Hi there! Glad to be loading you up with my opinions. Here we go!
And that is: being able to input sequencer data using three different
approaches: percussion, guitar and keyboard. For the sound sources,
Way cool! What input devices are you using/planning to use? What MIDI
interface?
I'm presently partial to hardware synths/samplers. Although I've got
some good sounds in the past (using soundfonts and a Live ! card and
MuSE) I still feel that the best sounds are from actual hardware synths
and samplers. I'd like to have some feedback on this. Are 'software'
That, I believe, is a big load of baloney, unless of course you believe
in the esoteric powers of the MiniMoog (which can neither be proven nor
disproven). As for samplers, a sampler is simply an expensive digital
tape recorder that can be triggered by MIDI. There are absolutely NO
SOUNDS in a sampler before someone puts them in. What you're looking for
are SAMPLES, which can be used just fine with linux.
There are loads of sample CDs available commercially, and many samples
are availale for free as well. I think the free stuff is WAY more
interesting, simply because there are absolutely no pathetically
uncreative and easily manipulated suits to make decisions for the
artists. Check out this (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/) and tell me
there's no quality sound available for free.
OF COURSE sampler salespeople will tell you the opposite, they're trying
to sell you samplers! Of course, I'm a linux enthusiast, so I'm trying
to sell you linux. The decision, as always, is up to you.
As for synthesizers, the synths basically all do the same thing. There's
analogue synthesis, subtractive synthesis, and physical modelling. All
the marketing people are blowing a whole bunch of horns on little
details that make no difference whatsoever if you're a good musician.
All I ever need for synths is ZynAddSubFX, which has additive and
subtractive synthesis. Of course, you need to learn to synthesize your
own sounds, but you need to do that anyway if you're going to take your
creative juices seriously.
Believe me, when you have your first gig and all you're carrying is a
lap top computer instead of twenty different 20kg devices that all need
to be hooked up the exactly right of 10'000 different ways, you're gonna
thank me. That's why we use linux, real time mixing, synthing, sampling
and recording all in one device, and we can MIDI-control it if we want
some fancy faders.
sounds really that good when compared to actual hardware synths ? What
about samplers ? Are there any pro or semi-pro hardware synth and
sampler cards for the PC that could turn a PC (with an additional
external MIDI keyboard) into such a beast as these Korg (or
others') workstations ?
You need excellent D/A converters which you can get at the price of a
hardware sampler. Try RME and Apogee devices. Then you will have
superior audio quality and flexibility.
First of all I do not yet have a sound card for the AMD64 MSI K8N
Neo4 board I have (4GB RAM and lots of disk space). So far I see these
Hammerfall and M-Audio series.
Rumours have it M-Audio suffers difficult-to-predict linux
incompatibilities. Right now I like the ESI, Roland and RME stuff, or
Echo if you don't need a lot of ports and have a laptop.
I'd also like to get accoustic input from accoustic guitars, flutes,
and possibly voices/vocals.
For that, you need a condensor microphone with a pre-amplifier that
supports phantom power. Or, you can get something like the Samson C01U
USB mike, and have low-priced decent quality in an all-in-one thing.
Screw the latency though for anything USB, it's hard to get below 40ms
in my experience.
If you go for an analogue microphone, get a condensor microphone for
studio recording, a dynamic microphone for live stage vocals and winds,
and a specialized acoustic guitar pick-up for the gitty.
For Mics I have a good hunch about Sennheiser.
I suggest you get a card like the edirol thingies that include Mic
pre-amps. Unless you want to go ultra-high-end and get a rack and
devices that mount there. Try Apogee if you're rich.
And then there's the playback using good speakers.
Studio monitors. Pay attention to 'linear frequency response' and get
what sounds good. I tested and found Behringer's to be sub-standard,
aside of that I can't say much. For headphones, I have the Sennheiser HD
265 and it's gorgeous, a joy to listen, AND linear. cost me 200 big ones.
And then there's the MIDI input when more than one MIDI instrument is
used at the same time. Surely there must be a patch bay of some sorts.
USB MIDI around 70 biggies, or included if you get an all-in-one card.
Just be sure to get firewire and NOT USB. (latency and reliability)
And there are the special effects, of which reverb would be mandatory
to start with.
Suggest you go software. That's where the big savings come in using free
software. From all you wanna buy it sounds like you could possibly
afford Apogee converters, and even a Neumann microphone. I would get the
very best analogue signal chain and keep it short, then do the rest with
Free Software.
Tell you what: Get the Apogee Ensemble for the best D/A conversion
around, INCLUDING pre-amps, and then PAY the freebob people to write
drivers. That way your money couldn't be invested any better. Before I
would buy a reverb unit I would pay some free software guy to write one
and GPL it. That way you're benefitting thousands of people. Believe in
Karma?
So, if I choose the hardware sounds, I'll have to get some kind of
external mixer for the line outs of the synths and mikes, isn't it ?
What does Ardour mixes after all ? Can it control some kind of
hardware mixers of which the knobs were removed (cheaper price ?) so to
speak ?
Yikes. LONG analogue signal chain. Bad. Very expensive to get decent
quality. Invest money in good D/A conversion and pre-amps, and do
everything else inside the computer. Best value for money.
Thanks a lot for any comments !
Cheers,
Al
You're very welcome. Hope I could help. Your thoughts on my comments
very welcome.
Carlo
