mettelus

59 minutes ago, antler said:

He yearned to become as one with something that could simultaneously be so beautiful and soul-destroying to hear.

Plus he soon learned that babes flocked to him and it increased his social status. David Former Barbarian is now David the Gigolo... the rest is a musical soap opera.

Hmmm, since computers (and especially DAWs) didn't really exist when most of us started, maybe "Blow off all of this expensive hardware and focus on performance... personal computers will be a thing soon (seriously), and you can get all of this gear for a fraction of the price."

Files cannot be directly attached to forum posts. The file would need to be uploaded to a hosting site (One Drive, Google Drive, etc.) and then the link can be posted here if you want to share it. Unfortunately, some of the software best suited for what you want do does not have visual assistance, but there are a lot of folks in this forum that have them and can help you out.

Just an aside if you want to post a link, if you can specify what section you want (bar, 2 bars, etc) it will help us out if it is not obvious. Also, if you do not want to post it publicly (forum posts are permanent record), you can send me the link in a PM.

Quick note on the above, I still use an older Saffire and File->"Restore Factory Defaults" in MixControl does not overwrite settings saved to the hardware. In fact, the workaround for the v3.7 bug from way back when is to do that, and then File->"Load From Hardware" to properly initiate the unit for me. Once you have Mixes and Routings set up to your liking, saving your preferred "master copy of settings" to hardware (in addition to your PC) is convenient. I missed this thread on its first pass, but the OP may have been able to restore from the HW if it had ever been saved to it.

For the MOTU, you would need to set that as the default Windows device in Sound Settings->Sound Control Panel. Then right click the MOTU->Properties. On the "Advanced" tab at the top of that, uncheck "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device." The hurdle with doing that is that the first application to access the MOTU is going to lock its sample rate, so you are going to need to use one recognized by Zoom (if applicable), and not have other software running that would access it on you.

Ramping up volume is similar to turning up a stereo as a songs fades. At a certain point the noise floor is your enemy and becomes audible, then overwhelming. Without seeing the clip specifically, that is worth a try. I have never owned 8.5 but realize why you still use it.

25 minutes ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

Yes, the first version of RX is version 6

Granted, iZotope is very good about cleansing older copies/references of its software, but RX 6 (2017) was not the first version.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/izotope-rx

https://www.izotope.com/en/company/press/2010/izotope-releases-rx-2-complete-audio-repair-suite.html

That is true, threads tend to get dredged up after a few years and your list of audio interface questions is timeless. I hadn't looked at the Solo since it came out, so was pleasantly surprised to see it got some real upgrades. When first released it had RCA jacks on the back and now they are balanced outputs. My FW card (not the Saffire) is starting to degrade on me so been debating just shifting to a USB interface since I could actually carry it someplace else and use USB 😃. I was surprised Amazon has like 48,000 reviews on the Scarletts...  that number was way higher than I expected.

I was wondering this when I updated it last night too, I guess for PC users it didn't really have much effect other than to change the version number for us.

I couldn't remember what Ableton used to cost, so put "Ableton Live 11 Suite" into Bing and clicked the shopping tab. First two hits were a site with it listed for $70, so I checked to see if that is a legit site (supposedly is), but left me wondering how they got the serial numbers. Ironically, Bing doesn't point you to any reseller you would expect to see, so I didn't get my question answered

I hope the OP doesn't get overwhelmed reading this. We jumped in a bit deeper than he was anticipating already.

It also depends on computer resources and which Melodyne variant you are running in a way. I do not leave Region FX enabled, so would bounce them to one clip, do one edit session and bounce out of Melodyne to save time and get it in one pass.

The above will get rid of the excess data. To find the offending track zoom out in Track View and one (possibly more) of the tracks will have clips all the way to bar 100.

I checked quick on that UM2 unit just to be sure. Sweetwater has a  comment on setup "Although most Behringer audio interfaces have their own driver (version 4.38 as of July 2018), some of the smaller interfaces will require the third-party driver, ASIO4All. These interfaces include the UMC22, UM2, UCA222, and UCA202," so it is an ASIO4ALL unit. I also didn't realize that was a 16-bit/48KHz unit, so if possible to return that, it would be something for the OP to consider. ASIO4ALL is really a WDM wrapper and tends to be problematic, but in certain cases is usable (I have used it for playback of stand-alone instruments that require ASIO through the PC sound card). There have been so many posters over the years seeking help on getting ASIO4ALL to work properly for recording.

Side comment: I very much appreciate the feedback forum members over the years! When delving into unknown territory that has been a tremendous help, so thank you for taking the time to advise. The "trick" is asking before making big leaps.

That search engine needs to be updated. That DAW column is not accurate at all (he is promoting PT), but people do need to know plugin format. Quick glance there are a lot of VST plugins he has listed as "PT." Being able to filter out AAX would be useful though.

Thanks for the confirmation on the M2. I thought that unit was in the "ASIO4ALL" bucket but wasn't sure.

Back to the OP, I am pretty sure there are a fair number of forum members who have learned the hard way (including myself) that skimping on an audio interface is only going to buy you a fair amount of pain and suffering for no reason. If you want to get audio into a computer and use a DAW to its potential, an adequate audio interface is a must. It is not like we are trying to sell you something you do not need, but rather offering lessons learned on what not to do. DAWs, instruments, FX, and the like can easily fall into the bucket of personal preference, but a good audio interface is a universal piece of gear that is required to get audio into the DAW.

There are many companies with liberal return policies, and one of those is highly recommended to test "unknown" gear. Once you get one that will let you see the night vs day difference in what you are trying to do, you will end up kicking yourself for the time wasted getting there.

Since you have that unit already, I would recommend searching specifically for questions related to issues you are having. I am not familiar with that unit, so not sure if it has dedicated ASIO drivers that come with it (this is sometimes the most critical).

As far as setting things up inside CbB, SWA did a very nice series of videos on SONAR X2 years ago. A lot of that is still applicable and the first three videos cover audio/MIDI setups (the chapter listing for that video set is here - SWA posted 50 videos on YT without an index!).

A dedicated audio interface is what is required. Most of the budget models are going to run around $100, and it is not a piece of gear you want to avoid getting if you are intent on getting external audio into a computer. If just recording yourself, the Focusrite Scarlett Solo would be a good option (1 microphone input/1 instrument input). There are other options in that price range, but Focusrite tends to have fewer issues noted with them overall.

The above responses cover your other questions well, so my response if more for this one:

2 hours ago, Dave G said:

How do I decide whether to include these effects before/after I bounce to audio during the final mixing process? I just want to do it the right way.

This question often comes down to if a synth is being played solo (or as the primary instrument) versus being used in a mix. When solo (and synth presets often reflect this), they often cover a wide frequency range with a lot of FX to draw attention. However, if using a synth in a mix, this is something to be wary of. When mixing, EQ (not the only method) is used often to resolve frequency conflicts between tracks, and if "too processed" this can become an issue. Specifically, time-based FX (delay, chorus, reverb, etc.) are often used last in FX chains because they make "multiple copies" of the source material you are trying to mix into the final product. This is not a rule (as with most things musical), but when highly processed synths are involved (especially ones covering a wide frequency range), those will get a lot of attention during mixing to ensure they do not have frequency conflicts with the other tracks, which is easier when time-based FX are not yet present (often added after this step).

Concise answer is that, when mixing, it is often best to apply time-based FX to tracks/busses after they have been assembled with other tracks to fit into the mix properly first.

Ouch, sorry to hear that. Did you try submitting a separate ticket (not replying to the first)? Support people can vary night vs day, and I had similar last year with Steinberg. First ticket zero response, second ticket was months later and I got a self-contained email with links and serials that resolved the issue in 10 minutes.

One caution to be aware of with Vinyl. Whenever that is enabled it will create audio even with the transport stopped. Is not necessarily bad, but important to know when you open an old project and think your DAW is acting wonky on you.

Roger that. I am definitely not defending/promoting it, since I have never used it in a composition. I was more taking the time to understand it and critique it (I tend to be rather brutal in some cases for this), since this has been on my to do list for years. Workflow trumps capabilities in many cases for me, so the experience left me wondering how many are truly using it fully and the time they are investing to do so.

Ironically, the bug that buried Studio One is new, since I have run that same (ineffective) process in the past without that issue. I always chuckle when a VST can bury a DAW (morbid sense of humor, I guess). Years ago I buried SONAR on purpose right before tracking a friend (they couldn't see), and when they asked what was so funny I just said. "Oh, nothing."

Quick note (for myself mostly): I spent Saturday morning deep diving into MDrummer and noting workflow issues, lacking features one would expect, and an interesting but repeatable bug that should not have occurred that crashed Studio One to desktop with a brief popup of "MDrummer performed an illegal operation." That particular issue was on using the sample import feature, which is nothing more than a text search AFAICT (and has its own issues as a result), but why it did an operation to crash out a DAW is beyond me at this point.

I will have to see if I have time to script that into a video worth wasting people's time, but it remains that documentation is lacking (the manual can only be gotten from within the VST), mouse clicking is not fluid (you have to drill into menus often where buttons would be more appropriate), sample preview is non-existent (requiring drum kit replacement to mouse click the preview... this also affects sample import functionality), rhythm editing is not fluid (one specific is when editing velocity of a solod instrument, the bar underneath it still shows ALL pieces, so touching that also affects them all (very bad)... even solod you need to work on the diamonds for that piece... nice small target that precludes mouse drawing across them all), the randomization is buried in the rhythm editor menu (on by default), and the VST does not remember instantiation (specifically LIMITER ON (a must!), and 8x for sampling in my case).

Overall, MDrummer has a lot of capability and potential, but workflow wasn't at the fore. Kit/rhythm generation is awesome, but the ability to edit afterwards is not. It has undergone a major overhaul since I have owned it, but remains one I worry about if people purchased it specifically (i.e., not included in a bundle).

I have an i7-8700K, and the only things that will peg the CPU are benchmarking (obviously), video rendering, and encryption tools. With a dedicated graphics card, some of the CPU hit from VSTs with complex GUIs will be mitigated, but efficiency in workflow often matters more regardless of machine. Even with background processes running, it blips to 1% CPU usage from zero about every 10 seconds. What I have noticed much more is that applications do not release allocated memory properly. iObit's Advanced System Care has a performance widget that I leave running that will also clear RAM. I have had instances of running things then clearing nearly a GB of RAM after closing things out.

Practicality aside, many purchase choices come down to personal preference and disposable income.

One of the reasons not to copy is that you can give yourself phasing issues when altering one against the other.