Re: Synthesis (was Re:Amelio's ouster)

[Geoff Kaiser <SuperKais@MacConnect_REMOVE_THIS.com>]

Mitchell Spector (and others) wrote, among other things:

> ...Another thing to keep in mind, software mixing is not nearly 100%
> perfect or as affective as a hardware synthesizer...

> >>     Have you ever heard a Roland Sound Canvas, Yamaha XG, AWE-32,
> >> Gravis or several other wavetable boards with chorus and reverb
> >> effects?
> 
>     The Roland SCC-1 in my PC is a _real_ synthesizer, in fact it's a
> Sound Canvas (one of the best sounding music synthesizers out there)
> stuck onto an ISA slot card. Boards like the SCC1, SC88, Yamaha XG
> or AudioTrix Pro are professional quality wavetable synthesizers.
> 
>     These sound like a live orchastra, and I am not exaggerating in
> the least here! ...

Not to burst anyone's bubble, but being a Roland fan as I am, I had to
jump in and say that as much as I love the sound that somes out of my
Roland keyboards (and the Sound Canvas has some really great sounds,
too), these are NOT true synthesizers. They are integrating PCM samples
into these patches. There are absolutely no tones being generated from
scratch like in a true digital synth, like say, the Roland JD-800. 

THAT's why these MIDI modules sound so much "like a live orchestra";
it's because they're using elements of the real thing. 

Well guess what? The Macintosh software-based synth in QuickTime 2.5
uses Roland Sound Canvas sounds. Surprise! And in version 3.0 some
Yamaha sounds are due to be added.

While I certainly don't doubt the claim that a hardware 'synth' card
will require less of a CPU, and I'd like to hear some of the cards that
truly ARE wavetable synthesis, I'd still much prefer sample-based sounds
like Roland's anyday. They sound much more real. And as far as that
goes, it doesn't matter if you're using a hardware Roland card/box or
QuickTime 2.5 w/Roland's sounds online, it still amounts to the same
sounds. And let's not forget that because Roland's Sound Canvas units
use samples, they are by nature software, even if they're hard-wired
into the ROM of an add-on PCI card or whatever. They're not true
synthesized waveforms (not that they need to be).

GK