converting Yamaha A-series samples

[mhschmieder]

Before I invest too much money, just wanted to know if anyone has successfully converted Yamaha A-series sample libraries to Mach Five (presumably using ChickenSys).

I'm new to sampling and bought a few sample libraries intended to use with my Motif ES 8 workstation and a USB CD-ROM drive.

I immediately duiscovered that would be a full-time job, not to mention unacceptable load times. So I am very close to heading into soft sampler land.

The problem is that one of my A-series discs ("Voices of Istanbul" from Q-Arts) loads onto my iMac (running Tiger) as "Unix executable files" so I'm not sure it's even legal(?) to load this disc onto a computer vs. a dedicated sampler that recognises Yamaha A-series sample libraries?

Remember, I'm very naive about sampling. Someone told me there are all these byzantine copy protection mechanisms that can cripple your attempt to reuse the library in a different context. Is this what is going on here, or is it just the case of an unrecognised file extension that nevertheless might pass through ChickenSys?

My "Roots of South America" A-series sample disc is rejected by both my Motif's CD-ROM drive and my iMac's Superdrive. Maybe it's a flawed disc. It looks either all-full or all-empty as there's no "edge" on the recorded side to indicate what percentage is being used (I can't necessarily tell a 100% full disc from a 100% empty disc).

I have two others from SoundEngine.com but they are shipped solely as WAV files and thus will require the hard work of piecing together my own sample libraries, whether I do it in hardware or in software. Presumably it is easiest to wait and do this in Mach Five vs. on my Motif followed by a sample library conversion in ChickenSys.

I ordered MOTU Symphonic Instrument and MX-4 last night from Sweetwater, so it is now more likely than before that I will settle on Mach Five vs. Kontakt (or GigaStudio on a dedicated cheap second-hand Wintel machine) as my soft sampler. I'm not keen on the non-resizeable all-in-one window but maybe that will change soon. I do prefer its workflow layout, and the problem reports on this forum seem to be diminishing.

<small>[ August 09, 2005, 05:49 PM: Message edited by: Mark Schmieder ]</small>

[leon milo]

I use Yamaha samplers. You will not be able to import the sampler data on a mac or translate them with software to akai format , etc. The only way to get them m in to Mach five is to import the samples via SCSI after loading the volumes on the yamaha(with peak or the Yamaha TWE software that comes with the samplers) on an older Mac OS 9 machine (or PC) and build your instruments inside your soft-sampler. You losse all the instrument settings of course.

Good luck.

[mhschmieder]

Thank you so so much for that information. I'm a complete novice when it comes to sampling, so hadn't a clue about any of the folkloric knowledge about system compatibilities, piracy blocking schemes, etc.

Now I know that I will simply have to do the hard work of creating cohesive sample sets on my Motif keyboard and resaving them in a format that can be imported (obviously I am not looking to pirate anything; just to make fair use of what I paid for), such as standard WAV or AIFF.

I have an iMac so can't do SCSI, plus I have the Motif ES 8 not the Motif Classic, so that likewise takes SCSI out of the equation.

I did, however, just purchase a used Yamaha EX5r, which has a floppy drive and can import samples, and also has a SCSI interface. I suspect I would not be able to drag-drop the A-series files from the SuperDrive on my iMac to an attached USB Floppy Drive for purposes of loading into the EX5r. I have to reread the EX5r spec anyway to see whether its import and/or export options are more comprehensive than the Motif ES options.

<small>[ August 09, 2005, 05:50 PM: Message edited by: Mark Schmieder ]</small>