Xpand!.... First impressions

[McMasters]

(sorry if you read this post in the "Xpand in the digi store" post. I figured I would start a first impressions thread.)

Just received my Xpand in the mail and installed it.

The first thing I did was check out how it handled the sounds. I saw the sounds folder was filled with 28 sub-folders. (very cool) So i checked deeper and the folders are filled with presets with ".tfx" extensions . All sized at 4KB (on a hard drive, 10k on the DVD), so these must referance a larger sample file. Now there is no shortage of presets. In total the presets take up 4.6MB on disk (2,695,264 bytes)

Doing the math 2,695,264 bytes divided by 4,000 bytes gives you about 673 presets. (nice) And the bonus is that alot of them are usable.

The largest file on the disk is a file called the "Xpand!.dat" which is approx 607.2MB (636,670,770 bytes). That file gets installed in your library/application support/digidesign folder. Isn't it better to keep the samples on a different hard drive?

I have only used it for about a hour now and have absolutely NO complaints.
It is simple and straight forward to use. It sounds very good.

Will it replace my sampletank?
Not completely, If digi releases some new .dat files with more specialized sounds, like an "orchastra.dat" -- "acoustic piano.dat" --- "vintage drum machines.dat" or "brass and woodwinds.dat", then, yes it will slowly replace sampletank.

Will it replace Kontakt or Giga?
No, there is no way to edit, construct or map out your own samples. So if you are into the "deep editing" kind of sampler. This product will NOT make you happy. Xpand! has a quick "i am what I am" kind of feel.

When will I reach for it?
I will reach for it first, since it is new and I want to play with it. And most presets sound really good with a little tweak here or there.

THANK YOU DIGI. GREAT WORK. I MAKE MY LIVING WITH YOUR PRODUCTS.

As far as Xpand being proprietary. Oh well, so is SampleTank and Reason. If Digi puts together a large sample library for this thing I will buy it. I have far too many samples from too many different manufacturers I have used in the past. (over 50GB) I have found that trying to keep them all and convert them is a daunting task.
Besides how many 808 kick drums do I really need?

[GeneOuse]

I've found to be doing lots of mousing arount when looking for sound in Xpand. We need an up/down arrows to quickly change sounds. Otherwise very nice, useful instrument.

[Jonathan Starr]

XPAND is a great addition to my system. I'm using it regularly and the sounds are superb.

Thanks DIGI. You folks rock.

Aloha,

Jonathan Starr
Big Gorilla, Maui

[mixer]

wonderful...great gui..

[Howardk]

I found Expand! to be extremely straightforward to use. The library has some great sounds and is more extensive than I expected. I hope it is a sign of things to come and with the name being Expand! there should be more sounds to follow. . .

[milkojnr]

It crashes my system. As soon as I load up the plug-in colourfully ball of death and the crash.

But eveything else is working great.

[DigiTechSupt]

It crashes my system. As soon as I load up the plug-in colourfully ball of death and the crash.

But eveything else is working great.

Which version of Pro Tools are you running? Have you tried all the steps in the OS X Setup and General Troubleshooting thread yet?

[Ducky]

Got the disk (5:20pm)
ate dinner (5:21pm)
Loaded Xpand! (5:24pm)
booted PT (5:27pm)
loaded session(5:30pm)
made tracks (5:31pm)
dialed&clicked(5:35pm)
loaded samples(5:36pm to 11:45pm)

THANX DIGI Love it!

[Keith Moore]

Isn't it better to keep the samples on a different hard drive?

I would like to know the answer to this too. I'm running out of space on my system drive. Can I move my sound libraries to an external?

[lwilliam]

I've found to be doing lots of mousing arount when looking for sound in Xpand. We need an up/down arrows to quickly change sounds. Otherwise very nice, useful instrument.

I found out (BTW, it's in the manual) that you can use your scroll wheel to change presets at the "instrument" level - one of the four preset spaces. Just hold the mouse over the name and scroll away.

Otherwise, use the +/- buttons at the top of the plugin window to change to the next/previous sound in the bank. It then goes to the next bank when it's at the end of the list.

I certainly can't complain about the price and I like a lot of the sounds. It will certainly LESSEN my need for SampleTank in the near future. No, it doesn't do deep editing, but for minor and in some cases, major tweaks, it's actually pretty versatile. It will NOT replace Ivory. I thought the piano sounds were very weak, but the pads and arpeggiated sounds are really nice!

If you have a midi controller, the "Learn" function is super quick for any visible parameter.

I haven't figured out how to remap the mod wheel to aftertouch, so if anyone knows how to do that, it would be much appreciated. I may have to do that in PT somehow rather than in the plugin...

Overall, VERY nice job!