in a slump

[alsemas]

Thanks for all the replies . I suppose going the midi route with VI's is the way to go. I've tried it before but was never happy with the sound quality of the midi sounds; maybe I was doing something wrong or needed better plugins. I have Protools I just haven't spent enough time learning to write using midi. I'll give it another try. Thanks again..

[milfus]

sure squids, sec, ill pm ya an mp3

[squids]

May 3, 2008, 6:52am, alsemas wrote:Thanks for all the replies . I suppose going the midi route with VI's is the way to go. I've tried it before but was never happy with the sound quality of the midi sounds; maybe I was doing something wrong or needed better plugins. I have Protools I just haven't spent enough time learning to write using midi. I'll give it another try. Thanks again..Well, from what I've gathered, it does take a bit of practice to get the VIs to sound......not virtual, lol. But once you get that sound, it looks like it's instant addiction cuz I know for a fact a bunch of these people all up in here need intervention. A lot of intervention.

[hummingbird]

May 3, 2008, 1:44pm, squids wrote:May 3, 2008, 6:52am, alsemas wrote:Thanks for all the replies . I suppose going the midi route with VI's is the way to go. I've tried it before but was never happy with the sound quality of the midi sounds; maybe I was doing something wrong or needed better plugins. I have Protools I just haven't spent enough time learning to write using midi. I'll give it another try. Thanks again..Well, from what I've gathered, it does take a bit of practice to get the VIs to sound......not virtual, lol. But once you get that sound, it looks like it's instant addiction cuz I know for a fact a bunch of these people all up in here need intervention. A lot of intervention. I learned that all plug-ins are not alike. So you need a good library of sounds, and then you need to spend the time to work with them so they sound "human" when playing. Also need to have some idea of what a certain instrument would & wouldn't play as well.

[matto]

May 3, 2008, 1:44pm, squids wrote:Well, from what I've gathered, it does take a bit of practice to get the VIs to sound......not virtual, lol.Conceptually, it really makes no difference whether your sampled trombone or guitar resides in a VI inside your computer or in a hardware workstation, like a Korg or Yamaha or Roland. The same three factors decide how realistic your emulation of that instrument will sound:1- Number, length and quality of the samples used to represent the instrument2- Quality and playability of the programming, i.e. the way the instrument's creator combined the raw samples into a "playable" midi instrument3- Skills of the end user, both as far as writing for the instrument being emulated (in other words how skilled are you writing for real guitar or trombone) and as far as "massaging midi data" to get the most realistic sound.There's no special skill required for using VI's as opposed to the corresponding hardware (other than the fact that you have to install the Vi in your computer as opposed to just turning on the hardware).Since VI's use the computer's RAM and often even stream samples from disk, they usually leave hardware in the dust when it comes to criterion 1 above.Hardware used to have the edge in criterion 2, as most experienced programmers were working on hardware. This has changed as the most acclaimed sound designers have migrated to VI's, and as VI's have broken new ground in the playability department via innovations such as Kontakt scripting. Even though hardware hasn't stood still in that respect, VI's are now generally speaking superior. They are also far less expensive in the long run, and there's a lot more diversity since they are a lot cheaper and less involved to produce.Obviously, the more skills you have the better you will sound using the tools of your choice, but it's a lot harder to produce quality work with inadequate tools.matto

[slideboardouts]

I completely agree with matto here. Go for the VI's.Hardware just can't keep up with the software instruments these days. I've heard full orchestral pieces done with VI's that sound like they were generated by a real orchestra with real people playing real instruments. I can't say the same thing for even the best hardware workstations.I would really work on getting up and running with VI's. Not only will they sound better and be cheaper in the long run, but you'll be able to produce more music easier and quicker. In my experience, working on a hardware workstation is quite cumbersome compared to working with computer based VI's and sequencers.-Steve

[alsemas]

Lots of good feedback here. Thank you. I'm going to go pick up a midi controller. Besides key action and connectability, is there anything else I should be concerned about when shopping for one of these controllers?

[soundsgreat]

Gotta agree here with the VSTi's. I've got both an origional M1 and the VST, and the VST is much easier to use in relation to hooking it into the software. If you have a MIDI keyboard you like the feel and touch of, just hook it up, and buy the virtual instruments of your choice to go into your software. Don't forget loops, and samples also. The possibilities are endless. Happy writing............cheers, niteshift

[matto]

May 5, 2008, 8:09am, alsemas wrote:Lots of good feedback here. Thank you. I'm going to go pick up a midi controller. Besides key action and connectability, is there anything else I should be concerned about when shopping for one of these controllers? If you still have the Motif, you don't really need to buy a separate midi controller, it should do a fine job acting as one, and the built-in sounds may still come in handy for certain "bread and butter" applications.

[alsemas]

Great. Thanks Matt