Building on the test bench we ran on the DIGI003 console system, we installed this new professional sampling beast. Running on Pro Tools LE 7.3, we were able to verify its power, quality and, above all, flawless operation with rock-solid stability. What is Structure? Developed by Digidesign®'s Advanced Instrument Research (A.I.R.) group and optimized exclusively for Pro Tools®, Structure™ is a powerful RTAS® virtual instrument that redefines the art of sampling, letting you freely create, sculpt and refine any sound, from simple acoustic instruments to complex soundscapes, with remarkable ease and in real time.

Now add Goliath
Structure comes with a complete library of high-quality sounds created by A.I.R. and EastWest (including a 30-day trial of Goliath — Structure Edition), lets you use your own sample libraries and allows you to create your own samples directly from your Pro Tools sessions with “drag-and-drop”. It also includes a powerful universal sound engine that supports an unlimited number of nested patches, optimizes sample streaming alongside Pro Tools playback, and includes a powerful multi-effects processing engine. Whether you're a musician, sound designer, audio engineer or post-production editor, Structure offers very appealing performance and ease of use.

Features
· Professional RTAS® sampler designed and optimized exclusively for Pro Tools.
· Includes complete high-quality factory sound libraries created by EastWest and A.I.R., including Quantum Leap Orchestral Elements, plus a 30-day evaluation version of EastWest's 40GB professional sound library, Goliath — Structure Edition.
· Use your existing SampleCell, Kontakt 1 and 2, and EXS24 sound libraries* (supports interleaved samples of up to eight channels).
· “Drag-and-drop” regions from inside Pro Tools straight into the sampler, making it easy to create custom sounds.
· Sampling engine integrated with the Pro Tools engine for superior playback performance.**
· Supports sample playback from hard disk or from RAM only, to optimize performance.
· Its powerful database and built-in file browser make it easy to find and manage sounds.
· The built-in stereo and surround multi-effects processing engine offers more than 20 effect types (including stereo and surround convolution reverbs) and hundreds of presets.
· The universal sound engine supports an unlimited number of nested patches, allowing highly complex sounds to be created with ease.
· Supports playback of up to 128 multitimbral parts per Structure instance and an unlimited number of parts, audio effects and MIDI effects per patch.
· The included, fully resizable Sample Editor lets you edit waveforms and map samples quickly and easily.
· Supports all common bit depths, sample rates and surround formats, up to 24-bit / 192 kHz / 7.1 surround.
· Main surround/stereo outputs and up to 31 auxiliary outputs, allowing mixing and processing of signals from discrete sources.
· Six freely assignable, context-sensitive Smart Knobs for quick access to the most important sound-shaping parameters.
· Powerful real-time hands-on control of the sampler via a Digidesign control surface or a MIDI controller, using the MIDI Learn function.
· The built-in REX player lets you use and manipulate REX 1 and 2 files.
· Intuitive, streamlined user interface.
* Does not support other companies' encrypted sample libraries.
** Optimized sampler integration available with Pro Tools 7.3 software or later.
Good performance and integration, confirmed in ISP's tests
Enjoy smooth, uninterrupted playback whether you choose to trigger samples from the hard disk (recommended for longer samples) or from RAM only (to optimize playback and response time). This exclusive integration also enables other features, such as dragging and dropping Pro Tools regions straight into Structure, and controlling many aspects of the sampler with a Digidesign® control surface (or a MIDI controller).

What sounds do the libraries contain?
This huge collection comprises five DVDs (including the Structure instrument installer), offering almost 20 GB of acoustic and electronic instruments and sounds, including drums, percussion, strings, brass, woodwinds, pianos and keyboards, guitars, basses, choirs, synth pads, synth leads and surround sounds.

To complete the ultimate sound collection, Structure also comes with a 30-day evaluation version of Goliath — Structure Edition, a colossal library of 40 GB of professional sounds from EastWest, offering an extremely wide range of instruments, soundscapes and textures. Choose from more than 180 instruments and more than 600 different patches, including drums and percussion, guitars, ethnic instruments, keyboards, orchestral instruments, acoustic and electric pianos, brass, choirs and pop vocals, classic organs, new age ensembles, dark ambiences, synth basses, synth leads and synth pads.

In addition, Structure plays your existing sound libraries without any problems, and lets you freely load and manipulate unencrypted sample libraries from Digidesign SampleCell, Native Instruments Kontakt 1 and 2, and Apple Logic EXS24. But if what you want is exclusive, original sounds, Structure also lets you create your own samples, simply by dragging and dropping any audio region from Pro Tools straight into Structure.

Patch browser and search
It includes a database and a file browser that will help you find sounds quickly and manage your library with ease. Search for sounds by instrument type, manufacturer, style, name and more, and audition samples directly in the browser to quickly find that perfect starting point. You can also tag, categorize and edit the metadata of any file to optimize your search results.

Flexibility
Structure accepts samples of any bit depth, sample rate and surround format — up to 24-bit, 192 kHz, 7.1 surround. In addition, its built-in REX file player can handle any tempo changes you want to apply to your projects.

Built-in editor
Structure comes with a fully integrated, resizable Sample Editor that lets you tweak a sound however you like. It also offers zone editing, for changing different aspects of a sound using standard waveform tools or by manipulating various parameters such as pitch, filter envelope, amplitude envelope, output and effects routing; you can work with multi-zone sounds and see all their essential details.

Multi-effects
It includes a multi-effects processing engine offering more than 20 types of stereo and surround effect algorithms. Choose from a wide variety of reverbs (including stereo and surround convolution reverbs), delays, compressors, EQs and more. You can dial in the perfect effect to complement your sound or select any of the hundreds of included presets to improve it instantly and effortlessly.

Interface
Structure's interface includes a virtual keyboard that lets you test notes and play parts in real time (even during Pro Tools playback), or you can connect a MIDI controller to trigger sounds and perform musical passages with your own hands. It also includes six Smart Knobs for easy access to each patch's key sound parameters. In addition, you can easily assign any rotary control in the Structure interface to a knob on your own MIDI controller or Digidesign control surface, for complete real-time hands-on control.

Conclusions
We have little to add to all of the above, since it's very true to reality. The system is reliable and stable and gives no loading problems. It took us a while to enter all the licenses, and installation is a bit tedious. But its flawless operation afterward makes up for it. Our tests were carried out with 3 GB of RAM. No instrument "crashed" and none stuttered. A great sampler tool with sounds that are, in general, truly professional. Congratulations.