I am trying to upgrade the sound from my laptop. I am now using GS Wavetable when playing midi direct into my KN7000 with MidiNotate.
I am considering Creative Extigy and Edirol SD-20. I have an old Soundcanvas module.

I normally play midi from SD,except when I want to read the notes or lyrics. This is when I use the laptop.
I could go directly into 7000 with USB,but I want complete independent control of 7000.

The Edirol is twice as expensive as it is a synth also,which I really don't need.

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Bernie

Hi Bernie,
I have an old laptop too, and my soundcard is next to useless.
I tend to find most of my old midifiles seem to play best on roland gs sound source.

I recently upgraded my BIAB and will probably start using it again. It came with a Roland soft Synth, but it doesn't really work that well on the old laptop's soundcard.

I'm planning on digging out my old Roland Canvas Module. Mines the SC88 Pro and it still sounds great. I'm just going to hook it via audio cable to the kn7 and serial cable to my laptop ie
midifiles will play from laptop sequencer or (biab)into the canvas. Sound from canvas will play through kn7 speakers. I can play along or do whatever I like with my kn as there's no physical midi connection between the canvas & the kn. I could also midi them up if required.

Not sure I quite understand what it is you're wanting to do?

best wishes
rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bernie9:
[B]I am trying to upgrade the sound from my laptop. I

Hi Rikki
Thank you for answering.
Yes,that is the same thing I am trying to do.
My SC sounds about the same sequenced by my Soundbrush as the GS Wavetable in my laptop.Your SC88 is,of course,a later model and might sound better.

Since I am new to this,I have two questions.
1. If I serial or USB the sequencer program of my laptop to whatever module I get,does the configuration of the program divert the signal away from my soundcard and into the module ?
2. Can I assume that most any multi platform module is going to be an improvement over the GS Wavetable.

Bernie

If you don't need the synth, which is arguably a waste if you have the 7k sound generators available, you can save money by going for Edirol UA20 and UA3D which I also use. The a/d conversion is very clean, mic inputs are good and they are better than the chips in even the top of the range Toshiba multimedia laptops, which leave other laptops standing anyway. The UA20 is lower latency, the UA3D can pass 5.1 Dolby Digital for movie applications. Both give professional quality inputs and are cheaper than the synth versions, and have S/PDIF available for zero quality loss transfers to DAT or other portable hard drive recorders, and are simple plug and play via USB with no power required.

If you want output only and have a 32 bit cardbus slot I can recommend Echo Indigo which I use for streaming software synthesis. Asio latency is a low 7mS so B4, FM7, Halion and other software samplers play as in real time with no delay and greater quality than is available from any keyboard. It can drive the largest headphones quite adequately, which laptops cannot do generally and is a professional quality output of 24bit/96kHz. In combination with large headphones and a Dolby Digital virtual headphone DVD player they cannot be bettered, but the 7k makes a great monitor system too. It all depends what you want to do.

Thank you, Alec

I will research these items.
At present,I am using my laptop when I need to use my notation(MidiNotate)program to read lyrics/notes,( Most times I use midfiles in SD).These songs are saved as MidiNotate files with the sequence included.
I have come out of the earphone jack of the laptop to my mixer,to the line in of 7000.

I have tried direct USB to 7000,but, my program doesn;t support it. And,besides,I am back to the NX situation of fighting with the 7000 over available instruments I can use in addition to the ones employed by the sequence. Hence the reason for trying to come up with a comparable outboard source to line in.

In addition, I am thinking a USB connection to a module will alleviate plugged pipeline when too many notes are being fed in causing hiccups.

There will come a time when I will catch up and use better formats than midi,which is a consideration also.

I guess the bottom line is that I can get by with GS Wavetable in my laptop now,but with the rapid pace of technology, I hate to settle for mediocre.

Hi Bernie,
I got my Canvas ( it's about 5/6 years old) out yesterday afternoon, hooked it up to my laptop via a serial cable ( mine predates USB)and hooked the audio out to kn7's line in. and played a few midifiles. I have to admit I was a tad dissapointed. Hearing the same midifile played via the canvas and then with a bit of revoicing hearing it played using the kn7's internal sounds, there was really no comparison, the kn7 sounded better
but I did need to revoice, which is time consuming, so I'll probably still use the canvas as well, even though to my ears it doesn't sound as good.
With my SC88 , I'm not using the p.c's sound card.

I don't know the products that Alec mentioned, but I'll be checking them out too. Technology has come a long way since I bought the old canvas. There could be better solutions around nowadays for our poor quality sound cards in our laptops.


best wishes
Rikki