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I am considering purchasing the $49 Cakewalk Music creator 7 / TTS-1 package from BiaB mainly for my midi sounds. Looking for more information at the Cakewalk website, the link for Music creator 7 takes me to Home studio priced at $49.95.
Does anyone know if Music creator has been superseeded by Home studio and does this software offer the same TTS-1 or similar. My main objective here is to get a reasonable midi sound and thinking Cakewalk may offer more later on rather than Coyote. At this point I am not using any midi.
Thanks

Last edited by wish; 10/13/17 11:16 AM.

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I think that is the new one.

For $99 you get Sonar Artist which comes with some really really nice instruments and it is a workhorse of a DAW.

See comparison chart and the instruments you will miss if you get Home Studio:

https://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Versions#ins

Also, I think it only has 8 channels.

Primarily, you miss the TTS-1 which is the Roland midi synth you need, plus you miss the Cakewalk Sound Center.

TTS-1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZoW_ZRaG1A


Be warned though, there is kind of a steep learning curve with midi if you have just started, and TTS-1 is cool, but not hugely intuitive for newbies.

Also, with MIDI, that is such a HUGE subject, and so much depends on the sounds and what style of music you are doing and what you want to achieve. You can spend a fortune on midi libraries. Buying the DAW by itself won't be of much help.

There are some expert midi users on here. You should explain EXACTLY what you want to do in more detail before you buy, I think.

Just a thought.

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EDIT UPDATE

THE PG purchase site is STILL to Music Creator 7 - so check with PG DIRECTLY!


The rest of the below is before I checked the PG purchase links

EDIT


I'd would double check DIRECTLY with Cakewalk!

I have Music Creator 7 and IT DID/DOES include the DXi synth TTS-1, (I ALSO have Sonar Platinum - but no longer use either for personal reasons). I Bought MC7 a while back not out of need, I have owned ALL Cakewalk and Sonar Professional versions & now Platinum, on a whim when it was offered to me for $19


BUT UNTIL just now, looking at it on the Cakewalk site, I thought Home Studio WAS simply an update/re-branding/modernizing of Music Creator 7 to act/look/feel more like it's bigger newer brothers.

But that comparison chart EXCLUDES TTS-1

The total number of instruments listed are FIVE (5 is the count) and all five are accounted for in the bullets:

-Studio Instruments Drums
-Studio Instruments Bass
-Studio Instruments Strings
-Studio Instruments Electric Piano, and
-Rapture Session

the TTS-1 is ABSENT in that chart until to move over to the more expensive Artist ($99), Professional ($199), or Platinium ($499)

Good Luck
Larry


Last edited by Larry Kehl; 10/13/17 11:38 AM.

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Thanks David, appreciate that. I'm not after a Daw rather than the sound. With that I think I will try the Coyote for a starter and consider options from there.
For those Midi experts who may wish to comment, my music is mainstream 50's,60's 70's etc pop, country, bit of Rod Stewart type jazz (if I may use the word jazz for this genre).
Nothing too complicated and real tracks are taking up the majority of my reqirements but would like to get as much as I can out of the software.
Thanks also Larry
Cheers

Last edited by wish; 10/13/17 11:40 AM.

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Hey,

I updated my post. Larry is right, you have to be careful if you don't get TTS-1. That misses the whole point.

You will probably be good with coyote for a while really, until you get enough good feedback from the board on what you really need.

Don't jump the gun,

Also, check out the sample tank that came with your Real Band. That has some cool sounds.

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Also the Home Studio does not contain the TTS-1 according to the comparison charts.

If you are just looking to get a better GM sound source and are just starting out in MIDI I would suggest you get a free SoundFont player:

http://hiphopmakers.com/over-2000-free-soundfonts-free-soundfont-player

http://www.best-free-vst.com/plugins/virtual-instruments/soundfont-sf2-player-01.php

and some free GM patches:

http://www.ntonyx.com/sf_f.htm

http://www.synthfont.com/links_to_soundfonts.html

or some paid ones:

https://www.gmsoundfont.com/

The nice thing about soundfonts (SF2s) is that you can mix and match them. For example you could have an all orchestra SF2, or jazz band SF2 etc.

Note that SF2s are a dated technology but they are the perfect place for someone to start in MIDI. Some of the GM SF2s that I have heard rival the TTS-1 sounds. YMMV.


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Thanks all, it was worth the ask.


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I made some inquiries on Cakewalk's forum. Home Studio DOES include TTS-1. The comparison chart is wrong. Cakewalk was alerted about the comparison chart April, 2017 but has not updated the chart yet (October, 2017).

Cakewalk is preparing to update Home Studio "soon" and the comparison chart will be corrected then.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/Home-Studio-Confusion-m3585535.aspx#3667411

http://forum.cakewalk.com/Home-Studio-Updates-m3609374.aspx#3668332

http://forum.cakewalk.com/Sonar-Home-Studio-importing-video-m3655250.aspx#3667630

For what it's worth; the main difference I've found between Home Studio ($49) and Artist ($99) is Home Studio has a limit on the number of audio and MIDI tracks allowed while Artist does not. Home Studio track limitations are 64 audio tracks and 128 MIDI tracks. There are other differences I'm sure but with incorrect comparison charts and documentation I can't discover what they are.

Both programs are available as 32 or 64 bit. That means all the accessories come in both 32 and 64 bits. That means Studio Instruments (drums, bass, strings and electric pianos) and TTS-1 are available as 32 and 64 bit virtual instruments.

Home Studio is on my really want to buy list when I can find a spare $50. That said, I really hope Cakewalk can get their product feature web pages and documentation act together. It's most difficult to spend hard earned money on a product and have faith in the product when such glaring errors remain uncorrected.

Hope this is useful.


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Last thought, Wish.

If you had to choose between Home Studio and Artist, I would go with Artist.

I think it will grow with you and has a lot more stuff you may need later.

Peace out.

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The plot thickens, thanks so much for your input.
I have downloaded a demo version of Home studio and at the moment getting zero sound so will play a bit but may need some assistance on a seperate post.
I tried to load a very old Yamaha MX2 tone generator onto the laptop and it has run amouk with my BiaB settings. Can't even get the keyboard to be recognised. Probably a dumb thing to do as I need a 9 pin plug to USB to make it work and I doubt whether that's going to happen.
Cheers


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SampleTank 3 might be worth looking at although it's not a product that loads straight in with all the sounds. There have been some great deals on it with mini keyboards etc recently. I use SampleTank 2 with some $29 sounds for my midi (which I rarely use) but it's works fine for me on midi tracks. Probably not flexible enough for live work. Midi is fantastic anyway, eg for automating external units for live work. I use midi to control and drive my Voicelive 2 and Nova direct from Band in a Box. You can also use it to drive light systems etc etc. Really useful tool. Increasingly I'm using its flexibility for creating melody lines. I use Sampletank to improve midi files that I download although that is more flexible in Realband. BIAB doesn't really cope with that side of midi too well as usually all the midi tracks end up on the melody track and can only be split up to a limited extent.


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Just one last question for this thread.....
Are the Focusrite products a sound module that would replace the need of a soft synth?


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No, Focusrite makes audio interfaces (hardware) that you plug your guitar or mic or into so you can convert analog to digital and record it in your DAW. The interface plugs into your computer and uses a computer setting called "ASIO."

You need one if you are going to properly record guitars, vocals, bass and such.

Focusrite offers some free VSTs for mixing and EQing and such, but soft synths are a different world. They are virtual synthesizers that employ either midi or samples (or both) to create digital music, largely for keyboards, strings, pads, drums, on and on.

You should google soft synth and study it. It is a huge world man.

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If you get MC7 just be sure it has all the instruments and samples that come with the Cakewalk version.....and yes, Home Studio is the Cakewalk replacement for it. It has the instruments but I didn't see the Cakewalk Sound center synth.... one of my favorite synths due to the samples in it.

Just checked and MC7 from PG appears to be the real complete deal. Comes with all the instruments and CWSC synth and 150 instrument samples. Well worth the $50. Oh yeah, also has TTS. I stopped using TTS when I found out that samples sound better and can be triggered just as easily with midi.

Many of us here use a DAW as the crucial final part of working on our songs. While you may not want it for a DAW now, you will likely discover the versatility of using a DAW at some point.


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Also, and I'm going from memory here, I believe that Home Studio needs Windows 8 or 10, but doesn't work with Windows 7.

Music Creator works with all three.


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Thanks again, I have opted for hopefully a simple solution with the Coyote option which at least I know is supported by PG music. At this stage my midi knowledge is very sketchy but hopefully this will offer some better sounds than the default and can work from there. I will try to use Real Band as a daw but have numerous others downloaded as options but my needs are fairly simple.
Thanks....see you on another thread with midi issues.


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