Sound Module

Re: soft synth rules

Outatune said:
bongman said:
soft synth rules!
everybody is giving up their hardware,
so the price is like going down the drain.
The hardware market is just fine, mate. I would even go so far as to say there are more hardware synths and hardware synth manufacturers today then there were 20 years ago.
Soft synths may rule the bedrooms, but they don't rule the stage or the Billboard Top 100.
There is room for soft and hard in all aspects and at all levels of music production and performance. They are not mutually exclusive.
errr..............looks like my statement is not welcome?
 
Well Bongman, it's all about individual's opinion. I, for one, thinks software is changing very fast and is already taking over a larget market in music instruments. Hardware companies will earn more today if not for softwares. And if we look at it, hardware developments are slowing down as if it is reaching a plateau. New hardwares synths are only copying their old versions with only slight improvement. But for software, the development is still going at an exponential rate. And computers are getting faster and faster. I foresee in the near future, software will eventually overtake hardware. In the future, we should see super fast affordable notebooks that can take up to 16GB of RAM and 300GB of harddrive space all running about 10,000rpm etc (isn't Seagate coming up with the new laser technology to write data on HD?). Today, we can only load 3-4 VSTis at one instance - in the future, this will be increased dramatically.

If we just follow the develpment, we can see how fast things are going. In the past, we need to optimise our PCs to make sure we reduce latency etc. Nowadays, optimization can be kept at a minimal. Soon, we may not need to optimize at all. I still remember the days when I had to format my hard-drive using the Z switch command to enable my HD to record multiple-tracks without clicking. Nowadays, HD are so fast there's no need to do silly things like that!

So in the future, we will have small notebooks that's fast enough to hold multiple VSTis that can be used simulataneously, and VSTis should be then able to emulate most if not all hardware. It's already happening. We'll see!
 
I was busy the past few days so didn't manage to post.

Replies to Indigo, Cheez, IanSoh and Bongman in here

Indigo_blues said:
....i have a P200 at home and i love it to death.. Its piano sound to me is still one of the best around...
Yeah, the Piano 2 and Piano 3 patches and the EP 'cut' through the mix very well, like Cheez said!

Can u give me some quick instructions how to configure it as the master controller? I haven't read the manual yet :p Especially, is it possible prevent it from sending bank & program change midi commands, as recommended by Iansoh?


Cheez said:
You've also got organ which is some form of B3
While nice, the organ sounds more like a pipe organ, so it's quite far from the hammond.

Indigo - any nice patch downloads sites for the P200?

Cheez said:
get an RD700SX - no need for any external modules... as the only keyboardist....
Never heard of this keyboard, will have to look it up - there may be a budget.

Still, I think we should make the best of what we have right now first. No use buying something complicated if we don't know how to use it - the keyboardists in our team are new to synths.

Yeah we usually play alone. We stopped playing in pairs due to being short of manpower and also because we used to play as 'frustrated' pianists when on the secondary keyboard (i.e. still playing lots of notes!).

Still feels weird holding pads when the fingers are used to moving all over the place. Classical training seems to do that to you! I'm learning to play as little as possible now!

Cheez said:
...I don't want to turn this thread into a church-keyboardist thread - but I'm happy to discuss things like this if you want to pm me - or start another thread so others can join in.
This sounds like fun! Will create a new thread!


bongman said:
soft synth rules!
Yeah... I want to try that out, as well as editing sounds from the PC.

I'm considering getting this MIDI interface:
ESI MIDI Mate 1x1 interface. http://www.esi-pro.com/listProduct.php?ctgr=11&page=1.

Couldn't find any reviews but the Win XP drivers were updated in April 2006, so it looks like they're still supporting it!

The ESI RoMI/O, 1x2 (link same as above) is also nice but I'm not sure why I'd want 2 MIDI OUTs from the PC yet as I'm not sequencing from the PC (no experience in this field at all).

Considered the M-Audio Midisport 2x2 as it is only $15 more than the 1x1. Unfortunately, Sinamex don't carry it. However, I've seen lots of complaints about Midisport drivers being unreliable and causing timing problems.

The M-Audio 1x1 also happens to be $25 more expensive than the ESI 1x1 and has much older drivers :D

Cheez, Bongman, Ian Soh... any recommendations on this? What do you guys use?

cheez said:
So in the future, we will have small notebooks that's fast enough to hold multiple VSTis that can be used simulataneously, and VSTis should be then able to emulate most if not all hardware. It's already happening. We'll see!
Very true. Just some time ago, the PCs were so slow that loads of things had to be done in hardware - dedicated chips for encryption, dedicated modem communications chips, dedicated floating point calculators.... nowadays, most PCs you buy come pre-loaded with software that can easily handle all those tasks simultaneously!
 
My reply to midisport midi interface is in the other thread. In short - I've absoluitely no problems with it.
 
Back
Top