Kanthos

Mine's linked in my signature: http://mjchase.wordpress.com. I don't update as often as I should, largely because I avoid the type of posts that are better used for twitter and facebook status updates.

Plenty of bands are perfect on stage. I've seen enough jazz concerts to know that the bands can usually play everything perfectly, and the question of whether it's a good night or not comes from the quality of their solos. Real musicianship is being able to play pieces through well, giving proper attention to improvisation, tone, dynamics, and such, not recording a song in pieces and mixing separate takes together in the studio. A top-notch band may sound as good as a less skilled band when comparing their albums, but how well they play live makes all the difference. That said, there are some factors out of the band's control, namely not having enough time for a proper sound check and not having monitors on stage balanced the way they should be for each musician. If you can't hear yourself well or you need to hear the bass well to keep in time but you don't, that can affect your playing.

You could always freeze some tracks to save on processing power. This is where the DAW takes a MIDI track and records the audio so that you don't have to have that particular VST active and in memory. It generally takes a lot less effort to play back audio than it does to run MIDI through a VST. Find out how your DAW supports this feature (or, if it doesn't, export a few tracks yourself and import them back into your project), and you'll be good to go.

You could just ignore it

Ok, well at least it sounds like I'm not clueless then. I'll have to look at prices, but I'll probably end up with a 4-input interface to save money, since I probably won't use the Korg too much, other than as a controller. Thanks for the input.

I have two keyboards, each with two stereo pairs of audio output, and each capable of multiple parts at once (6 on one, 8 or 16 on the other). My current audio interface is an Edirol UA-25 with one stereo pair of input. One keyboard is a Korg TR (standard workstation), and the other is a Nord Stage, with individual two-manual organ, 2 pianos/electric pianos, and 2 synth sounds. The Nord is my go-to sound for organs, pianos, and electric pianos; I'd probably only use audio from the Korg in a song if I have a particular sound that I'm also using or want to use live (no sense making the sound in software and then again on the Korg). How would you suggest I integrate with my DAW with respect to audio (MIDI is easy; one has USB MIDI and the other can send and receive MIDI through my audio interface). The problem I see is that I have considerably more outputs on the keyboards than inputs on my audio interface, and also that I can have considerably more simultaneous sounds on a keyboard than I have outputs for them. Getting a bigger audio interface would be an option, but no matter how it happens, I could end up with more than one sound on a stereo channel at the same time, so any effects and levels would apply to both. What is a reasonable workflow to get around this? Is it a good idea to record MIDI for all the parts while sending all the keyboards through on a single channel, which I couldn't do in stereo without more gear (I have a tiny 4-channel mono-output mixer that I use to adjust levels for live playing)? And then, when I've finished arranging a song, record each part individually in stereo before mixing? The downside that I see is that using effects on my keyboards would be a pain, since even if I have the notes right, changing the settings for a keyboard-based effect would mean re-recording the track. On my Nord, I'd definitely want to use keyboard-based effects for the pianos, electric pianos, and organ sounds. Another possibility might be to get a 4-input audio interface so I could route organs and pianos to different output pairs on my Nord, and record synth sounds and anything from my Korg before mixing, so I could use software-based effects. A third possibility is an 8-input audio interface, so each stereo pair from my keyboards are routed into the audio interface, and record any parts besides the first two from each keyboard before mixing. Is there a better way I might go about this? One that would be the most flexible and have the least amount of extra work?

The only compo I've done so far was an old OHC where we took a MIDI file Xerol gave and remixed it. I really like both your ideas; it still might be much for people to try for two compos in a week. Maybe some kind of alternating schedule with the OHC (i.e. every 3rd week is synth/sound design week, every 3rd week is composition week, and every 3rd week is remix week)?

I need to start doing this. Thursday is usually not a good night (I swim a couple nights a week, try not to swim two nights in a row if I can avoid it, and often have something on Wednesdays), but I'll keep it in mind and try and rearrange my schedule so I can join in.

This would work too

Or maybe they're redeemable for part of the way through the story but they make a choice that ruins them. A villain who you can sympathize with a bit is more effective, in my opinion, than one who's nothing but cold and evil. One of the more effective villians in later Final Fantasy games was, in my opinon, Kuja from FF IX, simply because Kuja was sent to do the job Zidane could not do, but Zidane is faced with the realization near the end of the game that he could've been the orchestrator of war that Kuja ended up being, that Zidane was bred for that purpose and turned aside.

MIDI guitar is quite useful in certain contexts and to trigger certain sounds. Trying to translate the nuances of guitar playing to other instruments won't work that well, as you said, and trying to capture the nuances of playing piano on a guitar isn't that effective either, but there is a place for MIDI guitar. I believe Pat Metheny uses a MIDI guitar for one of his signature sounds, a bright guitar synth solo, although I could be wrong. Still, trying to remix in a DAW using a MIDI guitar isn't a good idea.

Tell me about it. Between dealing with whiny system admins who use my company's product and dealing with people on a couple keyboard forums who think that they can ask a question, demand a response NOW, and won't do their research (seriously, at least once every couple of weeks, I see someone asking how to connect keyboards A and B with MIDI or confusing MIDI out and audio out), that webpage is pretty much my life mantra right now.

Some changes, please, all under For Sale (in order from top to bottom in the first post in the thread). Mainly because I just realized that I'd given all the prices in Canadian dollars that I have this stuff listed for on craigslist, but everyone reading here will assume US dollars. PC Games Change: Diablo & Starcraft battlechests: $15 US each Change: Oblivion + expansions: $25 US; strategy guide for an extra $5 US Change: King's Quest pack: $12 US Remove: Myst I-IV plus URU PSP Add: Final Fantasy I $12 [kanthos] PS1 Add: Final Fantasy IX: $20 [kanthos] Change: Chrono Cross: $20 Books Add: Java books (O'Reilly): Java Network Programming: $20, Swing Hacks: $20, both for $30 [kanthos] computer/music electronic stuff Add: Line6 PodXT with FX Junkie expansion pack and FBV Express foot controller: $350 [kanthos] Add: Native Instruments Pro-53: $100 [kanthos] Add: WayOutWare timewARP 2600 (installable multiple times on one computer): $40 [kanthos]

Right after saying it saved money, he said, "Ok, well it doesn't save money, but..." Normalization is always a good thing

It's *never* a given that people have googled and looked in the manual, if there is one/if they have one, unless they say what they've already tried specifically, unless the person asking the question is well-known by their audience as someone who consistently does their research. Anyone asking questions on any forum could stand to read this first. You picked one without looking into whether either of them had a demo version (or you knowingly decided to pirate the one without a demo instead of trying the other one first). Doesn't sound like you did your research to me. And not finding out how to add VSTs? There's a lot of complicated things with Cubase, but that's something that's not hard and can't be that hard to google. In fact, I just tried it; I googled "cubase add vst", and the second hit was a Youtube video showing you how to add a plugin. So sorry, you either fail at searching or just didn't bother and expect us to do your work for you.

Differentiate. Combat should not be the same as you fight different types of monsters; the worst thing you can do is make combat winnable by having everyone attack and do nothing else. Characters should not be relatively similar. If you introduce a character, they need something unique, above and beyond "I cast spells and so does everyone else, and I also smack people with weapons too". Give me a reason to pick a certain character beyond just looking at their base stats. Make magic useable. I shouldn't be able to use my big nukes on trash monsters and think I'll have a ton of mana left to use on the boss, but I shouldn't slog through enemies who have high defense against physical attacks just to avoid using mana so I can actually defeat the boss. Make magic effects quick. If I can get through 100 trash monsters in a couple minutes using physical attacks but I have to watch the same 10-second animation again and again each time I cast fire, I'm using physical attackers. Pretty effects are nice; effects that are short *and* pretty are much better. Bosses should not be defeatable by having everyone use physical attacks or having everyone use magic attacks. Ever. Unique character abilities are made for boss fights. Ideally though, there should be more than one way to defeat a boss and you shouldn't be tied to having a specific character in the fight (unless, of course, storyline doesn't give you the choice of *not* bringing them). I mean, say a boss has some heavy-hitting attack that they build up that someone can dissipate somehow (think Kain using jump on Valvalis' turning herself into a whirlwind). Obviously, I can dissipate it somehow. I should also be able to do things like nullify the effect somehow (shell/protect, for example), draw the attack to a specific character, reflect it onto the boss instead (even if it's an elemental attack and the boss is healed a bit). The *best* strategy may be to use the skill that dissipates it, but a choice of strategies makes the fight more interesting. Weak points of bosses shouldn't be obvious (i.e. none of "Oh, this boss is casting spells all the time so I'll have Celes use her Runic ability to draw the magic"). Different character abilities could be used ideally in subtle ways. The key is limited choice: I don't want just anything I try to work, but I don't want only one thing to work and I don't want to be smacked in the face with what to do. Don't have 6,000,000 lines of dialogue before a boss fight, and don't make the closest save point 10 miles back. If I can't get back to a boss easily, I'm not going to experiment on how to beat the boss; I'll stick to something standard. If something standard doesn't work (a good thing!), I'll get frustrated. I don't mind failure as long as the cost isn't exorbitantly high and as long as I don't waste all kinds of time. Intro sequence: start off in the middle of something. The best sequences, I think, are ones where you're thrown into the middle of something and you pick up the pieces as you go. FF VI had you attack a town to get the esper; FF VII had you blow up a mine. Those were good because they immediately drew you in. FF IV had you fly back to the castle and talk to the king; not bad, but not as gripping because there wasn't much action to it (getting attacked by trash mobs on the airship hardly counts). FF VIII had a great intro FMV and then started by having you run around Balamb Garden and talk to people. Boring. Ideally, your character's backstories and the intro sequence will allow for the fact that your characters aren't the most powerful people in the world but that they're not inexperienced kids either. Celes was incredibly weak for a general, for example. Without doing any significant levelling, Locke seemed better to me initially, even after Celes got her equipment. Cloud starting off as a pansy level 7 or so with little or no materia was unbelievable. Basically, if your characters are going to go from being nothings to being complete superheros, their position in life should reflect that.

King's Quest series, particularly VI.

And despite his incorrect terminology, other people were able to be helpful. GPO uses Native Instruments Kompakt player. The version they bundled with EQWL Symphonic Orchestra supports multiple outputs, so GPO's version probably does too (as in, it would be a serious defect of GPO, and a serious point in favour of buying EWQL, if they didn't.)

True, but the impression I get from the OP's posts is that he isn't trying to start a discussion for the sake of discussion; he's trying to start a discussion for the sake of pushing his viewpoint. Not that he's ever done that before on a similar topic...

Same thing you'd do with any link ever: right-click and "Save Target As..."

The same can be said for other areas - why act in someone else's play? Why read aloud from someone else's book? I can think of a number of reasons why you'd want to play someone else's music. 1) Pieces written by small numbers of people (a single composer, a couple band members collaborating) are written to be played by more. It wouldn't work to only play your own music. 2) Many people can't write music but can play and even improvise well. Should they not play? There are very few people who are gifted compositionally. 3) Playing and performing is fun. 4) Sometimes, composition isn't separate from realization, such as when a band takes a rough concept into the recording studio and works with a producer to flesh it out. Significant quantities of music would not exist if people only played their own stuff. 5) Compositions make no money if no one plays them.

What disappointed you about the Korg M3? Just curious. Assuming you want to do live performance (and that you don't want to cart a laptop and audio interface around), you'll probably be better off asking at a site like keyboard forums (I post there too). Not too many people here that I know of have made big-budget keyboard purchases, although some have; more people here use software-based methods and a MIDI controller than a hardware keyboard. What's your experience with synth sound design? Are you looking for a unit that's good out of the box, or are you happy making your own sounds? Is there any reason why you gravitated towards workstation keyboards instead of looking at hardware synths? As far as recording goes, are you planning to do everything on your keyboard, or would spending a bit on a DAW so you get better recording capabilities and a better sequencer appeal to you? Are there any other sounds you want out of a keyboard than typical synth sounds? Are you looking for rich orchestral stuff as well? Good acoustic piano? Good keyboards and organs? Or is some/all of that stuff secondary? As for keyboards, I know a lot of people were disappointed with the Fantom G. In some ways, it's much better than the Fantom X, including having better and more sounds, but in other ways, people find it broken. I can't remember exactly what, but there were a number of good features that the X had that didn't make it to the G. Personally, I've never been impressed with Roland; I find Korgs to be the more versatile keyboards and Yamahas to be the best at quality acoustic instruments. Honestly though, this is a big purchase; don't spend a dime until you've gotten to try *all* of the Fantom X, Fantom G, Korg M3, and Motif XS. Also, do you need the features of the flagship workstations, or could you settle for something cheaper, like the Korg M50 or an older Motif ES or MO6/MO8? Personally, if I was buying one of the flagship workstations, I'd go for the Motif XS without having to think about it, unless I saw an M3 on for a really good deal.

I recommend the Edirol UA-25 as an audio interface.

I use Last.FM instead of Pandora, but my biggest and best discovery was the Esbjorn Svensson Trio, a jazz trio that used electronics and effects and had a really unique sound. The pianist died in a scuba-diving accident last June, a week before they were going to play a concert in my area.

No, you've got yourself a drummer who can no longer use the hi-hat or bass drum pedals. Hopefully you live in a large urban area; your chances of finding bandmates are much higher if you do. You could try looking craigslist; lots of people advertise for gigs or band openings there, many of them just for fun. If you're going to start your own band, make sure you have a clear idea of what you want (standards band, writing original material, do you want to gig or not, do you want to make money at it or not). If I came to audition to play with you and you had no idea of what you wanted to do other than to play jazz of some sort in some setting, I'd probably walk away, and would definitely be looking for other opportunities. If you have a good idea, I'd be likely to get on board.