Product Category: Software > Soft Synths / Samplers

Tascam GigaStudio 3 Solo

GigaStudio 3 is the much anticpated new version of the best and most powerful sampler. Available in three versions, ORCHESTRA, ENSEMBLE, and SOLO, GigaStudio 3 offers up to unlimited polyphony, 96kHz/24-bit sample support, ReWire support, VST hosting, realtime convolution modeling and a new look and feel for improved usability and workflow. Naturally, it retains the features that made GigaStudio the professional choice for sampling, such as disk streaming, the lowest latency of any sampler and the best sound libraries in the world.

GigaStudio 3.0 is a stand-alone Windows application that uses hard disk streaming to create the most realistic sampled instruments ever created. It offers access to the finest sound libraries ever assembled, from extensive orchestral collections, detailed piano samples, rich basses, rare keyboards and much more.
GigaStudio can load sample files up to 4.3 gigabytes in length. The first few milliseconds of each sample are loaded into RAM for instant playback, then the rest of the sample streams off of the hard drive. This gives you access to big, dynamic samples without needing tons of RAM into your computer.

But what does it mean to have gigabytes of samples? How is this better than the Piano sound in my favorite synth? Let compare the 2 gigabyte GigaPiano 2, included with the Orchestra and Ensemble editions of GigaStudio 3.0, with the 16 to 64 megabyte piano sample found in a typical synthesizer.

First, every key on the piano is sampled in GigaPiano 2. On a typical synthesizer, the piano might only sampled twice every octave, so the middle C sample may need to stretch all the way up to middle F#.
Since a piano sounds different depending on how hard you strike the key, GigaPiano 2 samples each key sixteen times at different velocities. A typical synth piano will only have one to three "crossswitches" per key, so you can usually hear the transition from the soft sample to the loud sample. Some piano sounds on synths don’t have any crossswitches, filtering and attenuating one sample to cover the entire dynamic spectrum. More crossswitches gives you a more accurate sound, and it’s also a lot more satisfying to play.
GigaPiano 2 has enough memory to record the entire decay of a piano note, even though the low bass notes may decay for 20 seconds or more. A synthesizer can’t possibly do this with just a few megabytes, so they loop the sample after only a second or so. This artificially looped sound is then attenuated using a synth filter and DCA to approximate the natural decay of a piano key, which is something GigaStudio can handle by just playing the actual recording.
Many GigaStudio libraries include different mic techniques to choose from. For example, the VintAudio Yamaha C3 library has close mic, distant mic and player’s perspective mic locations. You can load all of these samples at once and balance between them when mixing, or even output different mics to multiple outputs for a 5.1 surround mix. Obviously, this is something that’s impossible to do in a synthesizer.

Finally, samples are sometimes converted to a lower sampling rate to save on ROM space on synthesizers. Since they only have 50-100 megabytes of total sound ROM for all of the instruments they want to include, they might cut corners by sample rate converting to save space. For example, they may decide that a bass guitar or kick drum doesn’t have a lot of high end, so resampling it at 22kHz is acceptable. GigaStudio is going the complete opposite direction, with version 3 now offering up to 96kHz sampling.
Hardware samplers might be able to load a bigger sample than hardware synthesizer, maybe up to 128MB or more, but simply nothing compares to GigaStudio. We don’t mean to pick on your favorite synth, but if you haven’t played a 2GB piano library you just don’t know what you’re missing.

REVIEW:

GigaStudio is downright incredible! - Mix Magazine
"The sound, the flexibility and the ease of use are absolutely top-shelf. I've been an ardent Mac user for years, and I'm certainly not jumping platforms, but the people at NemeSys will actually have to come to my home and take my review unit away with their bare hands. I'm not letting it go, because it sounds that good."

- Unlimited Polyphony - in GigaStudio 3 Orchestra, dependant on hard drive speed. 160 voice polyphony in GS3 Ensemble, 96 voices in GS3 Solo
- VST Plug-In support - use your favorite effects in GigaStudio Rewire support - GigaStudio now provides virtual MIDI and audio connections between a sequencer and GS3
- 24-bit sample support - a new dimension of detail, without affecting polyphony
- 96kHz sample support - load 24-bit/96kHz instruments for stunning realism
- Expanded mixer - now supports 128 channels and 32 fader groups
- Quick Edit - by popular demand, edit real time parameters on the fly
- New User Interface look and feel - a modern overhaul to the look of GigaStudio for improved workflow and usability
- Intelligent MIDI - Legato, Alternation, Random modes and more
- Sample Recording - Now the premier sample player can record samples, not just play them back. New GSIF 2.0-compatible soundcards now support input as well as output for recording or processing directly into GigaStudio
- Kernel-level MIDI - Our new MIDI input technology virtually eliminates latency and reduces jitter on the incoming MIDI data
- Convolution Surround placement - using a native version of
- GigaPulse with extra channels for surround
- GigaPulse - This processor models the resonance of a space, microphone or instrument body for the most realistic sampled instruments ever. A playback-only version, GigaPulse SP, is included with Orchestra, Ensemble and Solo. GigaPulse Pro is included with GigaStudio 3 Orchestra, and offers the ability to create your own reverb impulses and add them to instruments.
- Streaming samples - only GigaStudio allows you to load samples over 4GB, for the most realistic instruments possible
- Sound Libraries - The best sound libraries in the world are developed for GigaStudio. Some samplers attempt to convert and load GS instruments, but lose articulations, sound quality and big sample sizes that make GigaStudio the leader in its field
- Runs on inexpensive PC hardware, integrates with Mac sequencers with a soundcard and a MIDI jack.
- Quicksound: Rapid instrument searching of your hard drive
- Articulations: Switch playing techniques by pressing a key, allows for highly authentic phrasing and performance
- Low Latency: Kernel-level processing give GigaStudio the lowest latency of any sampler

MORE INFO:

Click here to visit the Tascam website