Tim Smith

Same here, but I think I could still be enticed with the right FX. I watched a few demo videos of pigments a few days ago. I'm on the fence but getting close. It seems a lot like many other synths to me. Maybe not. For the asking price at 1/2 off it is probably worth a try. Thanks. I am seeing 399.00 for this.

The magazine industry is slowly dying. Most recent magazines I subscribe to are at least 50% filler or more. I don't get on quite as well with e-subs and for the longest time I subscribed to the paper version of SOS. I then went to e-sub. Better than nothing but never as good as a hard copy of that magazine. I don't know who takes the pics and does their printing, but it's amazing compared to most other magazines, almost like a small bound book instead of a magazine. Like so many other things though, this has probably changed.

I didn't get my foot in the door on this one. *groan*

?Not to be outdone by Arturia who just listed Augmented voices at 1/2 price. I might have to look at this one. Not the same type of thing, but in that category.

I'm not sure how they are managing to do that but hey, that's a decent deal.

Looking at Augmented voices and Pigments for this deal. For those who use Arturia Efx, Are they pretty good? I have a few of their free ones which I notice are now selling for 49.00 half price. The rtube preamp looks interesting. The 76....also looks interesting but I must have like five 76 emulations already. Would the crossgrade/upgrade be a better deal if you already owned the program?

Thanks for sharing your computer update. Although the i7 6700 is circa 2015 it should still be a viable chip for lower load DAW work. You managed to update your older system very reasonably. I have kicked around some similar ideas. I still have an old 4 core in a pro box i decommissioned when I did my last build and I could probably put a MOBO and cpu in it. I found a seller who wanted 200.00 for a an Intel i7 12700K. That's a fairly new and fast chip. He lived almost 3 hours away though and I didn't have the time to go get it. He didn't want to ship it out. It was till in the box as he had received it as a gift and never opened it. If he had been a lot closer I would have snapped it up. Lots of used computer parts out there, but they are often older and low end. Would be fine for a web surfer but terrible for a DAW. If one looks though, gems can be had.

I decided on the Arturia Keyscape MK II 61 key controller. There were some issues in getting it to work initially which I blamed on the hardware. The problems all turned out to be software settings inside the various DAWS. Now that things are all fixed I can call up any DAW I have and control panning, track levels, record, toggle locations etc. I am seeing the 61 keys isn't enough for me about 10% of the time when I want an 88 key controller, so in hindsight I didn't make the right initial choice for me. Don't get me wrong, for anyone who mainly wants to compose and control a DAW, the 61 will be fine for them. For even a part time pianist though...probably not. Don't look for piano feel in the 61. There isn't any. I would never recommend this board to anyone who is accustomed to playing the full 88 on a piano. I found out the hard way it probably wasn't the best fit for me. I didn't realize I would miss having 88 keys as much as I do. I still like the 61 key version so much I am tempted to keep it and still buy the 88. Then I would have both. If you use the included Arturia synth software I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the control and the quality you have with both of these boards. I have found most serious pianists to be more finicky than electric guitar players, so if you go to YouTube you'll find several pro pianists who found some little thing wrong they didn't like. For me though ( just an average pianist) I would love having 88 weighted keys along with this control. I believe this is the very best controller out there for DAW users. Not a one trick pony like the NI controller which leaves out tactile DAW control. I plan to also purchase the 88 key version of the MKII Keyscape. I am happy with the 61 until I get the 88. You don't seem to be saying you need this level of control. For me that was one of the main draws.

Thanks Mark, So I already had the full version and unlocked it. That's interesting. I have a fair number of strings libraries and against some of them, this rocks. There are some patches in here I would need to dial in with other libraries. IOW, lots of useful patches I think will fit in a mix probably untouched. Even though this is a "synth" strings library, it competes well with sampled strings libraries all depending on what a person is doing. For me, I think I can simply slot in a bunch of these with no tweaking. The process makes more sense to me when I consider Arturia's building legacy of modeled instruments. This stands somewhere in between. A good instrument with a small footprint. Hard to go wrong there.

One good thing- It looks like the desktop build market will continue for some time yet. The gamer market will prop it up for some time yet IMO. Good luck on the upgrade/build. If changing the mobo I would look at the chipset that best suits a low latency build. I think it's the 670? Unless you're going to Ryzen.

Say whaaaat?

Kool-ade is over rated.

Even though a new build is still a little ways off for me, I have been busy looking at all the latest hardware from both Intel and AMD. It seems Intel has once again gained a marginal foothold in the high performance desktop sector. For awhile Ryzen was blazing with new powerful and lower currect chips from the 3800 series to the 5800 series and all in between. Intel has gained an advantage by adding a few more cores to existing multi core configurations. These additional cores are less powerful but fit well in between good power consumption, heat management and performance. Ryzen is often viewed as a less expensive alternative and offeres a decent price to performance ratio. Their prices appear to be climbing along with the performance. All said, I wouldn't let the smaller difference in price now be a factor in my decision. It isn't just the cpu being considered here, since the additional requirements of a motherboard are very important and often drive up the cost of a total build beyond projected numbers. For instance an Alder Lake i7 12700K to remain current should probably have DDR 5 memory. Yes you can make a build with DDR 4 but why do that when trying to stay future proof? Many have said it makes more sense to wait on the non K version because overclocking this chip really isn't terribly beneficial. On the Ryzen side of things, technically Intel has a slight advantage, however Ryzen is no slouch and for most intensive applications it will be more than enough at the 5000 series level when comparing to Intel. Ryzen is noted to have had an advantage on the video end as well. Speaking of video, for a DAW maybe the onboard video in something like the i7 or i9 would probably be adequate and even if you bought a video card, it makes sense to have onboard as a backup solution in a pinch. Video cards are "up there" right now in terms of price, however if using a computer for graphic intensive software, it makes sense to make that upgrade at the same time. I don't see the point in transferring over a 10 year old video card. If things are tight and one isn't picky about video, then maybe. I probably won't go that route. A large video card means a lot more heat to get rid of and the potential for more noise. Putting together a rig at the high end with Intel begins with a 400-500 dollar cpu. It all adds up. If we were on the cheap we would just get a laptop and be done with it. While it is still true an Intel build will cost more over all than an AMD build. I am still willing to shell out a little more for what I perceive to be an overall better machine in Intel. I know there are those who might disagree. I admit to some bias and am willing to be convinced. I think we are well past the idea of a head to head shootout with a clear winner in daily DAW use. Both makers make a killer machine if you set it up correctly. From what I gather, Win 11 has some quirks that need to be ironed out. I don't think you can drop it in for DAW work without any tweaking unless you don't put a havey load on the computer. Not sure, but if win 11 professional is anything like Win 10 pro, there are certainly options. Unlike Win home.

Interesting and useful bunch of info there aslow. Thanks. Those Germans aren't so bad after all

I purchased the upgrade, but man I don't think the portal downloaded anything. I mean it shows up as AS and not AS intro. I guess I have it. Fastest download eva. I think something's up. Maybe not.

Socks? It's too hot for sock plugins.

I don't know what to say to that.

If they keep playing eventually they will be zombies.

True that.

There are several very functional software solutions for podcasts and videocasts. While the Rode looks to have many of the audio bases covered I would need to be convinced it is any better than the software solutions. Much of this will depend on what you are actually trying to do. Some podcasts are interviewing guests from remote locations while others have everyone in the studio. Some rely heavily on video clips and show production in the video realm. If it's just you without much production involved this makes things far simpler. If you buy this from Sweetwater and it isn't working for you , at least you can send it back for a refund. If this is a hobby and not really producing any income, then it's your call as to if you want to invest in it or not. I am personally leary of these all-in-one sorts of solutions, however Rode has made a good name for themselves.

I have CORE because once you get Discovery, upgrades to CORE are sometimes a good deal. UNIFY adds some of the functionality to these libraries others offer in their packages using arpeggios and different mixes of instruments. I already had UNIFY so it was a no brainer for me. I see the BBC orchestra a a very nice library, but it's a straight up library stand alone that you need to dial in the types of responses you want. If a person fancies pre baked orchestral passages instead of making their own, then UNIFY makes a good partner here.

A.I. is where it's going now.

Entering? We been in it for awhile now haven't we?

One of my most recent pics-

I don't recall the footprint of AS, but I maybe falsely assumed it was like many other synths at the basic level. A set of samples, which in this case is mostly strings along with many ways to manipulate those samples and in some cases efx are added.. The library being the samples. The intro version is probably nothing too large. Your reference to "string box" brings up memories of the cheese machine which is pretty good for a free 64 bit vst in Cheese Machine 2. It likely uses sfz or similar small sample sets. In the free version of AS, there were some very realistic string sounds IMO. AS seems to take it up a step or two. I'm thinking better samples by far than CM and more synth choices. Sounds a bit smoother and more refined to me. I think I seen a free version of this too? I didn't download it yet.