Play midi files-Mac

donchilcott · 01-26-2013, 09:49 PM

Hi
I use a PC and for quick music ideas I often need a multi out vst. I often use midi requiring several parts to be played at once and often on seperate midi channels. I own Sonar so the best DXi/Vsti synth I have ever found is Cakewalk TTS-1 works great , sounds great for a garden variety source of sounds(incl drums).
Now ,,, I need the same type of thing for MAC... Great sound quality is not an issue, yet... The genre is most often simple Keys, Bass, Organ, and drums. I am a guitarist so... no guitar vst needed (thank God)
Komplete is so Huge, and pricey and annoying copy protection... Please HELP by sending some ideas for what to use with my daughters MAC. I Love Reaper but still run back to Sonar often as it was never nearly as buggy for me as others seem to complain about. Maybe because my needs are so simple... I hope midi in Reaper will improve so I can use it exclusively... Best wishes to all ...

TimOBrien · 01-27-2013, 08:57 AM

Use free soundfonts with a soundfont-player vsti.
Guy here on the board has a free one called SFZero that works great.
Bismark has the free bz-0 soundfont vst (their bs-1 is worth paying for) http://www.bismark.jp/bs-0/

There are some great free soundfonts from places like hammersound.net.
There are big GM collections like Unison, Cadenza and others that sound great.

If you want something a little bigger and dont mind paying, get IK's Sampletank.
(It's license is for both Mac and PC, mine swapped right over when I went to my iMac)

donchilcott · 01-27-2013, 12:34 PM

I forgot sampletank can work on Mac... I have Sampletank, incl library of sounds and the player for Mac is free online. I think I have it all :-) I have been meaning to check out using sound font player(s) as I have heard the quality is quite good. Thank You

TimOBrien · 01-27-2013, 02:49 PM

If you already have Sampletank, you don't the Mac free player, just download the real full installer from your IK account.
Like I said, the license is good for both platforms.

And watch esoundz.com for sales. I recently picked up their Omnisynth sounds for Sampletank for only $10 on sale
and it has a full GM soundbank. (Looks like it's back up to $37 now, again watch for sales.)