Matthew Sorrels

The Ultimate Update page lists the Stradivari Violin, but that info isn't on the Collector's Edition page. The details seem to be lacking. And yes, Guitar Center only sells to US Customers so you won't be able to see the pages unless you use a VPN.

Kontakt 6.4.0 is now showing the following when you start: NI really messed this one up. If you haven't updated to 6.4.0, don't. If you have, keep your eyes out for an update.

If I setup the same thing and use Insert Piz Here's midiMonitor synth as the destination for ChordZ output when you have a delay on ChordZ no MIDI is received by the midiMonitor synth. Pretty much points to it being some sort of problem with Cakewalk and/or (maybe) ChordZ. Not 100% sure you can tell who's at fault though. Just because it works in another DAW (seems to work fine in Nuendo 10.3) doesn't completely let ChordZ off the hook, but is a pretty good sign Cakewalk needs to look at it and see if they can figure out why it's not working right.

I think iZotope could double their sales if they fixed the way they compute upgrade prices and actually showed the best deal for things you don't have on the Loyalty Offers page under your account. Right now what offers you get/pricing you get is almost disconnected by what you have in your account. Too many times the only way to get the right/best deal is to order from a retailer (and provide whatever proof they need). I keep waiting for iZotope to get around to fixing their site/account management, but it doesn't seem to be on their to do list.

I think my jump to RX Post Production Suite 2.1 was $149, but I already had RX Advanced. But the upgrade to Suite 4 only added some 3D reverbs and didn't have a crazy discount, so I passed. When they added a few 3D reverbs to the Post Production Suite they jacked the price to go with them. RX 7 Advanced is pretty nice, though the upgrade pricing (in or out of the Post Production Suite) is very unhealthy. RX 8 will need to bring something very new to get me to jump when it ships. It's always better to wait for iZotope to come around.

The advance upgrades full retail prices have always been way too much. But iZotope can't help themselves, they will offer something with a bundle or what not that brings the price down. Still may be looking at $150-200 ish though.

There are at least two online magazine subscription services that include Computer Music, Readly and Magzter. A subscription to either gets you every new issue plus access to a large back issue collection. Using them you can register at FileSilo for all those issues. Readly has Computer music issue 286 (Oct 2020) through issue 214 (March 2015) then it has a single issue it claims is Feb 2014, but is really issue #213 Feb 2015. It has no issues before that. Readly also includes Music Tech, the German and US versions of Beat, Future Music and a few more music magazines. I think it's $9.99/month, cancel anytime. So you could buy it for one month every year and "collect" all the Computer Music, Beat, etc downloads. Though some codes are only valid for limited time/etc. https://us.readly.com/ Magzter Gold has a lot of overlap with Readly, but doesn't have Beat for example. It does have Computer Music/Future Music. For Computer Music it includes issues back to issue #200 Feb 2014 (so more than Readly). https://www.magzter.com/ I have subs to both, though my Magzter gold sub is some crazy deal of $9.99/every 3 months -- not sure you can get that anymore. I think Readly is the better service for music magazines but the price is a lot higher. Magzter has/makes deals and offers, Readly I haven't seen any (but I'd bet they do have them also if you are willing to wait). If my $3.33/month deal at Magzter ever ends I'll most likely cancel it. The unique titles on it that I like are a lot smaller than on Readly. But it's good enough to keep for $3.33/month. Neither require a Apple tablet/computer (unlike Texture, which I liked before Apple bought them out). The only music magazine I still read that I can't get on any of them is Sound On Sound, which I've moved to a Zinio subscription since Zinio does deals (unlike SoS direct subs which doesn't really discount all that much). That does mean I don't have access to the SoS forum/website, but Zinio discounts more than make up for that. Though you have to wait for a Zinio sale to get a good deal. Lucky for us Zinio has sales pretty much endlessly. I think they both offer free trials.

Sadly there isn't any compatibility with old projects using WS1 and WS2. So you have to manually setup WS2 with the same settings as WS1. Once you have converted all your projects you could get rid of WS1. I'm just going to keep it because it's not worth the headache of finding some old project that won't open right without it. I still have Kontakt 2 projects that I'd really love to know what the patches/settings were but it's not worth getting that old a version of Kontakt installed and authorized. At least with UVI the VST plugin part is fine and will read the older data file, you just have to keep the data file (and the iLok authorization)

None of these issues are really that big a deal, certainly not worth holding off on getting this. UVI has always been good about updating their libraries, unlike a lot of developers.

Sordino strings are a bit softer/muted. The Adagietto version includes Sordino patches (some) but also has a bit more bite. Back in the day I got both instruments at the same time and rarely used the Sordino version. But they are cut from similar cloth. If you have been using the Agitato Sordino Strings and like it, then I'd say the Adagietto collection is worth getting. If on the other hand you have the Sordino one and haven't really used it much and don't find it useful then Adagietto will just be more of the same. Personally I like more keyswitching than these older 8Dio product have, so I'd say there are better (but not really cheaper) instruments these days.

That's all I see too. Seems likely it's a problem. The By Type/Keys/German Accordion WS2/German Accordion Full and German Accordion Piccolo both produce a ton of missing .wav file errors (but the versions under By Region/Occidental don't). I think UVI needs to update this. And that means another full download. Joy.

The Claire stuff is very nice, but there is no upgrade path (or at least not one supported by the store, you may have some luck with asking direct though). As a result I'm not sure I'd recommend buying just the Alto Flute. You will want the whole Claire Woodwind Bundle, which last Christmas it looks like I got for $148.00. So honestly I'd say $38 for just the Alto Flute isn't a great deal. Adagietto is actually pretty nice. If you need a string section, especially for non-orchestral stuff -- pop/rock, I'd say it's a reasonable choice. Assuming you have the full version of Kontakt. It also has no upgrade paths, but I like its tone more than the full Anthology Strings. I rarely use it though because I have a lot of other choices.

I used UVI Portal. Firefox Nightly (yes I run the developer version) wouldn't/couldn't start the download from my UVI account page. Something I think Mozilla broke recently and I didn't think it was worth launching Chrome for so I used the Portal App. It didn't take 4 hours but wasn't nearly as fast as it should have been.

SDX on Sept 8, EBX on Sept 15. The bass is always late. ?

Some nice details on what's in the update over at VI https://vi-control.net/community/threads/uvi-release-world-suite-2-with-introductory-and-upgrade-offers.97671/ Took forever to download (UVI really needs to work on that). I like all the new instruments have a WS2 on them. I don't think this ever is going to replace high quality single instruments, but it was (and now is even more) one of the nicer world instrument collections.

$59 to upgrade from v1.

6.4.0 - 2020-08-26 New Dynamic Effects, new Main Effects Module. ADDED There are now two new effects for dynamic processing (SUPERCHARGER GT, Transparent Limiter) ADDED There is now a new Main Effects signal processing module ADDED New constants for the <generic> argument when setting and getting engine parameters ($NI_SEND_BUS, $NI_INSERT_BUS, $NI_MAIN_BUS) IMPROVED The number of maximum MIDI object export areas has been increased to 512 ADDED KSP A new constant that defines which area should be used when dragging from a specific label ($CONTROL_PAR_MIDI_EXPORT_AREA_IDX) ADDED KSP A new command that defines the number of MIDI object export areas mf_set_num_export_areas(<num_of_areas>) ADDED KSP A new command mf_copy_export_area(<index>) is used to manage the usage of the new additional export areas ADDED KSP New bindings for Inverter and Amplifier parameters for Phase Invert and L/R swap ($ENGINE_PAR_PHASE_INVERT, $ENGINE_PAR_LR_SWAP) ADDED KSP A new constant allows up to 16 custom event parameters to be assigned ($EVENT_PAR_CUSTOM) IMPROVED Effects can now be replaced with a right mouse click IMPROVED Saving the name of a custom snapshot by pressing “Enter” is now supported FIXED Since Kontakt 6.3.0 folder locations with a slash directly in the path would not be stored by Kontakt FIXED KSP Showing and hiding a label with a drop target did not work correctly FIXED Replika BBD Type, Diffusion Amount, Diffusion Mod and Diffusion Density did not correctly recall values FIXED When used as a send effect, Replika return parameter did not behave correctly FIXED Kontakt would crash in certain edge cases when manually entering values in edit fields ADDED New factory KSP multi script Remap Keyboard IMPROVED Tweaks to the factory KSP multi script Change Keys ADDED Replika, Plate Reverb and Send Effects Chain additional presets Creator Tools stays on version 1.2.0 and works with this version of Kontakt, too.

I also think you can re-download anything more than once. I'm sure there may be some limit, but I've not had a problem with just re-entering my serial number to get it to download again. The only "trick" is some of their libraries need install steps (Kontakt full libraries sometimes need to have images placed in specific loctations) and some users have issues with that. Mostly due to their older installers not correctly handling Kontakt 5 and Kontakt 6 both being installed. But the download is just files. You can move them anywhere you want after you get them, including to another machine.

All 8Dio products require the full version of Kontakt. There is no activation. You download the files (using their download manager) and you load them into the full version of Kontakt. https://8dio.com/company/contact/support/downloader-manager/ As far as recommends go, you have to remember 8Dio products roughly come in two flavors. One are products that are based on loops. Things like the Hybrid tools. The Kontakt instruments usually have a bunch of effects and arps and things but it's still just loops. Then there are the full on multi-sampled instruments. If you have no experience with loop based Kontakt instruments you may find it's a bit of a rough road. While I own a bunch of 8Dio loop-based instruments I'll be honest I've never been all that happy with them. Their "real" instruments are much better of course. The strings are pretty nice. The brass stuff is pretty nice. A lot of great percussion. Some very nice pianos. Way too many choirs. None are really bad but many of them feel like that were designed solely so Troels could make a single song and if you aren't him you'll never get much out of them. They do have a bunch of "odd" instruments (the 66 stuff and the misfits for example) that either works for you or is completely worthless. One thing they do seem to push are these giant/epic sized recordings (the 66 stuff, Majestica, etc) but I think you'll find it's more marketing hype than actually something you need or can use. A zillion Cellos doesn't somehow make your music "more epic". This is a hard lesson though, because it requires a bunch of time and experimentation to realize that bigger ensembles aren't really what you need. You should definitely get the free stuff (several of them I actually bought back in the day).

I'm seeing it (and I didn't purge any cache even) but I'm a desktop running real browsers (I tried Firefox Nightly and Chrome both work). Web caching can be almost impossible to work out. His ISP and/or one of the CDNs may also be responsible. Usually I just tell people to try another web browser. Sooner or later the cache will catch up.

Any VST plugins that are using the VST shell feature (like Waves and a few others) have to be scanned every single time you start if you have the automatic background scan on. With a shell plugin the actual plugin is another file, the DLL the host (like Cakewalk) talks to is just a shell. The actual plugins can be changed/updated without any visible change to the shell DLL itself, so hosts have no way of knowing if anything has changed. So they pretty much all scan the shell plugin completely every time. Wish they could make that an option so that if the shell date hasn't changed to not scan it.

I spent the morning hunting down jQuery fixes for abandoned plugins. The jQuery Migrate Helper plugin can help for now but won't solve the actual problem. They keep saying Wordpress 5.5 is largely a success, but it's not true.

If you can get the exact model of fan you could replace it, contact Zalman and check. But usually that's harder than you'd think on things no longer being made (the Zalman CNPS12X is discontinued). And trying to fit a random fan into that heatsink and have it still work well may be very tricky. That means you most likely need a whole new heatsink/fan unit. While there are a lot of different companies in this space, Noctua is where I'd start. If you have never installed a CPU cooler before, it's not that difficult, but it's best to do some homework. You have to make sure the new unit fits (height/width/ram clearance). You also should get something to clean off the old thermal paste. Just yesterday I redid the paste on an older computer using ArctiClean was pretty happy with it (vs old school 100% isopropyl alcohol). Though you'll need a micro-fiber/lint free cloth (which it doesn't come with). The new heatsink may come with new paste, though you may be better off getting something better. Again homework pays off. YouTube has lots of videos on the steps for just about everything. Watch a few of them so you know what you are getting into.

I believe all the Bela D libraries require the full version of Kontakt.

Yes they have a sort of unique way of mapping the drawing to the left/right/up/down panning of the sound. In each of the drawing modes the area you draw on has a gradient (different gradient layouts for each drawing mode) and the sound renders based on where in that gradient you draw. Watch the video closely and you can see how it works. The sounds are rendered as stereo wave files in either 44.1khz or 48khz. The drawing mode is very natural with a mouse. I didn't even bother trying my tablet (which I almost never use in day to day stuff). I really like the mapping from a mouse scribble to a sound. It's very natural. I was kind of surprised with the musical generator there are actually different instruments for each of the drawing modes (move/rotate/scale/appear/merge/transform) -- for move they have violin/cello/trumpet but for transform they have a metalophone and a koto. I was pretty amazed (figured they would just have the one set of instruments). It also has a snap shot feature that I think is very nice. Set the path to where you want to save and all you have to do is hit the snapshot button to save the wave file, no file name work/save dialog/etc. You can make a dozen sounds really fast. Plus you can setup the range on the various parameters for randomization and then have it render the same motion as multiple files with different random settings. Very handy for game work. The edit button opens the wave you just created in your audio editor, which is very handy too. Definitely check out the PDF help (press the paper icon in the lower right corner to open the help). It doesn't let you do a sequence of hits though -- it can make a long drawn out sound effect, but you can't use it as a footstep generator for example. Each time you let off the mouse and then restart the mouse starts a new effect. I think their flagship GameSynth is more for that but it's also a bit more pricey.