For musicians using macs: Native Instrments

[marcel-v]

Hi! has anyone used the Native Instruments range? Such as Bandstand, Elektrik Piano or Guitar Combos? I've just been introduced to them and would like to hear from people that have used them or similar software.

One other thing. I've been using 'Minimonsta', a program that uses a keyboard sample sounds to use with a MIDI keyboard. And basically, when I use polyphonics, ie, more than one key at a time, it seems to overload. Now, I have an iMac 2Ghz Intel, with 1.5GB of RAM. Should it be doing this? Is it a soundcard issue, and can I upgrade the soundcard if so?

 

[mikedavirus]

According to me it is..

Don't you have an external soundcard to create music? I mean like a mbox? M-audio, E-Mu? Motu? if not,.. you should.. it will help you to run your music programs better.. they are made for it.. not like the original soundcard.. they are made to run players so sometimes they barely can manage music programs.. I have a Mbox2 from Degidesing for my macbook pro and a M-audio Firewire solo for my Toshiba laptop... they are both really usefull... give it a try.. it is not a vain investment and you can find a good soundcard for less than 5 hundred bucks so go'head... your music store is your next place to go... go ans ask'em about what I've told you.. bye

 

[motulist]

an external soundcard ... will help you to run your music programs better

I'm 99% sure that you're incorrect. You wont get any amount of extra horsepower back by using an external ad/da, you'll just get improved audio output quality, as in a lower noise floor, less distortion, etc.

 

[eviltobz]

aye, well, kinda. a pro tools hd rig, or one of the firewire dsp things you can get would do some of the processing but a normal audio interface won't. pc soundcards have midi engines and stuff on board which are fine for games and simple things, but for music making you'll be running your chosen sample library rather than a generic midi sound. they will allow you to reduce latency and some good stuff like that however which is very important and can make a notable difference in your apps' performance.

a good audio interface is definitely a worthy purchase though. as a guitarist they are useful because a standard sound card doesn't have an input that can deal well with the high impedance signal of most electric guitars. you can still get a line in but you sacrifice a lot of quality. the reduced latency mentioned earlier is very important for playing and getting effects processed in real time. playing a note then hearing it play back just a fraction of a second later can really muck things up. and obviously you can get a variety of extra inputs for recording multiple sources at once, better quality mic pre-amps, converters etc.

I've never heard of minimonsta and my midi experience is _very_ limited but that sounds very odd indeed. a phone should have the horsepower to do what you're trying to do so i'd guess that there is some sort of software configuration issue. i've been able to tinkle away on my keyboard into logic pro 7 quite happily on an old dual 2ghz g5 and even in the dim and distant past i think i did much the same with my old 1.25 ghz g4 imac.

finally, as for native instruments... i LOVE them i auditioned the demos of guitar rig 2 and amplitube 2 last year and fell in love with the GR software. amplitube was cool as well, but the interface, whilst designed to mimic a traditional guitary setup, seemed horribly limiting compared to GR and apart from amplitube having a harmonizer effect i felt that GR had it beaten in every respect. and loop machine rapidly became my primary composition tool for working on the evolution of musical ideas, riffs and melodies and the like. after checking out the awesome ubersonic amp in guitar rig 3 i decided to upgrade to that too. i've had minor issues getting the software fully installed and registered etc. and last time i checked (a while ago, may have been fixed) you couldn't install gr2 on leopard, but once everything is on and working it is like a dream. you can get the demo of GR3 on their website. I'm afraid i can't comment on their other software, but it's a start

 

[mikedavirus]

okayy

I'm 99% sure that you're incorrect. You wont get any amount of extra horsepower back by using an external ad/da, you'll just get improved audio output quality, as in a lower noise floor, less distortion, etc.

hum okkk, I am probably wrong but I'm just saying what I've experienced, that's true.. i was running Fruity loops and sonar on my pc.. and it was really bizarre.. i had clicks as soon as i had more than 2 tracks... as soon as I got my firewire.. and I worked in ASIO mode, Everything was cool... same with my new laptop.. so I'm just saying... that's why I said He was to ask experts in music stores.. and/or experience what I'm saying. period. You can't come like that and say 'm totally wrong if you did not experienced that.

 

[Fearless Leader]

Macs dont use sound cards for performance boosts just a bit cleaner audio, but it would be even better to get it outside the computer, less (digital) noise/interference. Macs do all audio processing on the cpu.

 

[motulist]

hum okkk, I am probably wrong but I'm just saying what I've experienced, that's true.. i was running Fruity loops and sonar on my pc.. and it was really bizarre.. i had clicks as soon as i had more than 2 tracks... as soon as I got my firewire.. and I worked in ASIO mode, Everything was cool... same with my new laptop.. so I'm just saying... that's why I said He was to ask experts in music stores.. and/or experience what I'm saying. period. You can't come like that and say 'm totally wrong if you did not experienced that.

You're wrong. I'm not trying to be rude, but the fact is that what you're saying is simply untrue regarding Macs. Macs don't work the same as PCs in this regard. And as for my experience, not only have I gone through lots of different audio hardware in my own life from simple built in PC input all the way up to audio recorders with names that you've never hear of, even more than that though I used to be a salesperson in the computer audio department of a very well known national musical instrument retailer.

 

[eviltobz]

plus you've got a user name that begins with motu

anyway, i maintain that the difference is that the additional audio hardware is allowing lower latency which gets rid of the pops and clicks. not really an offloading of processing power, just using sound hardware that can keep up with your processing power.

 

[keybird]

Native instruments install problem

aye, well, kinda. a pro tools hd rig, or one of the firewire dsp things you can get would do some of the processing but a normal audio interface won't. pc soundcards have midi engines and stuff on board which are fine for games and simple things, but for music making you'll be running your chosen sample library rather than a generic midi sound. they will allow you to reduce latency and some good stuff like that however which is very important and can make a notable difference in your apps' performance.

a good audio interface is definitely a worthy purchase though. as a guitarist they are useful because a standard sound card doesn't have an input that can deal well with the high impedance signal of most electric guitars. you can still get a line in but you sacrifice a lot of quality. the reduced latency mentioned earlier is very important for playing and getting effects processed in real time. playing a note then hearing it play back just a fraction of a second later can really muck things up. and obviously you can get a variety of extra inputs for recording multiple sources at once, better quality mic pre-amps, converters etc.

I've never heard of minimonsta and my midi experience is _very_ limited but that sounds very odd indeed. a phone should have the horsepower to do what you're trying to do so i'd guess that there is some sort of software configuration issue. i've been able to tinkle away on my keyboard into logic pro 7 quite happily on an old dual 2ghz g5 and even in the dim and distant past i think i did much the same with my old 1.25 ghz g4 imac.

finally, as for native instruments... i LOVE them i auditioned the demos of guitar rig 2 and amplitube 2 last year and fell in love with the GR software. amplitube was cool as well, but the interface, whilst designed to mimic a traditional guitary setup, seemed horribly limiting compared to GR and apart from amplitube having a harmonizer effect i felt that GR had it beaten in every respect. and loop machine rapidly became my primary composition tool for working on the evolution of musical ideas, riffs and melodies and the like. after checking out the awesome ubersonic amp in guitar rig 3 i decided to upgrade to that too. i've had minor issues getting the software fully installed and registered etc. and last time i checked (a while ago, may have been fixed) you couldn't install gr2 on leopard, but once everything is on and working it is like a dream. you can get the demo of GR3 on their website. I'm afraid i can't comment on their other software, but it's a start

You say you had minor issues getting the software installed. I just got Native instruments B4-II but have a problem getting it installed.
I can see a file called 'StandaloneRecall.b4' but it looks like it isn't for mac... Please help..

 

[motulist]

... Please help..

Start a new thread in the "mac basics and help" forum.