Hi everyone,<br><br>Just a quick poll of opinion - I&#39;m thinking of buying a cheap rompler - Roland JV-1080 or Proteus 2000. I kind of think that the things these offer should be possible with software, but beyond getting some soundfonts, I&#39;m not really sure if this is true. Problems I see with the purely computer based approach is all the samples I have found so far (admittedly only looking at what&#39;s available free) is not really anywhere near what is available in these kind of hardware modules. Sure the size of samples etc. available now is much larger, but the musicality and tweakability/ synthesis options are not so much there (although possible I guess).<br>
<br>So, am I wrong?<br><br>What I would be interested in is:<br><br>1) Decent collections of samples (soundfonts or whatever) that are professional standard (i.e. up to the quality of Roland/Korg/Emu) covering a variety of &quot;bread and butter&quot; type sounds - orchestral, keyboard, piano, synth. I am happy to pay for them - but if the overall price goes over 100GBP, I think I am probably better off with the hardware option..<br>
2) Thoughts - soundfonts vs. gigs vs. ? and what software to play them in Linux? Any samplers that also have synthesis options - resonant filters/ envelopes etc? I guess I know about things like linuxsampler and fluidsynth, but are there any other more complex options? <br>
3) Lastly - any off topic suggestions about decent hardware ROMplers/ synths - opinions about the JV-1080 vs. Proteus 2000 vs. ? from those who have used them..<br><br>Best wishes,<br><br>James<br>