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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Running Windows 7, 64 bit with a with a Creative Sound Blaster XFi Titanium Fatal1ty sound card. Playing a Yamaha WX5 plugged into a Yamaha VL70M which is plugged into AUX in connections on the front panel of the Sound Blaster.
I'm not a pro or anything like that, but just enjoy playing tunes on the WX with BIAB (just updated to 2011). I see references to software synths, etc but have no idea how to use them or if anything is better than the Creative program. Can anyone give me a quick (and simple) explanation of the VSC, etc and how to use them? Maybe a reference to a tutorial somewhere on how to install and use?
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Hi RedFooDog,
Since you have a 64-bit operating system, the VSC/DXi will not work (it is only 32-bit compatible). This leaves you with the Coyote Wave Table softwynth unless you purchase another program that has a 64-bit compatible soft synth (e.g. Coyote Forte or Cakewalk Music Creator that are both available at PG Music).
To be honest, I'd imagine that the sound that you're getting from the Yamaha synth is superior to any of these soft synths.
Regards,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hello Noel. Would have answered sooner but I stopped by your songu site and got side tracked listening to your songs. I enjoyed listening and for what it's worth, you have my canary's seal off approval too. His cage is right behind me and he was singing his little heart out listening to your music.
As I posted, I'm pretty much of a dunce when it comes to creating songs with synths and all the other stuff you guys use so I just rely on BIAB and my VL70M. If my imagination is correct, if I installed Coyote the sound card would switch to the Coyote sounds and I would have to unplug the WX from the VL70 and somehow connect it to the sound card?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Red,
A lot of this is going to depend on what you want to do.
A software synth is just that, a synthesizer in software, instead of hardware like the VL70m. If I recall correctly, the VL70m is either monophonic or duophonic, i.e., it will only play one or two notes at a time.
The softsynths that you have talked about are polyphonic, and also multitimbral. That means they can play a multitude of notes (28 minimum for the General MIDI Standard) and can also play on multiple MIDI channels, usually up to 16 channels. Each channel may be dedicated to a different sound, i.e., piano, acoustic bass, drum set, jazz guitar, etc.
If you are not using a MIDI synthesizer as your output, then you may not need any of these synths. If you're using Real Tracks for all of your backing tracks, the soft synth isn't needed.
However, not everyone uses all Real Tracks all the time, so you may wish to have something like a string sound, which I don't think there's any Real Tracks for...yet. For that, you do want a synthesizer.
Getting the best quality synth is what it's all about. There are a load of free DXi or VSTi synths which can be downloaded, but Band In a Box usually likes to see a General MIDI compatible synth. Normally the VSTi or DXi synths, at least for the better ones, are a single instrument, and BIAB won't like that, however, you can use them in Real Band with better results.
My fave, inexpensive, Software Synth is the Roland TTS-1. It works with a 64 bit OS, is included in the Roland Music Creator package. Once you install it on your computer, you can call it up from within Band In A Box, or Real Band. The outputs will go through your Fatal1ty card. I might also recommend that instead of the Aux in that you use the Line In on the card, but that's up to you.
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!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Quote:
you have my canary's seal off approval too
That's a first for me! I'm honored  Thank you for listening to my songs, too!
I don't run a hardware synth because I'm happy with the VSC/DXi soft synth so I'm not sure if you'd need to disconnect anything. I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't. Just leave it turned off. Also, you wouldn't need to plug anything into your soundcard as those connections would all be done internally when you select the Coyote Wavetable.
Don't be afraid to have a play around. Just take a note of where things are. What I do is to use "All Programs >> Accessories >> Snipping tool" and capture screen shots of my settings. I then paste these into a document (save it) so that I can return to what original settings I had if I need to. The Snipping Tool makes saving this sort of information an awful lot quicker than writing everything down.
All the best,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 47
Enthusiast
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OP
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Quote:
Red,
A lot of this is going to depend on what you want to do.
A software synth is just that, a synthesizer in software, instead of hardware like the VL70m. If I recall correctly, the VL70m is either monophonic or duophonic, i.e., it will only play one or two notes at a time.
The softsynths that you have talked about are polyphonic, and also multitimbral. That means they can play a multitude of notes (28 minimum for the General MIDI Standard) and can also play on multiple MIDI channels, usually up to 16 channels. Each channel may be dedicated to a different sound, i.e., piano, acoustic bass, drum set, jazz guitar, etc.
If you are not using a MIDI synthesizer as your output, then you may not need any of these synths. If you're using Real Tracks for all of your backing tracks, the soft synth isn't needed.
However, not everyone uses all Real Tracks all the time, so you may wish to have something like a string sound, which I don't think there's any Real Tracks for...yet. For that, you do want a synthesizer.
Getting the best quality synth is what it's all about. There are a load of free DXi or VSTi synths which can be downloaded, but Band In a Box usually likes to see a General MIDI compatible synth. Normally the VSTi or DXi synths, at least for the better ones, are a single instrument, and BIAB won't like that, however, you can use them in Real Band with better results.
My fave, inexpensive, Software Synth is the Roland TTS-1. It works with a 64 bit OS, is included in the Roland Music Creator package. Once you install it on your computer, you can call it up from within Band In A Box, or Real Band. The outputs will go through your Fatal1ty card. I might also recommend that instead of the Aux in that you use the Line In on the card, but that's up to you.
Gary
Hello Gary and thank you for the explanation. I think the light finally came on here. If I've figured this out correctly the VL70M generates it's own sounds and the sound card merely passes the sounds through to the computer. BIAB however will use the synth sounds in the Creative Card or another synth such as the Roland. I'm also going to guess that the Roland synth might be better than the Creative card?
Also, the only line in on the sound card is for a mic so the only option is to plug the VL70M into the Aux In ports.
BTW. Many years ago (1960) I was stationed here in Moses Lake and played drums with a little combo. Had a bass player by the name of Tom Curran (not sure of the spelling) who worked for Boeing. Any possibility you might be related?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Red, You are correct. The VL70M generates its own sounds. Make sure you check out these two pages: http://www.nortonmusic.com/vl70-m_turbo.htmlhttp://www.nortonmusic.com/VL70-m.htmlThe outputs of the VL70M do go through the inputs of the sound card, and therefore into your computer. There, it can be saved as a digital .wav file. If the Creative card does have a built in synth, you can select that. Earlier Audigy and Live cards also had the ability to use 'Sound Fonts', but I don't know about the later cards. Sound Fonts are usually better sounding sample sets. If your card has the ability to use them, it's a good thing. You can also find free VSTi plug ins that will accept Sound Fonts. The VSC, Coyote Forte, and TTS all send their outputs to whatever is selected as the default Windows sound output. That can be the Creative card, or an on-board sound chip, or an USB audio device. As to Tom Curran, I don't believe so. We are native to New Jersey. 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!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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OP
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Thanks once again Gary. I remember "sound fonts" in previous Creative cards but never messed around with them.
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