Brian Walton

New ones are much smaller than those old clunkers. Yes your 17 year old machine has a "square" screen, but there is also the thickness component. If that thing was actually usable for 17 years, that is a small miracle. Current model life expectency isn't even a fraction of that. The T430 feels about twice the size of a T490. Unless I was the original owner I wouldn't look at anything older than a T440. That is already a 5 year old laptop, which is end of life time frame for many users.

Lots of experience with ThinkPads T440,450,460,470,480 (and s) models. No experience with Refurbs though. Would only risk it if the price was right. They make good machines but refurb in a laptop is likley basically used with some swapped out parts.

Most plugins are abandonware as far as I'm concerned. They are 64 bit and VST, I'm guessing those standards will be supported for a little while. I've got Waves v9 pluings from a year ago that don't work as they are Abandonware if you don't pay more than I paid for them in the first place to WUP. Own Strings and Brass but have never installed them (size and ilok)

Very cool. Was worried it was goign to be another ambient guitar texture thing (which I have plenty of tools for myself). This I can get some use out of!

All those MasterClass ads are annoying. Good to see an excellent spoof done by celebrities. Alternate fact seems to be your wife has good taste in music Forget the fact that they are popular, they were writing excellent songs, with an organic approach years before they got main stream acclaim. They have copious amounts of talent, the simplicty could be considered an art. Dan can get some really interesting tones, plays tastefully and writes good parts with solid lyrics and melodies. They actually deserve the success, the real deal, in my opinion. (newest album is "meh" though) Search "The Black Keys: No longer the underdogs" on youtube.

I did that but no luck with that step alone. First computer took Support deleting a bunch of files and other manipulations. 2nd computer I had to both copy the folder from the 1st computer and then run an install. Both computers working, but took hours of work and support to make it happen (and I have way more IT experience than the average person).

This is true. I personally didn't bond with PaintShop Pro for photo editing. If that is the only thing someone was looking at in the bundle, I'd recommend Affinity Photo next time it goes on sale for $35-40 again. I got the bundle to add ParticleShop as a plugin for Affinity Photo, and Painter 2019 for the ability to paint on photos (or turn them into paintings. Painting on photos can easily be done with Affinity Photo, but wanted to check out the abilities of some of the "smart" workflow that Painter brings to the table in that particular area.

Fair warning, the Painter Program has been a nightmare to install on both (up to date Windows 10) machines I've tried it on. Curious the experience of others.

This only includes one that was in the bundle. $49 is still a steal to get the others. I paid over $125 for that same set during very good sales.

Instaling and Uninstalling software can leave, scars. Lets just say I know more than the average person in this area (though I'm not a full blown expert in that particular area of computer science), if you are not familiar with this, especially with software that can require authrizaiton methods you might want to either do more research in the area or just remain blissfull. Not all software leaves such scars, but this is pretty small time software, so I'm betting it would take way more time than I'd be willing to commit to looking into how the particualr software operates. Ever wonder why you can't just uninstall and reinstall software to start a trial over again? Pretty basic stuff...it leaves things behind that are (usually) not easy to get rid of. And the more software you install and uninstall, the more of those leftovers you have. And that doesn't even touch on other things that can get left behind.

Thanks, aware of Captain Chords, but $80 is way out of line with what I'd be willing to pay. Have EzKeys, which I got for about $29. Would certainly like something with an improved workflow, but $80 isn't going to do it for me at this time.

I may do that, but it did not interest me until the discovery of the "chord/song" building functions you pointed out. Installing software is more than just the size, instaling and uninstalling things can start to have a trickle effect in computer performance depending on the way a compay handles the process, therefore I only install when I beleive there is an expected value out of a program. Appreciate the feedback.

That is cool and something BandLab really should integrate. I've long said a tool like this is far more useful than some random feature enhancement to bridge the gap between beginner and advance composer/daw user. Question though, the start clearly shows the Chord Track (which mentioned above is not included in this free version. Does the entierty of this Pattern Generator work in the free version, and can the MIDI then be exported as a MIDI file? Thank you!

Without the tools mentioned that are not included, in what way does it help you put down/come up with ideas/insipiration. I could see what with the Chord Track (which is't included), but the comparisoin is to Cakewalk, what idea/production tools does this free version include that are superior/easier to create with? That is what I'm curious about. Without that, seems like a waste of Hard Drive space and time dedicated to learning the product. Only positive I'm aware of is cross platform abilites which Cakewalk lacks for those that are not Windows centric. I live in a non-Apple world personally.

Wihtout those things (especially chord track), I'm not sure it would be worth the time, not seeing anyting that would enhance what BandLab gifted everyone for free.

I don't actually use either for instrument runs on my own rig, They serve as backups for others in the stuido if the session runs out of better cables. The "best cable quest" resulted in a pile of cables that are rarely used. I do use Canare for XLRs though, has to be the star quad ones though. Did tests against more expensive cables and those results were negligable. Great build , flexibility and shielding qualites for the money. Balanced is much different than unbalanced runs though.

I like the opposite. Canare is more robust for the Mic Cable and the higher cap doesn't matter since they are balanced cables I like Canare for a live stage cable for guitar due to the robust nature, but I do not like the tone suck on my instruments (even running 10 ft cables. As for George Ls, not a fan of the design (and I've a/b them in guitar runs and not a fan of the sound either. Granted that doesn't really matter once you hit a buffered signal on your pedal board. Mesh - Wirlwhind makes some of the most robust cables out there. Good choice when reliablity is paramount.

Most are the same model Neutric NP2X. The question is do you want a 90 right angle or Straight connector on one or both ends (the silver ones are just fine). I would stay away from the silent option as they are not reliable at all. The color boot/ring is just an aesthetic thing if you want to be able to tell your cables apart. Also the link you sent posted is for Canare Cables, be aware they are on the dark sounding side. If you play a Tele, might be fine..but they can get muddy with something like a humbucker guitar. Mogami is more neutral.

Whirlwind, Pro-Co, Planet Waves, Fender are all repuitable brands. They are not producing cables that have the properties that Evidence Audio or VanDenHul or Vovox are creating and I'd argue they are worth a dime more. Are they worth $60+ more per cable, well that depends on the individual as well as the quality of the gear they are plugging in.

Correct. I can't touch a cable of any kind without an auto reflex using this technique. Can't remember what life was like without it.

Wow, you have have had some terrible instrument cables then!

I believe you are talking about speaker wire in this instace which is a different animal. Most speakerwire is not shielded (as in most cases that shielding isn't needed). However your environment was likley the expection and cheap insulated wire would have done the trick also, just a matter of knowing what to look for to solve the problem.

I agree Monster is overpriced snake oil. But that isn't what the OP is looking at. All cables are not equal assuming you have a top quality guitar and amp (and not a lot of fuss going on between them). Sure various cable are fine, but just any old cable can impact tone and response when using professional guitar equipment. These differences don't really matter with active outputs (on guitars, keyboard, etcs), but with vintage style passive pickups and a no-nonsense tube amp, there can be differences. Then again, you might have enough hearing damage to notice the difference, and there are other areas to improve tone more dramatically....but once one addresses those, cables are part of the equation (perhpas the last part).

They also make $70 USB cables, I'd use extreme caution. (and the switching plugs, while a good theory are pretty awful in reality). As for the Jerry Garcia piece. He used Canare G6 cables, which are pretty high on the cap end. They are robust and can be custom ordered for a reasonable price. I've used them on pedal boards mostly since once you hit a buffer the cable differences have little impact. A non-guitar Center cheaper custom made Mogami Gold is a decent starting point on "better" cables. Should be able to get them for less than $1 per foot plus the plugs. Something like the Lava Blue Deamon will likley be brighter per foot than what you are used to. How good this sounds can be dependent on the guitar. I tend to like something a little warmer. Evidence Audio intentionally does not publish cap specs. The amount of actual musical testing (Tony the inventor) did is unreal, there is a reason the end product actually made a difference. It wasn't just about theoretical, he tested in real conditions to determine the results.

Wanted to try this one, but I detest the pop ups on the web site. If this guy really is selling at the rate implied, he is filthy rich. What is the authorization and licencing system like?