SB Live! Questions...
- Thread starter jackdaw
- Start date
drstawl
Banned
Before you plop your bucks- consider using a
software synth if your computer is fast enough. And it probably is if you bought it recently. A $475 E-machine <E>asily handles such CPU chores with power to spare. Contact Edirol.com for the details on the software version of the Roland Sound Canvas. A quick visit to the Creative website to see what a SB Live Value pack had set off my bullshit alarm. They go on and on about the features (harping on a ridiculously quiet Signal to Noise ratio specification) of this card but fail to mention the physical cabling selected by the engineers for this system. Check out any decent card and they're upfront about how this card is physically connected to all the things to which it can be connected. They show you a picture of the jacks on the card.
They enumerate the design of each connector.
Beware those vendors that don't or won't.
software synth if your computer is fast enough. And it probably is if you bought it recently. A $475 E-machine <E>asily handles such CPU chores with power to spare. Contact Edirol.com for the details on the software version of the Roland Sound Canvas. A quick visit to the Creative website to see what a SB Live Value pack had set off my bullshit alarm. They go on and on about the features (harping on a ridiculously quiet Signal to Noise ratio specification) of this card but fail to mention the physical cabling selected by the engineers for this system. Check out any decent card and they're upfront about how this card is physically connected to all the things to which it can be connected. They show you a picture of the jacks on the card.
They enumerate the design of each connector.
Beware those vendors that don't or won't.
My thoughts exactly. (Though the SB Live! Value card ($100) is the low end version of SB Live! ($200).
Nonetheless, while checking out the SB Live! site I couldn't find a schematic detailing the SB Live's guts/ports. (Anybody find one?) Creative seemed more interested in describing how many surround sound speakers I could attach. For me, this tossed up a red flag.
The problem I have with SB Live! is that it seems to be trying to be all things to all people. Is that a problem? Don't know. But when I have to read about its gaming and surround sound potential before I get to the audio/MIDI stuff...Well, you get my drift.
You know, I did check out the Sound Canvas stuff. I had some questions about the software synth package. Can't remember what. I'll find out.
Back...
The problem was with the "Virtual Sound Canvas" as stated below, copied from the FAQ part of that same site.
"Q: Can I record new MIDI tracks in real time along with the Virtual Sound Canvas?
A: Yes. However, there is about a third to a half second delay in sound processed by the Pentium processor.
Synchronizing wave and MIDI is not possible.
If you would like to record along in real time with MIDI accompaniment, we suggest an external hardware sound module or daughter board for your sound card, also available from Edirol."
I take it you were talking about an external module.
[This message has been edited by jackdaw (edited 07-14-1999).]
Nonetheless, while checking out the SB Live! site I couldn't find a schematic detailing the SB Live's guts/ports. (Anybody find one?) Creative seemed more interested in describing how many surround sound speakers I could attach. For me, this tossed up a red flag.
The problem I have with SB Live! is that it seems to be trying to be all things to all people. Is that a problem? Don't know. But when I have to read about its gaming and surround sound potential before I get to the audio/MIDI stuff...Well, you get my drift.
You know, I did check out the Sound Canvas stuff. I had some questions about the software synth package. Can't remember what. I'll find out.
Back...
The problem was with the "Virtual Sound Canvas" as stated below, copied from the FAQ part of that same site.
"Q: Can I record new MIDI tracks in real time along with the Virtual Sound Canvas?
A: Yes. However, there is about a third to a half second delay in sound processed by the Pentium processor.
Synchronizing wave and MIDI is not possible.
If you would like to record along in real time with MIDI accompaniment, we suggest an external hardware sound module or daughter board for your sound card, also available from Edirol."
I take it you were talking about an external module.
[This message has been edited by jackdaw (edited 07-14-1999).]
drstawl
Banned
I have the external module, 'cause I bought it before I had a computer fast enough to handle the virtual synth. I still didn't use the MIDI/audio sync tools in CW even when CW <was> working completely on my system. I'd lay down the MIDI first and then mix the resulting .wav file with more digital audio tracks. And as it was explained to me by the authors of CW, this synchronization feature was no small task to program.
[This message has been edited by drstawl (edited 07-14-1999).]
[This message has been edited by drstawl (edited 07-14-1999).]