Originally Posted By: Guitarhacker
Cakewalk's Music Creator (MC) comes with TTS which really isn't a big improvement over what you have. I wouldn't buy MC for TTS. I would however, buy MC for Sound Center.

MC has the Cakewalk Sound Center (CSC) which is a sample synth and Cakewalk sells a number of add on sound libraries for $20 or so each. In addition it has other sound... bass, keys, pads and guitar synths in it. I've never used them so I can't say much from a personal experience thing.... but others use them in the Cakewalk forums and they do sound good.

CSC sounds really nice for the price. I have it and use it a lot for bass and piano when I need to do a custom midi part using a synth.

Another synth to consider is Native Instruments Kontakt. This one is more expensive but well worth every dollar. It also is a sampler and has a complete orchestra as well as a number of other things in it. If you can afford it, the NI Komplete set is an entire group of high quality synths. Pads, strings, sounds, instruments, drums, and more. Kontakt also has the distinction of being a professional quality synth. You can use it for TV & Film as well as Gaming scores. In addition, it has a very large and decent 3rd party aftermarket group of vendors who make unique sound libraries for it. I've picked up and used a few of these and they are awesome. Very realistic sounds all the way around with Kontakt.

Another option is the East/West libraries. Very high quality stuff, but not cheap. Again, worth every dollar. I also have one of the E/W library synths.

Those are my 3 recommendations and I own and use all 3.



I also have all three and agree with Herb. Kontakt is my go to sound source for most all of my sounds, although I do have and use others.

I would like to state that Kontakt is not a sampler for recording sounds: note there are some very good free sound samplers, just google/bing to find them. Kontakt is a sampler in the realm of taking sampled sounds, placing them on certain keys (turning them into an instrument) so you can play them with a MIDI controller. I just wanted to clear that up in case one was going to buy Kontakt to sample sounds.

Personally my choice for a beginner would by to get CSC, learn it then get Kontakt. East/West libraries are extremely good but they can be a little harder to set up and use, but YMMV. But by all means if you can afford all three these are the three to get, just be sure to budget more money for more sounds for them. All three have extra sounds/patches that you buy. Now you know why I am always broke!

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