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VSampler 2 FAQ

The distribution of VSampler 2 has been officially ceased in october 2003 in favour of VSampler 3. The FAQ will stay online for VSampler 2 users.

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1. When I try to import sounds from AKAI CD I get the error message "wnaspi32.dll not properly installed" or "ASPI not properly installed".
2. The AKAI import dialog opens up, but's it's empty and shows ... nothing?
3. After importing an AKAI program some of the samples don't play, others do. The MIDI LED is flashing at all times, but the Voices display registers voices just now and then.
4. I imported a sound which consists of multiple programs, how do I assign them to the same MIDI channel in VSampler, so they act as one complete instrument as intended?
5. The AKAI import doesn't get everything right, what to do?
6. The AKAI import works perfect for most of my CD's, but a certain CD imports completely wrong, what to do?

1. When I try to import sounds from AKAI CD I get the error message "wnaspi32.dll not properly installed" or "ASPI not properly installed".
You can't read an AKAI CD in Windows Explorer, AKAI CDs don't have a file system. To be able to read an AKAI CD VSampler accesses the CD-sectors directly, using the ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programmer's Interface) command set, known from "audio CD extraction" software and CD writer software. The problem: Win98 included ASPI drivers by default, the newer Windows versions 2000 and XP don't. They have to be installed "manually", but that's no problem:

Install ForceASPI, this tool will install Adaptec's ASPI drivers and force the system to use them. Optional, but not required: update to Adaptec's latest Windows 2000/XP ASPI drivers, install them, reboot, done.
 
2. The AKAI import dialog opens up, but's it's empty and shows ... nothing?
Same solution as for the previous question. On some systems the ASPI layer seems to miss a registry key, which the ForceASPI tool will add. A user (thanks Rob!) reported another solution: download AspiTest, start it, close it, done.
 
3. After importing an AKAI program some of the samples don't play, others do. The MIDI LED is flashing at all times, but the Voices display registers voices just now and then.
Have a look at the Zones page, there are probably some velocity zones "missing" from the import because you imported just one program of a multi-program sound. Background and solution: For convenience reasons or to allow instruments >32 MB with multiple hardware samplers playing at once (how ridiculous today :) ) some AKAI CD instruments are splitted into multiple programs, which you need to load to the same MIDI channel. Typical use would be one program for the low velocity range and one for the high velocity range. If you load only one of them and hit the keys with the "wrong" velocity you don't hear any sound. Have a look at your CD booklet and load all required programs into VSampler and then merge them together into one instrument (see next question).
 
4. I imported a sound which consists of multiple programs, how do I assign them to the same MIDI channel in VSampler, so they act as one complete instrument as intended?
You can't assign multiple programs (or "Presets" in VSampler slang) to the same MIDI channel in VSampler, but you can merge multiple Presets into one, to get the same effect. Go to VSamplers "Preset" page and drag'n'drop one Preset onto the other, now choose "merge" in the popup dialog - done. Note: all VSampler-internal drag'n'drop actions work by right mousekey!
 
5. The AKAI import doesn't get everything right, what to do?
At the moment, very most AKAI sample CD's import quite well, but be prepared to do some tweaking to get all details going to your liking. There is no official specification for the AKAI CD format available to 3rd parties (with a few exceptions maybe), that's why THE AKAI CD format doesn't exist. There are dozens of variants, depending on the sampler type or sampler OS version or AKAI CD image generation software which has been used to produce the CD.
 
6. The AKAI import works perfect for most of my CD's, but a certain CD imports completely wrong, what to do?
If you have a serious import problem with a certain AKAI CD and other CD's work fine please contact me directly by email at maz@maz-sound.de and tell me name and manufacturer of this CD and describe the problem, e.g. "Partition A: program 'flute1' imports with an odd volume envelope". I'll try to get this CD and check the problem here, in the past all CD-specific problems have been fixed once we had the CD here for debugging.
 
VSampler 2
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Table of contents FAQ
  AKAI-CD Import
  SF2 Import / Export
  Soundcard Issues
  MIDI & Sequencers
  Performance & Requirements
  Soundediting & Creating Banks
  GUI & Handling
  Ordering / Registration Key