antler

The organ goes really well with the guitars. I'm pretty sure that if I started practising guitar every day from now, that I still wouldn't be able to play as well by the time I'm 68 - great playing and mix as usual!

Nice - it takes it in a very different direction from the original! I wasn't quite sure what to expect with the glockenspiel intro - it makes for an unusual (but good) complement to the sonic palette of metal.

They may have given it away before (they've had Christmas giveaways like this for at least the past few years, as well as a weekly giveaway on Thursdays throughout the rest of the year), but this is the first time that I've seen that title in a giveaway.

Good idea, though you'll need to make sure all legato transitions are done at the same speed/note-velocity. Doing them manually also may (or may not) produce a more natural sounding result when the different sections play against each other.

Fair enough - must have done it so long ago that I forgot it did that. But now you mention it, there are two other services that NI installs for you; can't remember what they're called, but one is for optimising with their cloud loops service, and one is for integration with NI hardware.

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden today

Yes - the samples in CSS have an attack time, so you'll need to unsnap from the grid and move the notes back a little, much like some vocal libraries. You have two legato speeds (three in advanced mode) that depend on note velocity - when you transition between notes, you'll need to move the MIDI notes back a little depending on their velocity (softest results in slowest legato)

A really well put together song - love the vocal harmonies. The guitar and strings give it a really light overall feeling and the brushed snares give it some movement - much like, well... flying.

Nice song Jack. Catchy chord sequence, and much better than what passes for pop these days.

Just curious, but what don't you like about it? I think it's quite nice for pieces requiring a smaller-sounding ensemble.

So after thinking about it a bit more, I think I'll pass on this. The demos sound good but I already have orchestral libraries, even if they don't go up to fff. It's very expensive for a set of libraries in a player that sounds like it still has some problems, and I think I prefer each instrument type to be broken down into sections (e.g. violins 1, violins 2, etc); it might be a moot point for an epic library like this, but that's my preferred workflow at the moment.

I don't have anything from Orchestral Tools, and I've never used Sine; what's so bad about it? Just trying to figure out whether it's worth getting the Sine version of these, or just sticking to my current set of Kontakt orchestral libraries (which too be honest is good enough: GAS is bad)

I'm not getting those banners - is the bundle a time limited special? 999 Euros is a huge discount given that each volume is at least 549 (Kontakt), and the Ark 1+2 bundle is 839 (Sine)

Thanks Bill - Very cool and atmospheric! Seasons Greetings to you (and also everyone else) too!

Your music sounds pretty good despite claiming to not know much about mixing/EQ. I'd definitely suggest posting more to the Songs forum if you don't mind sharing - you can sometimes pick up some useful tips from there too.

I'm guessing he means phrase libraries like Action Strings, and (UJAM's) STRIIIINGs - I'm not sure how many people would hear a sampled E5 note from a legato-strings section and say something like "A-ha! That comes from CineStrings; just like that other piece I heard yesterday - everything sounds the same these days..." I get the irony though

Please do - it'd be nice to hear what the Cat creates

Loop Hero today https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/

Good point - I bought a bundle of KF libraries a while back; can't remember who from - maybe APD? - but they did give me redemption codes

I wonder if it's because they don't "own" their store? e.g. the use something like fastspring. Could be completely wrong on this one; I have no idea how third party webstores (like fastspring/digital river/etc) work.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter today

Remnant: From the Ashes has been on my Steam wishlist for a while now. It's only the base game that Epic's giving away (not the DLC), but I've got so many unplayed games that it's probably enough.

Sounds good to me. If I were to be picky, I might suggest panning the piano slightly more away from the centre to keep the vocal a bit cleaner. As David mentioned, I was partially expecting a bigger ending - maybe drums coming in with some electric guitar power chords - though maybe that's just a reflection of the type of music I might listen to.

That was amazing! Who did the backing vocals?

Looks like there's still time to pick up Shadow Hills (green), and Unfiltered Audio LION, but the coupons expire today (18th). The coupons for Iron and Keemun expire tomorrow (19th).