I am looking for a rackmount to use in orchestral score. Since I will playback from the module, the sound quality is the most important for me. Second, I will concern about the multitrimbal parts. I heard from my friend K2600R + orch ROM has a outstanding sound quality. It uses VAST (what's this?) But I also heard about an orchestral module from E-Mu (Virtuoso 2000) has lots of polyphony & multitrimbal. I still have no idea on buying which module. Can anyone give me any opinion? Thanks.

try gigastudio www.nemesysmusic.com

As far as I know, you can't put gigastudio in a RACK.

Baltantong, the products you are asking to compare are VERY VERY different animals. The K2600 is a workstation / workhorse. It has incredible sonic generation, synthesis and sorts of whistles and bells (of course, at a price)

The Virtuoso is basically a sound module with voices leaning mostly in the Orchestral range. It has some nifty features, but does not have expandibility like the K2600.

So, to help you decide, what features do you need? The E-Mu is roughly $800, the Kurzweil is on manufacturer special for $2600 right now. The Kurzweil is more powerful and more expandable. The E-Mu has a smaller learning curve. In the end, you should listen to both. If you have the need of a workstation, you can't go wrong with the Kurzweil, if you only need an orchestra sound module, the E-Mu probably would suffice. Besides, for the price of a 2600R, you could get 3 E-Mu's and have some money left over...taking your polyphony to 384!

I, too, am in the market for an orchestral module, and like you, the sonic quality is of utmost importance. I just auditioned the E-Mu Virtuoso 2000 and I was thoroughly DISAPPOINTED! To me, every single non-percussion sample/patch had a VERY synthesizer-type "buzz" to it, even the flutes (which should be derived from relatively harmonic-free sine waves). It reminded me of the Roland synths of the 80's. Most disappointing. So I'm still looking.

Hi Baltanong,

Why do you need a rackmount? If you want realistic orchestral scoring capabilities, you definitely need more than one module. The K2600 is a great sounding synth and it's ROM is okay. It will *not* compete with some of the orchestral sample libraries available today for realism unless you add RAM to it (I don't think that you need the sample option unless you want to do your own sampling if I'm not mistaken). It's strength is VAST and that's useful for synth sounds. Recreating realistic orchestral sounds is not its forte.

It all depends on how real you want it to sound and how much money you have. IMHO, Gigastudio with a fast PC (you can get a rackmount PC by the way) and a couple of large hard drives will give you the best, most inexpensive results. Other than that, you would need a few K2600R's or a few Emu samplers to get a realistic orchestral reproduction.

Put it this way, the Miroslav Vitous Orchestral library comes on 5 CD's (approx. 3.25 GB), the Peter Siedlaczek Advanced Orchestra sample library comes on 8 CD's including the Upgrade set (that's 5.2 GB). The Kirk Hunter Strings - 5 CD's alone for just the String section.

There is a reason why Hans Zimmer has a wall full of samplers to create his virtual orchestra. It's because he needs to. You have not given anyone a budget here that you want to work with or exactly what you'll be doing for your orchestral scoring (ie how realistic you need it).

Personally, the Virtuoso 2000, I find weak too, especially it's strings. It's difficult to get a good representation in only 64 MB of space (the Virtuoso2K has 2 Roms in it). oh well, I've gone on too much here.

If you're scoring simply in studio or at home, the K2600R is a better choice than the Virt-2K. There may be better alternatives for you though.

HTH,
fv

I, too, am in the market for an orchestral module, and like you, the sonic quality is of utmost importance. I just auditioned the E-Mu Virtuoso 2000 and I was thoroughly DISAPPOINTED! To me, every single non-percussion sample/patch had a VERY synthesizer-type "buzz" to it, even the flutes (which should be derived from relatively harmonic-free sine waves). It reminded me of the Roland synths of the 80's. Most disappointing. So I'm still looking.



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Thank you. From all your advices, It seems to me that I may consider on samplers & sample CDs unless it has a suitable orchestral module in the market. However, budget is not my first consideration, the realistic orchestral sounds are my primary needs. I think I should find and audition the orchestral sample CDs to find how good they are.

To anyone seeing this topic:

20-sec Logo Opening: (346K)
http://www.geocities.com/baltantong/btmusic/logo_eq.wma

This is a riff from a sound module. What do you think the style of the riff & which sound module make it?

#UPDATED#

To anyone seeing this topic:
20-sec Logo Opening: (346K)
http://www.geocities.com/baltantong/btmusic/logoeq.wma

This is a riff from a sound module. What do you think the style of the riff & which sound module make it?

#SORRY, UPDATED AGAIN#
To anyone seeing this topic:
20-sec Logo Opening: (346K)
www.geocities.com/baltantong/btmusic/logoeq.wma

This is a riff from a sound module. What do you think the style of the riff & which sound module make it?