z3ta+, Kontakt and Firewire 410

Hi Folks

I thought I'd pitch in with my initial impressions of the z3ta+ softsynth
and the Firewire 410 mobile interface.

I've been using synths for a long time, analogue and digital but I've never
quite come across anything with z3ta+'s quality of sound, power and
flexibility. This synth is a sound designer's dream and the presets are
incredible - 6 banks of 128 sounds easily tweaked on the very friendly GUI.

As I'm in a hurry to come up with some theatre music, I'll simply be
layering microtuned presets and tweaking filters. Microtuning is a cinch BTW
- drop a menu and choose a scala file.

First impressions of Kontakt are good. Samplers always take a bit of getting
used to but you can see straight off where they're coming from with the
layout. Of special interest is a fine tuning knob (in cent increments) but I
could only see myself using it to fine tune, say, a gong sample or another
long sustain sound which occupies a whole instrument slot.

The Firewire 410 is an excellent module. I haven't read any reviews but it
works every time, bangs out sound of the highest quality and is easy to use.
It's a 4-in, 10-out module, records at up to 96kHz and plays back at up to
192 kHz sampling rates. It's about half rack and easy to tuck into a satchel
or laptop case.

In case anybody's interested I'm running all this from a fully specced
laptop with a 3.06 chip and two partitioned hard-drives, all very easy to
carry to and from gigs, venues and producers/directors. Well sorted as they
say.

The only problem - Windows, which after MacOS is total pants. It's a
nightmare to go online with because of viruses and the Microsoft site is
more like a battlegroup bulletin board than a software site. I'd say to any
microtonal musicians thinking of switching platforms to think carefully. Yes
you get more power in the chips with laptops, a wider variety of
applications, but you're entering a circle of pain...

Sincerely

a.m.

Alison Monteith wrote:

>The Firewire 410 is an excellent module. I haven't read any reviews but it
>works every time, bangs out sound of the highest quality and is easy to use.
>It's a 4-in, 10-out module, records at up to 96kHz and plays back at up to
>192 kHz sampling rates. It's about half rack and easy to tuck into a satchel
>or laptop case.
>
I'm pretty happy with mine.

>In case anybody's interested I'm running all this from a fully specced
>laptop with a 3.06 chip and two partitioned hard-drives, all very easy to
>carry to and from gigs, venues and producers/directors. Well sorted as they
>say.
>
I'm using a tower.

>The only problem - Windows, which after MacOS is total pants. It's a
>nightmare to go online with because of viruses and the Microsoft site is
>more like a battlegroup bulletin board than a software site. I'd say to any
>microtonal musicians thinking of switching platforms to think carefully. Yes
>you get more power in the chips with laptops, a wider variety of
>applications, but you're entering a circle of pain...
>

Norton Antivirus.

--
* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Alison Monteith
<alison.monteith3@w...> wrote:
> The Firewire 410 is an excellent module. I haven't read any reviews
but it
> works every time, bangs out sound of the highest quality and is
easy to use.
> It's a 4-in, 10-out module, records at up to 96kHz and plays back
at up to
> 192 kHz sampling rates. It's about half rack and easy to tuck into
a satchel
> or laptop case.

Good to hear. I just picked up one myself but haven't had the time
yet to crack open the box.

> The only problem - Windows, which after MacOS is total pants. It's a
> nightmare to go online with because of viruses and the Microsoft
site is
> more like a battlegroup bulletin board than a software site. I'd
say to any
> microtonal musicians thinking of switching platforms to think
carefully. Yes
> you get more power in the chips with laptops, a wider variety of
> applications, but you're entering a circle of pain...

On the Mac OS X side, I admit it is frustrating to read about the
wider variety of microtonal soft synths, especially on the low-cost
and no-cost side. However, I'm looking into Lil' Miss Scale Oven as
a possible way to address that problem.

Paolo

on 6/10/03 22:20, David Beardsley at db@... wrote:

Alison Monteith wrote:

>The only problem - Windows, which after MacOS is total pants. It's a
>nightmare to go online with because of viruses and the Microsoft site is
>more like a battlegroup bulletin board than a software site. I'd say to any
>microtonal musicians thinking of switching platforms to think carefully. Yes
>you get more power in the chips with laptops, a wider variety of
>applications, but you're entering a circle of pain...
>

Norton Antivirus.

Thanks for the advice. I got it as part of my package and I as I was
updating (to the tune of 20meg) I caught all sorts of worms and viruses.
Anyways - a firewall seems to have done the trick.

Sincerely
a.m.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

on 6/10/03 22:22, paolovalladolid at phv40@... wrote:

On the Mac OS X side, I admit it is frustrating to read about the
wider variety of microtonal soft synths, especially on the low-cost
and no-cost side. However, I'm looking into Lil' Miss Scale Oven as
a possible way to address that problem.

Paolo

Hi Paolo

Go for it. Lil' Miss Scale Oven is a top programme and Jeff Scott is one of
the most helpful developers you'll meet. I use it all the time with my Mac
set-up. He seems to have found ways of tuning all sorts of new softsynths
and I'd recommend getting in touch with him for an update.

Sincerely
a.m.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Alison Monteith
<alison.monteith3@w...> wrote:
> Hi Folks
>
> I thought I'd pitch in with my initial impressions of the z3ta+
softsynth
> and the Firewire 410 mobile interface.
>
> I've been using synths for a long time, analogue and digital but
I've never
> quite come across anything with z3ta+'s quality of sound, power and
> flexibility. This synth is a sound designer's dream and the presets
are
> incredible - 6 banks of 128 sounds easily tweaked on the very
friendly GUI.
>
> As I'm in a hurry to come up with some theatre music, I'll simply be
> layering microtuned presets and tweaking filters. Microtuning is a
cinch BTW
> - drop a menu and choose a scala file.
>
> First impressions of Kontakt are good. Samplers always take a bit
of getting
> used to but you can see straight off where they're coming from with
the
> layout. Of special interest is a fine tuning knob (in cent
increments) but I
> could only see myself using it to fine tune, say, a gong sample or
another
> long sustain sound which occupies a whole instrument slot.
>
> The Firewire 410 is an excellent module. I haven't read any reviews
but it
> works every time, bangs out sound of the highest quality and is
easy to use.
> It's a 4-in, 10-out module, records at up to 96kHz and plays back
at up to
> 192 kHz sampling rates. It's about half rack and easy to tuck into
a satchel
> or laptop case.
>
> In case anybody's interested I'm running all this from a fully
specced
> laptop with a 3.06 chip and two partitioned hard-drives, all very
easy to
> carry to and from gigs, venues and producers/directors. Well sorted
as they
> say.
>
> The only problem - Windows, which after MacOS is total pants. It's a
> nightmare to go online with because of viruses and the Microsoft
site is
> more like a battlegroup bulletin board than a software site. I'd
say to any
> microtonal musicians thinking of switching platforms to think
carefully. Yes
> you get more power in the chips with laptops, a wider variety of
> applications, but you're entering a circle of pain...
>
> Sincerely
>
> a.m.
Glad to hear the firewire 410 is working out. I still haven't seen
any reviews on it, but looks likes a killer on paper.

vquestor wrote:

> Glad to hear the firewire 410 is working out. I still haven't seen
> any reviews on it, but looks likes a killer on paper.

One of the reasons I got mine is
it does so much for less than $400.

* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Alison Monteith
<alison.monteith3@w...> wrote:
> Hi Paolo
>
> Go for it. Lil' Miss Scale Oven is a top programme and Jeff Scott
is one of
> the most helpful developers you'll meet. I use it all the time with
my Mac
> set-up. He seems to have found ways of tuning all sorts of new
softsynths
> and I'd recommend getting in touch with him for an update.
>
> Sincerely
> a.m.

Hi Alison,

Jeff said he's using LMSO with Crystal, which seems to have features
similar in power and scope to Absynth but is free, yet on the other
hand lacks internal support for tuning. I just asked him for
thoughts on Absynth 2 and how its tuning implementation compares to
that of FM7.

As it turns out he and I went to the same university and even had the
same major!

Paolo

on 9/10/03 19:03, paolovalladolid at phv40@... wrote:

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Alison Monteith
<alison.monteith3@w...> wrote:
> Hi Paolo
>
> Go for it. Lil' Miss Scale Oven is a top programme and Jeff Scott
is one of
> the most helpful developers you'll meet. I use it all the time with
my Mac
> set-up. He seems to have found ways of tuning all sorts of new
softsynths
> and I'd recommend getting in touch with him for an update.
>
> Sincerely
> a.m.

Hi Alison,

Jeff said he's using LMSO with Crystal, which seems to have features
similar in power and scope to Absynth but is free, yet on the other
hand lacks internal support for tuning. I just asked him for
thoughts on Absynth 2 and how its tuning implementation compares to
that of FM7.

As it turns out he and I went to the same university and even had the
same major!

Paolo

Hi Paolo

small world indeed. I'm glad to see that you've touched base with Jeff. The
more people that use LMSO, the more it'll develop.

Sincerely
a.m.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]