As technology marches on with the passage of time, I find it's time to retire my old computer. It will be a difficult process because I will be forced to give up my hard-working SB16 card with a Turtle Beach Rio daughterboard. Even though it's going on nine years old now, I haven't really heard many MIDI samples that had such realistic quality. Well, OK, the piano patches were just barely passable, but many of the other instruments are great.

As much as I like the idea of, say, the Roland Sound Canvas or some other external MIDI sound module, I just can't decide if it's worth the money, especially if I can find a sound card with really good samples (and not just piano). I'm not averse to using soundfonts or anything, but the idea of scrounging up a decent set of patches for each instrument sounds way too time-consuming, to say nothing of expensive.

What would you all recommend?

Hi Matt,

I can't help you with the PC/soundcard route - it is something I have never really got into. However, on the hardware front, I have heard good things about the Roland sound modules (XV and JV series) - IIRC SteveY on this board owns one. Otherwise, the Korg Triton Rack is a nice unit.

Alternatively, you could look for something akin to what I use - a hardware sampler. I have used an Emu E4 Ultra for a number of years now and love it. With this one box and a keyboard I can create all the sounds for a piece of music, sequence it, mix it down, add effects, EQ & compression and create an audio file of the finished product. It never ceases to amaze me.

Emu do make sound modules as well, but I am not a fan. Most of them are geared to a particular type of music, mostly hip-hop and dance...

HTH

David