Nigel, once you go down the software synth route, I can't help; others here will. But I'll just comment on your comment that you had an Edirol SD20. So did I. It really wasn't bad at all; for anyone not recognizing the name, it used the Roland sound set. The bigger brothers of this were the Edirol SD80, which I used for years, and the SD90 which Notes used. The sound set was only a little better (and the 90 handled audio; the 20 and 80 were just MIDI synths). I then made the next moves up, to the Roland Fantom and now to the Integra-7. But they are basically just improvements to that old SD-20, which was an improvement to the old 8080.

I also use a hardware MIDI synth, for the reasons Bob gave. I'm a composer and arranger, and I don't want to be bogged down by the computer. The hardware synth just works. No foolin' needed.


BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors