Starship Krupa

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned my biggest issue with the new UI so far: reduced type font size in the Transport module.

I'm hoping this will be addressed before release, but for now, the reduced size of the time, tempo, time sig and sample rate text make me squint, where that isn't an issue with CbB. At these small sizes, just a single point increase in font size can make a big difference in legibility.

On 3/15/2024 at 7:58 AM, msmcleod said:

Unfortunately, because it's cross-platform, the text rendering doesn't look as good on 1080P as it did in CbB.  We have a plan to fix this and will be addressing it very soon.

Aughhhhh! Sonar caught cross-platform cooties from Next!

I'm glad that you're working on a cure.

On 3/8/2024 at 5:27 PM, smckee said:

I had left the Cakewalk FX Quantize in the effect rack of my drum channel, with Random enabled and set at 15%

At least it's nice to know that it works pretty well.

You might get better responses if you typed out MIDI Guitar 2. I had to Google to see what you were asking about.

I'm not familiar with the product at all, but with other virtual instruments that support multiple audio outputs, you select All Synth Outputs when inserting the instrument:

Keep in mind that those are suggested specs.

I've run the early preview quite successfully on my Dell laptop with a 2 core i7-7600U. I do have hyperthreading enabled so it appears in Sonar to have 4 cores.

In comparisons, I haven't found it to be any more resource-hungry than CbB, which I have run successfully on a Core 2 Duo system with 4G RAM.

It very much depends on what you're doing and how you use it. Obviously, with a Core 2 Quad, you can't can't run a big pile of resource-hungry mixing plug-ins and/or VI's without doing some bouncing and freezing.

So, not to worry, if CbB runs fine on your system, Sonar should run fine as well.

8 hours ago, JonD said:

Is the "classic" GUI an option in the new version?

The new look is, at this point, mostly just that, a new "look." The point of doing it is to lay the groundwork for enhanced scaling support and future enhancements.

At first glance, the new look is basically similar to using a custom theme in CbB. Everything still works the same way, everything is still in the same place, it just looks better and scales better on higher resolution displays.

My hope (and expectation) is that in the not too distant future (next Sunday A.D.?) we'll see things like being able to stretch different elements of console strips to (for instance) give a longer throw on the faders.

But yes, as others have said, it's important to know the difference and distinctions between Next and Sonar. Next is a whole new program entirely.

Also, when exploring Analog Lab banks, one of the things I've discovered is that many of them make use of aftertouch, which seems to me to be little-used in other synths.

Oh man, Past To The Future is SO much fun.

It's a collection of sounds from famous songs:

• CMI V : Art of Noise - Moments in Love

• DX-7 V : Berlin - Take My Breath Away

• CLAVINET V : Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground

• Mini V : Kraftwerk - Autobahn

• Modular V : Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Lucky Man

• CS-80V : Vangelis - Blade Runner Blues

• ARP-2600 V : Jean-Michel Jarre - Equinoxe 5

• Prophet V : Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes

• Jup-8 V : Duran Duran - Save a Prayer

• SEM V : Doobie Brothers - What a Fool Believes

• Wurli V : Queen - You're My Best Friend

• VOX Continental V : The Doors - Light My Fire

• Solina V : Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

• Matrix 12 V : The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds

• Synclavier V : Michael Jackson - Beat It

• B-3 V : Booker T Jones - Green Onions

• Stage-73 V : Led Zepplin - No Quarter

• Farfisa V : Pink Floyd - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

• Piano V : Mungo Jerry - In The Summertime

• Analog Lab 3 : Yazoo - Don’t Go

I'm nutzo for noodling around with stuff like that, just for fun.

1 hour ago, The Dispossessed Orangutan said:

I really like the AAS instruments, so I wish they would do a more effective job of highlighting what each instrument excels at rather than catering to the collect-them-all hoarder mentality.

Well, TBF, they do allow us to at least preview some of the patches via Swatches and the demo tunes/walkthroughs.

But yeah, Strum is about the only one that can be relied upon to do what it says on the tin: modeled guitars.

I really wish they would do a dedicated drum instrument rather than putting all these kicks and snares and hats in various soundpacks. I don't want to have to put 3 different instances of Player in a project, so the alternative is of course to just sample whatever kick or snare I want.

Still, I'd love to see what they could come up with as far as modeling other drum and cymbal sounds. Their engine seems to do metallic really well and some cymbal crashes might be great.

53 minutes ago, Lemar Sain said:

Probably uses wav impulses for some of its distortion types.

Ahh, yes, for convolution.

13 hours ago, paulo said:

Maybe you'll be less pleased if you ever want to sign out of it.

Not sure what you mean by that, but I finally did find Beat via Libby newsstand and snagged another pair of soundpacks to add to the bestiary.

If you're referring to data collection, well, no, I'm not going to search Libby for anything that would flag me with the NSA. 🙄

I also noticed that Beat has freebie lite versions of Chordjam and Speedrum that are worth picking up. It seems to be exactly similar to Speedrum Lite but comes with a useful bunch of samples and pre-rolled kits.

Chordjam is a good thing for fans of MIDI generator-ish plug-ins. Those seem to be dropping left and right these days, I have Loop Engine and now Chordjam Beat but will be letting the smoke settle before looking into any more.

11 minutes ago, User 905133 said:

Is Movavi any good?  Fanatical has a Movavi Bundle. This is all I know about it (only because I Googled "vegas pro v. movavi."

From the ads, it looks more consumer-y than Vegas Pro. Which may not be a bad thing, but every time I try something that's in that vein I get annoyed by the step-by-step handholding they all seem to have.

I want to open to a clean, ready to edit interface, not a "friendly" series of screens asking me to add clips, etc. It makes me feel like I'm filling out forms at the doctor's office.

I'm most concerned that I may no longer be able to regularly update Vegas Pro via Humble Bundle.

15 minutes ago, kitekrazy said:

They use to do group buys. It was on KVR that I first heard of D16 and asked why people were so into that group buy.

I picked up both Drumazon and Sigmund as either PB freebies or magazineware. Another reason to be fine with kicking them a few dollars.

1 hour ago, Hillmy said:

Expect similar treatment to Iris as well. So there is that and nothing to be excited about.

Iris could actually benefit from some simplification, IMO. 😄

I wouldn't have picked up Trash 2 if it hadn't been part of a very nicely priced bundle I wanted. That said, it's a classic effect and it never hurts to have something like that on hand if someone I'm working with wants a destroyed, abrasive NIN sound on some element or other. As a crusher, it's the crushiest, and it doesn't hurt that it has those modulators.

It looks like they're taking a cue from what AIR did with Hybrid, Vacuum Pro, and Drumsynth 500: flatten the UI and remove features.

Makes me wonder if we'll be seeing a Break Tweaker 2 with a similar approach (and which I would also pass on, though I love Break Tweaker).

Warning: I went to CAD's page on it and the downloads page only had a spec sheet.

That means no ASIO driver unless I missed something.

3 hours ago, kitekrazy said:

Derailing a thread is mandatory

Really though, how far is a discussion about a product derailed by talking about whether it's worth the money to upgrade to it from an earlier version and comparing the company's upgrade policies to similar companies'?

First glance review: I coughed up the $19 for Sigmund 2 and consider it a worthy purchase. The factory presets for Sigmund have always been strong, and there are way more of them. In an existing project where I was using a Sigmund preset, I swapped in Sigmund 2 and had no trouble locating the same preset in Sigmund 2, so either they are compatible or they went to the trouble of duplicating the sound of the old presets in the new product. The visual arrangement of the modules is clearer as far as signal flow. The UI is now resizable and there is a VST3 version.

I haven't delved deeply enough to know about the other new features, but the ones I mentioned are enough to make the product worth the $20.

If you, like me, can never get enough Glitchmachine-y Unfiltered Audio-ish soundbendering plug-ins, you'll drop the price of a Burger King meal on it and not regret it.

13 hours ago, kitekrazy said:

How did we go from D16 to Waves?

Forum rules. Any mention of plug-in licensing must include a mention of Waves either in the first post or a subsequent post. Similarly, any topic that contains the name of more than one DAW, or a DAW other than Cakewalk must include a mention of REAPER, either in the first post or a subsequent post.

If these conditions are not met organically, the forum software will insert a post with these mentions under a user name chosen by algorithm, although this is rarely necessary.

7 hours ago, Craig N said:

D16 wants upgrades for every product I've purchased from them

And you are under no obligation to buy them unless you believe that, for instance, there is $19 worth of new features in Sigmund 2. Sigmund will continue to work just as well as it has since you bought it.

IME, D16's policy is as standard as it gets: minor releases (bug fixes, minor improvements) are no cost for existing users. They want money (a fraction of the cost of a new license) for new major versions that substantially extend the feature set. This is the way for the majority of the software I own. A|A|S, Magix, Corel, W.A. Production, PreSonus, iZotope, Mixcraft, Mastering the Mix, Glitchmachines, Plugin Alliance, Ableton, IK Multimedia and countless others.

Companies whose policies differ from this (MeldaProduction, Image Line) are very unusual. The most popular variation on this that I've seen is one where the user is entitled to one or more future major releases along with the interim bug fixes. The license for REAPER is like that. Buy a license for 7, you're also entitled to 8 whenever it comes out, but you must pay again to update to 9.

Why people complain about Waves' policy is that Waves typically don't add any new features, even for releases that increment the version number (the only new features I've seen in all the years I've had licenses for Waves products were the half-a55ed preset browser and resizable UI), their licenses are single seat unless you keep up the maintenance plan, and they relentlessly hawk the maintenance plan. The only reason I would have for keeping their plan up would be to maintain the second seat, which would amount to having the second license under a subscription plan, and subscription licensing doesn't work for me.

Again, nobody is forcing anyone to maintain their Waves update plan. I bought a year of it years ago for 2 products because I wanted to update them from 9 to 11 or something. Then I let it drop because there was no reason to maintain it. In effect, I paid once to upgrade my Waves software. Since then, no WUP, and none has been necessary. I'm a Windows user, so I don't care a hoot about whatever tortures Apple is inflicting on its users in regard to losing compatibility, and Waves products have been, IME, bug-free and rock solid. They usually fix any issues within the first year of the product's life, while it's still under the initial WUP, and after that, it's smooth sailing.

Ah, okay, got my answer:

If you already have Sigmund (maybe like me you got it as a PB freeB, those were the days), check in your User Area at the D16 website. There should be a coupon there that will allow you to get v. 2 for  €19.

I've never gotten into programming the thing, but some of the factory patches are wonders for trippy sound design. I have some heavy hitters like MTurboDelay, Objeq Delay, and Sandman Pro, and Sigmund is right up there with them.

I'll be dropping the 19 for the upgrade.

Looks like it can be had for €59 at D16's own site.

I'm an enthusiastic user of Sigmund; it would be nice to get an upgrade price.

17 minutes ago, oscarreece said:

....either way the most my computer can handle is a buffer size of 256 at a sample rate of 96khz or 128 at 48khz. My question: is there any reason why it would be preferable to run the VPC-1 into the Apogee vs. straight into the computer, or should there be no difference at all?

Since you're getting the same latency either way, it seems like there's no difference. If you run into issues in the future, then you can experiment with switching. At this point, the only criterion would be how you prefer to do it, going into the Apogee at least saves a USB port on your computer.

If you're really curious, ask whatever support there is at Apogee. Their forum if they have one or email tech support.

Brut

22 hours ago, John Vere said:

I will make a guess that you’ve been sneaking around in Gearspace which is very dangerous!

I go back a bit further than that. When the boutique stompbox wave hit in the late 90's and early 00's, I was something of a figure in that scene. I had my own small company with a line of loving recreations of specific vintage fuzz boxes. My products were reviewed positively in Guitar Player and Guitarist. I don't talk about that phase of my life much around these parts, it doesn't usually come up.

I first became aware of the 500 rack craze about 15 years ago, watched it grow, knew a couple of the early movers, etc. There was of course some cross pollination between those scenes.

Which is all to say that I understand and am sympathetic with people who want to add some analog sauce to their productions. And the people who are into this kind of thing are not afraid to spend some money, which is always nice when building a user base.

It's a crowd I would hate to have alienated from using Sonar. They're good people to have around.

14 hours ago, norfolkmastering said:

I do use quite a lot of mono hardware gear on mono tracks during mixdown

So from that list of tracks and processors, I, with my pair of Saffire Pro 40's would easily be able to accommodate all that hardware only if  Sonar would let me use my outputs individually. Otherwise, I'd not be able to pull it off, and half of my outputs would be useless,

That sounds scary.

Can you describe in more detail how your projects (I assume you meant "projects" when you typed "programs") are having trouble opening in SONAR? The projects I have done in CbB open fine in SONAR, although there is a popup warning that the newer features won't be accessible. Obviously, if I use Arranger sections, those won't come across to the old program.

Although I think that being proactive is a good idea, on my systems, Cakewalk by BandLab has not stopped working, nor have BandLab announced a date after which Cakewalk by BandLab will stop working. So you should not be having any problems with CbB at your gig on the 22nd.