Hello. I am looking to compose music using a MIDI compatible keyboard,
composition software, and a sound card. The computer runs some
standard windows version such as Windows XP. This question pertains
only to the third component -- the sound card.

In the past, I have found sound cards to be seriously lacking in terms
of how accurately the generated sounds of an instrument reflect the
actual sounds of the instrument. For example, the "choir" sound would
sound like a nasal whine and nothing like a real choir. Those sound
cards were mainly for general use such as playing MP3s, WAV files, or
CDs. And then they had the "MIDI" functionality as an add on.

So now for my research request. I would like to find a few sound cards
that are designed exclusively or primarily for accurate generation of
the sounds of musical instruments for serious music composition. Any
other features such as gaming enhancements, MP3 enhancements, surround
sound, etc . . . are not needed. I'll only use the sound card for
serious music composition.

My main concerns are as follows:
- Designed for serious music composition
- MIDI compatible
- Must faithfully generate accurate sounds for all or most available
instrument voices
- Must have all standard instrument voices including all voices found
in a symphony orchestra, band, and major standalone instruments (for
example "organ" is a major standalone instrument)
- Must be able to play enough voices at the same time for any serious
composition, presumably the most demanding being a full-fledged
symphony
- Must be compatible with standard music composition software
- Price is not much of an issue. I'm not expecting to only pay $30 for
such a good card. I realize it could be several hundreds of dollars or
possible more and that's OK.

What I'd like is if you could find the few best sound cards meeting
the aforementioned criteria, provide their technical specifications
and price, and point me to a place to buy them. "Best" means generally
accepted as being top-of-the-line for music composition. I will
compare them and ultimately decide which one to buy.

Thank you.

rushingriver

Dear rushingriver,



The most highly specialized MIDI sound card on the market is the Yamaha
SW1000XG, which uses the proprietary XG technology for realistic sound
production. Although the SW1000XG is several years old, it remains
the standard for professional MIDI composition. It comes with over
1000 realistic voices, including all major orchestra, band, and solo
instruments. Up to 64 voices can play at one time. The SW1000XG can be
enhanced with the addition of plug-in sound cards such as the PLG1000XG,
which adds more than a thousand new voices. You can expect to pay a
pretty penny for all this performance. The SW1000XG is available for
$699.95 online, while the PLG1000XG enhancement will run you $190.


    XG format, from Yamaha, is basically a set of rules describing how
    a tone generator will respond to MIDI data, like GM. GM, however,
    applies only to a limited set of parameters. XG significantly
    expands on the basic GM format, providing many more voices,
    voice editing capability, effects, external input, and other
    features that contribute to enhanced musical expression. And
    since XG is totally upwardly compatible with GM, GM data can
    be accurately reproduced on any XG tone generator. XG features
    tone arrangement and modification, a variety of musical effects,
    and expandability for the future. [...]

    XG (Sondius-XG) is a Stanford University/Yamaha system (over
    400 patents!) for generating very realistic instrument sounds
    using 'physical modelling' of the instruments. For more info,
    see Staccato Systems Technology Overview (they were the first
    licensees of the Sondius technology and sell a s/w synth called
    SynthCore  that uses it).

University of Waikato: Mark Utting: Advanced PC Soundcards for MIDI
http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~marku/soundcards.html


    Using the SW1000XG is a delight. To your application program, the
    SW appears as two soundcards for inputs (numbered one and two to
    correspond to the analog and digital inputs) and as 6 soundcards
    for output (corresponding to the six virtual mixer outs).[...] XG
    Works is full-function sequencer with some audio capabilities and
    with effects control and a mixer for the SW1000XG. It works well
    and could function as a main sequencer if your needs aren't that
    demanding. I like the fact that it has built in rhythm patterns
    which could come in handy for the percussively challenged. It
    lists for over $100 and is a good addition to the package. The
    documentation is much leaner than I would have liked. There is
    an essential 442 question answer FAQ on the XG Factory website
    and I think that this should have been included on the CD with
    the XG Works manual, at least a shareware version of XG Edit and
    Hubis loopback device. All in all, however, I think that the SW
    is a phenomenal value for its street price of about $530. It's
    the soundcard to beat, by far!

Tony Thomas' Techtrends: Yamaha SW1000XG Soundcard
http://www.tonythomas.net/sw1kxg.htm


Yamaha XG: home page
http://www.xgfactory.com/

Yamaha XG: main features [see screen shots at botom of page]
http://www.xgfactory.com/html/prod/sw1k_02.htm

Yamaha XG: specifications
http://www.xgfactory.com/html/prod/sw1k_05.htm


InstrumentPro: Yamaha SW1000XG: $699.95
http://www.instrumentpro.com/P-YAMSW1000XG


Same Day Music: Yamaha PLG100XG Wave Synth Plug In Board: $190
http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--YAMPLG100XG



Another line of high-end sound cards with realistic MIDI sound quality is
made by E-Mu. Although E-Mu's products are aimed at the music production
professional with an emphasis on studio work, they function well on
the desktop and are designed in several respects to meet the needs
of composers. E-Mu cards can play all 128 voices in the standard MIDI
repertoire, but also include nearly 800 additional samples that cover
all the major solo and ensemble instruments. They are compatible with
standard MIDI applications and are bundled with studio software for
custom sound design. The number of concurrent voices depends on hardware
capabilities. For example, a Pentium 4 running at 3 GHz can play over
220 voices at the same time. E-Mu's best MIDI interface is the 1820M,
which costs $499 online. For more budget-conscious consumers, the 1212M
can be had for $199.


E-Mu: Digital Audio Systems
http://www.emu.com/products/category.asp?category=754&maincategory=754

E-Mu 1820M
http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?product=2211&category=754&maincategory=754

E-Mu 1212M
http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?product=2209&category=754&maincategory=754


AudioMidi: 1820M: $499
http://www.audiomidi.com/common/cfm/product.cfm?pid=4808

AudioMidi: 1212M: $199
http://www.audiomidi.com/common/cfm/product.cfm?pid=4810



Finally, you may be interested in M-Audio products, which are relatively
inexpensive PCI sound cards and USB devices that provide top-notch
MIDI sound quality at a relatively low price. Two M-Audio products
in particular are bundled with several hundred realistic instrument
voices, which can be supplemented by samples available on CD-ROM or as
downloadable files. The Audiophile 2496 is a high-fidelity sound card
that can be purchased online for $99. The Audiophile USB is an external
device that include available for $199. M-Audio products in general are
widely used by professional composers and music performers.


M-Audio: 2496
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html

M-Audio: USB MIDI Interfaces
http://m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.list&ID=usbmidiinterfaces

M-Audio: Artists
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=artists.list


NewEgg: M-Audio Audiophile USB [see reviews near bottom of page]
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductdesc.asp?description=29-121-107&depa=0

AudioMidi: Audiophile 2496: $99
http://www.audiomidi.com/common/cfm/product.cfm?pid=962

AudioMidi: Audiophile USB: $199
http://www.audiomidi.com/common/cfm/product.cfm?pid=3275



It has been a pleasant challenge to address this question on your
behalf. If you feel that any part of my answer is unclear or incorrect,
please post a Clarification Request so that I may fully meet your needs.


Regards,

leapinglizard

The answer is exactly what I was looking for. Now I know the major
players in terms of sound cards for serious music composition and can
make a decision on which one to purchase. Thank you.

At this point and time,  the soundcard you choose should be considered
the "front end" of your music composing system,  the method of
listening to your work and recording in any live instruments such as
your voice or acoustic instruments.

There is no soundcard on the market that offers truly realistic
instuments and power.  Why?  Because it is too expensive to this
implement on ROM chips.

Your researcher did suggest the EMU cards - but keep in mind that
those cards are not providing the sounds,  the software is reading
from sampled data on your hard drive.


The way to go is to choose a composing package that allows use of VST
or DXi instruments.  This includes all the major music packages such
as:

-Steinberg Cubase SE, SL, SX  (SE is less than $140)
-Abelton Live
-Sonar
-Sound Forge Acid
-Protools LE (Uses RTAS plugin format)


With any of these above programs - you load up a "Software synth" -
which is the equivelent to a real hardware synthesizer - except
polyphony is limited by your CPU power!

An example product that has a full range of decent sounds (that can be
further expanded btw) is called Sampletank.

www.sampletank.com 
Each instance of this plugin allows 16 part multitimbral operation. 
Just like an external Rackmount synth such as a Roland 1080 etc.


There are many more sounds and synth plugins available - all specific
to pianos,  orchestra sounds and at this point any insturment you
could imagine!!

The two world standard companies that distribute the top-noch sound
libraries can be found here:

www.soundsonline.com

and 

www.ilio.com

Of course,  these can add up in cost very fast!!  But if you want the
sounds that are currently used in Television,  Film and Commercials...
You'll find them all there.

Also,  the drivers and support for those Yamaha cards are not great. 
Your best bet would be the mentioned M-Audio cards as a great starting
point.

The main advantage of having the sound generated by softsynths is that
you are not bound to your soundcard.  You can upgrade that at will can
keep your sound library intact.

Regards,

Neil Parfitt