CAN MBOX work with giga studio sampler?

[3QQQ]

hi
i just had a friend who has giga studio sampler , so i kind of wnat to know if mbox can be used with gigastudio, but i was told by a friend of mine saying you need a audio card to run giga

so i tested a bit ,and then the giga system said that there is no audio card detected ...so that i can't open giga properly

but isn't that right you can used mbox as an audio interface but how come it can't run with gigastudio sampler?

thomas

[dubaifox]

Gigastudio/Sampler is a dedicated sampler that requires its own compatible soundcard, midi-interface (check website for comapetible ones- www.tascam.com) as well as the Gigastudio software.

Once you have this in your PC, it is a Sampler, like any AKAI or EMU sampler, except with a huge screen, fast retrieval and auditioning of sounds. Once you have this, you then take the outputs from the soundcard into your Mbox. So yes it works, but Mbox does not work as the Giga Sampler sound card. You need it in addition to it the Giga compatible sound card.

Most people run this on a seperate machine as it is a pretty intense program. VERY COOL THOUGH!

[nikki-k]

Hi!
GigaStudio currently (ver 2.5) requires a soundcard that has GSIF drivers; No Digi hardware has GSIF drivers, therefore yes, a second soundcard would be required.

However!!!
Gigastudio 3 (due sometime in April at last report) will have a boatload of new features- VERY sweet actually One of them is ReWire capability. While initial reports are that the first release of GS3 will still require a soundcard with GSIF drivers to be present even while using in ReWire mode, a subsequent release will provide a virtual GSIF driver that will allow rewire use without having a GSIF soundcard present, thus allowing those of us using a system like those offered by Digidesign, to use GS3 on our PT computers without having a second soundcard.

Now for the even more fun part: With GS3 and a soundcard with GSIF2 drivers (no vendors designated as providing GSIF2 drivers yet- I would expect those announcements a bit closer to the GS3 release date) will provide something VERY cool:
Say you have a system with an Mbox, 002, etc, and then throw a GSIF2 soundcard in there as well, or run a second system with a GSIF2 soundcard; then, you would be able to run audio from that card to the Digi card/unit. Why better than rewire? Cause GS3 will have real-time audio input! Yep, that means you can use all the facilities within GS3 to process live sound! That inlcudes using the VST capable inserts/sends, GigaPulse, etc.

I called Tascam back about a month ago to ask about some things with GS3, and while they said they did not have definite answers to all of my questions, they did say they were looking at making a Pro Tools/GigaStudio, Ableton Live/GigaStudio, etc. experience much easier and desireable.

Also, Max, that makes FXTeleport, is in the final stages of completeing work on the GigaVst wrapper. Basically, it provides a virtual GSIF driver internally, and "wraps" Giga in a VST shell, allowing it to be used as a VSTi Combined with FXteleport, that means Giga would be able to be run on a second system, and then use ethernet for audio AND MIDI! For the power user, combine that with FXpansion's upcoming VST-Rewire adapter, and that means multiple channels streaming into PT via rewire, which will come from a second computer over LAN!

A little patience and good things will be here
For anyone considering GS3, I would highly suggest grabbing GigaStudio160 now, and then paying $50 for the upgrade to GS3 Orch when it arrives; this will save a bit of $$$ ovr buying GS3 Orch at the street price when released. I would also HIGHLY suggest grabbing the "GigaStudio Mastery" 4 cd set- an awesome set of video tutorials by the two guys who started it all. While Giga does have a learning curve, I feel it is well worth it. And no- Giga aint just for the "Hans Zimmer-super orchestra" type users.

[dubaifox]

Hey Nikki, that is very informative. Thanks

In a couple months, I am going to be getting a sampler set-up, and the more research I do, the more I think I will go with Giga3, on a dedicated PC.

This would be the first PC I have ever bought. Would these new interface features be useful if your PT computer is a MAC?

[nikki-k]

Hi!
Due to the way Giga "hooks" into things on a deep level, it is Windows only. Similar to how Altiverb uses Altivec, hence no Windows version.

A dedicated Win XP computer for Giga is a great idea. Northern Sounds has a forum with a Gigastudio section that gets a good amount of traffic; most of the users there are into the "hans Zimmer Orchestration" type thing, and alot have multiple PC's running alongside a Mac as their primary DAW. I don't recall exactly what they are using in a Mac/PC situation.
Northern Sounds forum

If you go that route, and grab Giga, and need any help with things, feel free to email me. There are some very knowledgable people on Northern's forums for Giga as well.

[dubaifox]

Hey Niki:

Just wanted to thank you for the info and the great link to Northern Sounds. For the last two days my browsing time has been spent over there.

LOTS of great info on samplers hard and soft, sample libraries and the latest on stuff like Kontact and GIGA. Gary Garriton himself seems to be a somewhat regular contributor.

From my research, a dedicated PC (maybe 2?) for Giga 3 is what I am going to get. I can't wait!

[nikki-k]

Hi!
Most welcome!
Giga 3 should be totally awesome.
Depending on how much "live" use you require, 1 or 2 would do it.
Also, size of the sample sets used will be a huge factor. Using something like the VSL collection would take 3-4 systems to run *well*, but something like a small choir would be able to share one system with other sets.

Plus, with Giga 3 having ReWire, using "economy" versions of certain ones will make songwriting and preliminary "mock-up" possible on a single system, even using Pro Tools