Hi, I've got a little spare time and thinking of embarking on a new project
Basically I'm thinking about ripping the samples from the old Spectrasonics Akai cds, like Vocal Planet and Heart of Asia.
Probably going to use Kontakt to convert to WAV.

I'm then planning on mapping the samples out, coding a decent GUI and turning each CD into a usable Kontakt library rather than needing to mount AKAI cds and all that hassle.
I wanted to know if anyone has tried this before and experience of these AKAI cds, any problems people have come across and whether people have any suggestions towards any CDS of that sort of nature that they think might make a good usable Kontakt library.
All suggestions and ideas are welcomed - Thanks in advance

 

Yes and it's a time saver instead of loading Cd's... for conversion i used CdXtract

I release a couple of libraries in the past, Mainly XXL Pads & EWQL Voices...

I was gonna release XXL Pads 2, Symphony of Voices but never finished being sitting on my list to do things lol

 

Many thanks for the feedback Introninja
I will look into CDXtract as I've not really used that program much and anything that saves time is always welcome when getting samples sorted
Those two libraries you mentioned sound real promising, especially the XXLPads2 as really into that stuff.
Don't have those specific libraries so think will possibly look 2 aquire them lol
The libraries you did sound real cool as there so many real good sample CDS still floating about that could possibly make a great libraries.
Much appreciate the advice & input

 

I converted a few AKAI CDs because I wanted them on my Maschine. I ended up just importing them through Kontakt's file browser and saving an .nki that I could load into Maschine. Kontakt's import of AKAI keygroups has seriously improved over the last couple versions and is near flawless now.

Here's a cool site that houses a decent number of discontinued and vintage sample CDs, if you're interested.
https://vintagemusicsamples.wordpress.com/

The unzip password is the format manufacturer in all lowercase. So, for any AKAI sample CD, the password is akai. For anything Roland, it's roland.

 

Thanks pinkman. Great share...

 

awesome idea @Kloud props for any of these you convert for the community ( also for your work so far with Micheal )

2nd what @Pinkman has said, I struggled with this format before to no avail, but now Kontakt does handle the job
quite nicely, tho it's nowhere near obvious, and I haven't seen any other site on the net that gives a good, clear procedure
for doing this... though I finally came to terms with it and posted some tips here and there..

I tried with CDXtract before as well, I got the samples out of it, but then made a right mess
trying to import into Kontakt.. it sorta worked but never did turn out quite right for me !

sounds like the @Kloud treatment would give us an even more useful new resource... cheers and good on ya m8

 

cool stuff guys

 

Hey guys thanks for all the info.
Thanks Pinkman for the downloads. That's real cool of you. Gonna go check them out now and see what they like.
Sounds like some good stuff.
Thanks also Herr Durr for the cool info.
Going to check CDXTRACT for sure then have a look and come to a decision.
Still reckon it could be well worth having a look to see if something could be done.
I still got a lot of love for some of the old random stuff that's floating about and reckon it's possible to make something cool from it as some of it is real good stuff.
Least to my ears but I could be wrong lol
Thanks guys for the information and the advice is much appreciated

 

@Kloud
A very good idea as there are a few gems in AKAI format (and in others such as EMU or Kurzweil) that should still be useful and Vocal Planet is obviously one of them.

 

@Kloud: Great Idea. Are you going to share these?

If so, I'd recommend using a Kontakt version below 4.2 because otherwise, the conversion is a one-way-street (Only Kontakt 4.1 programs can be converted to any other format in case you need the samples and programs outside Kontakt!)
Kontakt 4.1.x can perfectly read AKAI ISOs and is powerful enough for such a project.

 

Yes I Deffo agree in that there still a few really great libraries floating about.
The different formats is also something interesting to think over.
Some don't maybe translate quite as well I guess I'm going to have a little research to perform there. Vocal Planet is a cool idea also and think I have that somewhere.
Thanks for the input as ideally that's the info that's real helpful when arriving at a decision

For sure the whole idea is definitely to share them and that's why want ideas wrt which specific libraries people would like to see.
The kontakt 4 thing is something to give some consideration towards and that is cool info wrt conversion.
Would have the added bonus of no compatibility issues etc. Only problems that way would be scripting considerations and say filter choices but there's ways around that. Thanks for that info as is an important consideration

 

This is very exciting, looking forward to seeing how it comes along. I have a lot of these burned and on original cd, I'll pull them out and see if I can make images of them.

 

You guys probably already know this but I'll put it up anyways. Images of AKAI CDs contain .mdx files that you can mount in Windows but if you try to explore the contents you'll get an error saying 'Windows can't access this disk'. Leave the discs mounted and use Kontakt's file browser to explore what Windows can't. Daemon Tools works well.

 

Thanks for all the info guys
I know many of these file types can be read directly by kontakt and utilised often directly. My way of thinking I guess is that sometimes several of these libraries are fairly disorganised in say ordering, labelling and structure.
I also get a little frustrated sometimes as some of the sounds are great but you could do so much more with them with say the addition of a really functional GUI with several features. So my hope is too develop a GUI that can be used say as a basic template for several libraries.
So I'm hoping to say take a handful of libraries, get them organised in say a real great format and structure if possible and then say apply the template and save each one as an individual library.
If this becomes achievable then it could be a really cool selection of unique sounds in a series of small libraries.That's the aim anyway
Thanks for the info Pinkman is real helpful as always & well appreciated & thanks to everyone as it's cool to see enthusiasm and people willing to help.
Is real cool indeed

 

Speaking of which... For me, the ultimate "oldies but goldies" library is the Take Six for Kurzweil.
Despite the fact that Kontakt should be able to convert it, not sure how it will work because of the macros.

Just to give an idea of what is possible:

 

E-Piano sounded awesome but on my phone at moment lol but Sounded real cool.
Some great sounds there indeed.
Kontakt can handle so many file types but certain things do get lost sometimes In conversations etc. Not all the time though and mostly results are great.
Have to keep an eye open for any sounds like that 4 sure

 

Hey Kloud, I can send you a good number of great libraries in various formats already converted to Kontakt for you to make the GUI template coding. Just PM me and we´ll arrange. Cheers.

 

Hey rudolph that's real kind of you to offer and it could save me a lot of time
I'm away from my workplace at the moment for a couple of days and only got my phone but as soon as I back I will message you and sort something out.
As I said that could be fantastic and just what I need to get started.
Many thanks and I'll be in touch next few days

 

Great. I´ll be preparing a list of what I have.

 

FYI, Kontakt 4.1 already has both a very capable scripting engine and a wide choice of filters, including the infamous AET, Pro-53, Moog ladder and 3x2 multimode filters.

 

Last edited: Apr 6, 2017