Question for Musicians

[holloway]

Well here's one for rexx, panda etc.


I've got a copy of Garritan Personal Orchestra, a sample library, which comes with something called "Kontakt player". What I want to know is, how do I use it? I assume I need a separate notation application or something, but I have absolutely no idea what to do- my music making knowledge ends at Guitar Pro and editing in Sonar.

 

[Lene]

Your assumption is right. Unfortunately I have no idea what Guitar Pro is...can you post a screenshot of it?

 

[Buster]

Your assumption is right. Unfortunately I have no idea what Guitar Pro is...can you post a screenshot of it?

http://www.guitar-pro.com/en/index.php

And I, unfortunately, have no solution. sorry. :s

 

[Elijah von Bose]

I'm afraid Guitar Pro only uses itself, and is no good for composing things other than MIDIs. (I love Guitar Pro)

You should download the demo of FL Studio - it can use the Kompakt player VSTi. If you wish, you can PM me all further questions in this regard. I'll get you set up.

 

[Anonymous]

guitar pro is a midi sequencer. sonar, however, is a vst host - and what you need is a vst host, so you're pretty much set. load it up in sonar and you should be good to go.

 

[holloway]

Guess I'll have to dig it out then. But just fmi, what host does eveyone else use/ is there a really/small one available?

It's just Sonar is a bit of a bitch to use.

 

[Anonymous]

if you're looking for RIDICULOUSLY EASY TO USE then i'd go with FL. pretty much everyone including myself (though i'm getting more intro trackers and stuff like renoise) uses it. horrible layout/skin though, and no staff notation - just piano roll and step sequencer. the fact that you can't save in the demo and that it costs $140USD+ for it to serve really any purpose whatsoever is pretty lame too, but for an entry-level DAW you really can't beat it.

i'm positive there are smaller hosts out there, likely free, but none that i can name offhand that might be good. if you used linux i'd recommend Rosegarden, but iirc it's KDE-only and still doesn't quite compare to most windows DAWs.

 

[holloway]

I'm sure I can get it at a student discount or something

 

[Fallofthetyrant]

You can get Cubase SL
http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/0318377/details.html
Worth the price if you are serious about composing.

 

[holloway]

Ok, I got it all set up, made a few things THEORETICALLY and all is good, except...

The sound is fucking awful. I've come to the conclusion it's probably because I don't have a dedicated soundcard on the machine (yet) but have tried various sample rates to no avail. The piano sound that goes over the top is fine, but the corresponding samples come out fuzzy and horrible. If Kontakt had a visible output function, I could try and see if it was just the fact it's doing it in realtime, but I may have to try another VST host to test that.

Edit: Also, may I ask the difference between a "dry" and "wet" audition?

 

[Anonymous]

lol cubase

Ok, I got it all set up, made a few things THEORETICALLY and all is good, except...

The sound is fucking awful. I've come to the conclusion it's probably because I don't have a dedicated soundcard on the machine (yet) but have tried various sample rates to no avail. The piano sound that goes over the top is fine, but the corresponding samples come out fuzzy and horrible. If Kontakt had a visible output function, I could try and see if it was just the fact it's doing it in realtime, but I may have to try another VST host to test that.

Edit: Also, may I ask the difference between a "dry" and "wet" audition?

your soundcard sucks, yo. get a new one, or dig around in the options for asio latency and set it higher. i have a soundblaster x-fi and my asio latency goes mad low (like 11ms) without crackles for anything.

also dry/wet typically refers to EFFECTS and shit afaik. dry is the base input/output and wet is the output after effects rendering and stuff. there's probably more to it than that but.

 

[holloway]

Oh fuck yeah. Thanks tel. That sorted it.

 

[rexxzecutioner]

becca did all the work for me! yay