Translating Sampler Files

Industrious sound developers have released sample libraries for each and every one, so there are a lot of great sounds floating around. But each sampler uses its own format for storing presets. Until a few years ago, it was generally not possible to load a preset file from Sampler A into Sampler B or vice-versa.

With software samplers, that has changed dramatically. For instance, Native Instruments Kontakt 3 can load files in the once-popular Akai S1000/3000/5000 format, Roland S-50 files, Kurzweil K2500/2600 files, and many other types.

If you’re still using a hardware sampler, or if your software sampler won’t import the type of file you have on hand, you’re not necessarily out of luck. Two programs are available that can convert many sampler file types to many other types: Chicken Systems Translator (www.chickensys.com) and CDXtract (www.cdxtract.com).

Computers don’t work magic, however. The translation process won’t always be painless, and the results may not sound quite the same on the destination sampler as they did on the original sampler.

WHAT’S IN THE FILE?

A sampler preset contains several distinct types of data: raw audio, audio loop points, a keymap, and preset parameters. The raw audio can almost always be moved freely from one sampler to another, and should sound pretty much identical. However, everything else depends on how the features of the original sampler compare with those of the destination sampler.

Some samplers can play only a single looped region within a sample. Others can play up to eight loops. If you load a preset containing samples with several defined loop start and end points into a sampler that can only play a single loop within the sample, the other loop points will be ignored. Also, some samplers can play back-and-forth loops (which will produce a smoother sound with some types of material), and others won’t.

The keymap defines how the various samples in a preset are laid out across the keyboard. Some samplers can play keymaps that are several layers deep — and there are various ways of playing them. You may be able to switch from one layer to another using MIDI velocity or using a controller such as the mod wheel. The original sampler might even be able to crossfade smoothly between the layers of the keymap. If the destination sampler can’t do that type of crossfade, or if it can’t switch layers in response to mod wheel moves, the music that you play will sound different even if all of the samples are identical.

Various samplers also have different voicing parameters. If the source sampler used a notch filter mode in the preset, for instance, while the destination sampler doesn’t have a notch filter mode, the sounds will be very different. Modern samplers have dozens of parameters that affect the sound. (Indeed, why would you want a parameter that didn’t affect the sound?) And manufacturers usually try to give their instrument some unique features, because that helps them compete in the market.

Even when the parameters of the source and destination instruments are identical — LFO rate, for instance — the meanings of the numbers may be different. An LFO rate of 37 might be somewhat faster on Sampler A than on Sampler B. If the person who wrote the translation software understands the issue, this difference, at least, can be minimized, but other voice parameter issues will remain.

CROSSTALK

With hardware samplers, getting the data into the instrument in order to play it can also be tricky. A few first-generation samplers used 5-1/4" floppy disks, but 5-1/4" disk drives disappeared from PCs 20 years ago, and were never included on any Macintosh. More recent hardware has often used 3-1/2" disks. Apple dropped that format years ago, but you may still be able to find it on PCs if you shop around. In any case, floppies can’t store large files, so they’re a poor choice for storing audio.

Burning files from your computer to a CD-ROM can be a viable strategy, but there are some potential snags. Some older hardware samplers used a proprietary disk format, so they can’t read CD-ROMs formatted on a computer unless special formatting software is used. (Both Translator and CDXtract provide routines for handling this.) Older hardware instruments connected to external storage using SCSI, which has now been replaced by the faster and more convenient USB and FireWire. With a modern hardware instrument such as a Yamaha Motif XS, you should have no trouble storing files from a computer onto a USB drive, connecting the drive to the hardware, and importing the files.

WHY BOTHER?

Today’s samplers are sold with large sound libraries, so there’s often no need to grope around looking for old material. But vintage samples have a coolness factor. Cruising the Internet one day, I spotted the original 8-bit samples from the Fairlight library. If I ever need to cop that Kate Bush or Thomas Dolby vibe, I’m ready.

JARGON JOCKEY

Keymap: A sampler can assign many different samples to the keyboard at once. Each sample plays when keys in its own region are pressed. The boundaries of a region are defined by the highest and lowest keys that will play the sample, and perhaps also the highest and lowest velocities to which it will respond. A keymap is a complete keyboard layout defining the regions of a number of samples.

Loop point: Short audio samples can sound longer on playback when a portion of the sample is played over and over. This is called a loop. The loop start and end points tell the sampler what portion of the sample it should loop.

SCSI: Small Computer Systems interface. An obsolete type of connector (pronounced “scuzzy”) once used to connect computers with peripheral hardware.