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Welcome to the artissimo.gr pages of News ! |
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English Language : Music Technology : News : Autumn 2006 
Sunday 1 October 2006 : Looking for Software Synths - Part I |
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Information Well, as a user of Sonar 2 and Synful Orchestra (I also use an EMU Virtuoso 2000 for the classical sounds) I began to search for jazz sounds, complete drum sets and the likes. I also had an eye open for good General Midi Sets. Always talking about either DX instruments or something similar. Looking for software synths, I focused on 3 products : EASTWEST "Quantum Leap COLOSSUS" and Native Instruments "BANDSTAND" for General Midi Sets, and Garritan "JAZZ and BIG BAND" for Jazz Songs. Here is a very quick reference :  Notice : this is a mostly subjective review. Don't trust it more than you should for your own purchases ... (review written in Autumn of 2006) Quantum Leap " COLOSSUS" : Here is the link to the COLOSSUS information page. European price is about 600 euros. Includes 32 Gbytes of samples and a 2-Gig piano ! A special hardware rack-mount version also exists. It uses the engine of Native Instruments’ Kompakt sampler (this is the 8-part multitimbral version of Kontakt - watch the spelling! ). It is possibly feasible to load the sounds of Colossus on a Kontakt 1.5 or higher sampler for better functionality (if you already own one of course). Runs as VST, DX etc. Needs a lot of RAM amount. You can also download "DFD" (Direct from Disk) extension for use with it (free of charge). Well, the sample songs of Colossus didn't impress me that much (especially if you think of the sample library size) . The actual instruments I need didn't sound well or didn't sound at all in the demos. Maybe the demos should be created another way to make our lives easier. Native Instruments "BANDSTAND" : Here is the link to the BANDSTAND information page. European price is about 185 euros. Over 2 GB of samples. Stand-alone module based on the Kontakt 2 sample engine. Also works as VST, DX etc. Needs good RAM amount.  Well, demos were neither bad nor especially impressive. Surely they were usable and good enough for the price. I still could not find enough demos of the instruments I am interested in. Garritan "JAZZ and BIG BAND" : Here is the link to the JAZZ 'n' BIG BAND information page. European price is about 220 euros. Over 50 individual instruments (though library size not available). Based on the Kontakt 2 sample engine. Works as standalone or VST, DX etc. Runs in RAM and needs a lot of ! Demos did sound very well and also quite natural. Library is full of features and the price is very good. Product Recommended !
Conclusion : well, I am still thinking about COLOSSUS and BANDSTAND, but, I will definitely buy JAZZ 'n' BIG BAND. (**)
(**) : Although Kontakt 2 is supposed to run on Windows XP platforms only, the demo runs smoothly on my Windows 2000 Professional machine ! |
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