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Audio Audio Conversions Components GigaStudio
Chicken Systems, Inc Translator Pro - audioMIDI.com

Translator by Chicken Systems:

Audio Conversions: Chicken Systems - Translator Mac Now Available! Update 5/18/2002

Translator by Chicken Systems - Update 12/06/01

Translator by Chicken Systems

• Translator Version 2.5 Released ...more (12/06/01).

Highlights:

1. Full Roland XV-5080 support; translates Akai, Emu, Ensoniq, Kurzweil, SampleCell to the native XV format
2. Full Korg Triton support; translates Akai, Emu, Ensoniq, Kurzweil, Roland to the native Triton format
3. Akai S-5000 source support; translates S-5000 to.. well, anything.
4. Roland S-50 source support; translates S-50 CD's and floppies to Giga, EXS, Triton, Akai
5. Support for Giga 2.2 parameters
6. Higher resolution for EXS-24 and HALion translations
7. Better SampleCell translations, full support for SampleCell PC added
8. Tightened code, faster, more efficient operation
9. Many translations re-reviewed for better, more complete translations
10. Lot's, and lot's, and lot's of little things...

Excerpt: Translator is a computer program that can take most professional audio sampler formats and translate between them. You computer can thus read AND write to Akai, Roland, Emu, Ensoniq, Kurzweil, SampleCell, Yamaha, and more formats, so your sampler can read and play them just as they sounded in the source. You can translate one sound at a time, or many or all at once. Many options are made available to fit your needs ...more (10/26/01).

Subject: Translator Update 5/25/2001 
Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 18:00:24 -0500 
From: Chicken Systems Web Site Chicken Systems <support@chickensys.com>

 TRANSLATOR - by Chicken Systems  - (UPDATE 5/22/2001)
Original Message... Press: TRANSLATOR - by Chicken Systems  - UPDATE 5/22/2001
 (The Ultimate Sampler Converter!) HTML format below.

Chicken Systems make another great product for the Ensoniq EPS 16 Turbo Plus Pro Sampler - MIDI DiskTools!

CONTENTS 

1. Translator Version 2.1
   

2. Translator Demo Version now available!
   
3. Mac Version
   
4. Online Documentation and Translation Status
   
5. Get Translator Now At Musicians Friend (USA), Time+Space (Great Britain and surrounding areas), Best Service (Germany and areas) ...link.
   
6. So, why Translator?
   
7. Features In The Future
   
8. Happy Memorial Day

(Just in case you forgot, Translator™ is a sampler disk/file convertor and sampler editing tool. Translator allows you to read most proprietary sampler disks, view their contents, and translate the files to most other formats. Translator is the only program in existence that can write these formats accurately directly to disk. You can also make custom CD's, defragment disks, send samples directly to samplers using SMDI, and many other helpful utilities.)

Translator 2.1 Announcement 

We'd like to announce Translator Version 2.1. Translator keeps refining and getting better. Here's some of the highlights:

• Kurzweil and SampleCell -> Giga translations

  Actually these have been around for awhile, but this is the first chance we've had to really announce them out loud. Translator reads Mac SampleCell CD-ROM's and/or hard drives. Excellent translations! Translator is the only software that does this!

• SMDI (SCSI Musical Data Interchange) Protocol support *1 ...more.

  This gets really fun. Hook up your SMDI-enabled sampler - Emu, Kurzweil, ASR-X, others - and drop any file on it and watch the samples fly into the sampler! Of course, the keymaps and instruments don't go in, but the samples do. Or grab a bunch of samples inside the sampler and drop them on another sampler's ZipDisk or Virtual Drive! You can even, if you are a daredevil, chain two samplers up and transfer samples between the samplers in one command! Again, no other software does this.

• Akai S5000 support

  You can now translate most formats (Akai, Roland, Emu, Ensoniq, Kurzweil, SampleCell, more) into Akai S5000 format. (You can even pull a sound off a SMDI sampler and write it into a Akai S-5000 file!) We pay attention to some special Akai details that NO OTHER SOFTWARE deals with, such as proper wave/loop writing, and the creation of stereo .wav files.

• Authentic Roland Filter

  Translator now includes THE SAME CODE THAT IS INTERNALLY INSIDE THE ROLAND S-700 SERIES for use in Emphasis and De-Emphasis routines. We've included this along with our 4 other filters and even a custom filter where you can set the settings yourself. usually, you don't need this type of power, but if you want it, it's there.

• EXS-24 Support

  OK, this has been around for awhile, but we'd like to show it off again. Translate ANYTHING to EXS-24 format, and place it anywhere on your hard disk so that EXS can easily find it. Akai, Roland, Ensoniq, Emu, SampleCell, and Kurzweil are now available.

• Onscreen Waveplayer

  You've always been able to audition any sample by double-clicking on it. Now there's an onscreen waveplayer/displayer that shows you the waveform and plays it. Looks great! You can also export any sample out of Translator into your favorite sample editor.

• ACID-izer

  You can ACID-ize any amount of .wav or AIFF files on your computer using Translator.

• Other Various Translations Added

  This definitely isn't a complete list, but some highlights: 

  • Kurzweil->Akai, Pulsar, MESA 
    

  • Emu->SoundFont 
    
  • Roland->Korg Triton -Pulsar->Giga 
    
  • MESA->Giga 

  • And more! 

TRANSLATOR DEMO VERSION NOW AVAILABLE!!!

You can download Translator FREE today! A demo is finally up now at our site. It is fairly functional, you can translate just a one or a couple of sounds per disk. But you can read and write DOS Counterpart files all you want! We intend the demo to have limited usage, such as compiling of disks or CD's on "Virtual Drives", backup, visual display of samples, and even disk repair.

Download it at www.chickensys.com/translator/download.html

MAC VERSION

Be watching for an announcement soon. We know lot's of you are waiting for this. In the meantime, Translator can work with Virtual PC 3.0 or 4.0. Virtual PC is now actually a viable option for all you Mac users who have a PC app or two that needs to be run. VP 4.0 is a lot faster and robust than it's earlier counterparts. The price ranges around $150 - well worth it, in our opinion.

ONLINE DOCUMENTATION AND TRANSLATION STATUS 

The ENTIRE documentation for Translator is available at our Web site. It's not just a cheesy PDF file, or a Word document. It is entirely navigate from the site. It's not just about Translator, but you can learn lot's about different samplers and even the history of sampling. (You can download a PDF file of the manual, or the Help File, if you want...)

Check it out at www.chickensys.com/translator/documentation.html

This is also home to our Status pages.  You can check out the status of your desired translation there.

Translator also has a new help file which assists in the translation process. A printed manual has been published, and is now going out with all new Translator's. Previous customers will receive their copies shortly.

GET TRANSLATOR AT MUSICIANS FRIEND, TIME+SPACE, BEST SERVICE, OR NEMESYS DIRECT 

We'd like to welcome three dealers to the Translator "Sphere". Although you can still order direct from Chicken System's, you can also purchase Translator at these other locations.

• Chicken System's: Order Translator Direct

• Musician's Friend

• Time+Space

• Best Service

• Nemesys (Giga Edition Only)

SO, WHY TRANSLATOR?

You shouldn't cut corners with translations. Translator takes the musical and technical experience of our three engineers and transforms that into accurate translations that REALLY work.

Translator Supports More Formats 

Well, Awave (check it out at ww.fmjsoft.com) supports millions of formats. Literally. But are they the formats you need? Translator specializes in professional sampler formats - Akai, Roland, Emu, Ensoniq, Kurzweil, SampleCell, GigaStudio, EXS, HALion, Yamaha, and others. We are the ONLY software that READS KURZWEIL CD-ROM's. We are the only Windows translation software that reads Mac disks. Eventually we'll do everything.

GigaStudio Specialists

We've put most of our time into doing translations into GigaStudio/Sampler. Why? It's hot. No other sampler has had such a run on the market as Giga has. No other Windows software has had Mac musicians running out to have PC's assembled - simply to run Giga.

Our Roland->Giga translation module took double the time to develop than any other translation. No other software even comes close to the accuracy and detail our Roland->Giga module does. Translator-only's: Roland Performances->Giga Performances, Alternate Loop translation, your choice of over 4 digital deemphasis filters to suit your taste, support for Giga 2.2 features. And we aren't even talking about the envelope, filter, and response algorithms that we've written to take on anything that a Roland file throws at us.

Top Music Computer assemblers such as SoundChaser, Turnkey (London) and others, commonly offer Translator with their specialty systems. There's just no better choice for accurate translations.

Quality Detail 

We just care about quality. We review popular CD titles such as Spectrasonics, Ilio, BestService, and others CONSTANTLY, checking and checking and checking to see if things sound right. We've got most of the popular titles IN ALL FORMATS, and most have been checked out thoroughly with Translator.

Check out the online documentation - not only do we go the extra mile to show you what to expect with a translation, we explain every samplers architecture do you can at least be semi-familiar with what you are translating out of. If you are translating, say, an Emu disk - you might not have an Emu! How should you know how an Emu works? Check our documentation - you'll find our what you need to know in order to translate.

Also, since Translator reads AND writes to proprietary disk, we know things about the formats that no one else does. It is very difficult to write to a disk meant for a specialty computer (which is what a hardware sampler is), and expect that to load it happily without complaint. But Translator does it - and that improves our understanding when simply reading the file.

Customer Community and Service

Nothing beats a phone call for immediate service. Nothing beats a toll-free number either. Nothing beats a live person, in extended hours, on the other end. We've got all three. Got an error message? Pick that phone up. (Well, read the Help file first...)

Translator isn't perfect - nothing is - so we back it up with service. 

24-hour service. If you find a problem, something that doesn't translate, gives you an error, you can report the problem directly to us and we'll have a response - and even a new build - within 24 hours.

This reporting of files has been wildly successful for users and us. For example, just the other day we got an original Roland file e-mailed to us which had illegal velocity values, and that threw off Translator. So we documented and fixed it - now all users, unbeknownst to them, don't have to worry about that issue. We get about 3-4 file submissions daily.

The other day, a user called with a issue. We discussed what was going on, and the user actually took the log file Translator wrote and e-mailed to us WHILE WE WERE TALKING. Our engineer looked at it, found the problem, and fixed the code, again, during the conversation. Total time taken - 5 minutes.

FEATURES FOR THE FUTURE

So, what are we working on? Here's a list: 

• Translations into Kurzweil and Roland S-700 format 
  

• SoundFont->Emu samplers 
  
• Property Sheet Editor - edit any file directly to disk 
  
• Disk Defragmenter - Norton Utilities-like module for disk maintenance and repair Yamaha A3-4-5K, Akai MPC, Roland XV-5080, Korg Triton, Unity DS-1 SampleTank, Terratec, .94B, Reason, Recycle 2.0, Steinberg HALion translations
  
• Onboard Audio Ripper Amplitude Normalization on-the-fly for entire Instruments 
  
• Database support 
  
• About 3-4 top secret projects that you'll have to guess what they are!  

  We are also at a stage where we'd really like to know what you are looking for in translations. Other than a Mac version, what translations do you want? E-mail us at whatdoyouwant@chickensys.com and yell at us.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY

We know that not all of you are American's, so I'll explain what Memorial Day is to us. This is the day where we remember all that died in our wars.

Writing software takes guts, but not as much guts as it takes to fight for your country and risk your life for what you think is right. That's real stuff.

Take time to remember those who died for your freedom. Appropriately, I'm listening to a great Toto song that speaks about this:

Gotta remember 
You don't have to be afraid 
You still have the freedom to learn, to say what you want to say 
Gotta remember 
Don't let 'em take away 
The land we call the Home of the Brave 

Thanks, veterans.

(c)2001 Chicken Systems, Inc. Reproduction for public consumption is prohibited. All Rights Reserved.

| Garth Hjelte and Jeff Godbloch
| Customer Service Representatives
| Chicken Systems, Inc.
| 714 5th Street SE
| Willmar, MN 56201 USA

| 800-8-PRO-EPS - Toll Free Order Line (US Only) 
| 320-235-9798 - Tech Support, Sampler Questions | International Line

| 360-838-7689 - Fax
| Product Sales:       sales@chickensys.com
| Product Support:     support@chickensys.com
| Sampler Q+A:         qa@chickensys.com
| Company Web Page:    www.chickensys.com
| Translator Web Page: www.chickensys.com/translator  

Our Editorial Clarification For Further Research & Info:  

1. MIDI/SMDI: SMDI (SCSI Musical Data Interchange Sample Management Protocol) for fast MIDI Sample Dump transfer via SCSI, making it easy to shunt samples to and fro between sampler and software for external graphical editing and processing.
   

2. "How To" Of SMDI - By Chicken Systems, SMDI & Windows Working Together
   
3. OpenSMDI by Christian Nowak:
   1. The OpenSMDI Library Manual
      
   2. Official SMDI Specs From Peavey: PDF document
4. Mediacontent DOS Libraries 1 - SMDI
   
5. Peavey Tech Notes & White Papers - 
   1. What is SMDI?
6. Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge & SMDI, SCSI Samplers - Yes!

   Sound Forge supports any sampler that uses the SMDI (SCSI MIDI Device Interface) Protocol or MIDI SDS (Sample  Dump Standard.)

7. How to get your SCSI Sampler to work with Sound Forge. 

   Solution: The first step in making this work is to verify that Windows "sees" the sampler. Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, and Device Manager, and verify that there is a listing (usually under Other Devices) for your sampler. If it is listed there and the manufacturer's SCSI implementation works for SMDI transfers, you should be able to access the device by using  "Generic (SCSI/SMDI)" under the Configure menu in our Sampler section under the Tools menu.
    
   The success of using a SCSI Sampler may also be dependent on the SCSI interface card. We find in general that low cost SCSI cards seldom work for this, but a high quality interface such as the Adaptec 2940 with current drivers can help to give the best chance of this feature functioning correctly.
    
   Sound Forge supports SCSI SMDI as the spec for this protocol is defined. Sonic Foundry does not have the resources to test all available samplers with our Sample Transfer capabilities. Nor can we lobby with sampler manufacturers to fix or add features. Ultimately, if the sampler advertises these capabilities, and they work correctly, Sound Forge is the ideal tool for creating, editing and archiving samples.
    
   Author: Sonic Foundry