Starship Krupa

3 hours ago, sjoens said:

Inserting VSTs is the same, tho.

Fundamentally, yes. But there have been some changes in that area. Since they're not big front-facing features, we sometimes forget about them. They're things that we think of as always having been there, because in most cases, they should have always been there.

A couple of differences I can think of offhand are the (important) fact that Cakewalk now scans the system's VST3 folder under all circumstances (it doesn't have to be explicitly listed in the VST scan paths), and the flyout menus for adding plug-ins are much improved. Also, when you replace a synth, the new synth's UI is displayed. VST management (like forced re-scans and sandboxing options) has migrated from Plug-In Manager to Properties (although Plug-In Manager still works).

Even something as mundane as adding or replacing a plug-in....it's improved in Cakewalk. Someday, I hope, we'll get the oft-requested "Replace Effect" command. 😄

BandLab has now been developing and publishing Cakewalk by BandLab longer than Gibson owned Cakewalk, Inc. As far as I can tell, BandLab has done more with Cakewalk than Gibson did with SONAR in terms of development.

On 7/25/2022 at 7:49 AM, chuckebaby said:

if I put that plug in inside of the FX bin, it wont be unprocessed. Unless of course I have the plug in first in cue.

Good to see you, ChuckE. Through this discussion I have been wondering why you don't want to just put whatever plug-in you want to use first in the FX rack.

On 7/23/2022 at 3:25 AM, Promidi said:

Have you considered using Cakewalk by Bandlab? 

This. Cakewalk by BandLab is light years ahead of Sonar X3.

1 hour ago, rfssongs said:

Which Pro channel compressor & settings would you recommend for vocals ??

I'd start with the PC 2A Leveler, which is an emulation of the Teletronix LA/2A compressor. YouTube abounds with tutorials on how to use an LA/2A on vox.

The PC76 U-type also has some vocal presets.

12 hours ago, bitflipper said:

The mechanically knowledgeable driver will get better fuel efficiency, longer-lasting brake pads, longer engine life and get into fewer accidents.

This is a good analogy. Study up and learn what things really make a difference (my votes go for tires, brake pads and occasional throttle body cleaning 😁).

In the case of the DAW, and sample rates and whatnot, it's free to experiment.

Don't even trip on whether it's a "placebo effect." If it sounds better, it is better. Anyone who does this long enough will eventually have the experience of spending 15 minutes dialing in a compressor plug-in only to discover that it's bypassed (or actually on a different track). If you read about it, try it. See if it makes a difference. There's no authority judging us for subtleties in sound fidelity.

How many people who listen to our music will listen to it as critically as we do? Probably none, but since I make music primarily to please myself, it has to sound good under the audio microscope. Grainy reverb tails, harsh (in a bad way) synth notes, my ears pick those right out.

On 7/25/2022 at 9:29 PM, RexRed said:

What is the meaning of life?

If it has anything to do with actually finishing songs....well, I'm working on that. 😄

As for what bitrate you record at, 88 or 96 isn't going to hurt anything (unless you find that you run up against processing power and disk space), but accepted wisdom these days is that if there's any sonic difference, you'll perceive it on mic'd up acoustic performances with a lot of space and minimal processing.

For the pop and rock and electronic stuff that I think most of us do, probably not. You're a pro, though, and I'm a hobbyist. If I were earning money from this, I'd probably invest in a faster computer (I did recently spend $250 to build what would have been a screamer half a dozen years ago 😄).

As for the 64-bit double precision....not all plug-ins handle it well, IME. There's a very nice freeware compressor plug-in called Leveling Tool, modeled on the LA/2A, that has a huge volume drop when 64-bit double precision is engaged in Cakewalk.

As for upsampling individual plug-ins at render time, a thing to be careful with is if you have songs that depend on a virtual instrument's internal arpeggiator and FX like rhythmic delays. The timing of those can get thrown off by upsampling, so that if you're mixing with the upsampling disengaged and then flip it on for rendering, the song will sound different. Plug-ins don't all do their math in the same way based on the same timings.

As I said, I did some listening tests and experiments when I released "Sensation," and what I determined was that leaving plug-in upsampling off and rendering at 88 (or 96) yielded the best-sounding (and most faithful) results. You can listen to "Sensation" on my Bandcamp page and hear how much it depends on the arp and delay timing to be just right. My favorite sound design (and even compositional) techniques involve rhythmically-sync'd delays and modulations, so this is critical for me.

Not so critical when I'm using a bit of slapback and chorus to fatten up a vocal.

Quote

Euripides

Rhymes with "you rip a'dese."

On 7/9/2022 at 3:27 AM, rontarrant said:

Any suggestions?

Have you tried any of mine? They're designed by/for someone who don't see as good as he usedta.

I haven't take a Spanish class in  40 years, so I want to thank this thread for giving me the chance to use what I learned.

¡Mas vale tarde que nunca!

On 7/22/2022 at 7:29 AM, Morten Saether said:

Extend Takes to Punch Out Time / Comping Loop extend clip behavior should also work for MIDI clip recording

Ya-hoo!

On 7/23/2022 at 7:45 AM, petemus said:

There might not be a lot the Bakers can do about it - or it's not worth the work that it would require.

I suspect that with Cakewalk the formers is seldom true, but the latter, often. I rarely run with multiple projects, and when I do, it doesn't exactly ruin the experience for me to see the old Aero look. I liked the Aero look, I like rounded corners.

But I do understand that it contributes to the impression that there are many areas of Cakewalk that continue to party like it's 1999.

A workhorse freeware, cross platform  audio format converter. I've been using it for years to convert for distribution formats. Simple and effective. The biggest visible change is that there's now a "dark" theme available.

https://www.mediahuman.com/audio-converter/welcome.html

I'm in the same state as probably 1.000.000 other producers of electronic music: sitting here trying to find a path to releasing another actual song from one of the several dozen of (really good, IMO) song ideas I have on my computer that are 50-75% "there."

One of the problems with the genre, and it's the reason that multiple books and articles on this subject have been written, is that it has no fixed set of instruments and sounds. The forms are loose, the sky's the limit.

It's easier to know when a 4-piece indie rock song is ready for final mixing. All parts have been nailed, takes have been recorded. But with electronica, there's always some little bit of ear candy that can be dropped in.

It's a hobby, I consider my songs messages in bottles. I wrap 'em up, toss 'em out there, and maybe 100 years from now some hipster will be digging deeply into early 21st century bedroom chillout and thrill their friends with the totally obscure stuff they found. That's the level of success I aspire to. But....no deadlines except my own death, which should be upcoming in 3 or 4 decades (although I'm rooting for being a brain floating in a jar on a shelf who can control soft synths with my thoughts).

The depression and anxiety that have been my emotional wallpaper for almost as long as I can remember don't help at all. But one of the things that can put me in a rare state of giddy joy these days is coming up with a great new set of changes, sounds, and rhythm. Making it into a 2-minute snippet I can listen to on repeat while I drift off to sleep. "I made that! It sounds awesome!"

I'd like to be able to share more of it, though. The thought of helping someone to feel happy, get closer to an emotion, relax, or however they connect with music seems to me to be part of my answer to "what's it all about."

9 hours ago, Terry Kelley said:

Browser?

That list-y pane that should pop up on the right side of the Cakewalk UI when you hit "B" on your keyboard. You didn't recognize it from the screenshot? Among other things it does, it provides you with a list of installed/recognized plug-ins. Which may be organized in 3 official ways and one undocumented way.

Cakewalk doesn't require any "uploading," nor does it have any feature called "Mix Editor."

Cakewalk is the name for the latest version of the software that was once called SONAR. If you want to work with old SONAR files, you need to download and install Cakewalk, or as it's known by its full name, Cakewalk by BandLab.

The relationship between Cakewalk and BandLab is that BandLab is the parent company. They have an online DAW, also named BandLab. The online DAW can't directly open Cakewalk/SONAR CWB files. If you want to work with those you need to download and install Cakewalk, which is free.

Cakewalk is able to export files in a format that the online BandLab DAW can open if you later wish to work with the online DAW, but Cakewalk is a standalone program. You don't have to do anything with the online DAW unless you want to.

"Please note that while most Sequencers / DAWs are VST 2, VST 3, AU and AAX plug-in format compatible, only those listed in the chart below are officially supported." Cakewalk is not on the list, but it would be very unusual for a plug-in to function perfectly in those 13 other programs but not in Cakewalk. Not impossible, just unusual.

I suggest asking Soundsonline. BandLab will just tell you that Cakewalk is very compliant with the VST specification (which it is). Before you buy, get their word that you can return the license for a refund if it doesn't play nice with Cakewalk. It's easy enough (free) for them to get a copy of Cakewalk to test their products with.

Not to worry, Justin, this issue comes up often and is one that I struggled with for a while.

By default, Cakewalk takes the export from whatever hardware outputs you have enabled in its settings. That's what "entire mix" means in Caketalk.

So what this means in effect is that you can have a nice, hot level at the Master bus, but if you have your Cakewalk "Hardware outs" set at 50%, your exported mix will be at only half the level as you're metering.

What to do? Well, you can crank your hardware output sliders up to zero, but depending on your setup, that can be hard on the speakers, headphones, or ears. Also, if you have two sets of hardware outs, let's say for headphones and monitors, all of what's coming from those outputs during playback goes to your exported file.

What I do is just create an extra bus called Export and route my Master bus to that, then route the Export bus to the Hardware outs. That lets me still be able to control playback volume with the Hardware out sliders without interfering with my export levels. Then in the Export dialog, I choose to export my mix only from that bus. This Export bus also has my preferred loudness meter plug-in on it.

This may seem like an extra, unnecessary step, and it probably is for some, but it's what finally let me get all the level I wanted in my Cakewalk exports.

Thanks, Larry, for alerting me to the Cyan bundle in this forum.

One point I want to clarify: MYST Online: Uru Live doesn't share any content or puzzles from the other 5 MYST titles, except for supposedly at the finish of one of the ages, you put your hand on the book and are transported to good ol' MYST Island. I don't know if the puzzles that were on the island can be played in this one, but you can walk around using the newer 3-D engine. Also, I played realMYST: Masterpiece Edition, which came in the Humble Bundle. That is the original game remastered to use newer graphics and their 3-D engine and it looks great. Still fun 27 years later. Still made me reflexively want to "click" on things in the real world to see if they had hot spots.

"Sorry, I was tapping on the refrigerator to see if it had a hidden panel that would slide out."

https://mystonline.com/en/

Kinda like Cakewalk, you need a valid email to register, that's it.

tl/dr:

I snagged a Steam Humble Bundle collection several months back with every game Cyan Worlds has ever released (including the early young persons' games like Cosmic Osmo).

I played through all of the MYST titles and Obduction. I enjoyed Obduction so much that I played right through it a second time. Their worldbuilding and art direction are so amazing.(Obduction, though, like MYST, again left me with the question of where all these people had slept)

Anyway, I wasn't so sure about the Uru: Complete Chronicles part of the collection, I had read that it was the retooled remnants of an aborted attempt in 2003 to make an online multiplayer MYST game and that the production (and subsequent weak ROI) of it nearly caused Cyan to go broke. Not the most promising, but I wanted more Cyan-style entertainment.

I started working my way through the Steam version, was liking it, and got curious about its commercial history/fate. Turns out that in 2010, Cyan took all of the content ever produced for the game, set up servers for free, and released a bunch of the underlying code (not the MYST franchise IP) under GNU GPL. And then I found out that the servers are still up and running. Hmm.

So I created an account and hopped in. Didn't know what to expect although I was familiar with the gameplay. The first thing I noticed is that the graphics of the current online version are visibly better than the standalone version that Steam has. They've clearly done some good work on it. The next thing I noticed is that there didn't seem to be many players on the server with me at any given time, often down to single digits, and sometimes I'm the only one. Makes me wonder how long Cyan is going to bother with it, but the people who play it still have regular virtual events (including "live music," not sure how that works).

The open source factor has so far resulted in some very nice-looking "Ages" and two, released a year ago, that genuinely rival the Cyan stuff as far as art/sound design and gameplay. One of them is done in a slightly different, more modern style than the usual MYST steampunk-y aesthetic, and it looks great. The other one includes two actual bedrooms AND bathrooms (with working toilets).

You have control over whether your gameplay is going to be solo or cooperative, and at the start, and by default, it's solo. I've been playing it for a few days and have met a couple of people who are really helpful and fun to play the game with. Some of the puzzles are more fun with another player's help, but I also like being able to do it by myself at my own pace if I want, and that is well-accommodated: the areas where the puzzles and exploration take place are private to each player unless the player invites someone else to join them. You can start working them by yourself and then if you get stuck, go into the public areas and get someone more experienced to help, or just never go into the public areas at all (things are less frustrating if you get some guidance and orientation, but there are plenty of websites with hint guides and full walkthroughs).

It can be social, but it doesn't have to be, which is how I prefer it. I'm an introvert/extrovert switch and I want to be able to flip that switch whichever way I feel like. Due to the nature of MYST gameplay (nothing to kill or be killed by) the userbase skews older than most online games, and that works for me too. Unlike MYST, you can sometimes have uncontrolled falls from lethal heights, but the game whisks you safely back to your private island lodge before you hit the deck,

Each player sets up an avatar whose dress and appearance they can choose, and at least in my case, I think I was able to put together one with a fair resemblance (at least to what I looked like 15 years ago). The avatars look human without going into the uncanny valley.

It's not a competitive game (although there are games-within-the-game that can be competitive), so there's no tactical advantage to having a super-duper computer system, the underlying code and graphics are 20 years old. A Core 2 Quad with 4G of RAM and comparable graphics unit should be able to run it in full resolution just fine, abut it still looks great. I've watched people play the latest shooters, and as far as graphics, they don't seem behind the technical curve at all.

If you drop in, I'm Superabbit. I'm probably about 1/3 to 1/2 through the various puzzles and whatnots, so I'll at least be around long enough to finish those. I wish I'd heard about it earlier: a MYST title where you can ask other players for help in real time? And invite your friends? At my favorite price point?

15 hours ago, fret_man said:

What do you consider the "must have" Exponential Audio reverbs? They're all on sale until July 31

Depends on what you do. For stereo mixing where you want a "natural" reverb sound, wait (usually 2 months between sales) for Phoenix or Nimbus to be on sale for $10 a seat. Nimbus is pretty similar to Phoenix (it can load Phoenix' presets), with modulation you can add to the tails. R2/4 if you like something closer to the classic hardware algo reverbs, best Lexicon or Eventide you ever heard.. Sames with R2 and R4. R4 is R2 with the ability to wiggle the tails. I'd be happy to use nothing but Phoenix until the unlikely event I heard something better. Phoenix and Nimbus sound so good it feels like cheating to use them. They ruined me for anything else I'd heard, I just deleted my reverb plug-ins and no longer paid much attention to deals on reverbs.

The only reverb I've heard that can touch them is MTurboReverble, which costs $75 if you wait for it roll around in their 50% off sales (I got it in a bundle after I got the Exponentials).

I so hate to say it, but as much as I love magazines, and have had so much enjoyment from them over the years, it's probably a format that won't survive in its current form.

For hobbyist and professional topics, there's just so much information on the web, it's like drinking from a firehose. As far as current events....big can o'worms.

That is one awesome fscking shirt. John Aaron's immortal command that saved Apollo 12.

I first heard the phrase in Apollo 13, the bit where they figure out how to adapt the Grumman Lunar Module's CO2 scrubbers for use in the North American-built Command Module. I don't think the character is named, but he has the classic NASA look of the era. I do remember talking with my computer BBS science nerd buddies about how that guy was at least as much of a mission hero as Jim Lovell.

I learned later about "set SCE to AUX" and its sheer awesomeness.

John Aaron did also flash his steely peepers for Apollo 13, Wikipedia says he was the one who devised the soft power-up sequence that we see Gary Sinise's "Ken Mattingly" repeat multiple times in the film. Wearing his short sleeve button down shirt and tie of course.

If there's ever a movie where John Aaron appears as a character (and there really should be), he could be played by geek icon Rami Malek:

He'd have to lose that laconic Elliot Alderson drawl. "Set....SCE. To....AUX."

One of my favorite geek culture (mid 90's, when it was a culture, before we pwnd the world and it became the culture) artifacts was a Valentine's Day t-shirt that read "Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, All My Base Are Belong To You." I thought that was the sweetest thing. Also, if you consider multiple definitions of the word "base," pretty good geek smut.

13 minutes ago, husker said:

You, sir, are my hero.  Respect! 

This guy is the real steely-eyed computer man. He was the one who figured it out and then posted it for the Dell world to enjoy:

I found out that Dell Optiplexes are kind of a cult item. There are so many of them out there that, like mine, were given early retirement from a corporate environment when the guy in the next cubicle got a newer system.  Hey, why would you go to all this trouble just to get a decade-old tower to boot from an NVMe if you weren't expecting to keep it for a while?

The Optiplex 7010 was a top of the line office box in 2012, and I was given mine in 2016. It's been a flawless workhorse DAW and NLE rig for 6 years.

You can get them very cheaply, as low as $100 with the i7-3770 and maybe a little more with 4G and a spinner. Toss in a hand-me-down graphics card, an SSD, a 500W power supply, and voila, it'll run any game prior to about 2016, and later ones if you drop resolution. Depends on the GPU. Total build price would be in the range of $200 depending on how much RAM you want. If your friend's parents won't buy them a swoopy gaming rig, they can save their lawn mowing money for a month or two and they're ready to go.

The cases are solid, good metalwork, they have front panel USB3, they'll take generic power supplies, what's not to love? Mine is still a fine DAW/NLE rig. Runs Obduction (2016) lickety-split in high resolution. The Radeon 5770 is getting to be kind of a hound (I so much prefer nVidia), but it will get the GTX 550 Ti when that gets upgraded on the ASUS. I may even buy one of those retired Pro licenses you can get for $25, because I'm really getting used to Remote Desktop. Remote Desktop has been GREAT for checking what plug-ins I've been using on the laptop (which runs Pro).

Maybe I'll start a thread for my fellow "low end hardware" users.

I built the newer box kind of out of fun. I hadn't partsed up a PC in 20 years. Turns out I still have it. 😎😄

5 hours ago, Jim Fogle said:

I looked at pages 729 & 730 of the Cakewalk Reference manual and did not see any information about this fourth view.

I think it's the very definition of "undocumented feature." 😊 I have some other corrections/addenda, so I will mention it.

6 hours ago, bitflipper said:

the Juno just had just one feature that made it likeable, a pleasant chorus effect that made even the most basic patches sound good. Today, you can get that chorus effect as a free plugin

You are referring to Magic Switch?

I built a new DAW system (from used parts), and in reinstalling all my audio software, came to some realizations and conclusions. It's the other side of the post I wrote about giving ourselves a break about those small purchases adding up. If you're interested in what might await someone who upgrades to a new(er) system, check it out: