Damonv wrote:What other hardware instruments are VSTi's utilising the midi port? I've never heard of that before but I hope it's possible.
Um, the only such thing that acts like a VSTi AND is hardware generally shares a connection via usb. Examples of this are Roland's Varios, SH-201, Korg's Microx, and Clavias Nord G2 modular (which if I recall the first version a few years back was the first modular synth that was programmable/customizable through software...
Typicaly this is a new, great trend that provided it gets updated enough, and not totally abandoned, once companys like Roland and Korg move on to a new fad. The great thing about this is that you are able to edit on a 15" or bigger computer monitor and not have to squint to see a two line (or worse) lcd display on the actual hardware synth. Also, it's great to have control of this directly inside of your host application (Live, Logic or any other sequencer). Saves a lot of mousing around.
I personally still love a VSTi that operates both standalone and as a plug in in a host. I typiccaly play around in standalone mode for awhile before I do any actual recording just to get a feel for what the synth sounds like.
Before vsti was the norm, you would have to route all audio into a sequencer and record on the fly with something like Sound Studio or what have you. I sometimes catch myself still routing audio with a free utlity like soundflower into a program such as Sound Studio on habit alone. (I still use Ableton Live verion 2.0 and it dosen't support VSTi instruments.) That is what years of backwards working will do. It's the only option that was available a while back and it worked to produce a lot of great early tracks.
Basically Roland and Korgs needed to do something to make it more appealing to prospective buyers to still use CPUs but still buy hardware. The Roland Sh-201 is a pretty great product because of this. But damn ugly I have to admit...
above and apologize...