abacab

17 minutes ago, Tezza said:

Where i find GR6 is great, is when you want to create a unique sound for the guitar, sometimes to the point where it might not even sound like a guitar. I've got other amp sims as well, but i just don't use them, mainly because of the bulky and confusing GUI.

I'm not a guitar player, but rather a synthesizer nut, and I have discovered that GR6 is a great sound design tool. You can create some interesting tones by applying GR6 to any sound source, be it live, sampled, or synthesized!

14 minutes ago, Tezza said:

Thanks for all that info, from memory, i set the BIOS setting to "silent mode", I think there were 3 settings. Well if this is silent mode I hate to think what noisy mode is! I'll definitely take another look in the BIOS see if anything can be done manually. Thanks for the links.

Silent mode in BIOS is autopilot. Like trusting a plugin AI to give you a perfect mix, LOL!

Manual mode gives you control of WHEN the fan revs up, based on CPU temperature. You need to open a task Manager window and observe and listen at the same time.

If you see your CPU usage increase slightly with a small increase in workload, but your CPU fan spins WAY up, then you should look at taming that manually... if you lock your fan down until the CPU temperature reaches a much higher level, you will enjoy a quieter machine!

I assume NI believes that "latest and greatest" (including fancy graphics) sells more software products.  But that means it runs better on the "latest and greatest" hardware.

It's like an arms race...

The free version will keep working, just without bug fixes and improvements, and the security fixes will be provided thru year end.

I have 1 license for Reflect 8 Home that I use on my DAW PC, but I use the free version on my laptop and another general use PC.

https://www.macrium.com/product-support-policy

Macrium Reflect Free Product - End Of Life (EOL)

• Macrium Reflect Free v8.0 is the last version to receive feature, compatibility or bug fix updates.

Will future security vulnerabilities be fixed?

• Yes, security patches will still be provided until 1st January 2024. After that date we will no longer provide any changes to the v8 Free code base.

Can I continue to use Macrium Reflect Free?

• Yes, you can continue to use the software in perpetuity, your license to use the software is unaffected.

Will Macrium Reflect Free have any new features or updates for future Windows versions?

• Macrium Reflect Free v8.0 supports Windows XP SP 3.0 up to, and including, Windows 10 & 11 version 22H2. There will be no new features or support for later Windows operating system updates.

It's probably the Noctua cooler. Try a stock Intel cooler, they are cheap, and if you buy it from a place that has a no hassle return policy, it's free if it doesn't work.

I've been building my own systems for over 20 years. And I've run into a few occurrences where the system wouldn't POST due to an issue with the CPU fan failing to start properly (particularly if you allow a stray cable to dangle on the fan blade where it cannot spin up).

Macrium Reflect 8 Home (paid) is a good investment.

50 minutes ago, Tezza said:

The fan noise problem is really, REALLY, annoying. Everything i do on the computer causes it to rev, load a song?...rev, edit some video?....rev, windows updates itself?...rev. It's constantly going up and down, all the time i use it.

The fan noise on my last DIY build was the same way. I finally figured out the graphical fan control (RPM vs. temp) in my ASUS Z390 UEFI BIOS. You can set your own fan speed profile MANUALLY by temperature for the each of the fans, CPU, case #1, case #2 etc. Turns out that my CPU fan by default was revving up with the slightest heat increase with anything that I was doing on the PC. Sounded like a maniacal leaf blower operator! Rev, rev, rev... LOL!!!

So I went a bit further out on the CPU temperature curve, but well below the danger zone, and now the CPU fan only revs when my CPU is running at nearly 100%. I also boosted up my 2 reasonably quiet case fans (front intake/rear exhaust) to a higher base speed to improve the cross ventilation flow.

http://www.davidapps.net/ArcGISpc/Hardware/help/q_fan_control.htm#

But my 6-core 9th Gen i5 is strong enough at 4+ GHz that I never get to 100% unless I am running a stress test. So now it normally remains quiet as at idle, even with a moderate workload.

If your BIOS doesn't support this, I have read that a common solution is to use a 3rd party utility called "SpeedFan", but I have never tried it.

https://www.wikihow.com/Control-Fan-Speed-on-a-Windows-10-Laptop

4 minutes ago, Brian Walton said:

Thats true, Ironically I'm more inclided to use Mix box as the random effect / design tool than the standard "chanel strip" for basic adjustments.  So I might use the Amek for the tone and dynamic shaping then MIxBox on select tracks for "coloration"  effects ala Chorus, Flanger, Uni-Vibe, Tremolo if I'm not using a dedicated unit for one of those functions.

That's basically what I do with Scheps Omni Channel as a standard "channel strip". It's light and works it's magic to clean up the basic adjustments.

MixBox is one of those things to toss in when you start thinking "what if?" ...

22 minutes ago, Brian Walton said:

Yep or just the the Plugin Alliance Amek 9099.  ?

Yep, that's fine for a recording and mixing engineer trying to get a clean mix.

But in addition to the basics, these other options offer a lot of readily accessible creative flexibility to sound designers, with a plethora of modulation and time based effects, and other sound mangling options mostly useful during the song writing phase. Maybe more attractive to the DIY musician vs. the engineer. 

MixBox (full) has 70 effects modules. I think of it more as an outboard effects rack for an instrument. Like a stomp box on steroids. It can easily get heavy, but I do like it's sound! Also, if you have and love Phase Plant, then you will immediately "get" the Snap Heap thingy. It's similar to the effects section of the synth, on it's own as a plugin.

1 hour ago, Brian Walton said:

Not for older machines + high track counts, in my experience.  

Easy fix for those with older machines that want to run the latest software plugins: use the effects on one track at a time, then freeze or bounce.

I'll give credit to Kilohearts for striking a decent balance. For a lighter experience, recommend the 30 free Kilohearts Essentials Snapin plugins. They will work individually as standard plugins, or you can use them in one of Kilohearts plugin hosts such as Snap Heap ($29). That is a modular Snapin Host which allows you to build up to seven serial or parallel effects chains. Their GUIs are minimalist and seem to run well with lower resource demand. https://kilohearts.com/products/kilohearts_essentials

Here are two FX screen shots showing a Mixbox chain and a Snap Heap chain being used on a simple Reaper project with a single EZD3 (EZdrummer 3) drum track. Baseline was that Reaper with one EZD3 track took about 5% RT CPU (4% for Reaper and 1% for EZD3).  Used the Reaper Performance Meter to gauge the RT CPU increase when each plugin was online.

This MixBox preset used on one track added about 15% to the real-time CPU demand of the test project (total 20% RT CPU), while the Snap Heap preset shown here was only adding about 3% (Total 8% RT CPU). The load increase is all relative to my machine which is a humble 3-year old i5.

MixBox is really handy as a plugin with all of the ready to go FX chain factory presets with up to 8 FX module slots, plus you can save your own chain and instantly recall them in any project.

1 minute ago, Marc Cormier said:

Yeah, that sale was stupid.  I got most of the H9 plugins for the cost of a decent meal.

I believe that was the same stupid deal where I picked up Eventide's H9 UltraTap delay and TriceraChorus plugins.

Already had the Blackhole and ShimmerVerb plugins, or I would have bagged them as well...

Well the Eventide perk is evidently gone from Groove3, but there is still a 15% discount perk for IK Multimedia!

Quote

IK Multimedia - Save 15%

Enjoy 15% off your total order when shopping online at ikmultimedia.com. Applies to IK's special offers and sales too!

Instructions

Copy the user code and then click the "Redeem Here" button below. Add IK Multimedia products to your cart and then checkout. Paste your copied discount code into the "Promo Code" field when checking out in the IK Multimedia online store. That's it, your new total price will be show

The H9 plugins are based on the hardware. Should be the same algorithm, since it is a digital effect, not analog. Grab this for $29 if you can, it's a definite no-brainer!

https://www.eventideaudio.com/plug-ins/h9-series/

"Introducing the H9 Plug-in Series, an iconic collection of powerful effects from the H9 Harmonizer®. Built for the modern producer, the H9 Plug-in Series has everything you need to reverberate, modulate, delay, crush, pitch shift, and saturate your audio. Valued at over $1100 if purchased separately, this collection has some of the most sought-after Eventide effects. It’s a must-have toolkit for all producers, engineers, sound designers, and musicians who want to add expressive effects to their sound."

I like to use the Blackhole plugin as a special effect for virtual instruments. I'm not a guitarist, so have never owned a hardware pedal in my life!

My best price for a Kontakt 7 update stands at $99 as a Komplete 13 owner. Still waiting for better savings on that!

Knifonium is currently on sale for the next dew days at Plugin Alliance for $29.99 

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/knif_audio_knifonium.html

Lursson is a good one to have! Works magic for getting in the ballpark!

But it can be a resource hog if you try to run your full mix through it on your master bus. Better to use it with a stereo mixdown without all of your other plugs running...

I have the Brainworx Masterdesk and that is more of a go-to if I just want a quick level-up for my master bus. It sounds great too! Compared to Lurssen, which seems to add about 50% to my real-time CPU load, Masterdesk only adds about 4% to my real-time CPU load.

Yep, the bx_oberhausen and the GX-80 are great sounding synths!

Another synth from Plugin Alliance and Brainworx worth checking out is Knifonium. https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/knif_audio_knifonium.html

"Capture the tone of a boutique synthesizer powered by 26 vacuum tubes
The Knifonium is an exceptionally beautiful-sounding analog synthesizer that is driven by a whopping 26 vacuum tubes. This upscale synth features two tube-driven oscillators, a 4th order ladder filter, a ring modulator, and a gorgeous “steampunk” aesthetic."

"One of the most rare synths in production today
The original hardware units are handcrafted in small batches by high-end audio device designer Jonte Knif, with his incomparable sense for detail. As beautiful as these synthesizers are, the Knifonium is much more than a stunning piece of eye-candy capable of making “weird noises". It is an exceptionally musical and inspiring instrument with so many possibilities for shaping and modulating sound. Fewer than two dozen of them have ever been made."

"Even more powerful than the original
Not only is the plugin version of the Knifonium more accessible and easy to use than the original, it also includes features that aren’t possible in the analog world. This plugin emulation of the Knifonium adds 8 independent voices to the synthesizer, opening up a new universe of possibilities."

3 minutes ago, isingit@netscape.net said:

Thanks for this ! My old ESQ-1 needs a new battery soldered in and that's more hassle than I wanted. I suppose this new VST sound patch used with Arturia SQ80 V plug-in won't have the sequencing/recording function but I guess that's not needed as the DAW is that and more.  Now I need to get the virtual instrument though. 

It's 50% off right now! https://www.arturia.com/products/software-instruments/sq80-v/overview

The PDF manual can be downloaded here, for detailed info on included features & functions. https://www.arturia.com/products/analog-classics/sq80-v/resources

Arturia’s SQ80 V is a faithful recreation of the original hardware, capturing all of its nuances and sonic character with utmost detail. In addition to this, we have expanded on the original design with new features and capability not found on the original unit, including:
• MPE implementation
• Phase Distortion & Transwave Synthesis
• Hidden Waveforms
• Unison Mode
• Arpeggiator
• Advanced modulation capabilities
• 4 FX slots featuring 15 high-quality effects
• Up to 16 voices of polyphony
• Run multiple instances with different settings
• Automate sound parameters from your DAW
• Unlimited patch recall
 

53 minutes ago, User 905133 said:

It sounds like we are all in agreement. 

Yes, and it's all good, no offense taken! Did you happen to notice the "winky" emoji that I used when quoting you? I have no problem with giving credit where it's due!

Starsky Carr also deserves the most recent credit for catching the ability to leverage this hardware related post by Don Solaris at Gearspace from 2018, and applying the content specifically to the current Arturia SQ80 V soft synth.

22 minutes ago, bitflipper said:

It should not be possible for a software instrument to power down  and reboot the computer. At worst, it will only crash the DAW and leave a crash dump for analysis. It could be coincidence that there appears to be a correlation to Omnisphere.

I'm only going by what Yury stated, that the shutdown only happens when using Omnisphere. If that's true, was thinking that maybe Omnisphere is stressing something in his system that is marginal and that it tips things over the edge.

Maybe he should take a look at this free utility to stress test the PC: OCCT Personal https://www.ocbase.com/download

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/stress-test-cpu-pc-guide,5461-3.html

28 minutes ago, User 905133 said:

Some credit must go to Ranier Buchty who over the decades has maintained archives of some very important historical content/documentation for several pieces of gear.  As Don Solaris (who also deserves credit) wrote in 2018:

Starsky gives credit in the video to both. And I linked to Don's post in my OP. And Don links to Ranier's work in his post.

I thought the credits were made clear.

Just ran across this yesterday from Starsky Carr. In this video from a year ago he links to a thread in the Gearspace forum where a moderator shared an ultimate Ensoniq patch collection for ESQ-1 and SQ-80 owners back in 2018. https://gearspace.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-and-electronic-music-production/1207777-ensoniq-esq-1-sq-80-ultimate-patch-collection.html

Starsky points out that the SQ-80 patch banks from the original Ensoniq floppy disks work in the Arturia SQ80 V, since they have been converted to SysEx (.syx).

If you read down to the last page in the Gearspace thread, another user has done most of the work for SQ80 V users. He has already imported the SysEx banks into SQ80 V and exported them in Arturia format in "Arturia-presets.zip", so all you have to do is unzip the bank folders and then slide them into your "/arturia/presets/SQ80 V/User/" folder, and restart the plugin. https://gearspace.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-and-electronic-music-production/1207777-ensoniq-esq-1-sq-80-ultimate-patch-collection-3.html

You can also import individual SysEx banks directly yourself using the "Import" dialog in the Arturia SQ80 V.

The only downside is that there are so many! Thousands!!! The imported patches will be "dry", so any desired effects will need to be added inside the soft synth. But the Arturia SQ80 V macro controls for brightness, timbre, time, and movement work right out of the box! Some real gems in here!