Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

Hi Team

I live a very busy life as most people do. Learning new stuff is
proving difficult at present, so I am after some advice.

I describe my keyboard playing as basic. I love analogue synths from
the early 80's and spend my time just playing with those types of
sounds. I have an AN1x of course and a Korg N364. All I want to do
with music is to play along to MIDI files, jam and write the odd
song or two. I use Sonar XL for my midi stuff. It's a complicated
program and I do not have time to learn it. The writing songs part
of it is where I need advice. I jam a lot and come up with nice
little melodies etc. I need to put them together. My PC is getting
way too old now (P3 350Mhz, 384Mb ram, 40gig 7200rpm HD, with a SB
Audigy Player Sound card)

I like sound fonts which my sound card can handle. I like DXI`s in
Sonar but my PC cannot handle as the latency is a huge issue. I want
a simple way to record my songs which may contain sound fonts and
DXI`s. I have a laptop which is a P4 and gets rid of the latency
challenge on the DXi's but it cannot use soundfonts. Basically my
setup is all over the shop and is causing me challenges.

Whats my best option? I want to play my keyboards, using DXi's,
soundfonts and patches, record what I am playing and edit the
mistakes :-)

Looking at Reason to replace my DXi's and soundfonts, therefore one
source but can Reason record or do I need to use Sonar for that?

Also looking at an Ensoniq ASR-10 which can sample and has an
excellent sequencer.

My kit as it stands right now is roughly as follows. AN1x, Korg
N364, Midiman Oxygen8, USB midisport 4x4, Boss DR770, Yamaha MU15,
Mackie 1202VLZ Pro, Philips CD Recorder, Tannoy Active Reveals,
Sonar XL and Cooledit Pro.

Hardware or software. Too many choices. Completely confused as to
which way to go. I need a larger brain. Any advice would be greatly
appreciated.

Ta

Alan