H Starkeeper,
my 512mb laptop using usb Audigy nx2, I couldn't load sgm180 ( largest font I could load was about 140 mb's)
Using Fotre, livesynthpro etc I was able to load sgm180 without any problems.

best wishes
Rikki

1) Ok. finally had a chance to try it out, and it is working, but I am getting a lot of distortion. Almost sounds to me as if the gain is to high. I notice when I opened another application, the noise dropped a little. I tried lowering the volume on Forte and Live Synth Pro, but no difference. When I tried SGM128 a few weeks ago without OMB and Maple MIDI I was getting the same distortion
This is my setup:
Roland keyboard, Sound Blaster soundcard, computer, OMB, Forte, Live Synth Pro, Maple MIDI.
(You were right Fran, when I opened OMB it saw Maple MIDI cables).
2) How do I tell OMB what channel I am using for my right hand voices?
Starkeeper

[This message has been edited by Starkeeper (edited 06-26-2006).]

Hi Starkeeper,
I've been having a few hassles myself with the new laptop & forte..
The processor in the new laptop is nowhere near as fast as my original dell.
I am able to get the latency down to
1.45 ms on the old dell laptop, the new one I can't get below 10ms without distortion in Forte.

I could possibly get it down lower with a professional external soundcard,
but fortunately for me it can load soundfonts directly ( it runs some sort of software that makes it work like an Audigy ).
For me, no real hassle, as the more I play around with the soundfonts , the more I realize how suited they are for what I want.
Wasn't till I started editing the GM banks & replacing instruments, that I started to realize how good they could sound.
I've got at least 8 GM Banks, some commercial, some free, all of them have got certain instruments that are duds.
I've purchased banks of Korgm1, Triton Orchestral, Matrix6,
The idea is to replace the duds with better instruments. I'm building up a library, and I'm deleting the duds along the way.
I've still got a long way to go, but in the end I should be left with 4 or 5 of each type of instrument.
One thing I am discovering is larger is not neccesarily better, & commercial is not neccesarily better than free.
I'm auditioning the fonts with musical phrases from BIAB or OMB.
The software that came with my usb Audigy card, and with my new laptop has a librarian function that allows me to load & replace individual sounds in a bank, this makes the process of auditioning very simple. Don't know if your SB Live has a similar function??

Back to your problem , it could be the settings for your soundcard
goto
options
preferences
audio options
audio driver"Asio"
change "buffer size from "auto" to something higher.
You have to keep going higher till distortion stops.
Unfortunately the Latency gets higher also.

Do you have ASIO4All??

best wishes
Rikki

No I don't. So what exactly could cause the distorion problem? Buffer size is too small?
Starkeeper

I also use the Asio4all driver..I keep my Forte setting at 352..it yields under 16ms...For arranger use it is fast enough..It works fine for my B4 organ..If you are going to play naked piano[stay dressed..I am talking about just piano], you may want to drop the buffer..I usually go down to 306..yielding under 10ms..

Rikki if you are working at 10ms..you are doing good..I know Frank gets down to 3ms..but I think that is needless strain on the CPU...15ms keeps me happy..

Hi Fran,
my old dell laptop ( 3.06 ghz 512mb memory)
which is miraculously working again after I pulled it apart & put it back together a few times. I can actually get it down to
1.45 ms without distortion using ASIO4All & Forte & Soundfonts.

Unfortunately I ordered a new one after Dell offered me a $1,000AUD extended warranty to fix the old one.
With nothing to lose, I just kept pulling it apart & putting it back together in the manner the Dell Tech had gone thru with me over the phone. Must have done something right as all of a sudden , up popped the screen after having been dead for about 6 weeks.

The new dells a core duo , but only 1.66 ghz. They changed all the laptop processors.

Can't get it below 10ms without distortion.
Strangely, in forte, it works better with the onboard driver than with ASIO4ALL.

I'm wondering if the onboard Audigy soundfont software slows things down.

For midifiles I wouldn't notice the difference, but I'm a bit hesitant about buying an expensive sampled piano for realtime use.
I'm in a catch 22 , the old laptop with the low latency hasn't got enough memory, the new one with 2 gigs, may not be fast enough. haa haa
best wishes
Rikki

Hi Starkeeper,
I think your buffer size could be too low.
The old dell I had at 64. The new one , I've got at 512.
ASIO4All is a driver. May allow you to use a smaller buffer size.
Lost my link, but you should find it on the net. It's a freebie.

best wishes
Rikki


No I don't. So what exactly could cause the distorion problem? Buffer size is too small?
Starkeeper

[/B][/QUOTE]

Any setting of 441 or less should be good, i.e., 10ms or less. This is good for any instrument including a 'naked piano'. A setting of 441 should not be to hard on a CPU. I run mine at 128 (3ms) with no problems.

Rikki one would think a new laptop should easily beable to achieve good results with a setting of 441 samples per channel or less. When you say your laptop is a duo do you mean a dual processor. If so most software is not able to take advantage of this and may even react badly to it....especialy host and sampler software. You should beable to turn this feature off including hyper threading.

Hi Frank
wrong term, it is dual, I haven't been able to get it below 512 and strangely as I mentioned previously, in forte, I get a better result with the wdm driver than with ASIO4All.
In BIAB , I end up with a 23ms latency using asio4all, and far worse than that, with the windows driver.

Something doesn't quite seem right. Fortunately I don't have latency problems when I load the soundfonts into the defacto audigy software.and it plays them back really well.

Maybe I should do some checking up on dual processors ?? not quite sure where to start?

Maybe I could have the best of both worlds,
2 controllers, 2 laptops, one running melody
instruments, the other, soundfonts & omb. The mind boggles haa haa, hubby will have me committed shortly.

best wishes
Rikki

Rikki, it might be worth a try to operate your new laptop with just one processor. I don't know enough about Dell's laptop as to how to do this but a call to them should do it. Your onboard soundcard will be designed to work with dual processors whereas forte and ASIO4All are not. This will all change in the future as the software catches up to the hardware features. I don't think the slower speed of your CPU should be a factor. It will be a factor in decreasing the number of high quality instruments you can load and play.

Rikki you are just moving to fast.