Can any softsynth replace my XP30 yet?

Any ideas?

I'm looking to part with my XP30 in favor of some kind of softsynth sampler.

Can Halion, Sampletank or Kontakt do a good job?

If you just need to slim down, get a SonicCell with an expansion card .

It's not so much that they can replace it - while I'm sure the libraries will kick the XP30's ass in terms of realism, I find that it saves me a lot of grief that I don't have to load up any sounds, and that any small variations don't need to be programmed as they're usually in there as various presets anyway.

And I still like the XP's Rhodes variations on the Kot60&70s card a lot - better than the ones that came with Kontakt 2. The Orchestral card however, is easily topped by the Kontakt VSL.

If I had to replace those sounds I'd have to get dedicated VSTs for everything (B4, Scarbee/Lounge Lizard, Garritan, etc.) or go with an all-in-one library like the SampleTank you mentioned - but I find the quality of the preset programming higher on the XP-30 than on most software. At least speaking about Kontakt's default library - parts can replace it, other parts don't, and SampleTank gave me a lot of crap during installation of the "free" version - batteries weren't included, so to say, and getting it to work was tedious. I assume the full version throws everything on your harddrive the first time the way it should be done, but sorry, no longer interested.

If chewing out a software mfg for delivering a hard-to-use or just stupid UI would cause them to change it, I'd gladly spend a month complaining to each and every one of 'm. Few use a sensible user interface; apparently "hey, I know Photoshop because look how I put 3 lensflares in this webcam picture of my cat" counts as "being an expert in usability".

Has Roland announced a price for SonicCell yet?

I wanted to use the money I would get for the XP30 for the software and not have to fork over more in the process.

As said, it depends what you want. With realism based things the right Kontakt/Giga libraries pretty much beat any synth hardware, but at the expense of speed as you need to wait some seconds for big libraries to load up.. This will become less of an issue as 4GB+ of ram becomes standard on music PC's though, so you can load bigger things into ram and switch instantly.

If you want a mix of good quality and speedy switching between presets though, the choice for alternatives is smaller than you'd think. I'm not a big fan of Sampletank. I do think Steinberg Hypersonic 2 is as good as many hardware romplers and has a nice mix of real/synth stuff (Although more limited engine editing). That's the one I'd personally recommend. Of course there's the Korg Wavestation/M1 plugins, but they are somewhat limited for real sounds these days, being based on synths from the late 80's/early 90's. Others to check out would be EMU's Emulator X with banks like Proteus X, Luxonix Ravity/Purity and Wusikstation. ReFX Nexus is essentially a rompler too, although focused on synth/dance. It's very good if you're after those sorts of sounds. Otherwise there's many decent free soundfonts on the net and you can use those with one of many free samplers that can load soundfonts. RGC sfz comes to mind.

Ok, so what's the consensus?

Would any of you get rid of a XP30 in favor of one of the softsynths mentioned here?

I already on Korg's Legacy Collection - Digital Edition.

My 2 cents: If you want a comparable (actually I think it is much better) quality to the XP-30, you don't have to go for Kontakt or Giga studio.

There are several soft romplers that are light on your PC, for example:

(1) Cakewalk Dimension Pro: http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/DimensionPro/default.asp

(2) Wusik wusikstation: http://www.wusik.com

(3) reFX Nexus: http://www.refx.net/?page=Nexus

Best.

Is there any valuable Orchestral softsynth availbale that is light on the PC?

I still use an XP-60 (which is identical to the XP-30 except has an onboard sequencer) occasionally, although I do find myself using it more and more as a top-tier controller than anything else. I think the XP bread-and-butter presets are pretty darn good...the clavs are good, the rhodes presets are decent and with the expansions you're looking at some pretty nice patches when all is said and done. The only trouble is anyone and their mother can spot a Roland piano patch from a mile away...I guess in short I'm saying if you can hold onto the XP-30 and still go the soft route I'd opt for that. The XP-series was solid and I got a lot of years out of it.

Dimension Pro comes with Garritan Pocket Orchestra, a downgraded version of Garritan Personal Orchestra (http://www.garritan.com/) So you may wanna give it a try.

Definitely Dimension Pro IMHO.

Up too 4 sample layers per patch (can be digi-cyclic or multisamples per layer).

Each Layer (or Element in DimPro terms has.....)

1. Multibreakpoint envelopes for Amplitude, Filter, Pan, Pitch and Resonance

2. Indepented LFO's for Amp/Filter/Res/Pan/Pitch

19 LFO shapes in total with variable tempo sync as an option for each

+/- Polarity Modulation for each destination

3. Independent Insert Effect - (some 22 effects per element)

4. Independent Parametric ( 3 totally seperate Eq bands) per element

5. Independent Filter Per Element - 16 Filter Types

6. Independent Amp Simulator/Overdrive per element

7. Independent BitCrusher/Lo-fi effect per element ( can use either or both)

8. Two Master FX busses with independent Send & Return per element

9. Can use a combination of samples and impulse responses ala waveguides per element (some of the multisampled grand piano's use a combo of multisamples and impulse responses per element for body resonance and the like so it does combine physical modelling and multi-sampling in the one engine).

10.Loads mono and stereo rex files and has drag and drop support of corresponding rex midi file to host from the Dim Pro interface itself.

Has a huge sample Library not just the Garritan Pocket Library but a very comprehensive string library some superb expansion packs and lots of very good pads, ambiences and film score/epic ambient type sounds.

Some 8 GIG sample content in total with the expansion packs.

Personally I use it in everything I compose .

It sounds great.

Has a killer synthesis engine.

Pretty good CPU use.

Minimal if any aliasing in HQ Mode.

Similar voice structure to a JV/XV synth engine etc etc ....

never sell hardware...

C#minor and U&I - thank you very much for your input and thoughts that are worthy of consideration.

On the other hand I found a worrying compariosn to GPO under this link:

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1009474

So, I still leave the case open for investigation. Actually, some third party orchestral sounds for Dimension Pro could save the day.

I wonder how light would soon comming Garritan GEM be on the CPU&RAM co., since it loks like they would have all the orchestral sounds in affordable package.

Well, "worrying" is in the eye of the beholder. I am sure the number and quality of the GPO within DimPro is light years ahead of what you have in the XP30 in terms of quality and number, and I do have an idea, I have the JV1080 with the 1st orch. expansion.

I do not play with romplers that much (just synth 99% of the time), but DimPro looks very interesting. Just look at how it was upgraded, twice, so fast and FOR FREE!!!! Plus, how many products from a big soft/hardware company get this kind of support? By the way, Ren

Purity sounds much more like a rompler. I like the sound much better than Dimension PRO, which sounds cheap to my ears even with 8GB of data.

That is a Joke Right I mean seriously :o :o :o .

I played with Purity a while back - wasn't too impressed.

I'm probably going to get DimPro since it will only cost me $99 as a registered Project 5 user.

I'm thinking I'll try trading in the XP30 for Logic Express at my local GC and see what else he'll throw in for me.

reFX's Nexus does intrigue me, but there seems to be quite a bit of controversy in the KVR forums over it. Almost reminds me of the Oasys crap we had to deal with around here in the last two years...

controversy? Why ?

My main dissapointment with soft romplers is price vs. features. Most off the time you get a tiny bit of control over them and pay a heft price for a glorified soundfont.

Nexus sounds realy good I think as far as a soft romplers go. I dont know how programmable it is since I can't be bothered to download the demo.. which is a pain in the ass.

Yeah, I'd be interested to read about that. Didn't a bunch of seasoned sound designer veterans protest because their job was rendered obsolete?

As for the Nexus people; those who desperately need it because they can't program their way out of a wet paper bag are the same people who're going to be in trouble if too many others already made songs with those sounds; they'll have to wait for a new expansion to come out.

I dont see why people would think they are out of a job... somebody still needs to make samples and sequences that go into soft samplers / romplers.

I tend not to use them for their lack of programmability.. Which is why most of my hardware is romplers, well ok really just the N5SR. I use it for the S+S. Since I sold my d550.. Anyway.. I would use a soft rompler, for the (gag) bread and butter sounds. I would buy nexus for exactly that.. but considering I also want the dance orchestra expnasion, given the overall cost, i've put it down a ways on my list.

Also the legacy digital collection with all expnasions cards for both synths is 150$ .. why not? in repsonse to the origiranl question..

I kind of agree + I think it's also a bit overpriced. What I like about DimPro is its tweakability, I'm a tweak freak I guess. Yet another option, it might not have the best samples around, but I think it's a good workhorse, Wusikstation for its price is a no brainer. I think anyone with a tight budget can't complain now

Already have it.

Just looking to replace the Roland rompler sound with something in software.

If you already have the legacy digital, what dont you like about it? Youre not going to be able to get the sounds per se in software form, you're going to have to compromise somewhere.. in terms of quality, I'd think the legacy collection or the proteus X desktop would be on par.. Nexus and other softsynths are superior in quality to the sound of the xp30..

The is no price or when it be in Shops yet only in Europe.

It is not even on RolandUS site.

But my guess is $600-700

Already have it. Just looking to replace the Roland rompler sound with something in software.

Before dumping hardware for a computer software solution don't forget that hardware synths have already put lots of real (instrumental) musicians out of work.

How long before the computer itself puts the human fiddling the software out of work too.

Support live music and buy lots of keyboards.

Before dumping hardware for a computer software solution don't forget that hardware synths have already put lots of real (instrumental) musicians out of work. How long before the computer itself puts the human fiddling the software out of work too. Support live music and buy lots of keyboards.

Huh???? :freak:

Hardware synth/workstations are also computers by the way.