Jim Roseberry

Years ago, I had an early MiniMoog.

Keyboard player from my high-school band owned it... and it was sitting in his basement collecting dust.

Sold it to me for $50.

I kept it several years... and ultimately sold it to a friend for $200.

I was planning on getting it refurbished... but never wanted to spend the money.

Bad decision... as (good condition) they're currently selling for $10-$12k.

The current reissues are a more "affordable" $5k... and they're better instruments.

Tuning stability is shocking.  I leave it on for hours (sometimes days)... and it's still in-tune.

There's a dedicated LFO, so you don't have to use the 3rd Oscillator for vibrato.

Key-bed has velocity and aftertouch.

I traded a lot of gear to get the reissue.

Wasn't going to do it... but figured I'd regret missing the opportunity.

There's no way I'd pay $10+k for a vintage Model-D.

Nostalgia plays a big part... but there's nothing quite like the sound/experience.

Software synths are infinitely more practical... but it's hard to beat the immediacy of a knob/switch/button laden hardware synth.

If you were into the PPG in the 80s-90s, the new "3rd Wave" from Groove Synthesis (couple former Sequential guys) is pretty amazing.

Has the same filter as the Prophet 10.

Kind of a renaissance or new golden-age for hardware synths

9 hours ago, Fleer said:

But where’s that Montage successor?!

It would be nice if Yamaha released an 88-key Montage successor that weighed about 40-lbs.

Better Filters, better mono behavior, VA synth section, etc.

At nearly $2k, who is this targeting?

Someone with a more elaborate setup is going to need more inputs (keyboards, guitar processors, etc)

Someone looking for a two-channel audio interface most likely isn't wanting to spend nearly $2k.

I'm always a bit leery when a company new to audio interfaces has a first release.

Yes, Neuman is a name/brand with stellar reputation... for microphones.

What Neuman doesn't have is a 10-20 year reputation for creating rock-solid low-latency drivers (equal to the best available).

Here in Columbus, OH... (at gigs) most guitarists are using Modelers or Profilers at gigs.

The ones using amps are typically using smaller tube heads like the newer 20w Marshall JCM, Friedman PT-20, etc.

I can think of one guy who's using a 50w 5150-III.

Sound is fantastic, cartage is minimal, much smaller stage foot-print, and stage volume is lower

In short, just a whole lot more practical... and especially so with the quality available today

I watched... and thought... "Is this guy actually enjoying playing?"

Picked up a Nautilus 73 a while back.

Absolutely hated the keybed.

Aside from the key action feeling "cheap", the velocity response of the acoustic pianos just felt off.

I hear the 88-key version uses the same keybed as Kronos (sans aftertouch).  If that's the case, it's an excellent keybed.

If wish they made Nautilus in module/rack format.

Love the SSL plugins.

1 hour ago, Grem said:

And I have contemplated getting rid of a lot of my stuff I am not really using. But some of this is just good sounding stuff!! It's hard to part with it. 

I completely understand.  😀

I sold my Triamp mk3, Helios, and Revv Generator 120mk3

All sounded great... but G.A.S. got the best of me... and I wanted other things that I'd use more.

Look at the price of "boutique" amp heads:

• H&K Triamp mk3
• Friedman BE-100 Deluxe
• Bogner 20th Ecstasy

All are $4000+

I bought four boutique amps to Capture/Profile.

Started getting more into keyboards... and realized I had way too much tied up in large/heavy amps (not being used enough).

Cost on everything is getting out of hand.

The new MiniMoog re-issue is $5k.  Absolutely crazy... until you compare with a vintage Model D... which (in good shape) is selling for 10-12k.

When I was 17-18, I used to make of list of all my "dream" studio gear.

I would add up the total cost... and it would be ~$200k.

Remember freaking out thinking... OMG I'll never be able to get those things.

Now that I'm old, I can get some of it... but I have to pick-and-choose.

I did liquidate three of those expensive tube amps... and grabbed the Model D re-issue.

As a kid, I loved the MiniMoog.

For me, the re-issue is a chance to have one (in good working order).

It's a nostalgic thing...

To get back on topic, I'm not overly surprised by the cost of the MESA Mark VII.

Given the relative cost of everything increasing (components, labor, packing, shipping, etc), it's inevitable.

Cost for large boxes that I use to ship DAWs has literally doubled the past 24 months.

A large bag of (worthless) packing-peanuts is now ~$100!   😱

If using IK's ToneX plugin for Advanced Captures, you pretty much have to be running a RTX video card (unless you like waiting for hour/s).

FWIW, I don't have any issue with RTX-3xxx or RTX-4xxx series video cards.

With a RTX video card installed, 13900k and 7950x can both run IK's ToneX at 96k using a 16-sample ASIO buffer size.

2 hours ago, 57Gregy said:

I'm pretty sure I know what you mean, Jim, but did you mean to type video card or a VIA video card? I'm guessing the former.

Darn fingers sometimes have a mind of their own.

I've corrected my post.  I meant video card.

Video card supply and prices have somewhat normalized.

RTX-4090 is pushing $2k

RTX-3050, 3060Ti, 3070Ti are more than enough for most... and cost a whole lot less.

On 3/4/2023 at 9:18 AM, pwalpwal said:

@Jim Roseberry i think this is a question for you sir

I would not currently use AMD video cards.

In my ultra low latency (audio) testing, AMD's 6xxx series resulted in audio glitches sooner (vs running a RTX-3xxx or RTX-4xxx)

Some applications/plugins can benefit from a dedicated video card.

ie: Modular synths (where there are scores of widgets changing/moving)

No loss there.

When it comes to low-latency audio performance, Rocket Lake's more latent architecture made it a step backward (vs 10th Gen).

Thankfully, this was solved in 12th and 13th Gen CPUs.

1 hour ago, Last Call said:

Quad Cortex Mk II?

FWIW, They still have a lot of work to finish on the QC mk1   😁

1 hour ago, TheSteven said:

So switching banks, etc. only work with current capture?  

No... I meant that you can't load a Amp/Cab Capture... and long a second Boost/Drive pedal Capture (simultaneously).

Different patches use different Captures.

36 minutes ago, bluzdog said:

I don't see a way to use more than one capture at a time i.e. a dirt pedal and an amp. It sounds great but I don't see it competing in the same space as the all in one units i.e. Quad Cortex, etc.

I think it was mentioned that ToneX would be updated to allow loading a second Capture for Boost/Drive pedal. 

That really needs to be there.

I know there are work-arounds (Amplitube, using another plugin prior to ToneX, using a real boost/drive pedal before ToneX pedal), but this is part of the appeal.

Nobody wants to run a Tubescreamer without an amp.  🤪

25 minutes ago, ALC said:

How does Apple Silicon M1/M2 stack up?

M1 is nowhere in the ballpark of the 13900k.

Haven't tested the M2 (yet).

Looking at Cinebench R23 scores, M2's multi-core score is nowhere close to 40k.

13900k is a workstation CPU (requiring massive cooling).

The Apple M1 and M2 chips are not (and Apple doesn't market them as such)

16 hours ago, locrian said:

Have you encountered any issues with the E-cores / P-cores architecture?  Specifically that slower E-cores could create a bottleneck and/or degrade core load balancing, or result in lower performance due to their lower thread count?  And what about the 13900's lower total thread count vs that of the 7950x?

I've read several posts about these types of issues and so am a bit hesitant to stay with Intel at this point.

I've tested the 7950x and 13900k/s extensively. 

13900k's Efficient cores don't bottleneck/degrade performance. 

Keep in mind they're running at 4.3-4.4GHz. 

7950x's base clock speed is 4.5GHz

13900k bests the 7950x in both single-core and multi-core performance.  

13900k and 7950x can both run IK's ToneX plugin at 96k using a 16-sample ASIO buffer size (~0.5ms total round-trip latency).

Both the 7950x and 13900k have 32 processing threads.

1 hour ago, antler said:

Don't know if the situation is still the same, but I seem to remember @Jim Roseberry saying that AMDs can be faster, but only for parallel processing, e.g. rendering video. Intel still rules for more single threaded uses like pushing audio through with low latencies. I also seem to remember Jim saying that Intel chips were easier to keep cool, compared to a similar model from AMD.

The last couple of generations, AMD and Intel have been leap-frogging each other (performance wise).

ie:  When the 7950x was released, it leap-frogged the 12900k/s (performance wise).  Then, Intel released the 13900k/s... which is faster than the 7950x.

With the Ryzen 5xxx series, AMD finally got their ultra low latency audio performance together.

Prior Threadripper and Ryzen CPUs were not a good choice for ultra low latency DAW applications.

Flash forward to current generation:

• AMD 7950x
• Intel i9-13900k/s

I've extensively tested both the 7950x and 13900k/s.

Both are excellent ultra low latency performers.

Both run on the hotter side... requiring top-tier liquid cooling (to keep CPU cool/quiet).

13900k/s is currently the fastest DAW CPU.  (Scores over 40k in Cinebench R23 multi-core test)

7950x and 13900k can both run IK's ToneX plugin (similar to Kemper) at 96k using a 16-sample ASIO buffer size.  That's 0.5ms total round-trip latency!

In real-world use, there's not a huge difference between the two.

Top-tier motherboards for both (X670e and Z790) offer similar features (including Thunderbolt-4).

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/tonexpedal/#info

I don't think $400 is a bad price for what ToneX delivers.

The Captures are better than Kemper or Quad Cortex (both of which are $1800+).

I'm not crazy about the ToneX plugin UI... but it's slowly evolving and the integration with Amplitube 5 adds many useful features.

I think this is going to be huge for IK.

Add a H90 and maybe a couple of your favorite boosts/drives... and you've got a great sounding versatile gig/rehearsal rig.

Small form-factor for easy cartage

FWIW, I wouldn't want to blanketly apply de-essing across an entire vocal track... and definitely not across a vocal bus.

You're going to lose too much intelligibility/articulation in the vocal.

Isolate each offending S (or sibilant) as a separate audio clip.

You can then use your favorite De-Essing plugin to reduce the sibilant (individually) for each offending clip.

You can tailor the "reduction" of each sibilant.

This leaves the rest of the vocal completely in-tact. 

13 hours ago, craigb said:

Not around here!  Sure, the prices got very stupid, but there literally weren't any cards available at any price for awhile.  When I was doing IT Consulting, we had customers that needed high-end cards (they would map how smoke flows through a building among other cool projects), but we couldn't find cards at all.  One day I was at Best Buy around 2pm and there was a crowd lining a wall outside as if waiting for concert tickets to go on sale.  When I asked what they were doing, I was told they were camping out to be first in line for some cards that were coming in the next morning!  Crazy! 😮

It was the same at the local Micro Center.

Mostly younger folks (looked a bit like a homeless camp with sleeping bags/tents)... waiting in line for a *chance* to get the next day's shipment of RTX-3xxx video cards.

You had to use an ID at purchase.  You could only purchase one RTX card per month.

Kids were waiting in line, getting their allotted RTX video card, then scalping it on eBay.

At one point, there were almost riots.  That's when they went to a "Lottery" style draw.   No more camping.

Crazy!

Now, it's not nearly that bad. 

ie: When the RTX-4xxx series runs out, there's usually a shipment in one to two weeks.

Prices just haven't come down as low as we'd expected.