VSTi or Soundfonts?

[Duff]

I made a post in the keyboards/sound modules forum about drum machine recommendations, but now that I've decided to go the software route, I feel my questions will be better answered in this forum.

My question is, how much better are these drum programs (Battery, LM4, Drumkit From Hell, etc) than just using standard sound fonts? I realize that the quality of samples that comes with these programs is very high, but is there an actual advantage to purchasing the programs over purchasing high quality sample/soundfont cds? I know the programs listed are good, but are they worth the 100-200 dollars as compared to a free soundfont plugin? Is there anything that these programs do that you can't do in the free vienna soundfont editor?

My music creation needs cover a WIDE spectrum, from rock to rap to electronic to orchestral. I don't want to dish out 200$ for something if it's only going to cover one of those genres. So would I be better off buying soundfont CDs for regular midi use, or should I get one of these expensive programs?

[manning1]

duff. i dont know if this might help you , but powertracks that i use is a full fledged audio and midi multitrack software which will handle softsynths and soundfonts. its only 49 bucks, and might do what you want to do, and save you lots of money. you can read all the details on it at pgmusic.com.
also you can try the demo. if unclear if its for you , just ask users on the user forum at pg. there are lots of soundfont etc users on the user forum who are very experienced , and might have more ideas for you. there is also a video tutorial on it at the site.
hope this helps.

[Duff]

Haha... In searching the board, I've seen you plugging this product a lot. Why are you so enthusiastic to get others to use it?

Maybe I'll check out the program later, but right now what I'm looking for is which method I should be using for drum samples, not which sequencer to use.

[manning1]

the point duff is you can use drum samples in it.
ok - dont try it out. i couldnt care less. your loss !

[Duff]

I wasn't attacking you, simply wondering why you advertise the product so enthusiastically. I might very well give it a try, I'm not ruling that out... It's just that right now I have enough reading to do with the drum soundfont/VSTi issue. Anyway, anyone with experience using both soundfonts and one of the programs listed above have any input?

[ssscientist]

Ask manning how the weather is in Canada and he'll refer you to pgmusic and recommend powertracks...

To do music of the quality showcased on your website, you don't need much at all. Download a free copy of Tracktion here before they stop giving it away. There's a sample player plugin included that's easy to work with and will give you access to the wonderful world of sampling CD's.

[James Argo]

Soundfonts are great if you know how to use it (Which sf in what song). Then how to mix the song to sound good I'm telling you, I have Giga and DR-008, but their samples are somehow expensive (and they usualy cover particular genre only). I mean, unless I realy have special reason, I'd rather stick with soundfonts on almost 70% of my homey project. I fire my Giga on special projects only...


Jaymz