Jim Roseberry

Just updated from 8 to 9... and paid full price. A bit expensive for a 1 version upgrade, but I will say the Prophet was significantly improved. If you don't already have a high-end piano library/plugin, the Steinway piano is pretty decent. The new effects/modulation options are welcome. Looks like development for Pigments is crossing over into the other instruments. Next, I'd like to see the OB-Xa, Matrix 12, Mini, and Modular redone. 😃

FWIW, I think it goes without saying that you need proper tools to make top-tier Profiles/Captures/etc. No different than mic'ing a real amp. Some audio interfaces (ie: Antelope) have built-in "re-amp" capabilities. Most audio interfaces don't. For those that don't, you'll need to grab something like this Radial box (~$250): https://www.radialeng.com/product/x-amp "Holy Grail" amps are different for different users/uses. Brad Paisley, John Patrucci , Joe Bonnamassa, Slash, Steve Vai would likely each have a different idea of perfection. Thus far, I prefer Quad Cortex Captures vs. Kemper Profiles. To my ears, they're more accurate. Quad Cortex can run up to 9 simultaneous Captures (stereo rigs, individual boost/drive pedal captures, etc). GE Labs (Mooer) to my ears isn't as accurate as Kemper/QC. It'll be interesting to see how accurate the IK's Machine Modeling sounds. If it's on-par with the Kemper/QC, it'll be a hit.

Pianoteq is physically modeled... and sound great to my ears. Not sure the technology/techniques are there yet... at least not for all instruments. Physically modeled guitar sounds (that I've heard) sound more like a harpsichord. Thinking of the Kronos

FWIW, No libraries actually slow down a SSD. SATA SSD sustains ~540MB/Sec. PCIe 3.0 M.2 SSDs sustain ~3500MB/Sec PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs can sustain up to 7000MB/Sec These speeds don't change as the drive gets full... or because any specific library. Some libraries load faster than others. A sample-playback plugin like Kontakt has to buffer the initial transient of every sample. Otherwise, disk-streaming would be subject to additional latency. If the library has say 40 thousand samples, each of those has to be buffered (the transient) using RAM. IE: Keyscape's C7 Grand loads *really* slow. Put it on a PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD... and it loads... well... "less slow".

If you're looking for a nice Ribbon mic, don't overlook the Royer R10 ($500). I actually prefer it to the R121. R121 has a metric ton of proximity-effect... and the upper mids have a character I'm not overly crazy about. That said, R121 combined with a SM57 is a classic combination. R10 placed about a foot back off the guitar cab speaker (near center with a very slight angle down) results in a great balanced tone. You can add a SM57... but (IMO) it's not absolutely necessary.

Phil was a long time friend and client. Very sad to hear this...

If you can, try to play the 88-key version in person. The action is a bit stiff (more so than Kronos, Montage, Fantom keybeds). Otherwise, it's a great controller. I'd like to see Yamaha, Roland, Korg, etc release a top-notch MIDI controller with the best keybed and controllers available. Something equal to the best workstation keyboards/controllers It would be expensive... but it would last 10-20 years.

I've had a QC for a few months. Wait time from Sweetwater was ~4 months. I use the QC primarily for Captures. To my ears, Captures are more accurate than Kemper Profiles. QC can run up to 9 simultaneous Captures. If you have a collection of amps and drive/boost pedals, QC is the perfect means to "virtualize" them. Neural bit off a lot moving into the hardware realm. They're making progress... but development isn't at the same pace as Fractal. As long as you're getting the QC for what it is (not what was originally promised), you'll likely be happy with it. The Sweetwater Captures are a good place to start. These Captures were made with a mic'd cabinet... so the Cab is "baked-into" the Capture (Amp/Cab in a single block). I've done Captures both DI and with mic'd cabinet. Both sound good... Though not as flexible as DI Captures, (to my ears) Captures with mic'd cabinet sound a bit more lively/responsive. I Captured a Revv Generator 120 mk3 (various mics) and posted them to the Cortex Cloud. Helios, TriAmp, and 20th XTC are ready/waiting to be Captured. I'll get to them as time allows.

FWIW, I chose to download the Orchestra Anthology volume 1 to D:\Roland. It downloaded the installer to that location. Running the installer from that location, the library was not installed in D:\Roland.

You posted this right as I was typing the same exact finding.😃

Loaded the Tera Piano. For the file size, it's not particularly great. I can't hear much (any?) velocity switching. Running in VST Live (new live host from Steinberg), the Concerto instrument (with Tera Piano loaded) overloads the CPU at small ASIO buffer sizes. I'm testing on a machine running an i9 12900ks CPU (16 cores, 5.5GHz). That's the fastest CPU (for DAW purposes) currently available. Just loaded the first Orchestra Anthology Volume 1... and it loads/runs just fine. Pretty sure the issue with Tera Piano is a bug. The Orchestral Anthology Volume 1 sound pretty decent. The Patch browsing (compared to Zenology) is tedious. ie: You can't use the arrow keys on a keyboard to move up/down the list of patches. Mouse only (unless I've missed something)

Whenever I see "wrapper"... I think potential performance/stability issues. Time will tell...

Yeah, I remember Ron saying the same things. My feelings about CLAP mirror yours. I think it'll have to be vastly superior to actually take hold.

I've got a Suhr Modern Select with Pau Ferro fingerboard. It (not I) sounds and plays great. I would describe it exactly as above (right between Rosewood and Maple). If you otherwise like the guitar, I wouldn't give it a second thought.

I realize I'm coming off sounding negative, but "interested" (as in checking it out) isn't the same as supporting/adopting. I remember Noel talking about how most (if not all) features/capabilities of VST3 could have been implemented in VST2. VHS vs BETA: BETA had some benefits... but few cared enough to embrace it over the much more popular VHS format.

I wouldn't make such a claim without first-hand experience. 😉 I'm always looking to push the limits of low-latency audio performance (that's my job). With that in mind, I'm running both 12900ks and 5050x based DAWs (fastest ultra low latency performance currently available). Antelope Thunderbolt interfaces yield super low round-trip latency. ie: The Orion Studio Synergy Core yields 1ms total roundtrip latency at 96k using a 32-sample ASIO buffer size. At those settings, open up an instance of Helix Native (Line-6 software plugin version of the Helix hardware guitar processor). Load a substantial patch using something like the "Placater" (Friedman BE-100) amp model. Run this quick test in all the major DAW applications: Digital Performer - audio glitches badly Cakewalk - audio is mostly clean Studio One - audio is completely clean Nuendo - audio is completely clean Cubase - audio is completely clean ProTools - audio is completely clean Reaper - audio is completely clean This is a quick/easy way to get substantial load on the CPU... at extremely small buffer sizes. DP is by far the worst performer of the bunch. So much so... I don't even bother installing DP on my machines.

Based on what I'm seeing (from current adopters), those pushing for CLAP are developers pushing the limits of polyphonic parameter modulation. I'm certainly not against it... but that's not the vast majority of developers and end-users. Look at MPE support with hardware instruments. I'm all for it... but many folks use MIDI controllers without channel-aftertouch... let alone polyphonic. What is Avid going to gain by supporting CLAP? Keep in mind they never adopted VST as a plugin standard.

If you're talking low latency audio performance, DP is the worst performing of all the major DAW apps. Some cool features (especially for composers)... but terrible performance.

Terrible name... (What were they thinking?) While I have no doubt about the benefits, it's hard to bump an industry standard plugin format. Bitwig and U-he are the only "major" software/plugin vendors currently onboard. Bigger companies are going to be reluctant to make a change. Unless the entire industry adopts "CLAP" (that just sounds wrong), it's over before it's begun.

Makes my lungs hurt just looking at that guitar. 🤪

Quantum is a great audio interface. It literally set the bar for ultra low round-trip latency performance. Antelope drivers (with current generation hardware) have been rock-solid. My audio interface also functions as a mixer/patch-bay... so the extra DSP/routing comes in handy. I have keyboards plugged-in, Helix and Quad Cortex guitar processors, etc. Antelope has a way of making certain things more complicated than need be. The name Orion Studio Synergy Core says a lot... 🤪 Once you understand patching/routing, the interfaces really aren't hard to operate. Back on-topic to the 88m: I'd expect those preamps to sound good... for onboard preamps. If you're expecting them to sound like a 1073, Portico-II, or Shelford preamp... you're going to be disappointed. The transformer from those preamps wouldn't fit in the 88m's chassis. Even with 500 series preamps, Neve has mentioned preamp design (by comparison to their full-size counterparts) has compromises to keep size/cost down. Whether that matters... is up to each individual. To my ears, the transformer is a big part of the Neve sound.

I'm not looking to argue, but you do realize that there are vastly MORE machines that don't have a USB-C port, right? Any machine made in the last decade has USB-3 type A. That's why... when you buy a Focusrite Scarlet, it comes with a USB-C to USB-2 type A cable. 😉 I've got a new MBP here (16" display, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD). The latest series has three Thunderbolt ports (via USB-C), HDMI, and back to dedicated magnetic power-port. You can get a nice "mini-hub" that takes one of the USB-C ports and provides four USB-3 ports. The MBP is here to support VE Pro users (not used for any heavy-lifting as I have both 5950x and 12900ks based workstations).

FWIW, I used a RME UFX+ for a couple years. I used it connected via Thunderbolt. Round-trip latency via Thunderbolt wasn't particularly great (just above 4ms total round-trip latency). Connected via USB-3, round-trip latency was just a tiny bit higher. Presonus Quantum can achieve 1ms total round-trip latency @ 96k using a 32-sample ASIO buffer size. Fireface UFX+ can't come anywhere close to that. The driver won't let you use small ASIO buffer sizes if you're running at higher sample-rates. ie: If you're running at 96k, you can't use a 32-sample ASIO buffer size. If you're wanting a Thunderbolt audio interface that offers round-trip latency on par with the Presonus Quantum... along with onboard DSP for processing/routing, I'd steer you toward the Antelope interfaces. I'm currently running an Orion Studio Synergy Core... which replaced both my RME Fireface UFX+ and Presonus Quantum (it has the best features of both).

Why? USB-C carries more power... but it's still a compromise when you're talking 48v phantom power (for bus-powered audio interfaces). Every audio interface that has a USB-C port (read the manual) is actually a USB-2 device. Thus, there's no performance advantage when connected via USB-C (vs a type-A USB-2 port). Two channels of I/O is nowhere near saturating the bandwidth of USB-2. There's currently no USB-3 audio interface that out-performs the best USB-2 audio interfaces. Ironically, most USB-3 audio interfaces have higher round-trip latency.

FWIW, Every audio interface (that I'm aware of) that has USB-C port... is actually a USB-2 audio interface. The USB-C port is a slight advantage for bus-powered devices (carries more power)... but it would offer no performance advantage. If 88m were a Thunderbolt audio interface, that could allow lower round-trip latency. I'm not a fan of any bus-powered audio interface. There's always a design compromise when dealing with 48v phantom power.