Glenn Stanton

7 hours ago, Promidi said:

Your answer might be restore from your daily back up  (you do have one, don’t you?).

this ^^^^

you need to install the Yamaha USB driver for the keyboard in order to use it as a MIDI controller.

https://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical_instruments/keyboards/portable_keyboards/psr-e373/downloads.html

i have an older casio which requires a similar installation of driver in order to work.

once you install it, you should see it as an option for MIDI in CW.

6 hours ago, Lynn Wilson said:

I look forward to hearing your fade-in. 

i added a 2 bar fade in. plus with the pickup measure that's 3 bars so should do it...

honestly? stressing over things out of our control is truly a waste. if someone said "it's coming soon" then in software paralance that's a minimum of 90 days to finish beta, bugs, package, market, commerce setup, banking, support, hypercare, etc. not trivial as "hey, let's drop a piece of software and charge someones credit card". so my understanding from Noel's comment - beta is done. so that was what? 2 weeks ago? so 90 days = ~12 weeks. 

so, soon: 8-10 weeks is my expectation based on 45 years of software and system design and development. if it comes in "sooner", i'll be pleasantly surprised and joyous.

so, meanwhile back to the "soon" snarkiness. 😉 

it would seem the lounge would be a better place for this "master debate", and all of the subsequent "master debation" (if that's a word) could take place in a more private place. 

43 minutes ago, KSband said:

Good song l like it. The beginning is pretty abrupt, sounds almost like the intro was cut off, was this on purpose?

in my original version - i did a long fade in on the drums. this time around, i wanted somewhat more abruptness and since i usually put in a pickup measure to give the VI time to "settle" (sometimes the MIDI instruments don't start nicely on the 1:01 mark...) so it's sort of deliberate because i augmented the pickup measure more than i usually do. 🙂 but as this is a rough mix, i'm going to tweak a few things and revisit the drums fade in i did on my original recording.

While attending an anti-apartheid rally in Amsterdam NL at the palace (Dam Square) in 2015, it occurred to me we have a lot of problems in the world which need an affirmative approach to solving them. a lot of informative booths were set up to share the issues. so this one kinda of wrote itself... almost like smoke on the water... lol

-----------------------------------------------------
if we have to fight
we do it hand in hand
they can't stop us no way
we are not chained
we're human beings
we've living souls
and we have dreams

so make it right
yeah make it right
make it right
yeah make it right

if we occupy the palace square
will i see you there?
if we can't take it any more
please don't start a civil war
we can't afford to lose us
in the fray

so make it right
yeah make it right
make it right right right
now make it right

toss away the labels
making up the great divide
stand up and be counted
be the change you wish to see

and make it right
yeah make it right
yeah make it right
yeah make it right

in the middle east
they putting bombs down on kids
they got mad men with gasoline

in africa they got troubles
like you ain't never seen
and here we are
just standing by

we got people dying in the streets
right here at home
is it neighborly
does it satisfy?
no?

make it right
yeah make it right
yeah make it right
yeah make it right

if you got god on your salad
then please do no wrong
help your brothers and sisters and daughters grow strong
and if you're just the righteous type
well then, just do the same
but most im-port-ant-ly

keep the peace

and make it right
yeah make it right
yeah make it right
yeah make it right

we gotta educate
to eradicate
all this hate
before it's too late

so make it right
yeah make it right
yeah make it right
now make it right
hey! make it right
yeah make it right
yeah make it right right right
now make it right
 

11 hours ago, Heath Row said:

Ah, you need no definition of 'jibba jabba', being a fine exponent of the art of 'jibber jabbery '

The label was a fine piece of work used quite humorously.

perhaps jibberish was derived from such classical statements?

hence the suggestion to turn up the volume on the VI and/or scale the velocity. yes, different instruments even on the same platform can vary wildly based on the intent of the instrument - felt pianos tend to be very very soft (by design). lately for soft, i've been using the Boz Digital New York L 1926, which via the controls let's you get a really nice soft, and depending, ethereal sound - "harder" than a felt piano but way softer than a regular piano.  anyways, felt pianos are so 2022... LOL. 🙂 

5 hours ago, Stephen Power said:

@Glenn Stanton @David Baay Thank you for the help. I'm guessing it's something to do with the VI. I've tried other instruments and they seem loud enough and the Bus signal is strong.

One last question: The Master Bus outputs to Out 1 + Out 2 (Behringer UMC22). There are no other options. I assume that's how it should be?

if that's your only IO then yes, for me i have the UMC 202HD (which does have an ASIO driver) and Sound ID Reference so my output shows two options.

17 minutes ago, Stephen Power said:

The volume fader is at 4.0. The gain is at 0.0 and the output from the volume (the green bars) reaches about -36db. Again, as with Glen, apologies for the lack of techno speak in my reply,

no worries. if you're only seeing a peak at -36db on your meter -- your input signal is too low - so either you need to adjust the source (like a virtual instrument - turn up the volume), if it's the MIDI (perhap turn up the velocities (scale it)), and if it's audio (or the VI) then you might need to increase the gain setting to get it "in range". typically don't go past "unity" (0 = zero) on your track or buss volume fader (if you can help it) as this (usually) leaves headroom to increase the volume if needed.

well, after the yes album, fragile, and close to the edge, it was all downhill from there 🙂 LOL (not really, tales from a topographic ocean was excellent as were really almost all other yes albums...)

somewhere in my old books is the rodger dean artwork book which explained his techniques and work approach, one day when i grow up, i want to be an artist. although my mom said "you can't do both"...

presuming you are see a good strong signal on your meters, did you check:

1) your hardware output settings? if you look at your master buss, you should see the corresponding HW output faders.

2) your input to the monitoring system is correct - sometimes if you have multiple inputs to your monitoring, one of those settings could be  wrong - for example - in some IO units you have accommpanying mix software which can have settings specific to your output configuration

3) the volume control on your windows sound settings?

21 minutes ago, OutrageProductions said:

Less than the amount of time wasted on reading this thread.

not sure why you would say that, there's a lot of information here 🙂 

hmmm i was using the international units but i guess even "metric" countries can have options (like the UK mixing meters, yards, kilometers and miles on alternating signs... lol)

it's exactly 42 units.

excellent idea!

also - i use the Windows "pin to quick access" in my file explorer - doesn't solve things but i put the high priority one in my quick access (maybe 8-9) and then high priority pinned in CW leaving a couple of spaces for floating projects - i.e. the ones i recently worked on float into that space.

i have 6 patch bays 🙂 more work but makes it much easier to layout and normal, half-normal, and de-normal as needed across all IO, FX, and monitoring as well as the XLR ones for mics and preamp patching.

older photo before adding XLR... 

so, best bet - install the free (while it lasts) Cakewalk by Bandlab and try it out. record, edit, export. in theory, you could even just use Bandlab directly via your browser. 

i've been using Groove Monkey and Toontrack for their MIDI. and since someone reported a problem with their GoranGrooves MIDI (turns out it's the way CW handles MIDI with channels assigned) i have some of theirs as well. The CW session drummer also has some nice MIDI files and as Slate Drums. i'm sure other folks will chime in with their preferred MIDI sources.

https://gorangrooves.com/

general thoughts:

for simplicity - keep things one-to-one whenever possible

yes, in theory the pedal could be "patched in" - in practice, you would test this 🙂 

• bearing in mind most times tehre are TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) cables so your patchbay would need to support TRS connections.

one (1) output can feed one (1) or more inputs

• EXCEPT when those inputs are already connected to another output (meaning you have 2 ouput signals going into a single input -- this can cause all kinds of issues, or none. but generally unless you have some summing apparatus (like a resistor bridge) then you run the risk of overlouding the input, possibly damaging the other output when impedances are way off, etc).

line level is preferred over higher voltages (phantom power, 70v audio, power amp outputs)

• transitioning (plug in, pull out) patch cables when this high voltage is live can result in sparks (which erode your patch contacts), damage to other circuits including the voltage driver, etc. 
• here's a handy guide to understanding line level voltages: https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/understanding-signal-levels-audio-gear/

one way to do this:

1. have all your synth outputs and IO inputs connected in your first 2 patch bays (assuming 16 each) - this gives you what you need for directly recording the synths without changes (i would consider doing "normalled" as i could use a simply Y split cable if i need to "tap" off for some other reason like a "clean" vs" fx'd synth recording)

2. have your effects in another set of patch bays in/out wholly separated ("de-normalled")

3. you can now patch any synth to any effect w the caveat the effct patched in "breaks" the clean path and the effect is fully inserted in the path (i think this is typically the desired approach as many effects have "level" or "mix" controls to set how much of the effect is heard)

of course all of this depends on your workflow and if you need multiple inputs for a single synth + fx (as noted in #1).

generally my patch bays simply expose every in and out, and things like mic / instrument inputs are normalled to the IO. effects are all de-normalled for flexibility, and monitoring are also via the patch panel (for line levels) and all mics have XLR patch to avoid TRS insert while 48v phantom volt is on and forgot to turn it off 🙂

i used to use a spreadsheet to create the labels but it got painful because of 4 different brands of patchbays, so i bought "patchcad" which made life much much easier https://www.patchcad.com/ (just a happy customer).

long story but short version - Bob Katz (whose mastering audio book is still great reading) was one of the early advocates of standardizing volume levels and he developed a system which provided for setting the output level vs a dynamic range choice. this model was later refined and adopted by many in the broadcast standards we see today.

this is a nice reference: https://www.meterplugs.com/blog/2016/10/14/k-system-metering-101.html

yes it would see Kontakt as a single synth to freeze. one option is to have multiple Kontakt synths - my understanding is there is little penalty for this approach with Kontakt as it has some form of memory sharing for the application part, and @msmcleod did some analysis on that.

another option is disconnect the tracks you DO NOT want to freeze, then freeze the synth. then disconnect those tracks, mute those related MIDI tracks (or clips), and unfreeze the synth. then reconnect the other tracks you want to hear the MIDI audio from. a bunch of steps but not too long with a limited number of tracks. 

18 hours ago, Lynn Wilson said:

Very lovely song, Glenn!  I like this style of music, and your voice fits it very well.  I like the sax part, but not sure about that particular sample (if it was a sample).  Kudos on the backup vocals and lyrics, too!

thanks Lynn. the sax is indeed sampled (Real Tracks from BIAB soloist) and at first i was thinking i'd replace it (actually a number of times thinking i'd replace it) but then i realized - it's somewhat "angry" and in a way, the person experiencing the loss is somewhat angry at the unfairness of the universe. so i decided (for the moment) to keep it. i'll probably remove the delay effect as i tend to overuse it in my songs. cheers!