[LAU] Hardware synths

[lanas]

Le Mardi, 4 Décembre 2007 12:26:18 -0500,
"Michal Seta" <mis at artengine.ca> a écrit :

> That particular patch (that Ianas finds so rich) can be heard here:
> http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/ProKeys88-main.html
> 
> demo patch number 12.
> 
> To me it sounds like strings samples with slow attack through
> chorus+reverb and a bit of low pass filtering.
> So I think that all the talk about swsynths vs. hwsynths is irrelevant
> as this particular instrument seems to be sample-based.  I guess it
> could very easily be achieved with fluidsynth (loaded with a decent
> soundfont) and optionally jack-rack with a couple of LADSPA plugins.
> 
> I really don't see what the fuss is all about.

Of course, the evaluation of a sound has to do with its context.  The
demo (same as on the keyboard itself) is not very good as far as you
cannot hear much silence, so to speak.  Not that the sound is bad.  But
if you blow through a trumpet as in a fanfare, there are much less
chances for you to experience the full range of the instrument.  The
snippet I've recorded gives a mellower chance to the sound. 

Could it be that any cheap sound, if played dynamically enough, will
sound good ?  

As for the hardware synth, obviously, the ProKeys88 is not a V-Synth or
an Oberheim Xpander.  It is a soft synth and as such its sound are
candiates to be replicated on a PC, given enough motivation to do so,
obviously.  As it stands now, I did not come across such a rich sound
in the Linux world (am not using Windows) yet.  

Could it be that a sound can be evaluated simply by sustaining for some
moments single notes here and there on the keyboard instead of playing
anything that resembles a song ?

Cheers.