Wait for the TI is Too Long... I've Turned to the DARKSIDE!!

[Derek]

Well I?m sick of waiting for the TI to materialize? So I?ve turned to the darkside? YES soft-synths. Maybe turned is a strong word? after all there?s still room for a TI desktop in my rig

However, I?m not missing the Ti dream anymore because my Komplete 2 package arrives today. Komplete 2 is a software bundle that includes eleven separate programs in one massive package. So looks like I?ll be plenty busy trying to figure all those new programs out. To add to this I currently I have the Korg Legacy Collection (KLC), its up and running and it sound even better than it did when I first installed it. Turns out there have been a few revisions that really helped the responsiveness of the synths. I would dare to say it sounds perfect now.

This might be of interest to some here. My system is setup using two PCs, one for standalone synths the other for Cubase and VSTs. I?m not sure if anyone here is running a similar setup? However, if you are, you need to look into an application called MidiOverLan CP. It allows you to use your network interface card for MIDI. You can get up to 64 MIDI ports and 16 channels per port using this tiny software driver. Better still you can get all these ports and channels (1024 MIDI channels!) though one cable? Sweat! All this for $169. Not too bad. I was able to replace two M-Audio 8x8 hardware MIDI interfaces with this software. The icing on the cake is everything works perfectly. The company claims their driver has the lowest latency of any MIDI solution, hardware or software. I was skeptical but honestly it works fantastic? If you have two computers that you want to talk to one another via MIDI there is no way better than MidiOverLan CP. You can go to their website and download a fully working demo of their software. It works for 14 days? after that you have to pony up the $$$.

Well I must say I?m a bit in shock. I still can?t believe its all working so well and my Cubase SX3 is rock solid. In the past I would have scoffed at the idea of replacing real hardware synths with software. I was an early adopter of Propellerhead?s Reason? And I hated it so much that I swore off software synths. Well times have changed and these new soft-synths sound just as good and in many cases better than their hardware counterparts. If you are a hardware person such as me, you will need to make sure you have enough hardware MIDI controllers, so you can have that tactile feel of knobs, buttons and sliders. Provided you do, the soft-synths really don?t feel any different than using hardware.

Yes there is still room in my rig for a TI, but I?m not in dire need of one anymore? (As I type this last line I am in disbelief) The TI will merely add to my already vast sound palette 8O 8O