On 4/12/03 1:00 PM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> There are a lot of soft-synths which require a DXi or Vst compatible > program such as Cakewalk's Sonar (or older versions of Cakewalk Pro > Audio) to use them. In that case you would be spending a lot of money > to purchase the soft-synth AND the sequencer which would host them. > Then you would save your Finale file as a midi file and open it in the > sequencer to play it throught the softsynth. Or you can use a > midi-router program such as midi-yoke which installs as a midi driver > and allows you to direct the midi output from one program to the midi > input of another program. > > In the long run, though, softsynths often have latency issues (the > better the program the lower the latency problem usually) which make > them less desirable than hardware modules, which cost far less in > general. Usually for straight playback, though, softsynths are fine. Have you seen or tried Reason? This is Mac (OSX) and PC, and is a full rack of devices (a mixer, two different sample editor/players, two different kinds of synthesizers, a loop player, a drum machine, a bunch of VERY HIGH QUALITY processors). Each device can be loaded as many times as your computer's memory can handle. The program comes with two full CDs of very good samples (one general, one orchestral). You can, of course, make and load your own samples, if you choose. On my Powerbook G4-400-384mb, I have loaded and run a mixer plus a bank of sample players to simulate a full orchestra (one to an instrument, one for each of the string sections), plus a high-quality reverb unit, and not run out of memory or processing power. It reads and will allow editing of standard midi files (it comes with its own sort-of-OK sequencer). Once you have everything sounding the way you like, you can save the whole thing as an .aif or .wav file. The quality is mind-boggling. It is as good or better than hardware modules. Latency issues are minimal to non-existent, depending, of course, on the computer you use. It is also compatible with (that is, can be fully integrated into) the big three sequencer programs (Performer, Cubase, Logic). [Performer is the Mac lagger here, but their fully Reason-compatible, OSX version is now shipping, and their OS 9 version can use Reason as a bank of sound modules]. It is also rather easy to learn. I introduced my college electronic music class (all undergrads, all neophytes) to this program, and they were all doing rather impressive sounding things within a couple of weeks. It is definitely not free, but for this, the money (just under $300) is worth it -- and definitely NOT as expensive as a bank of hardware modules. There is a demo version. Check it out (www.propellerheads.se). David Froom _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
