Anybody know if the upcoming version 4 of Extreme Sample Converter (currently in the works) will support 'direct conversion' to .UVN (Tyros 3 & 4 format)?

James, I just visited the Extreme Sample Converter website and see they've got a 50% off Xmas offer. When I add 'Extreme Sample Converter' to the shopping cart it comes up as $52.46 US dollars (37.50 Euro). Is this price 'after' the 50% off?

Also, anybody here familiar with or use " Sample Lord "? In addition to a stand alone edition, it's also offered as a bundle with "Extreme Sample Converter".

Because version 4 is due out for release soon, I'm also wondering how much will be charged to upgrade from 3.6 (current version ) to version 4.

I'm exploring the idea of converting akai/vst samples to Tyros 4, so advice & recommendations are much appreciated. Thanks.

Yep, I paid 120 Euro a long long time ago for my copy.



Yes, I have that too. Anything you want to know just shout. I used it extensively on my V-Machine.



Best to send him an email. I have never paid for any update so far, but I'd be very happy to pay this time around if he is going to charge. It's really good software..!!!!



Well you really can't go wrong here.
Tell you what, leave it with me for a few minutes and I'll sample the Universe sound from the VSTi - KORG M1 Legacy Collection and export it as Tyros format for you to try get into your T4.

Regards
James

Ok, here's the famous Universe Sound in Tyros format straight out of Extreme Sample Converter. I've not adjusted any settings that maybe required, so let me know if you have any problems.
http://www.irishacts.com/misc/Universe.S999.rar

Regards
James

James...Would you please post a sample MP3 of that sound...
AND are you going to do a lot of the sounds for T$ from various vst's?
Thanks,
Lee S.

Hi Lee


I'm surprised you don't know it. It's one of the most recognisable sound there is. There's existing demo's of it available everywhere on the net.

Check out this clip for example. It's the very first sound you hear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZmNEiNVGkc&feature=related



No, I was just showing that ESC can convert VSTi sounds to Tyros format. If I develop something for the Tyros, it would be all original sounds. I've no set plans to do that either at this moment in time.

The last time I developed sounds for the Tyros, piracy was rampant and I didn't even cover my costs. People shared the sounds for free while two other people sold my own sound for less than I was selling them. In all my years I never saw so much piracy so quickly.

I lost a lot of money on that, so I ain't in a hurry to try again. At this moment in time it's only an idea I'm thinking about.

Regards
James

James...Sure now that I hear it...
Don't blame you on the sound sets issue...

I still do enjoy my sounds I bough from you:
Irish Grand, D Flute, vocal assault and I think a Trumpet too. All on PA2XPRO..

SO...question based on what you know...will these sounds I bought work on the PA3XPRO (or whatever it will be called, whenever it comes along? Just do an educated guess?
Thanks,
Lee S

Hi James. Unfortunately the hectic holiday schedule didn't allow me the opportunity to attempt loading your Extreme Sample Converter converted to TVN format 'Universe' sample till just now (Monday).

I used the 'Yamaha T3 converter' to convert it from TVN to UVN and was able to load the sample (no prob) into my Tyros 4. I'm happy to report that 'Universe" sounds just the way I remember it years ago played on my Korg 01WFD. Man, hearing that brought back early 90's nostalgic memories for me.

Realizing it's possible to convert & import AKAI + other sounds to Tyros4 has me now seriously considering purchasing 'Extreme Sample Converter' or 'Sample Lord-Extreme Sample Converter Bundle' now. I just need now to contact the developer to find out whether the upcoming version 4 will support direct conversion to UVN.

James, because piracy has become so prolific, I fully understand why you wmight develop cold feet over creating & offering sounds for Tyros 4 for sale. Yamaha has now developed an elaborate instrument identification system which only allows their Tyros 4 sound packs to play on 'one uniquely identified' Tyros 4 instrument. I'm wondering if Yamaha would share this piracy protection system with 3rd party sound developers. Because of concerns of 'sound pak' competition from 3rd party developers, I sort of doubt that, but who knows. Thanks for bringing light to this subject and for all the valuable info you've shared. - Scott

Scott,
Yamaha sharing that algorythm??
LOL, LOL, LOL,
But, it was a great idea!
Lee S.

With KORG it's not easy to say. They have a 100% track record for breaking compatibility when it comes to Workstations, but don't seem to do that with Arrangers.

So... I'd say compatibility will be retained, but then again, anything is possible.

Regards
James

Perfect... Well there you go. That opens the Tyros up to a world of new sounds.

Regards
James

I own some top notch Eastwest and Yellow Tools libraries. Believe me, when it comes to samples, nothing can beat these guys. The libraries are simply amazing and I often brag about them (can't help it ).

I have no idea how I could convert these sounds to Tyros format. That would be cool, but I suppose it's not easy. I have a Tyros 2. I also think that by converting the sounds, I would be breaking copyright laws, although not sure.

Think about it, if that could be done, Yamaha , Korg etc would have done it already and resell the sounds as expansion samples for their keyboards.

The trouble with many VSTi sample libraries is, due to streaming, little effort (if any at all, these days!) has been made to make the sounds RAM efficient. GB's just for ONE sound, at times!

If you want to load in a pretty decent variety of good sounds into your Yamaha (or any other arranger with a sampler), you are better served looking back a few years at older Akai libraries, which were smaller RAM machines, and sound developers spent a LOT of time optimizing the sounds to take as little RAM as they could get away with. Some of these are quite excellent, even by modern standards.

James, I know you have a pretty decent Akai library. Just how well does this sample translation tool convert things like velocity layers into Yamaha format? Do you find yourself having to spend a lot of times remapping and tweaking these? And does the tool do anything to import the voice programming (ADSR's, LFO's etc.) from the Akai version in, or is it samples only?

My K2500 has an Akai import, and when things are simple one layer things, it does a pretty good job on just the samples and multisamples, but a lot of layered and vel-layered stuff required HUGE amounts of tweaking to get right, and then you STILL had the issue of all the envelopes, etc.. Does this help in any way?

I guess at least if you don't care too much about RAM efficiency, the modern samples are great because they are so long, they don't really NEED much programming as simple one layer things, but there is still MUCH to do to get a good translation beyond simply the sample import, in my experience.

BTW, I am SO sorry to hear about your piracy issues. I've posted on this issue many times, often at loggerheads with you (me, I don't see much difference between stealing a sample out of another sampled keyboard and stealing a sample set from someone that got the sample out of another sampled keyboard!) but it's obvious that piracy has decimated the once thriving sample industry. At least computer based sample products have a fair degree of protection built in (most big sample collections, the data is one block that is protected) but keyboards have yet (with the Tyros as the only exception) to offer data security. Have you ever been in touch with the major players, and discussed using a common sample based security system like Yamaha have? This 'unique identifier' seems to be the only way that talented programmers like yourself can work with hardware samplers any more without the first sample set you release turning out to be the LAST!

Maybe Yamaha could implement an iTunes Store model of vending original samples to customers? They get a piece, you get a piece, but no-one can wholesale copy the data...

Once upon a time, the sample industry was healthy. Broadband has decimated it. Same thing for style creation, honestly. It USED to be much better, now it's just a few tiny houses hanging on for dear life. Without universal copy protection for hardware keyboards' data, the only time you see anything new is in the ROM of a new product. That sucks!

not sure, I think that as I bought my libraries, I could convert and use as I deem fit , as long as I'd make only a personal use(supposing that it would be easy enough to do the conversions). Actually Eastwest libraries are extremely hard to copy and download, first because they are huge (check out their 'Pianos' library, even the economical 'Gold' version is 60 gb , the full version is about 3 times as much ! ). But also ,they have a very strong registration process, with an I-lok. I am no hacker so I would not know, but I know that on P2P programs, these libraries cannot be found working. Which I think is a good thing, otherwise these guys would be out of business and there would be no more amazing products.

I agree about older Akai libraries being pretty good even by modern standards. Your Kurzweil blows out of the water all the Tyros keyboards, for sample handling. I had a K2000 a long time ago and to me it was like owning a spaceship. A beautiful instrument. Back then, there wasn't anything that could touch it.

The Tyros 2 sampler, compared to the sampler of your K2500, is a joke....beside the 1 gb ram, which doesn't really matter much as WAV files eat up 1 gb RAM very quickly...

I was referring mostly to the creation of NEW sound libraries, there, Y/N.

An iTunes Store model would be a boon to those trying to create new stuff. Mind you, it would also be a good place for those that HAVE created new stuff to prove that others may be copying (by sampling the audio outs) their original content, as it's pretty easy to show, at least with recording acoustic waveforms, an easy correlation between the original and the copy. Then simple banning of the copy infringer pulls the financial incentive for doing so out from under them.

Converting older sample libraries for your own personal use I would think comes under any 'fair use' provision, but taking older libraries, converting them then offering them for sale should definitely only be done with permission (and a recompense) to the original sampler. It's a HUGE undertaking to create a coherent multisample set, especially of an acoustic instrument. No one that takes on this task should ever have their work sold by someone else with no licensing fee.