Tascam GigaStudio to Emu E4/EOS Translation

Giga Files and Instruments have several properties which make them a little more difficult to translate into other formats.

Large Size
Although not all .gig files are large, some are. Even though a fully-loaded Emu E4 can handle 128mb, some .gig files are larger than this. Giga files can be this large because Giga's main feature is streaming from disk, thus most libraries that are created throw looping by the wayside and simply make their Instrument large.

Translator deals with this by truncating proportionally each sample in a Giga file, in order for it to fit in at most a 128mb space. (This number can be changed in Options-Sample Sample Mapping, but not over 128mb in case of an E4 or ESi-4000 or 2000.) If a loop carries over in a truncated space, the loop is turned off. Translator has a sophisticated algorithm that truncates the samples, preserving the smaller ones and placing the truncation burden on the larger ones. The algorithm also looks ahead and if any "dimensions" will be ignored, it simply deletes the samples and relieves some of the burden that way.

The A-B-C-D Parameter
Giga has the under-used "A-B-C-D" parameter - this is a function where

• A=start of ramp from zero
• B=start of 100% scale
• C=end of 100% scale and start of ramp down to zero
• D=end of ramp to 0

Typically this is a modulation parameter where parameters A through D are incrementing figures between 0 and 127.

Giga is not the only format that has this - again, Ensoniq had it in 1988, and Emu and Roland use them also.

The Emu has the function, fortunately. It's translated perfectly in most instances.

Compression
Some Giga libraries are compressed. Translator completely supports the decompression of these waves, so this is not an issue in Translator.

Otherwise, Giga is a pretty normal format. in fact, the Giga structure is just like the Emu's - Giga Instruments are Emu presets, and Giga samples are Emu samples.