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I'm going to guess Clip #1 was the condenser. Vocals sounded good in both, but in #1 the guitar had more clarity and definition to me. No golden ears either!

Maybe something like this? https://piezobarrel.com/ "PiezoBarrel pickups are designed to be attached to wind and brass instruments to pick up the relatively high pressure standing wave inside the instrument near the mouthpiece end. This has the benefit of allowing the instrument to be amplified without feedback or interference from other sounds outside the instrument. Anything that creates a sound from the instrument also affects the air column inside the instrument."

That sounds similar to what BandLab was probably thinking about the legacy Cakewalk synths Rapture and Dimension Pro, which never got re-released. Sure they still work, but it takes resources to properly support a product. Like it or not, the business made a decision in their self interest. It is what it is.

Today's PluginGuru Livestream: coverage of Absynth

I sent them an email.

You may be right as far as the current version is concerned, but on his livestream today Skippy announced that he is "Unifying" these presets so there will be a Unify oriented version of this power pack very soon! This original power pack was created over 10 years ago, when Unify may have only been a twinkle in Skippy's eye. For $20 I am sure this will be a great deal for Absynth lovers, either way with Unify or not!

True, it's not a "Unify-only" patch set, since an external synth (Absynth) is required. I don't see any "Unified" presets for this synth either. Correction: Skippy announced that he is releasing a new version of this Absynth Power Pack with "Unified" presets! Whoo hoo!

$20 until October 1st. https://www.pluginguru.com/products/absynth-power-pack/ "If you have played thru the patches in Absynth 5, you will quickly notice it was voiced very heavily as an “out there” synth with spacey patches that are more useful as added sprinkles on top of a production. My goal was to re-invent Absynth 5 into a thundering virtual synth capable of epic bassline wobbles, ferocious synth leads, wild FX, twisted vocalisers, incredible pads and more. So in this library, I worked hard at turning Absynth 5 into an unstoppable main-room monster! This is still one of my favorite libraries ever because of how it transforms Absynth into a powerful synthesizer for ALL SORTS of musical jobs in many different genres. Listen to the audio demos, watch the patch walkthru video (and the MANY other support videos including an interview with Absynth creator, Brian Clevenger!) and you will see that Absynth 5 is no slouch for any type of music production."

Found an example for GPU memory specs on the Adobe graphics hardware recommendations for Premier Pro: "Both Premiere Pro and After Effects are engineered to take advantage of the GPU." "Premiere Pro: We recommend a GPU with at least 4GB of memory (VRAM)." "After Effects 22.0 or later: We recommend a GPU with at least 8GB of VRAM. "

Interesting question that I don't have an answer for. But here is a list of video card 2D benchmarks. Looks like the difference in scores is mostly related to the CPU & GPU combination used in the test. 2D Graphics Performance List "When looking at the 2D Graphics Performance, there are a myraid of factors that can affect the overall performance. Expensive videocards may not equate to fast 2D Performance. The score can vary due to video card and CPU combinations, driver versions, memory and CPU speeds, OS Patches (e.g. Meltdown and Specter), etc. As a starting point, below is a list of the 2000 most common Video Card and CPU combinations submitted." https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/g2d-performance.html

Because super-heavy video editing will not really use the high-end 3D capabilities of a super GPU. You would be just as well off with something that accelerates your 2D performance. Video editing is not actually a real-time process. So investing that money in more hard drives would probably suit you better for video editing. A high end GPU is marketed specifically at the 3D gaming crowd, as it is designed mainly to calculate the polygons in the 3D mesh in near real-time, as well as rendering light and reflections and other visual FX. That's also great if you plan to do 3D animations similar to Pixar, as the 3D engine can be used to show live 3D previews in some software. Maybe inquiring with the vendor of the video editor of your choice for the type of GPU they recommend may save you a lot of bucks. Or maybe they have a FAQ or forum with that info. As BTP mentioned above, video editing at higher resolution of 4K will increase your GPU requirements, but you will not see the performance gains that 3D users will see.

Thanks, I checked again. Nothing yet and I am subscribed to WA Production newsletters.

New Cakewalk accounts cannot be created at the legacy site, so I suppose not... Just looked again... they are asking $699 for a program that once sold for $99. ROFLMAO!!! 🤣

PerformanceTest This is a pretty cool benchmark tool from the developers of MemTest86. You get a separate score for 2D and 3D performance, so you can judge how well your current GPU compares to other computers. Free trial software works without a license, but after 30 days use of the advanced features are limited to the paid ($29) license. One practical use case would be to test a GPU that you bought to replace the CPU integrated video. Some years back I bought a Nvidia GT700 but it did not do much better than my Intel HD. So I returned it and bought a GTX 950. Much betterer!!! https://www.passmark.com/products/performancetest/index.php What features are unlocked when purchasing a license? https://www.passmark.com/support/performancetest_faq/license-features.php

Was there a recent email, or are you referring to the one they sent years ago...?

You do realize that even for that build, the GPU is probably the least important factor, unless you need to render in 3D. 😉

I used to feel that way. But I have noticed lately that some music programs and plugins with an active and animated GUI tend to make use of my GPU. So there's likely a case to be made for a discrete GPU in a DAW to enhance performance. Every time I see my GPU use percentage bump up, I'm glad that my CPU isn't bearing that extra graphic processing load and has a GPU to offload it to. Definitely do agree that they are way overpriced now, especially the high-end boutique models. I can typically build a PC for the price of one of those, LOL!

From the Cherry Audio Quadra user guide: "The Cherry Audio Quadra is a super-accurate and immensely improved emulation of the ARP Quadra synthesizer, originally released in 1978. It’s something of a unicorn instrument in that they’re rare, not only because ARP didn’t produce a lot of them, but also because many have been scrapped over the years as a result of their inherent unreliability. That said, the Quadra has developed something of a cult following because they were frequently used by Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks, and the late jazz legend, Joe Zawinul. And Quadras look super cool, in a here-come-the-neon-80s kind of way. (For the trainspotters, you can also find a Quadra wedged between Mickey Thomas's mustache and acres of leather in Jefferson Starship's impressively corny "Find Your Way Back" video.)"

Plus using Key Range specifies the MIDI note range that each section will respond to. When combining the Bass, Strings, Poly Synthesizer, Lead Synthesizer sections, the split and layer options are endless.

I'm not hardcore. Just a casual gamer, and I did spend $149.99 on an ASUS GeForce GTX 1650 two years ago. It does everything I need it to, gets insane FPS on classic games. And does very well on most games from the last 10-15 years, running on an i5-9600K. And I spent $129.99 for an MSI GeForce GTX 950 2GB GDDR5 around 6 years ago. That one is still working well on an older PC, a 3rd gen i5-3570K.

It looks like that was a Plugin Boutique exclusive that has vanished with the release of Komplete 14. But Thomann is still selling a boxed edition of Komplete 13 for $325 USD. That includes Absynth. https://www.thomannmusic.com/native_instruments_komplete_13.htm Consists of over 65 software instruments, software effects and 24 expansions Over 35,000 sounds Includes i.a. Guitar Rig 6 Pro, Super 8, Electric Sunburst, Butch Vig Drums, Cuba, Massive X, Kontakt 6, Session Strings 2, Absynth 5, FM8; Reactor 6, Battery 4 Seamless integration with machine and Komplete Kontrol keyboards Includes external USB hard drive with installation files and 25 Euro voucher for the NI Online Shop

But does it go to 11? 🤣

I don't think I ever spent over $150 on a graphics card...

Leave it to Paulo...!!! 🤣