Hey everyone. I’ve been here for a while, reading messages, soaking up the overall excitement regarding Cantabile.
I’ve been a hardware guy forever, and although I downloaded C2 a few years ago, I never really bothered with it (I know, I know!).
Anyway, despite having a healthy, simple rig (Korg Kronos 61 key, Nord Electro 5D for organs, Studiologic SL88 as main controller), I’ve decided I need to give C3 a proper run, and go full-software.
So, below I’ve listed the new gear I’ve bought in the last few days, ready to set up at home to reconstruct the songs in my current band (Pink Floyd tribute), and test the hell out of:
I am not the resident expert on Pink Floyd but you should maybe look at some type of Rhodes piano vst instrument and if you want to try authentic VCS3 synth (from my understanding it was used during that period) from Xils labs. Diva will probably cover a lot of it. I’ll hang a call to @Derek , @Neil_Durant , @FredProgGH and @The_Elf, all have created some impressive performance setups. They all have a great deal of experience with large scale British and American progressive rock performance. Let us know when you have C3 installed and we can help out with the startup.
Thank you @dave_dore, yes I hadn’t forgotten about a Rhodes vst. I was actually considering the Arturia Wurly V plugin to cover most of the ground… and I’ll definitely check out your suggestion regarding VCS3, cheers!!
Already having Omnisphere 2, I would say grab Keyscape. It’s a hog but I don’t think you would have issues with that laptop. I don’t really like the Arturia pianos… if you want something instant-loading and easy on RAM go with Lounge Lizard or Velvet. And yes the Xils VCS3 is mega cool! OTOH for Floyd the Arturia Farfisa (or even better to me, the VOX Continental) is a must!
And I would give serious consideration to using the IK Mutimedia Leslie in conjunction with Blue3, it’s a huge upgrade
Take a look at AIR Velvet - a great Rhodes / Wurly option. Very playable, and far easier to tweak than e.g. Lounge Lizard. But if you already own Pianoteq, their electric pianos expansion is also worth trying out - really nice stuff!
Hi, I am just rejoining my old Pink Floyd tribute band, and whilst my Kronos is doing most of the sounds still, I will slowly be moving to VSTs where I think they can offer more authenticity and this time around I want to try and get as close as possible.
AL-1 on the Kronos is hard to beat mind for the lead sounds, but I have just finished programming for Welcome to the Machine. Arturia do a pack for Floyd sounds that cover this and most of it is Moog Modular (not an authentic choice but they have got most of the sounds). Their lead sound was pants, mind, so I have just programmed that in Mini V, and I think I am pretty darn close
I’m just messing with the organs and seeing if I can get a better sound than the Kronos CX-3 engine with VB3-II and IK Leslie (I still think the CX-3 is holding its own, but maybe I need to work harder).
The one that has blown me away is the Arturia Farfisa through a new Binson Echorec emulation, released last year which I think in combination totally nails the Echoes Farfisa sound.
For Solina, I find the Artutia clone to harsh and I tend to use GForce Virtual String Machine.
For Rhodes/Wurlie you may wish to try the Pianoteq additions.
On a side note, I’ve just finished tracking “Mother” (from the Wall) into Cubase, ready to pick out what I play (and record as a MIDI track so I don’t forget! I’ve never seen a Floyd song with so many time signature changes in it! 5/8, 4/4, 6/8, 9/8, 12/8… Can’t say I’ve ever analysed it before, so never really noticed before.
Yes, the VCS3/Synthi was used extensively on Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. On the Run is multi-track VCS3. The Mini Moog makes its first (and only Dark Side appearance) on “Any Colour You Like” - it came more to prominence on Wish You Were Here. But the VCS3 was still used a lot as well on that Album - Welcome to the Machine is another multitrack example of VCS3 sounds.
You know though, I want to be authentic, but at the same time, different - if that makes any sense?
I mean, I don’t want to be playing and using EXACTLY the same sounds as the next band, playing tribute to the same band.
For example, my current Shine intro pad, is a combination of about 5-6 programs on the Kronos, with an organ that I can fade in from a slider - and it sounds great, but it’s not quite “it” - but I don’t mind.
Our band are awaiting the live audio from our gig this weekend just gone, so if it’s any good, I’ll post some audio clips for you.
Right, some of this gear I hadn’t actually received when writing this post. BUT, I did get the awesome laptop yesterday, and have gone through the Glitch Free e-book and made the necessary changes, so I’ll be setting it all up over this weekend.
One question though, the laptop has only 2 USB ports. I fear that I will require at least 3 (audio interface, MIDI controller and a spare for general use). I remember using Cantabile before, and the USB ports being reassigned every time I disconnected the USB hub. So, is there a solution to this? (I think I may have read something about this somewhere…). Is using a USB hub a bad idea, or…??
That is a Windows thing as far as the re-assignment of ports go, but no matter, it still can happen. Still, many folks use USB Hubs without trouble. Also some of us use MIDI cables to connect from the controller to the Audio Interface (which is equipped with MIDI as yours is) instead of USB and that saves a USB port and is a more sturdy plugin. So you could have the MOTU into 1 port with the keyboard plugged into it via MIDI and have your general purpose open for another device if you wish no hub. The MOTU MIDI port would be what you configured in C3 options to be the Main Keyboard.
Also, there are some posts in the sprawl of info here you can access using the search function at the top of the page. Just enter USB Hub and see what comes up. There is a lot of information scattered through the threads here. If it is a specific hassle there are a good number of MOTU users who are familiar with the interfaces.
Personally I always plug into the same USB ports out of procedure to hopefully prevent this very problem!
I took a liberty and moved this thread to the general area and out of the blog category because I thought it fit better here. Let me know if that is a problem, this way it gets seen by more eyes I think.
