Lee Shapiro

I'm having issues with a lot of clicking and popping throughout my current project (it was okay before the update) Is the MIDI buffer size relevant to my problem? And is 50 considered the best setting as far as the safest vs fastest setting? On the Help page for the setting it shows it set at 500 (even if that was from an older version of Cakewalk/Sonar. I tried several numbers from 20 to 500, but still getting some crackling. I froze a couple of VSTi tracks and that helped a little.

The other issue I'm having (I don't know if it's related) is that I cannot change "Record Latency Adjustment Device" to the proper device: ASIO Saffire Pro 24 It keeps reverting back to "Magix Low Latency 2016) Which I have no idea where that came from, but those devices are UNCHECKED in the Input/Output Drivers window. (See screen shots above)

I'm having some major issues after installing this early release (2019.11) When I play the project I've been working on, I get constant crackling and pops throughout the entire song. When I first installed the new release, it stopped the audio engine. There is a LOT to take in with all the changes to the MIDI and audio settings. I've tried to go through each one, but honestly, I'm a bit overwhelmed. My project consists of a "normal" amount of virtual instruments and plugins, nothing excessive that would cause any problems in the past. Superior Drummer, Two instance of Kontakt (Evolution Strat and Scarbee Bass), MusicLab RealStrat, EZDrummer, and PianoTeq. For efx, I have Guitar Rig 5 and Ozone 9 in the master bus (which I tried in bypass) . All working okay before the update. See my signature for my DAW Hardware. The settings I've tried adjusting (up and down) seem to make little difference in the amount of crackling I hear: (also see attached screen shots) Adjusted Mixing Latency buffer Size (tried 256, 512, 1024) Playback I/o Buffer Size (tried 256, 512, 1024), Playback Prepare Using (tried 20, 100, 200, 300, 400) Millisecond Buffers. Sampling Rate 48000, Bit Rate 24 (Record), 32 (Render) And finally my Saffire Mix Control software for my Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, is set to: Sample Rate 48Khz, with Audio Buffer Size set to 512 (what I normally set it to). Could you guys maybe give me some suggestions on what I can try? When you hear constant crackling, what's the first thing you would check? Thanks for any suggestions!

I have SD3 and EZ Drummer, and I actually like more of the kick drum sounds better on EZ Drummer. But SD3 has better toms, snares and cymbals.

Thanks for your comments. And yes, I love the sound of the B3, (I think I have about 7 different B3 plugins) and I'd use the organ in every song, but that would probably be too much, so I have to restrain myself and say, No, I'm not putting a B3 in this song. LOL! But thanks for the "wow", I appreciate it. I might also humbly suggest you check out a slow blues instrumental I wrote, where I really cut loose on the B3. "Once Upon A Town" https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13353251 Thanks Wookiee, I appreciate it.

Hi Bob, First, thanks so much for your kind comments. I really appreciate it. And thanks for listening to some of my other songs as well. I had several people tell me that "Hard Landing" had a Tom Petty vibe. Bob Dylan and Tom Petty seem to be the two musicians that get mentioned most if there are any comparisons made. Someone also mentioned Randy Newman when listening to "Glassy Eyes". I guess it's all good though. And I wanted to tell you that I've been listening to a bunch of songs posted in this forum by other members, including some of your songs. I'm really impressed with your professional sounding productions. Even though heavy rock is not my usual genre, I found your songs inspiring. I often use them, along with some others here, as reference songs when mixing my own songs. So thanks for that as well. Anyway, thanks again for listening and replying. And I hope to continue to improve in my writing and production skills. Talk to you soon!

EDIT: Updated song, minor remixing, and added some compression to the instrument bus. Also tweaked Ozone (applied to the master bus), to make it a little punchier. All minor changes that made the overall mix sound better.

My latest attempt at writing a song a few people might like...trying to interest listeners enough into responding with comments. Which is the theme of the song....trying. So, comments and critiques would be most appreciated. ****Updated - Version 2 - 11/2/19. I added mild compression to the instrument bus, as suggested by someone in the Facebook Cakewalk by Bandlab group. It's a subtle difference, but I think it makes the mix sound a little better. https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13940578

It's October 11, 2019. There have been a couple of hot fixes in the last couple of days. Build 25.09.0.68 and Build 25.09.0.70 hotfixes. It would help in the release notes to put the date of release next to the build number. I know that sometimes there is a date, but on the latest release notes it just lists the build number. It would be especially helpful when hotfixes are released a day or two apart to know the date of each one. I don't often look at the build number on my installed software, and when I get messages two days in a row about hotfixes, I'm not sure if it's a mistaken message or there is another one released the following day. Also, when there is an update, In the Bandlab Assistant, there's a dropdown next to the update button, with one option that says "Learn" about the latest update. (or something like that) That link just takes me to the main page. It would be helpful if that link took us directly to the associated Release Notes page. Thanks!

Yeah! Downloading now. The new features look great. And the upgrade price is pretty decent for Ozone Adv 5- 8 owners. $149 plus tax. (So, I cut back a bit on my food budget this month) Hopefully they worked on the resource management. I noticed that Ozone 8 used a lot more system resources than 7....hopefully 9 won't be any more of a hog.

Originally my "go to" Hammond was Native instruments B4. and then the B4II. But for some reason NI stopped making that plugin and replaced it with Vintage Organs, which doesn't sound nearly as good as B4. Then the GSi VB3 was my go to Hammond for a long time. Unfortunately something went wrong with VB3 v2. It doesn't sound as good as the original. I have several others, but for me my current go-to Hammond is GG Audio's Blue3. IMHO, it is the best sounding Hammond emulator. I also tried the brand new IK Multimedia Hammond B-3X. A lot of people really like it. But after doing extensive A/B comparisons with the Blue3, I find that the Blue3 has a superior sounding Leslie speaker sound, including a better sounding tube overdrive. Blue3 is about a $100 cheaper than the new B-3X, and it uses much less system resources than the B-3X, which I'm reading is a common complaint among users. Go for GG Audio's Blue3. For $100, you can't go wrong!

Yes, I agree. If you already own Blue3, I advise sticking with it. It uses much less ram and system resources than the B-3X, and it's Leslie emulator sounds better. They are both very close in their basic sounds, and the B-3X might have several specific details that sound better than Blue3. But just trying to get that perfect growl sound (overdrive) is much simpler within Blue3, and to me, sounds more natural. Blue3 also has much better presets. Plus Blue3 is about $100 cheaper than B-3X. When I first got the B-3X, I was thoroughly disappointed after doing some A/B comparisons with Blue3. But after a few days of working with it, I'm figuring out ways to make it sound almost as good as what I am getting from Blue3. But in the long run, I probably will continue using Blue3 in my music.

Well, all I know is that I spent a couple of hours A/B comparing the two Hammond plugins, trying to get a decent overdrive sound out of the B-3X to try and come close to the sweet growl of the Blue3. I did discover one thing. The distortion stomp box for the B3X is horrible. But I was able to get some decent overdrive by mixing two amps in the Amp Mixer section. I used a 122 Leslie Amp/Cabinet and mixed it with their British Lead Amp, with the gain turned up to about 5. I found the right mix levels of the two, and it sounds much better than the distortion stomp box. BUT still not as good sounding as what I can get from the Blue3. I respect your opinion (as I hope you do mine). I can even post an audio file with some of my results, and maybe you can do the same. I also respect IK Multimedia and what they have done with their Hammond emulator. The basic sounds are very authentic sounding. But the growl and the amps just sound better to me with Blue3. EDIT: My 'go to' settings (for the overdrive) in Blue3 is Selecting "C" Type Drive turned up about half way up, and using the Custom cabinet selection. And that, for me, is all it takes to get the overdrive sound that sounds good without being too distorted or unnatural sounding. As with the B-3X, it took a whole lot more tweaking and mixing to even come close.

If you own GG Audio's Blue3 and are planning to buy the Hammond B3X, I would strongly advise you to download the demo first. Unfortunately, I purchased the B3-X plugin based on the audio demos from their website. But when doing a simple A/B comparison with Blue3, I discovered a big difference in quality, especially when it concerned the distortion (aging/overdrive) options. Compared to the Blue3, the B3-X sounds awful when adding the distortion. And I spent hours trying to get the B3-X sounding as good as the Blue3. I'm really upset that I purchased the B3X just a FEW HOURS before the demo version was made available. Had I known there was going to be a demo version I definitely would have downloaded that first. And I would have discovered that I liked the Blue3 better. In all fairness, you may like the B3X, especially if you don't have any other Hammond emulators to compare it to. But I just wanted to put this out there, that some people might find it inferior to other Hammond B3 plugins. Sorry to say, I'm a victim of my own impatience and I should have waited to get the demo. But there was no announcement made that a demo was forthcoming. Which I think is pretty unfair.

I know there used to be, back in the old, old days. (Remember Ona?) But I'm afraid, just as with women in general, the good ones are out of my league. 😪 Thanks kloon. I might try the Bandlab thing. I don't know exactly how it works, but I know there is some sort of collaboration setup for musicians to share and work with each other.

Wow, oookay... the search continues then. I'll probably just start up again with my second favorite passion, smoking. I'm much better at that anyway. 🙄

[Previously posted in the Coffee House forum] I wrote this song for a friend to sing, she's got a great voice but for reasons I won't get into she is unable to work on it at this time. I wrote it with a bluesy female vocalist in mind, plus if anyone has ever heard me sing, you'll know I prefer working with vocalists. 😉 If you are (or know anyone that you can recommend) please let me know. I posted the song below. It's a rough draft, and the lyrics have been updated since I originally recorded it. (just minor changes here and there) It is a political song, so depending on your personal politics, that may be a factor for working on it. Thanks for listening. "A Man Without Love" (lyrics included on the song's info page) https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13819676

As suggested by James G, I'm going to move this over to the songs forum, hopefully for better results. I don't know how to delete this post, so maybe one of the moderators could do that for me. Thanks!

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this in, but I figure it's pretty safe in the Coffee House... I wrote this song for a friend to sing, she's got a great voice but for reasons I won't get into she is unable to work on this with me at this time. I wrote it with a bluesy female vocalist in mind, plus if anyone has ever heard me sing, you'll know I prefer working with vocalists. So for vocals my preferences would be in this order: 1- Bluesy female vocalist, 2- Any decent female vocalist, or 3- a decent male or female vocalist. As a secondary collaboration, I would also be interested in a electric blues lead guitarist to do the guitar solo part. If you are (or know anyone that you can recommend) any of the above, please let me know. I posted the song below. It's a rough draft, and the lyrics have been updated since I originally recorded it. (just minor changes here and there) It is a political song, so depending on your personal politics, that may be a factor for working on it. The guitar solo begins at around 4:20 and lasts about 50 seconds. Thanks again! "A Man Without Love" https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13819676

I have Melodyne Studio, but haven't had much luck with adjusting the formants. It just makes things sound worse. I think we need "The Huge Book of Melodyne Tips". 😁

I think I tried that before a long time ago. I usually have it set to "Melodic" for a single vocal track. I seem to remember the other choices either didn't work or didn't sound as good. I might try the Universal algorithm and see if that improves anything. Thanks!

Any improvement in sound quality? Whenever I lower a (vocal) note, even just one semitone, the audio sounds more muffled that the original recording. Going up the scale doesn't seem to make things sound worse, only going down. It's been like that for a long time. I emailed Celemony about it, and they said they never experienced that and wanted me to send them a sample (which I never got around to doing yet). I figured if they didn't know about this problem, they're either lying or it's just me having this problem. Since my vocals aren't that great to begin with, I usually apply Melodyne to the entire track, as a track FX.

Hopefully these preview images are a big larger than the ones originally posted. EDIT: Nope, sorry. Even when I click on the (+) enlarge symbol, they remain the same size as the preview images. But at least you have a few different views, including the background image.

Yes, it reminds me of the colorful curtain used on the old Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. And I LOVE this theme. It's my new favorite.....great job, thank you Matthew White!