Jim Roseberry

Built many original Athlons... then Athlon-II When the Pentium 4 came out, Intel started pummeling AMD in Floating Point performance. Didn't build many AMD machines after that... until Ryzen 5xxx series. Now, we have AMD and Intel leap-frogging each other with each release. After so many builds, you encounter a certain percentage (small) of bad components. I've had a PS that (when first powered-up) gave a loud POP and was immediately toast. Rare exception. Occasionally, I'll see a bad motherboard or more often a bad stick of RAM. I've worked on so many machines over the years, the anxiety about parts/build is long gone. I guess it's like the musician who's played live for 50 years. He/she just doesn't get nervous the same way.

😁 I'm still waiting for Moog to fix my Moog One 16-voice. It's been in Ashville since Dec 21st. Hasn't even been cracked open. If they can get the thing to consistently play in-tune (no 1/4 step out of tune notes), it'll be worth it. Bigger/fatter sounding than the Prophet 10 and OB-X8

Motherboards have protective coatings. This coating technically doesn't prevent ESD damage. Modern components are a bit more resilient... but not immune to ESD. I've worked on hundreds of machines over the past 30 years. Never had an issue with ESD.

It's been leaked that IK will release a ToneX in pedal form. Rumor has it priced at ~$500 If true, they will fly off shelves.

Pulled out some songs I'd written ~25 years ago. Don't have any of the MIDI gear I used back then (01/W FD being one major piece). Got Modo Bass as part of IK's Total Studio Bundle (crazy low upgrade price), figured it would be a quick/easy way to cover any electric bass parts. Opened Modo Bass, selected a 70s Jazz Bass, added a fifth string, and moved the pluck position a bit towards the bridge. What a great sound/response! Far more realistic than I was expecting. Lots of physical models sound close... but often have traits that sound a bit "fake". To my ears, that's not the case with Modo Bass. Took almost no effort to get a bass tone that worked perfectly with the rest of the track. Sounds significantly better than the original bass sound from the 01/W. 🤪

Just like with the Kemper, ToneX "Captures" vary radically (in quality). If you're talking about accuracy, ToneX does a better job than Kemper or Quad Cortex. I'd rank them in this order (owned/used all of them) ToneX Quad Cortex Kemper In order to make a proper Capture, you need an audio interface with re-amp features... or an external re-amp box. Some folks are making Captures using nothing but the I/O on a $100 audio interface. That's not going to sound accurate. As a quick test, I captured the Friedman BE-100 model from Line-6 Helix. Extremely close in sound/response My recent obsession has been keyboard/synths (not guitars/amps). I have a 20th Ecstasy and Tri-Amp mk3 (and numerous boost/drive pedals) acquired specifically for making Captures. Just need to find the time to actually make them. My advice is to grab both ToneX and Amplitube 5. You can then use ToneX within Amplitube 5 (much more capability/flexibility).

On the first build I ever did, I used a grounded wrist-stap. For the hundreds of builds since then, I've never used one. Unless you're walking on wool carpet in sock-feet and touching ICs, you'll be OK. 🤪 You can discharge yourself as you're working.

Helix Native is great. If you haven't checked it out, IKMM's ToneX is also amazing.

Tight competition between AMD/Intel is really going to drive performance.

Sorry, I missed those details. If you've already reseated the CPU and all power connections, the only reason loosening the heatsink mount could cause things to "start working" is cold/bad solder joint/s or problem with circuit trace/s.

If you have reasonable expectations, you probably won't be disappointed running Cakewalk on something like a SurfacePro. The issue with tablets is the same as with laptops (but more extreme). Thermal management (heat) is tough in a super tight enclosure. There's no space for large heatsink/fan... so CPU clock-speed has to be kept low (to keep heat in-check). There's also power-management (performance throttling) to ensure longer battery life. If you're doing general-purpose tasks (Surfing Internet, Email, Word docs, etc), you won't notice the low clock-speed. Running a DAW application at low latency with lots of realtime processing (virtual-instruments and effects), low clock-speed is going to be limiting. ie: The $2400 Surface Pro 9's CPU is running at 1.7GHz. By comparison, the 13900ks (13th Gen desktop CPU) is running at 6GHz. If you have much in the way of high performance expectations, a tablet is not the right choice.

Yes. 13th gen has been out for several months. 13900k performance is amazing (scores over 40k with Cinebench R23 multi-core). Requires robust cooling (as in large AIO)

I'd reseat the CPU... That's more of a long-term solution (that was my point). You might also reseat all power connections to the motherboard (worth a try)

FWIW, I would certainly not recommend this. If this is the "solution", there's a problem with the CPU (as mounted). You want the cooler surface to be making best contact possible.

Recent Nvidia cards don't have issues with drivers causing high DPC Latency. In fact, if you're really pushing the limits of ultra low audio latency performance (say running at 32-sample ASIO buffer size or smaller), you're better off with a RTX-3xxx video card than AMD 6xxx. Audio will start glitching sooner with the AMD 6xxx series. I've tested side-by-side with otherwise identical configuration.

Power spin up/down in endless loop is usually either power-supply, motherboard, or (less often) video card. As was suggested, I'd disconnect power, pull the CMOS battery for 12+ seconds, then reinsert the battery and try booting. This will reset the BIOS.

I've got a client who (along with Tim Pierce) meets occasionally at JB's house. This client once accidentally bumped into his hanging 59 Les Pauls (swinging like wind-chimes). 😬 Note that these aren't reissue '59 LPs (which would still be $7-10k per guitar)... but the real thing. Talk about a brief moment of panic! In all seriousness, I wish IK would Capture JB's amps with ToneX.

Most roomy Mid-Tower cases will accommodate that cooler.

There's also coolers like the IceGiant ProSiphon Elite. It's sort of a hybrid between an air-cooler and water-cooler. It uses a radiator... but relies on gravity vs using a pump.

Typical AIO (all-in-one) water-coolers are closed-loop (no maintenance). The water is circulated thru the radiator via a small pump (similar to how an auto engine is cooled). Custom Loop water-cooling is beyond what most folks want to deal with (both construction and maintenance). Distilled water doesn't conduct electricity. At trade shows, you'll sometimes see an electric device fully submerged in distilled water... running as normal.

I get the fear... but the odds are greatly against a leak. FWIW, I've used scores and scores of AIO water-coolers. Out of all of those, one leaked (caught it before install so it wasn't an issue).

😂 With a large top-tier water-cooler, the temps really aren't bad. The 13900k next to me idles in the 30s C.

It's about the same as a Noctual D15. If you're talking 7950x or 13900k, forget air cooling.

I'd like to see more polyphony (32-64 voices)... and less aliasing on the classic waveforms. Great synth... just got a whole lot better I'm guessing the Qm2 will be in the mid $5k range.

ASIO-4-ALL is a terrible "solution" (workaround) for audio interfaces that don't provide a proper ASIO driver. Do yourself a major favor... and grab an audio interface that provides a proper ASIO driver. This issue will be gone... and your overall DAW experience will be more robust. A side benefit will be lower round-trip latency.