Gigastudio 3 is it neccesary

Okay. Im in a deliema. I need help in deciding between 3 things for my mpc4000. Basically i need some insight from those of you who own any of the following pieces of equipment.

1. Giant Orchestra multisample set (Peter Siedlaczek set)
2. Gigastudio 3 orchestra
3. Rack Rompler such as xr-rack (mainly for orchestra sounds)

My main objective here is to have a good set of orchestra type instruments for my hiphop productions. In 90% of my tracks i use strings, orchestra stuff. I have a good bass/ synth collection already. I find myself sampling movies, and old classical music (vinyl) I wanted to start getting into original classical production for my beats. Basically scoring my own phrases, then making beats out of them and venturing into soundtrack compositions as well.

Questions:

1. Would handling Giant multisample cds too slow, or tedious programming wise? Are the sample sets worth it. (Peter Siedlaczek Advanced orchestra set. http://www.soundsonline.com/sophtml/det ... S-94SET-AK Or something similar such as the: Miroslav Vitous Sample Library. )

2. Is gigastudio too difficult to incorporate with my mpc4000 (sequencing using mpc4000), something i dont know about? I know it sounds great and most soundtrack producers use it for scoring orchestra type tracks.

3. Does the fantom xr-rack sound good enough compared to the others? It would be nice to get the xtra sounds aside from the orchetra sounds. But I dont use much more than orchestral sounds, and piano....Maybe a few nice synths.



Also, I see the benefits of incorporating software(giga), but Dont know if I should take that jump. Multisamples just seems nice as an all in one solution. But overall the fantom seems the best allround by, because you get a variety for your money. HHHHmmmm please help!

Thanks in advance.

i wouldnt go the gigastudio way, if i were you. you need a giga compatible soundcard. Gigastudio only reads gigas. Why not cop Halion2 or MOTU Machfive?


If you gonna convert the gigas into akp, the big ones would become a big problem, indeed. For example, I have the Giggabiggas Rain Piano and one piano is like a couple of hundred megs, velocity split into too much layers for the mpc to handle.

If I were you, I would cop a laptop with a gig of ram, Chainer and Machfive and some multi sample libraries. I honestly think a computer is best for handling multi samples. Cop NI Elektrik Piano too and you are a go
These are the instruments I use inside of Pro Tools LE (PT as a digital mixer with fx via adat and rtas Instruments, midi (and audio) sequencing on MPC): Halion2, MOTU machfive, NI Elektrik Piano, ARP2600V, Minimoog V, FM7, Korg Legacy, vst2rtas wrapper. I only bought PTLE, NI Elektrik Piano and vst2rtas wrapper so I have a pretty cheap computer enviroment
The sound of your vsti´s depends mostly on your soundcard, if you put in a good card with decent headroom and good, clean DA´s, your vst´s will sound decent. No match for the 4k tho
CHainer can handle FX too, so you could always pump up your Halion or whatever with something like the virtual Joemeek SC2 or the Vintage Warmer or something else. BBE Sonic Maximizer is in vst thesedays too! Used to be only directx.
If you get something like the Fantom, your stuck with the onboard sounds and the extra rom boards.. With Halion or Machfive you can keep on building multi samples for the rest of your life! It also handles soundfonts! ... there are plenty of free soundfonts on the net

Thanks. GOod advice. I think ive finally decided.

Yeah, Ive been testing out that chainer with a few free vsts. I dont like the free vsts, but I like chainer. Im using the export sample function, and then making a few multisamples for my mpc4k.

Im gonna buy a digi 002-protools in a few days. I plan on Running some sort of sampling plugin with it. I figure if im gonna sync my mpc4k with PT to track, I might as well utalize all my resources and use some vsts.

I wanted to control whatever plugins with my mpc (sequencing on mpc). It would be better for me to go the vst route and sample cd route then the fantom. I dont like the idea of being limited by a few good presets. Plus having to save multisetups on the fantom is another pain in the ass. If i go the vst and mpc4k route, All my sounds and setups stay in the mpc (and on the computer) saving my projects on the computer should be no problem to manage and i can use akai sys to save em all in one spot.

I also decided that im gonna buy the Giant Orchestra multisample set (Peter Siedlaczek set). In akai format to use with my mpc4k. I figure if I dont like the way its working inside the mpc4k, i can always get a vst sampler like you mentioned above (halion or machfive) and just load it up in their. so im gonna check those out. Ive only tried out kontakt and gigasampler. So far im liking kontakt overall, (but i dont have an extensive sample set either loaded). Giga seems too complex with its midi setup, as you cant run it as a normal vst.

But again this is just testing these programs out last night! I had an internet friend so i was able to try out gigastudio and kontakt

Ive got a nice computer and a decent laptop. So my setup with my laptop, PTle rack, Mpc4k, and Midi controller will be pretty small and portable as well. Being able to track to protools will allow me to transfer it all to a studio too!


Thanks.