JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Recording Studio and Gear Forum Confused about Soundsamples/fonts

First of all, My purpose is to buy a soundcard and software sequencer to record my guitar and voice at 24bit/96Hz, then orchestrate it using my GM keyboard with sound samples/fonts to create a DVD-Audio disk, or sample it down to CD-Audio.

This is what I plan to buy:
$200 - Ego Systems/ ESI-Pro Waveterminal 192L Soundcard (24bit/192Hz) with optional MIDI I/O.
$40 - Cakewalk Home Studio 2002 Upgrade ...(because I'm on a tight budget).
Already have - Casio WK-1300 General MIDI keyboard, mics, guitars and amp.
I Hope to download free soundsamples/fonts. I'll buy them if absolutely necessary.

My question is, since the Waveterminal 192L Soundcard doesn't include any sound samples or software, only the EWDM driver (ASIO 2.0 & GSIF compatible), do I need to buy any software other than Cakewalk (like, Gigastudio32) to apply samples/fonts to my MIDI tracks? Or, is there a work around, because I'm on a tight budget? Also, since I'm new to digital recording/mixing, any info or advice on software or hardware would be greatly appreciated.

Hi JB,

I just looked at the cakewalk site to see what came with the Home Studio package and you're in luck, Cakewalk Home studio comes with several "plugins" that are synths.

1. "Virtual Sound Canvas" - which is like a super-GM synth.
2. "Dreamstation" - an analog-style synth; kind of like a mini-moog and other similar analog synths.
3. DR-008 Drum sampler.

All of these plugin synths include sounds or sound-generating capabilities.

Additionally, Cakewalk Home Studio comes with a full CD of Acid-type loops. These could be drum loops, bass/synth loops, etc.

You should have plenty of sounds to start making music.

As far as hardware, I didn't see the Egosys Waveterminal listed as a compatible soundcard. That doesn't mean it won't work, it's just not listed in the "compatible hardware" area for Home Studio. The Egosys WaMi Box is listed, but it's more $$$. A quick call to Cakewalk tech support may answer the question of compatibility. Also, Cakewalk has a pretty active bulletin board for their products. You may be able to find out if anyone else has the card and is using it without problems. See their compatibility chart:

http://www.cakewalk.com/tips/audiohw.asp

For other cards, I've recommended M-Audio cards in the past. They have an Audiophile 2496 which is similar to the EgoSys card (with midi) except it doesn't have a mic input. It's also listed as fully compatible with Cakewalk Home Studio. You would need an external mic preamp or mixer with built-in mic inputs. Quite frankly, I can't imagine a 1/4" mic input on a digital audio card (EgoSys) in that price range having very high quality. The Audiophile 2496 is priced around $150, so you can also save a bit of $$$ there.

I would HIGHLY recommend a little mixer of some type if you don't have one. A P.A. mixer (Mackie, etc) can work just fine for this type of setup. Even a little Behringer for $80 or so will get you started.

For additional sounds, there are a TON of places on the net to download free samples. Sound quality ranges from really bad to surprisingly good. Here's a page listing a BUNCH of sites to get samples (free, cheap, and more):

http://new.topsitelists.com/bestsites/topaudiosamples/topsites.html

Hope that helps!

------------------
Larry
www.audibleresponse.com

[This message has been edited by Lwilliam (edited 12-17-2002).]

Thanks Larry. About compatability, I think I'm OK. The card manufacture says it will work with any program that supports ASIO 2.0 & GSIF which Cakewalk Home Studio 2002 does. I ordered the card. I guess I can order Cakewalk now.

I stopped buy your website, you have a nice setup there.

Jim
olgaburke@comcast.net