Regarding software based synths.

Getting a good piano is possible. The better sounding piano's will cost a bit.

However......

Sonar's Sound center has good pianos... approx $70 +/- for the DAW and the sound center with the piano add on pack. Not bad sounding pianos and that's the "all in" price plus you get a basic sonar DAW in the process. You can hear the cakewalk steinberg piano on my song Fool's Errand about 2/3 the way through the song where I'm playing very simple quarter notes and the piano is the only thing playing.


Kontakt: has some pretty nice pianos in it. A couple hundred dollars gets you in the game.

Ivory: dedicated to pianos and a bit pricey unless you are piano player specifically and looking for a really nice acoustic piano.

Stay away from TTS and Coyote and GM midi pianos. They sound ok, nothing great, but lower quality.

Guitar synths: In my humble opinion, there are no really good realistic sounding guitar synths. Yeah, they are nicely sampled and sound good....BUT.... they are stiff and have very little articulation played straight out of the box so to speak. Real Strat is one that I would recommend only if you are a keyboard player and can play the keys really well while manipulating the wheel and using other lower notes as controllers with your left hand at the same time you are playing the melody with the right. It's a skill set you need to learn to do it right. Without the articulations in the playing, any guitar player will nail it immediately as midi. I have heard a keyboard player using Real Strat over in the Cakewalk songs forum. He is quite good and the part was very hard to tell that it was a synth. In the end, with a very close listen (several times through), it was evident that the part was not a guitar but in fact a synth. It did sound pretty good.


I know that if you're looking for a nice piano sound (and guitar) you most likely want to play the parts yourself with a midi keyboard. I'd be using the real band piano and guitar tracks if I wasn't able to play the instruments myself. They are very realistic, sound good and have articulations in them. So unless it's a specific melody you need played, use the RT's.

If you do need a specific melody, then pick up one of the better piano synths and ..... well.... good luck with a guitar synth. I'd call on a buddy who plays to lay the occasional guitar melody line you specifically want.

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www.herbhartley.com
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