emusonacid! legacy

Chicken systems Constructor - has anyone tried this software?
I am intending to create instruments and burn CD ROMS for my EMU, this sounds exactly what I need to accomplish this.

Anyone can confirm it's not vaporware?

Anyone?

atomicmidi wrote:Chicken systems Constructor - has anyone tried this software?
I am intending to create instruments and burn CD ROMS for my EMU, this sounds exactly what I need to accomplish this.

Anyone can confirm it's not vaporware?

It has been going for years and the company are still developing new stuff. I haven't used this software or ever burned a rom so I cant say how effective this software is, but it can be done without it, however it is not very straight forward.... see here http://www.tweakheadz.com/CDR.html

Just a thought... Why bother?
For personal backups you can always make an image of your samplers internal hard drive and save this to another drive.
However the idea of making a cd-rom is appealing if you intend to sell you banks on disk. (Jahfunk Cont/Controller Heaven Rom ..anyone? )

Jahfunk Cont/Controller Heaven Rom ..anyone?

Sign me up!


I intend to use the constructor to create banks in a speedy fashion, I simply don't have enough knowledge of other technologies, SCSI to CF is where I'm at, though I have heard of USB - SCSI connections too.. Also have a cd-rom which I like since when I make a cd it will automatically be a backup of samples that I can store.

Thoughts?

I would be wary. I was one of the guys who put down money when it was "about to be released". This message was repeated then for another 12+ months before I finally got my hands on a beta which was not a beta in my view (I work in enterprise software) - mostly a half baked "there, we are making progress here take a look alpha". For instance, it didn't have E4 support - the primary reason I needed it.

Around this time, Lots of people would post on their forum expressing their doubts and anger, only to have the threads mysteriously disappear.

I have Translator too and have used it in the past for moving sample libraries. Its ok, but the newer Mac OS X version was very buggy to the point of frustration. I really wanted Constructor to live up to its promise - having put together the USB-IDE interface for the Emu, I felt like if I could create samples and programs offline then load them over USB, I'd be in Emu Heaven.

Some things really got odd overall with Chicken Systems- my Translator license they sent via email had somebody elses registration info in it - I could still use it but when I inquired the response from support was "Yeah, we told him not to do that". Wtf ? The ever present - almost obsessive emails about CD production vs download (I didnt really care but they had promised CD's in email responses over and over!) - and then a really arcane way to get the software and register it - which then seemed to not work when I needed to move to my new iMac a year later. Again - after a lot of back and forth it felt like an anti climax.

I also had to ask repeatedly to get my hands on Constructor even after being marketed to that it was available - all *well* after I had paid for it.

I admire Chicken Systems for sticking to their business. It just seems very flaky to me. The do respond to support requests. My gripe is they don't seem to have a good grip on who is licensed for what - perhaps this was just my problem....Id be interested in other opinions.

Also - their demo versions are from 2009 - looks to me like not a lot of dev on that product line any more - maybe they are focused on their vendor partners for sample conversion. I can understand that, but leaving your customer base in a half managed state with a feeling they wasted good money isn't good business.

Happy to hear anyone contradict me: if these guys could pull of constuctor I'd probably - and many others - shift my sampling back to the Emu world from my beloved Ableton.


M

Cheers Kalide!

Here was me hoping that all those complaints online are just teething problems for a new product.. it sure looks like a hell of a risk (if not downright waste) to buy this product.. what a pity is all I can say.

To my knowledge there are no analogs to this program, or perhaps there is something out there to construct EMU banks? Anyone?

kalide
Very interesting. A bit of a risk buying this software.

atomicmidi
I would sugest you run eos 4.7 and install a laptop IDE drive (formatted in FAT) into your emu.
Then if you connect a 100/250 scsi zip drive to the emu you will be able to transfer files in FAT to and from a computer using a second zip drive with USB, this is great for WAV sample transfers and bank back-ups.

RE building presets
If you take a little time and build a few key-maps and cord-maps you can use these as templates in a few ways.

Method 1
Multi-sample maps.
Load in a preset created during a different session that contains a key-map that suits your current task (eg 5 octave multi-sample c1 c2 c3 c4 c5)
Delete all 5 samples from the emus sample slot memory, and save this preset naming it .... 5 octave c template
Now when ever you load this preset it will use the first 5 samples in memory.
Add your 5 new samples to the first 5 slots.
Just rename and save your new preset. (this template could contain cont/controller maps, midi clocks, velocity and so on)

Method 2
To add a basic preset that contains only key-maps to a complex cord template
First make a complex template and save it with only one sample slot (set to voice #100).
Now when ever you want it load it up.
To add new sounds to the template ensure all samples in the source preset are grouped (combine command).
Then copy the group to the template.
In the template hit Combine command again (this will now have fixed the chords to the imported multi-samples)
Delete the original sample slot (voice #100).
Now rename and save your new preset.

The second method has the following advantages.
The template needs only one sample slot (set to voice #100) .
Any preset with odd key-maps can be dropped straight into the template.
This means you don't need to create multiple instances with different key-maps for the same cords template.

I hope this make sense?

Ok yeah.. give me a few days to process this! :D


Thanks again everyone

To start you off I will post some templates soon.
I've made some very usable synths, wobblers, pitch risers, cross faders, and voice cutters. Maybe I could try to make a video to step you through the way I use the templates.

That's great Jahfunk, if you stick it on youtube it will be a hit! Like to see EMU community going strong!

One thing thats always struck me as possible - if someone can work out the most basic bank and program structure then surely it would be possible to construct a Program with say normalized initial parameters using say Java, Python, Perl etc to build the E4B file.

e.g. take even a basic sine wave as the sample - 1 cycle, then take a blank patch, merge in the wave into it....start from there.

Whilst not ideal, it would allow a batch operation - e.g. to take drum hits or slices from recycle and map them out to useful programs.

I just never get the free time to do that kind of thing these days.....god knows how I used to be able to knock up C and assembler stuff overnight back in the day.....ah yes...I was single, lower in the responsibility tree, spending all my hard earned on synths etc

M

A dedicated translator/constructor program would be a dream come true - always been wodering why Chicken systems didn't go that way since they have dedicated single format translators etc..

How much would such software cost to develop? I haven't got the faintest idea.. perhaps some kind of group project would be something feasable?

Would sure make things easier with EMU's