Jim Roseberry

If you're after maximum performance, you're better off with a desktop. With a desktop, you can run the new i9-9900k with all 8 cores locked at 5GHz... and with the right air-cooler, it runs near dead-silent. If you absolutely need portability, then you have to live with the performance trade-off of a laptop. You can get custom laptops that run a desktop CPU. These are as close as you'll get to desktop performance. They're large and expensive... and battery life is relatively short (when set to maximum performance). Basically, everything you setup in a DAW for maximum performance works against long battery life. Put another way, the tweaks that enable long battery life will rob the machine of DAW performance.

Don't really disagree with anything you're saying above 😉 I'd add that (in general), the more specific your use of any feature/plugins, the more tedious "collaboration" becomes. As such, if I'm going to have someone collaborate on a project, I wouldn't send them the full "work-in-progress" project. I'd send stems... and let the collaborating partner overdub/etc. The only way you can effectively collaborate on full "work-in-project" type files is to have exactly the same plugins/libraries/etc installed. We've got clients who work as writing partners (using multiple separate DAWs)... and those who have both commercial and home based studios. To minimize issues, the machines are essentially "mirrored" (as far as software/plugins/drive configuration). Even with "standards" there's always going to be deviation/issues (look no further than Web Standards). 😉 The more specific your project (tempo changes, edits, sounds/libraries, etc), the greater the risk that somethings going to be a little "off". Hopping between apps in Adobe land is fairly painless (as you'd expect)... but there's no way I'm trusting a heavily edited EDL to be imported 100% intact when moving between NLE/Color/DAW applications. Even simple audio fade in/out curves don't translate 100% between all DAWs. On the video side, I've experienced enough issues in Premier, After-Effects, Davinci Resolve, Vegas Pro, etc... that I try to use each application for specific tasks... and keep things as simple as possible. Though I find After-Effects slow/sluggish, I can get work done. If I rely on Resolve for much more than cuts/transitions, I've experienced audio getting out of sync, EDL getting scrambled, etc. Resolve's feature set is enticing...

As far as collaboration with folks using other DAWs: I recently moved a project from CbB to the absolute latest version of ProTools Ultimate. Exported the CbB project as OMF... imported to ProTools. Worked just fine... As long as you're not too far into any editing/mixing, the transfer process isn't too difficult. Many current generation DAWs support Broadcast Wav files. Broadcast Wav files store start position... so once imported into a DAW that supports them, they'll automatically line up in proper position in the time-line.

Some of the top-tier Z390 boards are pushing the $500 mark. If you've got the budget to spend $1000 on a motherboard, you may as well just max out with the i9-9980xe. For most purposes, that's still the king of current CPUs (with the $2000 cost to match). In ASRock's defense, they're only building 1000 of the X570 Aqua motherboards... as they know the appeal is limited to the hardest-core techno-geeks. Akin to a "concept car"... or even a "custom-shop" instrument

FWIW, Ryzen 3000 series CPUs and X570 motherboards aren't yet available to purchase (not even for pre-order). Of the top-tier X570 motherboards listed on AMD's site, none have onboard Thunderbolt-3 (all have USB-C but it's carrying USB-3/1). https://www.amd.com/en/chipsets/x570 Of these X570 boards, the only one that has confirmed Thunderbolt-3 support is the ASRock X570 Taichi (has a Thunderbolt-3 header that supports their add-in-controller). Asus and MSI don't yet have specs listed. The only X570 motherboard that I've seen that has onboard Thunderbolt-3 is the ASRock Aqua ($1000 and fully liquid-cooled - both CPU and Chipset). That's much more involved than using a fully self-contained (closed loop) water-cooler. Ryzen 9 3900x Boost clock-speed of 4.6GHz 12 cores 24 processing threads Intel's i9-9900k Boost clock-speed of 5GHz 8 cores 16 processing threads Based on these specs, I'd expect performance to be similar. I think real competition from AMD is great. IMO, Equal performance at an equal price-point isn't enough of an impetus to move to AMD. i9-9900k has been available for months (rock-solid platform) You can lock all 8 cores at 5GHz With proper air-cooling, it runs near dead-silent

I use a Voicelive 3 Extreme when playing live. Be aware that the onboard mic preamp is... awful It'll rob your vocal of dynamics... to the point where you're eating the mic and blowing out your voice. If you use a Voicelive processor, split your mic signal and run a two-channel (wet/dry) configuration. One line is straight off the mic The second line comes from the Voicelive (with it set to 100% wet) This way... you can use the Voicelive for its EFX... without suffering thru that horrible mic preamp. The $0.50 mic preamp in a Behringer Xenyx mixer is infinitely better. TC really should do better. If you listen to your mic thru the onboard preamp (with no EFX/processing), the dry signal sounds processed/compressed.

We've used some ASRock motherboards over the years. Never had any issues flashing the BIOS

If you can set the Monitor Dim amount to attenuate all audio (assuming you're not using the Talkback features), that would effectively give you a "mute".

If the drive bays don't have provisions for mounting 2.5" drives: Inexpensive adapters that'll fit two 2.5" drives in a 3.5" bay 5.25" Removable bay that houses four 2.5" drives There's also velcro and tape 😉

Many current generation cases also have a pair of 2.5" drive trays on the right side (as you're facing the front of the case). You'll need to remove the right side-panel to access them.

If you're trying to mount a 2.5" drive (typical SATA SSD) in a 3.5" or 5.5" bay, you'll need an adapter. Most more recent cases have 3.5" drive trays that allow mounting 2.5" drives (via four screws).

Most likely, the VST plugin DDL (for the full TH3) was installed in a folder that's currently not being scanned for plugins.

CbB is an updated version of "Sonar Platinum". As scook mentioned, the only things "missing" are some of the bundled 3rd-party content. For the moment, leave Sonar Platinum and CbB installed side-by-side. Once you are fully up-to-speed with CbB, you can always uninstall Sonar Platinum. No reason to be anxious/apprehensive...

Sounds like the issue is with that specific Absynth patch. You can run Absynth standalone or in another DAW application like Reaper (small download) to test. If the glitches persist... but are limited to Absynth (and specifically that patch), then the issue is with the patch itself.

FWIW, You don't need to open Bandlab Assistant before opening CbB.

If it's only larger projects crashing CbB, I'd test your system's RAM.

Hi Wayne, It's pretty easy to do a full/manual uninstall of Sonar. Most of the bundled plugins (from Sonar past) can be installed without installing Sonar... but there's no harm if you go ahead and install Sonar. If you need help with a full/manual uninstall of Sonar, I'd be happy to remote-in and show you how it's done. Take just a couple of minutes... I like to have separate 32Bit and 64Bit VstPlugins folders: c:\Program Files (x86)\VstPlugins_32Bit c:\Program Files\VstPlugins_64Bit At this point, I don't use any 32Bit plugins, but I like to have the 32Bit folder as a "repository" (for those plugin installers that don't offer the option to not install the 32Bit version).

</Meh> 😎

Agreed. Looks like management decided to get back to the basics of what Gibson does best (traditional/classic instruments). The price point of $2500 (to me) seems reasonable... assuming QC/consistency is good. If you're one of the "Master Builders", on some level it must be frustrating that you can't really innovate. Pigeon-holed by your heritage success... OTOH, Rickenbacker hasn't bothered to change much of anything in the past 70 years. 😉

After watching those videos, I decided to use Live to trigger samples and play keys at gigs. It can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be. Once everything is configured, switching songs is as easy as pressing a key/button/pad. Works perfectly for our 4-piece. We move a lot... and don't want a large keyboard up-front. I use a Q-Nexus and a 12-Step... to trigger/play the parts. Super small footprint... but effective to cover "just enough" keys.

For the piezo system

Focusrite makes some nice high-end gear (Red series, ISA preamps, etc)... but I've never been a fan of their audio interfaces.

You can use Top Ten Software's Cantabile to do the same type of things as Main Stage. Cantabile presents all your virtual-instruments and plugins as a virtual Rack of gear. You use Scenes (similar to a multi-patch) to setup advanced splits/layers. You can remap/scale controllers, etc. You may also want to look at Ableton Live. Lots of worship teams us Live. Advanced click-tracks (clicks, count-downs, sections called out) Tempo can be stored with each song Can host virtual-instruments and can be programmed to seamlessly switch between advanced splits/layers Can be programmed to disable unused virtual-instruments for each song (greatly conserving CPU) If a worship team member is absent; you can have all parts prepared in Live (muted)... and just un-mute the needed part Virtual-Instruments can be played live Samples can be triggered live Watch some videos showing worship teams using Live. Pretty amazing...

Mac only... You'd have to build a "Hackintosh" to run it. Hackintosh can be a fun learning project... and is close to a Mac... but not really a Mac (devil is in the fine details).

No, sir! You can hear the metal influencing the tone. 🤢