> Hi Thomas,
> I've been surveying softsynths for a while, and this is an option I've
> been thinking very seriously about.  In fact, you just about described
> my dream setup exactly! :)  Do you mind sharing a bit more info
> with the list?  What version of CSound are you running?  Obviously it's 

I'm using the unix version of csound (on linux-2.2), and I reduce the
buffers with the '-b' and '-B' option to 128 bytes and I set the
sampling rate to 22050 Hz (mono) and the kontrol rate to 2205 Hz to
have a good realtime response.
The second computer is running Win95 and the 'Logic Audio' Sequencer
Software. I further have a keyboard from Yamaha (that is only used as
MIDI keyboard) and a MIDI fader box ('Kawai K5000 Macro Control').
Keyboard and Faderbox are connected to the computer running the sequencer.

When I have created a song, I export it to a MIDI file and convert it
to 'format 0' (I just have a DOS utility to do that and I hate this sh.t. Is
there a unix utility around ? Source code ?). I then render it non-realtime
into a .WAV or .AIFF using high quality 44.1 kHz sampling rate.

> an RT variant, just wondering which one.  Also, do you use any sort of visual
> front end with it like VisOrc or do you just tweak at the orc/sco level?

No, I write the orc's 'by hand'. In my opinion, the .orc language is very
simple, and writing orc's with a normal text editor is much faster than
using a GUI. The sco's also become very simple when using MIDI input.
There are just the function tables I use and the effect instruments that
are always 'on' like a 'global reverb'.

At the moment I try to create my first _real_ songs. Up to now, I have just
made 'experimental noise'. I think the first one will be finished in a few
weeks. My goal is that the quality of the rendered .wav is so good that you
can directly burn it onto a CD. That means I have to use opcodes for
dynamic compression, equalizing, good stereo effects etc and it takes
time until everything is perfect. But when it's finished, I will make
it available for downloading, don't worry...