Sampling, EXS24, Logic Pro X, Creating Sampler Instruments. Using the EXS24 Instrument Editor, Creating Loop Points, Creating Multiple Zones from Region Transients, Filtering and Modulation, Using Groups, Routing Individual Sounds for Processing.

1. Sampling with the EXS24

2. EXS24 mkII is a software sampler. It plays back audio files, called samples, that you
load into it. These samples are combined into tuned, organised collections called
sampler instruments. Because sampler instruments are based on audio recordings, they
are ideally suited to emulating real instruments such as guitars, pianos, and drums.
About the EXS24

3. Creating Sampler Instruments

4. 1. Choose File > Open.
2. Open > EXS24.logicx
3. Use the mute tool to unmute InTheAir04_125bpm_Ebm on Track 1.
4. Play the project and listen to the vocal on track 1.
5. Stop the project.
6. With the track selected goto the Track menu, choose Convert Regions to New
Sample Track.

5. 7.In the dialog, we can select how the audio region will be mapped in the sampler.
Select Regions. A single trigger MIDI note will be
created.
From the first Trigger Note Range menu, choose C3
(60) to create a new zone starting and ending on C3,
right in the middle of the keyboard.
8.Click OK.

6. A new software instrument track (called InTheAir04_125bpm_Ebm) with a EXS24
sampler is created below the original track, along with a new MIDI region.
9. Mute the original loop and play the new InTheAir04_125bpm_Ebm MIDI region
played through the EXS24.
10. With the new track selected, goto Window > Show Keyboard. Now play C3 on the
keyboard. This sound sound identical to the original.

7. Using the EXS24 Instrument Editor

8. Next lets look inside our newly created sampler instrument and the Instrument Editor
Window.
1. In the inspector, click on the EXS24 to open the Parameter window.
2. From the EXS Parameter Window, click Edit to bring up the Instrument Editor
window.
If the edit function is not showing, then you will need to turn on advanced tools. Goto
Logic Pro X > Preferences > Advanced Tools and select Advanced Editing.

9. Zones column Parameters area Velocity area
(Hidden by default)
Zones/Group area Keyboard
Click to switch between
Zones and Group views
Show/Hide Velocity area

10. When we created our sampler instrument, we mapped our sample to C3 on our MIDI
keyboard. It is here that the note will be heard at its original pitch. We can extend the
notes range by mapping it across a larger part of the keyboard.
1.In the Key Range parameter, double click the Hi field and type in C4. Press return.
Listen to the results. The pitch and speed of the sample moves up and down
accordingly.
We can also adjust the key range by dragging the zone area in the lower part of the
instrument editor window.

11. Creating Loop Points

12. 1.From the local View menu , chose View All
The EXS24 can loop playback of either an entire sample or a portion of it, when
sustained MIDI notes are received.
2.Scroll to the right to view loop parameters

13. 3. In the Loop parameter, select Loop On
We can enter loop parameters by entering sample numbers. However, it is much
easier to edit the waveform itself using the Audio File Editor.
4.Under Audio File, double click the name of the file or, using the disclosure
triangle, select “Open in Sample Editor”.

14. Select to change display between sample,
time, SMPTE time and bars and beats Pre listen to loop
5.Under View, select Samples.

15. 6.Select a loop with a start point around 34974 and an end point around 71782.
7. From the Audio File Editor’s local Edit menu, choose Selection > Sample Loop.
The Selected loop is shown at the bottom of the Audio File Editor’s S. Loop bar.
8.Close the Audio File Editor.

16. The results will appear in the loop parameters of the EXS Instrument Editor.
9.Press C3 on your keyboard and you will hear the sample start from the beginning
and then loop for as long as you hold down the key.
10.Double click in the Loop Start time to select it.
11.Select Command > C to copy time
12.Double click in the Sample Start time and select Command > V to paste.
13.Listen to the results
If we just want to hear the loop, we can apply the loop start time to the sample start
time

17. Creating Multiple Zones from Region Transients

18. In this next exercise, we will create a rhythmic gate effect on a drum part.

19. 1. Open the Browsers window (F) and locate the Big Room Snare Break loop.
2. Drag loop into the tracks area.

20. 7. From the Track menu, choose Convert Regions to New Sample Track.
Note that the loop will import to start at the point where your song position pointer is.

21. 8. In the dialog, we can select how the audio region will be mapped in the sampler
Select Transient Markers. This will detect the transient
peaks in a waveform and splice the file to create new
regions.
From the first Trigger Note Range menu, choose C3
(60) to create a new zone starting at C3, right in the
middle of the keyboard.
9. Click OK.

22. A new software instrument track with a EXS24 sample is created below the original
track, along with a new MIDI region.
10. Mute all tracks including the original loop and play the new Big Room Snare Break
MIDI region played through the EXS24. This sound sound identical to the original.
11. With the new track selected, goto Window > Show Keyboard. Starting at C3 on the
keyboard, move your pointer along the keyboard and listen to the results.
12. Now play the loop with the keyboard open. You will see the each region being
triggered on the keyboard.

23. 13.Double click in the MIDI region or press P on your keyboard to open the Piano Roll.
14. Loop the first bar.
15. Select the notes shown above in the first bar and Option > Shift click the end of one of
the notes. This will quantise the note length of each note so that they are all of equal
length.
16. Drag notes to the left and adjust the note length until the help menu reads around 0 0
0 125.
17. Now play the track. This will now give the drum track a rhythmic gate effect.

24. 18.From the EXS Parameter Window, click Edit to bring up the Instrument Editor window.
The results are very different to what we saw on the single zone vocal loop. This time
we see multiple zones created by the transients of the loop being mapped chromatically
across the MIDI keyboard beginning at C3
This can be an affective way to sample an instrument and then to map each note to the
MIDI keyboard.

25. Try This
Reversing some of the elements of the drum loop by checking the ‘Reverse’ tick box

26. EXS 24 - Filtering and Modulation

27. The filter section allows us to use filter and modulate samples we have created.
The filter in the EXS24 is a multimode filter that includes high-pass, low pass, and band
pass modes. To take advantage of its sound-shaping properties, you need to turn it on.
1. Click the filter on/off button located at the right side of the filter section.

28. Now that the filter is turned on, you can apply filter settings to shape the sound.
2. Try the following with the EXS24’s filter settings (as in the figure on the next slide):
• Click the 6 db low-pass (LP) filter mode/slope button to gradually attenuate frequencies
above the cut off frequency.
• Drag the Cuttoff knob to about 68%.
• Drag the Resonance knob to about 15% to accentuate the cutoff frequency by applying
a gain boost.
• Click the Fat button to retain the low frequencies that are naturally diminished by high-
resonance settings.
• Drag the Drive knob to about 20% to distort the filter and add harmonics.
• Listen to the results and modify to taste.

29. You can further expand the filter’s sound-shaping properties by applying modulation to the
cut-off frequency. The goal here is to create a surging filter sweep that is timed to the tempo
of the song. You can do so by using the EXS24’s modulation router, which is nearly identical
to the ES2’s modulation router except that it calls a parameter that is changed dynamically
the ‘destination’ instead of the ‘target’.

30. 3. In the third (empty) slot in the modulation router, choose filter cutoff (Flt Cutoff) as the
destination (Dest), and LFO1 as the source (Src).
4. Drag the Intensity slider to about +7.7%.

31. 5. Select the top sawtooth setting for LFO1’s waveform.
6. Drag LFO1’s Rate knob to the left to1/8. You now have a filter sweep for every eight
note, regardless of the project tempo.
Now you’ll test your modulation routing. Because it’s tempo dependent, let’s listen to it
playing in the Tracks area.
7. In the Transport bar, click the Cycle button.

32. 8. Play the project, listening to the result. You should hear a sweeping, pulsing, drumbeat
that is significantly transformed from the original.
9. Stop playback.
While the loop was playing, you might have noticed that the EXS24 was distorting, and
the channel volume louder. This is because of the extra gain introduced by boosting the
Drive and Resonance controls. You can recover a little headroom by lowering the EXS24
volume control, located to the far right of the interface.
10. Drag the Volume knob downwards to a value of -23db.

33. Using Groups

34. In the EXS24 Instrument Editor, you can organise zones into groups to apply common
parameters to multiple zones simultaneously. Groups contain many of the same
parameters you use in zones, but they also offer some unique parameters. For example,
you can offset both the filter settings and the envelopes, which allows you to create
different cutoff and resonance values for different zones.

35. 1. In the EXS24 interface, click the Edit button to open the EXS24 Instrument Editor.
2. From the local menu, choose Group > New Group.
A new group, named Group #3, appears in the Zones column.

36. 3. In the Zones column, double-click the new group name (Group #3), and enter filter.
Press Return.
To display the newly created group’s parameters, you need to switch to Groups view.
4. Click the Groups view button

37. The group parameters appear.
By default, the editor displays only some of the group parameters, while hiding others. As
you did with zones in an earlier exercise, while in Groups view you can select the
parameters that will appear in the View menu.

38. 5. In the Filter Offsets parameters, double-click the Cutoff field and enter -5 to lower the
filter cutoff frequency for any zone assigned to this group. Press Return.
Now that you created and modified the group, you’ll assign the zones to it using the
Zones view.
6. Click the Zones view button and click All Zones.
7. Shift-click the zones mapped from C3 to A4.
8. Drag the selected zones to the Filter group.

39. 9. In the Zones column, select the Filter Group.The zones you added should appear
here.
10.Play the project, listening to the results. The samples from C3 - A4 have a slightly
different filter cutoff frequency, thereby changing their sounds.

40. Filter section Output section
Modulation section

41. In this exercise, we will utilise the filter section to give the drum loop more definition and char
1. Adjust Cutoff so that it reads 85%
2. Increase the Drive to about 20%
3. Set the Low Pass filter to 6dB
4. Lower the output volume to -7dB
5. Turn on Filter
Experiment with the ‘Fat’ control and try introducing the Resonance and Key functions.

42. Routing Individual Sounds for Processing

43. Logic allows you to further process the EXS24 sound by placing plug-ins into the signal
chain. When you do so, the entire EXS24 signal is processed. Although processing the
entire signal normally isn’t a problem, in some instances you may want to apply separate
processing to individual zones in a sampler instrument. To do so, you need to isolate the
zone or group on its own mixer channel for individual processing.
The EXS24 allows you to route individual sound through separate virtual ‘outputs’ to
accomplish this. These routings are selected by the Output menu in the Mixer parameters
in either the Zone or Group parameters.
1. Click the Groups view button.
2. Click the Output field for the Filter group (Currently set to Main) and choose 3-4

44. 3. From the local Instrument menu, choose Save.
To use this special function, you need to instantiate the EXS24 as a multi-output
instrument. So far you have been working with the EXS24 as a stereo instrument. Logic.
When switching modes (mono, stern, multi-output and 5.1), Logic transfers all settings
and content contained in a software instrument.
4. On the EXS24 channel strip in the Mixer window
choose EXS24 (Sampler) > Multi-Output.
The EXS24 interface opens after reloading the
associated samples and current settings.

45. Just above the Solo button, click the small + (plus sign) button on the
EXS24.
A new Aux 1 channel strip is created immediately to the right of the
EXS24 channel strip. By default, Logic creates an aux channel with the
default stereo input of 3 - 4 for the associated multi-output instrument.

46. We are now going to route all the kick drums through this output. To do this, you need to
navigate back to the EXS24 Instrument Editor.
5. Load the EXS24 Instrument Editor Window. Using the keyboard at the bottom of the
window, click each part of the drum loop starting at C3. Each time you trigger a kick
drum, reassign the output to 3-4.

47. 6.Save and close the EXS24 Instrument Editor.
7.On the kick drum aux channel, load the setting Legacy > Logic > 07 Drums and
Percussion > 02 Acoustic Kick > Acoustic Kick 02.
8.Press play. This will add a subtle improvement to the kick drum sound.

48. Sampling with the EXS24
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