onearmedbandit Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Hey everyone I used to be very active on this forum, years ago. It's nice to see it going strong Basically, I've got a pretty basic set up for both composing and recording and I've decided to splash out a bit on some new equipment. I'm actually perfectly happy with my composing and recording software (Sibelius and Cool Edit Pro respectively), but for hardware I've really no idea where to start. My main priorities are: 1. To have half-decent synthesized sounds (at the moment I use software-loaded sound fonts - they're a step up from General MIDI, but I know there's way, way better out there) 2. To be able to record with a jack lead (an XLR input would be a bonus) Would an external sound card be able to help with both of these? What sort of things do I need to consider? I guess I could stretch up to say £100 for this. If you have any suggestions I'd be really grateful! Oh and also... if you read this and think I really don't have a clue and need a basic education in this stuff, feel free to say so (politely!) and point me in the direction of a learning resource :) Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken320 Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 I'll give you three suggestions. 1. Go to Sweetwater.com and request a catalog of their products. But a hundred pounds won't buy much. They give good advice so don't be afraid to ask. 2. Garritan Personal Orchestra is not bad and it's in your price range. BUT... that's a whole different issue than your external sound card. It sounds like you want a sample library AND a sound card. 3. Get the book "The Guide to MIDI Orchestration," by Paul Gilreath. A very comprehensive book and easy to understand. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onearmedbandit Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 Thanks! Yeah, I think you're right - I do want both a sound card and a sample library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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onearmedbandit Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 22 hours ago, Ken320 said: I'll give you three suggestions. 1. Go to Sweetwater.com and request a catalog of their products. But a hundred pounds won't buy much. They give good advice so don't be afraid to ask. 2. Garritan Personal Orchestra is not bad and it's in your price range. BUT... that's a whole different issue than your external sound card. It sounds like you want a sample library AND a sound card. 3. Get the book "The Guide to MIDI Orchestration," by Paul Gilreath. A very comprehensive book and easy to understand. Good luck! Hi Ken, the Garritan Jazz & Big Band library looks like it might be very good for me (since that's mostly what I compose/arrange). Do you happen to know if it is compatible with Sibelius 3? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken320 Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 I don't know about version 3. I have version 7 and it allows for external sound sets. Does yours? You should upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onearmedbandit Posted November 9, 2016 Author Share Posted November 9, 2016 On 11/7/2016 at 7:06 AM, Ken320 said: I don't know about version 3. I have version 7 and it allows for external sound sets. Does yours? You should upgrade. I have 7 too but I really don't like composing on it. I usually use 3 to compose and then 7 to spruce the score up. Hmm, I must be able to find out somewhere if 3 accepts it. It certainly accepts other external sound sets like soundfonts and that sort of thing. Maybe I'll try posting on a Sibelius forum about that. What do you think of this? http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AudioBoxUSB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken320 Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 (edited) Sorry, I don't know anything about Soundfont. This is a video describing one use of how manual sound sets can be used on S7. Again, I don't know about S3. https://youtu.be/DozCPsME2E4 - The Prosonus has a lot of features for the price. The specs do not indicate some important audio metrics. And remember, you get what you pay for. That's why I referred you to Sweetwater. They can answer these questions for you. Generally speaking, if you're buying something without hearing it first, you should look for S/N (signal-to-noise ratio) 97db or better, and total harmonic distortion < 0.5 edit: I'm sorry. < 0.05 Edited November 9, 2016 by Ken320 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onearmedbandit Posted November 9, 2016 Author Share Posted November 9, 2016 20 hours ago, Ken320 said: Sorry, I don't know anything about Soundfont. This is a video describing one use of how manual sound sets can be used on S7. Again, I don't know about S3. https://youtu.be/DozCPsME2E4 - The Prosonus has a lot of features for the price. The specs do not indicate some important audio metrics. And remember, you get what you pay for. That's why I referred you to Sweetwater. They can answer these questions for you. Generally speaking, if you're buying something without hearing it first, you should look for S/N (signal-to-noise ratio) 97db or better, and total harmonic distortion < 0.5 edit: I'm sorry. < 0.05 Great, thank you very much for your advice Ken! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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