Native Instruments FM7

Eurythmic

Eurythmic

majordomo plasticomo
So, I downloaded the demo of this program yesterday.

As a standalone program, the sounds are very cool. I like the fact that those of us who can't/don't program synths can still load sysex banks to get a variety of sounds.

But, I'm confused as to what I can actually use it for. I mean, the program's latency is way too high for me to use it as a virtual keyboard in real time, so that's out. But, my understanding was that in DirectX mode, I could link FM7 to a midi track in a program like Cakewalk (I use PA9). That way, instead of playing back through your hardware/soundfont, you hear the FM7 instead. But in Cakewalk, I'm seeing no sign of FM7 whatsoever.

Am I on the wrong track here? I mean, if I can't link FM7 to my other projects, it's completely useless to me except as a toy. Somebody show me the light!
 
Pre-Sonar Cakewalk programs do not support DXi softsynths. PA9 supports DirectX audio plug-ins but they are not the same thing as DXi softsynths.

To actually make use of FM7 as a DXi plug in, you would need to be running Sonar or Home Studio 2002.

As far as latency in standalone mode, if you are using a decent card with ASIO driver support, latency will be minimal. I originally started using FM7 when I only had a SB Live - the latency was unbearable. Once I bought my Audiophile 2496, I was able to play FM7 in realtime as a standalone synth with no noticeable latency.

One way to actually use FM7 as a stand alone program rather than a DXi softsynth is to get clever with your MIDI wiring. Assign any tracks that you want to use FM7 for to play on your synth/keyboard controller. Run the MIDI OUT from the controller back to your MIDI card and record the audio output of the soundcard.

Of course this only works if you are using a good card like I describe above with low latency...
 
brzilian said:
Pre-Sonar Cakewalk programs do not support DXi softsynths. PA9 supports DirectX audio plug-ins but they are not the same thing as DXi softsynths.

To actually make use of FM7 as a DXi plug in, you would need to be running Sonar or Home Studio 2002.

As far as latency in standalone mode, if you are using a decent card with ASIO driver support, latency will be minimal. I originally started using FM7 when I only had a SB Live - the latency was unbearable. Once I bought my Audiophile 2496, I was able to play FM7 in realtime as a standalone synth with no noticeable latency.

One way to actually use FM7 as a stand alone program rather than a DXi softsynth is to get clever with your MIDI wiring. Assign any tracks that you want to use FM7 for to play on your synth/keyboard controller. Run the MIDI OUT from the controller back to your MIDI card to trigger FM7 and record the audio output of the soundcard.

Of course this only works if you are using a good card like I describe above with low latency...
Click to expand...
 
Well, I borrowed a copy of Sonar to test that... unfortunately, I can't use FM7 as a DXi instrument without Sonar crashing. I'm not sure how much I'm digging this.
 
Not Sonar 2 actually - it's 1.3. Aaaargh, this switch to XP has been tougher than I thought it would be!

I wonder if my CPU isn't part of the problem. I'm using a Coppermine Celeron @ 638MHz until I can pony up the change for a Tualatin, and I've noticed that my computer is somewhat sluggish in XP. It was fine for PA9 and Win98, but I guess this new software is quite a bit more complicated or something.
 
Hi Eurythmic,
I think you are right your processor is too slow to use with Sonar and DXi plugins. The min recommended processor speed for Sonar 2 (and I would think 1) is 500 Mhz. Running DXi synths is going to need far more CPU oomph than this. This minimum spec is usually for an AMD or Intel chip with a good deal of cache memory eg P4 or Thunderbird XP. I believe the celeron chips have less cache memory and are therefore slower. I would recommend using a minimum of 1.4G full-cache Processor and 512M of memorywith Win XP to get better results.
 
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