Quote:
Originally posted by Frank L. Rosenthal:
I too as you know have Colossus but can't get the GM/program change mode to work well with kontakt. However, once that is accomplished and you use DFD (disk streaming) with a fast hard drive the loading time will become less of an issue. I am still working on this as well. If the sound quality is good in Bandstand then Bandstand will be the answer for GM (Auto Accompaniment & midi). In addition, if you can change out any of the instruments you do not like with better ones then Bandstand will be worth its weight in gold (not much weight...).


Frank: Disk streaming is essential - the best performance I have been able to get from Colossus has been with an external 7200 RPM hard drive via Firewire, but actual program/sound loads still take longer than I would like for live use. I agree with you on all points otherwise. Bandstand's 2 GB of sound samples should allow faster loads and should surpass the sound quality of any hardware GM module.

Fran: M-Audio's Key Rig is indeed getting very good reviews (including a Key Buy award in the current issue of Keyboard) and looks like a good value. I was disappointed to see that you still need a sequencer or some sort of SMF playback program with Key Rig to take advantage of the GM module with MIDI files. Although there is a variety of ways to address this, I like the interface and integrated SMF player in Bandstand. Also, I have read some hands-on reports that the acoustic piano in Key Rig is just passable so I'm holding out to see what NI's "Akoustic Piano" sounds like since that's my primary interest. The "Steinway D" piano of Colossus is outstanding and is now my favorite piano sound - if Akoustic Piano is comparable then that's my choice.