Re: LWL (looping with laptops) - Processor usage and the grand

["Chris Kline" <contact@chriskline.com>]

The Grand has a wide range of quality settings...its memory hungry, but
not so processor hungry ad the mid-to low settings.  Even it's lower
settings sound better IMHO than any sample collection I've tried - I
assume it's due to the synthesis of harmonics and such...also, sample
collections tend to have more room sound than is acceptable for live
performance (for rock anyways)... they are intended more for studio use
and you can't 'tweak' out the roominess.

http://www.satelliteband.net/mp3 <-- this song starts with a loop created
live using The Grand (on low) through Amplitube's reverb, looped and
reversed with Loopy Llama.

That said, The Grand will not run at full quality even with nothing else
running.  My friend (www.kentondre.com - a studio) couldn't get it running
under Pro Tools with a new Mac G5 until he got 2GB of ram.  Steinberg
intended the plugin to have a quality only achievable by rendering (as we
later saw in the manual) which was good foresight on their part since
computers would eventually catch up in capabilities.

I think the "no amp" rule is hilarious...I always benefit through
arbitrary excercises like that...it's funny how creativity can flourish
when it's given an obstacle course to run through.

Chris
http://chriskline.com

> I'll second your comments on the quality of Amplitube, especially from a
> features per processor load standpoint. For me, Amplitube is just what it
> should be - a nice combination of guitar amp modeling and a few effects,
> all
> in one nice package which is easy on the system load. I'm not a real
> guitarist myself, so I can not only dream of replacing an amp, but
> actually
> do so.
> (sidenote: I have enforced a "no instrument amps onstage" law for my
> Eclectic Blah ensemble. Guitarists usually don't like this - but one of
> the
> side effects is a vast reduction of sound level onstage, which in turn 
>has
> positive effects on the playing. End of unrelated sidenote).
>
> Looking at your plugin setup: do you really need The Grand? While my
> quality
> requirements for acoustic piano sounds are considerably higher than for
> guitar amp tone (being a classically trained pianist), I have thought
> about
> The Grand, but come to the conclusion that as part of a big sonic 
>texture,
> Kontakt's acoustic pianos are sufficient for what I want to do and less
> resource-hungry.
>
>       Rainer
>