Barebones MIDI

[Rahere]

I'm essentially an acoustic performer who never got on with the ubiqitous keyboards and guitar. I'm a decent vocalist, top-quality winds, harp, hurdy, you name it. I just don't relate to those two. Therefore, I'm not interested in lugging a massive keyboard around just for its MIDI sound sourcing. That does, of course, send me in the direction of a Sound Module, however my next selector is flexibility: I want it to be able to download soundfonts as the barest minimum, and perhaps respond to computer-driven VST/VSTi. No, I don't want to have a PC at the centre of the system because it's interfered with too much by outside sources, there's a Roland Zoom R24 in the setup buffering to postmix if needed. In other words, various controllers such as a Yamaha WX7 and a Roli Seabord need to be fed. I also have a MicroKorg, a MicroKontroller, and an Akai Force.
So, I crave the Forum's indulgeance in asking, many low-latency sound modules only offer their own set of instruments to be controlled. Does any offer the extras (ie, essentially, memory and load facilities with an open-ended lust of sounds) that you know of?

[CarniverousSock]

I'm not sure if I'm understanding your question.  Are you looking for a controller, or a synth?

[BlackWinny]

I'm not sure if I'm understanding your question.  Are you looking for a controller, or a synth?

I'm as perplexed as you are.... Rahere's text is very confuse. I don't understand if what he is after is a hardware device or a software instrument (VSTi), and in case it's a hardware device I don't catch if he wants good ideas and suggestions for a synthesizer, for a sampler, for a workstation, for an arranger keyboard, or for a simple MIDI keyboard controller.

We would like to help him...

... but Rahere could you reword your question much clearer, please ?

The only thing we clearly understand (and with the help of a visit to your previous posts in other threads !) is only that you have a long and great practice in acoustic instruments and that you are after "something" modern which would be useful for your practice. All the rest is terribly confuse.

Reading this passage "I want it to be able to download soundfonts as the barest minimum" let think that you are after a sampler or a rompler, and probably with the ability to load additional extensions giving high quality sounds of acoustic/traditional instruments (am I wrong ?)... but even that is in itself something we can't even infer with any certitude, and all the rest is terribly confuse because you talk about Roland Zoom R24, Yamaha WX7, Roli Seabord, and you even write "I don't want to have a PC at the centre of the system" but also "not interested in lugging a massive keyboard around just for its MIDI sound sourcing", etc.

It is terribly confuse !


So please Rahere could you reword your question much clearer so that we could help you with in mind a clear idea about the kind of thing you're after ?

[Tj Shredder]

The text is full of contradictions, mentioning no PC center and VSTi does not fit together. A Seaboard does not need to be fed, it feeds a synth engine etc...
But if you are not into keyboards, and still want the flexibility of synths, get a LinnStrument and an iPad...