Virus Synth or Novation SL MkII 25 ?

[osbar]

Alright.. I want to make a little upgrade to my studio. It's been a while with the same midi keyboard. Like some people making music with only plug-ins and a midi keyboard, I would like to have a Virus desktop synth , but...

Instead of spending the money on some new hardware or getting a used one,
Would it be better to just get a Novation SL MkII 25 midi keyboard and stay with the soft synth's or not ?

---------- Post added 07-26-2012 at 05:22 AM ---------- Previous post was 07-25-2012 at 08:07 PM ----------

By the way.. Can you only control 8 channels (volume faders) from ableton with the Sl Mk2 or does it have more banks? (like an Akai for example)

[P. Casso]

You have banks.

Do you already have some type of midi controller already?

[CPhoenix]

If I had money for a Virus... I would get that. You can probably recreate a lot of the stuff in software of course, especially if you have Sylenth... but, I've been dying for a hardware synth like this in my setup. It's far from a necessity... more like a "Damn, I want that... I bet it sounds great" lol.

The smart choice is probably upgrading your controller to the Novation and using your softsynths. The wow-factor choice would probably be the Virus.

[osbar]

You have banks.

Do you already have some type of midi controller already?

Yes I do, I have an MPK49

---------- Post added at 05:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:34 PM ----------

If I had money for a Virus... I would get that. You can probably recreate a lot of the stuff in software of course, especially if you have Sylenth... but, I've been dying for a hardware synth like this in my setup. It's far from a necessity... more like a "Damn, I want that... I bet it sounds great" lol.

The smart choice is probably upgrading your controller to the Novation and using your softsynths. The wow-factor choice would probably be the Virus.

jaja.. That's exactly the way I think. This is why I'm still confused. Because I also believe you can make similar sounds with Sylenth, Zebra, and some other plugs BUT.. maybe with the Virus I'll work faster plus it may sound a little better. - Is spending the money on a Virus really worth it? mm.. I don't know. That's what I would like to find out.

[P. Casso]

Having AutoMap is nice but not really worth abandoning your MPK really(especially if you are using something like Ableton where mapping is easy). What DAW are you using?

[osbar]

I'm using Ableton, that's why I was thinking about the novation, to have more control over everything (Ableton & plug-ins) faster. But if it's really not worth it I think I'll stay with my MPK and invest the money on the Virus hard synth. I use a lot of plug-in instruments and its a little bit time consuming to midi map everything every time I'm going to use one.
I know there's got to be a way to save presets inside the MPK so that when I'm going to use Sylenth (for example) I don't have to be midi mapping it and just bring the Sylenth preset up and if I want to control Live I look for a preset made for Live. I've tried to do this but I couldn't do it right.

by the way.. thanks for your help man!!

[P. Casso]

One option would be to open a new session in Live. Add Sylenth do all of your mappings as well as any mappings you need within Live. Then within Preferences - File Folder click "Save Current Set as Default". Live will now boot to this template on startup.

Hope this helps.