John Maar

I do! Regularly. Just got back from a beautiful walk along the ocean beach between Arcachon and Biscarrosse. 18°C. And it's not March yet!

The IKM MODO Drum email I received this morning FINALLY made a clear statement that beyond the bug fixes and optimizations in v1.5, that 3 new drum kits were available for purchase. Maybe all of the negative feedback had some impact on their marketing peeps. Or maybe it's just a coincidence.

Very happy here, Nigel. Thanks for the positive thoughts. Many things take FOREVER to happen here. Actual construction on my house doesn't even start for another month, and I still don't have a response from the government office that manages driving licenses (which means my $7K scooter is still collecting dust (no permit, no insurance)). Sigh. But the weather, including all of the rain, is really great, given that Arcachon is at the same latitude as Boston. No snow here. Anxiously waiting for your next video!

Key Suite Acoustic also has an update available. 12.5 GB. Here we go again. Sheesh.

@cclarry Your new avatar looks like a young Spock. Live long and prosper!

15.02 changes MSoundFactory Added new instruments: Trailer hits, Space pad factory, Heart beat MCabinet Added new cabinets : Excelsior small, Excelsior huge MTurboDelay Added new device Oktafon. Major memory and loading speed optimizations. MSoundFactory MDrummer Complete MSoundFactory Sampler and MDrummer MultiSampler remake for major preformance improvement especially for preloading and streaming. MDrummer Added ability to do cymbal chokes using new "Ride cymbal choke 1/2", "Crash cymbal choke 1/2" and "Splash cymbal choke 1/2" drum types. MDrummer also recognizes aftertouch messages for the choking. MSoundFactory Sampler now provides sample view in multiple modes, e.g. spectrum view. MSoundFactory Added "Automatic sample end" and "Automatic finetune" features to Sampler's region menu. MSoundFactory Added "Remove decay noises" restoration feature to Sampler's region & sample menu. MSoundFactory Sample cutter and other advanced sampler subsystems improved in quality and performance. Added sonogram to various audio file view (samplers, convolution..). Improved default sonogram colors. Improved searching for missing files. Added "Sort banks by name" to multiparameter Bank mode features. Added zooming in individual axes in graph editors using mouse wheel with cursor over that axis. MSoundFactory MSoundFactoryPlayer now lets you audition the factory instruments with occasional noise. Tablet mode returned for sake of problematic tablets. Custom GUI buttons can now generate MIDI notes to create drum triggers for example. Added MIDI channel & note range to Envelope mode in modulators. Added Infinite mode to Integrator module. MSoundFactory Added wavetable and wave export to Wavetable module. Added selection using rectangle dragging to all equalizers. Added "Each target different" option to Random mode of all global modulators. MSoundFactory Added "Custom run" option to per-voice envelopes. MSoundFactory Added "Level on trigger" parameter to per-voice envelopes. MSoundFactory Added per-voice modulation source "Time". MSoundFactory Added "Last (same key)" voice to kill mode. Position and size of controls can now be set from Custom GUI designer's item window. MAutoDynamicEq Added hidden parameters to MAutoDynamicEq, allowing you to trigger analysis / automatic equalization using MIDI for example. MConvolutionMB MConvolutionMB audio view now displayes the audio after envelope (level, lp, hp) processing. MAutoStereoFix Added WAV+ button to the toolbar, which lets you batch process files, but unlike normal WAV button it also performs analysis on each of them. MOscilloscope MOscilloscope's scope now displays frequency, note and cents. Added Shift to all parametric equalizers (including plugins featuring a parametric equalizer) allowing you to pitch shift the EQ curve. Scrollable panes will now only accept mouse wheel when holding Alt (or potentially other keys) to provide a safer and cleaner workflow. MSoundFactory Added "Gate no sustain" per-voice modulation source and "Ignore sustain" option to envelopes. MSoundFactory Added support for sostenuto pedal. MSoundFactory Envelopes can now be triggered only if sustain is pressed/released/semi. MSoundFactory Added ability to trigger submodules in FX section by CC on/off (along with existing sustain on/off). MSoundFactory Added "Key shift" to Sampler's region selection. MSuperLooper Added "Prev/next cycle" option to MSuperLooper. Added "Disable when bypassed" option to modular systems. Note that this option is somewhat dangerous, so please check the information about it. IR export (in plugins with this feature) now produces 24-bit wav files if the maximum is in range -40dB to 0dB to improve compatibility with HW processors. Added "Controls MPs" option to multiparameters. Useful in more complex device design. MSoundFactory Added more options for "Max voices". MDrummer Added "Follow pitchbend/volume/panorama" options to MDrummer's global settings. Added "Single shot" option to most MIDI reset processors. Added prev/next device arrows to device selectors. Improved MPE support by sending sustain to all channels. "Enable MIDI program change" to solve problems with DAWs/controllers sending program changes for no reason. Changed multiparameter list on edit screen for easier workflow. MDrummer Added "Copy loopbox to all others" feature to MDrummer's advanced settings in Rhythm editor. Improved downloader. Various improvements and fixes. Fix Notes with velocity 1 were ignored by VST3 plugins. Fix Multiparameters with "By bank name interpolated" value mode couldn't parse text values when the values were not ascending. Fix MSoundFactory Wavetable module crashed if waves were dropped onto an oscillator and the number of them was higher than the current number of waves. Fix MRecorder Drag & drop button for the recorded file didn't work. Fix Online activation could fail with odd characters in the email address. Fix MSoundFactory Sampler's find missing files destroyed the loop and range of the sample settings. Fix VST3 native parameter menu didn't contain all items. Fix MSuperLooper MSuperLooper could crash when recording has started on macOS with M1. Fix MConvolutionMB MConvolutionMB could crash when browsing between files some of which could take long to load and the others are corrupt. Fix MSoundFactory Velocity shape only affected volume, not the actual velocity used elsewhere (e.g. sample selection). Fix MAGC MAGC didn't keep the gain when "Set output gain" was enabled after reloading. Fix MSoundFactory "Velocity off" controller didn't work. Fix ARP MIDI output could be inaccurate in timing for big audio buffer sizes in some cases. Fix Using some advanced graph editing features on oscillator custom shapes may have not updated the audio processing. Fix Using frequency modulation in MSynthesizer4NN could cause problems. Fix MAutoPitch MAutoPitch could produce silence until a pitch has been detected. Fix MSoundFactory Per-voice Order ignored bypass and enable for modules. Fix Integrated loudness meters provided incorrect results after measuring more than 1 hour of audio. Fix MDrummer Switching between MDrummer multisampled drumsets could cause crashes on macOS.

This was top secret/ crypto back when, but I saw it mentioned in a recent documentary, so i think I'm safe sharing. We had a special super secure area inside of a secure area in the U.S. facility on Teufelsberg in Berlin (I was there in '71). There were about 12 positions in the room, each one monitoring 12 hard-wired bugs in East Berlin, with a reel-to-reel tape recorder for each bug. They were old lines that were noisy, so there were threshold controllers for each line. You would dial it down just enough to cut off the noise, but activate when someone around the bug started talking. When a line activated, the associated tape deck started running and I would switch my headphones to that channel and start typing in English what I heard in German. Worked well. I was advised early on of an operator's trick. Whenever some muckety-muck with scrambled eggs on his bill came in for an inspection, we'd all spin the threshold controllers to full on. LOTS of activity; all noise. No one had time for questions from the officer. After he finished looking around and left, we'd reset the controllers and back up the tape decks to their pre-inspection positions. 🤣

One possibility @Tim Smith is to split the keyboard. Put just enough keys in the lower split to handle the articulation keys and use the majority of keys mapped to the range you're playing in. You might be able to get away with a 61 key controller that way. And take a look at Gig Performer to handle all of those keyboards. It is mostly used for live work, but I'm studio-only and use it daily. It blows Cantabile and Forte (no longer developed) out of the water. Created by two musicians (one who tours; keyboard player) who both worked for IBM Research in upstate NY. The Rig Manager is super useful for someone like you. Gig Performer website Gig Performer YouTube channel

Moronie from Johnny Dangerously said it best.

The 3 new kits in v1.5 need to be purchased individually in the CS version. Do they show up locked in the version you have? Or not at all?

Lead singer and founder of Procol Harum died in his home on 19 February 2022 at the age of 76 of cancer. What a voice and songwriter. He will be missed.

There are a lot of variables in "best". My first MIDI keyboard/controller was a Nektar Panorama P6 (61 keys). I was very happy with the feel of the keys, but never got their proprietary interface software to work properly (there were demonstrable bugs in the sysex file they provided (I provided steps to reproduce and even the line numbers of the faulty section of code in the sysex file). They refused to even recognize that there were errors ("works fine in our testing"). Then the color display started failing, so I sent the P6 to the local landfill and bought an NI S61 Mk2, which I am very happy with. Love the feel of the semi-weighted keys. I use it with Kontakt, UVI Workstation (the excellent VI Labs pianos), Spitfire LABS and many other VIs with no problems. I would like to eventually add an NI S88 to my home studio (no 92 key controllers to support the full keybed of the 92 key Börsendorfer), but would like to have a fully weighted hammer action controller for piano playing. NI's S88 is as good or better than anything else in its price range, but the question comes down the what you want for a control surface. The S series controllers have NO faders, but do have a fairly complete set of DAW control buttons and some control knobs. If I ever need a control surface, I'll buy a PreSonus FaderPort; I don't need or want that on my MIDI keyboard. But that's just me. My $0.02.

Now waiting for MasterComp, PianoVerb (maybe never because it's free?, or maybe v1.10.1 is the updated version, but not switched to iLok) and TripleMeter to be updated.

Xenon update installed. Thanks for the heads-up. Don't know how I missed that one. I have ZERO problems with iLok soft licensing (to my PC). I have BEAUCOUP problems with the dongle. Companies like Slate that force you to use the dongle or the cloud are the problem. And I go back with iLok to the individual app Centronics printer port dongles. Only the first one in the chain ever (mostly) worked. You had to keep swapping them out, depending on the app you wanted to run. And don't get me started on A: drive key disks like Lotus 1-2-3 (the #1 reason I switched to Borland's Quattro Pro). And a shout-out to PSP Audioware for giving me the option of NOT installing the AAX version.

Ding ding ding ding. We have a winner!

Same in France

Unless you were of drinking age 50 years ago, it's tough to imagine Bud being a decent beer. They started degrading it in the early 1970s. First from a 21 to 14 day brewing cycle (that's when I stopped buying it; the new version tasted like cwap). Then from a 14 to 7 day brewing cycle. Compared to the original Bud, it's water now, with alcohol content. There may have been a 30 day version way back that even I am not old enough to remember. Coors used to brag on their 10 day brewing cycle when all of the other majors had gone to 7 days. Then they got caught shipping 8 day beer to their canning plant in Memphis (bought from Stroh's; remember Zuma?; same plant) and calling it a 10 day beer because it spent 2 days in train tanker cars. 🤣

...who saved a lot of money by not gigging during the pandemic. They still have their beer money in their pockets. 😋

For example...how many different 1176 emulations are available? Quite a few. Most are pricey. But then there's the single dev's (Klanghelm) MJUC (a terrific product) that has ALWAYS cost 24 €. Who needs anything more, really? I have several myself, so I'm as guilty as the next guy.

I've bought a bunch of hardware from them, but never thought of them as a software vendor. Thanks y'all for pointing that out. I've been happy with Thomann's service and prices.

With T+S now out of business, I checked Best Service for this MIDI pack before seeing this thread. Best Service: 23,20 € Toontrack direct: 23,00 € (purchased, authorized immediately, installed) Why I always bought from T+S and never Best Service.

And I SO much preferred T+S to Best Service.

Oh, what the hey-ho. I was able to apply $12 in JAM points, so got the Dimebag collection for $27.99. Now I just need a good sale on Mesa 2.

The only collections I don't own are Dimebag Darrell (which I don't think I'll ever want) and the new Mesa/Boogie 2 collection (which I'd like to have, but isn't on sale). So, nothing for me.