Category: Jam Session
I bought a Motif Xs8 and I thought it would be accessible for sequencing, but it isn't. I know it works with sonar, but I don't have it and can't afford it. I've heard of an accessible editor for it, but it has to be purchased and I can't afford it. Is there any way to make it accessible? Please help if possible.
Hi. I e mailed you about this a while ago but perhaps you didn't recieve it. Really, for the foreseeable future, sonar 8.5.3 studio or producer edition with the j sonar scripts or the cake talking scripts from dancing dots is your best bet as far as midi sequencing/editing. The Motif is a great board, but, to buy it as your main sequencer wasn't your best move. And you are correct, the Motif screen reader is not free. I'd say sell it or return it, and use the money to buy a good weighted 88 key controller, buy sonar, a couple nice virtual instruments, an interface, and, upgrade your computer, or at least your ram for the time being. The big workstations are on their way out. they are just getting so far behind what you can do as far as loading and triggering huge sample libraries with a multi processor pc. if you can sell it, look into open labs. they make an all in one solution that is basicly a windows pc inside of a keyboard controller case. they are very nice, even the entry level models. there are tons of features and jaws runs on it without a problem. (I've tested a unit and have worked with the company but that's for another time.) Dancing dots can hook you up with a very nice system including software. so, also give them a call once you've got some cash to work with. I do offer consultant and training services, remotely or in person depending on your location, for anyone out there that might be interested; from setting up and configuring your system to beginner to advanced operation. Please e mail or pm me for more info and a price quote. thanks.
Care to shed some light on how useable open labs system is with jaws?
very useable. we can't use the touch screen but keep in mind that there is the built in qwerty keyboard and mouse and all the tactile controls including the mixer and trigger pads etc. I worked with the flagship model running sonar 8.52 and jaws 10 with no problems earlier this year before I moved. they are very stable and quick machines. also, they are built like tanks. they aren't cheap, but, they are a power house and a space saver. And, they can customize the machine you want. ram, hard drives, processor, on board audio interface, software, etc.
cool thanks good to know
you're welcome.
thanks cameron. now that I think about it, it was an idiotic move on my part. I can't return it to Guitar Center since more then a month has passed, but I'l look into ways of selling it on craigslist or ebay or something. How much does the Open labs flagship keyboard/pc thingy cost? more then Motif? I'm realy disapointed with myself. Thanks for all the info.
what's the name of the 88 key open labs keyboard thingy? I looked on their sight and I only saw a 61 and a 37 key model
they have a seventy six too. they don't make an eighty eight key version, not yet at least. price wise, a bit over two grand to start for something decent, but they can easily go up to five or six k. it depends on your needs though. As far as the Motif xs8, if it's in mint or near mint condition, you should easily get around $2700, maybe more if you're lucky. They sell for $3600 new.
There are some people out there in the blindness community that successfully use the Motif's sequencer, and sampler. Gold Fingas comes to mind, as does Brian Smart. You may want to look them up before you sell your instrument.
and if you explain to themn your situation they will take it back.
thanks all for the help. The unit is in mint condition except for braille labels next to the buttons. I have made only 1 extra song and I have the sustain pedal for it and all manuals and disks. do you think it'l sell for more if I include the pedal?
regarding the post of izzito, I also know blind motif users, but it's kind of hard to remember how many times to push what button.
regarding the post of izzito, I also know blind motif users, but it's kind of hard to remember how many times to push what button.
Hi all, I thought about the situation, and I think I'l just get the latest version of sonar (8.5.3) (I saw a realy good deal at musicians friend, 8.5 producer for 400 dolars) and I'l use my xs as a midi controler. Like You use with your s90es. Am I right? What virtual instruments would you reccomend becides the ones that come with Sonar? are the East West line of virtual instruments accessible? Thanks all for the help and suggessions.
Matthew
whoops, for post twelve, I meant to jessie, not izzito. Sorry about that.
I like the virtual instruments included with sonar for the most part. as far as additional ones for your collection, Synthogy Ivory is really good as is toontrack superior, omnisphere, etc. and they are all accessible with hsc. You can also use your motif sounds when you midi up your motif with sonar. Keep that in mind. the xs has some amazing on board sounds.
Thanks a lot. I've heard of Synthogy ivory, but I've never used it. I've also heard a lot of good stuff about Omnisphere, but I've also never used it. Is an instrument definition file with the .ins extension to tell Sonar what kind of midi equipment you have hooked up to your Pc? What's HSC? I've heard the word before, but I forgot the definision. I totaly agree that the Xs has killer sounds. Especialy the guitars. Do you know of any libraries of sampled acoustic instruments similar to East West colosis? (it's inaccessible due to the fact that it uses the Kontakt player which is graphicaly based) My friend has it and he says that the stienway sounds real grand. Have you heard about the Mimik software for the MiKo and NeKo? It can clone any sound off of any instrument with midi capabilities. I can just imagine myself walking into Guitar Center with my NeKo (which I won't be getting since I'm perfectly fine with my Motif hooked up to Sonar) and going into the keyboard room, and raiding all the synths of their fantastic sounds. All of the sounds of the inaccessible synths would be mine. Muahahaha.
I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the motif in terms of using its sequencer functions and what not. It's definitely not like using a computer with the feedback you get, but it's certainly doable as the menus don't wrap or anything. It's not like you completely wasted your money. There are quite a few blind musicians/producers who use the xs as well as previous boards in the series to do sequencing and even sampling. I personally wouldn't do a final product on it, I.E. a completed record, but it's definitely a great tool for putting ideas down. It has a pattern sequencer that allows you to creat sections and chain them together to "build" your song. For example, 4 bar intro, 8 bar verse, etc. You can also try googling for a mailing list on freelists called MoAccess. Hope this helps.
Thanks a lot. I'm happy I posted this topic. I'm getting so many awesome ideas. Thanks All. I think I won't get another board, I'l just stick with this one. I haven't got Sonar yet, but I think I'l get it soon. My friend has a lot of virtual instruments he can give me for free which i think is pretty neat. I think he has Omnisphere, but i'm not sure. Can Cameron please post an omnisphere demo somewhere so I can here what it sounds like? I've looked on youtube, but there's nothing very informative there. Thanks all again.
Yes, the motif xs and the S90xs are great boards. Their sounds are much better than other boards currently available. But, for a home studio setup and having a limited budget, you're better off going for a controller, sonar eight, some good nearfield monitors, and a good control surface/audio/midi interface like the project mix. Now if we were talking about a performance situation, my recommendation would be different.
hsc allows you to access certain controls that are not visible with jaws. it's a neat program, is free, and anyone can create hot spot files to share. google them. same for omnisphere, there are tons of you tube demos, just google youtube and omnisphere.
and, the native instruments/east west stuff is not accessible at this point. it's totally bit mapped. however, what you could do is have a sighted person create sonar track templates which you could load into sonar sessions. that way at least you could load a bunch of presets etc. And, an instrument definitions file allows you to choose banks and patches from within sonar instead of actually choosing them on your synth. when they work, they are fantastic and are a real time saver.
Thanks for the Info. I saw that Open labs has a program called MiMik which clones any sounds on a musical instrument with midi capabilities. Does it only work with MiKo and NeKo or can it just work on a PC.
Not sure and I have a feeling the gui is bit mapped anyways, but don't quote me on that. I mainly used Sonar on it as I didn't have much luck with jfw with their own software. still an amazing machine though for the hardware alone.
I bet your right. I'm just thinking that it would be cool to walk into the keyboard room of a guitar center, and clone the sounds off all the inaccessible keyboards. Fantom-g, m3, m50, juno series, etc. Wouldn't that be cool? What's the cheapest low latency soundcard besides the m-audio audiophile 2495? It seems the cheapest option, but I'm not sure. Maybe other people know otherwise.
Thanks all for posting. This is the biggest board topic I've ever made. 26 posts... Wow!
Matthew
the e-mu 0404 is another option . there is a usb version and a non usb version thats a pci card of some sort most recent versions i think are pci x cards.
you're better off going with a firewire soundcard/midi interface. for doing it on the cheap, go with the presonus firebox or the m audio firewire solo etc. I'm selling my presonus firebox by the way if anyone is interested. I have the m audio project mix now so don't need it. Please pm me if interested.
I've seen the project mix around. Is it any good? I was looking around and saw that sonar 8.5 producer is now 400 instead of 500 dollars. Pretty cool huh? (unless you already have it) Do you think it's possible to put the new waverom and stuff from the Motif Xf into my Xs?
Thanks all for the help. Are any Archuria virtual instruments accessible?
Matthew
I doun't know maybe its jsut me but i have used usb and firewire and it seems so long as your computer has low enough latency and the drivers are good it doesn't make much of a difference. Ok so firewire supposedly uses less cpu cycles than USB, but still using my first firewire card now and honest not seeing all that much of adifference if any. Also for $100 or less your only choices really are something internal like PCI-X isn't it. And aren't those supposed to give even better performamces than firewire or USB?
I think that the card I want, the m-audio audiophile 2496 is a pci card and is internal. What other soft synths are accessible besides all the cakewalk, spectrasonics, toontrack, and synthogy stuff? Why haven't I seen HSC sets for Toontrack or Synthogy products?
Thanks for all the hints and tips,
Matthew
i think someone did a set for superior Drummer which they sell for $10. join the JSonar mailing list at JSonar.org and you will probably have better luck getting answers about whats supported and why whats not supported isn't.
I will, I just wanted to ask You awesomely smart musicians first.
well there are some awsomely smart musicians on there as well that knows that stuff inside and out as its their day jobs to some extent so its a good place for info like that even if u were to end up going with caketalking lol.
... realy? Why would I go with a THING like that? I'd rather go with the free J-sonar rather then the 250 dollar CakeTalking. My friend has an m-audio interface that he doesn't need, and he says if i need it which I probably won't since my Sonth connects to the PC via usb, I can have it. Isn't that awesome? Why is there an HSC set for Trilogy, but not for Trilian? Trilian's newer. and why is there a set for omnisphere but not for Atmosphere? Atmosphere's older. is J-sonar easy to learn with sighted assistance?
Matthew
You don't need sighted assistance to learn JSonar. Though the interface may look a bit cluttered to a sighted person as JSonar relies on having alot of the toolbars visible to feed you verbal info about whats going on in the project. The advantage to CakeTalking however is that you have a company u can call up for tech support whenever u need it. With JSonar you have a mailing list with some helpful members. As for the other stuff i suggest you get on there and ask those questions as i don't use synths of any kind so i never investigated any of that stuff. But my guess is that Someone wanted to or needed to use those and thus they sat down and created sets for them and were nice enough to freely share them. the others may have inaccessible interfaces and thats why no sets were made for them.
Hey matt. sorry for the delay on commenting on some of this, I don't have the time to get on here much as I said before. anyways, there is a set for toontrack superior drummer 2.22. it's around sixty bucks give or take, depending on the exchange rate. a guy in the UK developed it and it's quite nice. send me an e mail or a pm and I'll give you his info if you want it. as for JSonar vs CT, The scrubbing implimentation in JSonar is superior to that found in cake talking. (you use scrubbing to select and edit/delete very fine audio data.) the main advantage of cake talking is the help both in the tutorials, and, in sonar itself. cake talking guides you along a lot more. you can learn JSonar and sonar by yourself but reading up on basic audio and midi is a must. also, as I've mentioned before, one on one training will get you along much quicker. Working with a DAW without an audio background can be quite a lot to digest at first. Also, keep in mind that there are tons of high quality expansion packs for dimension pro, dimension le, rapture, and rapture le, so, you aren't just limited to the sound that they ship with. there are also free expansion packs for both. even just the stock sounds in dimension and rapture will keep you busy for a long time. I use them in professional projects and you'd be surprised at the quality of many of them! You also have tts1, session drummer, rxp, roland groove synth, and others that you get with sonar 8.5 right out of the box. It's real bang for your buck!
Also, I would highly recommend firewire over USB for an audio interface. It's more stable and the throughput rate is much better in real world use. Keep in mind that you can also daisy chain an external hd with your firewire device assuming it has two ports. (I have a very nice Presonus 24 bit firewire audio/midi interface for sale. If anyone is interested, pm me for more details I'm letting it go cheap as I don't need it anymore. worked like a charm with sonar.) I do have the project mix I/O and it is a great interface and control surface. definetly the best all in one solution currently available. Also, you can use it with sonar on the pc, and, with pro tools m powered on the mac, which is great.
Hi all, Sorry I haven't been on lately, I've been in camp and there was no internet access. Thanks for all the info. Sadly I don't have Sonar yet, since I've been away and have had other things to attend to. I will be posting if I have any problems with it. I've heard taht the XS is also an audio/midi interface for Sonar, and I'm sure that it will work fine since it connects through USB. I might need an interface though if it doesn't work though so I'l also keep you guys posted on that. I've been looking at the Digital Sound Factory cakewalk dimention expansions, and it seems as if all the sounds have been copied from somewhere, but I can't place where they've come from. I'l be buying the E-mu protieus pack for dimention pro with Sonar since my local guitar center has some sweet deals. My friend reccomended the behringer bfd2000 as a mixer, but I don't need it since my XS can also be used as a mixer I think. Does anyone know how much it costs to upgrade rapture to full?
Thanks for all the help and info,
Matthebrat.
P.s, do I install sonar, then j-sonar, then HSC, or is it hsc and then J-sonar?
Hi matt. yes, the BCF2000 is a good starter control surface. However, you won't have the dedicated buttons etc that you have on a higher end unit. it would certainly be better than nothing though and it does work with sonar out of the box. yes, you'd install sonar, then hsc, then JSonar.
Thanks. My friend has a M-audio mobile Pre interface that he doesn't need, and he states that if I need it, he can give it to me. Don't worry though, since I realy don't need an interface at the moment. I'm getting sonar on thursday. Is Project 5 still supported? I won't be using it, since it doesn't come with sonar, but I'm just wondering. Is the cakewalk in your face fx loops library dimention pro/rapture compatible? it's $45 at guitarcenter.com, and I'm just wondering if it's good or not. My friend uses a fast track ultra. Is it good?
Sincerely,
Matthew
I was also wondering, Is tone2's gladiator synth accessible?
To bad MiMik by open labs only works with MiKo and NeKos. I wish it would owrk as a plugin for sonar.
Matthew
the fast track pro is a decent beginner firewire interface, and, you can use it with pro tools m powered on the mac if you ever choose to explore that avenue.
My DAW will ship in 3 days! I'm So excited. My friend uses a fast track ultra and says it's realy good and has a lot of ports and is good for daws and midi and such. Is protools on the Mac better then Sonar on PC?
Matthew
has any one on here a user of lojeck studeo
logic 9 express, pro, etc is not there as far as accessibility. I believe apple is working on that though. So, we may see it in 2011.
And to answer your question Matt, it's not that it's better per say. they are different. but for now, as you are in the early stages of working with midi and audio etc, I recommend you stick with one easily accessible package until you get the fundamentals down. remember that the concepts of composition, recording, mixing, etc, are universal. When you start talking about different applications and gear, then you are mearly applying those universal concepts to a specific product. Pro tools has a steeper learning curve. For now, it's mostly for audio where voiceover users are concerned as the midi features are not accessible yet, like the event list editor etc. don't get so bogged down with new gear and the latest soft synths and all that. just work with what you have. being spoiled for choice is a blessing and a curse. remember that all you home studio peeps out there. in fact, it's a shame that many are starting out with computer based music without working with a four track casette recorder like the tascam porta studio. take something basic and limited and get creative with it. push yourself. that way when you do jump into sonar or pt and you have dozens of tracks and effects and everything at your disposal, you can make the choice to work with more or less, if it suits the song you're working on.
Cameron, you are right. I won't get bogged down in new gear, I'l just stick to what I have.
okay that is intristing to here you say because from when i talked to some one from apple they said that logic would work find with voice over that there are keybord commands fore doing everything and that i should start with lerning Garageband because the controles are simler
That is strange. When I use Garage band on a mac with VO, the whole thing freezes and I need sighted assistance with it. Sadly, Apple was mistaken. As far as I know, logic isn't currently accessible. I'm not the expert, so ask Guitargod1, I bet he knows. My friend uses Logic pro, but I don't think it'd work for you.
Matthew
I just got my MobilePre yesterday and I'm going to try to connect my Motif to it. But first I have to order sonar since I still haven't ordered it yet.
that's weard what kind of mac do you have? On my Mac book pro i have opened Garage band and my Mac book doesn't do any of what your talking about. But yeah i will try asking guitar god about more.
Hey guitar god if lojek isn't voice over friendly why is ther 389 preset keyboard commands/shortcuts, with another 587 commands waiting to be assigned i found this buy googling keybord camands fore Lojeck studeo
certain important elements of the logic GUI are not accessible yet. if you have a logic compatible control surface though, you can do a lot of things. but, it's not to the point of where sonar or pro tools is yet. and garage band is built on things from logic; you could consider it the starter version let's say. Logic was aquired from emagic by Apple and was not written in coco. So, as a result, they need to go in and program a lot of buttons and controls etc so they are visible to voiceover. unofficially, we should see improved vo access in the next major release. Now, there is a way to use logic 8 pro with an older version of quick keys, which lets you use macros with voiceover. however, obtaining all of that is a pain as it's not on the market anymore, and, development of that project ended a while ago. It was done by the RNIB in England I believe. anyways, that is where logic stands at the monent. your best bet for now is Sonar with JSonar or the ct scripts with windows, and, pro tools for audio with Mac OS X.
and as for garage band freezing your mac, make sure your operating system is up to date using software update. also, make sure your firmware is up to date as well. That's all I can recommend without having more specific information.
o okay so what your saying is if i have a control surface that Lojeck would be usable what about the lojeck keybords that i herd about i herd that there are keybords that you can buy that are sapoes to alow the user to acs the the controls of Lojeck
You'd be better off buying a control surface that could be recognized in logic, but, also have mackie hui and mackie control modes. Then, you could use it with logic, sonar, and pro tools. Not familiar with keyboards that are for specific daw apps. I just use a Yamaha as a master controller, that's all.
and as for logic 9 at this point, I don't know. I don't have the program and don't have the dedicated hardware. I would say for now, don't invest the money in it. wait for the next version. stick with sonar and pt for the time being.
It was my schools mac which doesn't run the latest OS. That's why what I said happened.
Matthew
I got the Mobile pre, but haven't gotten the daw yet. It'l come in a few days. Cakewalk released 2 new free dimension pro sound expansions and 2 free rapture ones. A certain company also released an Avant Guard sound bank for z3ta+. They also released a custom GUI for it, but I'm not sure if it's accessible, so I reccomend using the original GUI. I'm not sure how much the Avant Guard bank costs, but if you go to harmonycentral.com, you'l find it there. How much does the Session drummer 3 hsc set cost? I tried contacting Chris Bell (the developer) but Windows said something about me having the wrong mail client or something. The first Dimention pro sound expansion has a true B3 emulation. Wouldn't that be cool? What do you get if you pay the $80 upgrade fee from rapture le to rapture pro? Where can I get the z3ta+ hsc set?
Thanks for keeping with my aunslaught of questions, I'l post about my DAW experiences,
Matthew
All of the free hsc sets can be found on the hsc sets page. not sure about the session drummer 3 hsc set. I don't use it. I use toontrack superior. I like the free banks for dimension pro and rapture le. I just bought the 1500 megapack expansion from the cakewalk online store but haven't checked it out yet. I do want a bunch of those libraries at some point. and, the majority of current guis are totally bit mapped so you're pretty much out of luck in terms of out of the box accessibility. being able to create hot spots though should be approached on a case by case basis. rapture has a lot to offer, but, rapture le is a good starting point if you like those sort of sounds. personally, I'd rather take the $100 upgrade cost and put it towards something like omnisphere.
I got the DAW today! I don't think I'l have time to install it today though. Any instalation tips?
Matthew
I thought I got it on august 31, but it turned out to be something else. Now I actualy have it, but I can't install it yet because of the fact that I need my computer backed up, and another hard drive to run it on.
Once it's installed,
I'l tell all my experinces with it.
Matthew
Hi all, I got the daw and just finished installing disc 1. For some reason it was scanning audio hardware and said that 44.1 khz and all the others except for 24 are unavailable. What does this mean. Does mean I have to get a nother soundcard which I'm going to do anyway since this one isn't low latency. Or do I have to get an i7 processor for more then I can afford? What's causing this thingy? just wondering. I signed up for the Jsonar mailing list and it's realy helpful. The people on there are pretty useful for the spew of questions I squirt to all of you. Thanks
Matthew
Hey matt. if you are talking about the wave profiler and sonar giving you an error about supported sample rates and bit depth, don't worry about it. once you install the drivers for your m audio interface, you can tell sonar to use the acio drivers. then, you'll be good to go working in 24 bit 96k for example. again, I can setup your system. just give me a call.