First post, by rishooty
Hi everyone, I've been building a mini stx with a fully supported linux partition for work and a windows partition for emulation and older pc games. That being said, despite having never grew up with midi(I was a 95/98 cd audio kid), I absolutely love it and have a deep appreciation for it, thanks to doom. I've seen that there are a number of usb soundblasters, such as: the Audigy 2 NX, the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Video Editor, and some X-Fi devices. I'm aware X-Fi is nothing more than software emulation, but I'm not so sure about the Audigy 2 NX or ZS. I'm also aware of the ability to hook up a real SC-55 with a roland usb to midi adapter.
So my question is rather simple:
External SC-55 vs Coolsoft VirtualMidiSynth + good soundfont(like arachno) vs Audigy 2 NX/ZS + good soundfont vs X-Fi + good soundfont.
Which is the best solution for modern midi audio and why? Bonus: Would a software based device like an x-fi still be better than virtualmidisynth, even performance wise, or no?