frequently asked questions
- I have an Akai S1000/2000/3000, MPC (or E-mu, or Ensoniq, or Kurzweil, or Roland, or Yamaha, or ANY sampler or soundcard supporting sample upload - e.g AWE, Turtle Beach, Terratec). How do I use my soundcard / sampler ?
Many users are already successfully using our products with their Akais, E-mus, Turtle Beaches, MPCs, Yamahas, etc. You can either use a program called AWave to convert the SoundFonts/Wave Files across, or if you are using a sampler which reads wave files (as many do - see #2), load the samples directly. Terratec have just released a SoundFont converter for the EWS; download it from their website.
Use the following method with a wave file reading sampler:
- Load the sample as normal
- Choose the option 'Save to wave files' and save onto a floppy disk. Create a .mid file for use with your sequencer.
- Insert the disk into your sampler, and load the wave files into it (method varies from sampler to sampler). Map each file in order, starting from the key the midi file starts on (default is C-2). Miss out a key for every interval.
- Load the .mid file into your sequencer (or the sampler itself, if you are an MPC owner), and hit Play.
Our products also support SDS dump; this is admittedly slow, but is very simple, and doesn't require any additional hardware other than your Midi port. Make a cup of tea while you are waiting! WaveSurgeon (Advanced) and Möbius support not only SDS dump, but also SMDI transfer and direct sampler support, which is much, much faster (see list of samplers below).- What samplers read .wav or .aif files direct from disk?
Don't take this as read - consult your sampler manual for details, but there have been reports of success with Yamaha, Kurzweil, and Ensoniq samplers. Many other samplers probably do as well. The new Akai S5000 and S6000 have a PC format filing system, so it may be possible to copy samples directly across.
- When will my sampler be supported directly?
WaveSurgeon currently supports the following formats:
Without mapping:
- Wave format (.wav);
- Aif format (.aif);
- SDS dump (Midi sample dump);
- SMDI dump (SCSI sample dump)*;
With mapping:
- SoundFont 2.0 format (.sf2);
- Pinnacle PBF format (.pbf);
- DownLoadable Sounds (.dls);
- Yamaha A3000 sampler (OS2 required)*;
- Yamaha EX5 sampler*;
- E-mu ESI-32 and 4000 ranges*;
- E-mu EOS samplers with v3 and above software (E4, E64, etc.)*;
- Akai S2000 range (S2000, S3000XL, S3200XL)*;
(* - Advanced / Möbius version only!)Direct support for other samplers and formats will be considered - just email us.
- My sampler isn't supported directly; does it support SMDI?
Although WaveSurgeon and Möbius won't currently map samples on the following machines, SMDI transfer via SCSI works:
- Kurzweil K2000 and K2500;
- Ensoniq ASR-X (Version 2.67 software and above - thanks to R. Cliff Young for this information);
- Ensoniq ASR-X Pro;
If in doubt, consult your owners' manual.
- I have an A3000 sampler, and the samples aren't mapped...
Make sure that the A3000 is connected by midi to your PC, and that the correct midi output device is chosen in the options. Also, ensure that 'Transpose' in utility -> midi is set to 0 (otherwise the mapping will not occur at the correct note), and that 'device#' in the same section is set to 'any' or '1'. If the mapping operation is successful, you will see a 'midi dump received' message on the sampler display.
- I have an ESI sampler, and I get an error message every time I try to send samples...
If you encounter this problem,you may be attempting to transfer to position 0; this is for the sampler's internal use. To cure this, set the offset in the sampler profile to 1.
- Using our products with the E-mu E4 sampler range
WaveSurgeon Advanced and Möbius may be used with the E4 range of samplers, with a few caveats. Firstly, the ESI protocol must be selected. Secondly, the samples are added to the currently selected program. New samples are added after any currently assigned. Thirdly, the program name will not be changed (at the present moment).
- Using our products with the Akai sampler range
WaveSurgeon and Möbius support the Akai S2000 range of samplers over SCSI. These include the S2000, the S3000XL, and the S3200XL. Note that the S3000 range (S2800, S3000, S3200) is not supported, due to incompatibilities in these machines SCSI implementation with Windows. Make sure that the latest OS is used (downloadable from Akai's site - see the links). If sufficient demand exists, midi support for these machines will be added.
- Help! Windows keeps asking for a driver for my sampler...
Simply click OK seven times until Windows loads; this message will not appear again if this procedure is followed.
- I keep being told that ASPI cannot be found.
Download ASPI from the Adaptec website - see our download page.
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