DNJ, mostly as straight keyboards (solo or in bands) but there are 1 or 2 using it as an arranger keyboard and midi file player. An example of a straight keyboard use might be ddas moderator of the NI Forum:
http://www.daviddas.com/index2.html

There is another guy I think his name is Bruce Richardson on the Northern Sound Source forum who uses computers/GigaStudio for live performances.

mhenningson, from the Brainspawn Forum is another person who uses this approach.

There are others but do not remember their names.

[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 08-30-2003).]

Frank......thats a great website , very kool pics of the setup and operation on stage.
Is a Mac LT a better way to go for all this high tech prog stuff?

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 08-30-2003).]

" " " STAM, I am not certain what the built in sound chips are like for LTs, but on my regular PC and my VSL2020 soundcard I can operate the HQ Hyper Canvas at 2.9 ms. This is much better than hardware synths. In short, you notice no latency." " "


Frank, Do you want to say that on synths like the korg karma for example there is a latency of more than 2 ms?
I thought that on these machines latency was 0 ms!!
It was for me the great advantage of the hardware synths.

DNJ, the Macs have some pluses but in the main PCs are just as good for music after some tweaking of the Windows XP operating system.
http://www.musicxp.net/
http://www.nemesysmusic.com/pdf/optimizing-xp-and-2k.pdf

As has been stated previously on this forum there is far more software (including music) written for the PC. I would stay with a PC. Over the last year I have had may be a handful of crashes. These usually occur when I was editing large instruments or installing doubtful software. You would never do this on your performance LT!!!

STAM, yes hardware synths (keyboards or modules) often have latency around 10 ms. You can search this information on some of the forums I have indicated in a previous post. You can also check this on some of the SOS Reviews of GigaStudio, Kontakt, Halion, etc. It is just the way it is!!! Don't forget many of the keyboard manufacturers used 486 Processors until recently. Yes, they may use more than one processor (sound, effects, etc.) but it is hard to keep up with the top of the line sound cards and 3.0 GHz Pentium Processors.

Also, as I noted previously, once you get to latency of 10 ms or less most people won't notice it.

[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 08-31-2003).]

Frank......is it recomeneded to disable all of these 26 items on your XP program? and why?
http://www.musicxp.net/

DNJ, I would say the more you can disable of the things you don't absolutely need, e.g., Windows Messenger, Internet, games, etc. the better. In addition, the fewer things running in the background the better (fewer crashes/conflicts, more memory available, operates faster, etc.).

On my general purpose computer, I have not done any tweaking at all plus I use it for the Internet. I may have had few more crashes and it may run a bit slower - but is still very usable for music. It is just better to do the tweaks if your going to use the LT as your main axe. If you are just going to use it as you indicated earlier then you probably have to do no tweaking at all. It becomes more critical when playing premium instruments, e.g., Bardstowns' 2.5 GB Bosendorfer Piano while at the same time operating many different kinds of effects especially reverb, etc.

Furthermore, establish key restore points in Windows Xp. This can save you from 99.9% of most catastrophes.

DNJ, you will not regret taking the path you are on. You can start slow making sure everything is reliable, effective and efficient. This is the same thing you go thru with a new keyboard. You have to spent some time to get to know it and set it up.


[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 08-31-2003).]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Frank L. Rosenthal:
[B]Furthermore, establish key restore points in Windows Xp. This can save you from 99.9% of most catastrophes.[B][QUOTE]

Keyrestore points?..........

DNJ, in Windows XP you can setup restore points. These restore points could be setup prior to any planned changes (installing new software, etc.). Should the changes go badly then you could restore your computer to its previous state within 2 or so minutes.

There are other methods you can use. You could make a ghost image of your operating system and programs and place it on a separate partition of the hard drive (or a separate hard drive). If something goes wrong you can reinstall this image. This would save considerable time compared to a full reinstall of Windows and all your Software. I don't use this approach but many do.


[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 08-31-2003).]

DonM, I may not have answered one of your questions properly.

Yes, you can install the Yamaha softsynth and play midi files provided it is compatible with the Windows operating system you are using. I believe Yamaha have updated some of their synths to operate with Windows XP. This will sound much better than the wavetable that comes with your LT. Yamaha's softsynths have a latency around 400 ms so using it for live performances with a keyboard would not work to well. If you used it just for playing midis then there is no problem.

The Edirol HQ Hyper Canvas is of better quality and more usable --- but it also costs considerably more.

Windows XP restore feature alone is worth the cost of Windows XP. I love it. Been using XP Professional for a month now....Its much more stable and pleasing to the eye than Windows 98.