Loading Vox Continental samples into Korg Trinity Pro X?

hound9753 · Post by **hound9753** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:37 am

Hello!

I'm wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to load some Vox Continental organ samples into the Korg Trinity Pro X? You can buy sets of samples for the Vox Continental from a website called "Vintage Sounds", which come on CDs. They've sampled each note of a Vox Continental in different settings, so there are large numbers of sample files which presumably would need to be mapped to each key on the Korg Trinity Pro X somehow.

Any idea how this could be done, if at all?

Many thanks

Hound

Timo · Post by **Timo** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:56 am

Hi, do you have the PBS-TRI hardware expansion option installed?

hound9753 · Post by **hound9753** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 9:11 am

Hi there.

No, I don't have the PBS-TRI. Is it necessary in order to be able to do this? Do you know if it's still possible to buy it?

Thanks

Hound

Timo · Post by **Timo** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:48 pm

Hi, yes you need the PBS-TRI (PlayBack Sampler) option to load external samples into the Trinity. Otherwise you can only use the Trinity's own standard ROM waveforms.

The only way to acquire a PBS-TRI thesedays is second hand, eBay or Buy/Sell here on Korg Forums or similar, or you could flag a request for one on the forums and see if anyone contacts you. They're quite rare but they do pop up occasionally when people are selling parts, such as here: http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=51202 or here: http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=56158 (Not sure if those particular ones are still available.)

If you do get one second hand, make sure it comes with the two separate RAM chips. They are separate to the PBS and slot into the motherboard itself. They expand the patch inventory from two Program and Combi banks to four banks each (A, B, C, and D). If you have the Solo or Moss board installed then they expand these Programs slots from 64 to 128.

Also bear in mind the PBS-TRI is only 8mb in size. Not sure how large the Vox Continental sample set is but you would likely need to heavily optimise any samples (using a waveform editor such as Wavelab, Sound Forge, Audacity, or Zero-X Seamless-Looper) before loading them into the Trinity so they fit into the amount of file-space available. Optimizing would consist of truncating and re-looping, and using fewer samples.

Any questions fire away.

hound9753 · Post by **hound9753** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:00 pm

You are a true legend. Thanks. I'll see what I can find.

synthjoe · Post by **synthjoe** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 8:16 pm

Timo wrote:Also bear in mind the PBS-TRI is only 8mb in size.

Plus the single sample size is limited to 2 MB, I think - as the 8 MB is made up of four banks.

hound9753 · Post by **hound9753** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:27 am

Hello again

Right. I have found a PBS-TRI board being sold, plus I have contacted the Vintage Sounds people to ask them how big the sample files are. They have emailed back saying the files are approximately 200 kb each. If Synthjoe is right about the max sample size per bank being 2MB, does that therefore mean that the maximum number of these individual samples that I could load into the Trinity would be 10 (i.e. 200 kb x 10 = 2MB)?

I'm not too sure how this all works but it sure is exciting. It would be great to be able to play those amazing sounds!

Thanks

Hound

synthjoe · Post by **synthjoe** » Mon May 02, 2011 8:26 am

The total memory size is 8 MB, so if the (average) size information you've received from Vintage Sounds is correct then you should be able to load about 40 samples (200k x 40 = 8 MB, roughly).

The 2 MB limit is PER SAMPLE, so you cannot load a single sample larger than 2 MB in size.

Hope this helps.

hound9753 · Post by **hound9753** » Tue May 31, 2011 11:50 am

Dear Synthjoe and Timo,

Thanks for your messages over the past few months. I now have a PBS-TRI board installed (with banks C and D) and I also have bought the samples of the Vox Continental and the Gibson 101.

I've managed to get the samples onto the Trinity and they are playing nicely. However, when I play long notes, the samples cut off after a short while, which means that I can only play shorter notes and not longer ones. Do you know how I could remedy this?

Many thanks

Hound

Timo · Post by **Timo** » Tue May 31, 2011 3:07 pm

Congrats on the PBS-TRI, your Trinity is now a chameleon and can be whatever you want it to be!

On topic, it sounds like the samples aren't looped. You'll need to set loop points in a waveform editor such as Wavelab, Sound Forge etc. for each sample, before uploading the samples to the Trinity.

Not sure of your level of sampling experience, so as an example I'll use Wavelab to show what I do when preparing my own samples for use with the Trinity:

Bear in mind native Korg Trinity samples need to be 16-bit 48KHz. (Ignore the fact that I was seemingly using 24-bit 44.1KHz in the example below, oops!)

^ 1 - Here's an example sample I recorded from my Access Virus. It's an analogue strings/pad type sound. I'll prepare it as I would for importing and using in the Trinity.

^ 2 - Firstly I get rid of the silence at the beginning by zooming in to the beginning of the waveform and find where the waveform starts, and then select everything in front of it and remove (delete) it. (You may wish to zoom in vertically as well as horizontally so you can properly see the noisefloor and where to start chopping it, etc.)

^ 3 - Zoomed back out, the silence at the front has now been deleted and the sample should start immediately when played.

^ 4 - Now we need to find a portion in the sustain part of the sample that loops nicely, and then add markers. Mostly you need to use your ears and keep experimenting until you find a smooth loop that doesn't jarr or sound abrupt when it's looped. Alternatively you can sometimes look at the waveform for clues where the waveform may be repeated (cycled) that would make for good, glitch-free looping points - in fact organ-type wavefoms are sometimes quite simple to loop as they follow cyclic type patterns often making it easier to find loops than in complex strings/pad sample (as above) for example.

Generally, the smaller the loop the better (without making it sound unnatural of course), and equally trying to get the loop to be closer to the front of the sample (but after the attack and decay phase) is also better. Both techniques will allow you to save file space for more samples if needed. Or you can ignore this and go all out for long, quality looped samples if you don't need loads of other samples. However, as mentioned, 2mb (megabytes) at 16-bit 48KHz is the largest size allowable for a single sample (the PBS uses four hardware chips, each 2mb, totalling the full 8mb, hence the largest limitation of 2mb max for any particular single sample).

^ 5 - To avoid clicks and pops, zoom into the waveform and ensure the both the start and end points of the loop cross a zero or common point in the waveform.

^ 6 - Now we have our loop points set correctly we can zoom back out. Any audio after an end loop point wont ever be utilised or heard by the Trinity - the sustain and release phases will always continue using the loop for eternity - so we can select everything after the end of the loop and delete it.

^ 7 - Our finished sample, looped. Save it as a 48KHz 16bit Wav and you're done.

hound9753 · Post by **hound9753** » Thu Jun 02, 2011 8:50 pm

Thanks a lot Timo.

I've tried out what you've suggested, i.e. I've put loop markers onto a sample at the right places and saved at 48khz 16 bit using Wavelab. Unfortunately, no joy. The trinity doesn't seem to recognise the loop and just stops the samples dead after a single playing.

Do you think there is something I need to do on the Trinity to make it recognise loop markers?

Many thanks

Hound