Nemesys GigaStudio 160 for Windows
The pioneers of sound-streaming sampling do their homework -- and make the grade
by David Korn
August 22, 2000
Summing it Up
When Nemesys pioneered hard disk-based sampling with GigaSampler, they raised the standard for both sampling instruments and computer-based sound creation. Its successor, GigaStudio, takes a solid idea even further -- offering greater polyphony, a much more efficient user interface, and built-in effects. You still need to pretty much dedicate a whole computer to the program (and build it to exacting specs), but for large orchestral sound libraries, it's a dream come true.
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Nemesys GigaSampler was the first hard disk-based sampler. Unlike a traditional hardware sampler -- which loads sound data into RAM -- GigaSampler sounds could be streamed off your PC's hard drive, letting you play back much larger samples than a conventional sampler's 128 or 256MB RAM limit would allow. Also, because the storage and playback were centralized in one device (your computer), organizing and accessing a large library of sounds was very quick.
This achievement came at a cost: Top performance demanded the entire resources of a computer -- meaning you'd need a "sampler" computer in addition to whatever other computer you might need for hard disk recording or sequencing. There were other drawbacks, too, mainly the limited 64-note polyphony and a relatively lame, rackmount-like user interface. But despite these caveats, GigaSampler's price/performance ratio was quite agreeable. And now, with the advent of the new Nemesys GigaStudio 160 (US $699), that ratio becomes even more appealing.
Gigastudio 160 proves that the folks at Nemesys have done their homework, and more: It offers a whopping 160 voices (its little brother, the $399 GigaStudio, gives you 96), with 64-channel multitimbral capability. Plus, there are now integrated plug-in effects, including reverb, chorus/flanger, delay, and EQ. As before, top performance requires a dedicated, very fast computer (see sidebar), but no more horsepower than you'd find on a typical audio-rigged PC.
GigaStudio's new layout is more efficient. The icons on the left call up the corresponding page in the top panel, which themselves are organized in tabs. Each of the four Port pages holds a group of 16 MIDI channels/slots and their associated Instruments (click for a close-up)
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Interface
The user interface is a welcome departure from the "virtual rackmount" style of GigaSampler. There's one window, split into two panels, somewhat like Sonic Foundry's Acid.
In the top window, you call up the various parameter pages using icons (positioned screen-left), including the four 16-channel MIDI consoles and their associated Instruments (Nemesys-speak for programs) that you have loaded for playback.
The bottom panel is the Explorer, where you browse your computer's storage drives and select the files you want. Finding them is quick, thanks to GigaStudio's extensive database and search functions. You can even search and access files across a network (polyphony depends on network throughput). Unfortunately, the process of creating and editing an instrument is still farmed out to the stand-alone Instrument Editor.
The Loaded Instruments tab lets you see all the Instruments currently loaded. The keyboard will display the key-span of the selected Instrument (in this case, #2 — Mambo 100 bpm Demo), and let you play them with the mouse. (click for a close-up)
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Next Page: File Compatibility; Wave; Editor....
David Korn has been writing on digital audio technology since the day it became as much fun to use as his Minimoog. His articles have been published in various magazines around the world, such as Keyboards (France), Audiomedia (UK), and Keyboard (Japan). He is based in Paris.
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