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Re: VSTi piano - or other laptop synth



On 26 feb 2007, at 03.18, aaron leese wrote:

> Here a tangentially related topic .....
>
> I need a good keyboard synth program .... because I have a midi  
> controller (keyboard), and a rack mounted synth, but would like to  
> sell the rack mounted equip and use just a laptop (save space).....
>
> Sampletank is good (but very expensive) ... I have been looking for  
> alternatives, but with little luck.  The only free ones I found  
> (4front and MDA) are mediocre, and have some latency issues running  
> with VSThost.
>
> Can anyone offer advice on this?  I wouldn't mind spending a few  
> hundred if I can get something that will replace my korg triton rack


Hi Aaron,

It's difficult to find an answer to such a broad question. Is it  
"piano sound" you are looking for? Or is it "synth sound"? And if so,  
what type of synth? You mention Sampletank, but that's a sampler;  
meaning it may mimic many instruments but lack the dynamics and  
envelope option you get with synths. And if you are looking for  
something in software to replace a Korg Triton - that's not going to  
be easy. The Triton is very versatile and has great built-in effects  
that play a big part in its sound shaping capability.

Maybe you should simply buy a software sampler and sample the output  
of your Triton (including effects and all) before you sell it? I've  
done that to two of my analog synths using the excellent "synth patch  
ripping" software AutoSampler from REdmatica. It runs on OSX but I  
just noticed the other day that another company have now ripped off  
that application to provide a Windows version. Speaking about  
samplers I have heard a lot good about SampleTank. Myself I mainly  
use the sampler ESX24, which is part of Logic, because of Logic's way  
of globally handling micro tonal scales. I also own NI's Kontakt 2  
that is maybe the best sampler if you look to what you can do with  
it. Question is if you're ever going to do all that stuff that K2  
offers to? (also NI's user license may be a problem if you work on  
many machines - more than two - and need to move the sampler between  
them). If you start with getting a software sampler you need to  
expand the laptops RAM to the max and get a huge hard drive,  
eventually an external firewire drive for all those samples.

A software synth that I personally like is Arturias Moog Modular 5.  
It has a good sound (which can not be said about every other software  
synth out there). Deep fat sound, good high end, musical sounding  
with great filters. The downside IMO is that it had no way of tuning  
it into fixed micro tonal scales. If you want the classic Moog sound,  
the MMV is a good choice.

I also like the Cameleon 5000. It uses additive synthesis and is  
capable of some unique sounds. Whenever I can't use Logic and its  
built-in modeling synth Sculpture I go for C5k (Logic only runs on  
Mac). What I like about C5k (as with all Logic's synths) is that it  
can be set to all kinds of micro tonal scales. There are a lot of  
demo tracks at the web site so you can hear how it sounds http:// 
www.camelaudio.com/

Synths and samplers that I have bought but and not use much, because  
I don't like their quality of sound, are Reason (a complete  
production environment) and Albino 3. Not saying they are bad, I just  
don't like the way they sound.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
www.looproom.com (international)
http://tinyurl.com/2kek7h (latest music release)