[Jim Paradise]

I posted a thread a little while back asking what is the best program to use to get into electronic music. Thank you very much to everyone for the replies!

I do have a couple of additional questions. The first one is are there any good midi keyboard plug-in packs (if that makes sense?) for really good keyboard sounds? I'm specifically hoping that there's some plug-ins that could get a midi keyboard to sound similar to a Fender Rhodes piano. Another set of plug-ins that would be great to find/purchase would be for good midi violin sounds.

My second question is if anyone here is familiar with the M-Audio Radium49 midi keyboard? For the price and features, it seems to be a good starter for what my purposes would be. The O2 looks nice, but I'd rather have a longer keyboard to use.

Lastly, how is Logic Express for handling midi keyboards? I've heard that in regards to doing midi work, the Logic series is what to use. I wouldn't mind purchasing it for recording guitar, bass and keyboard, and using Reason for doing more drum/beat sounds. Would that be overkill?

[screamingFit]

Hey there, Jim-

As far as "plug in packs" go for Rhodes sounds, look toward Native Instruments and Elektrik Piano. I haven't used it but from what people say, it's spot on. The thing is, though, you'll need an AU host to run it (can't run it out of Reason). For violin sounds, you may be quite happy with what you get with Reason (sounds like you're purchasing that?) for the NN-XT module (samples). Failing what they give you out of the box, they do have an Orchestral sample CD you can buy from them, too. A pure synth type of violin sound should be extremely easy to get out of the sound modules in Reason.

BUT - if you're going to be buying Logic Pro scrap Reason all together - the included plugins will give you all you need. If you're going the Express route with Logic, then Reason would be helpful in that setup.

Personally, I own Reason and don't touch it anymore. I'm strictly a Logic and Live user on the Mac side.

[Jim Paradise]

Originally Posted by screamingFit

Hey there, Jim-

As far as "plug in packs" go for Rhodes sounds, look toward Native Instruments and Elektrik Piano. I haven't used it but from what people say, it's spot on. The thing is, though, you'll need an AU host to run it (can't run it out of Reason). For violin sounds, you may be quite happy with what you get with Reason (sounds like you're purchasing that?) for the NN-XT module (samples). Failing what they give you out of the box, they do have an Orchestral sample CD you can buy from them, too. A pure synth type of violin sound should be extremely easy to get out of the sound modules in Reason.

BUT - if you're going to be buying Logic Pro scrap Reason all together - the included plugins will give you all you need. If you're going the Express route with Logic, then Reason would be helpful in that setup.

Personally, I own Reason and don't touch it anymore. I'm strictly a Logic and Live user on the Mac side.

I'll be sure to check those out. M-Audio has a synth for a Mellotron that I'm thinking of investing in. AU plugins just need a particular program to act as a wrapper, no? At the moment I just have GarageBand and M-Audio seems to be all over supporting it with its products. I'll look into Nativ Instruments. The reason I'd like to purchase Reason would be for access to drum machines, etc. How does Logic Express compare?

[screamingFit]

If you're pretty set with Reason, you'll still need a host to run any AUs you plan on using and to run Reason through so everything is integrated and synched (since Reason can't host external AUs). That host can be Garageband, Logic, Cubase, Tracktion, Live, etc... You'll also have to keep in mind that if you're rewiring Reason into another host and using AUs, you're going to need a pretty decent computer. Reason runs great on low spec machines by itself but if you have to run that AND a host, make sure your machine can run it.

Logic Express is a pretty much souped up Garageband. No way is Express close to what the 'Pro' version of Live offers - the Pro version has all sorts of top shelf effects and instruments which Express doesn't.

Have you checked out the forums over at http://www.kvraudio.com ?? They're a helpful bunch that could probably shed a lot more light on this stuff than I'm able to. Also, cruise through their database of AUs/VSTs - you may be suprised how much stuff is out there that would render the machines in Reason near pointless - and a lot of the time, the stuff is cheap/free.

[Jim Paradise]

With the whole university student jazz, I'm going to have to build up my software collection slowly, so Logic Express is a good point to go from GarageBand, I think. Eventually with some coin later, I'll make the move to include reason in my setup. But, in the meantime I'll definitely check out that forum for those AUs/VSTSs. Thanks!