Translator also offers an intriguing third option, Virtual Drives. Any found with proprietary formats are then grouped under the heading 'SCSI‑ATAPI Drives', and appear in the drive list beneath the DOS ones. Your normal computer drives are always DOS‑formatted, and appear at the top of the drive list, while any SCSI, CD‑ROM, CD‑RW, USB, or parallel‑port drives are automatically detected when Translator starts up. It has two main panes, the left‑hand one displaying drives, folders, and files while the right‑hand pane displays the contents of the currently highlighted drive, folder, or file. Interface & Drive OptionsĬhicken Systems have decided to make their user interface as familiar as possible, by basing it on Windows Explorer. By the way, if you only require conversion to Gigasampler format, a considerably cheaper Giga‑only version is available for £39.95. After all, with about 30 formats this would mean around 900 possible translations. In addition, not all of the above formats are available as both source and destination in every case. I don't normally approve of developers advertising features that have not yet been implemented, but in the case of a sample file converter it is worth knowing what future formats are being considered before you buy it. If the translation has already been coded, its current status is helpfully given as either Level One (loops, tuning, and basic mapping in place), Level Two (envelopes, LFOs, and other modification parameters supported), or Level Three (everything possible has been converted). Emu 4‑series (E4, E4x, E64, E64000, Esynth and Ultra).ĭon't be misled by the huge list of possible translations on the Chicken Systems web site: not all of them have been implemented, and some of the older ones mentioned like the 20‑year old Ensoniq Mirage are never likely to be.To make this as easy as possible there's even an Auto‑Update menu option in Translator which can automatically check whether or not a suitable update has become available. As Chicken Systems intend to add support for more sample formats on a regular basis, it pays to return periodically to see whether a new patch file has appeared. This was emailed back to me in under a minute, allowing me to download the latest update while still on‑line. However, my version was only supplied with an Unlock code, and in this situation you need to register at the Chicken Systems web site to get a suitable Keycode. When you first run it, a registration page requires that you enter Keycode and Unlock codes supplied on the 'Certificate of Authenticity'. It currently runs on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000 and XP, while the forthcoming Mac version (no release date given) should run on Mac OS 7.0 or higher. I first mentioned Translator in SOS November 2000, in the context of software studios, but since then Chicken Systems have added a great deal to the original release, which at the time of this review has just jumped to version 2.5. It can even create image files in various formats, allowing you to burn your own proprietary‑format CD‑Rs. Enter Translator, from US developers Chicken Systems, a PC (and shortly Mac) utility that can read dozens of different sample formats, including non‑standard disc formats such as Akai, Emu, Ensoniq, Kurzweil, and Roland, convert them to any other, and all in a comprehensive way that retains as many parameters of the original format as possible. However, these conversion processes tend to quite basic, and may not include the format you're interested in. Manufacturers have long recognised that musicians may want to import sounds from other libraries, and many samplers now provide facilities to read a few 'non‑native' CD‑ROM formats, and then convert the sounds. Even the way data is stored tends to be proprietary: Akai CD‑ROMs are totally different from Emu and Roland CD‑ROMs, for instance, and when you format a dedicated hard drive for use with your hardware sampler it may well do this in a proprietary format too. This doesn't present any problems if you buy one sampler and stay with it for life, but few of us do that: we buy one, build up a library of sounds, and then get tempted by a different product with bigger polyphony, built‑in effects, or computer‑based editing. Sadly, however, there's still one large fly in the ointment - each and every product has its own data format for loading and saving samples, programs, and multis. Given the number of excellent hardware and software samplers that are now available, you might be forgiven for thinking that the modern samplist would have an easy life. Ever found yourself really needing a particular sample CD‑ROM, only to find that it's not available for your sampler? Or perhaps you want to back up your sample programs in proprietary CD formats? Chicken Systems' PC utility Translator may be able to help.
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