KONTACT

[el viroso]

Anybody have any reviews on N.I. KONTACT and how it sizes up against the rest out there? I was ready to go and purchase EXS24 because I have LOGIC, but my dealer told me to wait because KONTACT will be out for the MAC in 3-4 weeks. He´s says it´s a NEW PHENOM. and that EXS24 is 3 years old already. EXS 24 is suppose to be really tight with my LOGIC and I´d feel safe going with LOGIC, because of the SH&% that just recently happened. KONTACT though????

[hagybear]

Im using kontakt for pc its on e of the most
important samples in my virtual rack !!
it kicks ass your right about logic !
but the EXS is very low in features compared
to the kontakt its an amaznig & new animal
ready to blast your mind i reccomend
KONTAKT !!

[el viroso]

Thanks!

All say the same thing about this Kontakt and Reason 2, though I think it is a different beast. Reason 2, seems like fun, but can I do the same with LOGIC and KONTAKT or EXS24?

I am in the process of getting my SOFT STUDIO UP AND RUNNING and the only program purchased is LOGIC, thus far. I am really interested in making ORCHESTERAL music, but was looping a bit and found it lot´s of fun also. Totally different music I am aware of and CLASSICAL ORCHESTERATION is my main interest. What would you do?

[Michael Quayle]

If classical orchestration is really your priority then Kontakt might be overkill, as its mainly the samplers resynthesis features that set it aprt from the rest of the group. Your highest priorities here are good strong Akai and Giga import facilites (all the best orchestral libraries are available in these formats) - and multitimbral operation (in order to fit all the different elements of the orchestra in one or two instances of the sampler). To this end I would recommend Halion. I know at first this seems like a strange recommendation considering it comes from Emagics main competitor, but in my experience it is the only soft sampler VSTi that has all the features a classical composer needs - it imports Akai and Giga, which is essential, although I do believe EXs performs this same task. Where Halion comes into its own over EXS is in its multitimbral and multioutput operation - I can't stress strongly enoughhow important I feel these two aspects of the sampler are for any semi large scale orchestral work, and unfortunately they are features that, to my knowledge, EXS simply does not support. With multi output support around the corner in LAP 5.2 this will become an essential requirement for you. Halion is also dead simple to use, and as long as you dont plan on getting really synthy (its filters are pretty naff) - its damn near perfect for what you want to do.

Hope this helps,

Michael.

[el viroso]

Thanks!

This Multitimberal talk. What does Multitimberal mean and why is it so important. The EXS24 has 1 MIDI, but can up to 32 instances and 64 voice Polyphony.

What does this all mean??? as I am not to literate on this subject. Also, how much RAM is recommended by you guys, for working with LOGIC and all SOFT SYNTHS and SOFT SAMPLERS on a POWER MAC G4 w/933PROCESSOR. I´ve been trying to push the CPU and see how many PLUG-INS, AUDIO INSTRUMENTS and AUDIO TRACKS I CAN GET before it´s knees start to buckle. My tests are different from time to time and get different results. What do you all think is normal for LOGIC PLATINUM 5.1.3 on a POWER G4 w/933PROCESSOR and 768RAM.

I just added 512 more RAM and don´t see a difference in results. I´d like to hear from the EXPERTS, PLEASE!!!!

Sorry, but 1 more thing since I´m on a role again. How much RAM do I need to Advocate to LOGIC anyways.

THANKS PEOPLE!

[el viroso]

Thanks!

This Multitimberal talk. What does Multitimberal mean and why is it so important. The EXS24 has 1 MIDI, but can up to 32 instances and 64 voice Polyphony.

What does this all mean??? as I am not to literate on this subject. Also, how much RAM is recommended by you guys, for working with LOGIC and all SOFT SYNTHS and SOFT SAMPLERS on a POWER MAC G4 w/933PROCESSOR. I´ve been trying to push the CPU and see how many PLUG-INS, AUDIO INSTRUMENTS and AUDIO TRACKS I CAN GET before it´s knees start to buckle. My tests are different from time to time and get different results. What do you all think is normal for LOGIC PLATINUM 5.1.3 on a POWER G4 w/933PROCESSOR and 768RAM.

I just added 512 more RAM and don´t see a difference in results. I´d like to hear from the EXPERTS, PLEASE!!!!

Sorry, but 1 more thing since I´m on a role again. How much RAM do I need to Advocate to LOGIC anyways? A BIG PROBLEM I´VE BEEN HAVING IS NOT BEING ABLE TO RECORD A AUDIO INSTRUMENT (SOFT SYNTH OR SAMPLER) WHILE PLAYING BACK AUDIO TRACKS. (EXAMPLE) is If I am listening to an AUDIO LOOP and trying to improvise over it using a SOFT SYNTH, LOGIC does not record what I played, but records the notes played on the down beat of the metronome clicks. If I record only SOFT SYNTHS w/O playing back any AUDIO all is fine. WHAT´s THAT ABOUT? ANYWAYS

THANKS PEOPLE!

[Perry Parkas]

On Halion: Halion streams the samples from the harddisk. This means that you don't depend on a huge amount of RAM, and good orchestral samples can be quite large. The downside is that it will strain your harddrive, and ideally you should have a separate harddrive to stream samples to Halion from.

[SoundsLikeRecords]

I think one of the best features of HALion is it's disk streaming features. Some of those orchestral libraries can get pretty huge. Based on that alone, HALion is great. However, HALion still has a number of BIG bugs. They are very slow to develop Kontakt and fix it's bugs. Hopefully, now that SX is out, work can begin anew.
I am not all that familar with ESX24, however, my friend uses it, and is unimpressed, as it simply lacks many features and is outdated.
Kontakt: my favorite soft sampler. Easy to use interface, and every effect you could ever want to mangle samples. It has AKAI and Giga import, and also has realtime pitch and time streching. I love this app, this is what I use now. I do both orchestral work and "left of the dial", and I use Kontakt as my sampler. It's realtime pitchshifting while leaving the timing the same makes it so that one sample can be stretched further and still maintain realism, so RAM usage is not to bad. And to further that, I emailed NI about Streaming coming to Kontakt, and I got an email a few days ago saying that they are hard at work coding that, and their work on the Mac version has helped em. So, streaming will be in Kontakt soon, making the ideal sampler for all styles, and I know where you can get it for $199 academic discount if you qualify. If your interested, respond to this post. These are just my thoughts on these plugins, hope I didn't offend anyone.

Shawn

[el viroso]

HOLA AGAIN and thanks for the responses.

I basically ordered EXS24 and then cancelled the order a few days later. Everybody is giving KONTAKT some solid reviews and HALION is probably the best, especially with CUBASE (from what the MAGS. say) Anyways, one of my buddies brought to my attetion that I could hook up 2 computers VIA MIDI and have my SEQUENCERS and SAMPLERS running on one machine as my LOGIC AUDIO is SOLO on another.

Reason all this non-sense came up is that I think my MAC is underperforming or, because I am so new to this business I never new the power these instruments impose on a CPU (WHAT SHOULD A POWER MAC G4933processor w/768RAM commected to an RME card be doing anyways?) What TRACK TEST or SOFT INSTRUMENT tests should I perform on this machine to make sure ALL´s GOOD?

I also read that GIGA STUDIO is a MEAN SAMPLER and serious stuff (especially for orchestral work)on a dedicated computer. Thing is I do have another CPU I could use. My question to the PRO´s is HOW DOES ALL THIS CONNECT? (MIDI WISE???) All I have now is a keyboard connected to my soundcard in the MAC and my soundcard does have another MIDI slot for the PC. Also, WHERE WILL THE SOUNDS COME OUT OF WHEN THEY GET TRIGGERED FROM MY KEYBOARD? DO I NEED ANOTHER SOUNDCARD?

The thing is and I´m being honest here, I have a friend who has been doing this for a while and built a nice collection and he runs a PC. While I have a legite LOGIC SEQUENCER in my MAC the other stuff could be "LENT" to me for trying out saving me MUCHO. Anybody doing some sort of similar set-up? Also, (VST System Link by Steinberg??) WHAT is it´s purpose and WHY is it useful???? Same idea behind it?