Originally Posted By: fiddler2007
<...snip...>Most acoustic instruments (and old electric Fender guitars?) have changing overtones (harmonics) and a resonance frequency belonging to the physical built property of the instrument itself. Hard to capture in a digital VST environment. <...>

Agreed.

The software synth has to create every note, every nuance of expression, every variation in harmonics, every tonal color change, from scratch by 'doing the math'. This taxes the CPU of the computer. And since software synths need to cut corners to reduce CPU drag, this might be a good case for external synthesizers.

Hardware synths can have the properties of each note at each volume stored in RAM so all the changing tonal colors are available instantly with no extra load on the computer's CPU.

Better synths have more realistic programming. Some hardware piano synths even add the sympathetic vibrations of the wood of the piano and the not played strings in a manner dependent on how hard the notes are played, and do it so realistically that it satisfies even finicky piano players.

A good synth will change the quality of the sample with the pitch, that's pretty standard.

A better synth will change the harmonics, brightness, attack, and other properties with volume. This requires a lot more CPU time on a software synth, but a hardware synth can have this pre-programmed.

So with the better synth, playing the guitar string with more velocity (volume) will give a bigger noise burst at the attack, a brighter sound that gets damped over time, and a longer sustain.

I have a synth that when playing a sax patch, and 'scooping' a note up to pitch as is often done, the sound brightens with the scoop. It also changes the brightness with vibrato so it sounds more a sax is supposed to sound like.

All these things make the MIDI sounds more realistic. There are 128 continuous controllers http://www.nortonmusic.com/midi_cc.html many of which are there to add expression after the note has been attacked. They are your friends if your MIDI controller can send this data and your MIDI synth can receive it.

Now I admit, I've only tried about a half dozen software synths, but none of these could compare with the amount of expression and realism I could derive out of a good hardware synth. And the hardware synth does this with no extra load on the CPU and thus for all practical purposes, no latency.

That's why although I use RTs from time to time, I haven't abandoned MIDI.

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Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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