Jim Roseberry

What a legacy! RIP Mr Neve

I struggled for years to get good DI recordings of Fender style (passive) electric-bass. The sound was clean/clear... but "anemic". Tried numerous SansAmp racks/boxes, Solo-610, and many other DI options... but the sound was never what I had hoped. Finally decided to invest in a couple Neve channel-strips. Boom! There's the sound I struggled so long trying to achieve. The bass has clarity/definition... and authority.

There was a massive rush this holiday season (along with Covid). Almost impossible to find higher-end video cards (and power-supplies) actually in-stock. Huge demand and almost no supply results in unusually high cost.

I agree with that line of thinking. 😄

Crazy. The RTX-3090 is over $2k. If a distributor/store gets 10 of them, they're gone in less than 30 minutes.

LOL! You got that right. 😂

Minecraft isn't demanding. That'll run on anything. Games requiring high FPS is where it gets expensive.

I don't disagree with what you're saying. There's just no way to build a "healthy" gaming PC for under $1k. RTX-3070 is $750 RTX-3060ti is $500 Right now, it's hard to find any mid/high level GTX/RTX video card in-stock. FWIW, I just got done building a high-end gaming prototype machine. It's got the best of everything in it. Cost as much as a nice PRS guitar. 🤪

Totally agree... A fast CPU and Video card will chew thru $1k

For a gaming machine, clock-speed is the single most important factor. Intel is currently offering higher clock-speed than AMD. Clock-speed (and extremely low latency) is Ryzen/Threadripper's (3xxx series) Achilles Heel. The new 5950x (Vermeer) is a much better performer at ultra low latency... but it's extremely hard to find in-stock... and it's an $800 CPU. Aside from CPU, video card is extremely important. Right at this moment, it's hard to find high-end GTX/RTX video cards actually in-stock. If you find one, grab it immediately. Our distributor received a shipment of 140 RTX-3070 video cards ($750 each)... and they were gone in two days. As a point of reference, running Forza Horizon 4 (racing sim): 1080p at 60-fps - RTX-3070 running ~30% 4k at 60-fps - RTX-3070 running ~50%

One advantage to being "late to the game" is knowing the strengths/weaknesses of competing devices. Neural has "cherry picked" some of the best features from Helix, Kemper, Axe-FX, and HeadRush. To my ears, it sounds like their "capture" procedure may result in even more realistic "profiles" than the Kemper. Keep in mind the Kemper is what... 11 years old?! Amazing that it's still viable.

Sad to know he's gone. What a nice tribute he wrote (describing his life and being thankful for both his career and those he's worked with). Think about the talent level in the Elektrik Band. At the time, the best modern jazz players on the planet.

QC seems to be a nice "cherry-picked" feature set of Helix, Axe-FX, Kemper. I'll grab one from Sweetwater (when they're actually available). The Mooer G300 can also load "profiles/captures". You have to use an iPad to create the captures (a bit of a pain)... but it works. Our local SamAsh had one used for $550... so I grabbed it to test. Sounds a whole lot better than you'd expect (given cost and being MIC).

AMD has finally gotten their ultra low latency performance together with the new Vermeer (5xxx) series. I've got a 5950x based DAW (I'm typing on it right now). The 10900kwill out-perform the 5950x when it comes to ultra low latency performance (example below). In heavily multi-threaded scenarios (video rendering), the 5950x will significantly best the 10900k. Lets say you want to run Helix Native (plugin version of the Line-6 Helix guitar processor)... at latency equal to or lower than the hardware version (which is 2ms). When it comes to ultra low round-trip latency, the Presonus Quantum is as good as it gets. Set Quantum to 96k using a 32-sample ASIO buffer size. This results in 1ms total round-trip latency. Load Helix Native and create a significant patch using two 2048-sample Cab IRs, delay, reverb, etc. The 5950x is the first AMD CPU to be able to sustain this ultra low latency scenario completely glitch-free. With the Threadripper 3970x, you'll experience glitches. Needless to say, this is excellent performance. With the 10900k, you can actually set the ASIO buffer size down to 16-samples (sub 1ms round-trip latency)... and it'll sustain the load glitch-free. It's the first CPU we've tested that could actually do this... The 10900k is a $500 CPU. The 5950x is a $800 CPU. Competition benefits all of us.

Unless you're a beta-tester or "influencer", you don't have a Quad Cortex (haven't started shipping). Pete Thorn has done an excellent demonstration video...as has Rabea Massaad. The QC is going to be another great guitar modeler/profiler option (along with Helix, AxeFX, Kemper, etc).

That's not what I'm saying in any way/shape/form. 😉 We deal with many Mac users who simply can't get the speed/configuration they need to run large scoring templates. The solution is a well-configured custom PC DAW. Exactly what they need... nothing more... nothing less Windows 10 is a fine DAW platform... once fully reined-in. If you watch any popular TV series, you're hearing scoring work that's using a PC. Danny Lux, Timothy Wynn, Fred Coury, etc... The top LA based composers meet once a month for dinner... to discuss all things technology and music.

Performance is slightly better with B550 vs X570... and no additional noise. I'm not interested in lower-end Vermeer CPUs... as the clock-speed is slower.

Power profile is certainly part of the equation... but not all of it. CPU cooler has to be able to keep up (or course). Your audio interface determines the latency your DAW can achieve. The CPU has to be able to sustain the load (glitch-free)... but has no direct affect on the actual latency figure. 6.8ms total round-trip latency isn't bad. If you want lowest possible round-trip latency, Presonus Quantum can achieve sub 1ms (96k using a 16-sample ASIO buffer size). Right now, only the 10900k can sustain any type of load at those settings... and that's do to the super high clock-speed (5.3GHz). PCIe 4.0 SSDs have zero impact on audio latency. PCIe 3.0 SSDs sustain 3500MB/Sec. PCIe 4.0 SSD sustain about 4000-5000MB/Sec. You may be surprised to hear that the 5950x is currently performing slightly better with the B550 vs. X570 chipset. X570 is also active-cooled... which means small (annoying) high-RPM fan. Noisy! 5950x is an $800 CPU. If you're waiting for significant discount, it's going to be an extended wait. 😉

Getting the new Vermeer AMD CPUs (like the 5950x) is currently almost like winning the lottery. When in-stock, they're gone within a few minutes. FWIW, I still feel the 10900k is a great balance of cost/performance. 10 cores 20 processing threads All ten cores can be locked at 5.3GHz That's a lot of CPU for $500.

CPU speed is certainly an important factor... but there are numerous facets that affect performance. Just because you see "CPU headroom", that doesn't mean the machine is going to perform flawlessly (for DAW purposes). Threadripper's multi-threaded performance is off-the-chain good, but it's ultra low-latency performance is poor (even the 3970x). The new 5950x (Vermeer) is the first series of AMD CPUs where that's finally been resolved. The 5950x can run loads at a 32-sample ASIO buffer size... that the 3970x just can't sustain (glitch-free). That said, the new 10th Gen i9-10900k can run Helix Native (with a substantial patch using two 2048-sample Cab IRs) completely glitch-free at 96k using a 16-sample ASIO buffer size. The first CPU to be able to effectively do this (no glitches). Even with a 10900k or 5950x, if the machine's DPC Latency is high... you'll experience audio glitches/drop-outs. Lets say you want to run Helix Native at 44.1k using a 64-sample ASIO buffer size. That means the machine has 1.5ms to process the next audio buffer and get it in cue for playback. Anything that interrupts this process will cause an audio glitch/dropout. (ie: Poorly written drivers can monopolize the CPU.) Processes constantly running in the background (backup/sync, A/V, etc) can negatively affect performance. There's performance and power throttling: Say you have a typical song structure... where the song starts with maybe 8-16 tracks of drums, guitar, bass, keys, and lead vocal/melody. When the song reaches the bridge, let's say it breaks down to just the kick and a single bass part. At this point, CPU use (demand) is extremely low... so the system decides to throttle CPU clock-speed down to 1/4 speed... as well as parking several cores. When the stripped-down bridge ends, here comes the massive chorus-out-vamp. Huge stacks of backing vocals, synths, etc. That massive CPU load now falls on the CPU running at 1/4 clock-speed... with several cores that have been parked. Glitches at best... or a complete transport dropout. The harder you're pushing the machine (heavier loads, lower latency), the more important all the details. A general-purpose user wouldn't notice a few millisecond hiccup in data-flow. For someone wanting to run at a 64-sample ASIO buffer size, those few extra milliseconds can result in glitches/dropouts.

With proliferation of (live) streaming, many companies don't feel the need to be bound to NAMM's schedule (especially when it's virtual). D.I. from Line-6 (owned by Yamaha) mentioned this recently on The Gear Page.

Gibson was in financial trouble due to massive spending spree acquiring audio/music companies (many out of their realm of expertise). The whole while, Gibson was generating substantial sales revenue.

The IR loading section was licensed from Two Notes. The reactive-load is not made by Two Notes. I have a pair of Captor-X boxes. They're great (especially for the cost). The reactive-load in the Badlander (to me) sounds slightly better than the one in Captor-X The IR loading in Captor-X as far more advanced: Can load/mix a pair of Cab IRs in realtime Can determine the length of the imported IR (which determines latency) Onboard Reverb, EQ, Enhancer, Tuner (which is erratic), Gate

Just picked up a Badlander 50w head. The onboard reactive-load and CabClone IR sound excellent. Lots of features and versatility... and not over-the-top cost wise It's always a little sad to see a heritage company merge or get bought.

Last time I was testing the 3950x and 3970x, I remember seeing a performance boost using the "Aggressive" Thread Scheduling Model. I also remember some issues when using the Aggressive Mode. I've been testing the new 5950x. AMD has ***finally*** solved their performance issue at ultra low latency settings. I'll revisit the Thread Scheduling Models... and give some details about performance.