Rikki, you are right Bandstand does not accept bank changes. It adhers to the GM Standard....but it nonetheless has 9 different drum kits which I would like to access via the styles (or midi files). So if I use the Custom or XG setting in OMB the styles call up the appropriate drum kits. This leads to going thru the styles and ensuring that the correct instruments are called up for all the other parts of the style, e.g., bass calls up bass and not a piano.

Furthermore styles or midi files which change instruments on the fly would see a short break in Bandstand while it calls up the instrument requested....not so good. The answer would likely be, as Esh pointed out previously, to use a Flash Drive (much faster than a hard drive). In future computers will likely have enough RAM to handle this sort of thing with ease.

I plan on pressing ahead with Bandstand and determined to make things work.

fast hard drives for notebooks:
http://www4.tomshardware.com/storage/20051111/index.html

and if you have a desktop and cash to burn this is the solution, for up to 4 GB storage:
http://www4.tomshardware.com/storage/20050907/index.html

entire bandstand and numerus other soft setups can reside there.

trident, thanks for those links. All of this will lead to a solution to my flr2006 software based arranger system. It's just time and money!!!

Thank you

you are welcome Frank

heree is parts of the review conclusion as found in anandtech.com


".....At $90 per gigabyte of memory, you're talking about $360 just in memory costs, plus another $150 for the card itself"....."
Prices are as of July 2005


"....Those users who have one or two applications that occupy all of their time, and tend to take a while to load or work with due to constant disk access would be more than happy with the i-RAM. By far, the biggest performance improvements we saw when using the i-RAM were obviously with disk intensive operations such as file copying. If your applications or usage models involve a lot of data movement without much manipulation, then the i-RAM may very well be what you need.

At the same time, for all of the situations where the i-RAM was quite useful, there were a number where it wasn't. Multitasking performance went up, but only in one out of the three Winstone tests, and even then, it's going to be rather tough to install a large number of applications on the i-RAM due to its size limitations, so your multitasking performance benefits will be numbered......

.........In the end, the i-RAM is an interesting addition to a system, but it's usefulness will truly vary from one user to the next. With a bit more capacity, and especially for those users who happen to have a few 1GB sticks laying around, the i-RAM could be a very powerful addition to your system. Hats off to Gigabyte for making something useful, and we can't wait to see rev 2... "

[This message has been edited by trident (edited 11-29-2005).]

trident, again thank you for all your helpful information. I will be off to the computer stores this week.

Frank,
if you are going to shop for an I-RAM, look closely at the requirements. It looks complicated enough in the test.

Hi everyone,
I don't post quite often but I do read this forum very often.

Frank, I currently use my "JD 2006" live for giging. I have everything together and connected in one 76 key keyboard case. I made my own hinges that can separate. When I come to the place, I just remove the top of the case, correctly position the laptop (I had a special stand made out of plexiglass for this), plug in a FEW cables, and I'm redy to go. All that I carry around are:

1) keyboard case (with everything inside)
2) X style keyboard stand
3) Mackie SRM 450 self powered speaker
4) speaker stand (very light)
5) Small bag with all the wires, extension cords .mic etc...

Total setup time from when I step out of the car to when I'm totaly ready to play is less than 10 minutes. Of course it varies with the situation of the gig but I'm talking appoximate.

In the keyboard case are the:
Laptop: P4 1.8 Ghz 1 Gig RAM
M-audio 61 key controller keyboard
Alesis multimix 6fx
Laptop power supply
laptop custom made stand
Multi outlet power strip so that all I have to plug in is 1 plug.
Foam stuffing that comes with the case. to make everything stable.

I don't know the weight of the case but it has wheels, a big plus.

I use OMB because it seems more stable to me and live stylers auto harmony didn't work correctly.

Forte solo,
Live Synth Pro,
Convolution reverb with Lexicon 960 impulses,
Soundfonts that I gathered from the web and edited to my liking.

The system works flawlessly besides the occasional tiny hicup. Sometimes I even record the gig, including vocal, back in to the laptop. Even then it almost doesn't hicup. I feel that the very tiny unoften hicup is justified by the beautiful sound quality. I always get comliments.

Frank, Why don't you use gigastudio anymore?
I would think that this is the best solution for live gigs since it flawlessly recognizes program change messages and all the instruments can be loaded so that there is no problem (am I right with this?) with changing voices on the fly.

I'm planning to upgrade my laptop and get going with a Gigastudio system, BUT... of course I must ask the ULTIMATE athority in soft arrangers for his permission and advice!
Thank you very much Frank for all your info.
I would appreciate to hear what anyone has to say.

Jick Duck, it is certainly good to hear from you and to see that a software based arranger system can work and work well.

As you know I have used a combination of LiveSynth Pro & Soundfonts for my auto accompaniment and kontakt for my lead or melody voices. Kontakt provides for very high quality sampler (sound & effects) and moving to Bandstand would improve the overall quality of my auto accompaniment. The problem right now is to get the drums to work properly (select the correct drum kit and the correct drum instruments within each kit). I am currently working with M. Bedesem to see if we can get his Midi Player to do the job. Once this is done the conversion will be quick and easy.

Everyone already knows this, but there is no better service in the whole world of music then provided by M. Bedesem. The price of his programs is Zero Dollars and the support is free, quick and kind!!!! It just does not get any better than that.

Frank, keep us posted on your progress...

If you still have your Yamaha board, I would be curious about how Bandstand responds to the styles that are played on the arranger, not OMB. You can turn off local control and see how it reacts. This would be my immediate interest to combine arranger keyboard with external software sounds. But, work out your issues first. All the best.

oleg7, I have not had a Yamaha keyboard or any other arranger or workstation in my place for years.

I am still working with M. Bedesem to help me convert the Yamaha styles to GM format....especially the drums. Once this is done I will be away to the races. I just received my Garritan Jazz & Big Band Library and it doesn't work. It uses the modulation wheel to set the volume levels. My Roland A-37 has a joy stick which flicks back to zero volume. Hopefully I can get this resolved by using some other alternative.

I will let you know how I make out. This is getting to be to much stress for an old man.


[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 12-01-2005).]