sonar and sample plug-ins (dxi, vst) recommendations please!

[crosstudio]

I've got Sonar5 PE, and I'm starting to seriously consider DXi/VST. can anyone recommend a particular product and also compare it to the internal sample offerings against roland XV and JV sound canvas and Ensoniq ASR-x drum machine?

The ones I've been looking at are Reason, Native Instruments NI Komplete, BFD, or SoniVox.

[brzilian]

Cakewalk's own Dimension Pro.

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/Dim...ro/default.asp

[Middleman]

Atmosphere would be at the top of my list for pads and such, a lot of pros are using it, made by Spectrasonic. I have a JV1080 and I still keep coming back to it for bread and butter sounds. I won't part with it for the foreseeable future.

Sampletank should also be on your list.

For drums; EZ drummer, Drumkit from Hell Superior or the Custom & Vintage set all by Toontrack are the most authentic drums I have encountered.

For basic piano, Akoustik, or the Art Vista are both good in the mix. The Art Vista is only $99. Ivory is another alternative.

Dimension Pro is also a good recommendation except more lead synth oriented.

[crosstudio]

i'm looking for all around sounds... bass, piano, e.piano, organs, strings, horns, including individual string and woodwind instruments.

a synth here and there is great, but i usually use those sounds to round out the 'scape rather than being a core sound.

i'll add dimension pro to my list. i downloaded reason and rapture demos today and tried rapture (ho-hum) and also something called RXP (pretty slicki). if i can't work it through Sonar, then i'm not sure i want it... so we'll see how reason goes.

EZDrummer is a good, inexpensive drum VST that sounds more realistic than anything else I've heard.

Steinberg The Grand (2) is a good, realistic, piano VST. I happen to like the one in Reason 3.0 better, actually, but they're both good.

Reason also has good pad/string sounds.

Garritan Jazz VST is good for brass instruments as well as bass guitar, etc.

There's also DSK plugins, which are free. They are really good. I would check these out before buying anything.

Check them out here: http://www.dskmusic.com/vsti/

They have electric piano, brass instruments, synths/pads, etc.

[DavidK]

Originally Posted by crosstudio

including individual string and woodwind instruments.

Google Synful synths.

[acidrock]

I don't know if you bought anything yet,but this looks like a pretty good deal.

[jamie_drum]

I recently bought FXpansion BFD for drums. It is expensive, but it is awesome.

[gema]

native intruments is good, im oredering them tomorrow.

[crosstudio]

I went with Reason. Got it this weekend after playing with a bunch of product demos.

spent the first day giving its sucky sequencer a second chance, then imported the midi i was able to put together into sonar and got back to making music. my biggest beef with the sequencer in truth is that you cant zoom in far enough.

got a pretty decent bass sound out of the combinator, and the drums are very good. i'm going to import my congo samples (AIFF) into Reason tomorrow, then put my ensoniq ASR-x up on ebay.

[Hard2Hear]

Originally Posted by acidrock

I don't know if you bought anything yet,but this looks like a pretty good deal.

These libraries are fantastic. I'm using the Personal Orchestran and a little of Jazz and Big Band. They kill my FantomX7 and Im not using Komplete or my Steinberg stuff anymore.

[acidrock]

Originally Posted by Hard2Hear

These libraries are fantastic. I'm using the Personal Orchestran and a little of Jazz and Big Band. They kill my FantomX7 and Im not using Komplete or my Steinberg stuff anymore.

I bought GPO and JABB as a present for myself for Christmas.I do mostly guitar based music,but at that price I couldn't pass it up.

[Albertm]

I'll second that BFD praise. Motu symphonic for all the piano and all orchestra sounds you stated. Great sounds. Though no bass or drums. Not sure what would be good product that has good mix of everything.

[acidrock]

my website - http://www.michaelgossett.com
my work - http://www.adkproaudio.com

Hey H2H,I bought my computer from youse guyz a couple of years ago.