hey, I'm a new user. I imported a MIDI file of strings and the exs only plays back a 1 second clip of the strings, not the whole 2 bar pad.... any idea what gives? It could be that the sample(s) the EXS is trying to play back is short and not currently looping to play back any longer than that. You could navigate down into the folders on your Mac and see where the sample(s) are. You could then click on it/them and Get Info (Cmd-I) and play the file(s) that way. Then you'd know for sure. If you're needing to lengthen the playback, Logic's Help files on the screen are pretty helpful in regard to looping sounds to get some more length. You might also consider simply downloading some of the free Soundfont files on the web and trying some of those string sounds. Until you're ready to tackle deeper sampling projects, this is a good option. I have a page for some of this stuff at: http://drtw.net/drtimsaudiotips/ TW ------------------------------------