Simeon Amburgey

The official G.M. Lab website is now online: http://www.gmlab.it/

This will be the home of not only the Drawbar MIDI controller projects but some other interesting MIDI hardware devices as well.
One that I find interesting is the MJU which is a customizable MIDI event filter, pedal/switch interface you can customize to fulfill many interesting control possibilities.

1 hour ago, Royarn said:

Yes I have it turned up full but its doesnt produce any sound. Strange tested it today on Platinum and it works but still no go on CbB or Standalone.

That is so very odd. The key up sound is not really what you would call a “key release” sample, it is rather just a mechanical artifact when the dampers reset but still you should be able to adjust the level.

i am wondering if you created an empty project and inserted Grand Rhapsody there to see if there might be something in the current project giving you trouble, If the piano is making sound otherwise?

Also another thing to try is switching between the HD and SD samples to see if that makes a difference (just sort of reaching for ideas). The strange thing is that it works in Platinum and Studio One which is very weird.

Will continue to try and research it on this end.

5 minutes ago, Royarn said:

Well wonder why it's not working in Cakewalk for me. Got to be some sort of setting that it dont like. Tried it again this evening,  works in Studio one only. Not in stand alone or Cakewalk.

Roy

Did you see where I was adjusting the “key off” setting, what happens when you raise that level?

Just loaded it up here and it seems to be working alright.
Here is a short screen recording I just did to illustrate what I was seeing  (and hearing here).

Hope it helps?
 

I have been using NOIRE for a few days and am working on a walkthrough video. It seems with each new library the audio quality of the samples themselves just seems to get better; I noticed this with the new C7 patches in SampleTank 4.

Having the two types of pianos (Pure and Felt) give you some interesting options and the new Particle Engine takes things into even more amazing possibilities.

i don’t know if it is just the honeymoon phase but I am really impressed. I did a quick teaser/improv yesterday to just capture something; you can take a look here and stay tuned for my full walkthrough coming soon.

Native Instruments NOIRE : Review Preview
https://youtu.be/QTjqdRxMl-0

There are some standout new additions to the library (The C7 in particular) and the new engine and effects are definitely bringing new life into the existing libraries especially some of the Miroslav sounds.

I think once some of the initial issues with the libraries, misc. bugs and memory management issues are addressed then I can say with confidence the best is yet to come. Looking back at where SampleTank started compared to where it is now is a very interesting journey as SampleTank pioneered the multi timbral virtual workstation plugin.

36 minutes ago, balinas said:

Interestingly the Windchimes that came with v4 continues to crash on loading , but the Windchimes that comes with v3 works perfectly.  

Just checked the Windchimes here; they seemed to load without crashing.

37 minutes ago, balinas said:

 I did order the usb stick as to download the 250g would be expensive through my provided.  

Yes, the download and installation is a herculean task to say the least. So having everything on a USB stick to start with helps a lot.

38 minutes ago, balinas said:

 Overall I like it as I just get going with the layering and other possibilities there are.

Totally agree.

Looking forward to seeing where ST4 takes us.

Done 😎

Guido the developer of the VB3 II and other wonderful VSTs has been working on a new project and I am holding in my hands the result.

I am so honored to be able to test the new D9X Drawbar MIDI controller. This project is based on the open source Arduino platform and can be customized in many ways if the end user wishes. Here is the official project on Github: https://github.com/ZioGuido/GMLAB_D9X

As many of you are using different virtual  tonewheel organs I can tell you this makes playing them a very satisfying experience. There is nothing that can replace reaching out and adjusting physical drawbars and controls in my opinion. Not only can it be used to control organs you can use it in virtually any situation where you need a hands on control and your virtual instrument supports MIDI controller mapping.

It is available now from the My Rig Shop here http://www.myrigshop.com/ as a kit ($239) or   pre-assembled ($329). 

Here is a hands on first look demo: 

Earlier today I installed the latest piano from Native Instruments, Noir and just had a couple of minutes to play with it. My first impressions are that it is a very nice and contrary to its name a pleasantly "bright" piano. I only listened a bit to the "pure" version but I really liked the sound of the room as well as the fullness it had. The Particle Engine reminds me somewhat of Output's Movement which provided some really interesting ways to play and experiment with the piano sounds. It does require the latest version of Kontakt (v6) but can also be used with the FREE Kontakt player (which I downloaded).

I am hoping to do a full run-through video soon . For those who might have been playing this already I would love to hear your thoughts on Noir.

Well it seems that Waves is really hitting it with sales and one landed in my inbox this morning. It offers me a few plugins but the SSL-E Channel Strip caught my eye, especially the $23 price for 24 hours. Just wondering if there are any of you using this and your opinions (sound, CPU load, etc.).

Thanks,

9 hours ago, Ashay Arekar said:

Will buying this collection entail a discounted upgrade to Komplete 12?

I am not sure. I think there is some consideration if you already own Kontakt which if you bought the collection you would have to have that already.

Looks like this is a great time to pick up some piano libraries at a great price.
Visit Native Instruments Piano Day Sale Page Here!

1 hour ago, abacab said:

The acoustic Steel String Parlor  guitar in full KS, and the electric Black LP and Red Strat in their full KS presets are huge troublemakers for me in this regard.

Confirmed here!

So there is still a huge problem with memory management here. I also tried again with switching the binaural pianos out and they did not crash but I am finding the larger Key Switched instruments are the most prone to crash.  The real problem is that we are just talking about using ONE preset slot. It really becomes problematic if you have let's say a multi or different parts on the other available slots.

1 minute ago, abacab said:

I'm just speculating here, but my hunch is that Windows isn't happy with how SampleTank 4 is managing memory. There is a significant amount of memory being "committed" for an instance of ST4 way above the amount in use.  I see the commit number frequently exceed the installed  RAM in my machine.

I have also been really surprised at the base memory footprint of ST4, compared to other audio applications and plugins. ST4 v4.0.0 through v4.0.2 (empty, no presets loaded) were using 2.1GB on my machine. The update to ST4 v4.0.3 dropped that down to 1.4GB. But that is still a lot. I have had the thing creep up to 5-6GB after loading a few instruments.

Absolutely,

I also think there might be a connection in not only memory but how ST4 is accessing Disk processes. I have been trying to set up additional performance monitors to lok at my USB bus as that is where I have some of the samples stored.

I am going to run through some of the other patches that I have seen other users mention were crashing their systems. I was so focusing on the larger Binaural Pianos as that was what was doing it here on my machine consistently.

3 hours ago, abacab said:

I already have a ticket open with IK support, but so far I am mainly interested in getting the standalone stable first. I wish to avoid any finger pointing at DAWs, so by using the standalone version to reproduce the crashes  eliminates the DAW variable completely!

And I have been able to crash several DAWs with the plugin, as well as the standalone.

I agree. The DMP files I generated will hopefully be a clue to the root cause of the issue as Cakewalk was able to sort of trap the error.

stay tuned...

3 hours ago, abacab said:

I had both set to "Medium", but I have also tried both set to "Small" and "Large".  That seemed to avoid the specific crash scenario I described earlier, but a few others still crash ST4, particularly with the new guitar instruments on either of the other settings. No luck with those, before or after changing the streaming settings.

I will check those out. 

I was able to get Cakewalk to generate some crash DMP files that I sent to IK support so that should help find some more details. 

1 minute ago, abacab said:

This happens mostly with just switching around with the big new instruments in ST4 MAX (4.0.3). You know, the ones I really want to try out because they sound so good.

My sample libraries are all installed on an internal 1TB SATA HDD 7200 RPM.

One example that recreates my crash consistently:

1. Launch ST4 standalone.

2.  Load "C7 Grand Binaural - Natural". Play  a few notes  to verify that the sound has loaded correctly.

3. Then replace that instrument with "C7 Grand Classical". It loads, but as soon as I try to play the first note, it just freezes up, and I have to kill the task. A few other scenarios have the interface just going poof. If I load "C7 Grand Classical" first, it loads and plays OK, so that instrument doesn't appear to have a corrupted file or anything.

So far I can also load and play the lighter ST4 instruments, for example all of the EPs and Basses. My ST3, Syntronik, and Miroslav 2 CE instruments seem to be OK.

This is exactly what was happening to me. Check out my new post about the Streaming setting. It seems to fix this issue. You might have to play around with the settings but I just set both to LARGE and the loading crashes have seemingly disappeared.

So I have been doing some more experimenting with SampleTank 4.03 trying to narrow down what might be the source of the crashing I have been experiencing. With the introduction of the 4.03 update there is a new STREAMING tab in settings that allow you to adjust some memory and performance parameters. I tried different combinations of the settings and found my best experience happened when both were set to LARGE.

So now when I try loading consecutive patches in and out (especially the large piano presets) I am no longer getting the crashes and vanishing plugin as before. Using the standalone version I put a short demonstration together to share my preliminary results. As I mention in the video I believe SampleTank 4 has so much potential and as we progress in finding the outlying performance and crash issues I think it will mature into an even more amazing instrument.

Enjoy:

OK,

I just loaded ST4.03 into a new project and it seemed to behave somewhat without crashing when going through some of the larger ST4 piano presets. One of the things however that throws up a red flag is that when the sound is loaded the Audio Engine drops out.

I have a theory that it might be something to do with my USB bus or related. I do have my ST4 samples on an external USB3 drive so I am wondering if that might be a source of some type of bottleneck?

I really want all of my larger libraries on an internal drive so we’ll see how things go. I would love to see if my motherboard supports one of the NVME drives.

stay tuned....

15 hours ago, abacab said:

No joy. Still getting crashes even with the latest updates. Switching instruments still seems to be an issue.

Are you finding this happens with most instruments or just some of the new pianos in ST4?

I have encountered this a few times as well, especially using the standalone version (ticket in process) where loading causes the standalone to vanish. This is also happening in the 4.03 update. I have had it occur while using it in Cakewalk and am working on a reproducible recipe as well as trying to generate a crash log to help narrow things down.

IK Multimedia has issued an update for SampleTank 4 bringing it up to version 4.03.
Visit your USER AREA to download the plugin as well as the latest Instrument and Preset Updates.
Here is a list of some of the changes in 4.03:

1. Improved memory and processor usage.
2. Added a Streaming tab in Settings.
3. Fixed an issue with crashes on FL Studio macOS.
4. Fixed an issue with infrequent crashes on VST, AAX, and Standalone.
5. Fixed an issue with possible missing font on Windows.
6. Fixed an issue with authorization.
7. Fixed an issue with recognizing the current ST3 path at first launch.
8. Fixed graphic artefacts while resizing window within a host.
9. Fixed an issue with automation defaults within a host.
10. Fixed Strummer steps sync within a host at first load.
11. Fixed an issue with instrument saving due to unsupported characters.
12. Added a brief install guide post installation.
13. Improved the search responsiveness in the Phraser.
14. Fixed an issue with loading ST3 Multis that include imported legacy instruments.
15. Improved visual feedback for database rescan.
16. A Sound Library Update 1.3 is available. This fixes various typos, macro errors and Multi and sample issues and includes additional Multis. Please download and install the Sound Library Update 1.3 available in your SampleTank 4 Sound Downloads dropdown menu.
17. General reliability improvements.

In the process of downloading it now (wow what a monster  ).
Looking forward to diving in cautiously after reading the experiences above.

Stay tuned!

3 hours ago, topodojo said:

Thanks for the reply! It is on a laptop, so I'll change the USB settings and see if it resolves the issue.

So being a laptop I would definitely check the "power profile" settings as this could help with other aspects of using it for a DAW, etc..
The settings you want to check are found in the Device Manager. 
Here is a good article on optimizing Universal Audio Apollo Twin but the principles described can benefit anyone using USB with their setups.

https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/208139723-Windows-Setup-Required-Settings

52 minutes ago, topodojo said:

Long time Cakewalk user, but new to the forum.
Seeing your post is encouraging and its good to hear you are having success with the iRig I/O  - I have the 25 key version and it is constantly loosing connection with Sonar even during inactivity and crashing Sonar after every take of midi recording.
Happy to hear any tips.
Cheers!
Doug 

I wonder if it might have something to do with the USB port setting?

I have to check but there seems to be something you can set to keep the USB port awake during certain power saving profiles.

i have yet to connect my iRig Keys I/O 49 to my PC (using it with MacBook and iPad) but I will see what happens.

Using Safari on iPad and see the ads.

so what everyone is mentioning it seems to be happening more so on tablets and mobile devices and not on the desktop as I am not seeing them while browsing on my MacBook using Safari.

*Update*

Now seeing it everywhere on all my iPad, Mac and Windows devices.