John K

So sad to bring this news. Can't believe someone didn't announce first, but about the oldest guys around here and stuck in nostalgia that most maybe never heard of. Michael Nesmith. Guitarist for the Monkees. They were a manufactured group for black and white TV back then in the mid 60's. Weekly half hour slot with mostly brainless plots and a song or two. Understanding at the time was that these guys were a lip sync, clueless group of actors with no musical skills. Studio musicians backed them up as they danced around for the camera. Weird wakeup moment for me was one episode where they played "Valerie". For the time, Valerie was a balls to the wall rock n' roll statement incorporating fast Spanish flamenco. Guitar solo started with a closeup of the hands. Yeah right. But then they zoomed out and it was Nesmith playing all the licks. Beautiful soul. Passed on at 78 years old, peacefully from heart failure, natural causes surrounded by loved ones. Sail on brother. Just for info sake, Mike hit the lifetime expectancy on cue. 78 is the norm of how long a white male can expect to live in America if we haven't abused ourselves too much with alcohol, drugs, bad diet. Celebration sending this incredible soul into the arms of Infinity. John

What I think you got to watch out for is buying the thing to find out it has to recognize a previous registered version before it works. May not be the case, but would verify before pulling the trigger on the credit card. Someone else here may know for sure. John

Here's a link to a great tool that I use for finding NI 32 bit plugs, aax, or anything else. Also use to get rid of the Kontakt 8 vs 16 vs 32 or how many channel out 32 vs 64 bit dll's that are littered on your system. Called "Everything" Freebie and worth the download. There are other programs that can do this, just my go to for finding redundant or missing files. https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/ Like for Kontakt, all of the dll's start with at least Konta. In Everything, do a wildcard search for the dll's. Can run for instance Konta*.dll. This will show you all the vsti's and where they are located. If you want to get rid of aax files, do a wildcard *.aax and it will show you every aax plug on your system. You can manage them, delete them from inside the program. Hope this helps. John

Guys, Thanks for a feast of recommendations. Haven’t watched too many of the newer CGI productions. (Thanks Shane for a great post). CGI is with us because things got to evolve, but too often currently the glitz is poured on to disguise lack of content. Keep the computer generated monsters invading with a 120 db sound track of bombs going off. Throw in the f word every other sentence and you got a short lived hit. Nothing a few decades won’t work out as producers learn to scale the fireworks back and balance special effects with substance. Back to 12 Angry Men as suggested by MandolinPicker. Old B&W film for the most part located in one room. No special effects, but a great flick. Focus was on the integrity of acting and content of the presentation. Had read an old article about the introduction of the silent movies. Commentary was on Nosferatu (the vampire movie). Humans to that time in our evolution were more keyed in to the rhythms of nature. Sunrise, sunset, beauty at the smell and sight of a flower. Senses were sharp. Nosferatu hit the new fangled movie stage. People jumped out of their chairs screaming. Many falling into unconsciousness over a terror never experienced before. End of the age of innocence as we adapted to a new level of violent assault against our nervous system . Fast forward to the present where we got to be chest deep in blood and gore, special effects before it even stimulates a brain cell. The principle spilling over into music production where a "hook" has to be in a new song within the first 5 seconds or the recipient will move on to the next cell phone blast. Perspective from a fading generation however, and likely missing many points of understanding. Like my kid told me once, I’m SO 1960’s. Stay safe all of you, John

Hey Guys, Was another thread. MandolinPicker suggested an old black and white film, "12 Angry Men" as his all time favorite. Wanted to check it out, and a gem of a movie where acting had to replace special effects, profanity, digital crap. Thank you Mandolin. Was a real treat. So was wondering. We all got our top 20 list of favorite movies. But what if the earth were about to die with a megaton asteroid about to wipe us out. If we could send a time capsule into space to document our last moments. The flicks that were really good, and we had only one choice. What would the best movie of all time be. Can display my ignorance and old age, lack of experience keeping up with movies.. Don't even have TV plugged in. Been 20 years since I went to a movie house. So my main movie to send into space before the collision is... BEN HUR Alternate opinions, ideas, submissions so much anticipated and really really appreciated. Love you all, John

Thanks Larry for sweeping the mine field. Always appreciated.

I got a debauched fleet of 5 computers. They all work great and do anything I'm currently requiring them to do. One of them 5 years old but Intel i7 processor, lots of RAM. Etc, etc. All of them have failed the requirements for win 11. Fortunately, the MS bastards have given me the option to go out and buy or build a new computer. Otherwise face end of life support for win 10 and face destruction if I don't open up the credit card. Win 10 music computer flies stable and dependable. Thinking of milking the system up to the end of service deadline and just keeping it offline after that. Is anyone else pissed off over this or am I missing the greater good and should just chill out and embrace progress. John

Forgot what was in there but the enclosed card and letter had seen better days.

Not exactly music related, but worked in Tillamook Oregon and took awhile to get used to package and mail delivery norms. When mail was delivered by USPS and if a package was too big to put in your street box, or the mail lady was too damn lazy to get out of the truck and deliver letters, she would honk her horn several times. If you didn't dive out the door to pick up quickly, she just returned everything. She was however outdone by UPS. We received a Christmas package in July. It was soaked and looked like something had been chewing on it. It was delivered to us by someone we didn't know. The UPS driver had evidently been overloaded with packages and decided to dump his whole truck onto someone's carport. Unfortunately the house owner lived elsewhere and the house was his vacation place. The packages or what was left of them sat there for 6 months. Service with a smile or something like that. Way more inspiring than my horror stories of lost GC shipments. John

You think you got it bad, NOAA says it will scorch hellfire here on the Oregon coast to 78 degrees tomorrow even with NO air conditioning. Starting to reconsider that I might be missing something. We are wimps out here. If it goes too much above 70, it's a climate crisis. Sadly, in my ignorant opinion of what is happening... Climate change is the driver, direct result of us forking up our planet with the collective mindset that it is so big it can never get forked up. Reckless deforestation a big player in taking out a major buffer against temperature and drought extremes. I hope everyone can stay cool and safe with this blast. I pray to Allah and the celestial virgins that I am wrong, but have concern that this is just a preview of what may happen later in this season when things get really hot. Stay safe, stray hydrated, stay cool. Don't leave your kids, your pets, your wife in a closed car while you get lost in the aisles of Walmart. Love you all. John

Like some black dude said. Holiday is a cool token, but falls short of justice...

Grem, Authorization is either from a simple serial number or the synth delivered already activated. No strangled online crap or restrictions. Like Paul said however, the new stuff is way late. Got into the group buy 2019 with Wusikstation 10 only a few days away. Wusik arp on the horizon. Other things to be added to the faithful who went for the group buy. None of this has happened yet and may never happen. Screwed in one sense though I can understand the COVID and other excuses given for not delivering on schedule. However, if what you see is what you get in the here and now, still a great deal. Comparing the likes of AAS Lounge Lizard where there are many layers of articulation so the harder you bang, the more subtleties evolve. The Wusik romplers allow velocity response for volume but no volume dependent envelopes that mimic real life, since playing one sample per instrument only. The preset is either loud or soft. That's it. Can however craft great multis since you can play 4 slots with different instruments and control envelopes and effects for each slot. If volume dependent articulations are not needed as in a hi volume song, nothing is lost or noticed. Sound installer is universal across the samplers and about a 16 GB download. Can't beat the price for what you get. John

About got PO'd with this because have invested a chunk of change into these synths and romplers over the years. Good products like Wusikstation, EVE, 8088, ZR, and others. Wusikstation is sorta like Sampletank as a reference. Guess you can get over $ 850 off because all 20 of their virtual instruments are on a flash sale for $ 27. Can't see this lasting too long. Demos are available. https://www.wusik.com/w/index.php/purchase/ John

Friends, Spacetrax released 1.1 Some improvements with the sequencer and the GUI. More good things planned. Wanted to highlight something crazy and unique to this synth you may want to check out. That’s with the arpeggiator. The respected developer has hinted that the normal run of the mill functions will be added soon as an option, but for now, something off beat that will put hair on your chest if your fingers are nimble enough to navigate it. Spacetrax arp follows the DAW clock but does not force a brainless drag to the nearest note restriction. That’s why traditional arps have a “humanize” swing function to drift math exactness off a bit to introduce a failed artifact of human error. Anyone using humanize drifts knows how useless and artificial it is. Spacetrax follows the DAW clock but does not drag the note to the nearest 1/16 or whatever. Human interface and variance is however corrected to the clock with each new beat whenever playback or recording is engaged. Sort of like playing a flamenco guitar strum ability if you want. Have to download the program to hear what is happening. Can't describe it properly. http://synthblitz.altervista.org/spacetrax.html Everybody stay safe, John

Time does indeed fly, and goes faster the more we go through it...

Not a musical vst, but a photo editing software for those of us in need. On sale for 24.99 and would be a no brainer at the full 50 dollar tag. The thing is incredible. Was trying to get away from my old reliable Adobe Photoshop CS 9 to upgrade codecs and didn’t want to go with the wasting subscription only model they now have. Searching reviews and blogs for opinions about the best Photoshop alternatives (cheap or free). Most of the low end softwares are okay, but fall way short of the glory. Affinity Photo kept coming up as a strong contender and was mentioned by some pro photographers on the Earth and Sky website. Report from the trenches is that Affinity is keeping up function against function with Photoshop adding a lot of features that my CS 9 does not provide. Best damn 25 dollars I’ve spent in a long time. They have a 10 day demo that you can create an account and get a serial number that gives a 90 day trial. Editorial note. Licensing is a simple offline serial number with developer’s wish that you can install it on any of your own computers for personal use. It’s companies like this that I (we) need to support. Trial demo here: https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/ John

Demon 80 now vst3 compliant and 50 percent off sale thru May 24. http://www.synthblitz.com/demon-80-.html Demon80 is a good, versatile, transparent multi band compressor. Along with the normal compressor controls, has functions like crossover frequencies for the hi and low bands, a preamp, analog saturation, noise reduction. Can function as a limiter. Side chain, bypass and mute for each of the three internal compressors. Other functions as well. Nice GUI that you can actually see clearly enough to read the settings. John

Fleer, Just about to pass out from my last beer. Hope you and loved ones are okay in these crazy times. Traditional Hammond or cathedral pipe has multiple draw bars. Nitroflex has only 4 oscillators but with enough fire power to replicate an ideal image in the hands of a craftsman. Spacetrax has upped the equation. Many presets of organs are included (some great, but some not so great), Delving into the editing of each element is where the beauty is. Slight detune or octave assignment of the oscillators gets deep into the gold. Proper choice of the available waveforms is where the mix is bouncing against itself in glory. Church to a tent revival. That's been my focus although the editing capabilities go way beyond a Hammond and early morning Sunday school sounds. John

Hi Guys, New synth from Synthblitz Audio… Same company that published Nitroflex, an excellent vintage synthesizer that has for years been my secret weapon for producing raging gospel organ sounds. Spacetrax is hot off the press. In many ways an evolution in technology including the best in Nitroflex, but taken to a next level of sound quality and function. Very much worth the time to download and evaluate the demo.. Covers about any genra out there with the step sequencer, arp, chording and keyboard split functions. Traditional strings, bass, steel guitars, some really cool space pads (and organs). Can about get lost under the hood with the in depth editing functions. Was privileged to be on the beta support team. Spacetrax demo with minimal restrictions can be downloaded from: http://synthblitz.altervista.org/ Side note… While there, check out VA RAXS. Great end point mastering rack with transparent compression, eq, analog saturation. Good freebies from the site as well that you will want in your tool box. And Nitroflex...still being improved and upgraded. Everyone stay safe. John

Shane, You got at least one big benefit going forward. Complete cure for GAS if you do it right. Realized the trend when trying to buy a delay unit several years ago and the site responded that I had already purchased the plug, did I want another set of licenses. Then I knew that fading memory was a gift. All I had to do was wait a few months and I forgot whatever it was I bought. Could then start cycling thru the purchases I had no clue I'd made. Like getting new expensive plugins all the time without having to buy anything anymore. Big perk for surviving thru time past my limit, but have to admit that getting old has otherwise not so many other benefits. All you young dudes out there don't got to worry about it (for awhile...) John

What about Ogg Vorbis. Maintains good sound quality at smaller ratios than mp3 and supported by most players. Go also to https://www.dbpoweramp.com/ and download the music converter. mp3 goes down after a month trial but all other formats are left for free, including Ogg.

Being a vegetarian for around 50 years or so, can't fully empathize with a BECAN withdrawal. But BEER!! Merciful Allah, what is left of life if you can't drink beer. I'm sure you can get one of them auto store funnels and crank down a can thru the tube when the nurse is not looking. Prayers and best wishes from here that the tube is only temporary until you can bounce back into life without limitation. John

Back several years ago was working in a community pharmacy. People in line for their drugs. Young giggling girl was there and wanted to ask for a recommendation from the pharmacist. She was about to get her first tattoo in a rather private area and was supposed to pick up a couple types of cream for skin protection after the tattoo was done. Non stop chatty slender teen going off on how her boyfriend would be so impressed next time they made love, how cool it would look when she started her modeling career, etc. There was an elderly and somewhat obese lady behind her in the line and was just wanting to get her drug and move on. The old lady butted in and told the girl to think twice about getting the tattoo that she may later regret. The teen snapped back at her and asked, how would you know. She replied that once she was young, pretty and as slim as the teen was. She decided to get a bathing beauty in a bikini tattoo'd on her butt. Young girl said "So what?" The old lady dropped her pants right in public and showed the tattoo. As she gained weight over the years, the bathing beauty stretched and smeared as she gained weight. Not a pretty sight. The lady pulled her pants back up to the cheers and applause of those in line. The teen got mad and stomped off before she could get my cream advice. John

Rough edges left, but my goal is to become absolutely nothing in the bigger picture. If can achieve that goal, will be my greatest and only lasting claim to fame.

Dammit Bill. Ruined my day. So sorry to hear this. I hope it's only pneumonia and the cancer is gone. Some off the wall advice from a retired medical jockey also battling cancer for over 20 years. In my case, just too mean rude and crude to die. Antibiotics are like a sledge hammer. They screw up the balance of good bugs in the body. We are host to more foreign bacteria than we got cells and our overall health depends a lot on the invasion and everything working in balance. Got a good idea what antibiotics you are on if they are doing an empiric approach and you got to fight back to help the risk/benefit ratio tilt more toward the benefits. Proactive stuff since you are being nuked with some heavy chemicals. Most don't realize that a path back to baseline health after antibiotic therapy is in part a fight to overcome the damage imposed by the treatment. Feeding tube (shudder...)... If there are not restrictions to diet, you need to get some friendly bacteria back. Kefir drink is tube friendly and if added a couple times a day will help toward normal. Also the living content of nutrition is ignored as they dump cans of Ensure down the tube. Dead processed mixtures can support life but not health. No "pranah" or life energy like the old heathens advised that comes only from a living source. Again, if no restrictions and you got one of them juicers, put it to good use and supplement the daily cans of dead muck with something fresh and alive. Hang in there. We can't lose you around here. John