NEWBEE HELP

  • Thread starter Thread starter smellyfuzz
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smellyfuzz

smellyfuzz

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Hi GANG;

I need some info...

I'm brand new to the midi CPU multi-track game.

I'm learning a lot, picking it up quick by practice, reading & surfing.

I'm still a little confused by sampling & soundfont programs & downloads.

How can I get a better piano, bass, strings, ECT ... out of my setup which is basically an old Juno- 1, AMD 700,128ram, SB 16 pci sound card.

Do I need to upgrade my sound card in order to get any improvement at all?

Do I have to spend $100.00 or so on a gigasample program or are there good sites out there that I can DL sounds?
 
Hi smellyfuzz,
You don't mention a thing about running midi, which yould be the ideal way to interface your keyboard. Sometimes those old junos do not have any midi capabilities, meaning it was probably made before the mid 80's. If so, it is time to join forces with modern technology.
 
MIDI BABY

BIG BALL,

The juno is midi & I have been running it with Power Tracks,
Cake Walk & n-track demos, but the sound quality I'm getting sucks.

Pianos sound fake as well as all other instuments.

This is what I like to improve upon.
 
Sound Fonts are only useful with the SB Live! cards, the Emu APS, the Terratec cards (I think), and that's about all. Turtle Beach uses something called DLS which is similar. This is from the Sonic Implants website:

DLS Level 1 is a new downloadable sound standard, supported by Microsoft and the MMA, for downloading samples into your PC. Direct X 6.1 by Microsoft now fully supports this standard and you can get this upgrade free of charge from their web site. This upgrade means you don’t have to have any special hardware for playing downloadable sounds on your PC. You simply need to use Microsoft’s Software Synthesizer or another hardware or software synthesizer that supports DLS-1.

Unlike SoundFonts, DLS-1 does not support filters or layers and therefore we won’t be able to port the entire Sonic Implants library into that standard.

But I suspect that some future revision will support all the things that Sound Fonts do and will become the standard on the Windows PC.

Here's an interesting article about the future of recording and software synths on the Windows platform: http://www.thedirectxfiles.com/features/interview/ghshott.htm

Anyway, there are already great-sounding software synths, and soon there will be more and they'll be much better.


I hope this is helpful...
-AlChuck
 
A mixer may be something for you to consider, if you are running the keyboard to an sblive, I believe you may still be getting the sounds of the card primarily.

With your juno patched into a mixer you will be able to access and mix in the sounds of the keyboard. Also, the sblive has different midi i/o settings, become famaliar with the different settings and what they do. I believe there are two internal soundcard settings and also a setting for your midi keyboard.
 
AlChuck said:
Sound Fonts are only useful with the SB Live! cards, the Emu APS, the Terratec cards (I think), and that's about all. Turtle Beach uses something called DLS which is similar. This is from the Sonic Implants website:



But I suspect that some future revision will support all the things that Sound Fonts do and will become the standard on the Windows PC.

Here's an interesting article about the future of recording and software synths on the Windows platform: http://www.thedirectxfiles.com/features/interview/ghshott.htm

Anyway, there are already great-sounding software synths, and soon there will be more and they'll be much better.


I hope this is helpful...
-AlChuck

First off, you do not need a SB card to use soundfonts if you are working with Cakewalk Home Studio or Sonar. The Livesynth DXi softsynth allows playback of soundfonts on any card.

I would suggest something like Cakewalk Home Studio 2004 as it costs less than $100 retail and comes with a couple DXi softsynths that produce fairly acceptable piano sounds. Edirol's VSC (Virtual Sound Canvas) sounds probably do better in terms or realistic instruments then most synths from the 80's.
 
Whoa there, brzilian, did you see the date of that post of mine you quoted?

SONAR wasn't even out yet then...
 
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