Matthew Sorrels

Waveform magazine just sent out an offer to get PDF versions of their first three issues for free with a coupon. They are also no longer going to be a free print magazine and instead going paid. Hi everyone, With everything that's going on, some of our favorite publications are opening up their digital back catalogs to help ease the burden/distract/keep us connected while we deal, and we're following suit. From now until sometime-hopefully-not-too-far-down-the-road, when you go to purchase any digital PDF version of Waveform through our web shop enter the code WAVEFORM20 at checkout to download any/all of our three issues for free. No purchase is necessary and no credit card is needed. Once you enter the code you should be good to go. If you have any issues with it, email us at contact@waveformmagazine. Stay safe, healthy, and creative. The Waveform Team Other information: WE ARE RUNNING A SONG CONTEST WITH PRIZES. FREE TO ENTER - FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THAT CHECK IT OUT ON OUR WEBSITE. ALSO, JUST A REMINDER: In case you missed it, the current issue of Waveform (#3) is the final FREE issue. We have transitioned into a paid subscription model going forward. More information about this change can be found HERE, and if you have yet to re-subscribe and would like to do so, you can re-subscribe here.

Doesn't seem to happen for me. Does it depend on which version of Melodyne you have perhaps?

Melodyne ARA tempo extraction https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR&language=3&help=NewFeatures.036.html CbB and Melodyne together do a pretty nice job.

This isn't a mapping issue and it has nothing to do with Session Drummer. When Toontrack's Superior Drummer 3 drag and drops MIDI files into a DAW/Desktop/File Exporer the way it does it is it takes the MIDI file and places it in C:\ProgramData\Toontrack\Superior3 but it doesn't uniquely name these files. It just uses the MIDI "part" for the file name so for example the file might be called "Verse 01.mid" It then tells the app your dropping to about the file. Now the app you are dropping to may just open that file, read it in and close it. But it might decide to use that file where it was exported. And it could do that by locking the file/keeping it open (just like Word and Excel lock files they open). If that happens and you try to drag and drop another file from SD3 with the same part name, SD3 can't re-write/change that file. And it doesn't give an error in this case, it just ignores the failure to write and tells the app the file is there. So you end up with the wrong/old file as being dropped. That's exactly what is happening here. The only solution to this is to stop whatever is blocking the updating of files in the C:\ProgramData\Toontrack\Superior3 directory. It could be Cakewalk, it could be another plugin, it could be a media player/Windows app. Or there could be some sort of other permission/access problem with the ProgramData directory. Delete all the files in C:\ProgramData\Toontrack\Superior3 and see if this bad export still happens. If you can't delete all the files there, figure out why. Exit any apps that are locking files there (could be Windows itself so you'd need to reboot). By understanding how something works you can do the detective work to figure out why exactly they aren't working correctly in this case. There are a bunch of reasons why these steps can fail, but only with investigation can you narrow it down. Good luck.

An interesting comment (about SD2) https://www.toontrack.com/forums/topic/midi-drag-and-drop-cubase/ SD3 appears to place it's drag and dropped files into C:\ProgramData\Toontrack\Superior3 if that isn't writeable/is protected the export would fail and Cakewalk might import an older file that just happens to have the same name.

There is an option to rebuild the MIDI database under Settings->Advanced. Might want to start with that.

At 0:38 when you drag the MIDI clip into the trackview at the top it reads "Add-On Packs/Songwriters Pack/" but the clip you dragged when I drag the same one (which has the Toms) is dragged as "Add-On packs/Classic Rock Grooves/Midtempo/Straight 4/4/Edge Living 85 BPM/Intro/Variation 04" Now why your SD3 is serving up the wrong MIDI file, I don't know. The same clip in mine seems to work just fine. But that's why your not getting the right drum loop. Maybe something to do with your Toontrack MIDI database?

It's very different from Orb Composer. The options and controls for the generator is completely different than Orb Composer. It's simpler but to be honest also seems to produce better results, but for a much smaller range of things. There are no articulations at all for example, unlike Orb Composer which has too many. This is definitely aimed at a different crowd.

I think the top part of the interface is supposed to be shared. But it doesn't seem to always work quite right. And gets messed up. I wouldn't assume that if it looks like it working in Studio One that it also won't fail there too. I've seen wackiness in both Cakewalk and Cubase. I still haven't gotten it to crash though. Which I think is good. Orb Composer the app isn't all that stable really and would often crash randomly. I had a pretty good time pipeing the MIDI into Kontakt and Spitfire's Bernard Herrmann library. The MIDI parts it generates doesn't seem to have a whole lot of velocity variance though. And there is no way to do articulation key-switching, which is kind of a pain. Orb Composer definitely has more controls over the MIDI generation. Though both versions seem to lack the real important controls. In Orb Composer it's hidden behind the instrument choice and in this it's just hard coded by the "type". I'd think they could offer a bit more control there so you could shape what it generates for the type of instrument you want to use it on. I did notice one odd thing, if I recorded the MIDI track I was using as the bridge to Kontakt all the notes were off about a beat. Things played/sounded correctly though. This was in Cubase 10.5. It wasn't what I expected. Dragging the MIDI parts out didn't have this problem. I don't normally record MIDI tracks like that so I'm not sure if it was to be expected or not. But then when I tried to reproduce it in a new project, everything was perfectly lined up. I'm still not sure exactly how it could be off, but it was.

It's not really like Orb Composer at all except in the MIDI generation nature (since it runs in your DAW with your DAW's instruments). But it does support a large list of time signatures and a fair list of scales. The MIDI generator seems a bit less tuned like Orb Composer (especially for orchestral type stuff) it generates MIDI more for EDM/Pop than Orb Composer Pro, which has a large selection of instruments each of which generates MIDI differently.

Just a few quick notes/first impression. Purchasing it was simple, uses a serial number to auth. Four VST3 plugins, Simple installer. You enter your serial number in one and it auths the whole package. No VST2 versions (I wonder if they didn't get a VST2 license?). It's very like Captain Chords. It has very similar UI. Just like CC you use the chords plugin to put together your progression. It is synced with all the plugins. There is only a tiny getting started PDF that comes with the download for help. Seems to pipe all the audio out the chords plugin, rather than each plugin having it's own sound when using the generated MIDI (but not when you feed it MIDI). Kind of weird. It's solo/mute options also didn't seem to work the way I thought they should. You can turn off the synth. I drag and dropped the MIDI out of each, I'm not sure if you can record the MIDI out or route it live, didn't really try. The whole coordination system seemed a bit off. I ended up having to solo each of the four instruments to get them all to play. The syncing with the DAW is kind of strange too. If you drag the MIDI out and want to play it you have to turn off the DAW sync, otherwise it always plays the MIDI it's generated. Which would be fine if you could make the MIDI empty, but you can't. There is always one chord/bar. So to silence it you have to turn off the DAW sync. The synth is very EDM/Pop and the presets are kind of generic bland synth presets. I think I like Captain Chords synths better, but they are pretty comparable. The AI options for making MIDI does seem fairly nice. I liked the melody and arp generators the most. The bass and chords generators are kind of plain (not a surprise though). It doesn't have tons of options (neither does Orb Composer come to think of it). Mostly you are setting a few parameters and it randomly makes something. I did like a few of the bits it came up with though. UI isn't resizable at all, which really hurts it a ton. Little tiny fixed windows. Didn't crash and my CbB project reloaded after saving. So that's a plus (a test I usually do with new stuff). Captain Chords does have more parts (drums) and slightly better sound set/synth set, but I think I like the generated stuff in Orb Producer more. It made some very nice melody/arp/bass bits. As a chord/songwriting tool this isn't that bad. A lot easier to use than Orb Composer. They really need to make the GUI resizeable.

Hexacord has released what looks like a plugin version of their Orb Composer product, Orb Producer Suite https://www.orb-composer.com/orb-producer-suite-2/ I have Orb Composer and like but also hate, it's very interesting but is hampered by some really bad software design. These plugin versions look interesting because they may avoid a bunch of those issues. They sent out a coupon for the new suite to subscribers to their newsletter today: ORBREWARD takes the price from 99 euro to 79 euro. Offer good for 15 days it says. They have a demo version: https://www.orb-composer.com/try-orb-producer I'll be picking this up later today. I was waiting for the coupon or a discount at dealers to show up. It's not clear if the 99 euro offer includes VAT, since they don't take anything off when you order. If they aren't adding VAT to it for EU customers that would mean US customers are overpaying (my pet peeve). I'd recommend trying the demo version though, they don't have the best track record. I'll post more when I've had a chance to try it. It looks a bit like Captain Chords.

I had to WUP mine to get everything on V11, have a few months left. Kind of sad how few things they have added though. Definitely not a good deal for me. I installed this and I own all the plugins it will host. Has a bunch of presets, including a bunch of artist presets, they are nice. But to be honest a multi-plugin host really isn't any better than the plugins themselves. These are good plugins and combining them is a good thing. But it's not a $50 extra product.

Included in Mercury.

How exactly could the Geek Squad refurbish a SSD drive? These must be working units they pulled from returned computers. Which means they aren't refurbished at all. Besides 1TB is so 2016, you should be thinking 4TB now. ?

The only one I want is Monomental Bass. I think I'm going to pass for now, wait for Vol 5. It's not a bad product though, if you aren't upgrading.

I love how they say login for a custom upgrade price. I own Vol 3 and also the Passive-Active Pack (separate). So I was expecting a slight discount on the upgrade. Nope, $199. Same as Audio Deluxe's list price for the upgrade.

Generally it's easier to just shift your keyboard down an octave (or more), so that the lowest key is note C0. You won't be able to play the high range of course, but you can trigger the keyswitches. If you use the MIDI Key+ I think you need to go down an octave, depending on where your keyboard is playing. Most 61-key keyboards do have an octave switch. If you have the full version of Kontakt you can use this free multikey script to remap keys (doesn't work in the Player version though): https://cinesamples.com/product/cinemap This free plugin might also be able to do it: https://www.codefn42.com/notemapper/ The Orchestra doesn't appear to have any native articulation remapping features(or I couldn't find any). And none of the articulation changes can be MIDI learned. Usually I just add a separate track and place keyswitch articulations on it using the piano roll editor, rather than trying to play it live. Or split it up so that each articulation has it's own separate MIDI track. You could always play the articulations with notes you can reach and then move the notes into place afterwards. Usually you have to get the switch done before the note on anyway, which almost always needs precise editing.

Yeah it's not an on-disc duplication. It's some sort of software/database duplication/bug. Maybe it's by design, though the other top level categories don't have an echo. I just can't remember what it looked like before this new content though. It may have always been that way. It's not really worth bugging IK about. But if everyone is seeing it too, then I hope they notice it and fix it.

I think the problem is he's spent many years building this inside Synthedit, himself. And Synthedit isn't 64bit (or maybe it is now? Not sure--don't really care). Changing that to another development platform that works in 64bits is a hard road. Requires starting again on the implementation. Now in theory that isn't as hard since you have the design and maybe the art/UI layout/etc, but it's still a high bar to get over. Kind of like remaking a movie that was shot in black & white. It's a lot of work and the end result may not be as beloved and awesome as the original.

So I figured I had to get it just to see. $1.41 with the Paypal exchange rate. They have removed the jBridged version from the installer. Website says: So the installer doesn't let you control where it places things. By default it sticks it in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steinberg\VstPlugins and it places the system files and what not in c:\Program Files (x86)\GenesisPro I moved the two plugin DLLs (only one is a plugin, the other is support) into a new directory on a Content drive that is writable by my normal user account. Synthedit plugins love to write files just under the DLL. Sure enough, this was enough to get around the requirement that you run the DAW/Plugin host as admin. I suspect you could put the plugin in a directory under your 32-bit VST2 plugins and change the access rights so that it's writable and it would work without having to run as Admin. The first time I started it in Cakewalk it wouldn't play any sounds. I was afraid it was because I run at 48khz. I restarted Cakewalk and tried it at 44.1khz and it worked just fine (both times the UI came up and worked just fine, just that first time it made no sounds). Afterward I tried 48khz again and it worked. I'm not sure if there is an issue there or not. This is with the Cakewalk built in bitbridge. I haven't tried the full/licensed version of jBridge yet. It seems to work OK in CbB without being ran as Admin, if you have it in a writable directory. I was able to play through a bunch of the presets. The UI is very tiny on my 4k monitor. And it's not resizable. It also works and feels exactly like a Synthedit plugin, which isn't really a good thing. I haven't spent any time trying it out though, but I'll be honest I wasn't very impressed at all. But I may be judging it on a high bar against a bunch of very pricey synths. Even WA Production's Ascension seems better to me (and it's pretty cheap). Synthmaster, VPS Avenger, Rob Papen anything, etc. This might have been interesting in 2010, but the world has changed. A few of the sequence presets seem nice. It clearly does have some things under the hood, if you can get at them. Many of the presets are kind of bland though. I only see 128 presets, I may be missing something there. May need to look at the manual or watch some videos. I wouldn't have bought it for normal synth prices. I'm not really sure what I can get out of it to be honest, but at less than $1.50 I'm OK with that.

Has it happened yet? No I don't think so. But I believe it could be done and I have the degree and resume to back that up. There is a very big difference between running with an account that has admin privileges and running software as administrator. That whole UAC asking for permission thing is to help with security silos. You may have admin rights, but not actively all the time. Of course in the end the real security problems are always the things you didn't foresee. I don't think it's the biggest problem for this, but I still wouldn't regularly run my DAW as admin. Maybe once to authorize something, but day in and day out, no that's a bit too far.

For 32bit software usually the requirement for admin access is because the software tries to write data to protected areas of the registry and/or file system (program files and the Windows directory). Sometimes it's possible to set access rights on registry keys to allow the 32bit software to function. It's not so much a problem with it being 32bit, but rather being 32bit and designed for Windows XP and earlier. You can have a well behaved 32bit plugin. Synthedit however may not be one of those. One thing that might help is to install the plugin somewhere other than Program Files, a writable directory all by itself. JBridge doesn't always require you run as admin any more (at least it hasn't for me), but it does have issues with this pre-Windows 8 security design flaws. Depends on the plugin. As far as admin mode. One of the biggest problems is that network shares mounted under the user account aren't actually visible in admin mode. So if you use a local network drive (I have a large, very fast NAS) running as admin those drives aren't available. There are ways to work around this (remount the drives as admin, there are some Windows config tricks too) but I don't really enjoy dealing with that one. Since I store a lot of my not often used ACID Loop library on the NAS, running my DAW as admin makes all that a huge mess. Other problems involve software authorization issues. Technically the Admin account isn't the user account. So config files and registry settings aren't always the same. Most software products aren't really designed to run well in a multi-user environment. All kinds of strange missing presets/settings problems can show up. You may be able to use Genesis Pro but some other plugin you use may not work right anymore at all. This extends to problems with accessing things created by the admin account. You end up files and directories that can't be deleted/renamed/moved without having to take extra steps. And of course running your DAW as admin opens a huge security surface to scripts and plugins that aren't designed to be "safe". The script languages available inside many plugins are crazy powerful and could easily be misused. And no anti-virus product on earth will catch a Kontakt instrument that also steals all your browser cookies and serial numbers for music software. They just aren't looking out for that. Running a DAW as admin opens surface. It's just not very safe. Certainly not just for one 32bit synth.

Hard Pass. No synth is worth the headaches running a DAW in admin mode involves.

It's the same with me. When this came out I updated and reinstalled the sounds update thinking that was it. But then I couldn't find the editor. While looking for the editor download I got the popup that offered CS and the Editor and they were added to my account, with serial numbers.