After watching the posts of Frank Rosenthal and even some of my own, when evaluating my setup, I would say that my pc has truly become a hybrid soft synth / arranger, and probably if I look back it has been going that way for a while.

I use the word hybrid because I still primarily use two hardware pieces as sound modules for acoustic sounds, the Motif ES and occasionally the PA80. I have not gone the Gigasampler / Sampletank route to date, but it may happen in the near future. I do use the Yamaha SYXG-50 xg based soft synth module, but only because the superior syxg100 has no support for windows xp. I also have the Sound Canvas soft synth, and use it on occasion as well.

I use soundfonts as well, but not with my Soundblaster Live card. The SB live does not seem to like the environment in my new PC, at least not with the updated SB XP drivers. It functions with them, but it gets cranky and makes odd sounds at times. I just installed the non SB KX drivers, and how well they work remains to be seen. My Midiman audiophile card works just fine though.

I now use a couple of vst soundfont hosts. The one I like in particular is Crystal. It is a freeware hybrid analog modeling / sample based synthesizer and surely one of the best around. I would certainly pay a good buck for it if it were a commercial product, and indeed hope to donate something back to the developer. Tim Conrardy, who hosts the Atari - midi sites, has done a lot of programming for it ( he is not the developer ). It can use generated analog modeled waves, or sounfont samples, or a combination of the two. It is every bit as sophisticated as my Motif ES with the analog modeling board installed, when it comes to sound design, and in some ways much more. In fact, it is so much easier and quicker to introduce new samples ( ok soundfonts ) into it than it is with the Motif, and so many parameters can be adjusted quickly on the fly. You can do it almost instantly, unlike the architecture of the Motif which is simple enough but requires several steps. Rounding out my soft synth collection is the excellent freeware Superwave 8, which has inspired me to purchase it's even more sophisticated commercial cousin somewhere in the very near future, along with the Arturia Moog and CSv80 softsynths and the Pro 53 and Novation V station. RGC Pentagon, a rather inexpensive soft synth, is also excellent. All of these produce some very good synth sounds that can rival almost any hardware and exceed much of it. My ES and it's analog plug in board can't touch some of these for authentic vintage Synth emulations. The B4 demo ( B3 / C3 emulator ) is awesome, and is next on the list.

As far the arranger part, One Man band does the Yamaha styles in real time. It's interface is easy enough that I feel I could play it in a real time, live situation using a softsynth and good sound module. What is more challenging is matching the right sounds / setups to my sound module, but I am going to edit enough styles so that I can use it as an emergency backup to my PA80, with a laptop and the Motif ES as it's sound module. OF course, I also have the non real time arrangers, XG works sequencer, band in A Box, and Jammer pro 4 and 5. The latter are great for the do it yourselfers, the ones who like to make custom styles. JP version 5 is getting up to speed now, and you can introduce or play midi data in real time, and then insert it into a style part, and alter several note generating parameters to fit the style.

Other looping / step sequencing tools currently in the arsenal include Rythym and Chords pro, a midi rythym guitar emulator that adds nuances that are very difficult to play in real time, and slicy / fill in drummer, which allows for some very good and unique ( if one chooses ) drum parts. The AN150 software editor for my AN150 plug in board also includes a superb step sequencer in it.

I'd still like to see a OMB type program integrated with it's own soft sound
module(s). A program like that could offer a worthy alternative to a hardware arranger. I think it could very well happen. I'd also like to see Steven Kay release a karma emulation software that is compatible with synths other than the Triton and Karma.

With the right laptop and soundcard, I could use a lot of this stuff live. Changing softsynth patches is no harder than changing patches on my board. In fact, changing softsynths from one to another is pretty easy to do in realtime as well. I can't wait to "gig" ( sorry UD ) with a vitual Moog, CS80, and Novation K station. Awesome.... I don't know that I would use OMB as my primary arranger for live work ( the PA80 still wins for ease of use ), but I would use it if I had to as a backup and I think I could do pretty well with it.

AJ