Previous Thread
Index
Next Thread
Print Thread
Go To
#72186 05/06/10 09:21 AM
PowerTracks Pro Audio
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 4
H
HARDING Offline OP
Newbie
OP Offline
Newbie
H
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 4
I am looking to buy a sound card with very high quality orchestral samples and wonder if anyone can suggest the best one to use with Powertracks 12. I believe that there is a really good one that gets the attack, decay and vibrato or whatever just right for the specific instrument. I won't say money is no object but I certainly expect to spend quite a bit.

PowerTracks Pro Audio
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
M
Mac Offline
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
M
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
These days, the sound card no longer contains any MIDI synth stuff, for the most part.

You are looking for a MIDI synth, hardware or software, that is compat with your pc system.


--Mac

PowerTracks Pro Audio
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 10,153
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 10,153
As Mac pointed out, 'sound cards' these days are often more of 'sound chips' built onto your mainboard. That isn't to say that there aren't real plug in cards available, there are, but not like 10 years ago when you could buy a sound card from multiple different vendors and get different sounds.

Today, PC's and Windows use a .dll file that contains about 4 megs of sample data. This way, no matter what computer you listen to, high end desktop, laptop or netbook, the MIDI sounds will all be the same. It used to be that you could buy a card from Creative and get one set of sounds, buy a card from Turtle Beach and get another set, buy one from Yamaha and get a totally different set. Those days are far and long gone.

Sound cards today do not have ANY sounds on them.

So, where do the sounds come from? They come from software, via a 'software synthesizer.' There are multiple software synths out there today that you can purchase and install on your computer, or you can buy a hardware module or keyboard.

For Orchestral work, I would recommend Garritan's Personal Orchestra 4.

http://www.garritan.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=154&Itemid=54

With the Aria player, you can create a stand alone device that can be used with PowerTracks Pro Audio or Real Band.

Please check out the Demos page here for an idea of what Personal Orchestra can do for you.

http://www.garritan.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&Itemid=63

How do you get these lovely sounds out of your computer?

The built in sound card on your computer isn't really optimized for audio recording work. The following is copied from Garritan's FAQs on GPO4

Quote:

What Soundcard Do You Recommend?

People ask us often about soundcards we recommend. Although we cannot recommend specific cards (each system is different), there are many good and inexpensive ones to choose from. Yamaha and M-Audio are brands you may want to research for soundcards. You rsoundcard is very important to making music with our software instruments. It is important you have something a step above a "stock" consumer grade soundcard that may come pre-installed in your computer. Such cards are not designed to handle higher quality sounds and the performance needs of the instruments.

In looking for a soundcard, be sure to look for a low-latency card. Make sure you have a soundcard with adjustable buffers so you can set the latency. Basically, latency is the time it takes to play a sound on your keyboard to when you'll hear it playing from your speakers. There is a inverse relationship between latency and performance. The lower the latency the higher the resource demands. One can often find a sweet spot between latency and performance and each system is different.[\quote]

If you were to plan on going with something like GPO, I would recommend the M-Audio 2496 Audiophile card as a very good, relatively inexpensive audio interface. For monitoring, of course, you'll need some sort of monitoring setup, like a mixer and powered speakers.

There are other solutions, as well, but I think this is a good one.

Hope this helps.

Gary


I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Go To

Link Copied to Clipboard
ChatPG

Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.

ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.

PG Music News
Convenient Ways to Listen to Band-in-a-Box® Songs Created by Program Users!

The User Showcase Forum is an excellent place to share your Band-in-a-Box® songs and listen to songs other program users are creating!

There are other places you can listen to these songs too! Visit our User Showcase page to sort by genre, artist (forum name), song title, and date - each listing will direct you to the forum post for that song.

If you'd rather listen to these songs in one place, head to our Band-in-a-Box® Radio, where you'll have the option to select the genre playlist for your listening pleasure. This page has SoundCloud built in, so it won't redirect you. We've also added the link to the Artists SoundCloud page here, and a link to their forum post.

We hope you find some inspiration from this amazing collection of User Showcase Songs!

Congratulations to the 2023 User Showcase Award Winners!

We've just announced the 2023 User Showcase Award Winners!

There are 45 winners, each receiving a Band-in-a-Box 2024 UltraPAK! Read the official announcement to see if you've won.

Our User Showcase Forum receives more than 50 posts per day, with people sharing their Band-in-a-Box songs and providing feedback for other songs posted.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed!

Video: Volume Automation in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®

We've created a video to help you learn more about the Volume Automation options in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows.

Band-in-a-Box® 2024: Volume Automation

www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024full/chapter11.htm#volume-automation

Video: Audio Input Monitoring with Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®

We've created this short video to explain Audio Input Monitoring within Band-in-a-Box® 2024, and included some tips & troubleshooting details too!

Band-in-a-Box® 2024: Audio Input Monitoring

3:17: Tips
5:10: Troubleshooting

www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024full/chapter11.htm#audio-input-monitoring

Video: Enhanced Melodists in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®!

We've enhanced the Melodists feature included in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows!

Access the Melodist feature by pressing F7 in the program to open the new MultiPicker Library and locate the [Melodist] tab.

You can now generate a melody on any track in the program - very handy! Plus, you select how much of the melody you want generated - specify a range, or apply it to the whole track.

See the Melodist in action with our video, Band-in-a-Box® 2024: The Melodist Window.

Learn even more about the enhancements to the Melodist feature in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows at www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024upgrade/chapter3.htm#enhanced-melodist

Band-in-a-Box® 2024 DAW Plugin Version 6: New Features Specifically for Reaper®

New with the DAW Plugin Version 6.0, released with Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows: the Reaper® Panel!

This new panel offers built-in specific support for the Reaper® DAW API allowing direct transfer of Band-in-a-Box® files to/from Reaper® tracks!

When you run the Plugin from Reaper®, there is a panel to set the following options:
-BB Track(s) to send: This allows you to select the Plugin tracks that will be sent Reaper.
-Destination Reaper Track: This lets you select the destination Reaper track to receive media content from the Plugin.
-At Bar: You can select a bar in Reaper where the Plugin tracks should be placed.
-Start Below Selected Track: This allows you to place the Plugin tracks below the destination Reaper track.
-Overwrite Reaper Track: You can overwrite previous content on the destination Reaper track.
-Move to Project Folder: With this option, you can move the Plugin tracks to the Reaper project folder.
-Send Reaper Instructions Enable this option to send the Reaper Instructions instead of rendering audio tracks, which is faster.
-Render Audio & Instructions: Enable this option to generate audio files and the Reaper instructions.
-Send Tracks After Generating: This allows the Plugin to automatically send tracks to Reaper after generating.
-Send Audio for MIDI Track: Enable this option to send rendered audio for MIDI tracks.
-Send RealCharts with Audio: If this option is enabled, Enable this option to send RealCharts with audio.

Check out this video highlighting the new Reaper®-specific features: Band-in-a-Box® DAW Plugin Version 6: New Features Specifically for Reaper®

Band-in-a-Box® 2024 DAW Plugin Version 6: New Features Video

The new Band-in-a-Box VST DAW Plugin Verion 6 adds over 20 new features!

Watch the new features video to learn more: Video: Band-in-a-Box® 2024 - DAW Plugin Version 6 New Features

We also list these new features at www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.plugin.htm.

Forum Statistics
Forums66
Topics81,391
Posts732,469
Members38,440
Most Online2,537
Jan 19th, 2020
Newest Members
Ernest J, Izzy, BenChaz, Csofi, mmpartee
38,439 Registered Users
Top Posters(30 Days)
MarioD 195
Al-David 124
DC Ron 113
dcuny 87
rsdean 83
Today's Birthdays
CeeDee, SethMould
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5