I give up upgrading and buying new keyboards. In my country a Psr s900 is almost Us$3000 and the only (used) Tyros 2 available is Us$ 7500. Funny isn’t it? Yamaha keeps raising their prices and Korg lowering them probably to compensate the devaluation of our currency. On the other hand I don’t need neither more keys nor hardware since I have too many keyboards connected through the PC. So I think a VSTi software would be my next step. I am a hobbyist playing at home and I would love to have orchestral sounds articulated like Yamaha SA voices playing live. Searching the web I found some VSTi’s like Synful Orchestra and Edirol Orchestra. Do you think their sounds are good enough comparable to a TOTL arranger? Can they be played and articulated live and which would be the simplest software to run those VSTi’s? Do you recommend other VSTi’s? Remember I am a home player and I like playing live not programming or editing. Thank you.

Hi Vagro
Articulation voices have been around in VSTi long before Tyros 2 came about, and the ones introduced over the last few years, make SA2 look and sound positively crude.
Quality of sound will easily leave any hardware arranger in the dust.
The main problem is control, as they were designed to be used in a studio, (VST = Virtual Studio Technology) and apart from Wersi and Lionstracs (Which can load them on-board) most hardware boards don’t allow easy arranger control.
Fortunately you can get Livestyler www.live-styler.de which gives you a full arranger for your computer, and it can also use VSTi.
However before you make a decision, pop over to www.kvraudio.com (One of the best resources for VSTi) and read up a bit, that way you will then be able to determine what you actually require? (There are also some excellent free VSTi on the site)
Hope this helps

Bill

Synful Orchestra sounds fantastic and add a nice reverb on top it's like pure silk. So really you can't go wrong there at all.

Edirol Orchestra on the other hand is not even in the same class. It's cheap and cheerful, but nothing worthy of mentioning to anyone as something to buy.


Have you seen “Quantum-Leap Goliath”. It's a huge library that covers everything including the GM table and much much more. This will give you all the instruments your used to on keyboards only sounding better, plus a massive collection of other sounds that will simply blow your mind.
http://www.soundsonline.com/Quantum-Leap-Goliath-pr-EW-176.html

If you could only every buy one library in your lifetime, Quantum Leap Goliath would be that one.

Take a look at Garritan Personal Orchestra too. I'm purchasing that next week. Orchestral music is one of my favs to play and compose. As IrishActs stated.., the Edirol Orchestra is ok.., but a bit dated now. I think the Garritan Personal Orchestra sounds better than the Edirol.

The Garritan Per Orch sells for around $200. Prices range from $180-$200
http://garritan.com/GPO.html
http://www.garritan.com/mp3/index.html

Squeak




[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 05-30-2009).]

Thank you all for the quick answers so far. I see I have many sites to entertain myself. I'll take some time to check them out.

Victor

Bill
I have Colossus(now Goliath) and Kontakt 2 in my Receptor. I wonder if I could use Live Styler in my laptop, and connect to my libraries via Live Wire connection to Receptor. I have been curious about the program as a possible alternative to hardware.

Bernie

Squeak
How difficult is it to employ articulation and modulation with these programs ? I have never learned how to get decent vibrato e.g., through Kontakt.

I played with the GPO not too long ago (friend of a friend). I didn't get to spend hours on it.., but it was enough time for me to decide that I had to have it I was catching on pretty quick to the articulation control. From what I remember GPO handled the articulations rather well. I think it has parameters such as Expression/Volume controlled by the mod wheel, Note Velocity controlling attacks and articulations, and I think you can set a pedal to control legato.

The guy who let me try his was a whiz on the application. He had no problem controlling the articulations. Sounded freaking good too. For $199 it's a darn good sounding orchestral set.

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 05-30-2009).]

Another big thumbs up for GPO. If you are on a budget, and want an orchestra, you can't miss.

If you are after 'pop' strings, you might try some other things, but you can make GPO do this with work (use the smaller string ensembles, layer the quartet on top of them, etc.).

I know that GBB had a latency problem. I know it differs with hard disk speed, amount of memory, and number of instances running, but wonder if any problems were noticed