dante wrote:Apparently because STS has superior sound to Kontakt playing AKAI samples back. I play AKAI samples using NNXT and can't tell the difference yet. But I'm thinking of doing more comprehensive tests on fuller samples to see if NNXT takes into account the full structure of the samples without translation mucking with the layers etc.
Dante,- it´s the filters sounding way better in STS,- compared to Kontakt and as well as compared to a real AKAI S-1000 and S-1100 too.
So,- it also depends on how the sampler (original / NI / Phead or what else) is in use.
When just only using a sample which originally didn´t had the filter in use and the converted program doesn´t also, there´s a chance you won´t hear much difference.
But I also found Kontakt not sounding identical when loading a program/sample into the original sampler and doing the same w/ Kontakt after the sample and program was converted w/ CD-Xtract from AKAI format into Kontakt format.
The same experience I had w/ Steinberg Halion 2 before,- and I always used CD-Xtract for conversion since it did it best for AKAI S1K/3K format, EMU III format and Kurzweil (.krz) as well as also offered the right target formats for the software instruments (Kontakt / Halion / SF2 / WAV etc.).
OTOH,- "best" is widely interpretable since it probably meant "for an application offering SEVERAL source and target sample formats".
For some stuff you have only 2 choices, CD-Xtract and/or Chickensys,- then some is covered by Extreme Sampleconverter which appeared later,- and today for EMU EII, EIII, Emax 1 & 2 as also Oberheim DPX-1 (and AKAI,- but not both directions), EMXP (freeware) is the right tool.
But we all know, all the playbackparamaters are in the programs and not in the sample and most sample conversion programs suffered from program conversion most, since the program´s functionality depends on the hardware architecture of the sampler which not always is exactly re-created in software sample-players, if at all.
EMU is even harder to convert and to make sound right than AKAI ...
When I converted EMU CDs for Halion 2, it was a joke.
When the "Program" had several sample layers, these were all on separate MIDI channels suddenly and there were more stuff not working correctly.
Phead NNXT might be a different story.
I didn´t invest the time converting for Phead too since CD-Xtract didn´t offer that format in the past and I had no intention buying more sample conversion apps,- but I loaded some AKAI floppy disks into Reason 4 /NNXT when the old "reload" utility was released ...
https://www.propellerheads.se/press/15- ... ad-utility ...
And Reload did it indeed pretty good because it was specialized for AKAI format into Reason samplers.
I believe it´s abandoned since some time but I guess Phead uses these (and probably upgraded) routines still in Reason.
Finally ...
To me it seems STS is an AKAI sampler in DSP code, it´s a model of the S-1000 w/ advanced DSP features offered.
That´s the difference to the native competitors which do it
ALL and are
NO AKAI model.
Bud
