EZee LM 

by Raymund Beyer (Copyright 2000)

Important: Raymund Beyer assumes no liablility for damage resulting from the use of this software. Also I cant give you any guarantee that the software runs on your computer. Do not give your registration number away - also not on online backup servers.
By starting the software you accept these conditions.


System requirements:

- Windows95 or 98

- 4Megs of RAM

- 1.4 MB harddisk space


Overview:

EZee LM was made to easily create drumsets for Steinbergs LM-4 Drumsampler Plug-in.
I made this application because it is very hard for musicians to create working LM4 drumsets. 
EZee LM4 will help you doing this.

The Demo version will only save the first 4 instruments. Registering EZee LM costs $15. You will find details about registering at 
http://www.brainstorm-music.de/ezee/ezeewin.htm

-Does NOT support velocity zones! Do not load Scripts with velocity zones (like the original sets).

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Features:

- Assigning samples via Popup menu. Ifyou want to assign a sample you can use the Sample Chooser popup menu. The chosen sample will be copied into the  samplefield - and this one will be taken over to the script when saving the scipt. The chooser is just the one to deliver the information to the samplefield.

-choose the note number for the Intruments with the help of the built-in GM chart

-macros for superfast creation of working LM4 scripts

-the instrument names can automatically be taken from either the file name or the GM-note, all instruments at once!

-checks automatically , if you have given the instrument a name while saving. If not, the first 6 characters of the filename will be taken automatically.

-"Refresh" refreshes the content of the sample folder. It might be useful to refresh after you have made changes to the sample folder in the Windows Explorer.

- saves size and position of the EZee LM window. So you can make a Logic or Cubase screenset that lets you see EZee LM in the background or on a second monitor.

-Autosaves your name as copyright information with the script unless you type in anything else (registered version only).

Creating new Sets:

1. First of all you need a new folder containing the samples you want to assign. This folder should be placed in the Vstplugins/LM4 folder (otherwise the LM4 wont recognize the samples).
The samples should be in .WAV format. Also the LM4 does not understand filenames that contain /()#! etc. Better only use Aa, Bc.....Zz + all numbers and space. Note that aliasses of samples are not allowed.


2. start EZee LM and press the select sample folder button - and select your sample folder as showed in the following pictures (sorry for the German dialogs):

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choose a sample folder by doubleclicking it (you can only see folders in this dialog box).

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Now you see the open sample folder - note that you cant see samples here since this box is only for selecting the sample folder.
Click open again.
Now you can see the content of your sample folder in the sample folder field.

The samples that are styled italic will not work with the LM4 - so you will have to rename them in the Windows Explorer. Note that there might be some exotic characters in a samplefiles name. If a sample doesnt work, rename it by giving it a complete new name in the Window Exlporer.


Now there are 2 ways in creating a drumset:

Creating a drumset with samples of the same kind:

you have for example 18 bass drums and want to play them cromatical starting at C1.
This is how it works: 

3.  go to the Macro menu and select the menu item "Midi Notes cromatic starting at C1"
EZee LM now sets all instrument notes like this: inst1=NN(note number)36, inst2=NN37, inst3=NN 38 and so on.
Now you will have to assign the corresponding sample to the instruments. You can do this by dragging and dropping the sample names from the sample folder. But EZee LM also has a powerful Macro for doing this:

4.  go to the Macro menu and select the menu item: "assign first 18 samples from folder"
Well, all 18 samples are assigned automatically to the 18 instruments now. You might listen to them by clicking the field right to the instrument number (in the top of each instrument).

Now, its time to give the instruments the name that is shown in the LM4.
Try the following:

5. go to the Macro menu and select the menu item: "Name all instruments from filename"
EZee LM will now take the first 6 characters from the name of the file you have assigned to it.

This might not work in every case, but oftem it saves a lot of time. If you dont get proper names by doing this, just type in the name you like in the Name field (not longer than 6 characters - no #,-,_ etc).

Finished!  You can now put your name in the Copyright field.

6.  Save your work with Save in the file menu. Save it into the LM4 Folder in your VstPlugins folder (in you host application folder - no aliases allowed!). Your can give the Script any name, but I recommend to give it the same name as the sample folder plus the .txt extension, because then its easy to find the Script and the corresponding folder if you want to copy it elsewhere or give it a friend.

Your LM4 folder should look similar to this - allways a folder with the drumset and the corresponding scriptfile:


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7.  Now lets try out the new Script.

In Logic: open the LM4 Plug-in
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Double Click the VST FX button .										
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Type the Name of your Plug-in into the name field - of course without the .txt extension.
Your drumset should work now. Save your Drumset to Logics VST Plug-ins Settings in the tiny arrow flipmenu (right from the Bypass button).

in Cubase:

Click on the instrument name and type in the name of your Script (without the .txt extension).

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Creating a GM set:

Creating an GM compatible set has the advantage to be compatible to the GM standard. If your have a sample set with BD, SD, HHOP, HHCL etc. it will be a good idea to make it GM compatible.

1.  prepare your samples as described in 1. and 2. and select the sample folder in EZee LM.

2.  Go to the Macros menu and select midi notes from GM. Now the Midi Notes from a standard GM set are assigned. In the GM= xyz  field you can see which midi instrument is corresponding one to the selected note number. You can now assign the samples with the sample popup menu. You can also change the note settings if you dont like them. 

3. Now you can give the instruments the corresponding name by selecting Name all instruments by GM in the Macros menu.

Finished!  You can now put your name in the Copyright field (if you use the registered version this will be done automatically) . Go back to step 6. to save your work and load the set into your audio application.




Troubleshooting:

If your set does not show up in the LM4 (XXX in the instruments names), this might have the one of the following reasons:

- your sample folder or scriptfile is not in the LM4 folder (in the VstPlugins folder of your host application).

-you may have assigned the same midi note to 2 instruments. You can check this with the check skript button.

- the name of one of the samples contains a character that is not allowed by the LM4. 


Note that I can not support PC related system problems.




Thanks to:

-Andy Fuchs who gave me great developing tips

-Nico Herz for good ideas and betatesting
