EXs11 Legendary Strings released - Now Live

[NuSkoolTone]

Perhaps they only sampled what's supposed to be the range of the instrument, but when wanting to play certain lines and then all the sudden there's no sound beyond a certain point of the keyboard is a REAL buzzkill.

It's almost too bad that KARO stopped distributing the non-streaming libraries, as those allow the user to edit samples/multisamples, etc. I reprogrammed the Low Index Ranges (in KSL & KUO) to solve the "no sound" issue.

Hey Mike, out of curiosity, when were those libraries originally released?

[DennyC]

Valuable input Mike. It's great hearing from you!

[popmann]

I'm of the opposite feeling. Granted, you should be able to lift this if you want, but no acoustic instrument streaming from a disc should EVER have a single stretched note. chromatically sampled...as many velocity levels as the engine allows--with variation. That is WHY the tech excels at acoustic instrument duplication and why I've not bought a hardware instrument in like a decade (since gigastudio changed the world).

So, the side effect of that, is that you should NEVER have something outside an instrument's range. Otherwise, it is by definition stretched...and thus compromised. Not to mention, it's the number one reason midi arrangements suffer--they don't respect the instruments' actual limitations--thus, no longer actually sound like the instruments.

I know the buzzkill you mean-I remember when I got my VoceV3 thinking, why does the sound stop at high C? Because a hammond doesn't have a higher key...and certainly you should be able to edit it up to your heart's content...but, the default should bea chromatic sample of an instrument. IMO. It should be a conscious choice YOU make to manipulate it into something else, IMO.

[cello]

+1 popmann

I appreciate and understand that our lovely keyboards can technically do clever stuff - like extending a range of a real instrument and creating something new; I get that, I really do.

But, for me a sampled cello, say, should - if it is meant to sound like a cello - be limited to the range of the cello.

You do get anomolies for example - baroque cellos played a full tone below the modern cello.

Similarly, composers wanted C to be the lowest note on the double bass - which it's not; it's D. So some Double basses have an extended scroll piece that allows the lowest string to be longer and you get the required low C.

So excepting the two variations noted above, the range of orchestral instruments should be faithful to the instrument. If the cello sample extends out of this range, then it is no longer a cello.

[DennyC]

Cello, great post. You and Popmann are spot on IMHO. Cello, you also give some very acute insights and I appreciate it. BTW, it was my wife who told me(observations on a new song) utilizing both the Oasys with the Kronos ...."everything sounds really incredible except the strings sort of sound a little like a keyboard. Thus--my quest.

[hipNo#]

Interested in trialing these new strings for my kronos61, but being a complete neubie to this scene, am unsure of the process. Do I need a computer to first download the EX11 Strings into the computer's memory. And then, how do I upload this data onto my Kronos? Via USB port? How do I access the Kronos USB port - is there an unlocking device in Global? Or is it that simple that I am missing the point?
Perhaps someone out there can advise me. Waiting for responses.

[michelkeijzers]

Interested in trialing these new strings for my kronos61, but being a complete neubie to this scene, am unsure of the process. Do I need a computer to first download the EX11 Strings into the computer's memory. And then, how do I upload this data onto my Kronos? Via USB port? How do I access the Kronos USB port - is there an unlocking device in Global? Or is it that simple that I am missing the point?
Perhaps someone out there can advise me. Waiting for responses.

- Download on your computer the library
- Store it on a USB stick
- Put USB stick in Kronos
- Somewhere in the global page you can upgrade

But everything (except the download part I think) is in the accompanied readme file.

[Francois]

Just remember that the procedure is slightly different from upgrading the OS.

When upgrading the OS, the content of the folder must be at the root of the USB key.

When isntalling EX libraries, it's the folder that must be at the root of the key.

Also, before copying the folder to the USB key, check how you decompressed the archive. IF you selected decompression from the contextual menu, something like decompression to a folder name of the archive, you could end up with a folder called, for example, EXs11, containing another EXs11 folder inside. Obviously, copying the top level EXs11 folder just created would lead to a failed install since the Kronos would not see the files it's expecting to see.

[Mike Conway]

Hey Mike, out of curiosity, when were those libraries originally released?

KSL was released in 2010. I'm sure there are some changes with the Kronos version. I don't know that KUO was actually released for the OASYS, but KARO was nice enough to seek me out to demo it.

Regarding sample ranges and realism - it depends on what you are trying to do. I'm amazed at the sounds I can load up with just a gig or two of RAM. I'm on the OASYS, so I don't stream anything.

I play a lot of section stuff, so creating a Combi Bass section out of transposed Cellos, Quartets, etc. adds something to my playing. Kind of like a sub-oscillator adding bottom end to a synth sound. I'm not soloing it, so it works.

Just so I can post this crazy pic, I'll make a silly analogy and say that it may not be realistic to stretch the range of a roach (or cello), but sometimes it is appropriate.




Originally, I started out with KPS (KARO Philharmonic Strings) and I did more tweaking with that than the more endowed KSL/KUO sets. They really improved the heck out of what they started with.

Valuable input Mike. It's great hearing from you!

Hey, Denny - you too!

[donjuancarlos]

Just listened to the samples. When my Kronos gets back from having the keybed fixed, Korg has itself a sale.