I'm sure that software specifically for printing discs probably makes some things easier, such as arranging items in a ring and doing circular text. However, these things aren't exactly difficult in any decent drawing or page layout program either.

I kind of do a hybrid that works for me.

I create the image in PhotoImpact where I did a pre-made template that has the inner/outer circles of a DVD as a layer that can be turned off. Once I design the label, I save it as a jpg, minus the DVD layer.

Then I import that jpg into the Epson labeling tool as a background and print from there. Gives me full control of both the creation and printing process.

I found a review of Pianissimo:
http://reviews.sonikmatter.com/2009/02/pianissimo.php

"Rob, do you use any plug-ins for Vegas (or Photoshop)?"

You can make your own template (which I did) or you can download from the net. The HP printers see a disk as not much more than a regular piece of paper so you can print a disk from just about any photo editing program. You just need your template.

I find working it this way much better since I don't have to save a jpg of my work (or some other finalized version) for import to disk printer software. I simply save (and print directly from) a psd (photshop project). This way I'm free to go back and make any changes I wish at any time. In fact I have about 20 base psd disk projects and most of the time I simply load one up and make the necessary (and usually minor) alterations to fit the project I'm working on.

Frankly I couldn't see why one would want to add a level of unnecessary complication with disk printing software if it could be avoided. From what I've seen of that sort of software anyway.... it's all none too great to start with.

Pianissimo is just awesome. I only found it after checking out their disk printing software when I read this thread. For anyone into this sort of thing, there are a number of mega virtual pianos out there that sound pretty good. The thing that most of these do is sample every note of a good piano at a number of different playing loundesses, then do it again with the damper pedal pressed (which gives a different sound because the dampers are up and all the strings kind of resonate). Virtual pianos done this way have an immense amount of recording time that they have to play back and the way they handle this is to stream the samples off a hard drive and just buffer the beginnings of all the notes. Because you can hold down the pedal of a piano and play a whole lot of notes at once, this means that you need a very fast system to handle it all, in particular you need a very fast hard disk.

Pianissimo does a mix of virtual modeling and sampling to really drop down these requirements. It compresses 256 meg of recorded memory into about 80 meg of space, then virtually models the resonance of the damper pedal instead of using an alternate set of samples.

Whatever it's doing, it really does it well. The sound IMHO is actually better than most of the mega sampled pianos, uses much less memory, and it hardly taxes the CPU all even with lots of notes ringing out. It works as a plugin to music editing software or can run on it's own and render out a high quality solo piano waveform that you can import into other software (which is how I'm using it).

Here is another piece of mine using this piano software:

http://apps.burst-dev.com/music/player.php?upload=1054664&from_share=1&challenge=621563064&autostart=true

Laurence,
What are you using for your keyboard or controller, and by the way that piece sounds really good.

Paul B

I have been using CD-LabelPrint which came with my Canon printer. (I don't think Canon sells disc printers in the US due to licence problems with Epson).

One problem I have is that photos printed tend to look washed out on most disc brands, so I have to turn the brightness down and the contrast up to get a reasonable balance. Do other people have this problem?

I'm actually in the market for a new keyboard controller right now. I've had a Fatar Studio 900 for years now that looks like this:



I had removed all the white printing off mine and without that cheesy looking white lettering it looked really cool as well.

Unfortunately the main circuit board has died and it is old enough that there aren't any replacements. It's a shame because it felt and responded just like a real piano. I've taken it as far as I can going back to the factory in Italy, but to no avail. There simply aren't circuit boards for this model anymore.

CD-LabelPrint is great, and photos print out beautifully on inkjet-printable discs.

If you print on silver discs, you need to be selective and also tweak the photos.

Just get Taiyo Yuden hub-printable white inkjet discs, no reason to get anything else.

Laurence,

WOW that looks really nice it is to bad that tech wears out. I am hoping to get my first controller this year, but I am unsure of which to get.This is my first foray into keyboards and DAW's

Thanks for the info. and let me know what one you finally decide on.

Paul B

"Just get Taiyo Yuden hub-printable white inkjet discs, no reason to get anything else."


I have mainly been using TY DVDs and CDs although the non-hub printable versions, which leaves a big hole in the middle.

TY is not so easy to get, but I find Verbatim and Sony to be just as good, as assessed by KProbe2.


TY has recently been taken over by someone (I forget who) so ardent followers of TY are wondering whether quality will suffer in the future.

I just ordered one off eBay like http://cgi.ebay.com/BRAND-NEW-M-AUDIO-KEYSTATION-88ES_W0QQitemZ120552929228QQcategoryZ0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m506QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DRPSI%252BNGRI%26its%3DI%252BC%252BS%26itu%3DUA%252BUCP%252BMAGEXP%26otn%3D20%26po%3D%26ps%3D63this[/link].

The one I bought cost $140 plus shipping so the one in the link looks like a better deal.

I like 88 keys for doing keyboard parts. I don't really mind a light action and the only controls I use are the keys and the pitch and modulation wheels. The M-Audio one is bus powered too so it helps me simplify.

I used to use CorelDraw for graphics but it was getting ridiculous for all the upgrades. Now I use Inkscape which is OSS (and free) for the vector graphics and Gimp for bitmap and have set up templates for Discs and Case Covers. I use full-face printable discs and print on a Canon Pro9000 with exceptionly good results.

The only reason I could see for going to dedicated printing hardware/software would be for high volume where you could set it and walk away.

I would agree with those that have already chimed in that you don't necessarily need dedicated disc printing software. We've used Photoshop for almost 10 years now. Once you get your template set up, you can create as many different disc surfaces as you need. Just do a "save as" each time. For us this has been an extreme time saver along with unlimited possibilities for design. We've used it with our trusty old Primera printer as well as some HPs and Epsons along the way.

Mike

I would agree that you don't really need dedicated software to do covers and labels, but hey it's only $22 for Acoustica and I sure make a lot of DVDs and CDs. I bought it because I will use it a heck of a lot.

I agree also that you don't NEED specific software. But when I got my HP Disk printer I didn't want to spend a lot of time creating templates and testing on disks. Acoustica allowed me to start printing right away.

I use Photoshop to design and Acoustica to print or make quick simple labels. It is worth the $20.

Dave T2

Acoustica is worth the money and it is so cheap. For the price, I wouldn't be bothered creating my own templates in other programs. And the clincher really is that Acoustica comes with heaps of images, plus there are lots more packages of images to download on their website for free.
For the person who mentioned the large hole in the centre - I got mine down to 17mm diameter by looking in File>Edit paper/printer templates and resetting the defaults.

If you are referring to my post, the large hole was due to using non-full face printable discs. You can select the size of the "hole" in CD-LabelPrint.

What happens to the ink in the hole area if you use non-labelling software? Does it just squirt ink through it inside the printer, or do you make the hole area white in your template?

My template has a solid white circle covering the hole and a solid white ring starting at the outer edge of the disc area covering the margins of the page. Both of these are on the top layer so that no matter what i stick underneath, no ink goes anywhere except on the surface of the disc.

That being said, my disc tray does snow noticeable staining after a thousand discs or so. I'm guessing that there's some ink vapor floating around that is electrostaticly attracted to the tray's plastic and accumulates there.