Regarding Ableton, I disagree. The Command Station and Ableton is like nothing else. Or Kontakt and the Command Station is actually what I prefer. Don't run any sequencing in Ableton. Use nothing but Simpler/Sampler clips. Use Ableton as a sampler 100%. And just find your USB interface in the drop down and put every channel on external mode from the Command Station. Now you have UNLIMITED sounds by just dragging tones into Simpler. No use sending Richard all your money at EPR. And now you have unlimited effects also since Ableton is a VST host. The only thing I don't like and I am being really nitpicky is that there is a little bit of latency between knob twirling (assigned CC's) from the Command Station and Ableton. I wish it was faster. But that's why I prefer Kontakt as a stand alone. And for some reason Kontakt 2 actually sounds warmer than 3 and 4. It had a hardware sound to it. Maybe because it's a thinner app and there isn't so much going on. I don't know. But there isn't any VST support by running it stand alone. But that's fine I prefer a couple Ensoniq DP4's over any vst any day. Anyways, use Ableton in sampling mode and do no use any midi files. You still let the Command Station do everything but you're not depending on cheesy roms anymore.
And for the record I was never bragging about jack sh*t regarding gear. You can find an Emax 1 on Craigslist for $200 if you look often enough. Less than you pay for a couple roms. Adjustable sampling rate and real analog filters with 8 outs. Get on it if you can. It's not about what you have or had, it's just about stepping outside the box that gets my respect. Those roms are b-o-r-i-n-g.
I guess i use my command center the way others use a computer. My thing about the command center is that I don't experience crashes and technical problems that I experience when I sequence win a computer.
I run the command center as the top of my midi chain with my kaoss pad and microkorg and my tr-505 following sync.
With ableon live that type of setup is impossible. Ableton has to be run as the tail of any midi chain or it will send sync glitches down the line if cpu spikes. Reason doesn't output midi live, just as an export.
I need a good midi sync chain to sync all my external devices. the command station is able to give me that banging backup track to complement live arpeggiation of the pattern with the microkorg and live remixing with the kaoss pad and mackie.
Regardless, using the command station to make music is what's important, not who has the most gear or who can buy up all the roms from epr specifically so no other artist can have any.
Even then we can always design our own sounds. or I could get an mpc or Yamaha.
I hope that we can all learn to respect and help eachother rather than giving eachother false information and sending on wild goose chases.
I apologize to Tom, James,vBob and the Gang for getting my panties in. a twist.
I hope that I can have more of a positive irie vibe in the future.
-mattOn Aug 28, 2010 7:43 AM, ";James Ulibarri" <jamesulibarri@...> wrote:
"the E-Mu factory presets are quite good and if someone makes music using just those they should n...In comparison to what exactly? I would honestly bet cold hard cash that 85-90% of the Command Center users out there have not heard what Emu built their name off actually.
All I hear is how good these voices sound all the time. And I have also heard people say they are warm. Ummm, really?? What's warm to my ears are voices coming from an Emulator II or III or Emax 1. Why? Because everything passes through SSM low pass analog filters on the way out. So yes, you are right then. Once the Command Station voices are sampled into one of the machines above, I would say yeah they do sound good, but not until they are. If you have never heard the engines on these things with your own ears and what a real set of filters sound like than you haven't heard what Emu built it's name on. Command Stations are just regular 24-bit DAC outputs rom synths. But once you sample these voices into say the EIII than you're in for a real wake up call. Instant plump and girth, and what real warmth sounds like. But what's going on there at face value is out of the Command Station is pretty tame. There is no comparison. To my ears it almost sounds like software. And I don't even need anyone to back me up on this. I know what's up and what's what on all these old machines.
> I would...