Quote:

If as an example you took your user submission on the Ketron site and played it through the Mobile Canvas do you think it would sound as good as it does on the Ketron.




Terry,

I like to think that I can use my hard-earned MIDIOT skillz to good advantage on either one!

There may be a case where the songfile for each may need to be tweaked to match the chosen device and IMO is only normal use of the thing.

IMO the thing cannot be as simple as the comparison you desire, and for good reason.

Something like that kind of test would only be fair if you invoked a GM patch set from each synth - but then you would only be comparing the rather limited sounding GM banks in each, neglecting those many UPPER bank patches available.

The GM bank I typically use just for screening MIDI files, listening to downloaded files "as-is" in order to see if the songfile has merit. If it does, I'M aoon replacing a lot if not all of the GM patches with patches selected from the Upper Banks of the SD-2.

For example, the typical trumpet section does not have four identical sounding trumpet players in it, as the
GM bank would impose. So substituting the Trumpet patch for three of them can yield a more realistic sounding section.

Or perhaps the Clean Guitar GM patch does not have a sound that is as desirable as one of the electric guitar patches on one of the Upper Banks. Or keyboards, or wind instruments or what have you.

As for the two hardware MIDI units you are talking about, both are quite nice and both feature newer technology and samples. I am using the SD2 (and SD4) here (plus a shelf full of older MIDI boxes and keyboards as well), I don't have hands on experience with the other one you mention. If I ever got one, I'd likely take the exact same approach with it, which would involve experimenting with the Upper Bank patches and such, until such time as the learning curve for the new set of sounds allows me to be able to select those patches with some modicum of knowledge as to what to do and when.

The idea that one can audition two synths with only one MIDI file, or a handful, doesn't take these issues into account and therefore IMO doesn't really have merit, excepting, of course, those conditions where you might pit a much less expensive GM bank against one of the higher end synths such as the two you are interested in.

All that said, I DO like my Ketron SD2 a lot, for reasons of sound quality plus its small form factor, that wee box travels easily in the laptop case and takes up very little real estate when using it in live performance. And it sounds purty good if you do your part of the MIDIOT thang well enough.

Your perceived issues won't get you there, my friend.

The only thing that will get you "there" is for you to knuckle down and get started in working up those songs with BiaB. Heck, I often use the VSC DXi synth (on the XP laptop) with the same songfiles when called upon to perform the "hit and run" gig - and the songs played still sound good enough.

USE WHAT YOU HAVE.

When the day comes where you might pick up a better sounding hardware MIDI synth - of any type or brand - the songs you have created already should sound okay using those same songfiles, or at the worst case, you may decide to revisit those files and tweak a few of the patches to run the Upper Banks. Neither situation is time lost.


--Mac

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