Patrick Derbidge

Personally, I think think this is an apples to oranges debate. I get it though. For years we are used to focusing on overclocking capabilities of Intel vs AMD and making those head to head comparisons but I just think that the AMD architecture is just so different now that you have to look at AMD and Intel from their individual stand points. AMD's Performance Boost (not be confused with PBO) works in such a unique way that it gives the user the best "overall" performance one can possible get out of the cpu, along with the ability to maximize memory performance through the infinity fabric. The point being that there is no reason to overclock a Ryzen chip, and if you do the performance gains are negligible considering the loss of warranty that comes with it. Intel's 9th and 10th gen is not wired this way and is more "traditional" one might say and the speed of memory has very little impact on performance (which can also be a good thing). I'm not saying that higher clock speeds don't help Ryzen, but rather that it is only one component of the Performance Boost system that they've come up with. A more suitable comparison is the one you did when you tested the low latency performance of your guitar playing. Intel shines at low buffer settings where AMD does really well at high buffer and highly multi-threaded applications. Not one is the holy grail so one must look at their overall needs and choose what "fits".

I wish I had a 9900k to compare to but this depends on your needs. For me, the more important rating was how things perform at high buffer settings. I use Kontakt a lot and other ram intensive VSTi's so I need things to run as smooth as possible with high track counts which is where Ryzen shines. Based on DAWbench results, for high buffer settings, the 3950 outperforms the 9900k so as per usual one needs to look at what their priorities are. For example, if I was also doing a lot of video editing on my Music PC then I think Ryzen becomes the obvious choice, but even then I could see that if you were an avid guitar player (once again, your priorities) you might still want the low latency that Intel delivers at low buffer settings. Keep in mind I have been an Intel only guy until the recent Ryzen 3 launch which finally persuaded me.

Noctua came out with some black fans this year to address those complaints. I actually didn't mind their "trademark" look personally. Just make sure to check their motherboard compatibility list. I made the mistake of buying a fan that covered my first PCIe slot the first time. Luckily it fit my Intel computer just fine so I repurposed it and then bought the proper heatsink/fan the second time.

I agree. Keeping everything cool is one of the most important things you can do for performance or your cpu and mobo will throttle and you won't see any performance benefits. I treat my pc like a server and have it located on a shelf in the adjacent room to my studio so that I don't have to compromise between noise and cooling too much. I get the benefit of a quiet studio and a well cooled PC at the same time but I understand not everyone has that luxury.

No worries. I waited til I got home and tried to subscribe again and this time it worked.

I think there might be a geographic issue going on. Your site isn't working here on my phone mobile network and it's not working on my PC either on my work network.

I guess I haven't kept up. Did they announce they were taking them down? They've been up there forever. I already have them all and every one of them is very good, especially for free.

Same here. No matter what browser or email I use.

Keep in mind there is a guy (Pete) who does some great work testing these chips specifically for Audio use. As far as I know there is no one else out there doing tests targeted at audio. Here is his latest test round up of AMD and Intel chips. If you scroll down you can see the benchmark results. Keep in mind that for AMD the results are based on 3600MHz memory with optimized timings so it is fair to say that an Intel system would be a bit more plug and play for someone afraid to tweak. http://www.scanproaudio.info/tag/dawbench/

I don't disagree. I should've worded things differently. My point is that if someone is strapped for cash and can only afford the software at the moment then I think the benefits of the software will be enough coupled with the old mic to make a difference but a next level of improvement would definitely be the new mems mic. I don't think it's as simple as "it's either accurate or it's not". Getting the most out your home studio is really the sum of all its parts. Every improvement is a small one that adds up. Think of it like mixing a song. You make subtle moves that add up to a radio ready result. I recently spent $400 on DIY Acoustic panels even though I already had room eq (ARC) because the reality is that all of these little improvements add up. ARC by itself can still be useful but it really should be the last piece after room treatment. I got it on sale for $50 so it was worth getting at that price, even before my room treatment. Having said that, Marketing is Marketing and IK is no different. They are going to claim that their product is "unsurpassed" and the one tool to rule them all, but we all know better, or we should.

I wouldn't be surprised if the old mics and the Dayton and Behringer mics came out of the same factory. There is enough difference in tolerance in manufacturing that is is best, as you said, to get an individualized calibration file to load so that the software compensates for the differences. My Dayton mic came with it's own cal file based on it's serial number. I'm surprised that ARC doesn't provide individualized cal files but just has you choose the type of IK mic you have and go from there. Maybe they feel the tolerances in manufacturing of their mics is not enough to make a big difference.

I agree they should give a loyalty break on the mic but I think their decision to support the older mic as well as adding in options to support other mics is a good one. Even if the new mems is better than the old the majority of the work is still up to the quality of the algorithms implemented and the fact that the 3.0 lets you fine tune the tightness of the filter tolerances could help make up for not using the newer mic. I wouldn't sweat the new mic unless you had cash to burn. I'm not convinced that it will be that drastic of a difference. I think the updated algorithms from 2.5 and up is where the real benefits come to play. Of course, I don't have the old mic to compare but I could run some tests with my Dayton mic vs the new mems mic. I think I might try that.

I agree. I like that you have the option but the key word here is "option". I've used the Sonarworks demo but I'm not an expert, however I thought there was an option to tell Sonarworks not to launch outside your daw but I could be wrong.

Maybe, but IK has a habit of not always paying attention to the feedback of its users which is why I find them to be a hit or miss company for me. Sometimes they do really great things and other times they start to make promising products that just miss the boat (ie; Sampletank). Nevertheless, ARC uses Audyssey for its calibration and I've always been a big fan of Audyssey. They have been in the game a long time and can be trusted to get things right, especially when coupled with the ability to tweak settings to your liking,which I find crucial for me.

Hmm. Tempting. I just got 2.5 this last year and really like it. I recently just outfitted my small studio with with massive amounts of diy absorption panels ( a mix of Rockwool and Owens Corning 703) so ready to put my studio back together and recallibrate. Trying to figure out the benefit of 3.0 over 2.5 So far the upgrades I can see are 1. A new natural vs linear phase mode 2. The ability to use calibration files from 3rd party measurement mics. I have both the new ARC mic and a Dayton audio mic. 3. The ability to set upper and lower limits to the correction. 4. Adjustment to the smoothing of the correction filters. I like the idea behind this feature. 5. New metering suite for checking mixes. Am I missing anything? I have to say I am surprised at no system wide correction yet. I would've thought this feature would be number one on the upgrade priority list. Not a deal breaker for me though but could be for others.

Kitekrazy is correct regarding most of their stuff which I have a lot of but you bring up the really good exceptions. Ethers series is very well scripted and stands up well to my soundiron and 8dio vocal/choir libraries and (Impact/Whoosh/Rise) designer are really useful tools.

That is a really good price. I had a chance to try out the MR524 against my JBL LSR305 and I "almost" preferred them. In truth they would be a great compliment because they do things differently. The JBL's had better 3d imaging which would help with panning and reverb, etc... bu the Mackies had better midrange fidelity which would be better for the singer/songwriter person where vocals are critical as well as guitars. If the XR series has better 3d imaging then I think they would be the way to go. I also like how the Makie's high end can extend further and yet not sound fatiguing. I find that boosting the high end helps me to not push Siblance too far in a mix. Honestly, this would be an instant buy for me if I wasn't also looking into the Fluid Audio FX8 and FX80 monitors which I would really like to hear. I'm half tempted to get them anyways since I think I could resale them if I was able to compare them to the Fluid's and ended up liking the latter better.

Despite my earlier post I would say that when people see malware you do have to be cautious and smart and take it seriously, even if they turn out to be false positives. It's just the world we live in. Developers can get hacked just like any of us so we should always proceed with caution no matter how big or small the developer. In the case of this developer it seems the majority of any Malware was being embedded during the download stream so it very well could have been that the files on the server were clean and that's why some didn't find any malware (like myself- I also only downloaded the 64 bit VST's) and others did. It could have been just luck of the draw as to what files got hacked during the download stream. Anyways, it looks like the developer is on top of it now thanks to some vocal members on the other forums. Regarding buggy software, I haven't tried all of the plugins yet but it's good that some people have documented where the issues are so I can pay attention. I have plugins I've paid for from some big name developers that are buggy and I just don't use because of it nor do I have time right now to submit a ticket to resolve so it's not just AO that is guilty of these issues. The stuff I have used from AO have been solid and I really like so I'm willing to try a few more a try. I wish the best to this guy and hope he gets it all sorted out because the plugins do have real potential. Pre-box, for example, has been a real treat for me to use and I probably use it in every project.

It's just a sad little R5 220. Honestly the built in graphics on the new Intel cpu's are better than this thing but I don't notice one bit. I think it wouldn't be too much more to get an upgrade but at the time I was maximizing the more crucial components like larger SSD's etc.

I think I'm with you on that one. I found that I was pushing the midrange on vocals a little too much with the JBL's until I got a pair of decent grot box speakers that had more mid-range to compare. Once I got Arc 2.5 everything got even easier. The Yammy's would have solved a lot of those issues with their more forward mid-range. I also got a chance to try out the Mackie MR524's and couldn't believe how good they were. The only issue was they didn't have the same depth as the JBL's but they definitely had tighter bass and had high's that extended nicely without being harsh. The mid-range was also just a tad more forward without overdoing it but enough to keep me from pushing things too far. I would trust the new Mackie's more for vocals and guitars but for panning and reverb I think the JBL's would still do better. I was considering keeping the Mackie's since they would be a nice compliment to the JBL 305's but I think I want to stretch a bit and get more low end, thus the search for a decent 6 or 8 inch that could still image well with similar depth as the JBL's but with a more forward mid-range. The HS8's definitely tick those boxes. Thanks for the post, you helped me advert the impulse on this one. I don't think the 308 will be an improvement to what I already have but for someone on a budget looking for their first decent monitor then these will definitely hit the spot.

Looks like a good deal. I haven't heard the 8" myself but based on some reviews some people feel that the 5 inch version has better mid-range fidelity. It is nice, however, to have that extra low end to monitor how the bass is working in your mix and I would bet that if you used something like Sonarworks or IKM ARC 2.5 (which I'm loving right now) that the 8 inch might be a better deal since the RTA could help bring back that mid range clarity. There is no question that the LSR series has amazing imaging and depth to them that punches above their weight (sorry for the cliche but it's true). I'm currently looking to add an 8 inch to my LSR305's and this is tempting but for a bit more money I could also get the Fluid Audio FX8 which seems to be a step up. Decisions, decisions...

Nvidia is known for having drivers that conflict with audio latency. It sounds a bit odd that a video card would have any impact on the audio latency but it's a well documented and known fact going back a while now through various audio forums. This is the reason I went with an Radeon card. Unfortunately my budget Radeon card is not technically as good as the competing Nvidia cards in the same price range but since I don't do any gaming and very light video editing I prefer to make it the best for it's main purpose which is music creation. I would highly recommend getting a Radeon card that suites your needs since there are high quality Radeon cards if you need better graphics but if you don't game, like me, then you wouldn't know the difference with the budget video cards from AMD.

I've had good experience with their freebies in the past so I'm willing to give these a try. I would take the criticism with a grain of salt and decide for yourself. I'm not saying that they don't warrant criticism because I don't really know but what I am saying is that on the internet one negative feedback gets repeated over and over across multiple forums to where it looks like there is much more to fear than there really is. For example, I work for an A/V company and we've learned that online feedback is like gold but that it's also a curse. It takes 10 positive reviews to counter just one negative review and I can't tell you how many times the negative reviews are by some pretty shady people who nobody wants to deal with. That's just my personal experience so I tend to give very little credit to online reviews these days and just try them out for myself. Currently I'm auditioning some studio monitors and I'm surprised at how different I feel about the ones I'm auditioning versus the feedback I'm seeing online.

I bought this back when Nine Volt was closing up shop and I think I paid around $99 for the whole thing so this is a pretty good deal considering what you get and if you use a lot of phrase based and loop based content. It's better than loops though because it is more customizable than standard loops. The owner of Nine Volt is now running the VST company In Session Audio, but this older Nine Volt Stuff shows up in these VSTBuzz and APD deals from time to time. This is definitely the lowest I've seen it. The cool thing about the VSTBuzz guys is that when I found my original Nine Volt Libraries were missing some files, VSTBuzz was able to get them for me since I could no longer get them from Nine Volt. I love the VSTBuzz deals.

Just an update. Diginoiz support was awesome and worked with me to find a solution to my unique issue. Now Subdivine works as it should in Reaper with M-audio Keystation keyboards. It seemed to be a weird issue where the combination of Reaper and Keystation caused Subdivine to cut out when trying to play on the keyboard. After a little back and forth, all is well. Of course the other working solution was to just use Cakewalk(: