Yoozer

Also, read this. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/allsynthsecrets.htm All your questions will be answered there. Really. On a related note, the words "please" and "help" are both useless to put in a topic.

To the rescue! http://www.chordmaps.com Try messing around with these for a while.

What you want is to replace the shitty wavetable of your on-board soundcard with (software) instruments that sound more like the real thing. The first thing is that you should get rid of every single idea you've put in this topicstart; none of 'm match up with reality . There's no such thing as MIDI quality and you can certainly not compare it with MP3-quality, whatever that may be (what would CD quality be, then?) If those are real samples, what are fake samples? A sample is nothing more than a digital recording of anything. Anything. The quality of the sample depends on the resolution. Compare it with a picture; the better the lens and the more megapixels you have, the better quality your picture will have (provided that you do not suck at photography). It's exactly the same thing with sampling. You take a digital picture of a sound. There are some great photographers who can do amazing things with a consumer camera and there are some bad photographers who suck with a DSLR and a lens kit that costs more than most cars. To continue the analogy: your soundcard contains samples. These are put into the soundcard's memory. This memory is called a "wavetable". The wavetable isn't exactly big (not much megapixels). To make it worse, the people who've recorded the sounds aren't that great at sampling (bad photographers). All this is done to cut costs, because nobody uses the wavetable for serious music production anyway; it's adequate for GeoCities pages that have a MIDI-file playing, to get a rough idea of the song. On the other hand, you can have a CD or DVD filled with piano samples. Not only is there enough room, but those who did the sampling were also pretty damn good at it (this is not always the case, but let's assume they are). So, the piano of the CD sounds much more realistic (when played realistically - it should be played with some feeling, just hammering on the keys doesn't sound realistic because a real player wouldn't do that either, unless the music called for it) than the one in your soundcard's wavetable. Ergo, it's got that "MP3-quality" you're looking for. However, it's not cheap. Most decent piano sample libraries (a library is a collection of samples, ordered in groups) could make you $300 poorer. In this case I took a piano library as example. For almost every existing "real" instrument, there's a library; and, also for some non-existing instruments. You need a sampler. This can be software or hardware. Examples are Native Instruments Kontakt (expensive but pretty awesome) and Vember Audio Short Circuit > http://www.vemberaudio.se/shortcircuit.php - cheap and pretty awesome, too. You don't compose samples; you compose a song. A sampler can be seen as any other instrument. Likewise, you don't compose violins; you compose a piece for violins and let a violin play it. Get yourself FL Studio, lock yourself up in a room, don't leave it for 3 months and don't ask questions; just learn by doing and reading the tutorials.

4-op, actually. I've got all three (2, 4, 6 op) at home, and 2 op is not enough. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_YM2612

http://www.akaipro.com/arc_kotw.html Zipfiles with .wav in there, ignore the .pgm ones. Gives you the basic collection of vintage drumboxes.

If you're worried about PCI going out of style; USB or Firewire. Those things are 5 years old . Nice if you can find 'm secondhand, but that's pretty much an eternity in computerland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampler_%28musical_instrument%29 - but that link sucks because it doesn't really explain things. A soundfont is a collection of samples. RGC sfz is a Soundfont player. Presto, you're already using 2/3rds of the functions of a sampler. The remaining part is when you record those sounds yourself and load 'm up to be used in there. Can you get the other VST plugins to work in Sonar?

Seriously. I'm still using PC2100 memory here. Answer: No. More elaborate answer: If it's ludicrously more expensive, don't buy it.

No. Turn the knobs on the screen. It's as simple as that . If you want to use your own (recorded) sounds, you're going to need a (VST) sampler. You record the sound you want to use with a wave-editor (like Wavelab, Soundforge or Audacity), save it as a .wav file and tell the sampler to open it. Then, you can play it; depending on the type of sampler, it'll be "stretched" along the keyboard or be put under just one single key so you can build a drum kit (with each key playing a different sample).

If you have more questions, by all means, post 'm here - that way everyone (of which some people might have similar questions) can see the answers . For VSTs, start here: http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php Pick the free ones that have the highest rating, avoid the SynthEdit stuff for now. Also, install Proteus LE that's on the E-mu CD (you should actually have it twice, once for the soundcard, once for the controller ) - pretty huge sample library for you to get rolling with.

There are USB and Firewire audio interfaces, too . The E-mu 0404 also comes in an external package .

Aww shucks The USB cord is the only thing you need. What did you use as a software sequencer again? In Windows, Start > Control Panel > Sounds & Audio Devices, in the "Volume" tab, it should say "E-DSP Wave 9400". On the "Audio" tab, Sound Playback/Sound Recording should both have E-DSP Wave 9400. In your sequencer (FL Studio, Ableton, Cubase, Sonar, whatever), in the menu where you can configure MIDI and or Audio, it should also say E-DSP Wave 9400. If it says "AC97" or something you still are using your onboard soundcard. Remember, latency as you hear it is due to the soundcard's drivers, never to the controller. MIDI only has a bandwidth of a 33.6k modem; USB with its 11 MEGABITS per second is a gazillion times faster than that. If the goggles, err.. the card seems to do nothing; make sure it's the card that's actually used in the settings. Audio cards do not "accelerate" like older 3d graphics cards do. what

Why oh god why must people put their topictitle in ALL CAPS? . It's not so much the computer speed; it's also the soundcard. If you use your on-board soundcard or an Audigy, you're going to need something better or you can try this: http://www.asio4all.com/ Install and see if it works. If it doesn't, whip out the cash for a new soundcard.

Thunderous: try the "wall of sound" technique. Warm: Roll off all the highs below 16khz with a nice analog parametric equalizer. Boost the mids slightly. To save cash, look at DSP cards like Creamware or UAD. Creamware has the Vinco, UAD has also a nice collection of plugs. These usually are more powerful and detailed (and done better) than you get in most VST plugins. Provided that you have the rest of the mic in check, you won't need one .

Start with 8 bit, 22khz. Use mono waveforms - simulate stereo by panning. No effects whatsoever; reverb on the SNES is recorded in the sample itself.

The Megadrive and SNES have completely different ways of generating sound. Closest you'd get for the MD would be the DiscoDSP Phantom. FM synthesis is however not for the faint of heart, but the 4-op FM synth in there is what a Megadrive uses (one separate synth per voice). Closest you'd get for the SNES - well, the SNES uses lo-fi samples. If you know how to rip the samples from a SNES SPC file, try to put 'm in a Soundfont, and then play them.

Get a better audio interface first . Otherwise, if you're not using your PC to do graphic design on, get a cheap (possibly second-hand) TFT monitor. Who cares if 3 pixels are dead? Lots of 'm for sale, too. Won't take up much room on your desk, will however add convenience. I can't do without my dual monitor setup anymore nowadays, but I also do graphic design so I'd prefer it if the screens are equal and new.

Hi. I have a bridge for sale. It's called "acapella" and you'll find it on the better P2P applications and dedicated acapella sharing sites. Here's where the rainbow ends, however; you'll have to do the grunt work of searching yourself, because it is a gray area.

FL Studio questions go here. Reason questions go here. You've got Reason Rewired? Tried working with the MIDI stuff in there? Read http://www.flstudio.com/help/html/rewire_host_reason.htm and see if you can get more than one MIDI channel going. Reason should (if I understand it correctly) act as a multitimbral plugin; this means you don't open several instances of a plugin, just one that does its job with the "instances" internally. However, that is only if I understand it correctly; corrections are welcome .

CME UF-8. Or this : http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOKEYSTAT88 Or even this: http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOKEYSTAT88ES which has all your criteria filled. Nope . Buy via Zzounds - they've got an affiliate program with OCR. Get your stuff -and- support the site!

Also, if you want to have stuff listened to or criticized, post it here > http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=13

No. You can only make music with guitars, dulcimers and kazoos. (let that sink in for a while, please) Remixes are just music. They aren't a genre - if they were everything would sound the same here. It doesn't. It helps if you want to work with software synths, or if you want to use it with a rack module (a synth without the keys) Most computers do not have a MIDI input on the back, so yes, you should go with OverCoat's suggestion.

No knobs? Or are you going to get a B-Control for it or something like that later?

http://www.zero-g.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=25 perhaps? Zero G's pretty good.

Shakers, tambourines, anything. The trick is that you don't use the straight quantizing (tick-tick-tick-tick-tick) but that you use shuffle (tick-ah-tick-ah-tick-ah-tick-ah) etc. This moves the second note from its original location and provides a groove. Older drum 'n bass beat samples are sped up funk- and hiphop beats; if those had real drummers doing 'm, not every note will be perfectly quantized.