since i can not get a hardware arranger, i might have to change the options.
can you tell me please, what soft arranger is the best not for live performance, but for studio work?
i need to use some arranger functions in my music that i record. so, i'd want a soft arranger that work with VST sounds and that is able to work within cubase sx host.
some ideas please?

I use One Man Band. I am not sure whether it's the best, because it's been so long since I tried Live Styler or the other software arranger that hosts Yamaha styles, but OMB works fine for me in real time. Live styler seems to work fine for Frank Rosenthal, so I would guess it's also a very good program.

OMB does not open as a Vst, but you could sync it to Cubase using the freeware Midi Yoke drivers, which act as virtual midi cables inside of your computer and allow you to link two or more programs together.

Regards,
AJ

There are other alternatives to explore as well. Jammer Pro and Band in a Box work well if you do not need real time ( live )accompaniment. each has a feature limited demo that you can try out. Frank uses something else too, Hi Play Pro maybe ?

There is also JMT orchestrator, and it does open up a midi effect in Sonar. Not sure if it would work in Cubase, possibly it might with the mfx wrapper used with some of Musiclabs programs.

AJ

Jammer Live works well, too.

I've always wanted to try Jammer Live Fran. Does it use the same style files that J Pro uses ? The reason I ask is because then I would guess they could be modified.

AJ

Bluezplayer, yes you can use the styles from Jammer Pro. It has been a while but I think there is a conversion that takes place within Jammer Live.

Fran, Jammer Live with its various styles sounds very good indeed - especially if you use good quality instruments. Good that you reminded us of this alternative.

As far as, I am concerned the best on the market today in terms of a software arranger are:

OMB
Live - Styler
Jammer Live

I know some have reported some difficulties with Live - Styler but if you stay with it and get all the startup files (*.ini, *.ns) and midi ports and channels properly setup it works perfectly. It takes a bit of effort but it is worth it. Live - Styler will work well with touch screens as another control surface. But they are all good.

I've downloaded Jammer Pro movie to see, and demoversion to try out
when I got the time to do it.
Quite a prog according to the movie, and a lot of added functions
and layout since I saw it when looked into it some time ago. Quite
a difference from Band in a Box.
Live version read the same files as far as I can see AJ.
GJ

I always preferred Jammer to BIAB, although the latter definitely can produce something useable with less effort. I just think that for most genres the BIAB styles range from fair to very poor, with the exception of the Jazz styles. Most of what I've done in the Jazz genre with BIAB sounds pretty good.

I was very used to J Pro version 4. It was real easy to mix and match drum pieces with that interface. J Pro 5 introduced a much different interface and added a couple of steps, and for a while I didn't like it at all. Now that I realize how much better it is for making original styles, I am beginning to like it again. I say better because you can now input real midi data for new styles into it's sequencer.


I've had several discussions with the Jammer guys ( Soundtrek ) in an effort to convince them that adding Vst functionality would be very useful and might even help bring their product more into the mainstream, and they agreed, but said that at least for now it wasn't happening.

As it exists now, I think Jammer only serves a small niche market, but I think Soundtrek is happy with it anyway. Having Dxi functionality( and vst with my cakewalk wrapper ) in BIAB is a big plus to me.

AJ

Hi AJ,
you can use the Jammer Pro styles in Jammer Live. You can do a certain amount of style editing within Jammer Live itself ( if you copy the Jammer Pro styles across).
Jammer Live can't use all of Jammer Pro's
( parameters for want of a better word).
I could never quite get the hang of how to create a style for Jammer pro even though it can now use snippets from midifiles. All I wanted to do was create a piano arpeggio ( clayderman style) but couldn't work out how to do it. Might give it another go one day.

The program itself ( Jammer Live) works really well. Unfortunately the Jammer styles are not the type of styles I use personally.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bluezplayer:
[B]I've always wanted to try Jammer Live

Hi,
I like OMB http://www.1manband.nl/omb.htm
you can always try the demo.
It uses psr .sty files.

If you don't want to use it in realtime arranger mode,
It has a style editor where you can create styles from midifiles or edit existing psr styles.

It has an arranger page where you can put in a chord progression , put in the various style parts and create an arrangement in a matter of minutes. You can save that as a midifile for further editing in OMB's onboard sequencer or export it to a software sequencer of your own choice.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by adimatis:
[B]

hey everybody! thanks for all this information. i downloaded OMB and Live-Styler demo versions from their websites.
i am trying to get used to them, maybe is just the fact that i can not phisicaly touch the start/stop, intro, fill, etc. doesn t make too happy!
for sure, i could notice there is alot of nice and usefull features in this soft arrangers, but until at least i can hear their styles played with better sounds (vst maybe) i've got the impression of pour quality... no ofence to those who use this alot.
actually, i don t think there is anyone to use this programs just with their native sounds or just with gm sounds, right?
again, i don t know much about this... but learning!
but one day, when i'll get my pa arranger, for sure i'll play it with more enthusiasm, in the old and healthy way that i'm use with.
touch and feel! thanks!

The software arrangers have no voices, so they are not of poor quality. If you are using Microsoft Wave table, it will not sound good. This is not the fault of OMB or Live Styler. I don't use MS wave table, I use SynergiGS. It has a much higher quality soundfonts. In your original post you said, "i'd want a soft arranger that work with VST sounds and that is able to work within cubase sx host.". You do need those VST sounds to sound decent.
Starkeeper

Bluezplayer, that's pretty interesting to me, so you can basically have 1 or 2 synths with a lap top with omb software, and do the live gig just like the arranger with live playing(well, sort of,I've been called "a casio wanna be once"), how do you handle drum fills, variation changes etc. there must be the way. Forgive me for asking silly question, I really was not aware of this. Thanks!
Tye

i am aware of the limitation of MS wavetable...
what i meant was pour quality of the arranger parts themselves. how clever the accomp. parts are, how nice the arrpegios are and so on.
and i said, even with this "pour" features, the soft might sound good useing some decent sf2 or some other sounds.
but really, nothing's compare with the true touch, wouldn t you agree with me?

sorry Bluezplayer, I just saw the answer to my question that you posted on another post.

I might agree,but others would not.
If I had a 76 note controller keyboard, the touch wouldn't be much of an issue. The tonal quality of the accompaniment I have with my soft-arranger is superior to both of my keyboards, the only weakness, so far, are the lead/melody voices. Working on that. Both of my keyboards have 2 variations only, with my soft-arranger I have 4.
My Yamaha PSR550 holds 3 user styles, my Roland EM20 holds no user styles, my soft-arranger holds thousands.
Starkeeper

Hi,
OMB & Live Styler both use psr styles. There are 1000's of these styles available for download. Some good some bad.

OMB allows you to edit these styles so that they sound good with your chosen soundsource be it softsynths or hardware synth.

OMB software has some styles in the program , but when you purchase the program, you can then load your own styles into the program.

I actually use my computer keyboard to trigger my fills, variations etc in realtime. You can set it up so that you pick which keys trigger which variations etc. You get used to it eventually.

best wishes
Rikki