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Full Salamander Grand Piano for AudioLayer

(Updated April 6)
I have created an Audio Layer edition of the Salamander Grand Piano -- an excellent quality free piano library sample. My instrument does not contain the instrument samples (which take up 1.2GB for the 44.1khz 16-bit version -- 48kHz 24-bit is also available).

There is a multi-step process to get the library and my instruments into AudioLayer.

Quick outline:
* Download the sample library
* Download my zip file with EXS24 file
* Create a folder with the EXS24 file and the folder of samples
* Move the folder into the AudioLayer folder (or import folder if you use cloud storage)
* Tap on the EXS24 file in the Files app (which causes AudioLayer to import the file and samples)
* Download my AudioLayer instruments and move them into the AudioLayer folder
* Tap on the instruments in the Files app

Details:

  • Visit this page for links to the sample library and download it:

https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/3

  • Download the zip file with the EXS file attached to this post.
  • Unzip the zip archive that contains the EXS file
  • Create a folder that you will eventually move into the AudioLayer folder. The folder should contain the EXS file from my zip AND the folder of samples from the archive you downloaded. For example, create a folder called SalamanderAL. Put the EXS file (not the ZIP archive) into SalamanderAL and drag the folder that contains your samples into SalamanderAL
  • Drag SalamanderAL into whatever AudioLayer folder you normally load instruments from. If you DO NOT use cloud storage, drag your Salamander folder into the AudioLayer folder that appears On My iPad. PRO TIP: if you have the folder on your Mac, you can AirDrop the folder from your Mac to your iPad. If you use cloud storage, drag the folder into AudioLayer's import folder.
  • On your iPad, use Files to navigate to the folder that you just created.
  • Tap on the exs file and AudioLayer should start up and import the EXS file and samples. I have sometimes had a crash the first time it imports. If this happens, reboot your iPad and try again.

MORE DETAILS IN FILE IN THE NEXT POST!

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Comments

  • Salamander for AudioLayer instructions continued.

    Before you continue, make sure that you have successfully installed the samples and EXS file. The instructions below only work if the temp instrument and samples are already installed.

    Move the zip files into the AudioLayer folder. DO NOT UNZIP THEM FIRST!

    For each instrument:
    * Open the Files app and tap on the instrument zip file to add its instrument to AudioLayer.
    * AudioLayer should launch and add the instrument to its instrument list

    The instruments:
    * SalamanderGrandPianoV3e.instrument.zip - straightforward version. The pedal samples have been moved down below B-1 and are basically unused. The Hammer Noise has been turned as low as possible. The harmonic layers have been adjusted but you may want to tweak them.
    * SalamanderSalamanderGrandDark.instrument.zip - Same as the basic instrument but with the highs and high-mids rolled back a little bit to give a slightly darker feel.
    * GrandNoHammer.instrument.zip - the basic instrument with the Hammer Noise layer eliminated for those that don't like the hammer noise.

  • edited April 2019

    WOW!!! This sounds awesome! I am pretty sure that works! Thanks for your hard work man!!!!
    Will try that out very soon...

  • edited April 2019

    man, this is so much work, thanks for doing all this and I had been working on some exs24 instruments to bring in to AudioLayer ... so I definitely appreciate all the work you have put into this.

    Unfortunately this just isn't working at all for me. I was able to get through the first step: I loaded and brought in the samples and the salamanderV3_temp exs file in to AudioLayer.
    Is that "temp" exs file meant to be playable? It doesn't map any actual notes for me. Maybe you did this intentionally just to get the sample files into AudioLayer? The process did successfully list all the files under EXS samples in AudioLayer.

    I went on to the next step, thinking that the first post was just a way to get the exs samples into AL. I loaded the zip files into Files > On My iPad > AudioLayer. and when I click on the zip file I got this:

    So AudioLayer did not recognize the Zip file. When I tried to unzip the file and put the unzipped instrument file into the "On My iPad" folder then the instrument did successfully load but it does not correctly map the samples. “Sample is missing!” . Here is what I get:

    apparently AudioLayer is looking for the folder which you originally named your EXS instrument. "EXS/SalamanderGrandPianoV3w". The problem is that AudioLayer brought in the Samples into "EXS/SalamanderV3_temp_for_import" according to the name you gave the original EXS in your top post here. So, nothing loads. and in the EXS folder I can see that only the samples labeled “16” were imported, none of the “1” or “8.5” samples are even there

    I'll see if I can rename some stuff and make this work and will report back.

    I really wish that VirSyn had made this easier. It would be great if this were not such a hassle.

  • edited April 2019

    Wish, finally got it work. The archives and the work with compressed files on iOS is a pain in the ***
    I got everything to work, except your additional 3 zip files. It may be that the Filenames are different, I could check that, but it wont import and do its job correctly (error import)

    EDIT: not that wont work. Its really late here. I may have time to get deeper into this tomorrow.

  • @hmtx and @david_2017 : let me look into it. It sounds like while AudioLayer is forgiving in looking for samples when importing EXS files that when it opens instrument files that it exports, it doesn't use the same sort of search algorithm.

    Let me see (it might take a day or so) if I can figure a way to fix things in place.

    @hmtx: the temp EXS should be playable but will sound wrong because the sfz to exs translator doesn't deal with a couple of layers correctly -- which causes loud hammer noise to be triggered with every note. Can you do me a favor and select the temp instrument and display the layers window and post a screenshot.

    If you have something like iFunbox or iMazing, you can probably safely go into the AudioLayer documents folder and rename the folder that contains the Salamander samples to what is shown in the picture you posted ("SalamanderGrandPianoV3w").

    That is strange about it not dealing with the instrument zip correctly -- because for me, trying to open the manually unzipped instrument file led to some very strange stuff.

  • @hmtx: bear with me. After experimenting and re-reading your post, I understand something that I didn't understand before. When AudioLayer imports an EXS file, it seems to create a folder in its internal storage area (not visible in files) using the name of the EXS file.

    Can you try this: in Files, duplicate the EXS file provided ("SalamanderV3_temp"). Rename the duplicate to be "SalamanderGrandPianoV3w". You should now have a folder that has the sample folder and two EXS file. Tap on "SalamanderGrandPianoV3w" which should import the renamed EXS and put the samples in a folder with that name. (I think it may actually just be creating aliases to the actual sample files). If you look in the Local Sample Manager after the process you should see a folder /EXS/SalamanderGrandPianoV3w

    At this point, try the instructions again for importing the instrument zip files. It might be that unpacking the zip did not work because of the sample directory having a different name.

    Sorry for all the hassles folks. Still getting this stuff figured out.

  • I have attached a differently named EXS file to the first post. I think this addresses the problem that people had with importing the AudioLayer versions.

    Please let me know if this works now.

  • @hmtx and @david_2017 : I’ve attached a different starter EXS file that should work with the AudioLayer zips. Can you try it out and let me know?

  • You are bold scientists at the coalface of confusion. Bless you.

  • Going to bite now!

    Will report how it goes.

    Just to be sure, @espiegel123 - your method works for both the 44/16 and the 48/24 files?
    Or does something needs to be handled differently?

  • tjatja
    edited April 2019

    Uffff.

    Prepared everything, wanted to start AudioLayer to make sure everything works - and it crashes!
    Reproducable.
    Hard Reboot - still crashing.

    Just updated to iOS 12.2 which may be part of the problem

    Edit: Reinstalling the App fixed this

  • tjatja
    edited April 2019

    Now, this is realy hard to accomplish only on an iPad.
    I don't know how many copies of the samples I now have in OneDrive, multiple ZIP Apps, the the Files App and AudioLayer itself.

    I had massive problems right from the beginning, as I could not find an App that uncompresses *.tar.bz2 files. iZip Pro could, but to then export the included folder "44.1khz16bit" to the AudioLayer folder, I needed to compress this again and somehow I could only manage to get this done with Kpressor.

    Point seems to be that you need to put the ESX file into the folder named "44.1khz16bit", where also the WAV files sit.

    Then the import worked.

    I then tried to use the three instruments - as with the ESX ZIP, this is a bit complicated as the downloads don't have the right names.

    I renamed the zip files somewhat to be more sure about the content.

    Trying to move things around produced the next layers of problems, this time with the "helper" within the Files App (older Apple bug, I think)

    Anyway, finally it seemed to work.
    I now have 4 Salamander instruments.

    Can I delete the instrument called "SalamanderGrandPianoV3w"?

    Edit: I also tried to edit the ESX file, but could not find a way to "open" it on the iPad.

    Edit 2: To cleanup my experiments, I then uninstalled AudioLayer to repeat the same, but strangely and sadly, the Salamander instruments where still available, direct after newly installing the App!

    Should should not be the case, @VirSyn!!!

  • @tja i hear ya, I feel ya... speaking from my heart. The pain we went through the damn zip archive... bz2 is da Enemy :-)

    I probably have also multiple archives in goodreader, a zip app, in AudioLayer. But it needs pioneers like @espiegel123

  • I tried to cleanup again, but now, AudioLayer always crashes when importing the ESX / samples.
    No energy left for today...

  • And now, the App shit called Files App is broken again - zero content visible at all, nowhere:

  • It keeps crashing now and everytime the whole Files App stops working.
    Only a hard reboot can then fix things.
    As long as Apple does not fix this, all of this is unusable.
    Going to write a Feedback to Apple

  • @tja said:
    It keeps crashing now and everytime the whole Files App stops working.
    Only a hard reboot can then fix things.
    As long as Apple does not fix this, all of this is unusable.
    Going to write a Feedback to Apple

    Its a pain... I almost capitulated and used the Ravenscroft again, although the Salamander sounds really great with muted pedal explosion sounds.

  • @tja said:
    Now, this is realy hard to accomplish only on an iPad.
    I don't know how many copies of the samples I now have in OneDrive, multiple ZIP Apps, the the Files App and AudioLayer itself.

    I had massive problems right from the beginning, as I could not find an App that uncompresses *.tar.bz2 files. iZip Pro could, but to then export the included folder "44.1khz16bit" to the AudioLayer folder, I needed to compress this again and somehow I could only manage to get this done with Kpressor.

    Point seems to be that you need to put the ESX file into the folder named "44.1khz16bit", where also the WAV files sit.

    Then the import worked.

    I then tried to use the three instruments - as with the ESX ZIP, this is a bit complicated as the downloads don't have the right names.

    I renamed the zip files somewhat to be more sure about the content.

    Trying to move things around produced the next layers of problems, this time with the "helper" within the Files App (older Apple bug, I think)

    Anyway, finally it seemed to work.
    I now have 4 Salamander instruments.

    Can I delete the instrument called "SalamanderGrandPianoV3w"?

    Edit: I also tried to edit the ESX file, but could not find a way to "open" it on the iPad.

    Edit 2: To cleanup my experiments, I then uninstalled AudioLayer to repeat the same, but strangely and sadly, the Salamander instruments where still available, direct after newly installing the App!

    Should should not be the case, @VirSyn!!!

    Yes, you can delete the EXS instrument once the samples and AudioLayer instruments are working. There is no way to edit an EXS instrument on iOS that I know of. AudioLayer only uses the EXS at import time.

    I typically ran into a crash during initial exs import with the second attempt working.

    Are you saying that you needed the EXS in the folder that contained the samples themselves rather than the exs and folder with samples being in the same folder?

  • @tja said:
    It keeps crashing now and everytime the whole Files App stops working.
    Only a hard reboot can then fix things.
    As long as Apple does not fix this, all of this is unusable.
    Going to write a Feedback to Apple

    Do you have any folders that have a very large number of files in them?

    How much free space on the iPad?

  • It looks like the forum software renames zip files hosted here. I did not realize that till now. I wonder if that throws things off.

  • McDMcD
    edited April 2019

    So sad. AudioLayer loads dozens of these samples and then disappears without any trace of the effort. I can't get access to the "Local Files" to clean up and re-try. When I re-run it scrolls past dozens of files already loaded and crashes again. I have the 9.7" 2018 iPad w/ 128GB of storage. I have 12GB free.

    Last night I made multiple attempts but all the files had not downloaded from the iCloud to the iPad yet. I used a MacBook to get the samples and un-'bzip' (I think B-zip is a royalty free clone of the zip tool most have used on windows for years and bz is preferred by the Linux "no proprietary code" folks. Apple generally respects these Linux decisions but they aren't following this zip vs bzip fork of the archiving pattern for large file downloads. Mac OS X handles the bzip well. But that left the 344MB of file up in the iCloud.

    I'll keep trying and might delete AudioLayer and try to have it delete the App data too and see if a fresh App install works.

    I continue to Love/Hate AudioLayer with Hate on the rise (again).

    Maybe, the IOS update will change something required.

  • @tja said:
    Just updated to iOS 12.2 which may be part of the problem

    Edit: Reinstalling the App fixed this

    Why iPad model do you have?

  • @espiegel123 said:
    Are you saying that you needed the EXS in the folder that contained the samples themselves rather than the exs and folder with samples being in the same folder?

    You mean, that I should have the ESX in the same folder as the "44.1khz16bit" folder?
    I did not try that, will try tomorrow!

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @tja said:
    It keeps crashing now and everytime the whole Files App stops working.
    Only a hard reboot can then fix things.
    As long as Apple does not fix this, all of this is unusable.
    Going to write a Feedback to Apple

    Do you have any folders that have a very large number of files in them?

    How much free space on the iPad?

    I have lots of folders with lots of files, but tried to restrict them to about 100 files per folder, as I had problems with the Files App otherwise.

    I tried this on the iPad Pro 12.9 2017 with 512 GB, there are about 290 GB free.

  • @McD said:
    So sad. AudioLayer loads dozens of these samples and then disappears without any trace of the effort. I can't get access to the "Local Files" to clean up and re-try. When I re-run it scrolls past dozens of files already loaded and crashes again. I have the 9.7" 2018 iPad w/ 128GB of storage. I have 12GB free.

    Last night I made multiple attempts but all the files had not downloaded from the iCloud to the iPad yet. I used a MacBook to get the samples and un-'bzip' (I think B-zip is a royalty free clone of the zip tool most have used on windows for years and bz is preferred by the Linux "no proprietary code" folks. Apple generally respects these Linux decisions but they aren't following this zip vs bzip fork of the archiving pattern for large file downloads. Mac OS X handles the bzip well. But that left the 344MB of file up in the iCloud.

    I'll keep trying and might delete AudioLayer and try to have it delete the App data too and see if a fresh App install works.

    I continue to Love/Hate AudioLayer with Hate on the rise (again).

    Maybe, the IOS update will change something required.

    Btw, I use the local files method with AudioLayer. Did you move the samples into the local folder or are you loading them via your cloud drive AudioLayer folder?

  • @tja said:

    @espiegel123 said:
    Are you saying that you needed the EXS in the folder that contained the samples themselves rather than the exs and folder with samples being in the same folder?

    You mean, that I should have the ESX in the same folder as the "44.1khz16bit" folder?
    I did not try that, will try tomorrow!

    For the import to work (for me), the setup needs to be like this a folder (let's call it MySalamander). In MySalamander, I place the EXS file and the folder that contains the Salamander samples (by which I mean the subfolder from the Salamander download that has only the samples). As I said, I pretty much always got a crash partway through the import and then was able to relaunch AudioLayer and complete the import.

    By they way, keep an eye on the import progress and see if it looks like it is looking somewhere strange. I have seen it find samples in its Trash folder -- if that happens one has to do some manual fixing.

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @McD said:
    So sad. AudioLayer loads dozens of these samples and then disappears without any trace of the effort. I can't get access to the "Local Files" to clean up and re-try. When I re-run it scrolls past dozens of files already loaded and crashes again. I have the 9.7" 2018 iPad w/ 128GB of storage. I have 12GB free.

    Last night I made multiple attempts but all the files had not downloaded from the iCloud to the iPad yet. I used a MacBook to get the samples and un-'bzip' (I think B-zip is a royalty free clone of the zip tool most have used on windows for years and bz is preferred by the Linux "no proprietary code" folks. Apple generally respects these Linux decisions but they aren't following this zip vs bzip fork of the archiving pattern for large file downloads. Mac OS X handles the bzip well. But that left the 344MB of file up in the iCloud.

    I'll keep trying and might delete AudioLayer and try to have it delete the App data too and see if a fresh App install works.

    I continue to Love/Hate AudioLayer with Hate on the rise (again).

    Maybe, the IOS update will change something required.

    Btw, I use the local files method with AudioLayer. Did you move the samples into the local folder or are you loading them via your cloud drive AudioLayer folder?

    The samples are in the iCloud/AudioLayer/Import/SalamanderGrandPianoV3w/samples folder. I have tried having the samples in "44.1khz16bit" and having the .esx file next to the samples folder and inside the folder(s) that contain the samples. AudioLayer always seems to find there samples and starts loading them but it crashes without making an instrument for me to "save".

    I think I'll delete AudioLayer and remove all the data.

    Wait a minute! In the interests of science, I should get a new iPad Mini (version 5) with 256GB of storage. Then I can document Apple's investment protection and ROI with the new "budget" model.

  • Apple concentrates on delivering more Animojis, instead of some basic working and stable operating system.

  • @tja said:
    Apple concentrates on delivering more Animojis, instead of some basic working and stable operating system.

    What iPad models are known to successfully import?
    Local or iCloud storage option?
    IOS Version?

    I tried deleting AudioLayer and reinstalling. Still fails to finish the load but using the "Local Storage Manager" capability in settings I can see that a 641 samples got loaded before failing.

  • Ah sorry guys to step away from the efforts here, but I had a similar experience to @tja where AudioLayer got “broken” completely and would no longer open at all. I only tried with the “local storage” import method.

    This was last week and I haven’t been back to it since then, kinda burnt out on the effort. If I ever do have the mental energy and motivation to try again, well I guess you’ll hear from me then.

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