How should I handle these Roland sample CDs?

[Gilrad]

So a while back I partook in the clusterf**k at soundsonline when they had that closeout sale, $800 worth of sample CDs for $40.

I had to leave for the summer, so I just stowed them away, knowing I can always get the hardware/software to use the CDs when I get back.

So now I am back in business, and I would like some solid advice.

Should I buy the conversion program I remember hearing people talk about, and convert them to creative soundfonts for use with my Audigy 2 ZS, or should I buy an extra sequencer card that can process the samples natively, assuming that's even an option?

I myself am all for the second option, so long as it's not prohibitively expensive (~100 dollar range), as I would rather have more hardware to be able to handle particularly large projects.

So basically, I am a lazy bastard and would like people to point me toward the generally agreed upon best choice for sequencer cards that can process roland soundfonts, or conversion programs that can change them to creative soundfonts without giving me too much of a headache.

Any help would be appreciated.

[SnappleMan]

I don't really know the answer, but if I were you I'd research on the accuracy of the conversions. In many cases of soundbank conversion there is something that you lose which is native to the primary format. Meaning, Rolands samplebanks might work better on Roland hardware than they would converted to SF2.

[DZComposer]

A PC can't read a roland CD without the aid of software that can.

Roland doesn't make a PC-based sampler to my knowledge. You would put these discs into a roland sampler box.

I have imported a couple of roland discs into Kontakt with decent results, but I still had to edit things.

I would reccomend you invest in a real sampler instead of using soundfont. Especially if you start getting into importing across formats. With $800 worth of $40 libraries, you WILL have some that need fixing. A real sampler like Kontakt can edit these converted samples without needing to open seperate programs and with a lot more power than the soundfont editors I have seen. Most samplers can open other formats. Kontakt will open most of them, Roland included. But you will sometimes need to correct loops or filters.

[zircon]

A utility like CDXtract can convert them to any format you want, from Soundfont to Kontakt. You can get a free demo that will do it, as a matter of fact. Also, Roland samplers are simple enough that you really won't lose out on much data converting to Soundfont, which is actually a relatively advanced format, all things considered.

[Gilrad]

Thank you all for your help. Time to get to work.