Soundwise

I wonder, if the $20 upgrade path is permanent price or just a special introduction offer. I hope, they'll keep it at $20.

10 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

I've just installed UVI Workstation 3, having been using 2.8.x for a while. 

I can't use anything higher than 2.6.15, because they all crash right after launch.

1 hour ago, synkrotron said:

I know nothing about UVI Workstation.

I once was very optimistic about the UVI Workstation. However I'm stuck with a version which is already two years since the release. All later versions do not work on my PC (i7 Kaby Lake based). I had contacted their support quite a few times but they couldn't help, nor were they willing to fix the bug that caused the crash. So I prefer not to invest in UVI products. YMMV.

Bought it. Not sure why. Hopefully it'll grow on me and will be used extensively in the near future.  Not really impressed so far.

I've been eyeing the Character plugin for a while. At this price it's a great buy. BUT, I have already collected a bunch of saturation plugins. So my question is, has anyone compared it to other popular saturation plugins, e.g., Saturator X by IKM? Is it worth adding this plugin to collection?

Not that I needed yet another synth, but I couldn't resist the deal and snatched... TWO synths!   I demoed CODEX and really liked it's preset tones. Sounded awesome to me. Had no time to try the Flow Synth, but at this price it was a no-brainer.  Will have explore it later.

6 hours ago, Jim Roseberry said:

Bias Amp and ReValver sound nothing close to the realism of a Kemper.

I have no idea what technology is used in BIAS Amp or ReValver, and never heard or performed a comparison between these amp sims and Kemper, so I'll take your word for it.

But I'm not sure that Bias or ReValver use a simple FFT to capture the tone. I had tried to profile some tube gear with ACT Combo and could hardly tell the real thing from the profiled one. 

As for TH-U, it still is to be tested and compared to Kemper. Hopefully, it's in the same league.

42 minutes ago, marled said:

But I think the sound of each amp sim can be improved if you use hardware effects before your audio interface. If I play lead I often connect my guitars to a real overdrive or distortion stomp even in the case when I use nearly no drive. IMHO it sounds much better, no simulation comes near to that! 

Ditto! I always use a high quality tube preamp before my AI. It has a fixed gain  ratio about 4/1, which always provides superior clean tone, enhanced with vacuum tube harmonics. The impact isn't noticeable unless you A/B the recorded signal, DI vs this preamp.

PA heavy hitters get better discount. That's why some people see $29, while others get $49.

9 hours ago, Jim Roseberry said:

If you could create your own Profiles (and assuming they're as accurate as the Kemper), it's very much a game-changer.

The ability to very accurately reproduce the sound of any mic'd amp/cab (with a $200 plugin) would be revolutionary.

You can do this in ReValver and Bias Amp. So, there's nothing revolutionary. But the ability to use Kemper profiles is the main reason why I purchased the TH-U upgrade.

On 2/13/2019 at 9:34 PM, Tobias said:

What are your thoughts on TH3 full?  Are you happy with that one? I use that and it is very usable for my needs but when I saw there was an update, well, you know how it goes I tend not to buy things I dont need though, and reading your post and others in here, it does not seem to be that much of an incentive to go to TH-U at this point.  

TH3 is alright. It has some usable sounds, but it's not my number one for anything,  be it clean, crunch or lead tones. TH-U is not a game changer either.    Changing preamp/poweramp tubes  feel more like switching between different IRs. Hard to explain, but even though it sounds different and, to a certain degree, reminiscent of the modeled amplifier, it still doesn't feel right.

But I think with the right set if RIG profiles and IRs TH-U should sound and feel  very close to the real gear.

Maybe I should demo it first. Not really impressed with the tones so far. Shimmering reverb is just OK, Rig Player... well, maybe it'll grow on me with some great online profiles, but the provided profiles are nothing to write home about. I get better tones with AT4 and RV4, which also allows to use profiled amps/pedals/rigs, and tweak schematics when needed.

Bought the upgrade without even demoing it first. I'm sure it's worth the invested money. Downloading the demo now. It's so sloooowww...

I suggest you try the ToneBoosters Reverb 4. It sounds awesome! Recently I've been going through all  reverbs plugins installed on my system (20+), and was blown away by the quality of this plugin.

Back in the 90s it was amazing that even relatively cheap keyboards could do an entire arrangement on the fly. You just had to pick a song part and play some chords. After almost 30 years we are  finally getting closer to similar functionality in virtual instruments. Yes, they do sound better, more realistic and have more articulations. But honestly, any serious production of live oriented music (rock, pop, jazz, country, etc) still sounds best with the real players playing their real instruments. So, although all such tools are very welcome, I hope they will be priced reasonably. Can't see myself paying for a virtual instrument the same amount of cash as for a real bass. And obviously all small studios will avoid releasing tracks with auto-accompanying instruments in order to avoid sounding just like everybody else.

13 hours ago, Mike Docy said:

Serious question:

How to use the plugin?  Do you put one instance of it on every track, or what?  I don't understand how it interfaces with the daw.

That's easy! Just insert this plugin across all tracks you want to mix with it. Then assign each track to a subgroup, e.g., Kick and Snare to Drums group (Chris like to call them buckets), guitar tracks to Guitar group or buckets, etc.

Then you'll be able to open any instance of the plugin and mix from there  the way Chris does with his console.

Isn't it what ProChannel is all about? I chose Sonar for this functionality. Obviously CLA plugins sounds somewhat different, but I prefer the workflow of the ProChannel. It's so genius!

BTW, did anyone notice that Chris is talking to me?

Thanks, guys!

Still no Levels license after two days. Guess, we need to contact the support.

I only see Grow serial in my account and no LEVELS license is available to me nor via Focusrite neither in the MTM user area.  Anyone got the Levels license?

6 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said:

In your example what you are doing is soloing different groups of tracks. Why not do this using the standard grouping feature?

• Select the tracks you want 
• Right click on the solo button and set to Group A
• Select the second set of tracks or buses and assign to Group B
• Now you can easily toggle the solo groups created above independently 

In fact grouping this way is also compatible with the exclusive solo state. If exclusive solo is on and you click on a different solo group it will toggle off the prior group. 

  

I thinks I'm spoiled with the REAPER's way of doing this.   They've also implemented similar logic to the Mute buttons.

Grouping controls is great for something that's just set and leave.  It would be even better to use hotkeys and modifier key(s) plus mouse click for that.

So adding  adding these functions to the keyboard shortcuts list and applying the similar logic to the Mute buttons is my FR.

Could work like this:

• Hold [Ctrl + Shift + A] and click select tracks to add them to A group,
• Hold [Ctrl + Shift + B]  and click select tracks to add them to B group, etc
• Clicking on a control assigned to A group with the [Ctrl + Shift + B]   combination automatically reassigns that control to B group, etc. 

Also there is a Solo selected tracks command WITH an assignable hotkey in the Track View, but it does not work in the Console View.

Great ideas! I particularly like #4 but fail to see how is this different from clicking on an effect in the FX bin.

I use CbB to make music, test gear and virtual plugins, make demos.

I use REAPER to learn songs, following them by ear and to practice before the rehearsals/live playing.

I also have SO4, Samp X3, Cubase 8LE but almost never use 'em due to uncomfortable workflow and some things that bug me in a bad way (including software bugs).

I must admit,  I wasn't clear about it.  Wrote the original post in a hurry and forgot about the exciting functionality.

16 hours ago, jesse g said:

To enable/disable Solo Override

Hold down the SHIFT key and click a track’s or bus’ Solo button .

The Solo button is displayed as to indicate that Solo Override is enabled. Solo Override prevents the track or bus from being muted when other tracks or buses are soloed. 

Thanks Jesse!

4 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said:

I assume that you are finding some workflow missing from our Exclusive solo functionality (Mix module in control bar). Can you please explain the steps you are taking and whats not working for you?

Thank you for your question!

Well, currently it is possible to quickly switch between tracks or buses in the Solo Exclusive mode.  I  need to be able to click solo button holding some modifier keys, like Ctrl+Alt.  And the most important part is to be able to Solo Exclusively any set of tracks, not organized in folders or grouped. 

The logic behind it would be:

1. Enable SE mode but pressing the corresponding button on the Control Pane

2. Enable SE mode for the tracks that need to stay soloed.

3. Select the first track for the AB-ing and use modifier key to add other tracks to the temporary SE group.

4. To reset the selection (to dismiss the temporary group) choose any tracks without holding the key modifier and start adding desired tracks to it.

The same or similar  behaviour for the Mute Exclusive functionality would be great too!

When and why would this be useful:

1. You have double tracked parts you need to audition in pairs (trios, quartets) and compare against other parts also double- or multi-tracked.

2. You are using sets of loops in your arrangement and need figure which set works best for your forthcoming masterpiece.

3.

a) You have layered sounds and need to find the perfect combo (using Solo Exclusive quick grouping) or

 b) You need to quickly exclude (mute) one or more layers to see if it benefits your track.

Layers could be back vocals, synth pads, orchestral instruments, drum samples, guitar multi-tracking using different pickups, amps   or instruments, etc.

+1 for the Deals forum.

How about adding some navigation goodies like menu with the recent post, post popular post, recently visited threads, etc?

I hope there will be the studio section with all the usual suspects. Looking forward to it.