Softsynth Advice, what do I need

[Leevis1]

Hi all
I posted on here ages ago when I was trying to 'get started' and now is time to revisit where I left off.

Basically, I have Cakewalk Home Studio 2004XL. I also have a Line6 Guitar Port which is my primary interface in that I record tracks onto HS2004 via this method.

The next step that I want to do is to use the 'soft synths' that are in HS2004. I have found out that in order to do this i need a Midi Controller. There are 2 option I have at the moment, a M-Audio Radium 49 and M-Audio Oxygen8.

I want to be a be able to use these in a similar way that I use the Guitar Port and by that I mean that I can just 'choose' a sound and the keys I play will make that sound ie I could be a trumpet, piano, bass, wierd synth or drum kit or even sample a vocal and do the n-n-n-n-n-n-nineteen thing.

Can I do this with these keyboards/HS2004XL?? This is the question.

Thanks in advance.

Lee

 

[brzilian]

Yes, you can - as long as you have a decent sound card in your system. Onboard audio or a cheap soundblaster will not cut it. You need well written WDM or ASIO drivers to keep latency to a minimum.

I don't know if your Guitar Port will do the job, but it does have ASIO/WDM drivers.

 

[Leevis1]

Thanks for the reply, looks like I might go with the MAudio Oxygen 8 to start with. The GuitarPort works fine, my PC though might be a problem, I am using the on-board audio which is the Nvidia Soundstorm which I am hoping will be good enough, it seems OK with the Guitarport.

 

[cawhite12]

The best latency you will probably get out of that onboard card will be about 10ms. For real time keyboarding (at least for me) this isn't good enough. Can't you use your guitar port as the interface and play the sounds out through that. I'm not familiar with that piece of equipment.