Instrument Editor Tutorials - Play Now !
The following information is designed to be complementary to the online tutorial which includes automated playback of an actual editing session. Each section has a name that corresponds to the section in the help file. To start the help file (two different ways):
1. Insert the GigaSampler CD-ROM into your computers CD-ROM Drive.
Open up the Instrument Editor and go to the Help Menu.
Select "Run Tutorial".
or:
2. Insert the GigaSampler CD-ROM in your computers CD-ROM Drive.
Double Click on the My Computer Icon in the desktop.
Double Click on the CD-ROM Icon.
Double Click on Tutorial.hlp
Opening the Editor.
There are 2 ways to open the Gigasampler Instrument Editor\Builder.
1. Press the Start button. Go to Programs \ Gigasampler \ Instrument Editor and the program will launch.
(Main tutorials\01open editor1.avi)
2. Double click on the Editor Icon and the program will launch.
(Main tutorials\02 open editor2.avi)
Create New File
To create a new instrument, go to File and choose New. You will be prompted to name the .gig file. (You can rename it at anytime.) A blank instrument will be created, ready for importing samples and editing.
(Main tutorials\03 create new file.avi)
Using the Wizard Tool 1.
The quickest way to get up and running on instrument design is to use the Wizard Tool.
Simple melodic build. The first instrument to build will be a small, 4-sample choir.
From a blank instrument, import the 4 choir samples by right clicking on the default folder in the wave pool and choose Import Samples. Browse the hard drive to find the tutorial cho 21321y2420v ir samples, select all 4 of them and press the open button and the waves will appear in the default folder. (These samples have their unity notes assigned). Press the Wizard Tool button in the toolbar. It looks like a blue wizard hat.
Step 1 - fill in the relevant information. At the very least the name of the instrument should be filled in. Hit the Next button.
Step 2 - Set the beginning and end notes. In this case C2 - C6. Hit the Next button.
Step 3 - Check the Stereo box since these are stereo wave files. Hit the Next button.
Step 4 - Click on "Default Group" and assign it by clicking to the right of "0-127" Hit the Finished button and the samples will instantly be mapped out. The 4 notes will be on their unity note and stretched evenly across the keyboard.
To play the instrument it needs to be saved and downloaded.
Go to file and choose save as, name the instrument and hit the save button.
Hit the download button to hear the choir.
You can now load the choir in the Gigasampler Interface.
(Main tutorials\04 wizard 1 choir.avi)
Using the Wizard Tool 2.
Simple non-melodic build - This will be a set of musical phrases mapped across the keyboard.
The wizard can be used to map out non-melodic sounds such as Drums and Percussion sounds, Sound Effects, Dance Industrial loops and Orchestral Phrases. Unlike melodic instruments, these types of sounds are not limited to specific notes on the keyboard. In this build, the unity notes will be ignored.
From a new instrument, import the Fusion samples to the wave pool. In this example, they are dragged directly from the desktop.
Run the Wizard and name the instrument and hit the Next button.
This time the note range will be different. Set the range to cover at least 8 notes.
Check the "Ignore unity notes" box. This will turn off the pitch tracking and the unity notes (if any) in the samples will be ignored. Otherwise, they would transpose from their unity note or middle C. Hit the Next button.
Check the stereo check box. Hit the Next button.
Assign the default folder and hit the Finish button.
The 8 phrases are now mapped out. To play them, save the file and hit the download button.
(Main tutorials\05 wizard 2 fusion loops.avi)
Using the Wizard Tool 3.
Complex instrument build - This will be a 6 velocity (3 pedal up - 3 pedal down) piano.
To import the 6 tutorial piano directories, it is best to drag them from the desktop all at once. (These are based on the Gigapiano but they have been reduced in size and number for tutorial purposes.)
Import the 6 folders and run the Wizard.
Step 1 - Name the instrument. Next.
Step 2 - Set the note range from A0 - C8. (88 notes of the piano) Next.
Step 3 - Check the stereo box.
Select Velocity from a controller source and set the splits to 4. The Gigasampler sets splits in even numbers so to have 3 velocities for the piano we need 4 splits. The extra split will be doubled.
Select Sustain Pedal from another controller source and set the splits to 2. 1 for pedal up and 1 for
pedal down. Next.
On a complex instrument, it can't be emphasized enough how important it is to name the states. Click on the State Names button and fill in short descriptions of the split states. For velocity, V1 - V3 will work. For the pedal states, up and down will work.
Step 4 - The naming in step 3 will pay off in this window. Assign the groups to the correct spot. For the
Velocities, one of the velocities needs to be assigned to the extra split. Finish.
The piano is now mapped out. You can save it and listen to the results at any time.
Follow the .avi file to see how the velocities and top releases are adjusted.
(Main tutorials\06 wizard 3 build piano.avi)
Drag & Drop Mapping 1.
Simple build - This will be the same fusion loops mapped out by hand instead of with the Wizard Tool. Hand assigning is necessary for instruments (such as drumsets) that have different numbers of velocity splits, dimensions and stereo \ mono settings.
Create a new instrument and import the fusion loops into the wave pool.
In the region map, place the mouse below the keyboard and right click beneath the note you want to create a region under. Select "create new region" and a new region of 1\2 step will appear below the note. Create a total of 8 regions.
Since the waves are stereo, the regions need to be changed to stereo. Drag select all the regions and press the Stereo \ Mono button in the Velocity map. Check the stereo box and check the "apply to all selected regions" box to set all the regions to stereo.
Select the regions 1 at a time and drag the fusion samples on to the velocity map. Use the right mouse button when dragging to ignore the unity notes. You will see the velocity map of each note change from "not mapped" to the name of the sample that has been dragged to it.
Save the file to play it.
(Main tutorials\07 drag & drop 1.avi)
Drag & Drop Mapping 2.
Hi-hat with foot pedal - This will be a build of a 3 velocity Hi-Hat that is opened by a MIDI foot controller. We will use the Edit kit from the East West CD for this tutorial. The Hi-Hat has 3 velocities and 3 foot pedal splits but the Gigasampler needs even numbers so the splits will be set to 4 and one will be unused.
1. Open the Editing Kit.gig - This is on the East West CD. All it is, is the Bob Clearmountain kit with none of the samples assigned. If you didn't install the kit, you can build it directly off the CD-ROM.
2. Create a new region.
3. Make it stereo.
4. Give it 4 velocities with the "Velocity Splits" button.
5. Press the Edit Dimensions button, set the control source to (04) Foot Controller and give it 4 splits.
6. Assign the closed hi-hat samples by velocity to the velocity map. For now, only the tip attack hi-hat samples are needed. Since there are only 3 velocities needed, velocity 3 will be assigned to the top 2 velocity splits. Drag select the top 2 splits in the velocity map and drag the velocity 3 hi-hats to them.
7. There are 3 opening states of the hi-hat. Closed (CL) - Somewhat Open (SO) - Open (OP) that will be controlled by the foot controller. Since there are 4 dimension splits, the Somewhat Open (SO) will be assigned to the middle 2. Drag select the middle 2 and assign the Somewhat Open samples to the velocity map. Select the last dimension and assign the Open samples to it.
(Main tutorials\08 drag & drop 2.avi)
Drag & Drop Mapping 3.
Kick Drum - Dry and Ambient - This will be the kick drum from the Editing Kit. The kick drum was sampled both dry and with ambience. The ambience will be switched in with the mod wheel.
1. Open the Editing Kit again.
2. Create a new region and make it stereo with 2 velocity splits.
3. Press the Edit Dimension button and select Mod wheel from the source controller list. Fill in the description and the State Names. These names will show up in the dimension blocks.
4. Assign the kick drum samples. Velocity 1 and 2 dry to the dry section of the Mod wheel dimension and Velocity 1 and 2 ambient to the ambient section.
Save the instrument and play it. The Mod wheel will switch between the dry and ambient samples.
(Main tutorials\09 drag & drop 3.avi)
Layered Instrument.
Piano & Choir Layered - This will be 1 velocity of the tutorial piano layered with the tutorial choir. (any two stereo or 4 mono instruments will work)
1. Import the 4 tutorial choir notes into their own folder. Import 1 of the velocity levels of the tutorial piano into it's own folder.
2. Run the Wizard Tool. Set the note range to C2 - C6.
3. In step 3 of the Wizard, set the control source to layer. With stereo samples you get 2 layers.
4. Assign the piano folder to one layer and the choir to the other. Hit the Finish button.
The instrument is now mapped with the piano and choir layered. They will play together. You can adjust the levels of the individual layers with the pan and attenuation controls. You can even assign a controller to control the attenuation. You could pan the choir to the right and piano to the left. The next tutorial will deal with how to do this.
(Main tutorials\10 layer instrument .avi)
Cross-fade layer Instrument.
Cross-fade phrases - This will be one note with two of the fusion music phrases assigned to it. The Mod wheel will cross-fade between them.
1. Import two of the fusion samples into the wave pool. (fusion4 & 5)
2. Create a stereo region.
3. Edit dimension and choose layer from the controller resource.
4. Drag one sample to the velocity map on layer one and the other to layer two.
5. Open the case properties window and choose the mix \ layer tab.
6. Set the attenuation control to the Mod wheel (or any controller you want) on both layers.
At this point we have two phrases playing back at the same time and the Mod wheel lowers the volume of both at the same time. To make them cross-fade, check "invert polarity" on one of the layers. That's all there is to it. Save the file and play it back. (If the instrument is saved and downloaded, you can perform edits in real-time and hear the results instantly.)
(Main tutorials\11 Crossfade layer instrument .avi)
Sub-Mixing
You can use the attenuation control to control the level of individual samples on one MIDI channel and set MIDI controllers to control these volumes. This is used extensively on the Drums 2 library. A set of 16 MIDI faders(real or virtual) can control the individual volume of all the drums and cymbals and the ambience levels.
To practice this, map out 4 of the fusion loops and open the Case Properties window and choose the mix layer tab. Select a region and set the "attenuation control" to one of the available source controls. Do the same for the rest of the regions but give each one a different source control. You need to have hardware or virtual MIDI controller set to each of these sources. Now you can set the individual volume of the 4 fusion loops in real time by moving the MIDI fader \ controller up and down. The attenuation control is not linear because it is set up to do cross-fade loops.
(submix instrument 1.avi)
Multiple Instruments
A .gig file can have more than one instrument, each with it's own bank and patch change. Right now, you have to create the instruments from within the editor. You can't import an outside instrument into an existing instrument yet. That will be in a later version. For now, you can create or copy a new instrument in the instrument map. These multiple instruments share the samples in the wave pool. This allows you to have a several variations of an instrument without using a separate set of wave files for each one. This will save space and help keep things organized.
On the full release version of the Drums 2 kit, instead of having several separate kits that each use the same wave files, they will be combined on one .gig file and accessed with program changes. Otherwise, each kit would be a separate .gig file and the kit would take up several CD-ROMs instead of just one.
Example 1. Create a new Instrument
Load up the Drums 2 kit from the East West CD.
To create a new instrument, right click on the instrument icon in the instrument pool and choose "new". Give the instrument a name and hit OK and a new empty instrument will appear below the original. You can create as many as you need. You can start mapping the samples used on the first kit to build the new instrument. You can switch back and forth between the instruments by selecting them in the instrument pool. (Multiple instruments 1.avi)
Example 2. Copy Instrument.
Load up the Drums 2 kit again.
To copy the current instrument, right click on the instrument icon and choose "copy" this time. Right click again and choose "paste" and a copy of the drum kit will appear below the original. You can now make changes to the new kit that will not affect the original one.
(Multiple instrument 2.avi)
Download Instrument
You can load instruments to several MIDI channels in the Editor with the Download button and the MIDI channel status window. The Download button is used to assign an already loaded .gig file to a MIDI channel for play back. The Channel Status window is used to load a .gig file from the hard drive to a MIDI channel.
Download - With a .gig file already loaded, select the MIDI channel(use the drop down arrow to the right) you want to play the instrument on and then press the Download button
Channel Status - Press the Channel Status button. Pressing any of the MIDI channel buttons will bring up the Windows explorer. From there, browse the hard drive for a .gig file and press Open. The .gig file will be loaded into the MIDI channel. You can do this for all 16 MIDI channels.
(download and channel status.avi)
Window Management
Using the window menu, you can manage different .gig files the same way you would on other Windows 95 programs. You can select, cascade, tile, minimize and arrange the icons close them with the Windows menu. Open up several .gig files and play with the windows to get used to how they work.
(window management.avi)
Filtering
The Gigasampler supports resonance filtering that can be velocity sensitive and attached to MIDI controllers. You can have separate filters on each sub-region if you want. To use the filters, select the region(s) or sub-region(s) you want to use the filter on and open the Case Properties window. Select the filter tab and adjust the settings and hit the "Apply Filter" button. The changes can be heard in real-time.
The cutoff, min cutoff and the resonance can also be adjusted in the region map. The settings of the filter are detailed in the reference manual.
(filters.avi)
Combined Editing
The following avi file shows all the components of the Editor being used. As you can see, you can edit on a macro and micro level ranging from editing all the parameters of every note down to editing a single sub-region. The regions are selected in the region map and the sub-regions are selected in the velocity map and dimension section. The edits are performed in the Case Properties window and with the toolbar buttons in the region map. Most parameter editing can be done in the Case Properties window but if you want to quickly increment the settings graphically by note range, then the toolbar buttons and drag tools are indispensable.
(Combo 1.avi)
Release Trigger 1
Piano with Release Trigger - This will be a 1 velocity piano with the staccato release samples that play if you let off the note quickly. The release samples, are real staccato samples of the Nemesys Gigapiano.
If you hold down the notes or use the sustain pedal, the release samples will not play but if you let off the notes quickly, the tail of the staccato samples will play as you release. You can hear the ring of the piano as well as some of the dampers coming down quickly.
1. Import the velocity 3 directories of the tutorial piano as well as the release trigger directory.
2. Run the Wizard tool, name the piano in step 1 and set the range from A0-C8 in step 2.
3. On step 3, check the stereo box and set the first two controller sources to Sustain Pedal and Release Trigger.
4. Assign the groups to the proper places and press the Finish button
5. Give the Release trigger a slower attack This creates a crossfade between the sustain and the release trigger.
6. In the Case Properties window, go to the Response tab and give the release trigger a fast decay.
Release Trigger 2
Choir with release triggered ambiance - This will be the 4 sample tutorial choir. When you release the notes, the reverb tail will play back. This feature is useful for classical instrument libraries that include hall ambience in the sample. Instead of having to play the whole sample to the end to hear the beautiful hall ambience, you can release trigger a sample of the hall ambience. This requires editing a copy of the samples and cutting everything out but the ambience tail. This works best with ensemble instruments and organs. Solo instruments tend to sound like an ensemble as the release crossfades with the attack.
1. Import the tutorial Choir Notes and the Choir Reverb tails into the Instrument Editor.
2. Run the Wizard Tool , Enter a name in step 1, set the note range from F3 to C6.
3. In step 3, check the stereo box and set the first control source to Release Trigger.
4. In step 4 assign the groups. Put the Notes on the bottom values of the Release Trigger and the Reverb tails on the top values. Press the Finish button.
5. Give the sustain notes a slow release and the reverb tails a slow attack.
6. Go to the Response tab in the Case Properties window and set the release trigger decay to slow.
7. Save the instrument and play it.
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