looking to replace my kurzweil

[Alex D]

I been thinking of getting rid of my 2500xs and was wondering if there is something out there that has a engine comparable to V.A.S.T. I really like the v.a.s.t, it go pretty deep for a rompler(if that is the right term), but the rom numbers really put me off. So is there a rompler (I still like to sample) that has higher rom #'s, more poly, and has a v.a.s.t like engine?

[Altered Flesh]

There are no other romplers comparable to the Kurzwiel VAST engine. What do you mean by higher number roms? Presets? There are thousands upon thousands of presets available for free and commercially for the Kurz.

[Alex D]

 

Originally posted by Altered Flesh There are no other romplers comparable to the Kurzwiel VAST engine. What do you mean by higher number roms? Presets? There are thousands upon thousands of presets available for free and commercially for the Kurz.

 

 

 

I should of been more clear. I mean rom, read only memory. I have 3 rom blocks, that are only 8 megs each (well paino is 4). Where other companies have much larger Megs of rom. example with the 3 rom blocks (daughterboard, contempory and orchstra), the piano is only 4 megs the orch is 8 and compt is 8 that equals 20 megs of added rom megs. That seems very low compared to the triton extreme rom #s (megs) that is a standard 160 mb (megs). Really large difference and I would assume that the sound would be better, since it is a rompler and it is tied down by its Rom waveforms samples. Like a giga paino has a huge sample, and you can tell, it sounds great. But I'm not a soft guy, I like haredware. I'm still stuck in the past I guess, but I just like the feel of hardware.

 

once agin sorry for the mix up, and thanks for the reply. Man I really love vast, but I feel I'm missing out on the large Rom mb samples.

[jchas]

Don't get swayed by the numbers. If the 2500 does what

you want and sounds good to you then the amount of

memory it uses to accomplish that goal doesn't matter.

As Altered Flesh said, there are a myriad of sounds available

for the 2500. Search them out - load a lot of them - keep

the ones you really like. You're much better off with 100

usable sounds that you love than 50 usable sounds from

a library of 10,000. And a 4-meg sample can easilly sound

better than a 200-meg sample. It's the sound that matters,

not the numbers.

[Alex D]

right on, as for sounds I have the 30+ disk set for analog sounds. Anything else I get from the from the farm disk included with the rom block upgrades. I just figured since I played a giga paino (if you call it playing, it was a soft synth) and it sound night and day better then any of the other sample paino sounds, and since it use a giga byte sample, I would assume that a longer sample that didn't need to looped would sound better then a straight sample with no/ to very little sample looping (looping may not be the right word, but for you guys with sample playback synths should know what I mean).

 

Maybe I should step up to the 2600 then, ummmm?

 

anyone else think this is the best way to go, or is there really nothing like vast for a rompler/sample playback synth.

[radiospace]

I'd think the last thing you would want to do is "step-up" to a 2600, if your concerns are amount of sample memory. My understanding is that the 2600 is essentially the same as a 2500 loaded up with KDFX and all that jazz.

 

You're right that a larger amount of ROM can give you more detailed and lifelike sounds, though. That doesn't mean it always will: the piano that comes with Native Instruments Kontakt is probably several hundred megabytes, but to me sounds worse than the pianos found in the Motif and Triton keyboards...much smaller sample sizes, but put together with a lot more skill.

 

You should go play some Tritons, Motifs, and the like, and see if any of it sounds better to you. If you're just looking for a good piano sound maybe keep your 2500 and add a module like a Motif Rack. Unfortunately there really isn't any hardware IMO that can compete with Gigapiano. (Not even the P120! )

 

The best hardware I've heard in terms of the quality of the samples are the Motif ES and the Kurzweil PC2. The Motif ES has a pretty robust programming engine that isn't VAST but certainly would keep you busy.

[Alex D]

Originally posted by radiospace I'd think the last thing you would want to do is "step-up" to a 2600, if your concerns are amount of sample memory. My understanding is that the 2600 is essentially the same as a 2500 loaded up with KDFX and all that jazz. You're right that a larger amount of ROM can give you more detailed and lifelike sounds, though. That doesn't mean it always will: the piano that comes with Native Instruments Kontakt is probably several hundred megabytes, but to me sounds worse than the pianos found in the Motif and Triton keyboards...much smaller sample sizes, but put together with a lot more skill. You should go play some Tritons, Motifs, and the like, and see if any of it sounds better to you. If you're just looking for a good piano sound maybe keep your 2500 and add a module like a Motif Rack. Unfortunately there really isn't any hardware IMO that can compete with Gigapiano. (Not even the P120! ) The best hardware I've heard in terms of the quality of the samples are the Motif ES and the Kurzweil PC2. The Motif ES has a pretty robust programming engine that isn't VAST but certainly would keep you busy.

 

 

bingo, a rack, why didn't i think of that. I huess that why I lean on you guys every once in awhile. Great ideas and feedback, thanks very much.

 

oh ya, if I wanted to move up to the giga paino could I use a contoller to use it live or is just a studio tool?

[jchas]

You could certainly run the Giga-piano live as long as

you are carefull with the computer - they are not as

road worthy as a module or keyboard. You may also

want to run a high quality sound card as the output

since many stock cards may give you lesser sound

quality and higher noise floor.

As for modules, a lot has to do with your style of playing

as to which module would do best for you. I have

never compared my Kurzweil PC2x piano to a 2500,

but it kicks butt over my K2000, and my K2000 has 10,000

sounds to choose from.

I have A/B'd the PC2x piano to the Motiff, the Triton, the

Yamaha S80, S90, and a few others (not the P250 yet)

and for my style the PC2x wins hands-down. Your

mileage may vary. As radiospace said, give a bunch of

modules a try (at home if you can swing it with the local

music shops) to find what best suites your needs. I

would highly recommend the Kurz PC2r as one to try.

I recently picked one up on eBay (for those times that

I really don't want to lug the full sized PC2x along) and

got it for $475. It has all the sounds of the PC2x plus

the optional Orchestral ROM which is far and above the

Orchestral ROM in the K2000.

The nice part of going with modules is that one may have

15 or 20 sounds that you absolutely love (as well as

120 that you don't), but add another reasonably priced

module later and you can have the best sounds that

numerous manufacturers have to offer - all in one easy

to carry box.

[Yoozer]

jchas - offtopic maybe, but are you running Firefox or Mozilla? Your posts are formatted in such a way that they might fit exactly in the text box I'm typing in right now - for some odd reason it doesn't stretch as far as IE stretches it .