Things to be aware of when reading GIG files:

This program does not support the 'dimension' concept. Instead, all of the 'sub-regions' that make up the dimensions them will be put into different layers. These plays simultaneously which may not be what was intended in the original instrument - where different regions can be selected for playback depending on the criteria use to 'split-up' the dimension (e.g. sustain pedal on vs. off). In these cases you may want to do some manual editing to fix things up (e.g. cloning the instrument and creating one with only the 'pedal on' samples and one with only the 'pedal off' samples).

The exceptions are the 'layer', 'stereo', and 'velocity' dimensions, which have all analog concepts in this program and should be converted correctly.

To convert a one Gigabyte large file with this program you may need up four Gigabytes of memory (virtual memory should be fine though - albeit slow...).

GI! files are split over multiple CD-ROMs and are first copied to your hard disk and 'merged' when you open one. Also note: The above comment about the requirements for lots and lots of memory for handling large files - it is truer than ever for these gargantuan files!

Things to be aware of when writing GIG files:

The files written by this program only works with GigaStudio - not with the older GigaSampler.

The files written by this program will not work directly with GigaStudio v3 (because we do not have the secret algorithm to 'sign' the files). To fix that and make the files acceptable to GigaStudio, simply open them in the GigaStudio Editor v3 and then resave them by hitting the 'Save' button on the tool-bar.

You have an option to save either 'v1' or 'v3' files - the latter will only work with GigaStudio v3 (or later). NB, support for 24-bit samples is available in v3 files only.

The GigaStudio editor will say that the "File is protected" when loading a file. To 'unprotect' an instrument simply copy an instrument into a new file using GSEdit.

Do not mix mono and stereo waveforms in a single instrument. Doing so may produce files that do not work in GigaSampler.

The number of waves mapped to a key in a GIG file must be a power of two, i.e. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32. If the instrument you save has a number of layers that is not a power of two then the last one will be repeated. You may want to edit such files somehow to avoid this.

Velocity split information can only be written if there's the same number of velocity splits for simultaneously playing sound (i.e. what GigaStudio calls a layered sound) and the number of velocity splits are a power of two and the total number of regions for any given key is max 32. E.g. you could have 16 velocity splits with 2 sounds playing at the same time (2 * 16 = 32).

You can save 'normal' or 'compressed' GIG files. But note that only unlooped stereo waveforms are compressed and that the compression is only effective on very low-amplitude and/or very slowly changing portions of the waveform.

Features:

8 / 16 / 24-bits, mono, loop, envelopes, LFOs, collection, instruments, layers, lossless PCM compression (of 16 / 24-bits PCM formats), sample start offsets, multiple filter types, trigger type, pedal switch.

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