Tezza

What other free alternatives have you found? I searched for quite a while and came up with nothing really. OBS is really unintuitive and is directed mainly at broadcasting live streaming from numerous sources rather than a simple video editor with screen/webcam recording. Other options I've seen are mainly just screen recorders but don't have inbuilt video editing capabilities or even webcam recording and even they are rare with decent functionality, Flashback was a screen recorder I was using. The ACDSEE one appears to have more functions than the paid Filmora one ($29.00). The 1 licence per PC thing doesn't worry me for this software as I will only use it on my laptop, but it has put me off their other software. It's not clear how that works and I can't stand companies that are not upfront about their licensing policies.

Thought I would drop this one in as I know some like to do screen recordings/webcam recordings etc and it can also be good for diagnosing problems, taking a screenshot of what you are doing. I know it can be difficult to get a good program like this for free. It is basically a Camtasia clone. Available until July 29th. 64bit windows 7 up, 129mb full program download. ACDsee are also running some sales on their products for the photographer within you until August the 4th. https://www.acdsee.com/en/download-our-video-studio-for-free/

It's also about the end goal, for example, if you are practicing guitar, what is the reason for that, the end goal? Are you practicing just to improve yourself for enjoyment or to play for others or to join a band or to do some DAW recording of your songs? Or are you practicing out of boredom or because it is just a repeated behavior because you've always done it. If you know what the end goal is, you know what kind of instruction you need to take yourself to the next level. There are many rungs on the ladder in the music business and there are plenty of teachers around to help you up each rung. If you want to improve your personal guitar technique then a guitar teacher might be the answer, if you want to get better at writing songs then a song writing teacher might be appropriate. Same for learning to operate a DAW or learning to mix. If you want to market your songs then a producer or marketing teacher might be the best bet. A "teacher" can be different things. I personally believe that nothing is better than having a live human teacher on a one to one basis, however this is not always possible or financially viable. There can also be local classes and of course, there are many on-line courses or downloadable tutorials available that can also do a very good job at giving you the specific instruction you need to get past a block in your growth, but.... if you don't know what the end goal is, you don't know where you are going, then it is a lot more difficult to find the appropriate teacher for where your at.

Reminds me of when I went to my first sports psychology lecture. The lecturer was a well respected international sports psychologist. He wrote on the board: "practice makes perfect" Some smart idiot down the front said " is this what we will be learning today? my mum has already told me this". The lecturer smiled and said "how many believe this to be a reasonable statement?" I think everyone put up their hand or most did, I remember doing so. Then he whirled around and yelled at the smart idiot "WRONG! COMPLETELY WRONG!" Then he wrote on the board "practice (the results of which are known) makes perfect". There was a bunch of stuff he explained but the gist of it was, how do you know that what you are practicing is the right thing to do to improve? If you just practice the same old thing the bad way again and again, there is unlikely to be any improvement past a certain point, "the plateau". When you hit the plateau, you are likely to experience self defeating thoughts or just give up. The best way to get past it is to enlist the help of someone who is a professional and knows more than you do about what you are doing, a good teacher for example. The problem is, our ego's can sometimes prevent us from seeking or listening to such help because we feel we should have the answers and can do it better ourselves, we want to be "original" and feel that if others teach us, they are invading our sacrosanct original creativity. We go to our teachers already primed to argue with them, not listen to them and think our way is better. He gave golf as an example because developing a good golfing swing is a bit counter intuitive. People think they need to hit the ball harder but the harder they hit it, the more that goes wrong. Doing it the bad way may get you to a certain point but you can't get past it. If a professional golfer comes along, they will show you the correct way to hit the ball and it will feel completely wrong to start with, but then, if you persist you get it. Just because a teacher can make you technically better doesn't mean that you lose your originality. The moral of the story is, if you hit the plateau, get a teacher.

I would like to know what DGeneration's intentions are (for seeing my DAWghter) Ha, only joking, but..... If he has limited experience and wants to get going from the start composing music/sound for video/film, it might be better to start with something a bit simpler. Cinematic does not necessarily mean orchestral. Joining some local short film group and putting the hand up to do the music for the short film would be a good start. In this case, while it always helps to have good libraries, you might only use a few pieces out of those libraries, you can go a long way with some decent synths, a great quality piano and some great sounding cinematic percussion and loops, combined with things like action strikes/atmosphere etc. This approach is not that intensive and computer requirements would be lower, you would only be looking at 25 tracks or so. The skill set requirement is also lower. You don't need to be a great piano player, just a few chosen notes and chords together with some synth backing and an assortment of percussion loops with some nicely applied action strike samples etc. Orchestral stuff is in another league entirely.

Agree, uniqueness and songs win.

I don't see many good young players on youtube at all. All they are doing is using a guitar with a flat neck and extremely low action and playing scales up and down at great speed. I did that when I was 16. Shredding or heavy metal style leads is just one aspect of playing the guitar.

Drowning in waves?

I found playing in bands accelerated my guitar ability, my first band when I was about 14, was a punk band. If you turned up to band practice and hadn't learned the songs or couldn't play them properly, you were bashed. Although it was done half in jest, you always came away with some sort of injury. In the melee someone would give you a nice hard punch in the ribs. The crew would pile on as well. Then, when you get a residency, the pressure is on to come up with new and more challenging material every week so as to not bore your regulars. Playing in different bands, learning different styles all helps. I was once drafted into a Greek band, playing Greek music for a few gigs to stand in for their regular guitarist. This happened because I had a Greek guitarist mate and we went to the Greek festival and I foolishly chastised Greek music. He turned up to my place after with a bunch of his Greek mates and bunch of Greek songs and scales and I had to sit there and learn them under pressure. It was my "punishment" for demeaning Greek music. The whole thing was very serious. Then, they later turned up to my place, there were 10 of them and only half of them could speak English. They informed me that I was required to stand in for their guitarist and I didn't feel that refusal was an option. Man, that was hard pressure, I had to unlearn what I knew and learn completely different stuff.

Thank God, GAS has been building up, I think I might explode! There's stuff around but I need the guidance of the King to make sure I don't end up with useless hard drive filler. Welcome back!

Thanks, I know what Native access is and what it does, I also know you don't need it running in order to use the programs. Taking the PC to a mate's house and downloading from there is actually not a bad idea, except I live in the country, Internet is expensive and I'm not sure I would like to impose upon others in that way but it would be worth considering if I still had any interest in NI instruments, which I don't. I suppose one idea might have been to sneak the PC into the local library and see if I could get away with that, although it is a big tower PC. Unfortunately, my DAW is on PC and not a laptop. With Arturia's software center I can download the full programs to my laptop at the library, bring them home to my DAW and transfer them over. Then they only then need to be authorized on the net quickly with the USB dongle. Not a problem. You cannot do this with Native Access because it only installs direct to the DAW. This is the problem. You cannot install everything off the hard disc manually, it must be connected to the internet with Native Access running all the time or it won't install from the hard drive. On K10U, with Service Center, I could do this but later versions have to use Native Access and you can't do that. Although it says you can prioritize the hard drive for installation, it does what it wants and If you disconnect from the internet at any time during the install process from the hard drive, it fails. Given that it takes such a long time to install anyway, just from the hard drive, it's not possible to maintain a connection. It also creates an ugly mess of what is installed, what is half installed and what is not installed. Unless they've changed something, that is what it does. About a third of it is not even on the hard drive and must be downloaded, again, a bit pointless buying the hard drive. I gave up jumping through hoops with NI when there are other vendors who have an installation process more suitable for me. I went through it all with NI support and the shop guy, never fixed it and returned the hard drive. I will keep K10U for now but I can't buy anything further from NI and that's fine. Since moving away from NI, I have found there are other instruments from different vendors that sound better, are more intuitive to use, and have a better installation process for me, so it's no loss.

Sometimes, we are our worst critics. I've recorded stuff I thought was no good and then left it and moved on to another project. Then some weeks or months (or years!) later, i'll notice it sitting in the project list and think I'll have a listen and it sounds great. On one occasion, when I listened to a song after a long break, I thought it was a recording of someone else who was a much better player than me and using a guitar much better than mine.

I understand what your going through. To install from the NI hard drive, it has to have native access running and connected to the internet all the time it is installing from the hard drive. Counter intuitive really, you would think that you can install from the hard drive offline but you can't. Native Access has to be running and connected to the internet. The internet only has to go down once and it can lose track of what it's doing creating a mess of what is installed and what isn't. Also, you have to watch it because it will suddenly start downloading a large file from the internet, despite you wanting it to download from the hard drive only and then it will also look for updates on the internet for any program that you load on to your computer from the hard drive, I don't think that behavior can be stopped either. Bottom line, it probably works ok if you have the speed and bandwidth on your internet connection. If you don't have a good internet connection, it's a nightmare.

NI doing my head in .... again! The problem is a simple one. If you have products in your NI account, you cannot download the programs in full, you can only install them from your account direct to the computer via Native Access. This means that the only way to get NI programs on to your DAW, is for your internet connection to be very strong (to download the large files) and to be connected direct to your DAW. Run Native Access on your DAW to download and install the programs. Not so much of a problem if you have a powerful internet connection. If you don't have an internet connection to your DAW or a weak one, you won't be able to download and install the large files. You also cannot download the programs to a second computer (where there might be a strong internet connection) and then transfer them to the offline DAW because you cannot download the full programs from your account, you can only install them. Native Instruments don't care about people with weak internet connections to their DAW, for example, country folk, they make enough money from their connected customers and they are not changing that policy. They also have changed the nature of the hard drive contents to defeat your ability to buy the hard drive of programs from them. You only get some of the programs on the hard drive and still have to download in excess of 100gig of other programs direct. In addition, Native Access must run, connected to the internet, all the time that you are installing, even from their bought hard drive. So if the connection goes down during install then.....a confusing mess ensues. So your setting NA up on a second computer, that has good internet and installing the products on to that computer but somehow raring the download via Google Drive. I am interested, could you explain a little more on how you do this? thanks. So you also installed NA on a second computer, downloaded and installed the products to that computer and then moved that entire drive to your other DAW. That is not going to install the programs to your DAW, it will only make the libraries available on the other hard drive. So then, I assume you are installing Native Access on your DAW, re-installing the program to your DAW and then just pointing the way to the libraries on your other hard drive so Native Access doesn't need to install the libraries from the internet and recognizes the ones you pointed it to, is that right? It could get confusing, lets try a real world example. Right now I have some synths in my NI account, one is about 30gig. I can't put it on my DAW because of internet problems. So a possible work around might be: 1. Take laptop to Library (where there is good internet) 2. Install Native Access on laptop 3. Download and install synth and libraries 4. Return home and transfer libraries for synth to DAW (put on the internal SSD dedicated for samples) 5. Install Native Access on DAW 6. Install synth to DAW, but "point it" to the library on the internal disc so it doesn't need to download the libraries 7. Native Access should then just download and authorize the program but not the libraries which will only take a short time Is this possible?

I don't understand what you are saying. Your saying in your first line that you don't need an internet connection to your DAW in order to run Native Access but in your second line you are saying that if the DAW is offline, then there is no solution. My internet connection can take an hour or so, with frequent dropouts in order to download 700mb to 1gig. I tried updating my K10U to K12U by buying the hard drive, however, even when you buy the hard drive there is over 100gig that must still be downloaded and the only way to do that is by having a direct internet connection to your DAW. You can't download it somewhere else and then transfer it. Native Access wouldn't work because when my net dropped out while it was connected it stuffed up everything, I can't download large files on my system. What followed was a massive argument between myself, the shop I bought it from and NI that went on for about 4 months. Everything was tried, but I knew it would never work. They refused to refund K12U. My argument was "The reason I bought the hard drive was to avoid having to download the large files from the net because of my bad internet connection, yet I still have to with K12U, while I didn't with K10U" Their argument was "The software is not refundable, your internet connection is not our concern and the product is advertised as requiring an internet connection to install". What is the point of the hard drive then? I got my money back eventually but had to do a complete reformat of my computer from scratch. I have the K10U hardrive and everything is on it, I just put it on offline then once the programs are loaded from the hard drive, it takes a few minutes to activate through the old service center no problems there. Can you tell me how you are using native access without an internet connection to your DAW? It has to be on the DAW and it has to connect by the internet. Past K10U you cannot install anything from NI onto your DAW without having to constantly and consistently run Native Access (connected to the net). Even if you are loading from the hard drive, it needs to be connected to the net just to load the programs. For me, putting everything on the bought hard drive, installing it offline and then connecting on net just to authorize worked well. Leaving a third or more of the programs off the bought hard drive to be downloaded and having to run Native Access connected to the net while it all installs doesn't work at all.

Yes, looks like I got mixed up with another thread, I've got Battery, Massive, Monark, but from Komplete Ultimate 10 so not sure, I have Reaktor 5 which won't work. I'm not sure I can upgrade to the latest versions either since I haven't and can't use Native Access. Probably a waste of time for me. Native Access requires a strong internet connection direct to your DAW which I don't have, so it's the end of the line for me with NI products, not a problem though as there are many other VST manufacturers that fill the void.

Exactly, the nut is no different from just another fret and deserves only slightly more clearance (to be on the safe side) than what you would get from putting your finger on the first fret and measuring the clearance between the fret and the string on the second fret. To be on the safe side though, putting your finger on the first fret and then measuring the clearance between the string and the third fret should be about right for the clearance between the nut (open string) and the first fret. Usually, this level of clearance is well below what they come with from the shop or what they have normally unless having been previously adjusted. I just use the cheap ones that are like bits of wire and fold away into a container, the thin ones can break after some use but they are so cheap it doesn't matter. The more professional Luthier ones can be expensive. I can understand buying those if your using them daily in your work, they last much longer. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Guitar-Nut-Slotting-File-Saw-Rods-Slot-Filing-Set-Luthier-Replacement-Tools/401494397461?hash=item5d7aee5215:g:~gcAAOSwQq1bdOEf I wouldn't use these to file brand new slots into a new unslotted nut, it would take way too long. I only by preslotted nuts anyway, they are great for fine tuning the depth of the nut.

I never worried that much about tuning when I was playing in bands, just a basic tune with open string and 12th fret and harmonics to check intonation. I can't recall anyone else worrying about tuning either, you just did it before the gig and then off you went. On my acoustic, when playing solo with vocals out and about, all I worry about is the life of the strings, they have to be good for a good sound. It was only when I started using DAW's that I became more pedantic about tuning and especially nut slot depth. Playing an electric dry and clean directly into the DAW, which I sometimes do, if there is anything wrong with tuning or fret pressure it really stands out and can sound quite out of tune with the other VST instruments if they are relatively dry and clean as well.

Is anyone using these with a slightly older version of Kontakt? I'm on 5.6.6, can't really upgrade unless I add native access to the mix which I cannot do. I don't want to download stuff that just isn't going to work.

Notice how the kanga lines up his victim.

Intonation is best when the guitar is set up properly, if the nut is too high, when you depress the strings on the frets closer to the neck, it will be more out of tune, if the action is too high same thing across the board, if the pickups are too high (near the strings), they will affect the ability to tune the strings, if the bridge is too high then the high strings can be out of tune. In general with new guitars, I've found the nut is always set too high. Setting the right string height in the grooves of the nut is in my opinion, the most important part of the process and the most neglected because it can require some specialist skills to get that just right, if you go too low then your only option is superglue and baking soda to fill the nut slot again or fitting a new nut (or a paper spacer in the groove). You need nut groove files, to know to file with a slight angle in the groove (with the guitar head side of the nut groove slightly lower) and to know how to set the right height for each string. There are different ways of doing this depending on the guitar. Plenty of advice on Google. If you are not prepared to get and do these things or don't feel comfortable with it, then it is best done by your local qualified Luthier or local guitar setup person (YMMV). Once the Nut is done, the rest of the setup is easier, you only have to adjust the relief (bend) of the neck to specifications or personal taste, the bridge height and saddle height for each string to specifications or personal taste. Last of all, you have to set the individual pickup height for each pickup to specifications or personal taste. Specifications of these things can be found on the guitar manufacturers website or around the place on Google. Now you are ready to do the intonation. If the tasks I've already outlined are completed, there will be no problem with setting the intonation unless the neck/frets themselves are out of whack which can happen on the cheaper guitars. One of the problems with setting up guitars is that, as already indicated by others, guitarists all play them differently and the guitar needs to be set up to suit their playing style. Some like a higher action, some lower, some like more relief in the neck and some like a flat neck, some like the pickups to be set lower or higher and some guitarists intonate differently because, as a result of all these things, they may prefer to concentrate tuning perfection towards the middle of the guitar rather than at the end points or12th fret harmonics of the string. As the string ages, intonation goes out, so from time to time it's good to check it. You can only go so far from specifications or the guitar will start to sound out of tune and create very unpleasant harmonics when you play chords for example. I look for an average across the fretboard after I have initially set the guitar up, just to check everything is ok with the frets/neck, generally, I find everything is within tolerances once the setup is done properly. After that, I just use the 12th fret harmonic against the open string to set intonation. For an average across the fretboard: 1. Check open string against 12 fret same string harmonic using electronic tuner. 2. Check open string against 12 fret depressed (lightly) with an electronic tuner. 3. Check 5th fret string harmonic with next string 7th fret harmonic across the strings One fret lower for g string, doesn't work well on acoustic). 4. Check depressed 5th fret with next open string (one fret lower for G string) If the guitar is setup to specifications for the guitar, all these things should be exact or very close. You can check 3 and 4 with your ears. If the guitar is badly set up then you will have to make choices about where you want it to be mainly in tune. That guitar video showing tuning at the third fret is wrong. Firstly, you need all the strings to be tuned to pitch before doing any intonation, where his strings are a whole tone down and he is adjusting the individual strings with the others a whole tone down. As you tighten the strings the neck will bend more adjusting the intonation again. That is just the wrong way to do it. Secondly, he is only looking at the depressed 12th fret, not the harmonic. Thirdly, the reason he probably has sharp notes on the third fret is because his nut is set too high so he is just compensating for a high nut, which is a typical problem on a strat.

Neither do I. I would love to sit down at a restaurant and play a couple of jazz songs (Vince Jones style) on the house piano with vocals, then go back to my dinner. The classier the restaurant the better. The truth is, I don't have one to practice on and they feel completely foreign to my midi keyboard, I can play on the keyboard but the piano terrifies me. They are loud with heavy keys and pedals, mistakes would abound. The closest I can come is with Pianoteq by Modart, which is very expressive. When I move back into the house, getting a piano is high on the list. Making the jump from midi keyboard to piano, just to play a couple of songs well, I don't know, it might take 2 weeks or it might take 6 months.

An interesting thread, when it comes to keyboards, I have never used or owned any dedicated hardware, no sound modules, synths or hardware of any kind, neither have I ever played a real piano. I have only ever known a midi controller and VST. In the early days, I always thought the sound was lacking, I could never get it to sound like the sounds I heard on the radio or what others were producing. What I was missing was the experience of using those sounds and how they were constructed, so I had nothing to use as a reference for creating the sound on my system. It's only with time that I have developed sounds that I am satisfied with through experimentation. That's because I have never played keyboards in a band for example. It's different with guitars because I have played a lot of real guitars in different genre's and different bands and before I came to the computer, I already had a good reference to call upon to create a good sound, I knew what I needed to do, where the sound needed to go. I've been using brass and woodwind in my recent stuff but I am unhappy with it, trying to get the sax sound as in Sade type music....complete fail, because I am not a Saxaphone player, I don't have the experience or skills to duplicate that sound, to make it sound authentic. I can get away with some short notes and embellishment but I can't get it to sound like a real player because I don't have the background to do that. The other thing is also that when you hear a sound of an instrument you don't know how to play on a produced recording, your not hearing the instrument sound, you are hearing the "mixed" sound. Took a while for that to sink in. In a busy mix, the guitars and pianos sound thick and rich, but when you drop the bass out and the other instruments, they sound thin, trebly and brittle because they have been mixed into their space, above the bass. I think this may be why modern pop music has evolved the way it has, with electronic (midi grid based) drums, synth bass, and piano's, synths etc because it is easier and cheaper for someone new to music to get good results quickly, even if they don't have any experience with playing real instruments. They just need to up their synth/piano skills or maybe, like Deadmau5 not even bother to do that, just use pre packed midi chords and experiment moving the notes around on the piano roll. Doing his tutorials was a real eyeopener for me, he basically just throws stuff at the piano roll without much theoretical knowledge or experience at playing real instruments and can get a good finished product in his genre of music. When you look at acoustic drums, guitar bass and guitars, piano's with brass and woodwind or even orchestral stuff, that is much harder to duplicate unless you have the actual background of playing the real instrument.

Yes, I do plan on flying over to Coronasville at some time in the future, I want to hire one of those mobile campers and go trekking, just right now is not a good time for international travel. I could make you a spaghetti bolognese that you would not know is not meat based. I've fooled others with it. Battles waged on this forum have been good training for my recent foray into politics. I was in a local pawn shop when I came across an illuminated painting of a wolf with a quote that struck me. I didn't buy the painting but I am negotiating with them on price, apparently it's a one off and part of a collection of similar illuminated paintings by the same painter. I did a mock up of it using a lion which I use for my desktop wallpaper and wake up to every morning: I get the first two part's of the quote, never had trouble with those, but the third part is what I need to work on, especially in politics where it is all about the numbers.

Your insignia looks a lot like this: I know it's a marketing gimmick, appealing to some of the heavy metal crowd, but still........ I enjoy watching a supernatural or satanic movie every now and then but I wouldn't be painting the Sigil of Baphomet or it's likeness on my acoustic or electric guitar and neither would I buy a guitar VST with that on it. I don't know how you can say you are Orthadox Christians yet produce a product with that on it. Actions speak louder than words. Can't you just change it into a mysterious looking triangle shape since triangles would be compatible with your Cabal title being mysterious and intriguing like the Bermuda Triangle. It's annoying because I am interested in buying Guitar VST's and then having to write a company off because of that. If your thinking of branching into more mainstream avenues like pop then it might be worth thinking about changing it. Just providing some feedback.