Kanthos

Definitely disable your wireless and LAN devices if you're on Windows. I use my laptop as the heart of my live keyboard rig, and it's a really good machine, and I still disable the network devices to guarantee there aren't any clicks in my audio. Maybe it's overkill with this machine, but with my older laptop, I had to do that.

You're asking the wrong question; there's no such thing as a MIDI synth. The only reason things work with your on-board soundcard is that you're sending MIDI data (NOT Audio!) to the soundcard's internal MIDI port and it is producing audio because most onboard soundcards still have General MIDI playback built in. What you're doing is sending several tracks of MIDI data to the soundcard at the same time, and it's turning them into probably-not-so-good-sounding audio. You should be able to do the same in Cubase: send MIDI data on MIDI tracks to your on-board soundcard (so probably you just didn't set something up right). You're never going to get good-quality results by just trying to play back MIDI files, but if you really want to try, search around for a General MIDI player plugin, or wait for someone who might know if one exists to comment here. What I suspect you really want is to take a MIDI file and use it as a starting point for remixing, running the MIDI data from each MIDI channel through one or more instrument plugins. If so, take a look at this list of free music software. There are all kinds of plugins to produce sounds of different instruments; you'll have to say more about what sounds you want to create to get more specific suggestions.

Are you pissed at Propellerheads for doing what they please with their own software, or pissed at yourself for buying software with the hope that it would support VSTs, despite that being advertised from the start as an intentional limitation? No, they won't support VSTs, so get something else and use Rewire.

If you're running out of memory, bounce or freeze your tracks (whatever FL Studio calls it) and unload the samples. You can save a Kontakt multi with the project so that if you need to unfreeze the track, you can easily reload the samples.

I've got a bunch of draft posts covering exactly that kind of thing: a discussion of a type of sound and how it can be used. Until I get around to more detail, the DX-7 is an FM synth (not sure about NI's FM8, but the predecessor, the FM7, could load DX-7 sysex patches). FM synthesis is great for creating the cheesy-pop-ballad electric piano sound; any modern workstation keyboard will have both standard Rhodes and Wurlitzer EP sounds and DX-7 sounds. The DX-7 EP sound is more suited for quieter parts, maybe with some chorus and reverb. The Rhodes (also the Wurlizer A-100 or A-200, the more common EP for rock), on the other hand, is really versatile because players started running them through effects pedals, the way guitar effects would be used. Some Rhodes models had built-in speakers with an autopan effect; autopan plus chorus and maybe reverb makes a good ballad Rhodes sound. As for playing technique, a lot of what works for piano works for EPs, though they're not as bright in the high range as a piano is, so I don't do as many higher melodic runs. I typically lay down a groove in the midrange or play longer chords a bit higher up the keyboard, not going much higher than C5.

A lot of playing keyboards is more about style than technical ability. I actually have tendonitis, that I got when I was 16, and playing fast parts for too long aggravates it, but I get by as a keyboard player because much of what I do is playing pads, simple sustained synth chords that provide presence or ambiance underneath what everyone else is doing. You could try playing along with recordings on youtube as a way of getting used to playing in a band without really playing in a band. That and listening to what keyboard parts are being played on songs you like, trying to figure out what the original player did.

I can't recommend anything off the top of my head. I seemed to remember the youtube user Experts Village having some good tips, but I just took a quick look and couldn't find what I remembered browsing through (that one user has over 100,000 videos uploaded, and 8,600 playlists). I was busy the last week, so I haven't recorded a few audio clips for that post yet, but I'm going to do that, and for a few others, this week, and I'm generally going to post audio examples of what I'm talking about, so that'll be a start. I learned by getting thrown into a band situation and having to figure it out myself, so I've never really spent much time looking at beginner videos. I'd suggest browsing youtube (or even doing a more exhaustive search through Experts Village) and finding a series that seems to work for you; if you find something worthwhile, I'd be happy to post it and credit you for finding it. And though I have no intention of doing a formal course, reading anything that I post that has sound examples will help you out too. It'll take a few more posts for it to fall into place, but I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a decent start just from reading my stuff, based on what's in my head, though looking elsewhere will help too, especially since you can find stuff that's already out there faster than I can create new content. I assume you have some level of piano skill and some knowledge of theory (enough that you could at least understand when I was talking about chords in that post, and what notes make them up); that's really all I'm assuming anyone reading my posts will have.

They've got a release date now: August 28th

I only see download links there for individual sound libraries I purchased as a download version, or libraries for which they provided download-only updates (updating Abbey Road Drums to work with the new Studio Drummer interface, for example); updates for everything else (Komplete 8, a sound library or two I bought on DVD, third party libraries) are here (except the third party stuff, of course).

Should be a download link beside it on the page with your serial numbers.

Kontakt Sax & Brass has some stuff that's not in the Kontakt library, I think. You can still download the installer from NI's support site; I see mine in there. If you still have the Kore Player, you can still use it. The Kore Player isn't up for download, but if you need that, le tme know and I'll find a way to get it to you (worst case, send me a bit of cash to cover my costs and I'll burn it on a DVD and mail it to you). I've still got an AK1 too; I've been trying to sell it, but now I'm considering keeping it and using it in my live keyboard rig; my Komplete Audio 6 for running Reason and the AK1 for running loops and a click track out of Ableton Live. I'll have to see how feasible it is to use two audio interfaces and be running two audio apps at the same time. (And no, I can't use Rewire since I'll be using more than 4 GB of RAM for Reason alone, and rewired products share the same memory space; they really need a 64-bit version of Live.)

Kontakt Sax & Brass was a sound pack for the now-discontinued Kore. Despite the fact that it used samples (and probably the Kontakt engine within Kore under the hood), it never got ported to proper Kontakt.

Yeah, Windows doesn't offer a command-line method of sending stuff to the recycle bin; the command-line stuff is all inherited from DOS, which had no recycle bin. Take a look at this for a few ways to recycle from the command-line (the path to the recycle bin doesn't work on Windows 7, though there's probably some other path that would work).

What happens if you remove the 'echo' in front of the del command? I don't know Windows batch files well enough to have coded you a solution, but I do know many of the commands, and echo is used to print stuff out to the screen.

I'd copy the cookie in question plus a few others into a new folder and run the batch script in there to make sure it actually works, before letting it loose on your proper cookie folder.

One of the download links works for me right now (though I downloaded it yesterday); not sure why you think it's taken down.

Just bumping this to remind people that the MiniMoog Original is available right now. Arturia's based out of France, so there's only 19 hours left to claim it. Though, the site is running really slowly, so good luck

Excellent, I'm glad people are interested. Check it out, subscribe to updates, and if there's anything you want to hear about, give me feedback

I should've said "edit the extra functions". You'll definitely be able to edit what's on the front panel; they say as much on the Arturia page you linked. And yes, looking forward to getting my hands on it.

Actually, I suspect it means that you won't be able to make a patch with any of the extra functions, nor will you be able to edit the functions on an existing patch, but if you load a patch made with the full MiniMoog V, you'll be able to play it back the way it was created. That's how they do things with their Analog Factory line of products.

I have no graphics skills to speak of, but I saw a variant of this in my head: Avenge ALL The dragons!

Piano lessons only help you play piano live, which isn't at all the same thing I'm not going to try and teach basic piano skills through a blog, and that's not really my interest anyway. But, if you've got decent piano chops but wouldn't know what to do sitting down with a band without sheet music, you'll hopefully find the blog useful.

I'm not really a remixer (well, not yet), but I do a lot of live keyboard playing in rock/pop bands at a few churches in my town. I'm also running the keyboard session for a church music training day in October for all the churches in my town. To go along with the sessions, I've started a blog with all kinds of tips for keyboard players. There's only a few posts at the moment, but I'm adding at least one a week and have a big list of things I want to cover. Some of it's very beginner-oriented, topics like "Which keyboard should I buy" and "What should I prepare for an audition or rehearsal", but I'm also going to cover topics like how to gig with multiple keyboards, plus give an overview of the different sounds keyboard players use, stuff like B3 drawbar settings, effects choices for electric piano sounds, and so on. Even if you don't play keys in a band, you'll find some of the topics useful for remixing. Check it out if you're interested; topic suggestions are welcome!

I joined the site in 2006, and I did listen to them all, well, all of the mixes that were posted from then until now (some have been removed in the past, before I joined, for basically being MIDI rips, and I haven't heard those). It gets hard to keep up with all the project releases, but listening to a few new tracks a week isn't bad at all.

Yes please! News flash: the C in OCRemix doesn't stand for Christian. Why shouldn't atheists hang out here? I'm a Christian too, but one who has no problem being around those who disagree with my viewpoint. A lot of the good friends I have on this site are ones who aren't Christian, and guess what? My non-Christian friends haven't convinced me to give up my faith, and I haven't convinced them to convert, but we get along well, and I think we've proven to each other that not all Christians are irrational idiots and not all atheists are condescending pricks. The only people I DO have an issue with are people who can't politely accept that others are different. You hate atheists? Good for you, now leave the site and keep your mouth shut, because you're a poor representation of the loving God you claim to follow, and the last thing Christians need is another bigot making us look bad. Also, yes, some atheists try to impose their views on everyone else. So do some Christians. Are you really being any different, coming in with an "Athiests are WRONG" agenda? By all means, come back if you're ready to play nice, but for now, I'm sure everyone of all beliefs would rather you take your intolerance elsewhere.