Tim Smith

I've been demoted about as low as anyone can go here on the Cakewalk forum. Tried to log on. Was directed to logon through Bandlab. After I logged on I realized someone stole all of my post count. 20 years on the forum as a nobody and now I don't even have posts to show for it. Who stole my beans? Bapu? That there post count sure did jump a lot in just a few hours. Now we know the REST of the story.

Thanks for the update on this update. Now all I need to do is update myself.

I'm still on the fence. I went to my IK user area to see what I actually have. I have Studio MAX 2 , TRacks MAX and full sampletank but I guess the upgrade to MAX 3 isn't in this deal. MAX has a lot of the offerings in it already. I am tempted by the Organ and Leslie. Not something I would use every day but it looks interesting. I have Modo bass but not Modo drums, however I have a half dozen similar kits in other programs. I have ARC3 with the mic. Plugins include the Stealth Limiter and the Lurrsen. I guess this is what happens when you've been through a couple of these group buys already. I am more of a keys and acoustic guitar player so Amplitube isn't high on my list, though I have the light version of A5 and the full version of A4. I am looking to maybe get away from another well known plug in maker to plugins that don't require a fee to update. I have a bunch of IK plugins. I'm sure I don't have all of them. Honestly not sure how they compare to others in every case. Some are dated and others are more recent. Any AI plugins offered? None are jumping out at me.I have a rather large bunch of the mocked up to look like hardware ones. More version of Pultec than I know what to do with. I have heard some very good mixes only done using TRacks plugins. Which plugins are go too plug ins you use often?

Sure! Here in the US that's the way it is generally understood. Classical players on the high end would never utter that F word. It would be blasphemy in pro circles. Both the expectations and the level of playing are put up on a much higher level than folk fiddle players. Unfortunately I have felt some of the "stuck up id ness" that comes along with those players. Not that they all are that way but it seem to come with the territory with many of them.. As you can see there are very good folk fiddle players too like Kevin Burke, but he has chosen to stay in that realm which is limited compared to classical violin and it's mostly the kind of music I gravitate to over classical music most of the time. For me, the technical part of the music isn't the music. The music is the music. Classical composers are constantly pushing the limits of what people and instruments can do. A pro classical violinist will start at 4 years old, practice at least 4 hours or more a day and have steep competition to get the best jobs. I'll never make that grade nor would I have a desire to. As a comparison here is a world renowned classical violinist. For anyone who has ever attempted the instrument you know this is actually much harder than it appears to those who know nothing about it. This is all VERY difficult to do with zero mistakes. This is another thought for anyone programming something Like the Joshua Bell violin.

While violin and fiddle are the same basic instrument, there are many variables. Folk fiddler's sometimes use a different bridge with a flatter arc to play double stops and often use steel strings while some old school classical players might use gut strings. Both also use synthetic strings. Different string arrangements are sometimes used in folk fiddle. Folk fiddlers tend to spend less on their instruments. While this isn't a given it's pretty common for a weekend player to play an intermediate instrument. Rolling around in bars and under pavilions at picnics in the rain isn't where you want to take a nice instrument or bow. These instruments often use lesser quality construction and lower quality woods. This can sometimes result in a less refined or tuned sound. Less projection and uneven playing across all strings. Low end beginner instruments from 200.00 to maybe 600.00. Intermediate instruments from 600 to as high as 5000.00. Classical players are demanded to have only the better instruments for their technique which often involves higher positions on the neck. 2nd, 3rd,4th and 5th positions. Folk fiddlers mostly play in 1st position and sometimes go to higher occasionally. Classical players often live on those higher positions. I practice at 2nd and 3rd positions. For anyone mocking up music for a fiddler this is something to keep in mind. To be accurate I would keep fiddle tunes on 1st and 2nd position. No higher. Classical players buy violins beginning in the 10,000 dollar range for an instrument with large full time orchestra players 20-30,000 dollars for a violin is not uncommon. Getting above those prices the buyer is often paying for collector value as opposed to player value or both. I have 5 violins. I only have one decent violin that cast me 3000 dollars. I have a couple that are in the 1500.00 range too. The 3K violin also has a 400.00 bow. Advantages of the better violins are more responsiveness, better sound, made of better materials,they stay in tune better, they often project a little better with less effort. You can tell a BIG difference between most low end violins and the better ones. So to answer that question in a nutshell aside from all of the variables I mentioned. Classically trained violinists generally play on much better instruments than the average folk fiddler. You can tell the difference in the sound. Classical players who also play gigs usually have a 2nd instrument for those gigs, probably something closer to mine. Here's a video of Kevin Burke playing in the Sligo tradition.

Having trained for both classical and folk violin/fiddle for the last 8 years with an emphasis on Irish bowing techniques and having heard most of the best vstis out there, I hate to say none of them come close to the traditional Irish folk fiddle sound. OTOH if it's classical you want to capture it's a much more doable thing. I have the full version Joshua Bell violin and if you program it correctly it's amazing for classical music. It sucks for anything folk fiddle though because the samples simply don't favor that style. Probably the closest one's I've heard so far are the Taylor Davis violin from Cinesamples. I thought I had a winner with Bolder sounds fiddle and while it can sound pretty good in the right mix with the right programming, takes a lot of work to get it anything similar to a real person playing in those folk styles. Irish folk fiddle is a very 'up front' sort of thing. What most people think of as folk fiddle are those airy new age sounding violins often heard on video game tracks about elves and fairys. A decent engineer could bury the Taylor Davis violin in a theme for a documentary on the Scottish highlands as an instrument that sort of weaves in with a nice little something and it would probably be unnoticed. If I demoed the track at my local Irish pub those gents would likely laugh out loud dowsing me with beer in the process. It's just a whole different approach and it isn't something that has really been copied using samples with any great success. For anyone who has no knowledge of either the style or the instrument I guess it really doesn't matter if it sounds good in the mix and people like it.