Rain Recording

You may have heard of Tascam's GigaStudio and GVI (Giga Virtual Instrument) software products. But if you're a newcomer to the world of Giga, how do you know which is right for you?

What's better for me - GVI or GigaStudio?

That depends on your needs and priorities.

GigaStudio is your only option if...

• you need the lowest latency possible, from MIDI trigger to audio output.
• you are going to build your own sample libraries / instruments, using your own .WAV files.
• you want to import samples from other sample formats.
• you want to program or edit GigaPulse convolution reverb, or iMIDI rule settings.
• you want to process your samples with EQ, compression, or any VST plug-in directly within GigaStudio.
• you want to connect to GigaStudio via ReWire from another Windows DAW (such as Sonar, or Cubase)

GigaStudio is a good choice if...

• system performance is more important than system stabilty. GigaStudio is a "kernel-level" application, which means it operates below the Windows radar. If there is any issue with the software or hardware, Giga may crash without warning, and without reporting the issue to Windows. However, this kernel-level communication is also what gives GigaStudio such low-latency performance. Rain Recording can deliver you a system that is rock-solid and thoroughly tested by their professional technicians and users, guaranteeing that you have a fully useable and stable system out-of-the-box.
• you want a lot of MIDI channels. GigaStudio Orchestra gives you 8 MIDI ports, with 16 channels each - 96 channels total. Of course, you will have to use a sound card / MIDI interface that supports that many MIDI ports.
• you can dedicate an entire PC to it. Many users successfully run GigaStudio alongside other applications such as Sonar or Cubase (via ReWire, for instance). However, GigaStudio is widely considered to be most stable when it is not expected to "play nice with others". See: http://www.tascamgiga.com/integration.html

Likewise, GVI is your only option if...

• you want to run in "standalone mode", not as a VST/RTAS plug-in or with ReWire, but your sound card does not have GSIF or GSIF2 drivers.

GVI is a good choice if...

• you just want to play 3rd-party sample libraries in GigaStudio format. GVI includes 7GB of great sample libraries to get you started.
• you don't need more than 16 MIDI channels. As a plug-in (not standalone), you can open up as many instances of GVI as your computer can handle - each instance is like 1 port of GigaStudio, with 16 MIDI channel slots. Your system may not be able to open more than one instance, especially if your DAW is system-intensive.
• simplicity is more important than customization. You won't have the features of GigaPulse (unless your sample library has it built-in), iMIDI editing, the DSP Station, or the GigaStudio Editor. But then again, maybe that doesn't matter to you.
• system stability is more important than system performance. GVI is a "program level" application, meaning it works in the Windows environment, and has much more success at interacting with other software and hardware than GigaStudio. The tradeoff is slightly more MIDI and audio latency, which may not be an issue for you.
• you want to have GVI on multiple PCs, but not use them at the same time. GVI's copy-protection is in the form of a hardware USB dongle from Synchrosoft. This allows you to install GVI on multiple PCs (home desktop, studio desktop, and laptop, for instance) and just plug the dongle in to the one machine you are using.