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

On Wednesday, April 2, 2003, at 05:03 AM, nuvalerium wrote:
> so I am after some advice.

Here goes....

>  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 :-)

I thought the a Soundblaster Extigy external (that works via USB) would 
be a good solution- but I checked and it cannot use sound fonts -and is 
no good for multitrack (no ASIO low latency).

You might be able to add a different external soundcard  (Firewire or 
USB) to your PC-
coupled with a sound font compatible VSTi (or ids it DXi in your case) 
to play the sound fonts.

Other than that- it would be upgrading your PC...
new motherboard
new processor (P4)
new power supply
new ram

- either of these solutions will be expensive.

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

I've got one of these- and still use it sometimes- but it is a little 
old (10 years now).
I think you're better off with a software sequencer (where you can see 
the tracks).
- that was hard for me to say as I've been an Ensoniq sampler user from 
the Mirage & EPS to the ASR.

> 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.

Looks like you've already chosen wisely- a compact, powerful kit  so 
far.
(That's a lot better than what I started out with).

--- In AN1x-list@yahoogroups.com, "nuvalerium" <alan@s...> wrote:
> 
> 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.
> 

Latency in regards to softsynths and other plug-ins is directly 
attributed to a) the efficiency of the manufactures driver and b) the 
speed at which the System Bus of your PC (or Mac) operates at. 
Processor speed and amount of memory are also relevant but the 1st 
two items are the bottleneck most often affecting latency.

I would suggest you relegate your current sound card to gaming and 
entertainment purposes and seek out a semi-pro or pro solution more 
inline with the rest of your kit.

> 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 :-)
> 

A couple of suggestions...

1) There are a few, active user groups for Cakewalk/Sonar here at 
Yahoo! Groups. I suggest you subscribe and search their archives for 
references to set-ups similar to your own to get a feel for what 
devices are popular, i.e., work well, in a configuration similar to 
what you desire.

2) There is a 'popular' web site http://www.kvr-vst.com/ that caters 
directly to the VSTi/DXi market. At one point they maintained a small 
data base of sound cards and what latencies were achieved under 
specific configurations. Furthermore, you are likely to find 
resources for SoundFonts and various shareware & freeware playback 
options.

3) There are many USB based audio solutions on the market and mid-
priced FireWire solutions are projected to be available this summer 
from the likes of M-Audio and ESI - no doubt more will follow soon 
after that. Either would be suitable for a laptop based recording 
solution. There is an article posted at AudioMIDI.com this month 
regarding laptops for audio and (again) there is a user groups here 
at Yahoo! Groups called LaptopMozart (I think) based on the subject 
matter. An aquantance of mine from the ASR-X list many years ago 
started that one up...

> 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?
> 

Reasons pretty well regarded but I always question the 'one size fits 
all' solution. I suspect you would do well with Reason but 
*eventually* would long to reintroduce a variety of softsynths. I 
could be wrong...Still, that new synth added in Reason v2 has created 
some buzz.

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

Love my ASR-X Pro (not the same as an ASR-10) but it's hardly the 
center of my universe - Logic Audio Gold and a selection of 
softsynths compliment my AN1x and ASR-X. 


> 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. 
> 

All solid choices...

> Hardware or software. Too many choices. Completely confused as to 
> which way to go. I need a larger brain. 

Gear lust will have the same effect ;-)

Any advice would be greatly 
> appreciated.
> 
> Ta 
> 
> Alan

Hope this helps.

Jon

> Gear lust will have the same effect ;-)

> Hope this helps.
> 
> Jon

There's such a thing as gear lust. I thought it was just a myth. You 
would never see me lusting after a bit of kit ROFLMAO. Went to Ideal 
Homes Exhibition yesterday and nearly bought a Roland Discover 5. 
What a fun piece of equipment that is :-)

Thanks for your advice re my setup. Will go check out the links and 
find a solution.

Best wishes

Alan