New to Synth Stuff

[mdavis]

OK I'm new to the whole Synth audio thing. I'm not even sure if this is the right place to post.

My son is a musician and he wanted to start using his computer with a keyboard to make a DAW (I guess is what you call it). Basically he wants to use his computer as a synthesizer to play in real time. I bought him a Roland A37 for Christmas and he already has Orion software. The problem is that there is a latency of over 1 second from the time the keyboard is depressed until the sound comes out, which of course is totally unuseable.

He has a Dell dimension 2.4 Ghz P4
256M memory
I think its on on board sound chipset

I was doing some research and it appears we may need a better sound card, and maybe ASIO drivers, maybe Reaktor sessions software and probably a number of other things.

My question is what do we need to make his setup useable? We don't have to stick to the Orion. He's interested in sounds like Ed Van Fleet uses. I'm not looking to spend tons of money right now. Just something that he can use now and build on.

Thanks!

[Boom]

You need a better audiocard with ASIO drivers, like an Maudio, Echo, etc. You don't need any more software to make sounds, there are synths built into Orion, and many free VST instruments available for download.

[oops]

What software sequencer are you using to load soft synth??? If you have a look within whatever software synthesizer "host" you are using the host software..ie; Cubase or Cakewalk Sonar, should have an audio tab that will allow you to set asio drivers for whatever you have onboard. In that same panel there should be a latency slider, keep putting this to a lower number till you lose the latency. You should be able to run at near 2mls with your pc setup using wdm drivers or asio. I hope this helps.
If you are going on the cheap.. An audigy soundblaster is a good start. Be sure to disable onboard soundcard in the bios if you have problems. You may be able to run both on some hardware. Good luck.

[Bops2000]

I know I am gonna be put on the firing squad here, But I would use a sound blaster live or better for the synth stuff, if that all ya wanna do, I'm only mentioning this, as its like about 30 dollars.
Boppers

[TeleCarlos]

Just a sugestion...

The Maudio Mobile Pre is a USB audo card with miqcrophone ins. It comes with some decent, begginer's software such as Reason "Adapted" (basically a few software synts, midi editor; great for instrumental tracks).

This and a USB keyboard controller (Edirol, Maudio, etc.) are enuff to get started. Spend the big bucks later...

[mdavis]

Thanks for the info! From this it sounds like we should be able to get it working as is. But I was thinking about getting the Terratec DMX6 which seems like it should get us there without the need for a mixer and other stuff right now. Plus it seems like a good card to use for building a system later, and it uses the asio drivers.

I found the following website http://www.tweakheadz.com/how_to_get_started_with_midi.html
which gives some good background information.
Looks like you can do some really cool things with the home studio.