Vquestor, I just got forte 1.3 Beta 3 and tested all the things critical for my application (selfish) with the following results:

Works & Sounds Excellent:

LiveSynth Pro
Kontakt
UltraFunk Sonitus Effects
Audio In
DecaBuddy (fixed harmonies)
Appearance Excellent
Launches quickly
Loads VST instruments in Kontakt fairly quickly - not as fast as in Cubase SX

Nice to have & issues:

Save the Audio In Module settings in the forte Ensemble files.

Midi notes are not reaching VoiceMachine or DecaBuddy.

As far as I am concerned the good people at Brainspawn could remove the Beta designation (once the midi notes to DecaBuddy/VoiceMachine is solved) and call it a day - which is almost a lifetime for an old man. I am happy with the way it is. They plan on implementing further innovations, e.g., MidiFx similar to Cakewalk Sonar. You should know that the guitar guys are very happy with the implementation of Audio In. It significantly enhances their ability to generate noise. Good for them!!! By the way, I got Cakewalk Sonar 3.0 and it still can't do vocal harmonizers - no way of getting midi notes to the effects. It can now play more than one synth at a time without the use of Project5.

Brainspawn forte Ensemble is by far the most effective, efficient and reliable host. Plus it is affordable (relatively).

Finally, who knows what happened to LiveSynth Pro. There are other synths on the market which will play soundfonts, e.g., BS-16, Audio Compositor, Orion Sampler (I think), rgaudio, SeerMusic, Sound Burst, etc. These just do not work as well or sound as well on Yamaha styles or midis. The styles and midis would need to be modified to work with a GM Wavetable. If you are going to make such changes then Edirol's HQ Hyper Canvas is a good option. Also VSampler 3.0 is out and it can handle soundfonts quite well but can't find the Yamaha drums in sYnergi GS.

Hopefully, LiveSynth Pro will come back stronger than ever or in a new incarnation of some kind.

Alternatively, we should convince some of the very talented programmers on this forum to devise a small tranlation program (XG to GM) with emphasis on the individual drum instruments and appropriate note numbers. I would even be willing to pay $30 for this program. I could do this myself with GNMidi but I am an old man and would rather watch grass grow or the weather channel!!!


[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 10-11-2003).]