grabbing the x-fade bars and you there... no need to resave in order to hear it.

Like I said KTK is far from perfect IMHO ... but I sure hope the new Giga 3 editor is a vast improvement, and I\'d be curious to
see some screen shots of it.

[David Govett]

Actually, they have alot of this solved. I\'ll explain it later when I get back. Gotta run.
Dave

[David Govett]

I\'m back.

Anyway, everything is improved with 3.0 though it still wont be every single thing everyone want. The first improvement is if you want to do some quick tweaks of paramaters, one options you have is the quick edit and this is done directly in the main interface without bringing up the editor. The tweaks can then be saved as an instrument performance without changing the original gig file.

For quick auditioning of samples, the distributed wave feature can be handy. Just drag & drop samples to the keyboard in the main interface. These can then be saved as a gig file if you like. Lots of improvments going into the distributed wave.

Now, one of the most annoying things in the Editor has been the need to resave entire gig files any time you did an edit that drastically changed the structure of the file. (add dimensions for example) Now they have an option to save these settings separate from the gig file so that this doesn\'t happen. The samples are still saved in a gig file but they can now have a separate parameters gig file. I that mode, you may have to hit the reload button but it is now instant. This can be consolidated back to a single .gig file once your done editing if you want to keep things simplified.

The editor actually doesn\'t look drastically different but everything is much easier and quicker to use. Finding the samples is much easier now because you can simply selecte any region or dimension and the sample lights up in the Sample Window to the left. Vice versa too. Select a sample in the Sample Window and then find where its mapped. Also, when the MIDI response is turned on, the dimensions and velocities now light up as they are played.

Adding and reducing dimensions or reording them used to be a real chore. Now, you just open a window and add, delete or shift up & down.
Another cool thing is that all the editing parameters are synched up. If you set the graphic drag tool menu to a parameter, this parameter is also brought forward in the numerical editing window and it shows up on the sample wave form window. (another new feature where you can see the ADSR & other parameters on top of the sample wave form) Where ever you adjust the parameters, the results show up from all these views at once.

So, it doesn\'t look drastically different but it is lot nicer to use now. We are documenting it real well with reference chapters and how-to sections and a DVD tutorial as well. Everyone should be able to get up to speed pretty well. The nice thing is that there is really no learning curve to get up and going if you already know how to use 2.5. When you go deeper though, there is plenty of new stuff to learn about.

Cheers
Dave

[Dennis B]

Dave,
Thanks so much for the info ........... it sounds like quite an improvement, can\'t wait to check it out.

Best wishes!

[Alexcremers]

Originally posted by David Govett:
I\'m back.

The tweaks can then be saved as an instrument performance without changing the original gig file.
<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">That is incredible. I know this from Reason. I\'m so very happy, I\'m on my knees.

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Alex Cremers

[Alexcremers]

Dave, does the GS 3.0 manual comes as a book? I don\'t want to sit and read it on my computer.

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Alex Cremers

[pmuse]

David Govett wrote:

So, it doesn\'t look drastically different but it is lot nicer to use now. We are documenting it real well with reference chapters and how-to sections and a DVD tutorial as well. Everyone should be able to get up to speed pretty well. The nice thing is that there is really no learning curve to get up and going if you already know how to use 2.5. When you go deeper though, there is plenty of new stuff to learn about. <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Then Alex Cremers asked:


Dave, does the GS 3.0 manual comes as a book? I don\'t want to sit and read it on my computer. <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Dave & I are both working on this right now. There will be a printed manual, you bet. We both hope it\'s the best you\'ve ever seen.

Kevin

[Alexcremers]

Great! I know it will be. Good luck!

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Alex Cremers

[Robert Kral]

A printed manual!!!!

This is good news indeed.....hearing that I might even upgrade!!

(Yes....a printed manual might be one of the best new features!!)