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Guys,

I've installed Windows 7 64 bit and now I've learned the hard way that the Roland Dxi synth will no longer work. I really want to avoid reinstalling Win 7 just for the 32 bit version.

I've downloaded and I'm evaluating the ForteDxi demo, but I'm so far very underwhelmed.. - the instruments that matter to me most for jazz music do not sound good with this synth - string bass, acoustic piano, plus the ride cymbal drowns out everything else.

Am I missing something? The Microsoft wavetable synth sounds better than this.

Any configuration steps I could have missed? I'm on BB 2007.5

Thanks.



It's funny you would say this especially the acoustic jazz stuff. When the Forte was introduced a few years ago is created a minor sensation around here. There's a lot of jazzers here and most of us think it's pretty decent for the money especially the acoustic bass and piano. The piano is the Warren Trachman Steinway and it's not bad and I'm a pianist. It's by far the best bang for the buck. Naturally a lot of this depends on your personal taste and what kind of stuff you're working with. A lot of folks like the Roland TTS-1 but to me it's only slightly better than the old VSC DXi and the Forte blows both those away imho but it does have a lot of controls to play with.
I was just messing around with some midi's today and I was thinking about you while I was doing it just using the Forte and they still sound pretty good. I'm talking about straight ahead stuff like Tunisia, Green Dolphin, A Train, Chameleon, stuff like that and it for sure blows the Wavetable into the weeds. I'm wondering if it's a Win 7 thing, I'm still using XP. In another thread someone was talking about some hidden audio controls in Win 7, maybe that's it.
A lot of it depends on who's midi file you're using. I've downloaded hundreds but only kept a few, most are pure crap. If you're using a pro quality midi file it will sound pretty decent with the Forte unless you're comparing it to a $3,000 Kurzweil or Triton. Yes occasionally the ride cymbal is too loud depending on the mix but again, if you're dealing with downloaded files, somebody could have easily changed the velocities on the drum track because it sounded good on their Roland or whatever piece of equipment they made the midi file with. If it bothers you it only takes a few seconds to open up the piano roll on the drum track and highlight the cymbal, Eb I think it is and turn it down. Something else btw, every synth has it's own mix for drums. I have a bunch of different hardware and software synths and I always have to balance the drum kit between the different ones. One, the kick is too loud, the next one you can't hear the kick at all, etc. The big problem is always the kick, snare and ride cymbal. Getting those to mix right is a constant pia. The piano roll is your friend here.

Bob

Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.