Tom Hopkins
05-23-2000, 12:59 PM
All right, this is ridiculous. Anyone wading through these recent threads would think that this was a failed piece of software out of the gate. Nonsense. I should state that I’m not a completely unbiased observer here. I’m not an employee of NemeSys but I am one of their beta-testers and I’ve been working with GigaStudio for the last few weeks. Like most of you, I have not yet received the final shipping version so I had not wanted to step in and say anything before receiving it. Unfortunately, I feel some things need to be said.
First things first: Unless something went terribly awry with the shipping version, there is extensive online and context-sensitive help available in the program. I never bothered to print anything; I was perfectly content to just read it on screen (very comfortable on a 19” monitor). From some of the comments in this thread you’d think there was no documentation at all. This is simply not true. Would it be nice to also have a printed manual? You bet, but the information is there to be had.
Now, on to the more important issue: Does GigaStudio deliver on the promise? Yes; in spades. Without writing a multi-page, embarrassingly gushy review, I almost don’t know where to begin with my praise of this feature-laden sampling powerhouse. Here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order:
1. There are monitoring facilities that give information on CPU usage, polyphony usage, peak polyphony usage, and RAM usage for loaded instruments. I can now see at a glance exactly what’s going on in the system.
2. On a PIII 500 I was able to reliably get 110 voices without note robbing when not using any effects. Using a few effects, I was able to get about 80. I have no doubt that with a PIII 800 you’d get all 160 voices, but it’s very usable with my PIII 500.
3. The new QuickSound search engine is fantastic. You can do searches with qualifiers that can instantly narrow the search for a specific item. This has become a real favorite of mine; I’ve never seen it done better.
4. Excellent mixing and routing facilities. In the MIDI section, Individual tuning of instruments by channel (or assigning any other controllers you like) is now supported. In the (audio) DSP Station it’s possible to narrow the stereo spread of a stereo instrument because there are separate left and right panning controls. When multiple instruments are sent to the same audio inputs, those inputs can be custom labeled (e.g. “horns”). When you click on the detail arrow it lists exactly which instrument are being routed to those inputs. Perfect.
5. My own wish list included Exclusive Grouping Mode for hi-hats. It’s here, and then some.
6. Effects are always a matter of taste but these are high quality effects with no discernible latency. The reverb does better with medium and large rooms than small rooms but is very smooth and natural. I like it.
7. GigaStudio has built-in diagnostic functions in case you encounter problems with your setup.
8. If you’ve got a LAN you can display the drives containing Gig files on other computers on your network and load and play those sounds in real time (limited by the traffic on the network).
There’s way more but I’ll stop here. You get the idea. There has never been anything for sampling (hardware or software) that even approaches this package. Not within miles. Is it perfect? Of course not. For one thing, this is (in many respects) a brand new piece of software. There will be teething problems that will be addressed in the natural evolution of updates. I’d personally like to see the day when the Instrument Editor is an integrated part of GigaStudio, but I’m patient and it works fine for me the way it is.
Anyone who takes the time to learn GigaStudio (with the aid of the online Help files) will be amply rewarded. Not that this program is that difficult to learn; even without consulting the Help files, most things are pretty straightforward.
If WillisBub is returning his copy to NemeSys, that’s his loss. You couldn’t pry this thing out of my hands.
By the way: This was just to add a little balance to recent threads, don’t send questions about GigaStudio to me – address them to NemeSys.
First things first: Unless something went terribly awry with the shipping version, there is extensive online and context-sensitive help available in the program. I never bothered to print anything; I was perfectly content to just read it on screen (very comfortable on a 19” monitor). From some of the comments in this thread you’d think there was no documentation at all. This is simply not true. Would it be nice to also have a printed manual? You bet, but the information is there to be had.
Now, on to the more important issue: Does GigaStudio deliver on the promise? Yes; in spades. Without writing a multi-page, embarrassingly gushy review, I almost don’t know where to begin with my praise of this feature-laden sampling powerhouse. Here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order:
1. There are monitoring facilities that give information on CPU usage, polyphony usage, peak polyphony usage, and RAM usage for loaded instruments. I can now see at a glance exactly what’s going on in the system.
2. On a PIII 500 I was able to reliably get 110 voices without note robbing when not using any effects. Using a few effects, I was able to get about 80. I have no doubt that with a PIII 800 you’d get all 160 voices, but it’s very usable with my PIII 500.
3. The new QuickSound search engine is fantastic. You can do searches with qualifiers that can instantly narrow the search for a specific item. This has become a real favorite of mine; I’ve never seen it done better.
4. Excellent mixing and routing facilities. In the MIDI section, Individual tuning of instruments by channel (or assigning any other controllers you like) is now supported. In the (audio) DSP Station it’s possible to narrow the stereo spread of a stereo instrument because there are separate left and right panning controls. When multiple instruments are sent to the same audio inputs, those inputs can be custom labeled (e.g. “horns”). When you click on the detail arrow it lists exactly which instrument are being routed to those inputs. Perfect.
5. My own wish list included Exclusive Grouping Mode for hi-hats. It’s here, and then some.
6. Effects are always a matter of taste but these are high quality effects with no discernible latency. The reverb does better with medium and large rooms than small rooms but is very smooth and natural. I like it.
7. GigaStudio has built-in diagnostic functions in case you encounter problems with your setup.
8. If you’ve got a LAN you can display the drives containing Gig files on other computers on your network and load and play those sounds in real time (limited by the traffic on the network).
There’s way more but I’ll stop here. You get the idea. There has never been anything for sampling (hardware or software) that even approaches this package. Not within miles. Is it perfect? Of course not. For one thing, this is (in many respects) a brand new piece of software. There will be teething problems that will be addressed in the natural evolution of updates. I’d personally like to see the day when the Instrument Editor is an integrated part of GigaStudio, but I’m patient and it works fine for me the way it is.
Anyone who takes the time to learn GigaStudio (with the aid of the online Help files) will be amply rewarded. Not that this program is that difficult to learn; even without consulting the Help files, most things are pretty straightforward.
If WillisBub is returning his copy to NemeSys, that’s his loss. You couldn’t pry this thing out of my hands.
By the way: This was just to add a little balance to recent threads, don’t send questions about GigaStudio to me – address them to NemeSys.