Congrats Dave. I own and ES7 myself. I'll admit, right now it's more than I can hanlde, but when I'm ready to tap into the beast, it'll be ready for me. I use it live for now. I play with a Christian artist, Mike Wells. He already has a piano player so I used the ES7 for B3 organs, pads and strings. I've also used the "upright bass" for a few tunes. The board kicks butler man. You might also find http://www.sninety.com useful. There's common ground between the ES7 and S90.

I also recommend two voice libraries from motifator.com 1) B's Knees and 2) Vintage Keys. I have both and they are loaded with great vintage sounds, if you're into that sort of thing that is.

One other thing, the plug in boards are a great way to expand the ES7. I had for a time the DX plug in board in my S90. I wanted to do some FM programming, but I never had the time, and when I was wanted to upgrade from my Roland XP-80 to the ES7, I needed some dough so I sold the DX plug board. I hope to replace it some day.

You'll need a smart media card to store sequences and DIMM cards for sampler memory.

I also recommend the Yamaha FC7 foot controller.

Peace
Bob
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[This message has been edited by RW (edited 04-11-2005).]

Bob,

The es7 is a beast, for sure!

I brought it home around 1 pm on Saturday, and basically just stared at the box, kinda scared to bust it out. Later that evening, I broke it out and after messing around for an hour, was amazed at the power and flexibility of this synth.

When I was a youngster, I used to watch all the 80's videos and always dreamed of getting the DX-7. I think it cost around 1500 bucks back then, which was an unattainable feat for a 15 year old.

Well, it's taken all of 20 years, but I've got a synth light years ahead of the DX-7, plus I can always put in that board if I want to get Howard Jones-ey.

Just think what it'll be like 20 years from now?!?!?

Dave

Guys,

I've got a fairly beefy laptop, Dell Inspiron 9100, gig ram and ATI Mobility Radeon 9700, but lacking sound-wise.

I've installed Cakewalk Sonar 4.0 Producer's Edition. When the program loads, I get an error about selecting a MIDI output device. The only one listed is Microsoft MIDI Mapper.

I am guessing I will need to purchase an external soundcard in order to use Sonar. If so, I'd appreciate some suggestions on sound cards.

Thanks!

Dave

I currently own both the ROLAND FANTOM X and the YAMAHA MOTIF.

THE MOTIF IS WAY BETTER. Hands down better synth...the sequencer is much easier to use then the Fantom X, and the sounds are way better... what really matters is the sounds are way better on the Motif, the yamaha team was much wiser with their effects on the tones, and volume dynamics of the instruments...I did a test on the two boards, and mixed the same sound down with the same volume levels, the motif sound was SPARKLING, in your face volume and dynamics, while the roland sounded very tinnny and midi like...same as the korg.

Anyways, hope this helps, I still own the fantom becuase it has many good arpegios and stuff, and the horns are very good...but if you looking for a very non-frustrating board to work with, its the motif, -- you can get up and running in no time...trust me if you are producing professionally, you dont want to do it all on the board itself, thats what the fantom x claim to fame is, its all on the board, but its still too limiting for professional songs...you need to transfer it to your compyter for mastering at some point...and thats why i found the Fantom X to be overkill...and the sounds arent nearly as good compared to the motifs...

Irie styles