Quote:
Originally posted by Undertoad
What would be the minimum setup for MIDI to get a decent range of sounds and especially a full set of drum sounds/samples? Does one need a dedicated sampler nowadays or can most PCs serve that task?
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A PC is going to work better than a sampler for most tasks. It’s much easier to map and edit samples with a mouse and screen vs. buttons and LCD banners. The only reason to use a hardware sampler vs. a PC is for live, where you need the bulletproofnessocity of a hardware box vs. a sometimes-unstable PC. I use the EXS24 software sampler for most of my drum programming and Gigasampler for orchestral. I use the Korg Triton sampling for live, as a redundancy for the laptop.
As far as minimum setups, that’s a really open ended question. There are so many programs and drum libraries that sound great and are fairly easy to use. I’m not really up on most of the entry-level stuff, so I’m probably not the best guy to ask. For mac, I know Apple’s Garage Band works well – I’m expecting the Logic Express to be really a great value. I’m not hip on the PC side of the equation.
For straight drum libraries, Spectrasonics makes something called the Stylus that has like 2 gigs of samples, and sounds amazing. I use BFD from Fxpansion for acoustic sounding drums. I spent som time editing a drum library for Russ Miller that’s coming out on Spectrasonics soon – it has some really interesting material on it.
Anyone else have a better answer?