Matthew Sorrels

No EzBass MIDI add-on for Latin Month. I wonder when we will see the first add-ons for it?

Removed VST2 and Rewire support. And no 32 bit versions either.

Joshua Bell Violin is flat out better. Perhaps the most playable Kontakt instrument ever really.

So the way the template is routed, all the tracks for each group (Woods, Brass, Keys, Perc, Strings) route to a AUX patch point. These patch points feed into the Stem aux tracks which then feed into the Full Mix patch point. The full mix patch point feeds into the Master bus (so you can hear it). The Stem tracks can be armed for recording (and/or saved/exported) so that you can save a version of the stem without any effects. The print tracks are the same as the stem tracks, but with whatever effects you add on the stem tracks. So if you need to provide clean stems, with no effects, you can record the stem tracks. If you need to provide stems with effects, put the effects on the stem tracks and record the print tracks. It's kind of a waterfall, each level can be recorded and/or output but that won't include any effects added on that level. Splitting the stems and the print levels means you have an extra shelf you can add effects to. Just don't add effects or make any volume changes to the print tracks since it won't get passed. One thing this template doesn't have is any reverb track routing. It's not hard to add that but it's not there. Sections also aren't broken down into high/mid/low groups either. Which might be something you'd want (so you could do effects on all the low strings for example and different effects on the high strings). I really wish there was an easier way to select a track and then connect the synth that goes with it. You can go the other way in the Synth Rack, but you can't connect a synth from the track.

MODO Bass lets you remap its keyswitches. I had some luck with swapping a few to match EzBass. But the two instruments have slightly different bass playing models that don't seem to map as exactly as I had hoped. But I think it may be something worth looking into, so you could use any EzBass MIDI output with MODO Bass directly.

Their email offers a 30% discount if you own both Mosaic Keys and Mosaic Voices. But it's not an honest offer. The 30% off is of the full retail for the three parts. Which makes adding Mosaic Brass $83. Which is only an additional 16% off the $99 intro price. Lame.

I just tried and EzDrummer doesn't forward MIDI either so I guess it's consistent. I only noticed and cared because I have projects that already have MIDI that I wanted to see what EzBass's sound would do for them. So plugging it into that creates a situation I'd like it to pass trough the MIDI. Kontakt lets you choose if incoming notes are passed along, which is maybe why I expected EzBass to do it. For a new project I don't think it's all that big a deal. But I still think it's wrong to not at least support it as an option though.

It doesn't route through the notes in Cubase 10.5 either. With Cubase though I can easily setup a MIDI track going to two instruments. But since Cakewalk doesn't have that kind of MIDI routing, it would be handy if EzBass forwarded on MIDI input to it to the output. That way I can quickly compare and contrast things. Might just be me, but I'd expect EzBass to output anything it's actually playing to the MIDI out but it doesn't seem to be doing that.

Inside Cakewalk I have EzBass and MODO Bass with the MIDI and sound tracks split out. On MODO Bass I have the MIDI track input set to EzBass and echo turned on. I go to the EzBass MIDI track (which is set to fed MIDI to EzBass) and I play keys on my keyboard. EzBass gets those keys and plays those notes but doesn't pass the notes through to MODO Bass. If I record the notes in EzBass's track or drop MIDI into EzBass or even play the EzBass GUI it does pass through. But it doesn't pass through MIDI coming from Cakewalk into EzBass. The MIDI has to be inside EzBass.

I love all the Bass authoring features in EzBass. The UI is very nice and powerful. I really hope they bring all these improvements to EzKeys and EzDrummer. But at least for me I really think I like the sounds in MODO bass more (a lot more). Am I just an idiot? The two basses included with EzBass seem nice and all, but from a audio tone/settings view I was kind of underwhelmed.

They sent me email saying I could "preview" the sale, but they didn't explain the rules or how that worked exactly. When I go there and login I do see libraries at 40% off (bundles too but the savings there aren't so fixed, it varies). I think the sale goes public later this week or something. Not exactly sure. Spitfire have become more marketing machine than audio library developer; twisted and evil. Also I really hate how they price everything in different currencies so I end up paying more in dollars than I would if I could pay in GBP without the 20% Vat.

PrecX is pretty nice though, if you need epic drums. I wish they would do something about MIDI drag and drop and perhaps rethink their approach for that. But other than that it's one of the few drum instruments I picked up last year that I thought was worth it.

Yes if you enable it. But it only sends MIDI from it's track/Groove browser/interface. It doesn't seem to pass through MIDI. So if I turn it's sound off and record on it's Cakewalk MIDI input track I don't get any MIDI out, If I play the track back I still get no MIDI out. But if I put the recorded MIDI onto EzBass's track it does send it out. I'm not sure that's a big deal really, but I did notice it when trying to play around with turning it's volume to 0 and replacing it with MODO bass.

Spitfire is also having a sale, if you have an account you can see a early preview (not sure what the rules on the preview are exactly but this URL works for me) https://www.spitfireaudio.com/spring-sale It's 40% off libraries (though not the ultra cheap $29 ones).

They have already shipped one update to the Windows version. It was there right after the initial install.

From the FAQ https://www.toontrack.com/faq/ezbass-faq/

The plugins actually seem to hard code the c:\Newfangled Audio path too. It doesn't seem to get it from a file or the registry. Kind of disappointed with Eventide on this. I dropped them a note but this installer was dated the 7th, so clearly they had time to fix it but haven't.

I think their installers for Windows Newfangled bundle are kind of borked. It doesn't seem to install the documentation and presets correctly. Looks like they tried to move the Newfangled stuff out of the Eventide directories but didn't actually do it right.

The free player will get you all the functionality they showed off in all the videos. They didn't once use anything in Kontakt that is not part of the Player version.

But it is just presets. Same with the three add-ons for Haunted Space. I'd like to get all four sure, but at $29 each it's a bit much. So I guess I'm waiting for a sale. I'd go all 4 for $49...

For most Kontakt player libraries having the full version of Kontakt doesn't really help you all that much. With the full version of Kontakt you can open the instrument up and alter some of how it works. But since most professional Kontakt Player libraries use locked scripts, you're limited to some effect chains and some mapping things. You can't even edit the compressed sample waveforms, though you can see them and tweak the loop points. There is power in having the full version of Kontakt but it's not a huge advantage for Player instruments. Given NI gives away a bunch of nice Kontakt Player stuff for free (with Komplete Start) I think it's silly not to get it/install it/try it out/learn it. https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/bundles/komplete-start/ That way if something like this does come along, you are already to go and can buy the Kontakt Player library and add it in.

I picked up their Solo Trumpet 2 a while ago and was kind of disappointed. On paper/by the stats it should have been awesome but it just didn't work out that way. I'd be curious if anyone has found Cmusic's instruments good and why. Perhaps I'm just missing it.

In the VST3 version of Concerto if you open the advanced option and change the number of channels to 8 and then delete it from the synth rack and re-add it it seems to come in with the extra channels.

My Native Access serial number for Ark I worked just fine. But some user's have reported that the App shows a different number than the NI website. The only problem with using the number from the app is you can't copy it. I had to type it by hand. Looks like from now on if you buy the Kontakt you have to pay a fee to get the Sine version also, but purchases before May 13 it's included.

Your right! That helps a ton. Don't know why I didn't go looking at all the buttons. 175% works pretty well for my 4096x2160 monitor. If they would sell lifetime for the whole collection for $400ish I'd consider it. But the subscription kind of kills it for me. I think if I'm going to do subscription instruments again I'll reactivate my Composer Cloud before I'd sign up for Roland's offering. It will be interesting to see if they ever do sales/discounts on the lifetime prices going forward. At the right price I might be willing to pick up a few of these.