Nase

Well, it seems rather taylored to suit Trance producers, with the unison function and the arpeggiator and all, but the Supersaw stuff still doesn't sound as huge as Vanguard, for example. Everything sounds a little subdued. Maybe that's great for fitting sounds into the mix; I honestly can't tell cause I haven't bothered much putting together whole songs with it yet I bought the X-Station to have a nice all around solution. But the synth might as well just be your thing! I suggest heavily testing all your candidates in a customer friendly store. Back when I bought the X-Station, I didn't really know what I wanted either. It felt awkward noodling up and down on the different desktop size synths in the store without really knowing how to judge them. I ended up buying the X-Station based on the feature set. I didn't regret it, but I should've based my decision on more playing and tweaking experience, really. Maybe test a few more softsynths and find out what features and sound characteristics you really care about before you decide about a hardware synth (If you're not sure about your taste yet). Btw, I'm currently browsing Ebay for a nice cheap analogue synth from the 80s, like a Juno 106. While these are lacking in features like waveforms, you definitely get a sweet sound to start with.

Thanks. I probably won't do that many full fledged orchestral tracks, it's more about adding some flavors. The points you raised make me think though. I was hoping to get some high energy brass, for example. Also, the option to have instruments with aggressive attack is kind of important for the stuff I usually do. I'll probably get it anyway because I can get the Sample Tank Library with it for cheap. Sil, while we're at it, do you have an opinion on GPO?

I own that one, and it's more of an all in one solution including an audio interface, mic preamp, midi controller and yes, a synth. If you just want the synth engine of it, get the Xiosynth. You might actually get that one for the specified price. I'm not that great a fan of the synth engine. Some things it does well, like pads, but I find it's a little lacking in the phatness department. Controlling it is fun though thanks to aftertouch and the xy pad.

Hmm. You probably are better than me at rating the quality of orchestral samples, but I don't buy into the 'laughable for OCR standards' bit (not that that'd matter much for my purposes anyway). Last time I checked, you could still get YESsed with Squidfont and a lot of skill. Plus, these samples were an industry standard 10 years ago if I'm not mistaken. Went for 3000 - 4000 $ altogether. They've been remastered and new sounds were added. I read up on some reviews and the general consensus was that the sounds have a very 'expressive' quality to them. I also liked some of the demos. Judge for yourself, everyone: http://www.philharmonik.com/Main.html?prod_MP Sil, could you maybe point out what they're lacking specifically? Maybe that full EastWest cinematic sound? I haven't joined it yet due to lack of $, so your input is appreciated. Smenelian: Yep, I did join the last one, but I found it on KVR. I'll refer you though if I buy this one Man, the Sampletank library crossgrade option is awesome.

http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=1790 I've decided to finally invest in some high quality samplers, with all those awesome group buys popping up. Price probably won't be that low for a long time. They also throw in a lot of bonus sound packs and add even more content when the GB reaches high numbers. If you join it and want to refer me, my name on esoundz is skoshu. we both get 5 $ that way.

lol, pretty weird that no one seems to care. for a forum full of ambitious amateur composers, this is the perfect deal.

I went a little crazy. Pretty high energy stuff. It's the "Final Mega Fight" one. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=214044 voting would be nice, comments would be fun etcetc enjoy.

i just played along with it, and it's definitely the same samples Maybe the Reason version has more samples though...

Analoq: First time I listened to the piece, it didn't do that much for me. I needed some more time to appreciate the way you rearranged the melody. At first I didn't even recognise it. My head probably still was too occupied with my retard rave tune to see how adeptly you weaved the theme into that style, lol. Drums are lazy, although it probably serves the song. I'd like to hear some subtle flanging or so on them to give them a little more space without taking over too much. Snooper: Not bad at all, many good sound elements. That's NS_Piano, right? I love that font. The intro with the stuttering guy and rythmic synths i found quite cool. Overall I wasn't able to really get into the tune though. One reason probably was the strings played over the beat sections, found them boring. ANyway, I'm looking forward to remix some analoq! I liked the results when I tried last time, and the whole ORC was awesome back then! Reviiiiiive teh spirit!!!

Hey evryone. New TOMC i see. I might join some of these. I'll try to vote too.

I submitted something. It's, uh, Rave. Among other things.

hereugo http://www.megaupload.com/de/?d=F4UKTMT9

cool. It's incomplete though. I remember it ending with that "I've come to put an end to it" sample. oh yeah, talking about the new project: if you think my file is a bad start, feel free to put up your own. Same limitations of course.

I *think* I backed it up on an old hard drive with other .flps... Maybe Skrypnik or Prophecy still have it? I think my 2nd part wasn't really finished, too. If I find it, I'll render it for you.

you'd probably mainly use the default "packs" (sample directory in the browser) and 3xosc. There are other basic plugs like the granulizer and the beepmap, but those two ingredients are really enough if you know basic synthesis and can work with effects creatively. I know that FL Defaults are looked down upon, but try comparing it to making a chiptune or making a Midi that actually sounds good with the standard Microsoft GM Synth. It's the challenge of getting something cool sounding out of not so cool basic elements.

heh...maybe the FLMCs already saturated the need for sharing .flps online? some feedback on the whole idea would be nice, no matter if you want or don't want to participate.

Hi. We've done this kind of thing about a year ago i think, but with original content. Basically, you can grab my .flp and do to it whatever you like. You're encouraged to remix VG songs, of course Continue with my remix, alternate the style, source tune, instruments, whatever. I'd like to see a real monster medley personally, but do what you want to. Rules: Much like in FLMC, only the most basic instruments/samplesets of FL 6 are allowed. Also, try working with what's already there to minimise cpu cost. When you want to add something, claim the file in this thread so that others wait till it's their turn. Ok, have fun, don't be shy! Hope this works. Thought I'd start with something classic. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ACBYRPGW

hi chris ah, distortion jam. kind of inspiring. i'm at 4:30, liking the melodies. reminds me of jamming on my casio mini keyboard + guitar amp.

two free trumpet VSTs: sample based: http://dskmusic.com/vsti/brass.php algo based: http://www2.kvr-vst.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=120062&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=c01c8c5ddd57f2a240667df71da231ee

I'd go to a flea market and look for Casio mini keyboards of all kinds. I have a Casio SA-10, it has a 4 sample rock drum set and some other harsh sounds. Sounds like crap though, and I don't know if Casio has felt the need to increase the sample rate and stuff for their newer toys

more free glitch stuff, of the more chaotic kind... http://www.jackdark.net/darkware.html

Maybe that attitude is part of your trouble. I've often found that when I tinker around with something long enough, I'll eventually start to like what I hear most of the time. To me, the expectation of getting something good sounding within short time often is a problem. I sometimes remind myself of the time I tweaked some knobs and placed some notes into a piano roll for the first time. A typical beginner's state of mind is the best thing in some ways: You just fiddle around open-mindedly and don't get worried about reaching a certain quality standard too much. Of course, I don't know you and might be way off. But you're pretty popular around here, which might add to the pressure of making your music live up to your previous releases. And I'm not saying that applying a "quality filter" is bad, it's just unhealthy when your critical attitude keeps you from doing anything.

I disagree. I find this somewhat contradictory. (of course, having 500 synths doesn't mean you can't limit yourself to a single one, but still...)

I don't think it's a bad thing either, it's just that each of the synths in that woman's monster studio is already a very versatile beast by itself. Can't really compare it to your first set of GM sounds . There's a point where you have at least theoretical access to almost any sound you'd ever want, and you don't need every synthesizer/sampler/fx there is to reach that point. Apart from that, it's probably a quirk of mine that unless I don't learn to use something well, I shouldn't own it. I remember downloading all possible and impossible kinds of free softsynths one night, always thinking 'w0oah, these'll unveil new muzikal horizons to me!' Well, I tried them out a little, played around with some presets, and very soon got this feeling of being totally overfed. Some of them were really great, but the sheer amount of them was tiring. It might've been more fun for me to just download one really cool looking synth and fiddle around with that one for the rest of the night. It's like with friends, hard to have a lot of them and have only deep relationships at the same time. With this corny analogy I rest my case

Definitely. Actually, I got some good insight from one book I was reading and it basically said before you start a project you MUST limit your choices in terms of sounds, synths, whatever. You must have a small gathering of resources so that you can spend more time using the tools that you have decided to use than to continuously waste time looking around for stuff among your entire studio. Heh, well, people are different. I'm sure there are people who get inspiration out of fiddling around with loads of hardware synths at the same time, I was just saying I'm quite the opposite. Sure, it might be less effective, but I won't tell a gear junkie to limit his resources when he's having fun