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Topic: Roland Virtual Sound Canvas 3.0 |
Jerry Gleason
From:
Eugene, Oregon, USA
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Posted 28 May 2000 9:41 pm |
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I just bought this software synthesizer to use with Band-in-a-Box. It's really cool. 902 sounds + 26 drum sets, Works with BIAB, MIDI sequencers, also plays MIDI files, and can convert them to audio files. If you are using BIAB and an internal sound card, consider this product. For about 60 bucks, you get sounds comparable to a good external sound module. The bass sounds are particularly good, with a very convincing upright bass. There are a number of very good pianos, not on par with the best digitally sampled keyboards, but much better than your average sound card. The drum sets are good too, but still short of a good MIDI drum module with sampled sounds. These small shortcomings aside, this is a good piece of software that makes Band-in-a-Box much better for the average user without a lot of expensive outboard MIDI gear. It's a hybrid procuct, works with both PC and Mac.
Thumbs up for me.
Roland VSC 88H3 |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 29 May 2000 2:33 am
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The Roland Sound Canvas came with my BIAB. I used it for a while but I was running into some conflicts on the PC. I had to reload my PC a while back and I never reinstalled it.
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Ken Lang
From:
Simi Valley, Ca
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Posted 29 May 2000 3:08 pm
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| Jerry. Are there any problems with latencey? When I used roland VS-88 software it was a nightmare between BIAB and Cakewalk. Hit a note on the midi keyboard and it wouldn't ring for 3/4 of a second and vocal wav forms are also off. I have several songs to do over due to that problem. I deleted VS-88 and bought an external sound module (JV-1010), which I am happy with, although I'm not far in the learning curve yet. |
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Jerry Gleason
From:
Eugene, Oregon, USA
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Posted 29 May 2000 6:57 pm
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Latency would be a problem if you're trying to trigger it from an external source, but when using it as a player for BIAB, it doesn't matter to me if it lags slightly, as long as everything plays together within itself, if you know what I mean.
There are also selectable peformance settings which are biased toward either maximum response time or maximum polyphony. When set for maximum response time, it seems almost instant, following the notes in the BIAB window. When set for maxium polyphony, there is a lag of approximately a quarter of a second, therefore I would only use this setting when playing very dense, complex MIDI files that use a lot of instruments, reverbs, choruses, and so on. The processing speed of the computer will also have a significant effect on performance.
If no amount of latency is tolerable, I would choose an external module, and I do have outboard gear that I can use. the VSC is just a lot easier, and I like most of the sounds in it better than the module I have.
I haven't tried to use it with both BIAB and a sequencer at the same time. Instead, what I would do is write a MIDI file from BIAB (or an audio file from VSC), then open that file in Cakewalk for playback through VSC. |
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Dave Van Allen
From:
Doylestown, PA , US , Earth
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Posted 2 Jun 2000 6:37 am
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Jerry;
have you used the "conversion to wav file" function they talk about on the Edirol website yet?
| Quote: |
| RolandED's new software synthesizer just got better, with its expanded sound set, and the ability to turn MIDI files into a stereo wave file with the touch of a button. |
Does it create a .wav that sounds like the MIDI triggerred output of the VSC?
IF so, I'm speculating that might be a good way to use it in conjunction with Cakewalk Pro Audio in order to eliminate latency issues; once you have your BIAB or Cakewalk MIDI file arranged the way you want, then convert it to a .wav with the VSC, then import the wav into CWPA, and then record along with that any non MIDI stuff you want.
Whaddya think?
------------------
"I AM ZUMBODY!"
Zumsteel U12 "Loafer" 8&6
www.voicenet.com/~vanallen/
ICQ 42635125
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Jerry Gleason
From:
Eugene, Oregon, USA
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Posted 2 Jun 2000 9:51 am
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Yeah, that's one of the cool things about the new version. It will create a stereo audio file (.wav for windows, .AIFF for mac), that is exactly what the playback output sounds like. I have used it in exactly the way you describe, and it works great.
Although it would be more work, you could also create individual MIDI files in Band-in-a-box for bass, drums, and piano tracks, and save them as audio from VSC, then arrange them in your multi-track software. I'm not sure if everything would exactly sync up doing it that way, however.
It's too bad I can't find any way to sync VSC with my outboard Alesis drum machine, which has better drum sounds. |
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Don Walters
From:
Saskatchewan Canada
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Posted 2 Jun 2000 6:38 pm
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Jerry, is there a difference between Sound Canvas 3.0 and the VSC-88 that comes with BIAB 9?
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Don Walters
get "listed" at the World Wide Steel Guitarist Directory
www3.sk.sympatico.ca/waltd/
(aka On-Line Steel Guitarists of the World)
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Jerry Gleason
From:
Eugene, Oregon, USA
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Posted 3 Jun 2000 10:32 am
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| Don, Version 3.0 is a new product, and as far as I know, is only avaliable from Edirol.com for now. I don't know how the features compare to the previous version. |
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Bobby Lee
From:
Cloverdale, California, USA
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Posted 3 Jun 2000 11:31 am
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I'm using VSC-88 from BIAB 9.0 on my laptop. It's nice to be able to just plug headphones into the laptop and hear decent MIDI music. It's not good enough to record, IMHO, but it's way better than the stock Yamaha FM Synth chip that comes with most computers.
What fun! On this recent business trip, I spent my evenings writing Band-in-a-Box rhythm tracks in my hotel room. A solitary pursuit, to be sure, but a lot more fun than clicking through the channels on the TV. |
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