Rikki, all of Garritans Libraries are good. They are not top of the line but they are a good compromise between very large samples and quality of sound. Garritan does fairly well with replicating real world accoustic instruments.

I plan on getting the GM Wavetable as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, I will continue to use NI's Bandstand. Keep in mind, I only use these type of libraries for the auto accompaniment. For lead instruments (samples of accoustic instruments) I tend to use top of the line libraries with kontakt. It sounds so good and I have been at this for many years and plan on staying with the software approach.

Hi Frank
Looking back at your first post I noticed you used LiveStyler.
I posted a link a few days ago of someone else that uses LiveStyler, but he uses it with his instrument in a way you may not have thought of. (It certainly solves the problem of having cables all over the place) here is the link again in case you missed it.
It’s amazing what can be done when you put your mind to it.
Enjoy Music, Enjoy Life

Bill
http://www.yourhobby.nl/forumorgel/index.php?topic=3348.0

BTW the instrument was released onto the market over 20 yrs ago

Hi Frank,
look forward to your review when you do finally get it.
No, I'm aware it's not what you'd call top of the line, in my case I don't think my laptop would cope with top of the line instruments.

Anyway, please let us know when you get it , & how it compares to Bandstand.

I've basically got 2 types of setups running at the moment, my 2 arranger keyboards ( psr1500 & SD1+) I play songs where I use lead instruments other than piano ( ie I play in regular arranger mode) , then I use my Clavinova with laptop & OMB to play piano based styles in pianist mode. Trying to play woodwind, brass, strings etc via piano weighted keys feels odd.


best wishes
rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Frank L. Rosenthal:
[

Hi Bill,
that's an interesting link.
Some people have great imaginations.

best wishes
rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by abacus:
[B]

Bill, that is as Rikki indicated an interesting application of Live - Styler and machinery for making music. A firm (or individual) in Germany used Live - Styler software as part of their keyboard. It is been some years ago and I have lost the link to their approach.

Rikki, I will let you know my assessment of the Garritan GM wavetable. I should make clear that Garritan's libraries are very good and should run on most ordinary PCs. I have their GPO and JABB and use some of the instruments as my lead instruments. Also, if you use Soundcards with ASIO, Hard Drives that run at 7200 rpm with 8mb Cache, etc. you should be able to run top of the line sampled instruments....if you wished to. I used to use top of the line sampled instruments for all of my lead instruments. I have backed away from that and use only top of the line instruments for my favorite lead instruments such as piano, strings, sax, etc.

Hi Frank,
I suppose an external harddrive may be an option for me. They seem to be coming down in price.

Just out of interest, why are you only now using top of the line, for your favourite lead instruments?

best wishes
Rikki

Rikki, very early on in my conversion to the software approach I used top of the line sampled acoustic instruments. Over time I backed away from that and used these kind of instruments only for my favorite instruments. I would use smaller sampled instruments for such things as electric guitars, electric pianos, etc. This was more from a cost consideration that I took this latter approach. From a computer capability perspective I could keep on using the higher end sampled lead instruments. You need to balance this however when using a software system for live performances. Smaller sampled instruments tend to load somewhat faster and you can load more of them.

As you know, it is not just the size of the sampled instrument that determines its quality but a whole lot of other things as well (mics used, venue, and so on). I tend to buy these instruments from reputable developers, e.g., Garritan, VSL, Bardstown, VRSound, East-West, etc.

[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 09-22-2007).]

Thanks Frank,

best wishes
rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Frank L. Rosenthal:
[B]