Commie_User wrote:That must be very secure and reliable, especially as an outboard sampler. Though I'm not sure you should sideline the PC as much quite yet. Perhaps if you sequence your projects on the Roland you could still use your PC for samples. I doubt Roland would run the likes of Kontakt or most plugins.
But you seem the kind of guy to run mostly from hardware, as I wanted to when I started, so I guess you're thinking a compact, simple system is all you need.
Actualy I'm unsure if I'll be able to make the shift to this machine as a 100% arranger of my Work... There are a few things that it will definitely not be able to replace on my PC which I find to be crucial... one is the sample editing software Soundforge which is irreplacebale for me as an editing Tool, along with a few plugins... the other is my trusted SoundDiver editing software that allow me to make editors for my synths, and make huge libraries that I can browse thru when composing, avoiding the need for limited patch storage in my synths... and third, the availability of enough MIDI I/O ports so that every synth can have it's own I/O MIDI port (this is crucial for SoundDiver communication and good MIDI timing).
There are sample editing functions on the MW-8000, but they cannot compete with Soundforge, it's that simple. But the most needed functions are there for use under arrangement, it's more that it cannot deliver the functions needed when fine-editing samples... this can be done prior to putting them in a library though on the MV-8000 harddrive, so it's no big deal... but it makes it impossible for me to totaly dismiss working partialy on my PC.
SoundDiver are Unique... and MV-8000 is pretty much out conquered in this area... editors for quickly editing a sound and browsing libraries can only be done in SoundDiver, so therefore I need the PC as a companion during composing, and as the synths are connected to the PC to be able to communicate with SoundDiver, that also requires that I use the PC sequencer for making the scores... the synths cannot be connected to both MV-8000 and the PC at the same time, and the MV-8000 has got only two MIDI outputs which is WAY too few for my use.
I really like the idear of going 100% away from a PC, but it's just not doable for me I'm afraid. But I'll try and do it in a semi-like way. I'll create small riff loops by scoring them on the PC sequencer, and route the audio to the MV-8000 from a bus on my hardware mixer... this way I can easily arrange these riffs on the MV-8000 for a Whole score, and at the same time use the MV-8000 library of FX, Drums, Vocals etc. directly. This Means that a project can be workwed on and stored completely on the MV-8000 without having to store anything on the PC, and that is what I'm after... then I can make total recall of Projects on the MV-8000 alone, and not have to make complicated storings of synths etc. on the PC, and further it allow me to record from the same synth over and over Again in a project if called for which gives a lot more fleksibility, plus I can use sound sources that need not even have MIDI connections (older analog gear for example, or accoustic sound sources) as I can just play them live, and record the output directly into the MV-8000 as riffs and effects and the like.
Don't know if this makes sense to you, but that's what I hope to accomplish
and if the approach fail completely, the MV-8000 would still end up being a crucial companion as a "sound module" for playing back drums, FX, vocals, loops and atmospheres etc. It can still do what I need it to doo, which is holding gigabytes of sample libraries on it's harddrive, and leave my E-MU E5000 Ultra sampler for doing only sample instruments as I intend.
Maybe I'll even end up just slaving the MV-8000 via MIDI time code, and use it's sequencer as an extension of my PC sequencer. This way I'd be able to mix the best of both Worlds... if the timing is good, this may be the way I end up I think.
... but it does not really matter... I've got what I need now... I might take another road at some point, which is finding 4 Edirol UM-880 MIDI interfaces and connect these for 32 MIDI ports... but they are darn hard to find these days. They are basically the same as the UM-3G I use now exept they have 8 MIDI I/O ports per 1U rack module.
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