mettelus

A good FX chain will also help a lot of lackluster samples. I have become a huge fan of MCharacter early on in those chains on the dryest sound possible (FX chain after that tweak). If upsampling isn't available in the player, Melda has it built in. I have started to shy away from wet sample sets because it limits the ability to tweak them. 

Not sure if the OP is coming back though...

Two things not to install with NVIDIA: the "experience" package and the "HD Audio." I always do a custom install and uncheck those (only need the graphics and Physx drivers). Performing a "clean installation" at the bottom of that window will also wipe prior installations if previously installed.

Quite true. For critical consumables, hopefully there will always be a local alternative, but can't bank on that.

AutoZone got the part transferred next day, but they also have a daily FedEx pattern in place already. The guy was laughing at the store since I had a vehicle disabled due to a $5 part. I left the Amazon order in place just to see how long this takes, but also having a spare on hand might be prudent for the future. In ten years there may be none left.

39 minutes ago, bitflipper said:

I hate to think about the day when the last local retailer shutters its doors. While we were worried about Amazon taking over the world, in the post-apocalyptic future it will actually be the shipping companies that rule it all.

This actually just bit me this week. I have an old van with the fuel filter canister inside a reservoir (both parts are nigh impossible to find). AutoZone had none in range, so I ordered one from Amazon to save time. Three days later, it is first "delayed" then "if not delivered by tomorrow can get a refund." I called AutoZone again this morning and they said they could transfer one to the local store, probably by tomorrow, maybe Saturday. Not had that happen before, especially for a simple part that disables the vehicle. BUT... AutoZone transfers between shops with FedEx! Will see how long this really takes...

Not sure if this was mentioned, but another aspect for me has been that new features are less and less exciting as time passes. I stopped upgrading some software even before the pandemic hit. The old version still does what I need, and I tend to be critical of things that waste my time (updating software falls into this bucket for me). I still default to Adobe Audition 4 (c. 2011) as a wav editor for many things (especially batch work) just for its speed and functionality, so Adobe was the first vendor kicked to the curb when CC was released. After I got the MCompleteBundle a while back, unless an FX vendor can do something Melda cannot, that vendor isn't even considered.

Some aspects just boil down to procifiency with the tools you have can be far more important to getting the job done. While you cannot hammer in screws effectively, you certainly can pull screws with a wrecking bar in short order to get to the next phase of the job at hand.

^^ Also be sure to log into your account when looking at prices to see your member discount. The discount ramps up pretty fast when buying things in sets of 3 (almost to 50%), then the discount tapers off the more you buy (peaks at around 63% if you get everything at once). I posted a graph of that several years ago, but found it in this post from 2019.

My first question back to the OP would be, "What are you using now?"  As mentioned above, there are actually a lot of free (or even cheap) options that may be a quantum leap over what you are using now.

Second question would be, "How many songs are we talking about here?" If this is something you will be doing going forward, it is well worth getting acquainted with better libraries and planning/budgeting accordingly; but if not, the free/cheap alternatives may be sufficient. Even then, you may need to get acquainted with the free/cheap ones to know their pros and cons before upgrading further so you know the gaps you need to fill.

1 hour ago, TheSteven said:

Odd, if I download ADSR Sampler Manager from my ADSR account v1.2.0 download.
If I re-purchase it and immediately download the purchase (or download it from purchase receipt) I get v1.8.4.

I had so many issues with old version never completing scans, I'll check this out later (like next week) and see if things are now working.

Did you try getting it from the app itself in Options->Check for Updates? That seems to be the most painless from my experience (but of course the app has to be installed).

No one EXCITED about "PreSonus Sphere" being renamed/rebranded "Studio One+"?? Come on... that is original!

The Browser panel to the right of the track view also has a "Plugins" tab at the top. In that picture it is set to "Media," but it is often quicker to drag/drop from the browser (default hotkey B will open/close the browser to give you more viewing space) than to use menus.

Scaler 2 also has some features that are not "obvious," so learning the GUI and functions to their full extent may need to come from reading the manual or tutorials. Transitioning between chords and using voicings can assist greatly for how a piano player would get "from here to there." I have primarily been using Scaler 2 to add tracks to existing songs, so I have been using it to build performances more via drag/drop to a separate MIDI track, then editing nuances in the PRV. Some of the performances are close, but for sheer speed the final track is easier to build that way rather than try to "shoe horn" Scaler 2 to fit perfectly (which it will not in some of these cases).

Ugh, I usually read the forums to wind down before bed, and they lit up almost all the forums with that crap tonight.

The quality of the cable is also important, and the capability of the hardware also can come into play. The issue with longer runs is usually not signal degradation, but a "time out" threshold is triggered by the hardware. Focusrite technical support could give you better details (as well as an absolute max), but recommendations are typically nominals rather than limits.

The performing before farming it out is a good point. Then you encapsulate the intent rather than handing a lyric sheet to someone. "One Night in Bangkok" had the music completed first, so they sent a partial with those lyrics to the lyricist to give them something to show the intended melody, but the lyricist liked it so much they kept them and ran with it.

The human voice is the most complex instrument there is so focus on that instrument (be it yours or another's), rather than a program. Some programs are so complex they take forever to get the nuances in them that a human "just does." One cannot learn to walk (or run) for themself relying on crutches.

It is even simpler than that. The maintenance required on an aircraft is significantly more than a car (which is a questionable skill for many as it is). A disabled car just rolls to a stop (or might crash into something if unlucky), but with an aircraft gravity always takes over, so any crash will have significant extra energy behind it. The potential for misuse alone could be overwhelming.

I have seen some horrific accidents over the years, so "flying cars" just makes me realize how many Darwin Award contestants are coming. I worry more for the collateral damage that will result.

8 hours ago, Mark Morgon-Shaw said:

15. But the best way to learn is just do a lot of mixing

+1, You will always learn best by doing. Studying will only get you to a certain level before experience will allow you to go further, and experience will provide tools to accommodate gaps you may encounter. Never fear making mistakes either; those are often the best learning tools.

I was going to tack this on to the 10th Anniversary thread, but this is from Humble Bundle and looks like it includes everything Escape Motions has for $30, except Rebelle 6 (Rebelle 5 is included in the bundle).

Interesting faux pas or Freudian slip there... it is Meng, not Mung.

You might want to check out some of the free online courses. I just checked and Coursera has one for "The Singer Songwriter," that started today (July 10) but use the search engine on there and see if something interests you. For Coursera specifically, they create a forum for each class (it is wiped about a week after the class ends, so keep that in mind) which can be a great way to run into like-minded individuals and discuss ideas. It is very common to find other collaborators in those forums, and we even had breakout groups years ago that did songs during the course duration as group projects in some cases. Those forums you get out what you invest in them, so active participation is a huge plus.

This might be good to also post in the "Feedback" section for improvements/features. AFAIK, CakeTalking was discontinued and was last used with SONAR 8.5, and a few forum members still use 8.5 for this reason. When Windows is drilling into apps (for things like Voice Assist), the app also needs to expose active child windows (like the arrangement window) properly. I am not sure if there is an answer to your question, but hopefully someone can chime in with better insight.

Your question did prompt me to look for more information, and there are quite a few ideas out there, but not specific to Cakewalk that I could find. "Best DAW for a blind person" came up with mostly Mac results, so they didn't lead to anything Windows-based. It did make me even more curious, so "How many people in the US are legally blind?" returned "1.3 million people over the age of 40," which is a significant number. If someone doesn't chime in with a solution, please consider also posting in the Feedback section. That was one feature of 8.5 that keeps that version still in use by many.

On 7/7/2023 at 6:02 PM, timboalogo said:

Didn't change the keyboard, so there's something off somewhere.

Changing the keyboard is something to consider. Keyboards collect dust and crap that can interfere with the gap needed to let keys "release" (builds up on the rubber diaphragm under the keys). Typically this takes years to become an issue, but if you ever eat at the computer or have pets it can be quicker. I took a shop vac to my keyboard once and pulled enough cat hair out of it to make quite a dust bunny. I am rather violent as a typist, so once lettering starts to wear off keys it is reaching end-of-life (about the 4-5 year point for me). If you have a shop vac, you could try vacuuming things out (a lot of what went in will come out, but not all).

3 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Whoa! Just from hitting the spark plug boots with D5? I must try that.

Bear in mind the plugs were also new. They suffer dielectric breakdown over time and were reaching end-of-life as it was. The LS4 motor locks out the 4 inner cylinders when cruising, so mileage also depends on traffic (sitting at reds lights chews up the most gas because it idles in V8 mode expecting you to punch it) and that the motor monitors itself when to shift into 4-banger mode. New plugs up the torque in the 4 outer cylinders, so the inners were locked out more after swapping the plugs.

I only ever had the one can of D5 that John had recommended, and just use it on metal connectors. It seems to wear off its lubrication capacity after a few years, but takes such a small quantity to be useful. Stuff worked so well I couldn't feel the "pop" of the connector on the plug and the boot came back off so easily I resorted to the metal-on-metal contact internal to the boot (the ignition contact on these is at the tip of the plug). Plugs have been changed 3 times in this vehicle, but connectors have never been cleaned. 20% increase in fuel efficiency, so the entire can would have paid for itself on one tank of gas. I had to lay across the motor to reach the back bank and hold myself off the fuel rails at the same time while wrestling the boots, so the boots "just coming off" now is a GREAT THING.

I would be very leery on sandpaper around electronics. For all the crap that "comes out," a portion of that crap "went in." The gap tolerances in many PCB applications are pretty small, and depending on what conformal coating method they used (if any), can make them vulnerable to conductive particulates building up. Stuff like car battery posts and connectors (where you can see where all the dust goes and it doesn't matter anyway) are fair game for sandpaper, but pushing that into a pre-amp or instrument I would definitely not do.

I just wrestled with putting plugs into a trans-mounted V8. After the royal PITA of popping connectors off they didn't want to reseat properly (especially on the back where leverage isn't the best), so I said screw this and grabbed the DeOxit from the house. Suddenly they went back on with minimal force and I could feel the metal-to-metal contact inside the boot. Sprayed every other connector I pulled apart while I was at it. Gotten so much mileage from that 12-year old can and still have half of it left.