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For those who may not know, EXS24 is indeed a virtual sampler instrument. It
uses audio files (just like those you find on your computer) and organizes them in
such a way that we can trigger and sequence them with our MIDI keyboards
inside of LPX (or any other DAW for that matter). This is a technique that has
been used in music production off all kinds for some 50 years in one way or other,
and made extremely popular in electronic based music production with the Akai
MPC hardware samplers.
Fortunately for us, EXS24 is packed inside of LPX for free, along with the
massive sampler library that we mentioned earlier. Not only can we tweak and
access those preset library instruments, but we can also load up audio clips of
any kind to create our own instruments, whether it be clips of already existing
songs in your iTunes library, samples you dug up online or bits of tracks you
previously created on your own.
Today we will take a look at how to create our own custom instruments, what we
can do process them on EXS24 after the fact and some of the various
parameters and options that control the way EXS24 handles your audio files. But
first, we have a few administrative tasks to talk about:
Sample Management:
OK, I know this is boring stuff. A necessary evil I’m afraid. Every EXS24 sampler
instrument is made up of two things: a (.exs) sampler instrument file and an
accompanying instrument sample folder containing the samples (audio) it is
made up of. Before starting to create your first sampler instruments it is always a
good idea to create a dedicated “SAMPLES” folder that you will use to store all of
you samples (instrument sample folders). Remember, in order to have it so that
all of the sampler instruments you create are always accessible to you in all your
projects, DO NOT move or rename the “SAMPLES” folder after the fact,
otherwise you’ll end up with some messy reassignment tasks (not the end of the
world, but super annoying. Hit us up in the comments below if you need a hand
with anything like this).
Note: When saving our LPX sessions, Logic always gives an option to copy the
“EXS instruments and samples” used in that particular project to its session folder.
While you do not need to do this if you are using the above “SAMPLES” folder
method, it is always a good idea (necessary) if you’re planning on opening that
session on other computers (that don’t have access to your master “SAMPLES”
folder).
1. Open a new Software Instrument track (option + command + N) and then load
up an EXS24 from the Input section of the channel strip.
2. In most cases, EXS24 will open up with no sound loaded in the form of a basic
sine wave-like sound. Hit that little “Edit” button to the right of the filter section.
Note: If you do not see the above mention “Edit” button on your EXS24, you’ll
need to quickly make an adjustment to your LPX preferences. Hit the Logic Pro X
menu up top > Preferences menu > Advanced Tools… (or push command + ,
and select the Advanced tab). From here we can choose to turn on/off various
advanced controls throughout Logic. I suggest just hitting the first “Show
Advanced Tools” checkbox to get the works.
3. The sampler instrument editor opens up so we can tweak existing instruments,
or in this case, create our own. Along the top of the window, hit the pull down
menu labeled “Zone” and then the “Load Multiple Samples” option (or control + o,
once the editor is open).
Note: You can also drag and drop audio files directly from the Finder onto this
window to create instruments. Quick and easy, but not quite as organized and
controlled of a set-up in my opinion, which is generally preferred when creating
instruments for your personal library.
4. A familiar looking Finder window will appear, allowing us to navigate to the
samples (audio clips) on our computer or hard drive we would like to load up. As
previously mentioned, it always a good idea to place the samples in their own
folder inside of your master “SAMPLES” folder. You can either manually select
individual files or just one in the folder and then choose the “Add All” option seen
above. Once your desired audio clips appear in the queue at the bottom of the
dialog window, hit the “Done” button in the bottom right corner.
5. Once you hit “Add”, Logic will bring you back to the sampler instrument editor
and present you with three options:
a. For drum, percussion or anything that doesn’t require chromatic tuning, the
“Drums” or more likely the “Contiguous Zones” option will do the trick just fine.