Rhodes Piano Software, Laptop recommendation

[RCAGuy05]

I've been looking at a laptop for school, basic recording like Cool edit pro, and MOST of all I want one for live use. Thats right I have a weighted key midi controller I was just wondering if any of you laptop midi geniuses know of the best lap top for under a grand that I can write research paper, surf broadband, run cool edit, and ofcourse some soundfont.it Rhodes and Wurlitzer software. Is that asking too much for a laptop that under a grand?

[jpmorris]

Originally Posted by RCAGuy05

I've been looking at a laptop for school, basic recording like Cool edit pro, and MOST of all I want one for live use. Thats right I have a weighted key midi controller I was just wondering if any of you laptop midi geniuses know of the best lap top for under a grand that I can write research paper, surf broadband, run cool edit, and of course some soundfont.it Rhodes and Wurlitzer software. Is that asking too much for a laptop that under a grand?

For software electric pianos, here's a list of the ones I've tried. I'm using a rather unusual combination of software on a P3-933 laptop which I got second-hand. It doesn't quite have enough grunt to run the sequencer AND Jeff's Rhodes soundfont together - it stutters occasionally on disk accesses (but I think I can probably stop that with a bit of wizardry). If you're talking about a brand new unit it should be fast enough to work perfectly - otherwise something is very badly misconfigured.

I'm not sure if "soundfont.it" was a typo or a reference to Guido Scognamiglio's VST synthesizers for Windows. I've included it in the list anyway:

http://learjeff.net/ - Nice 77MB soundfont of his Rhodes Mk1
http://www.soundfonts.it - Mr Ray and Mr. Tramp
http://www.applied-acoustics.com - Lounge Lizard (commercial)

The soundfont seems pretty decent to me - it has 5 velocity layers, I think, and is perfectly adequate for what I'm generally going to do with it. It's also platform-independent which is important to me since I'm trying to ditch Windows for audio.

I've used Mr. Tramp a fair bit and I rather like it. Lounge Lizard is better and considerably more flexible (Mr. Ray comes close, I think) but I'm not entirely happy with its copy-protection system, and it's relatively expensive given there are free or nagware alternatives.

[altitude909]

Lounge lizard is very nice. NI's electrik piano is also very good. For a rhodes, look for a good sampler kit since you cannot accurate get the sound with a synth

[warble2]

Originally Posted by altitude909

...For a rhodes, look for a good sampler kit since you cannot accurate get the sound with a synth

Actually, The Nord Electro is pretty damn good IMO. Yes, you can do better with samples and software, but for a hardware synth, it does very well. Can't discount it. Yes, I realize he's asking about software.

[jpmorris]

Originally Posted by warble2

Actually, The Nord Electro is pretty damn good IMO. Yes, you can do better with samples and software, but for a hardware synth, it does very well. Can't discount it. Yes, I realize he's asking about software.

It's also about 2-3 times his total budget and won't help with the wordprocessing angle I'm pretty sure the Electro is essentially 'samples and software' inside, anyway.

[warble2]

Originally Posted by jpmorris

It's also about 2-3 times his total budget and won't help with the wordprocessing angle I'm pretty sure the Electro is essentially 'samples and software' inside, anyway.

I was merely contradicting the statement "you cannot accurate get the sound with a synth".

[jpmorris]

Originally Posted by warble2

I was merely contradicting the statement "you cannot accurate get the sound with a synth".

Yeah, I'd get one too if I could justify spending 1200 GBP on it (that's like $2400). But since I've managed to get fluidsynth to behave and not skip, it will do for now.
There is an advantage to the modelling software like LL and Mr. Ray - you can make them do strange things. I've devised a patch in LL that gives me half-decent guitar power chords. If I could have that algorithm in a rack unit, I'd be happy.

[RCAGuy05]

Thanks guys, yeah I've been eyeing the Nord for a while, playing it at Sam Ash it blew me away, I was having alot of fun. But if I get a laptop to do the same thing and still do school stuff on it, thats kick ass.
Anyhow how do you guys feel about switching from one VST to another, like say from the Rhodes Mr. Tramp to the Wurlitzer, is it a load pause and mousing around, or can the switch be more immediate?

[RCAGuy05]

Ok I found this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ibm-ThinkPad-T23...QQcmdZViewItem

I only wanna run one or two Rhodes emulators and the rest will be for broadband internet and word processing. I understand this would probably not be the best for recording.
On a side note do you guys know the best broadband internet access, as in low price and good quality service?

[altitude909]

Originally Posted by Clava.se

I was merely contradicting the statement "you cannot accurate get the sound with a synth"

Not a contradiction, do your homework. Nord Electro is a sampler with an added physical modeling engine for the organs, not a synth in the normal subtractive sense.

Clavia.se:

The piano section comprises several carefully multi-sampled electric piano instruments.

[jam esp]

An HP w/ 2gigs of RAM?

I've been enjoying using M Audio's KeyRig for Rhodes and Wurlys. The B3 can sound pretty good too.

[warble2]

My tail is between my legs, and I leave hanging my head in shame.