Improving Your System – Things Applicable To All Operating Systems

Attaching An Amplifier And Speakers

Having a quality sound is one of the best ways to inspire a budding (or experienced) musician. And one of the first very-effective things you can do is attach an amplifier and good speaker system to your computer. The speakers internal to a laptop are guaranteed not to inspire.

A good set of headphones can get you started when you're on a budget.

With the right adapter cable, you can attach your computer sound card to most home stereo systems.

There are sound-systems designed to attach to your computer (or an MP3 player). I recommend you get one that at least has a sub-woofer. But the lowest cost system of that sort is only adequate for using in a room, and won't carry in a performance-hall, if you plan to perform.

Stores will try to sell you stuff that costs $200 - $300 per-speaker for that, but you don't need to spend that much money. I have successfully performed in a performance hall using a modern boom-box (with a plug for attaching an MP3 player).

When I have performed, all I have to bring now, is my laptop (with a USB typing keyboard), and a boom-box. A MIDI keyboard and keyboard stand is also required to play it. My laptop is the sound-generator.

With a desktop PC, you plug the cable to your amplifier and speaker system into the green plug of your sound card. If you're recording an audio track on your computer, you hook a microphone into the pink plug, or an amplifier (line-level input) to the blue plug.

Soundfonts – Collections Of Instrument-Sounds

A soundfont is a collection of instrument-sounds, which can be loaded into a Soundblaster Live or Audigy sound card, and also, into the Java Sound synthesizer.

Which soundfont you use is like the difference between the sound of an upright spinet piano, or a grand piano costing thousands of dollars. As a composer, I can personally vouch for how much a quality instrument sound can do to inspire you to create!

Do an internet search for “soundfonts” or “soundfonts free”, and check out what you can get. Though this is something worth investing in, there are some really outstanding soundfonts available for free.

I highly recommend the Fluid Release 3 soundfont, though its large size can cause problems for you if you're using it with the Java Sound Synthesizer on Windows. It works great on Linux, even on the Java Sound Synthesizer, if you have more than 512 megabytes of RAM. When loaded into a soundcard, or when used with Fluidsynth (Qsynth), it works even with only 512 megabytes of RAM.

There are plenty of really good soundfonts available that are much smaller, and present no such problems. On Ubuntu Linux (and its variants), two excellent soundfonts are available. The first is in the “fluid-soundfont-gm” packag (which is the Fluid Release 3 soundfont). The second is in the package “musescore-soundfont-gm” (which is only 6 megabytes in size).

Sound-Cards With Hardware Synthesizers

If you have a desktop computer (rather than a laptop), you have the option of adding sound-cards with the emu10k1 or emu10k2 on-board hardware synthesizer chip. These sound-cards will reduce latency to an imperceptible level, and you can load quality soundfonts into them.

My Soundblaster Live card, which uses the emu10k1 chip, has four hardware synthesizers, each of which handles 16 MIDI channels, for a total of 64 simultaneous instrument sounds, which is nearly a complete symphony orchestra! And it does this with no perceptible latency (latency is the delay between pressing a key, and hearing the key's sound). It cost me about $34, which is a bargain.

These sound-cards can't be used on a laptop, because the required PCI card interface (allowing the on-board synthesizers to access the computer's RAM) is not present.

Also, only certain models of sound-cards (even though they may have the Soundblaster name) have the emu10k1 or emu10k2 chip (which is what supplies the hardware synthesizers).

The following sound-card models have this capability:

• SoundBlaster Live

• SoundBlaster Live 24

• SoundBlaster Pro, 16

• Audigy 2 Series

• Audigy 4 Series

• Audigy 2ZS Series

• X-Fi Series

Another good thing about these cards (at least, with the Soundblaster Live card, and with some Audigy 2 Series cards), is that they also provide a MIDI interface which you can use to connect an external synthesizer to your computer with.

You will probably have to order the cable for going from the sound-card's game-port plug to MIDI-cable plugs. When I ordered my Soundblaster Live card online, it didn't come with that cable. The cable didn't cost very much, at least at that time.

Connecting A Sound-Module

The low-cost sound-cards with on-board hardware synthesizers, have 'evolved' to high-cost (but quality) sound-modules. You need a keyboard to play them, but a relatively inexpensive MIDI Keyboard gives you that capability. They are essentially a synthesizer, but without the keyboard.

These will give you high-quality sound, with imperceptible latency, which is very good, but they cost a lot of money. I recommend trying one out in a store before purchasing it, to see if you especially like its sounds.

One thing to watch out for with these, particularly if they connect to your computer with a USB interface, is whether or not Linux supports their interface. If it doesn't, you'll need to get a USB MIDI interface (such as those available from M-Audio) to connect it. The M-Audio USB-MIDI interfaces are also accessible from Java. The MIDI interface supplied by a Soundblaster or Audigy card will work too.

Connecting A Synthesizer

Connecting a synthesizer will give you quality sounds, with imperceptible latency, and it will also give you a traditional music keyboard.

For example, my high-end Yamaha S90es synthesizer will connect to my computer with a USB cable, and the system will recognize the name of the hardware interface, but it requires a proprietary driver to actually use it. I simply use my Soundblaster card's MIDI interface to access the Yamaha. I have also used an M-Audio USB UNO interface on Linux for that purpose.

If a synthesizer only connects using a MIDI interface, you'll need a USB-MIDI interface (such as those available from M-Audio) to connect it.

If you get a synthesizer, try to get one that plays a note louder if you hit the key hard, and soft if you hit the key softly. These are a bit more expensive, but that capability (called “velocity-sensitive”, or “touch-sensitive”) is worth a lot, in performing music.

Connecting A MIDI Keyboard

A MIDI keyboard, unlike a synthesizer, has no sound-generation capability. They are about the same cost as on entry-level synthesizer. It allows you to play a software synthesizer, or a hardware synthesizer in a sound-card, or a sound-module.

Their USB connection will probably interface with Linux. My M-Audio Keystation models do. But at worst, you might have to purchase a USB MIDI interface for it, which is not an overly-high cost. The MIDI interface supplied by a Soundblaster or Audigy card will work too.

One thing to consider with a MIDI keyboard, is how many keys it has. For playing popular music, a 61-key keyboard will probably be all you need, and you can probably even get by in most cases with a 49-key keyboard. But if you play classical music, you really will need the full-size (88-key) keyboard.