Fruity or Reason

[braj]

But of course I am using Tracktion/Audition/Live as hosts, so I don't need my Reason to fulfil that role. If you don't already have a top-drawer host your needs will be different.

Yeah, and the outlay in cash is much more with this route, FL is a bargain for what you get. Too bad the UI is so far from my way of working, and of course the bugs. If either were better I'd give it more of a chance.

[tony tony chopper]

By way of comparisson, in Reason the NN-XT sampler loads the whole of the Titanic soundfont in less than a second.

Please don't claim that it loads the soundfont. It *imports* it. That sampler is one with quick editing features, and while it has features that the SoundFont specs don't support, it lacks of quite a lot of features to be able to playback soundfont as they were meant.

If you think that SoundFonts are just about samples mapped onto keys, just fire up the Vienna editor.

[headquest]

But of course I am using Tracktion/Audition/Live as hosts, so I don't need my Reason to fulfil that role. If you don't already have a top-drawer host your needs will be different.

Yeah, and the outlay in cash is much more with this route, FL is a bargain for what you get. Too bad the UI is so far from my way of working, and of course the bugs. If either were better I'd give it more of a chance.

Yes, likewise, because even if I didn't use it, my pupils probably would. For me the stability was a problem though... plus the excellence of other software of course

Regarding the cost of my route, I should point out that Live 4 is basically redundant on my system and is an extravagence . It was partly a mistaken purchase (there are problems with it imho) and partly I was exploring other ways of working both for me and the students I teach. But at present it is not in use. The combination of Tracktion/Reason/Audition/Sibelius covers all bases.

[headquest]

Big sample banks will be important. tell me, how much does a good V sampler cost in the market, one at par with the NN-xt

And how does the FL sampler lack vis-a-vis NN-XT ? ignore stability.


sidhu

Well this is where it gets interesting sidhu, because samplers on a level with NN-XT tend to cost quite a lot by themselves, without taking account of all Reason's other features.

FL can load samples, but does not have a module that compares even with Reaon's NN-19 basic sampler, let alone the NN-XT advanced sampler.

An equivalent would be V-Sampler, or upgrading to something like Kontakt or Gigastudio, which cost around $499.

It's when you start to make comparissons like that - plus the stability, which you can't ignore - that Reason stacks up as a damn good bargain.

<EDIT> ...

...and to answer your other question, NN-XT can do synthesis stuff to your soundfonts that the Fruity Soundfont player isn't capable of.

[headquest]

Please don't claim that it loads the soundfont. It *imports* it. That sampler is one with quick editing features, and while it has features that the SoundFont specs don't support, it lacks of quite a lot of features to be able to playback soundfont as they were meant.

If you think that SoundFonts are just about samples mapped onto keys, just fire up the Vienna editor.

1] Not quite sure what you mean about NN-XT

2] FL Soundfont player couldn't load or import. It simply sank the computer leading to a reboot. Not impressive.

[tony tony chopper]

An equivalent would be V-Sampler, or upgrading to something like Kontakt or Gigastudio

lol sure

'an equivalent of NN-XT would be kontakt'

[headquest]

An equivalent would be V-Sampler, or upgrading to something like Kontakt or Gigastudio

lol sure

'an equivalent of NN-XT would be kontakt'

Did you not spot the word "upgrading" Tony? Perhaps you should re-read what I wrote!

The point is there is nothing quite like NN-XT at a comparable price point.

[JMC]

FL can load samples, but does not have a module that compares even with Reaon's NN-19 basic sampler, let alone the NN-XT advanced sampler.

There are quite a few ways to play samples/soundbanks in FL :

- our sampler (that can be compined to a multisampled instrument using a keymapped layer)

- our soundfont player (that has the best soundfont engine available, but indeed lacks the streaming support required for very big soundfonts. A possible problem here is that Tascam patented streaming when they started their Giga products).

- FPC (which allows you to build/play back multi velocitty drumkits).

Anyway : We are currently investigating how to extend FLs capabilities to handle large soundbanks for the orchestral content we have coming up.

See ya

jmc (FL Studio)

[braj]

From my experience Reason as a rewire client just using a couple instruments (NNXT and ReDrum, for example) uses less CPU time than most VSTis. I'd say even with 5 instruments it uses about the same as most VSTi.

For example, on a peice I'm working on right now, I have 2 redrum modules, 1 mixer as a drum mixer, 1 subtractor, 1 malstrom, 1 NNXT, 4 RV7 reverbs, 3 delays, 2 compressors, and a chorus/flanger, all the instruments (except for the drums) being on sepparate inputs into Live4. All this uses less resources than 1 instance of Korg's Legacy collection. My old Powerbook would choke if I tried to do the same tracks voiced with VSTi's.

[dhanjit]

1] Not quite sure what you mean about NN-XT

Maybe you should do some research then. There's a clear difference between NN-XT importing a sound font and the FL Soundfont player loading it.

2] FL Soundfont player couldn't load or import. It simply sank the computer leading to a reboot. Not impressive.

The LiveSynth engine that the FL Soundfont player uses appears to load the entire soundfont into memory. I have 1Gb of RAM and the Titanic sf2 loads fine for me. One larger soundfont used to crash Fruity (but not my system), so I've used Awave Studio to seperate out the individual instruments.

[Sidhu]

Ill be honest with you ppl. I have tried to work extensively on reason. And while I have had success. It was not easy for me. For all reasons that i was incompetent with it, I agree it is a great tool. But, maybe a wannabe musician like me cannot get my head around it completely.

I have spent 45 minutes with FL. For the first time.

I managed to import a song mix. sequenced a percussion pattern. Got it to sit pretty well with the mix, and am honestly looking forward to more. Havnt as of yet opened the manual. I found FL very simple to use, felt relaxed seing a wafeform and seperate tracks. Midi looked the way it is supposed to (for me) and i did not need to toggle programmes. (though i will eventually).

A lot could probably be done with reason. I probably would not. case study samplers. All I ever used NN-XT was for loading a nice sample bank. Never really needed to tweak anything in there, maybe a little ADSR, if at all.

I think FL will suffice for now. I should seriously concentrate on learning how to play keys first. Im giving FL 2-3 more daz. Then im purchasing it.

Most importantly, I can afford it. if only the basic version.

Thank you all for your help. this has been one great thread.

Sidhu

[headquest]

1] Not quite sure what you mean about NN-XT

Maybe you should do some research then. There's a clear difference between NN-XT importing a sound font and the FL Soundfont player loading it.

THat's interesting. Perhaps you could be so kind as to help my research by pointing me in the right direction? (although as NN-XT is a powerful sampling engine in itself I rarely use soundfonts, but would like to have the opportunity when I want to. Titanic is great!

2] FL Soundfont player couldn't load or import. It simply sank the computer leading to a reboot. Not impressive.

The LiveSynth engine that the FL Soundfont player uses appears to load the entire soundfont into memory. I have 1Gb of RAM and the Titanic sf2 loads fine for me. One larger soundfont used to crash Fruity (but not my system), so I've used Awave Studio to seperate out the individual instruments.

I only have 512 Mb RAM, hence the system crash. But as I say no probs in NN-XT... and soundfonts sound fine to me in NN-XT, so you really will have to enlighten me as to the difference!

[Sidhu]

I only have 512 Mb RAM, hence the system crash. But as I say no probs in NN-XT... and soundfonts sound fine to me in NN-XT, so you really will have to enlighten me as to the difference!

I think JMC mentioned something to the effect of FL not supporting Disk Streaming, saying that this was Tascam patented, strange, since almost everything else (including the Free SFZ SF player) supports Disk streaming.

unless I totally misunderstood him.

- our soundfont player (that has the best soundfont engine available, but indeed lacks the streaming support required for very big soundfonts. A possible problem here is that Tascam patented streaming when they started their Giga products).

[braj]

I only have 512 Mb RAM, hence the system crash.

I have to say that just because you don't have enough RAM is no excuse for the app crashing. Isn't there any error handling, like 'FL Studio cannot load the selected soundfont. Your computer may be low on memory'. Crashing in this instance is unacceptable.

[Sidhu]

I can use the SFZ player in FL, right ?