Amicus717

Hi folks, A question for our more tech savvy folks: I have 16gb of RAM in my PC at the moment, and I'm aiming to double that to 32gb. My current build is: Gigabyte X99 mobo with Intel Core i7-5820K Haswell-E CPU, and the RAM is a pair of 8gb Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 2666 DIMMs. System is utterly rock stable, but I think more memory would be beneficial. I can get another set of Dominator DIMMs, and they are premium components, but they are also really pricey and have to be ordered in -- no local retailer stocks them as a regular item. I don't mind doing that, and I will do so if needed. However, Corsair also has their Vengeance line of RAM, which also seems like a very good product and is both less expensive and much more readily available. It is apparently a tier down from the Dominator series, but all reviews I could find suggest it is first rate. Does anyone have any experience with it? Or with other brands of RAM that might also work well? Am I really going to notice any difference in performance or stability adding two Vengeance DIMMs into my setup? I'm not really tied to one brand, although I've had a lot of success with Corsair memory products and usually gravitate to them first. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks! Rob

Until March 9th: https://8dio.com/instrument/acoustic-guitar-bundle-solo-strummer-vst-au-aax-kontakt/

Ends March 11th: https://www.musicalsampling.com/ Be curious to hear from anyone who has these. They sound very nice...

It does not -- all the vocal stuff is ethnic and/or shaman-ish sort of chantings and shouts. There is Inuit vocal rhythms, shamanic chants, a bunch of throat singing variations, and some shouts and whispers. I suppose it's possible one of the throat singers was named Gregory. But that's about as close as you'll get.

Just FYI, for anyone looking into getting it. Picked it up last week, and have been messing around with it for a few days, and quite enjoying it. It's perfect for some of the stuff I'm doing right now, with some great percussion and a nice selection of ethnic flute type instruments (which I can't get enough of, frankly). I've also been looking for a good throat singing patch for a while (for some Viking-themed music I'm working on), and this one has a couple of them, and they're perfect. Also the usual collection of Tarilonte's soundscapes is pretty good, too. Lots of usable stuff available. Worth noting that this library seems to have slightly less melodic type instruments than his other ones, with a bit more emphasis on percussion (skin drums, rattles, shakers, metal and wood small percussion, anvils, etc), rhythm loops and pads, not to mention accessory items like chants, shouts and the above mentioned throat singing. There is some ancient sounding flutes of various types, bowed and plucked string instruments, and a couple of brass instruments. The online trailer really does give a good overview of the kind of stuff this material is geared for, so if that Vikings/The Last Kingdom soundtrack vibe is what you are looking for, Dark Era has got you covered. As always YMMV, but I'm quite glad I picked it up.

I liked it. An interesting combination of sounds and textures, and the mix had a spacious vibe, to my ears. This is the sort of music I'd use to accompany a prolonged montage in a film.

I agree completely. They are great instruments, and these flash deals are amazing. I was hoping the English Horn would come up soon. It's the one instrument that I don't have a really satisfactory library for.

My work is here done.

Much more useful than the last freebie. I wonder why they didn't lead with this one...

I have an original Babyface, also, and RME's support has been great. I can't see me using any other company's hardware, at this point - drivers are great, and everything just works. Should my Babyface start having any issues, I'll updated to a second generation.

This is true. They acknowledged the Big Bang Cinematic drums GUI problem over two years ago, promised that someone would look into it, and nothing has materialized.

I grabbed this one, since I am a sucker for no-brainers. First impression: it is a quite good, although there are some things I'm still undecided on. The cymbals are all very nice, with smooth shift between velocity layers and the crescendo/rolls sound great and not phasey or artificial. Really useful. Hand drums, drums, snares, etc -- all great, and a nice mix of tones. The different mic positions are really useful and I already have some mic mixes that work well with my existing template. Glock/Crotales/ Tubular Bells, etc -- bright and clear, sound great. I really like the choke key for the tubular bells, since not all libraries have that feature, for whatever reason. The different mics on the tubular bells really vary the sound, although to my ears the bells do have a bit of a thwack sound to them, like the mallet/chime hammer being used is pretty hard. Not a problem for me, but if you want a more sonorous and/or warmer tone, these might not be quite what you are looking for. Marimba - quite lovely, with a smooth mix of velocity layers Timpanis - Gotta admit, these are disappointing me so far. There are some nice samples here, for sure, but I don't find the transition between velocity layers is quite as smooth as I'd like, and I'm not all that keen on the timp rolls with the mod wheel. It could be that I just need more time with them, but I find the rolls are really phasey if you move the mod wheel too fast, and they cut off instantly - and very artificially - when you let go of the key. That would be fine if you could cap the roll off with a single hit, but I find that the tone of the rolls does not match with the tone of the single hits, and so doing a crescendo / end strike with the mod wheel and the single hits just doesn't sound real to my ears. I gotta play with this more, see if it's just a matter of finding the right velocity. But so far, I don't see me using the timps all that much. I have other timp libraries that better suit my template. Overall though, this collection is totally worth $48 bucks, as there is a ton of great stuff in it.

I have a handful of their starter packages, and really like the sound of them. But the lost / broken key policy, which requires you to buy back libraries you have already purchased -- unless you buy into their insurance policy -- is ridiculous and insulting. I no longer have any interest in buying into their ecosystem.

Dirk Ehlert has one of his walk-thrus for Dark Era: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxNObpEC4d8 Takes a while to get going, but a decent intro to how the library sounds.

Available here: https://www.bestservice.de/dark_era.htm Crossgrade for owners of previous Era libraries: https://www.bestservice.de/dark_era_crossgrade.html

Thanks! Yeah, I fiddled with the Dynamic wheel, but it made no difference, in this case. I'm wondering if I have to reinstall it or something. It is just the one articulation, in the one patch, and I restarted my computer and relaunched it, and the problem remained. Thanks for testing it on your end. Rob

Hi folks, Anyone who has Symphony Series Brass Ensemble library (the full library, not the essentials one), I'd be curious if you have the same experience I am having when I load up the full trumpets patch. I discovered tonight that when I load up the "Trumpets.nki" patch, and select the "Velocity Staccato" articulation, it does not play properly. The highest velocities don't make any sound, only the lower velocities do. When I try the same articulation in the "Staccato Trumpets.nki" it works fine. This is only in the "Trumpets.nki" one. Is anyone else hearing this? Thanks, Rob

I picked up Iris 2, as I've heard a lot of good things about it, but I can barely use it on my system. Crackles and pops like crazy, every patch, no matter what settings I use, so far. Not sure why that would be -- I have a pretty good system with lots of resources, and it handles every other plug in and synth without a problem. Has anyone experienced this?

It's been a few years since I built a new system, but the last 4 or 5 computers I've assembled (including my last couple of audio workstations, gaming computers for myself and my sons, and my home theatre PC), all use Gigabyte mobos. I've used Asus in the past, but for whatever reason, I've had poor luck with them -- early demises, stability problems, etc. That's all very anecdotal, and maybe just bad luck, as I have friends who swear by Asus and use nothing else. But I've had much better luck with Gigabyte mobos, FWIW, and they are now the only brand I will use. YMMV

Worth $20, for sure. Potentially very useful.

First freebie has dropped: https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra-1-tutti-hits/ More will follow on the last Thursday of each month.

Available here: https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra-1-tutti-hits/ Additional instruments released once a month, on the last Thursday...

Exponential Audio - Nimbus reverb is my goto: https://www.exponentialaudio.com/nimbus/ Love how it sounds -- clean and spacious and rich.

Well-written song, good vocal work, and I like the clarity of the recording -- very clean, nicely detailed. Has a real air of polish about it. Enjoyed this a lot.

"Passing Through Gethsemane" and "Intersections in Real Time"...and any episode where Zathras makes an appearance, of course. Poor, poor Zathras...