dumbquestions

they’re definitely thinking outside the box on this one

Dang we’ve come a long way in a year

With the pop brass instrument, sounds high quality and not synthy which is tough to find (for brass vst’s) imo, i just can’t see myself using the prerecorded phrases for anything I do, just don’t know how much realism you may lose by only using the legato and sustains exclusively. Would that preference make it pretty much a waste of money for me if i can use Komplete’s horn section? The word generator for backup singers seems cool conceptually but I watched a guy on YT take 22 minutes to make a short phrase line up correctly with the tempo of his song. Is that typical for this one

Nice, downloading and keeping it locked away for no reason other than playing it safe, thanks

Welp that adds another one to my list of reasons I’ll be stuck on my current OS for eternity

oh yea, lots of frustration around this one. So much time i had to spend updating my projects because NI wanted to push Kontakt 7 as “required” for certain instruments. These people too, and lots more on the Native Instruments forum than just the one example below. https://vi-control.net/community/threads/kontakt-6-8-0-noire-is-gone-all-of-a-sudden-missing-samples.152799/ https://vi-control.net/community/threads/demo-mode-in-full-kontakt-how-can-it-be.140182/ https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/31944/kontakt-6-8-0-noire-is-gone-all-of-a-sudden-missing-samples

I have it, like it. though i haven’t used it to it’s fullest, based on my observations so far I agree with what’s said here. My initial thoughts/opinions were that it was like an oversimplified epic-sounding orchestra, rather than a super versatile universal one. It is indeed lacking some specificity and individual controls, but compensates with high quality, pre-mixed instrument combinations and section-bypass toggles. This aspect makes it easy to layer into a track that sounds like a big hollywood production, but I’ve yet to try squeezing it into something smaller and more intimate. Not saying it can’t be done i just haven’t tried it yet. Maybe need BBC or AR for that (which i dont have, but comparable price point). First thing i made with it was something that sounded like it was an action scene off of Dune or something Hans Zimmer-esque. I guess that was the first thing that came to mind when i started playing the instruments, but that’s my experience with it. Yours may differ. I like the Timpani's a lot.

Of course, happy to contribute since I have mostly just lurked over the last year. In my own personal workflow, I like to use this tool as one that stays (powered off) in the MIDI slot of my piano vst track, in my main production template. It helps that it’s always fired up as soon as I begin a project, but by default I don’t need to use it unless I want the help—which is when i’ll power it on with a single click, then hit my keyboard shortcut for opening it. The convenience of that alone is worth every cent though, imo. As it’s been said before though, to reemphasize there is definitely a slight time investment up front however, to learn & adjust settings based on how you anticipate using it. It’s really as complex or as simple as you make it. Had scaler over a year still unpacking features

Great questions. I will start by saying that [IMO] scaler definitely capitalizes on the lack of knowledge, and/or playing ability of the player, by offering an oversimplified solution to helping you lay down at the least a framework for your song (given your settings & preferences are all set to your liking, of course). There may be indeed some jacob collier type folks out there who can tell you what note is played naturally when they hear a raindrop hit the ground, then tell you what scale is played when multiple raindrops fall sequentially, then replicate it on a piano 5 seconds later. This is obviously an exaggeration, but that person probably doesn’t need scaler. I wish that was me, but I can hardly stay in tune while trying to sing the frozen theme song with my kids. For me personally, the value in scaler is not as much in the lack of knowledge as much as it is in the speed in which I can access different scales and chord structures, as I am laying out ideas for a song. For example, I may be scoring a video for a film that warrants some melancholic elements. I personally might default to minor scales and/or dissonant intervals, which obviously isn’t the only thing i can do in that scenario. In scaler I can type in the word “melancholy” for example and find if there are other scales that might work for that type of scene. It will give me a list of related scales which I can click and then play a few melodies, click another one & try a different melody, so on & so forth. It can even be set up to suggest your next chord live as you are playing. It’s a very fast workflow, but can be a little brainless over time if you do value practicing and getting better at quickly unlocking that music memory/education (right when you need it) that many of us worked very hard for. For me however, I prefer to just use both—scaler+education. Once I get the bones for a song laid out on piano i can start adding other instrumentation to flesh it out that i don’t really need scaler for. I have a day job that is not music related, so my hopeful & always up-and-coming career in music can use the slight boost in productivity that scaler provides, at least to help me keep moving forward.

I don’t usually wake up and think about starting my song in a b flat minor inverted mixolydian scale, but with scaler I can do this, and lock the keys of my midi keyboard to only play the keys & chords in that scale. For $35 i could also buy myself a sub par dinner, but I might never write that same song in a mixolydian scale on my own. Inspiration is what I use it for mostly

This looks great, $25 for 2tb of sounds, given they are fully cleared i hope, is a steal compared to the pricing for some of the “legit” stuff out there

So glad you both chimed in. I found the reddit thread you’re probably referring to here from a year ago. This definitely has me thinking more carefully about purchasing one of these packs. Seems best to avoid these newer, smaller companies altogether to evade risk, and probably stick with someone more tenured like Soundly, who i found has a fantastic set o free sounds through their player, which also lets you preview their paid sounds. Sounds like the TOS for soundly says you can keep sounds in your projects, as long as you were subscribed when you used them. Their cancellation section says: “sounds incorporated in a device or production prior to the date of termination may be still used after termination.”

Noticed this sale is still up. Potentially in the market for something like this. Saw a few other companies advertising almost identical products on facebook as well, most compelling might be another called “synergy sounds” with like 5000+ sounds for $40 or something, but they looked like a newer company with little to no reviews or publicity. So naturally thought, i would ask you all first: has anyone heard of them or have any opinions about these massive sound pack deals with foley, risers, bass drops, drones, glitch sounds etc.? I’m venturing into production music so i see where it can be useful in that realm, which is why it all catches my attention, but curious if any of you have experience with any packs and would recommend one. Also whether it’s better to just wait until Black Friday. Not a fan of splice or subs, and these current deals seem decent

Better than clarity vx?

This is the part that makes me want to invest in something like QNAP, since I’m currently going off of exclusively SSD storage for instruments+projects and just looking to make the most secure backups of it all. Reason being is that the current drive I’m using has recently started randomly disconnecting on me (Mac user). Originally the idea was to move it all to something like a 14tb HDD or a QNAP (if it was reliable enough), but maybe the best route is just to have everything backed up across a couple devices after all, to play it safe. Appreciate you all helping me process this, it really is one of those things I don’t want to do but need to eventually, if I want to be smart.