marcL

Yes, since 1984 and I worked with all kind of programming languages and concepts (different assembly languages and even machine code, C, PL1, Pascal, Fortran, C++, Smalltalk, ... and on different operating systems). And I had a lot of experience with different kinds of software engineers/programmers, positive and negative! I saw situations where one well-versed developer achieved the result of 20 others, this is no exaggeration (just look at Reaper)! For decades I have heard the scream for new modern development tools of incapable software folk. And many of those tools are exactly one of the reasons for poor performance and incredible resource waste. The more a development tool is away from the base of the hardware and operating system, the more difficult it is to understand performance and other issues. This can only be compensated by former low-level knowhow. But who has this nowadays?

IMHO this is the wrong signal to NI! Instead they should employ better software engineers that are capable to make more efficient code! I noticed that all their newer stuff is a resource hog, also the FX. In general I am sure that 90% of today's software could be improved that it would only use a 100th to a 10th of the resources!

I think iZotope is overrated and they invest too much in sales promotion IMO. Lately I tested one function in RX Advanced (I own only Standard) that I am interested in: Wow & Flutter. The results for Wow were really disappointing! I had expected more! Maybe it works on full mixes, but on stems it's really unusable! And subscription for music production is a trap, unless you always finish your projects in short time and who does? ?

Are there any alternative products from other vendors for this purpose? I really don't like the autorisation system of MtM! ☹️

Why always point to the "bad" things of the past? There are a lot in this day and age! E.g. music software and plugins that you buy but do not own! ?

Today I was fiddling with its installation, searching offline docu and trying the terrible offline autorisation ?. The installation was successful at least. But I did not find any offline documentation ☹️! I had to copy and create an own document! After some ***** behavior the offline authorisation succeeded first, but then suddenly the plugin was unauthorised again! The worst was then that there was no request generation possible anymore! No, this company got on my blacklist today! Meh! ? And in the end I have much better, more transparent transient plugins than this one! In general I prefer more and more companies with simple authorisations and installations, because I noticed that I waste so much time for that (instead of making music)! If you have only one online system and 1 DAW, then YMMV.

Yes, but this only helps to avoid obsolete files for a SPECIFIC project! Like this you cannot find out whether files in the "global" audio folder are still referenced, unless you do the "save as" for all of your 100s of projects! ?

Thanks, I checked this. It seems it runs to a certain degree, i.e. if I open any project, open the clean utility and go up to the projects top folder it lists at least all audio files that are not used in the top "Audio Data" folder and the one of the opened project. But all audio files in other project "Audio Data" subfolders are not being checked. At least it solves the most important issue for me, the data in the top "Audio Data" folder can be checked like this! I know this possibility, but it does not solve my major issue, i.e. to find out which files in the global audio folder are obsolete! This is exactly what I am looking for!

Today I wanted to clean the general "Audio Data" folder in my projects directory. But in the utility the flag "Search entire PC" is always enabled (inactive)! ? This is a PITA on a modern PC where you have that many files. And I absolutely know that all my project files are only in the project directory! So what shall this nonsense mean? ? I tried to use the Clean Utility of Splat instead (it has a different flag). But it seems it uses the same utility in the background, it seems it is part of the Shared Utilities folder! So is there a senseful way to do this task? Or is there a possibility to read the project files with an own program? Is there an official definition of the project file?

This is just another example that VST3 has just been a developer quirk and a PITA for the users!

IMO Strum GS-2 is not so bad, I like it! But I set almost all effects to off for a freeze and add them later with other plugins. But in general I think there are too many instruments (guitars, drums, ...) with effects and patterns that are too busy, too wide to be easily integrated in a mix! Most of them sound awesome if you play them alone (that's good for marketing!), but they are terrible in a mix, you have to thin them totally out and move them to the background and this sounds awful! E.g. Ample guitars are great instruments, but their patterns, riffs, etc. are not well usable in a song, absolutely too busy! The same thing with effects in drum instrument presets and patterns (AD2, NI, ...), they sound skillful if you listen to them alone, but for a mix I set most of the effects off and thin the patterns before I bounce to audio. Also EZKeys is like that, most parts are too busy to be used in a song as addition to other instruments (bass, guitar, ...), unfortunately! If you listen to real good band songs (old or new), then you can hear that each of those top musicians knows that he cannot play something in already occupied frequencies and sections. Thus they deliver subtle additions to what the other band members play. It is the proficiency to supplement and not compete what is already there that makes great songs!

The newer NI effects are much too resource hungry IMHO! I see that I avoid to use them for that reason. I have many other FX that do the same jobs with a fraction of resources! The update from K11 to K13 was disappointing for me, but YMMV.

Thanks! But then I wonder what is the preference setting for? If it is only for project pan setting, then I wonder why it is not part of the Project settings? It really doesn't make any sense IMHO! ?

I just open a blank CbB, no project, no workspace (none). Then I open preferences (=P) and change the Stereo Panning Law in the Driver Settings, Apply, Close, close CbB, reopen CbB (blank again) and see the setting has reverted to 0dB!

If you set the -3db setting and then create a new project without template, then it works as long as you keep CbB open. But what I meant is that if you configure -3db (and save it), then close CbB, reopen and then create a new project without template, then it doesn't work anymore! Also the setting is reverted to 0dB. This does not happen in Sonar Platinum or X3! Exactly, that's what I meant, too!

This is the way how it works in Splat! But CbB (2020.08) brings for me always the 0dB default, even if I opened CbB without anything open (no project/template) and then save with -3dB pan law in the properties (Driver Settings). When I reopen CbB and either open the properties at once or create a new project with --blank-- template, it always reverted back to 0dB pan law (default). Terrible! This is one of the 1000s quirks you have to keep in mind if you use CbB! ? The only thing that works here with CbB is if I change the pan law in my template and create a new project from the template!

Or maybe "Quasi MODO":

Definitely for CbB/Sonar! But in other DAWs it maybe different, e.g. in Reaper the pan law is bound to the project! This is clever IMHO, because on one hand you can choose your preferred pan law in your project template(s), but you do not have problems if you revise older projects or have a project from extern that use different pan laws! Very interesting! It seems I am one of those that walked often into this trap (CbB default pan law! I will use -3 in the future!). I think probably it also explains some trouble that I had converting virtual instruments (especially drums) into audio. In this case it seems even more complicated, 'cos you may have panning before and after the freeze!

The only issues I see: gain-staging maybe affected panning a mono track may always require to adjust its volume the mono mix maybe affected and has to be reviewed Finally I agree that we are using our ears to mix, but I fear that I miss some of the issues above. I must admit that in the past I did not care about pan law (especially in the hardware time). I will surely do some tests to find the pan low that suits me best! By the way I noticed that CbB does not support -4.5 center panning law that is quite common in other Daws!

I have been always at war with the panning logic! Lately it caught my eye when I was panning a mono wave clip a tiny bit and it suddenly clipped, although I knew that the wave file did not (even if it was a bit too hot)! First I thought there is something wrong in CbB, but then I realized that it was the panning logic. When I panned back to center the gain was okay. But I wonder whether it is good like that? How was it with a hardware mixer? I can't remember! Thus my question: Does anybody know how is the panning logic in a hardware mixer compared to a DAW? Does it also suddenly boost the signal if you just pan a little bit?

Sorry, sometimes I am a bit dumb! I did not understand that you wanted to do it yourself. I thought it is a good idea of you, so I tried! Finally I think it is not bad that we both did, it gives it more weight!

The only difference that I noticed with Waves' shell compared to Reaper is: if I don't insert my Waves authorisation USB stick and start a plugin scan, then in Reaper there is no interruption (Waves shell is just skipped) and in CbB/Sonar I have always to click skip in a message box! This is a bit annoying, 'cause I know that there is no new Waves plugin! This is what I would recommend to everybody, 'cos normally you know when you added a new plugin and then you can start the scan manually! Like that startup time is improved! I don't see much sense in automatic plugin scanning! ?

The only thing I am missing with them is changing the controls with the scroll wheel! Else I always liked them, especially NastyDLAmkII !

If 'forced' Windows updates would only impact the operating system, then I could probably agree with you! But this stupid company called MS is merging everything: OS, security, desktop, browser, file explorer, drivers, user tools, shop, social media components, ... Does it make sense to force updates on all these items? Some of them even not requested by the user! NO! SURELY NOT! For me it is the same thing with the newer CbB updates. There are so many add-ons that I don't need/like. I really would prefer that CbB was more modular, i.e. that the user could choose which components he wants. If it was like this, then I would still update, but as it is now I prefer not! I hope that I still can reactivate 2020.08 in the next years, otherwise I have to go back to Splat, probably!

I don't think that energy saving really helps to completely change the world's climate, in the best case it slows down a bit. On one hand there is still a frightening growth of human population (consuming all kind of resources), on the other hand there maybe other factors that change the climate (think of the past of the earth without humans, I think we aggrandise ourselves too much).