I was reflecting that kbd manufacturers definitely juggle features to meet certain price points. Ie., if you could take features a-m from manufacturer 1, and add features n-z from manufacturer 2, you'd have a $2000 kbd for $600!

So maybe the solution is to COMBINE features with a computer in a creative way. I had this crazy idea, maybe you can tell me if it would work. I'm totally MIDI-stupid, so this will be my comeupance.

You can get a decent, old, used laptop with Win 98 on eBay for under $250, right? Plenty of music software will work with Win 98, right? RIGHT? So here's my goofy idea: You get a cheap 88 key weighted MIDI controller, and have all your sounds and controls ON THE COMPUTER. You play the keyboard. It tells the computer how hard you hit the note(s), how long you hold it, etc. And the computer spits back the correct sound (mixed in with whatever rhythm track, etc.) to the kbd speakers. All in real time (of course)!

Why does anyone need any sounds or controls whatsoever on the keyboard? I have an idea this is either 1) the dumbest idea anyone ever heard of, or 2) a totally idiotic question, since this is what everyone does already.

But I'm askin anyway, cause I dunno the answer an' you don't know where I live.

Rick

Hi ,
this may be of interest to you. http://www.1manband.nl/omb.htm


best wishes
Rikki

p.s. I think your budget may be a bit short.

Don't know what sort of a laptop you'd get for $250 ( I'm in Aust). Possibly the cheapest softsynth setup would be free soundfonts & an audigy nx2 usb soundcard for loading the soundfonts.
Whether a $250 laptop would be sufficient, I wouldn't know.
Mine had 512mb memory.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Rickideemus:
[B]I

[This message has been edited by rikkisbears (edited 04-09-2006).]

Its not a dumb idea at all. Just not possible for that price.

What you are asking for is a samper. There are lots available. Steinberg makes Halion ($400), NI makes Kontakt ($500), and then there's GigaStudio.

Then you need a sound library. For anything remotely good, you'll need to spend $900. I'd suggest Colossus by EastWest. This is a great sound library, and can always be expanded with the greatest instruments -- better than anything any arranger (inc. Ty 2) can offer.

Then you need one man band software. I'm not sure how much this goes for, but lets say another $300.

Finally you'll need a supercomputer that is fast and powerful enough to find and produce at least 64 samples at any given time. 128 - is even better. For this you will need a dedicated computer with a powerful CPU - preferably dual-processor, priced at no less than $2500. And even then, there are no guarantees...

Of course, you will need a lot of know-how and will need to invest a lot of effort, to make this all work.

So there you have it: For little over $4000, you can have your fully customizable and expandable keyboard.

Be aware however, that additional instruments come at an extremely steep pricetag. On the flipside, they are the real thing -- simply amazing. Additionally, your computer is not made for this; CPU issues will plague you.

To tell you the truth, I had this option: I have the knowhow, and I was prepared to spend the money; but I still chose the Ty2 over it. I also have a pretty good laptop from which I trigger solo instruments, and this setup gives me the best of both worlds. Since I got the Ty2 however, I haven't been using my laptop as much. Yamaha have really improved themselves and although the new sounds are not necessarily as good as samples; they are deffinitely comparable.

Chony

[This message has been edited by chony (edited 04-08-2006).]

Here are some samples of what you'd get using the Colossus system I described above:
http://www.soundsonline.com/cd_mp3_demos/210458.mp3 http://www.soundsonline.com/cd_mp3_demos/210444.mp3 http://www.soundsonline.com/cd_mp3_demos/210442.mp3 http://www.soundsonline.com/cd_mp3_demos/210459.mp3

Chony

Hi Rikki and Chony. Thanks very much for the links and samples.

I don't think I need a sampler. I just wanted to create something like a virtual P-140 with a cheaper keyboard (maybe a Privia 100?) and a laptop with controls and a couple dozen instrument sounds on it -- to start.

This is not to create a studio. It's purely to rig up a gigging keyboard and save some dough. All REAL TIME. It seeeeems to make sense, but I get the feeling home computers are still not up to the price point. They should be by now, but my theory is multi-tasking got in the way.

It's not the CPU, exactly, it's the latency when the "soft synth" (new word for me :eek has to go on gueue to request memory from Windows. If they had just stuck to DOS ... 250 Mhz would do it, I bet!

But now that some people are actually doing this, in six or seven more years, price will come way down, and everybody will do it this way. Then you'll see professional weighted-88's without so much as a flute onboard.

Maybe somebody will come out with a dedicated Kbd/software combo to do this soon. The software would work better if it ran on Linux -- much less latency and much more stable. But that's no problem -- the installation could be on the same disks. Advantages are a nice big color display (practical scrolling scores!?) and totally expandible.

There would still have to be a few knobs and such on the kbd, though.

Hello Rick
Regarding your last question. http://www.wersi.net/index.html 5/6 years on the market. http://www.lionstracs.com 2/3 years ago http://www.tornado-music-shop.de 2 years or so ago.
As yet quite expensive though.

Bill

Hi Rick,
I was originally running vers 6 of OMB on an old win 98 laptop , celeron processor & 64 mb memory.
As a controller & soundsource I was using a Clavinova piano with inbuilt XG sounds.
I did encounter the minor occasional gliche on a very busy style. My computer was really old & very , very slow.
I've also used it with a dgx305 keyboard.

If your controller ( don't know anything about Privia's) has a gm sound set, there should be no reason why you couldn't use it the same way as I did my Clavinova.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Rickideemus:
[B]Hi

Hey guys,

One "learjeff" on another board came up with an under $1,000 solution. A $300 Radio Shack kbd, a 750 Mhz laptop for under $600 with at least 512 megs memory (1 gig better), and free software, incl. ASIO4ALL driver for low latency, vsthost to run the VSTi plugins, sfz soundfont player, OrganizedTrio and MrRay73 (Hammond and Rhodes sims), IIRC ($15 "donation" so nag screens go away), and jRhodes3 soundfont -- An alternative Rhodes sound to MrRay73.

"Impressive sounds at that price. Also, easily upgradable ..." Whaddya think? :-Q

R.

Hi Rick.
computers hardware, I'm not too good with.
Before I fried it, I had a Dell Laptop
3.06 ghtz
512mb memory.
It worked really well with my soundfonts.
To run the soundfonts with One Man Band, I had the following
Asio4all free
Midiyoke free
Live Synth Pro ( not available on it's own ) but SFZ or SFZ+ should do ( for Soundfonts)
Host : Forte Ensemble.

My other option ( instead of the software above for Soundfonts only )was a USB Audigy NX2 Soundcard.

I had a variety of free & commercial gm soundfonts.

best wishes
Rikki

Say Rikki, and any others that want to jump in ... I want to test my understanding of all this stuff. (Still Greek to me ears )

I mentioned on another thread I'm a little disappointed in the non-piano sounds on the Privia PX-555R. But one thing the Privia has that the DGX505 (soon to be upgraded to YPG625 with hammer action!) lacks is line in/out. The DGX505 does have headphone jacks and USB MIDI.

the Privia has every kind of connector I can imagine, but for live performance, I like the sounds much, much better on the Yammie.

Here's what I'm thinking I can do. I think I can still use the DGX505 with 1manband to throw together simple arrangements (32 poly max, and using the onboard sounds) then play them back on the kbd and record to CD through the headphone jack.

I also think I should be able to use the DGX505 to control a soft synth, (multi-inputs to overcome the 32 poly) and listen to the sound on the computer speakers. Then I could use the computer to record the wave file onto CD, or even send the wave file to a local recording studio and have them do it.

This is for little arrangements for like, Miss Milwaukee contestants, or a high school stage band act, or whatever. They should be clean, but they don't have to be #1 on the hit parade.

Am I making sense? Or izzit back to the drawing board ...

Muchas Gracias,
Rick