HELP: Sound Modules

[phunkdust]

A friend of mine is putting together a semi-pro studio, and one of the items he wants to get is a rack-mount sound module.

He said he was looking at Roland JV1080 / JV5050 units.

Roland products aren't really that good I've found, but buggered if I know what other rackmount sound modules there are.

If someone out there in ITM land could hit me up with the names of a few units that do the same job but are better (because they are not roland) I'd greatly appreciate it.

[digitalboy2020]

You can get rackmount versions of the Korg triton and trinity. Novation supernova. i actually don't think the Roland 3080 is too bad although each to their own.

[Hydra]

Roland's XV5080 and it's baby brother 5050 are S&S (sample and synthesis) modules which mean that all the sounds on board have been recorded in a professional studios or taken directly from other synths and reside in ROM as single or layered sounds. to manipulate the sounds into your own, the module will have some standard sound shaping facilities like envelopes, filters, amps, effects etc. The great thing about these modules over the more classic modelling synths is that you get a varied range of sounds from pianos, guitars, saxes synths etc through to weird pads, and fx sounds. and generally the quality is exceptional.

for other S&S modules try EMU, the proteus is an amazing all rounder with similar (i think better) sounds to the 5050/5080, they also have more specific genre type modules like the Planet Earth for world music sounds, Extreme Lead for up front techno/trance lead sounds, and the MoPhat for urban sounds. all these modules take expansion cards so you can mix and match styles to create a wicked all purpose module.

really your friend should go to a hi-tech music store and try them all out, he may even end up with the roland as those two units are actually quite good (for Roland)

[phunkdust]

yeah we tried the 5080 and its good, very large range of sounds but we just weren't totally satisfied... I'm able to get my hands on loan gear for practically nothing so I'll grab a Proteus and check it out

rack gear isn't my domain :P i just needed some names to check out... cheers! ;D

[mungo]

Yamaha MU100r + whatever PLG cards take your fancy

But who needs rack mount when it comes in a half sized PCI card with a whole bunch of bonuses like multitrack audio

SW1000XG





Hydra - is that just a weird backwards explanation of wavetable synthesis ?

[phunkdust]

an SW1000XG doesnt exactly suit his dual mac ;D

[Hydra]

Hydra - is that just a weird backwards explanation of wavetable synthesis ?
Not really...I think. as far as I understand there are two types of wavetable synthesis. Waldorf's Microwave XT is a wavetable synth and is characterised by the ability to sequence through a table of different waveforms during the duration of a single note. But Wavetable synthesis also has been used to describe alot of soundcards with synths on board.? these are alot different though I'm sure. They are probably more S&S.

[mungo]

Yes the waldorf has a wavetable oscillator. But this S&S thing just sounds like a new pitch for PCM wavetable synthesis.

By dual mac do you mean two mac's, a dual G4, or something else entirely. The SW1000XG is pitched at mac's because the modern ones don't have serial ports for the to host connections on sound modules. With out the to host connection you end up adding more latency to the system. I was considering at my last upgrade to go from PC to mac but ran out of money.

[phunkdust]

I mean two macs ;D he has a *lot* more money than I do! One notebook and one desktop. Both G4 of course.

I'm not convinced that the SW would be a better choice over something like a Proteus.

Most sound modules (Roland XV, Proteus, etc) have USB anyway which doesn't have any latency of it's own.

I'm tending towards using something like a motu828 to bypass any sort of soundcard... makes things simpler and more cross-portable to the laptop. on the sound module front im thinking either Proteus 2500 or XV-5050/5080 (it's kinda sweet having an entire fantom on board plus the usual presets)

[mungo]

The SW will have much lower latency than USB devices, but at those differences the problem is minimal. The SW always goes nicely with the PLG150AN (I'm still trying to find one second hand), but I can see your point with the laptop incorporation. Guess it's the MU100 from yamaha then :P