Standalone PC synths (was: Re: [sdiy] Bass generator synth DIY)

[Sean Costello]

What about a Mac Mini? Not quite fanless, but it is very small, has a fairly
quiet fan, and can run in kiosk mode if you know what you are doing (I don't
know how to do it, but I know it can be done). Slap a USB LCD on there, put
it in a rack, and there you go. Use MAX/MSP to host VST plugins however you
would like. Or run GPL software like Supercollider.

I know that there are some inexpensive Mini-ITX and Nano-ITX motherboards
out there, that can run fanless with the VIA processors. However, these have
pretty low clock speeds (around 800 MHz for the fanless version), and
apparently have fairly poor floating point performance. Nevertheless, if you
want to throw together a dedicated synth based on PC plugins, using one of
these boards with a Flash hard drive could get you a VST host with no moving
parts. Not sure if the hard drive would be big enough for the programs that
use huge sample banks.

A few links for the above:

http://www.heavyliftmusic.com/archives/2005/05/building_a_mobi.html (rack
mounted Mac Mini for running Guitar Rig and Logic)

http://www.mini-itx.com (lots of links for small fanless computer formats)

Sean Costello

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "JH." <jhaible at debitel.net>
To: "Seb Francis" <seb at burnit.co.uk>; "Rainer Buchty" <rainer at buchty.net>
Cc: <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2006 10:43 AM
Subject: Standalone PC synths (was: Re: [sdiy] Bass generator synth DIY)


> I wish I could have my Steinberg Grand 2, or my M-Tron as a standalone
> version!
> Too bad that the Grand won't run on a cheap PC. I have just bought 2GBytes
> of RAM
> to make it work without glitches.
>
> It's funny that, while I've never been interested in hardware samplers or
> ROMlers,
> and never even taken a second glance at virtual analogue software, I'm
> really hooked on
> big sample playing programs. When I look back over the last month, I've
been
> playing
> more "grand piano" than synthesizers. I even think about taking lessons.
>
> But it would really be great to have it stand-alone. I love the VNC idea,
> which would
> make monitor and mouse and keyboard dispensable. But more than tat, it
would
> be
> important that this PC would boot and go straight into the VST program
with
> just
> switching the machine on.
>
> Well, I'm only thinking out loud. With my fan-less PC in the studio, it's
> fine just like
> it is.
>
> JH.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Seb Francis" <seb at burnit.co.uk>
> To: "Rainer Buchty" <rainer at buchty.net>
> Cc: <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
> Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2006 7:07 PM
> Subject: Re: [sdiy] Bass generator synth DIY
>
>
> > Why not use an old PC .. probably £50 worth of PC + £50 ASIO soundcard
> > would be ample to run the FM7 as a standalone app.  You can even control
> > the PC remotely from your main computer with something like VNC (free
> > cross platform software for remote graphical control) so you don't need
> > a monitor, keyboard & mouse.
> >
> > Seb
> >
> >
> > Rainer Buchty wrote:
> >
> > >>Or if you have a PC, try the Native Instruments FM7 .. it's like a DX7
> > >>with an easy to program user interface!  And seeing as through the DX7
> > >>was digital anyway, sound-wise this is a very accurate software
> > >>emulation (far closer than any 'virtual analog' softsynths get..).
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > >I still wish the FM-7 was available as a standalone machine... Without
> > >having to care about the Windows stuff, some few 100MHz ARM would
> > >probably be sufficient, maybe enhanced with an extra DSP section in
case
> > >FM-7 makes use of MMX.
> > >
> > >Rainer
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>