Giga Studio direct from the source.

[PaPa Chalk]

The buzz around Namm this year was definitely GigaStudio160. Many world renown composers, musicians and companies such as Hans Zimmer and Lucas Arts were glued to the Nemesys booth. While many attempts were made to draw these individuals to other exhibits they were all in vain. GigaStudio160 is all that was promised and then some. Users of this forum can congratulate themselves on being instrumental in helping Nemesys create a product inspired by users’ ideas. Nemesys developers paid a great deal of attention to our wish list, as well as posts in the forum.

What we will do in the following paragraphs is answer some of the questions posted in the forum as well as dispel some other the myths being perpetuated across the web.


At first glance the interface has more of a windows environment feel. This is great because there is much more information available to you all at once. All windows are resizable enabling you to customize your desktop. One amazing feature we found was the search component of GigaStudio160. It’s an intuitive parsed search engine. Due to the converged nature of GigaStudio160 it is inevitable that users will end up with literally thousands of sounds on their hard drives. This search engine/ librarian enables you to search for specific strings of information. You can search by sound type, embedded details such as composer ,dates, categories , also you can search using modifiers or wild cards. For example we typed strings and all string instruments on the hard drive came up. Then we applied a modifier, we typed “strings not violins” and all strings exclusive of violins came up. We then typed Dave Govett and all instruments created by Dave Govett Popped into view. We could then audition any of these samples before loading them into GigaStudio160. You can see the possibilities that this opens for organizing and auditioning your sounds. With regards to conversion GigaStudio160 is very open ended. It now comes with the ability to instantly convert akai, sound fonts and wavs as well as many other sample formats via third party software. What we mean by instantly is, no longer is there a need to extract and convert sounds. GigaStudio160 automatically detects the sound format on the cd and it appears in the instrument window. From here you drag and drop the sound on a gig channel like any other gig instrument. Another neat feature is the ability to rip wavs from cd and drop them directly onto a gig instrument without the need to go into the instrument editor.

There is a neat little polyphony indicator which shows the number of notes currently in use. We were amazed to see the polyphony count as a seasoned pianist played the Giga piano. Upon checking the polyphony meter there were over 90 voices in use. That in it self was great but, what truly amazed us was the fact that this sound was being streamed “ OVER A LAN NETWORK!!!”. Which brings us to the point of networking abilities. GigaStudio160 comes out of the box with the ability to be networked. The significance of this is obvious if you have an edit suite with more than one room. You can house all your sounds on one centralized database and access them anywhere on the network.

A key innovation is the effects and automated mixing abilities. GigaStudio160 comes with a reverberator/muti-effects, Chours/flanger , tap delay/pan. All of which are very lush. We noticed the reverb has a smooth ambient tail , unlike many of the harsh ending software reverbs on the market today. The effects responded with zero latency. All of these effect can be routed in a variety of combinations through the fully automated mixing console.
The console it self enables you to control level, aux sends/receive, pans and even real-time pitch.

http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif
whew…..this is all we’ll post for now please feel free to post any questions. We realize that we have not addressed the new instrument editor and wave sample editor yet. We will do so soon.

Stay tuned….

To set record straight we think the upgrade price for existing gigasampler owners to GigaStudio160 is a heck of a deal. $149 u.s . When you consider the polyphony alone you would have needed two extra site keys just to attain this. Not to mention all of the other features that come with GigaStudio160.
http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif
PaPa Chalk & Desound

[Bill]

> GigaStudio160 comes out of the box with the ability to be networked.

Instruments can currently be streamed over a LAN. How is this different?

[john grant]

I take it the verb can be recorded by GStudio\'s capture function, or equivalent thereof?

[PaPa Chalk]

Good question Bill previously Giga instruments needed to be resident on the client hard drive. you can now access instruments from any mapped drives in real time. We forgot to mention that while the seasoned pianist was playing, others were accessing the drive for sounds at the same time. The 90 voices already eclipse the former GigaSampler. The speed on the Gigastudio160 is fantastic. Things seem to load/play much faster. \"ZERO LATENCY\" I love the fact that you can audition before loading.
You had to be there watching this pianist play the giga piano. He was hammering away at the keys he was impressed himself. he did wide variety of songs slow fast rolling. It brought many people to the nemesys booth when he did this.
http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif
PaPa Chalk

[Kenn159]

The fact that you can load other format sounds into giga studio with out converting them.and that sounds can be acessed , organized and stored much easier, Real time direct x effects And the higher polyphony [although I dont think Ill get 160 voices because I just have a pen 3 450] and all the other improvements makes this a crazy deal for $149 from my giga sampler . Im sold , congrads Nemesys , It looks like youve got another winner.

[This message has been edited by Kenn159 (edited 02-08-2000).]

[mdfmuse]

\"It now comes with the ability to instantly convert akai, sound fonts and wavs as well as many other sample formats via third party software.\"

Nemesys has recently been advertising the GigaStudio as capable of loading/converting ROLAND CD-ROMS (as a built-in function, not as a third-party software add-on). In fact, the latest Keyboard (U.S.) magazine ad for GigaStudio states this Roland conversion ability on the box pictured in the ad! In addition to Roland, the ad shows conversion ability for EMU and Kurzweil.

What\'s up with this? No more built-in Roland conversion?

[PaPa Chalk]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mdfmuse:
\"It now comes with the ability to instantly convert akai, sound fonts and wavs as well as many other sample formats via third party software.\"

Nemesys has recently been advertising the GigaStudio as capable of loading/converting ROLAND CD-ROMS (as a built-in function, not as a third-party software add-on). In fact, the latest Keyboard (U.S.) magazine ad for GigaStudio states this Roland conversion ability on the box pictured in the ad! In addition to Roland, the ad shows conversion ability for EMU and Kurzweil.

What\'s up with this? No more built-in Roland conversion?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

sorry for the misunderstanding if you\'ve noticed on the the ad in keyboard, it says \"format coverters in \"addition to the akai 1000/2000 conversion utilities\" (s/convert). Emu, Eos, Kurz, and Roland are
few of the formats.
Don\'t worry you will be able to convert roland.
http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif
PaPa Chalk & Desound

[Arch Stanton]

Here are my main questions:

---Have they improved the instrument editor? Can you cut and past regions between instruments? Cut and paste case property settings? batch process the samples?

---Do the filters sound any better?

---Has the weak signal via capture been addressed, ie, have they at least made it adjustable, beyond the +6db setting?

---re effects, are these three the first in a series that will later be sold separately by Nemesys? Will you be able to use directX
alongside NemFX?

--lastly, when will it be available?

thanks,
arch

[PE]

Are bank change and programm change now supported?

[elle]

Hi Papa,

What is the hardware platform needed for all of this? As a reality check: what hardware was used in Namm. And we talking 100Mb Ethernet networking, aren\'t we?

Marketing wise I seems ridiculous to sell the soft for $149 upgrade, when all the studio big-timers are lining up. What\'s the catch here. This sounds too good to be true! Like that free Internet account? :-)

[Bespoke]

I just ordered the reduced-price full version of Gigasampler from Nemesys\' web site. If I decide to upgrade to GigaStudio, can I download the upgrade from the Net or will I have to buy the packaged product? The reason why I ask this is because I live in Australia and don\'t wat the hassle of waiting for the package to arrive.

[Cody]

What is the upgrade for LE users? I heard something about a Gigastudio 96? And what is the upgrade price to the full 160?

[killerbobjr]

>>>>
Good question Bill previously Giga instruments needed to be resident on the client hard drive. you can now access instruments from any mapped drives in real time. We forgot to mention that while the
<<<<

Huh?!? I can do this right now with GS and my 100Mbps LAN off the server, no clicks, pops, or errors.

What I want to know is if GStudio finally implements what was supposed to be implemented in GS, namely the mutual exclusion feature.

[Bill]

And... How is Gigastudio 96 different, other than less polyphony?

[Arch Stanton]

right, I second what Killerbobjr asks -- I almost forgot -- that\'s important, too, the so-called hi-hat mode. Have they added that?

[mihmar]

What about EQs? Does it have EQs on each mixer strip? Or are the EQs available only as insert fx (plug in)?

mihmar

[elle]

If that will be the case, thren I\'ll rest my case :-)

[Kenn159]

Someone on a listing above mentioned why would Nemesys be offering the upgrade from giga sampler full to giga studio for only $149 and that It seemed like one of those free internet deals , to good to be true . I think what we are seeing is a company operating with character and with good business pratices . They could operate like a lot of other company\'s out there in the music industry that sell you a product and then gouge you everytime you need a proprietary option or upgrade. I think when you sell a product and offer free upgrades and a fair price tranfer path to a new product [like from giga sampler to giga studio] you leave the customer feeling that they have been treated fairily and that they are not being taking advantage of and inturn that creates a more dedicated clientele that is more likely to be with you for the long haul.
And as a end user I know that you can run your self broke trying to keep everything current and upgraded , it nice to know there are company\'s operating within fair business pratices

[john grant]

SO: WHAT ABOUT THE VERRRRB?????? REAL TIME OR NEY?????? I\'M ASKING FOR THE SECOND TIME? COULD I GET AN ANSWER???

[PaPa Chalk]

There is a capture function john we didn\'t get a chance to do in depth tests with effects and capture at namm. Someone from nemesys is going to answer that question and some of the others. It has basic eq as far as i know for now. The way gigastudio is designed now is very open ended, it looks very easy for third partys or nemesys to create more add on features effects etc. Should be a very intresting year? More on the editor soon it\'s great.
http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif
PaPa Chalk

[mitchb2]

I still can\'t get an answer: will there be further Gigasampler support and development, or are we being forced to upgrade to Gigastudio if we want an Editor that works?

[Kenn159]

Mitch to answer your question ,the last time I talked to Nemesys a week ago they said that the will be continuing with the giga sampler line also , and they will call the full version giga sampler that most of use own ...giga sampler 64...[I guess the 64 stands for 64 voice polyphony] They are also decreased the price of giga sampler since the release of giga studio.

[TbEnr]

gigastudio will be only for win2000?
or still supports win9x architecture?

[seedmuse]

What about other bundled software? I read about a loop editor and possibly more sounds. Do we get these with the upgrade also?

Matt

[Bill]

> whew…..this is all we’ll post for now We realize
> that we have not addressed the new instrument editor
> and wave sample editor yet. We will do so soon.

OK We\'re ready...

[Joris Vincken]

Check out the new Gigastudio pages on the Nemesys site http://www.nemesysmusic.com/gigastudio.html (\"http://www.nemesysmusic.com/gigastudio.html\")

[PaPa Chalk]

Whew hoo.... unbelievable people, we thank you again. We can hardly keep up with the onslaught of questions. Thanks for the supportive emails and phone calls. We\'re taking a little breather from the phone to post on the forum. Please hold tight for further details. We will attempt to address many of these questions in the days to come, but please be patient. We finally got some better quality screen shots from Nemesys. http://northernsounds.com/gigastudio/mixer.html (\"http://northernsounds.com/gigastudio/mixer.html\") http://www.northernsounds.com/gigastudio/effects.html (\"http://www.northernsounds.com/gigastudio/effects.html\")

Because of the overwhelming response for gigastudio. We will be putting up an order waiting list so sign up so you can be reserved a copy of gigastudio. As an added bonus for users of this site we will be bundling a free biggagiga cd (value $30) (\"http://www.northernsounds.com/store/Sample__CD_sBigga_Giggas.html\") for those who buy the upgrade and a free vr sound giga module ($249) (\"http://www.northernsounds.com/store/Sample__CD_sPercussion.html#item_VR_Sound__Giga_Mo dule\") for first time gigastudio purchasers. This bonus offer applies to the first 50 reservations in each respective category. http://www.northernsounds.com/form.html (\"http://www.northernsounds.com/form.html\")
PaPa Chalk & Desound


[This message has been edited by PaPa Chalk (edited 02-15-2000).]

[This message has been edited by PaPa Chalk (edited 02-17-2000).]

[elle]

Does this count also for the waiting list orders placed directly on Nemesys site?
Cause that was what I did already yesterday.

[PaPa Chalk]

Sorry elle this only applies to reservations made with Northern Sounds Source. http://www.northernsounds.com/form.html (\"http://www.northernsounds.com/form.html\")
http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif
PaPa Chalk & Desound

[This message has been edited by PaPa Chalk (edited 02-15-2000).]

[This message has been edited by PaPa Chalk (edited 02-17-2000).]

[Dave Of NemeSys]

Most of these questions are answered on the web site and throughout these threads. I will put together a long response to most of these questions as soon as I can and post it.
Take care
Dave of NemeSys

[john grant]

The screen shot provided of Gstudio shows something called \"reverb\" in the top left corner. I think. So: does that mean it HAS reverb? Or is it more like the box of Kellog Corn Flakes showing strawberries on the box cover .... they\'re not inside.

[PaPa Chalk]

Yes it has reverb John. This is the area where you would select the effects, notice there are four spot for effects here in this area so you can stack them on an instrument.
http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif
PaPa Chalk

[Kenn159]

I have a question about polyphony .Im sure alot of people on this form are curious about how much polyphony they will get with there specific machine running giga studio 160. Could you give us a few examples for reference . for instance my machine is a pentium 3 450 with 128 megs of ram with a seperate 66 megs persecond UDMA IDE hardrive dedicated to giga sampler and a superduper ultimate supreme maxed out ultra fast millineum chip, OK the millineum chip part was bull , but it seemed to be the latest and greatest when I bought it 6 months ago ,now in comparison its kinda like the little engine that could . I think I can ,I think I can .

[john grant]

Can orders be placed now? And how?

[elle]

You can order on the Nemesys site\'s waiting list, but then you (snif, snif) loose out on the extra Northernsounds goodies.

I learned that being to fast not always pays off:
first I went for the $US349 deal (one week later GS was $US299), and now this.

aaahhhh...living on the fast lane has it\'s price:-)

[Doug]

I agree with Ken159- it would be nice to know what specific hardware configuration has been proven to yeild maximum polyphony. Even though Gigastudio won\'t ship for a while, I need to budget for hardware that has been TESTED and KNOWN to perform well. I plan to use Gigastudio in professional work, i.e. tight deadlines, no time for last-minute workarounds.

I assume that SCSI drives are still necessary for minimum latency. In my experience, formatting SCSI drives with partitions for specific sample sets improves performace noticably. This is still the case?

Thanks for your time....

[IOComposer]

Here\'s a question that I haven\'t seen asked or answered anywhere else:

What if I own the full version of GigaSampler, but only want to upgrade to the GigaStudio 96?
How much will that cost?
Thanks.

[elle]

Let me brainstorm here:

If Gigastudio is indeed getting as complex as it is announced, maybe one should consider writing a \"Practical Gigastudio Handbook\" with lots of practical tips&tricks. In fact this could be a collaborative project edited from this forum. In my view, each chapter should have an separate \'specialist\' editor (sampling, editor, hardware, interfaces, midi, ...)which should edit the related input received from this forum besides writing his own stuff. In fact Northrensounds could publish it and reward the writers with ...etc, etc..

[Hans Adamson]

Good idea!
To start with Northern Sounds could add a new category: \"Tips and Tricks\", where anyone who wants to contribute can post his/hers hard-earned insights. The tips and tricks category could be subdivided into \"the Editor\", \"the Sampler\" etc.

Hans

[PaPa Chalk]

Excellent. we\'ve thought about it before. It\'s now time to make that special section.
First we\'ll start with gigasampler, as we all know Gigastudio is not yet released.
Should be up soon.
http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif
PaPa Chalk

[PaPa Chalk]

Just did an update with a tips section.
http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif
PaPa Chalk

[This message has been edited by PaPa Chalk (edited 03-02-2000).]

[nous]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Kenn159:
Someone on a listing above mentioned why would Nemesys be offering the upgrade from giga sampler full to giga studio for only $149 and that It seemed like one of those free internet deals , to good to be true . I think what we are seeing is a company operating with character and with good business pratices . They could operate like a lot of other company\'s out there in the music industry that sell you a product and then gouge you everytime you need a proprietary option or upgrade. I think when you sell a product and offer free upgrades and a fair price tranfer path to a new product [like from giga sampler to giga studio] you leave the customer feeling that they have been treated fairily and that they are not being taking advantage of and inturn that creates a more dedicated clientele that is more likely to be with you for the long haul.
And as a end user I know that you can run your self broke trying to keep everything current and upgraded , it nice to know there are company\'s operating within fair business pratices<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well... I think the jury is still out for me on the integrity of Nemesys until I see that this is not just a digital remastering of the old \"bait and switch\" routene.

[ yea...for an other $149.00 you gwet one that\'s fully functional? I don\'t think so! ]

I bought Giga Sampler expecting that it would be totally functional...
[key group # and self exclusive]
and bug free and I hear nothing about getting Giga Sampler up to snuff? So...what\'s with that?

What if I don\'t need, want, or care about the extra bells and whistles that are \"proposed\" for the new Giga Studio?

What if I just want what I paid for...i.e.
a working and fully functional product?
Steve

[nous]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mitchb2:
I still can\'t get an answer: will there be further Gigasampler support and development, or are we being forced to upgrade to Gigastudio if we want an Editor that works?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bravo Mitch! Keep it up with me!
I\'m right behind you and also asking the exact same question!
Steve