Which keyboard has best orchestra voices?

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Roland Saul

Roland Saul

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I don't know if the question is valid, because all voices can be tweaked, but is there an acknowledged leader out there with the most realistic symphony type stuff?
I would like to be able to lay down some real sounding strings and horns if possible. I know there's no substitute for the real thing, but it's getting increasingly difficult to get ahold of a trombone section at 3 in the morning.
Any ideas or advice welcome, I don't have a clue so far....
The amount of polyphony or the sequencer is not important, it's realism that I'm after if possible.
 
From what I have read and heard, the Roland JV 1080 and the like are pretty industry standard for orchestras - from film scorers to video game designers to pop artists - I've always seen the JV orchestra cards as being thought of highly.

I've heard some good things about gigasampler as well, particularly its piano.
 
Thanks, Adam, I'm just trying to get some ideas here...
good to finally see a response.
 
Do you want only a synth or do you also want to use samples ?

As for as synth goes the Kurtzweil k2500/600 has a great orchestral ROM.
There is a new Emu that has excellent sounds done by the Seattle sym. orchestra

There is NOTHING that comes close to using samples like Miroslav Vitous or Peter syd.'s sample CD's.
You need a sampler of some kind or the ability to load samples in your keyboard.
 
I think that I should be using as much of a pre-made sample as possible. Layering them sounds within my grasp, but I don't know diddly about gates and envelopes and thresholds or whatever, so some pre-packaged cd arrangement sounds perfect.I will check the reviews of the kurzweil at http://www.harmonycentral.com.
Thanks !
 
The JV and XPseries are fantastic pieces of equipment for scores, and that sort of stuff. Add in the orchestral expansion boards, and you have a phenominal center piece for your studio enviroment for your recordings. I havent heard it yet, but I am told, and have many reviews of the Proteus 2000. I have heard that its a pretty good piece of equipment for doing scores, and orchestra type of sompositions.
I think im gonna have my wife ship me one so I can play with it myself. One good thing about all of the Mars, and Guitar Centers is, if you dont like something, you can return it with 30 days or so these days.

Later, Mike
 
I don't think that it will get any realistic than some good samples and a sampler. Check out Gigasampler (very cheap compared to hardware samplers, the $$$ saved can be used to get more RAM and more sample CD-ROMS). Gigasampler can load Akai format samples as well as the Giga format. Miroslav Vitous has also put his orchestral sample collection (that Shailat mentioned) in the Giga format. So you don't have to get a Kurzweil K2500/2600 (necessarily) to play to hear these wonderful sample collections.

Rev E
 
Hey Rev, I was thinking about checking the Gisampler stuff for myself. I havent seen it used in a professional environment, only set up in the Guitar Center.

Later,
Mike
 
Mike,

Giga is great. I have finally gotten it to work flawlessly with Logic Audio, so I am a VEry happy person. All this time, it was a simple instruction that I failed to follow: "disable direct sound from the multimedia preferences". Sometimes, I just want to kick myself. But now that everything is running OK, I couldn't be happier!

I've recently read many articles and reviews from pros who are getting into Giga. Many "Mac" folks are grudgingly buying PC's to use Giga. With your Akai 2800, Giga won't be as much of a difference to you as someone who has been using low-end modules, but I think that even you will notice a difference over your Akai (no loop points or really long loops, large, more realistic multisamples, etc). If you need any info or help deciding, let me know. I owe you for the Roland master library. Thanks again.

-E
 
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