Hi all
Ive been writing music on Noteworthy for years and just been putting up with the tin can sound that come out of my PC. But I'm starting to get a bit more serious & I want the instruments to sound a bit better than my daughters barbie piano. Can someone recomend a good sound card? Can i get away with an integrated one on my hard drive? I'm not too sure how much I want to spend at this stage because I'll probably upgrade the PC within a year.
Thanks
I forgot to say, I'm on Windows XP Pro
I'm not really the person to answer this since I only use a laptop and use software synths with it which accept sound fonts, but what I would suggest is that anyone answering this may want to know about your upgrade intentions.
For example, if you upgrade to a PC that has a Win 7 operating system, that could have an impact on what is suggested now - unless of course, you mean that you will buy a sound card now and when you upgrade, you will also consider a new sound card at the time.
You should also say if your requirement is to use sound fonts or not, since this would alter which sound cards are suggested.
Try a good set of headphones. Borrow a pair if needed.
If you have a good MIDI keyboard, try routing through it.
These are likely to work if you upgrade beyond XP.
You might look into external sound cards. Many of them provide excellent sound, and since they just plug into a USB port you can transfer them easily to another machine. It's difficult to find any sound card that supports sound fonts these days, though, and it is necessary to use sound fonts if you want to get really good sound from MIDI files. If this is your problem, you are best advised to look into software synths. (Given the generally poor state of stock computer sound systems, you might still want to get an external card.)
These are some ways to improve the sound:
1. Install a Soft Synth.
A software synthesizer with built in samples such as Yamaha's SyXG range which will supply better sound via the audio on your sound device.
(I can help with an SYXG synth for XP but not if you upgrade).
2. Use soundfonts
If your soundcard supports soundfonts (mostly Creative soundcards) you can install soundfonts which are portable samples.
You could add a Creative X-Fi Extreme Gamers card to your XP system but NOT the Audio version.
How this card is supported in Win 7 I have no idea (Check the Creative web site).
3. Use a good quality external keyboard.
Direct the sound output via a MIDI or USB cable to a keyboard with built-in quality sounds (Roland, Korg etc.).
Operating system independent.
4. Use an external synth module.
Direct the sound output via a MIDI or USB cable to an external synth module like the Ketron SD2.
Operating system independent.
5. Use a sound font player like Synthfont or SyFon1 - suggested earlier.
FREE solution! (Check the Synthfont web site for compatibility with Win 7).
Requires a virtual MIDI cable (see below).
6. Use a sample library with a VST player.
The sound output is processed internally by routing the MIDI messages through a software player such as Kontakt 2 or Aria Player accessing a sample library like Garritan Personal Orchestra or Jazz & Big Band samples.
Requires a virtual MIDI cable (like MIDI-OX or loopBe).
The last should give the best result.
For example the JABB library contains an array of brass instrument mute samples (Cup, Straight, Harmon etc) and various articulations (legato, staccato etc.) as well as additional instruments not found in the General MIDI set.
Some of the key switching may be difficult with NWC and dynamics use CC1 by preference.
I personally use soundfonts on the X-Fi card with XP.
But playback enhanced MIDI files via Aria Player and the Garritan Jazz and Big Band Library.
I don't use NWC for scoring or playback.
If I can help - let me know.
Barry Graham
Melbourne, Australia
If you are staying with Windows XP then a Creative SB Audigy SE sound card is inexpensive and offers good sounds so long as you couple it to good speakers. ( or good quality headphones) Normal PC speakers are quite inadequate.
With this card you can install alternative sound fonts such as the extensive range avai1able from
http://www.hammersound.net/
However if you want to upgrade to Windows 7 you will have to be very careful to ensure that the Creative sound card selected has Sound Font Bank capabilities and is compatible with Windows 7
Tony