Matthew Sorrels

The "deal" site that closed down recently was Audio Bundle Deals https://audiobundledeals.com/

Got this email this morning, might be interesting for some uses: NanoHost is a free, minimalist host application for Windows that can load VSTs. It can also act as a wrapper which converts VST-synths into standalone apps. This essential, tiny tool works best for live-performance, sound-design, jam-sessions and testing. Download (freeware) & details: https://www.tone2.com/nanohost.html We wish you a lot of fun with our gift! Your Tone2 team

I think British Drama Toolkit and Albion V are meant for each other. In fact when I first loaded V up I was surprised at how much like BDT it sounded. BDT is kind of like the slightly more automated, modern, studio version of Albion V. The sound is cut from the same cloth. I can easily see pieces that use BDT for say indoor scenes/background and then opening up into full Albion V when the camera goes wide.

When Kontakt can't find the directory the instrument wants it defaults to c:\Users\<USERNAME>\Documents\Native Instruments\Kontakt 5 That's the fall back dir. Not really where you want to place anything like the Albion presets. I think Albion V is very interesting. Certainly has a very different collection of articulations than pretty much any instrument I have. You can't help but feel the cinematic effect when you load pretty much anything and play a chord. The problem of course is how exactly to use it. It's very soft compared to Albion ONE so mixing the two is going to be tricky. It's a lot closer to Albion II though and does seem to mix with it much easier. I bought 2 because they were ending it and I regretted not getting Albion 1 before it become ONE. Buying the bundle and getting the whole collection to be honest is maybe a sample library or two too many. The only Spitfire library I've bought that I wished I hadn't is EDNA Earth. It also was also the first Spitfire product I bought, which I held against them for a long time. Albion ONE changed that a little, but at the same time it also made me realize that ensemble instruments are kind of limited. Which is good for an amateur like me and also bad because at a certain point you have no where to go. The same thing applies to the ProjectSAM Symphobia libraries. Sooner or later your going to need a full orchestra and some soloists too. And if you want that Spitfire sound it's going to be pretty expensive (money and computer resources), even I have not been willing to go quite that far with them. At least not yet.

You run Microsoft's SysInternals Procmon. It records all system accesses. With the right filters you can see what exactly any software is doing and then use that to work out crazy stuff like this. Download it from here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon

Also while only Albion ONE and Albion Loegria come with the arp presets, those same presets do work in the other Albions that have the Ostinatum feature. Here's the directories it defaults to (all relative to your user Documents directory): Iceni\Data Loegria\Data Albion V\Data Albion ONE\Data I can't seem to get the Ostinatum to open on any Albion III instruments (it's always grey most likely because they don't let you use it with long articulations), so I'm not sure what directory it's using. Yes, I decided to complete my Albion collection with this sale. Though to be honest I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of Albion III.

The NKA files are presets for the Ostinatum arp feature. But at least for me putting them in my Documents folder doesn't work. Looking at the file access log it seems to be looking for %userprofile%\Documents\Albion ONE\Data which doesn't exist so the load button brings me to the Kontakt 5 default directory. But if you make a Data folder and move all the .nka files into it, then the load button will work correctly. To be honest this kind of poor attention to detail isn't uncommon with Spitfire. I don't think Windows is their preferred platform. Short version: copy the Albion ONE folder that is inside the Spitfire Albion ONE library folder to your user Documents folder (which may be something like c:\Users\<USERNAME>\Documents Then inside it make a new folder called Data and move all the .nka files into it. Then you can load the Ostinatum settings with the load button without having to go hunting all over your hard drives to find them (which you can also do). Truthfully this isn't how Kontakt instruments are supposed to work, they should have put them in the Kontakt preset settings directory. And their installer should have put them there for you. Note: I bought Albion ONE a while ago, your download may be very different than mine. This may just be because of that, your mileage may vary, member FDIC.

So far I haven't been all that impressed with the Orchestral Percussion SDX. It has a lot of well recorded samples/etc, but if you want say an epic storm drum like sound, you are kind of on your own. The raw materials are there, but the included mixes are all pretty bland. The included MIDI library is equally bland. To be fair they don't sell it like it's the perfect trailer music drum library. For the cost and size I had thought they would have gone the extra mile in setting up mixes for something other than textbook bland orchestra music.

One thing about Cubase, there are no upgrade paths for the SE versions of the instruments it includes. So if you want the full version you have to buy it like you had nothing. Figuring this out was harder than it should have been. So no upgrade path for Groove Agent SE or Halion Sonic SE. There is an upgrade to Padshop Pro though (I've been meaning to get that for awhile it's pretty cheap).

Work yes -- work well, no. Here's an example Two tracks in CbB, some ACID loops with some simple audio fades. Nothing fancy. Imported into Cubase 10

OMF files are audio only so if you project is all audio tracks you can export/import them, but no plugins/MIDI/etc. They could include some audio edits/clip names/track names but in my tests it looks like CbB/SONAR just renders the track down and ships that off. Doesn't keep the volume audiomation on clips(fades/etc)/edits/etc. May be a limit to the OMF export support, or maybe it's a limit on Cubase's import. MusicXML only exports from the staff view MIDI tracks. You can import them into Cubase, but again no synth settings/plugins/automation etc. A normal MIDI export is just about as useful.

Audionamix Xtrax Stems 2, a $99 product that seems to do exactly what ACID Next does: https://audionamix.com/technology/xtrax-stems/ It uses their own technology and processes in the cloud? That seems crazy to me. iZotope RX 7 also has a feature for unmixing audio (music rebalance), though oddly enough I've never used it. On a quick test it seemed to do OK at stripping a commercial track to the vocal, but the audio artifacts are so awful (metallic vocoder type sounds) I can't imagine really using it much.

It downloaded at 22MB/sec for me, but I have gigabit FiOS. The only ensembles I can see are Tampani setups, ut I've yet to read the manual or watch any of the many videos. Just looking at the UI as is, from the clueless point of view. You'd have to build your own, replacing other instruments with snares (which you can do, though graphically those additional snares are all electric drum pads). There are a number of snare MIDI selections (rolls/rudiments).

While I know a lot of users might argue with me, I think Cubase's MIDI isn't really all that much better than CbB, except for a few things. Those things may be more important to you though. I personally see it as kind of a tie. But I also used Cakewalk since it came on floppy discs, so I'm not sure I can honestly compare the two on everything. I can be productive with either. Nice MIDI things in Cubase that CbB can't do natively/easily/at all that I use (I'm sure there are others, these are the ones that effect me): Chord Pads Expression maps MIDI Sends Chord recognizer (if you place the time line on some MIDI notes Cubase can tell you what cord it is) Quantizer has lots of options Things I hate about Cubase: Non-Windows window management. Every window in Cubase acts crazy in some half-mac/half-Atari SE kind of way. The toolbars all don't work like Windows apps. It drives me mad. When I minimize a project window I don't want to have to also minimize the app menu floating on my screen/etc. You don't delete/remove plugins/synths in Cubase instead you set it to No VST Instrument/No Effect. On paper this sounds fine but when I want to remove a plugin I don't want to scroll to the top of a giant list to select No Effect, I'd rather right click and pick delete. Recording a synth is a lot harder to do than Cakewalk, I almost always have to Google it since I can never remember the steps. They aren't hard but for some reason it bothers me. Included MIDI FX plugins seem kind of weak. Had to buy jBridge to run the handful of 32-bit plugins that I still use. Things I think are pretty much a tie: Built in effects/included synths/etc. I rarely use Cakewalk's and I rarely use Cubase's. Not sure that's a fault of either company though. Thing I miss the most about Cakewalk: Melodyne ARA integration. (this is supposed to show up in Cubase soon though, so I'm really hopeful). On the whole though I think CbB holds it own with Cubase better than most people would think. I'd give Cubase the edge for synths and MIDI but not by an epic amount. If you are thinking about switching one I thing I do think is true, you can't easily use both. You kind of have to commit if you want to get the most out of either app. It's why I rarely use CbB anymore. Not because CbB can't do it, it's just a matter of personal focus.

Default patch takes ~3gigs of ram. MIDI included is very disappointing. Sounds good, but really really needs a lot more pre-rigged setups. It's kind of like a giant LEGO kit with no guides. You could make anything with it, but it's left as an exercise for the reader. I did enjoy loading some normal drum grooves and then moving the hits around to other instruments. SP3's MIDI editor is very nice.

ACID Pro 8 64bit is very nice. I've been really happy with it. It was worth the $100 to upgrade to me. Even though I don't use it very much. I still love ACID a lot. That said, the idea of paying $100 a year to upgrade ACID is a bit much. It's not advancing that kind of value. But by creating a new even more expensive tier they have devalued the plain 9.0 upgrade even more. If they had only released 9.0 with all the features of ACID Next, for $100 they would get my money. Not right now, but within the next year. Now that there are two levels though, the math is completely different. There isn't any advantage paying so much to get 9.0 and not get "everything" and the price for Next is just beyond crazy. I think going from old SF/Sony ACID to ACID Pro 9 for $100 (I'm rounding) isn't a bad deal. It's not a great deal though, just reasonable. I think they are trying really hard to make their subscriptions the version everyone buys and well I don't see it as something I'm interested in. I sure hope their zynaptiq® STEM MAKER audio source separation technology works better in real life than that video, since it sure didn't sound all that great to me. And the audio examples seemed really weak too, certainly not $400 great.

I got Cubase Pro 9 when Cakewalk first died, the crossgrade was very painless. I haven't regretted it. I'm now running 10. I am/was really tempted with the crossgrade to Nuendo but I'm having a hard time convincing myself that higher upgrade costs for the rest of my life and $400 is a good deal. I really should try the demo since Nuendo 10 is out.

I had points at T&S and paid with GBP. Used Paypal with bank account to dodge credit card 3% extra foreign transaction fee. My total with fees ended up around $157. Seemed reasonable. 🙂 Went ahead and bought it now, since Toontrack has a history of forcing retailers to only offer US customers prices in dollars. And including VAT when doing currency conversion games. I wouldn't be surprised if both Best Service and T&S get called on to "correct" their US pricing. Which might explain why T&S wants $249 for it in dollars, but only 132.50 in GBP (which in dollars works out to $173ish).

ACID Pro 9.0 Info page: https://www.magix.com/us/music/acid/acid-pro/ ACID Next Info Page: https://www.magix.com/us/music/acid/acid-pro-next/ Comparison page: https://www.magix.com/us/music/acid/acid-pro-next/version-comparison/#c1045545 They don't compare with version 8.0 though. But from the 9.0 page it looks like MIDI Playable Chopper, VST3 engine with 32bit compatibility, and some more weak soft synths and loops.

There is also ACID Pro 9, which is a $99 upgrade from ACID Pro 8. I can't understand any of logic behind MAGIX anymore. I don't see how adding a stem unmixer and an essential version of Melodyne is worth $200 more than ACID Pro 9. $400 for the full priced ACID Next is crazy pricing and $300 to upgrade is laughable.

I went a head and got these and installed them. It did let me uncheck AAX, 32-bit versions and 64 bit versions (I just installed the 64 bit VST3 versions). But after fiddling with them for a few minutes I was pretty much underwhelmed. They aren't bad, but they really don't bring anything to the table. When I built the new machine this winter I just skipped moving over lots of magazine ware and freeware. These would have been in that category.

V5 with the resizing was kind of a must (at least for me at 4096x2166). I only picked up V6 when they offered the upgrade for $99. I'll wait on V7.

So far no. It's fast, indexes well, and now is stand alone (one big feature it was missing). Doesn't seem to have adware or other issues, it's not a store front (yet). There are some things I'd like to see but this is a winner so far.

I was never able to get the V Collection 6 update to Synclavier V. The others updated (though some I had to restart a few times) but Synclavier V always died about half way through. I even tried downloading it from their website with Firefox and that died half way. In the end I VPN'ed to the UK and was able to download it from the web site. I'm guessing their CDN configuration isn't quite right, by coming from another country it directed me to a "better" server. Kind of extreme but if you have a VPN account that has hosts in other countries you might want to try that.

Toontrack Product Manager has an update for Superior Drummer 3, version 3.1.3 (released 2019-04-24) and an update to the basic sound library (released on 2019-04-11). I don't think there are any release notes. Not sure what they changed.