Hey all,

I was given a shopping list from my band's manager saying to get a Kurzwiel PC88 and a Emu E4XT Ultra. We will be doing lots of Orchestrial type stuff with the sampler for our bands CD.

The band's manager says the Triton sucks ass, he is under the impression that the Emu and Kurz are the best. I think the guy is way off by saying the Triton is crap. I'm a proud Korg owner but this is quite the investment at $3K for the Korg or $5K for the Kurz / Emu.

The bottom line is this gear is being used on our bands CD and it has to be the best sounding but on the other hand I'm buying the gear with my own $$.

I myself am looking for good lead, organ, piano, strings tones. The music is prog metal / classical there is no need for loops and or any DJ type stuff.

I know Korg Piano tones blow but I have been happy with the lead and organ tones and that new DSP board sounds pretty cool.

Would sampled Piano tones be good enough to use for a CD recording and everyday tone useage?

Seeing that I dont need looping and all the other stuff on most Samplers, are those features a must for a newbie to samplers?

Can I layer Samples on the Triton, if so how many? Can this be done better on the Emu?

Should the Triton even be considered for purchase vs a Kurz/Emu combo?

Hi EdB,

You're right. The Triton is not crap. However, it may not be the keyboard to fill the shoes you need it to fill. It will not get you the best sounding orchestral type sounds (and you've already figured the piano out too). You may be happy enough with the lead and organ sounds though.

Personally, I find the Kurz piano a little bit overrated (but for a sample playback piano it is good).

I don't really like sampled organ myself so I don't think that your manager's suggestion will fit the entire bill either. You may want to look at other alternatives possibly. Maybe you can scale back on the E-mu a bit and on the Triton. If you really like the Triton (although it is more geared towards the dance/synth crowd) maybe you can get the rack version, the PC-88 and get the E5000 Ultra instead.

This should put you roughly around the same mark as the PC-88 and E4XT Ultra. Well, actually a bit more expensive but should fit all of your needs. Don't forget that you need to budget for sample CD Roms as well. You will not get an excellent orchestral sample set included with any sampler. Most run around about $1000 US or more for just the CD's alone. There is also RAM to consider.

To fit the bill for the time being until your CD makes it big and you can afford all of the goodies, maybe you can scale back a little. Get a PC-88 and then one or two of the Proteus modules (like the Virtuoso and B-3 modules). If you have enough cash, go for the Triton rack as well. You can avoid buying a bunch of sample CD's now, still have some decent sounds and take it from there.

A Triton alone will not do it for you and I wonder if it is worth the $3k for you, given your situation.

HTH,
Fernando

Thanks for all this info.

The rack of the Triton was something that I was kicking around too.

I did play the Yamaha S30 and I like it better than the Kurzwiel PC88 as a controler. The keys on the Kurz are almost too stiff, but that is just somthing that I would have to get used to.

\\It will not get you the best sounding orchestral type sounds \\


I have to disagree. It's orchestral sounds are amazing in my opinion, especially the brass and strings. The strings are easily the best I have heard on any synth.

The Triton is absolutely amazing for film scoring.

\\If you really like the Triton (although it is more geared towards the dance/synth crowd)\\


I have to point out this is in error. While the Triton does have great synth sounds and a dual arpegiator, it has amazing brass, flute, and strings. I cant say enough how great the Triton strings are.




As for the sampling, the Triton sampler is good, but right now is limited in that it only reads raw sample data from akai programs, so you have to program attack, decay, velocity switching, ect.

The triton sampler right now is great if you dont mind doing your own programming for piano, synth, string type of stuff.

Korg is releasing O.S. 3.0 for Triton this March which is supposed to improve the Triton akai reading ability.

The Triton is a great unit. But right now it is slightly short on the sampler side compared to say an EMU. The EMU will read the akai samples full data and allow layering, so the samples sound ready to go as soon as you load them. The new O.S. for the Triton will have this.

Clearly, the best choice for you would be to grab a Triton rack, an EMU sampler( which is always nice to have) and a controller keyboard. Should run ayou around 4$.


The thing to remember tho is that you can get MOSS for Triton, and KOrg is planning a very cool orchestral board in March. The Studio essential board for Triton also has some amazing orchestral sounds.

I'll say it again-

The Triton strings are the best in the business, period.

Yes I agree with Arvon45- the Triton string sounds are awesome and even better string sounds than these come from the studio essentials board which I own. Better and more playable than Roland string sounds (which I also like but not as much as Korgs).

I will call the TRITON the best orchestral keyboard if it have a good piano.because I love using the piano in any orchestral songs.for the strings I agree about it. it's very far good, better than Roland's strings. Roland's ones feels weak(got my hand on an XV-88 yesterday and was amazed by the piano but not with the strings at all).

------------------
vic

Arvon45 wrote,
> The Triton strings are the best in the
> business, period.

Are they better than an E4XT Ultra loaded up with, say the Kirk Hunter Virtuoso Strings, Miroslav Vitous Strings, or Advanced Orch. Strings?

I have to disagree with you. Maybe the Triton strings kill most of the other synths out there (I don't know). However, I was offering advice based on what Ed wants to do. He said that he will be "doing lots of Orchestrial type stuff". For me that means, he needs realistic orchestral sounds. Strings aren't the only thing in an orchestra.

I am very familiar with the Triton (and the Trinity). I am not trying to dis these keyboards or make them out to be less than they are. I even suggested that maybe he looks at the Triton rack instead of the keyboard.

I personally don't think that the Triton will satisfy him if he needs lots of high quality Orchestral sounds. It has many great sounds on it. While its strings and such are good, I stand by my earlier recommendation that I think that he may be better off with something else either instead of or as well as.

Also, I find that the Triton and Trinity boards are great for cutting through. I personally like the warmth of an Emu E4 Ultra for such things as orchestral mixes. Maybe we'll agree to disagree.

Regards,
Fernando

Fernando-

I said SYNTH. The Triton is the best synth for strings right now.

They are very very warm and mix right in with mixes. YOu can acutally hear the strings cutting against each other on some of the patches. Add the MOSS board and you have insane string potential in Combination mode.

What are those strings sample cd's? 900$?

I have heard some of the sample cd strings and they are indeed nice. But you pay a price for them.

Thanks for all the info.

From what I understand I will be suplied with an Orchestrial Sample disc from my manager. Its supposed to be over a $1000 for that CD I could be way off but it may be much more than that.

The synth side of the instrument intrests me quite a bit, so thanks for all the heads up on the Orchestrial tones from the Synth.

As some of you pointed out I will be using samples of the Orchestra for the recording part but I will also want to mix in some synth tones if possible. I dont know how much layering is possible with Sampled tones so when I'm going to do live performances with my gear I may need to fall back on the synth orchestrial tones.

Question about the OS upgrades?
Will they add more sampling features to the instrument or is that limited by its hardware?


Thanks again

Ed

The sampling features will be implemented in software.

The last update, 2.0, gave the Triton sampler time slicing and time stretching.

Your best bet is to head to your local synth dealer and to play around with the Triton, an 88, and an EMU sampler.

But you will be hard pressed to find better strings. Expansion Board 2 for Triton adds even better strings, if that is even possible.

I have the Orchestrial Module for my Roland JV-80 and the strings on that board are pretty intense esp the Ominous Strings. Even better is when I mix my X5 and JV-80 strings together, I get a thunderous string sound.

Trinton's strings sounds very interseting, you can never have enough great string tones

The problem about going to Guitar Center to check out the differences between the Emu and the Triton is that I'm a Sampling fool, in other words I never used one. Heck just 2 months ago I was a Midiot, now I think I can handle Midi pretty well. In 15 years of playing I never got into Midi or sampling.



[This message has been edited by EdB (edited 01-16-2001).]

I dunno I have the XP30. The triton falls short on the strings, definitely the pianos. Another thing the timpani on the Roland is alot better.

The Triton falls short on the strings?

No way. Especially when your talking movie strings.

I have heard alot of synths, and Triton strings are the best to me.

can you connect a controller keyboard to the regular version of the Triton?

yeah, you can connect them.

Hmmm.

I own an Emu 6400. This was after months of looking at Kurweil, Triton, EX5 and XV88.

Why the Emu? Its probably the best all around sampler today. It also kicks the living crap out of the others for brass, strings, piano and other "authentic" instruments.

I felt the Triton still sounded hollow and synthy in comparison to the Emu...and while a lot of bands use the Triton as part of their arsenal - advertisements and film scores are done with samplers...because there aren't a lot of cymbals and drum kicks to mask some of the weaknesses.


As far as the PC88...what is that going to serve? Is it basically a MIDI controller? That's a wad of cash to drop on a MIDI controller - especially when you can get a dedicated MC.

I'm betting you can get pretty close in price with:

Fatar Hammer Action controller (I have Oberheim MC3000 - and feel its a little superior to the Fatar, but harder to find in a store)
Emu 6400 - upgrade to 128 MB ram and get a large IDE hard disk (Advantage over the 5000 is its got better upgrade paths and comes with a load of decent samples)
Triton Rack - if you can afford it...and definitely the MOSS. This gives you great analog synth sounds.

>Hey all,
>I was given a shopping list from my band's >manager saying to get a Kurzwiel PC88 and a >Emu E4XT Ultra. We will be doing lots of >Orchestrial type stuff with the sampler for >our bands CD.

Clearly, your manager don`t have a clue. He`s probably impressed by the big names of kurzweil and emu. Ask him what samplers are used to make movie/television music? answer: the old roland s-760!

In my opinion, the pc88 is shit. Everything that the pc88 does is well covered with the triton. The emu sampler is a better sampler than the triton, with better soundware support, but this depends on your needs.


>The bottom line is this gear is being used >on our bands CD and it has to be the best >sounding but on the other hand I'm buying >the gear with my own $$.

So its your money, and you who play the gear, yet your manager "decides" what gear to get ??

>I myself am looking for good lead, organ, >piano, strings tones. The music is prog >metal / classical there is no need for >loops and or any DJ type stuff.

The triton have perhaps the best hammond simulations done in a synth (not even the e4xt can touch these). However, for really good hammond, you should get a Voce or Hammond-Suzuki rack/keyboard.

Triton have good lead sounds, esp with the moss board.

>Would sampled Piano tones be good enough to >use for a CD recording and everyday tone >useage?

All piano tones are sampled (except real pianos)

>Seeing that I dont need looping and all the >other stuff on most Samplers, are those >features a must for a newbie to samplers?

Thats the way samplers work

>Can I layer Samples on the Triton, if so >how many? Can this be done better on the >Emu?

The triton can layer upto 16 samples (combi mode) or 32samples(sequence mode).

>Should the Triton even be considered for >purchase vs a Kurz/Emu combo?

Yes, esp if you want lots of good sounds right out of the board without lots of programming and load-time.


It sounds to me as if you want the best sounds, but haven done very much programming/sampling before? I believe that the e4xt would be overkill for a newbie to sampling. The emu e-5000 offers the same basic fatures, the same sound, and loads the same soundlibraries at a much lower price.

Perhaps Triton + emu e-5000? If you have any extra buck to spare, throw in the pcm01 exp board (better pianos, hammond, rhodes, wurlitzer, hohner clavinet), exb-moss (analog synth, brass/wind/strings with some possibilities that no sampler has)

best regards
Knut Inge

btw, check out my triton site: http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~knutinh/tritonhardware/index.htm

Thanks guys for all the good points. Im still not completely sure on what I will get but you guys are giving me some good info.

Some people have been pushing the K2600 on me but I seriously doubt I will go that route, too much $$.

That Triton Emu sounds like a good combo and it may only cost a little more than a fully loaded Kurz.

And EDB if Korg releases resampling and proper layered AKAI reading in thethe next enxt update you wouldnt need the EMU.

Hi folk ,i'm new to the neighbourhood.I'm a Triton owner myself,infact i have one of the only two on my island in the West Indies.......it's a monster.I love the warm big sounds,ease of use and must say,it's very user friendly......all for a deccent price.
Haven't had the chance to get any of the PCM cards in as yet,but i'm still waiting for the rumoured orchestral card (keyboard magazine 01-01).It's just super,i've done a bit of scoring with it already,and the producer loved it.........it's what you do with the gear,not how much you have.B.T.W......the strings are very good out of the box,not as many articulations as i may like,but then again...........it's called a synth right?

------------------
A Wuz here

If you need customer support or a company that stands behind their products then Triton not. People want bells and whistle but Korg gives you raspberries.

I agree with that. Kurzweil rules concerning customer support. They kill the competitors dead in that area.