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Warning to would-be GigaStudio buyers!!!
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| JP8000Lover |
I've been a GigaStudio user since GS 1. GS1 was the greatest sampler I've used in years. It had an amazing interface, it was fast, had no bugs, and Nemesys always made sure the updates worked correctly.
As you all know, Tascam took over GS and guess what - it's all gone downhill to hell in a handbasket with pretty purple flowers saying "Buy my software!"
Now that GS3 is out, I decided to try it. THAT was a huge mistake. I'm using version 3.10.0.2270 and as you can see, 2 thousand builds shows that Tascam hasn't a clue what they're doing. Here is my s-list for you would-be buyers. You NEED to know this before you waste your money on this total abomination of a sampler:
1) You need a GS compatible card. Have fun spending the money on a card you are forced to buy just to use the software.
2) The software doesn't load. No kidding. On my machine, which has a NEW WinXP install, I load GS, and after the configuration, I get a serious crash - a BSOD and a hard reboot. Hell - if I don't want to press my restart button, I'll just start GigaStudio!!
3) IF you're lucky enough to get GS to run, the load time is atrocious. Even with a minimal database of samples (I mean minimal - 3MB worth), you're looking at a 30 second load time minimal.
4) This software is a resource hog. Obviously the designers didn't care about the people who don't have 4GB of dual channel RAM and a dual-proc motherboard just to manage this crappy software.
5) If you need support, try waving a sign around that says, "Remember me - I'm a Customer!!" and if you're lucky, Tascam might answer you. If they do answer you (which is like winning a national lottery), don't expect any intelligent answers. From my emails with Tascam, I am lead to believe that they have rats that type certain keys that trigger spam-like emails, such as "general response" and "what to say to 99.9% of customers with a problem". Hmm - the rats must be rewarded with marijuana sugar cubes, because the same email seem to be going out over & over & over...
So all-in-all: DO NOT BUY THIS SOFTWARE!!!! You are wasting your money, you are wasting your time, and there is MUCH better software out there, like Kontakt.
JP8000Lover |
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| qiushiming |
| what about halion vs. kontakt |
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| djbruuen |
| i agree, i personally wasn't very impressed by gigastudio 3...i got a bootlegged copy of it just to demo and wasn't very impressed, so deleted it off my comp and am thankful i didn't actually buy it. (see, bootlegging is fine, sometimes its essential to take that test drive to be assured its worth putting down the $) |
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| qiushiming |
| quote: | Originally posted by djbruuen
i agree, i personally wasn't very impressed by gigastudio 3...i got a bootlegged copy of it just to demo and wasn't very impressed, so deleted it off my comp and am thankful i didn't actually buy it. (see, bootlegging is fine, sometimes its essential to take that test drive to be assured its worth putting down the $) |
haha...i thought thats why they make demo versions? |
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| Limit |
i worked at Steinberg Cananda for awhile and I had a talk with the guy that builds and develops the Music XPC's. We got on topic about Giga Studio one night...now I had the same frame of mind as the guy in the first post, but Less(the guy at steinberg) told me it was probably the best sampler ever created and works amazing IF and I say IF you have the right computer built for it. That doesn't make sense to me because it should be versitile, but no its not. He told me that he built a Music XPC with Giga Sampler for Hans Zimmer(very popular composer that does tonnes of movie scores) and said that they used the computer as a stand alone sampler and had that computer(with Giga Sampler) used as a VSTi in cubase on anotehr computer. So the point of my story is that yes Giga Studio is crap if you dont have teh right hardware, but "it is THE best soft Sampler(or sampler) out there if your doing musical scores"(quoted from Less).
So all in all its just not a low end package to be used lightly.
Man, Hans Zimmer's Giga Studio Music XPC is nuts..its got 2 Terra Bytes of samples...man I wish I could afford that. I never though Musical Scoreing could ever be done that way. I always though they used a live Orchestra...I'm pretty sure they still need em. |
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| allcentury18 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Limit
i worked at Steinberg Cananda for awhile and I had a talk with the guy that builds and develops the Music XPC's. We got on topic about Giga Studio one night...now I had the same frame of mind as the guy in the first post, but Less(the guy at steinberg) told me it was probably the best sampler ever created and works amazing IF and I say IF you have the right computer built for it. That doesn't make sense to me because it should be versitile, but no its not. He told me that he built a Music XPC with Giga Sampler for Hans Zimmer(very popular composer that does tonnes of movie scores) and said that they used the computer as a stand alone sampler and had that computer(with Giga Sampler) used as a VSTi in cubase on anotehr computer. So the point of my story is that yes Giga Studio is crap if you dont have teh right hardware, but "it is THE best soft Sampler(or sampler) out there if your doing musical scores"(quoted from Less).
So all in all its just not a low end package to be used lightly.
Man, Hans Zimmer's Giga Studio Music XPC is nuts..its got 2 Terra Bytes of samples...man I wish I could afford that. I never though Musical Scoreing could ever be done that way. I always though they used a live Orchestra...I'm pretty sure they still need em. |
Zimmer takes a lot of criticism from people in the classical community for using samples and synths in his work. he tends to use both in conjunction with orchestra's.
i'm a huge zimmer fan though |
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| JP8000Lover |
This is exactly why I'm trying to warn people from buying this software. Like I said, when it first came out it was the BEST sampler on the market and I was a strong advocate of it. I had no problems whatsoever util Tascam took over. Now it's a bloated monstrosity. This coming from someone who's had great success with GS1 & GS2 AND I have a recommended GS compatible sound card. My computer specs are WELL above the recommended requirements, and it simply doesn't work. The fact of the matter is that GS isn't meant to work on all computers and Tascam will not take any responsibility for their software NOT working. They also don't warn consumers about this fact, so I think they really do have something to hide.
So from one home studio artist to all the others considering buying this software - PLEASE try it out somehow before buying it. As for my copy, it's going on eBay this morning. |
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| Trancevision |
| is giga studio / giga sampler VSTi compatible? |
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| JP8000Lover |
| GS3 Is NOT VST compatible, but it is ReWire compatible. You can, however, buy a VST adapter plug-in (don't know the name - check KVR Audio for details) which wraps GS3 as a VSTi, so you can use it as a VSTi. |
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