My general purpose computer system has been given away. My Music computer has become my general purpose computer. My new music computer has been built.

Everything works as designed & the flr2004 Arranger System has sprung to life.

Lucky me!!!

Frank. Congratulation! ok, when do we get to see it, hear it , and feel it? Actually, posting screenshot pics, and MP3 song samples would surfice. - Scott

Scott, it may be hard to believe but I only own a regular camera. So I guess one day I will take a picture and scan it in for all to see.

There is really not much to see. I built the music work station (in black) and everything accept the A-37 is now in black. It looks very good - professional. It is also good to use.

When it comes to hearing it - well I am not a good enough musician to show my wares on this forum.

Congrats Frank!
Can you now please elaborate on your present
hardware and software configuration, as well
as comment on any deficiencies that you feel
still need to be addressed?

Vquestor, this can be a bit of a long story but here is some of it.

To start with my new computer has the following spec:

Pentium 4, 3.02GHz
ASUS Motherboard with 800Mhz Bus
2GB RAM
2 80GB Seagate Serial ATA 7200 rpm, 8mb Cache HDs
Audigy 2Z Platium (mic in, 2 midi in)
Steinberg VSL2020 Soundcard for all Audio
1 DVD/CDRW Combination
All fans - Quiet
OS Windows XP

So far everything works - no crashes - touch wood!!!

The main benefits are:

Loads 8 large instruments in Kontakt with disk streaming in half the time say about 20 seconds.

I can set a high quality reverb for each loaded instrument plus one for voice and another for accompaniment. This can be done without bringing the computer down to its knees. If I duplicate my previous setup, i.e., one reverb for everything then the CPU load is a mere 11% as compared with 45 to 50% on my previous computer.

On the software side I have not changed anything. I am currently testing forte 1.4 RC 1. It has interesting new features which you should soon hear about.

What are the shortcomings? Well, the control surface still falls short of a hardware based arranger keyboard. You can make things relatively portable for live performances using approaches already noted in previous threads, e.g., shuttle, laptop, etc. In general, I like my setup and I think it is ideal for studio and home use.

I did not succeed so far in getting Rene of RGCAudio to make the sfz+ font player work with Yamaha drums. Oh well - I will stir him up some time in the future to see what his intentions are.

To keep up with UD, DNJ and Fran, I will need to keep buying things. The trouble is I end up giving things away instead of 'buying low and selling high'. However, I may just get the Bigga Gigga and VSL Saxes. The big guys seem to think that these are getting to be almost real - oh my who would have thought.

And that is about it!!!


[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 02-17-2004).]

Frank, That only works if you buy "right". You can't keep giving stuff away and have any capitol left for the new stuff !
It's a profit deal ! (Like Steve Martin said in "The Jerk")

UD, I get this sinking feeling when it comes to you, Fran and DNJ it is profit maximization, a unique concept. Those who understand this concept realize it requires a Robin Hood or two to make it work - oh, oh!!!

There is nothing wrong with making a profit. I make all my clients and customers happy with what they buy and that's the ONLY thing that matters.
Overhead and livelyhood drive my prices - not the market or some catalog. I also believe that service and knowledge is worth a lot. I sell THOSE also..... It's a beautiful thing.

I have a FLR2004PLUS for sale ... interrested????? ;0
rest easy my friend !

Frank,
Can you give us your opinion about the sb audigy 2zs platinum.
How do you find the quality of this card?
Do you think it can be a decent card for audio recording?
What about the drivers?

Thanks
STAM

UD, I am just trying to have some fun at your expense. I know you are right. But you really can't call it a full success until you have separated Fran from his G1000!!!

An flr2004Plus - oh, oh!!!

STAM, I haven't put the Audigy 2Z Platium through a full test for audio. In general, it seems like a very good soundcard for its price. The drivers are stable and you can get the latency down to arround 10ms and less. So if you want to use just one card for all things the Audigy is as good as any.

But....

It will always fall short of the so called professional cards in the areas of signal to noise, dynamic range, distortion, etc.

I decided to use the Audigy instead of mic preamps and USB Midi converters. It costs about the same and there is less clutter.

After saying all this the Audigy 2Z Platium is an around good soundcard.

Frank there is virtually no shot at that seperation,,everytime I get a "new toy", I realize how much better the board I already have is...

I have tried them all, many have frills, but no chills for me..

My trusted G1000 was never in danger of being replaced, just an additional side kick once in a while...

Frank, I am almost ready to ship my new laptop to you and let you do your magic on it...

Fran, of all the arranger and other keyboards I have had, the G1000 was also my best keyboard. Given my current adventure, I will ?likely? never return to a hardware based solution for music.

Hey, setting up your laptop for music would be a new experience for me. It would definitely be more of a challenge to make things work smoothly. A new business opportunity for my twilight years???

On a more serious note you can always email me directly to see if I can be of assistance (advice, files, etc.). It would depend on your objectives as to how much help I could provide, e.g., I have little to no experience with external soundcards and hard drives. This would be better than shipping out your laptop.

[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 02-18-2004).]