Emagic, now
owned by Apple, makes Logic, a professional sequencer and
audio recorder. It is very popular among professionals.
Emagic decided to make a sampler that works in conjunction
with Logic, and came up with the
EXS24 (currently renamed as Sampler). It was a Logic-only plugin (although long ago
there was a VST Windows version sold). The last Windows
version of EXS was in Logic 6.1, which of course was the
last Windows Logic verison. Nowadays, EXS is completely
Apple, and Mac and Intel in nature.
In 2003, prior to the total-Mac switch and the Apple
purchase, Emagic released
EXS-24 Mark II, which contains a nice modulation matrix
and more filter types, noteably a high-pass filter. This
also included the previously released trigger functions in
the groups, which enabled the Giga-ubiquitous key-switching
ability. Plus it streamed samples from hard disk, now a
standard feature on all samplers.
After the buyout, starting with Logic 6,
Apple included
EXS24 for free within Logic itself - no more paying for
it separately.
Each Logic version includes a very-slightly
upgraded EXS24. No serious work has been done with it for a
long time. Yet, because of it's good basic feature set and
nice integration with Logic, it continues to be used
heavily. One wonders if we'll ever see a EXS24 Mark III.
Synthesis and File Structure
The
EXS24 uses a simple method of Zones which are sample
references. You can have an infinite amount of these per
Instrument. You can also make objects called Groups which
you can sort Zones under, although a Zone isn't required to
attach itself to one. Groups are where the keyswitching/controller-switching/release-trigger
is programmed. You can program velocity splits in the Zones
OR the Groups.
EXS files (.exs, although they in the old
days were typed and didn't ahve to have the .exs extension)
reference WAVE or AIFF files,a nd can reference Sound
Designer files too. Starting with Logic 8, CAF files are
supported. Only absolute paths are supported in locating the
sample files. EXS is also unique in that a large amount of
information about the sample file - even at what byte offset
the sample data starts - is written in the EXS file itself.
The disadvantage of this is that if your sample file
changes, the EXS file is suddenly quite out of sync with the
sample file and can easily play it back incorrectly.
EXS files, in order to be seen by the EXS
pulldown loader, have to be in or connected to (that is,
aliased to) the "Sampler Instruments" folder in the
Application Support folder of the Logic folder. The samples
can be anywhere on your system.
The EXS-24 is a fairly simple yet powerful
sampler - using ADSR envelopes, a seemingly nice filter with
resonance, two LFO’s, and the standard complement of
functions. Portamento is a nice touch. One lousy thing -
most of the great program parameters, such as the Filter,
Envelopes, and LFO’s, are GLOBAL within the Instrument - one
setting applies to all Zones. But at least, the Zones
provide the basic parameters, such as tuning, velocity, and
looping, while the Groups provide special adjustment
parameters for the amplitude ADSR, the Filter Cutoff, and
Resonance. Logic 7 introduced support for Group control of
Filter Envelopes, Logic 8 allowed for CAF format support,
and Logic 9 introduced support for long sample file names.
There are even EXS monolith files. We have
not been able to recreate one, but they exist and have some
in our possesion.
Copy the Syntheway EXS
Sample Library folder into your
“Sampler Instruments”
folder
By default, Logic, MainStage and GarageBand create a folder upon
installation in the following file paths:
Logic (Sampler, Alchemy):
Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Logic/Sampler
Instruments/
MainStage
(Sampler, Alchemy):
Macintosh HD/Library/Application
Support/MainStage/Sampler Instruments/
GarageBand (AUSampler):
Macintosh HD/Library/Application
Support/GarageBand/Instrument Library/Sampler/Sampler
Instruments
Other file paths can include:
Logic
(Sampler, Alchemy):
Macintosh HD/Users/<USERNAME>/Music/Audio Music
Apps/Sampler Instruments/
MainStage
(Sampler, Alchemy):
Macintosh HD/Users/<USERNAME>/Library/Application
Support/MainStage/Sampler Instruments/
GarageBand
(AUSampler):
Macintosh HD/Users/<USERNAME>Library/Application
Support/GarageBand/Instrument Library/Sampler/Sampler
Instruments
Note: It is recommended that
you copy any sampler instruments and all associated audio
files to a local or networked hard drive. This provides fast
access to your sampler instruments and makes it easier to
organize your instrument library to meet your needs. You can
play back samples that exceed the size of your computer RAM
by streaming them from hard disk. This feature is not
practical for optical drives.