abacab

40 minutes ago, lawajava said:

To me it’s like why even fire up your DAW if you don’t have Kontakt and Omnisphere.

Those are the most obvious ones to have if you’re adding anything on top of what’s included in your stock plugins that come with your DAW.

Everything else is all well and good.

Unless that was just a rhetorical question, I could serve up a possible reason for alternatives to those two.

Some folks might prefer a lean synth or two  rather than purchase bloated samplers and hybrid sampler/synths with enormous factory libraries. Different preferences, different needs...

All good! ?

16 minutes ago, Mandolin Picker said:

One of the things I've noticed is that open source software seems to work best when it starts out as open source. LibreOffice/OpenOffice started as a commercial product (Star Office) years ago, and was subsequently released as open source. It took years to decipher and clean the code base. Today the product is very good, but it took a long time before they could even try to move forward.

Well, with the sales pressure at an all time low, it seems that the BandLab developers are hard at work cleaning decades of old Cakewalk code! ?

48 minutes ago, ZincT said:

That's weird Matthew. I mean I paid the VAT but I'm in the UK so it's expected but there seems to be a number of similar issues raised in the Rapid KVR forum from folk who are not usually expected to pay VAT. 

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/search.php?keywords=vat&t=470957&sf=msgonly  

Thanks for the link ZT.

I found this comment from last year when somebody quoted the vendor response to the question of VAT:

Quote

If no European VAT can be applied, a standard worldwide 20% tax is used for price equalization and transaction fees, so the global price for the end-customer stays approximately the same in every country.

Oh well, not going there... ?

9 minutes ago, Matthew Sorrels said:

Kind of bummed, they collected 20% VAT on my purchase.  Sure looked like they would/should adjust the final total based on location (I'm in the US) but they don't.

 

That's odd, because their website shows the sale price INCLUDES 20% tax...

On 8/16/2020 at 8:52 AM, ZincT said:

Also on my list are Parawave Rapid (sale ends tomorrow), Dune 3 (not currently on sale but the demo is stunningly good) and U-HE Diva. Any thoughts on those Fleer? 

I have had my eye on Dune 3 as well. Seems to come highly recommended as possibly the best sounding synth today. Need to try the demo.

I have also tried the demos of most of u-he's synths, and you cannot beat their sound quality! My last demo was for Repro, which I may even like that better than Diva!

I have the cut down freebie one osc version of Zebralette, which is simple and sounds awesome, but never quite got along with the UI of the full Zebra itself, although it sounds terrific! Be interesting to see what a Z3 will be like (someday).

All a bit too pricey for me, and that makes deciding on ONE u-he synth very difficult! I also have the cut down Beatzille freebie version of Bazille, which is a lot of fun! Would welcome them all, of course!

I don't need another synth. I don't need another synth... ?

(Just recently picked up Pigments, keep telling myself to learn that one first.)

8 hours ago, Bill Ruys said:

Bandcamp didn't get this for free - they paid Roland for it. 

BandLab didn't get this for free - they paid Gibson for it. 

FIFY

Agree with everything else that you said, also a Cakewalk user for 20+ years. ?

On 8/14/2020 at 4:28 PM, Gswitz said:

I'm with you, Haden. It made me a bit nervous too when the company first stopped charging. I try to limit who I have to trust.

It's not certain that they can be trusted, but it's also not certaion that someone you are paying can be trusted. ? You just have reason to believe they wouldn't want to lose that revenue stream (software you pay for). If the revenue stream could be padded by selling your privacy... well we know some are game to sell it.

I can't see any real danger. A lot of people I have interacted with for a very long time (Noel for example) says it's trustworthy.

I'm not exactly sure the economic model is reasonable, but it's also possible a rich individual just likes music and has this as a side line for fun. I really can't say. There are people that rich. Paul Allen has hobbies like this.

If there is something nefarious, what are they getting? Uploading my hard drive one byte at a time? stealing terrible guitar riffs? I think the stuff volunteered by me on social networks or data from my phone is a much much bigger invasion of privacy and we know that gets sold.

If this stuff is getting sold, I can't imagine to whom. If you figure it out, please tell me and I'll sell myself to them for whatever pennies they'll cough up.

I believe that Meng, the CEO of BandLab Technologies,  https://bandlabtechnologies.com/ is a guitarist and music lover. Consider him a patron of the arts. ?

14 hours ago, ZincT said:

As regards ST4 I am in the same boat as you abacab (ST4 MAX plus Spaceport). I don't have the other new ones and would also be interested to hear from anyone that does. I am leaning towards Alternate Keys, Synthwave and Trap at the moment.

As far as I can tell the only new sound sets (not included in ST3 MAX) are as follows (I have added links to make them easy to get to):

Alternate Keys -https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/stalternatekeys/?pkey=stsounds-alternatekeys 

Clavitube - https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/stclavitube/?pkey=stsounds-clavitube 

SynthWave - https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/stsynthwave/?pkey=stsounds-synthwave 

Reggaeton - https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/streggaeton/?pkey=stsounds-reggaeton 

Trap - https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/sttrap/?pkey=stsounds-trap 

LA Confidential (Drums) - https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/stlaconfidential/?pkey=stsounds-laconfidential

London Grooves (Drums) - https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/st3londongrooves/?pkey=st3sounds-londongrooves

 ZT - Thanks for the breakdown! I think that due to sample drive space limitations, I may not have downloaded all of the expansions that I was entitled to at the time. Bummer that the ST4 MAX instrument content downloads have timed out for me! I may have to pay the re-activation toll to see what all I am missing! ?

Here is the full list of content for each ST4 version: https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/include/st4/soundlist/SampleTank_4_comparison.pdf

[Edit]: I just noticed that if you open up the ST4 UI where it shows your installed libraries in the left hand panel, the ones that you own, but haven't installed yet are shown with a download arrow icon overlaid on the library icon. Yikes! I'm missing most of the expansions! ?

Ok, looking past the high ticket items like MODO and the Hammond, what are the best sound sets for ST4? I already have ST4 MAX, and Spaceport from the giveaway a while back.

What are your favorites, if you have any of the others?

Yay!

Always wait for the x.x.1 release!

And you can always install a new version side by side with the old one, to test and gradually migrate over. No ugly surprises that way. Also wise to make an extra  backup of your old songs folder, as if you happen to save any in the new version, you might not be able to open  it again in the old version.

OXa is ok. I have the full Syntronik.

But I think you would probably have more fun with the free OB-Xd, which was just released as V2.

https://www.discodsp.com/obxd/

It's actually totally free, and  the $49 'Buy' link is just for a donation to help support development.

Quote

OB-Xd is based on the Oberheim OB-X. It attempts to recreate its sound and behavior, but as the original was very limited in some important ways a number of things were added or altered to the original design. OB-Xd was designed to sound as good and as rich as the original. It implements micro random detuning which is a big part of that sound.

Quote

 

While not copying originals, some of the features were taken to a better point. Continuous blendable multimode filter (HP-Notch(BP)-HP in 12 dB mode and 4-1 pole in 24 dB mode). Also, like many synths of the OB-X's generation, the OB-Xd has no internal effects so its sounds and textures can be greatly enhanced by the use of additional processing like chorus, reverb, delay, etc.

Thanks to 2Dat for the original OB-Xd and Soshi Studio for giving the rights to continue this wonderful product. Also thanks to all KVR artists for making the amazing skins!. OB-Xd Desktop has no restrictions and is free to use. Buy to support further development, thank you! Source code is available under GPL license at GitHub.

 

You can right click anywhere on the faceplate of the synth for a context menu to switch skins or banks, and the patches (.fxp) in the bank are selectable from the top of the  plugin window in Cakewalk.

56 minutes ago, ensconced said:

No good if you want a previous version though. It use to be that if you kept the MCT from X version, it would allow you to download/Create and ISO of X version, now all you can do with MCT is get the latest no matter what version of MCT you use.

Yes, that seems to be true.

That's why it is always  a good plan to download and squirrel away a good .iso version before MS releases the next latest thing. That's been a twice yearly event, Spring and Fall. I'm running the latest (2004, patched thru July) and it appears stable so far.

Current AIR sale:

https://www.pluginboutique.com/deals/show?sale_id=6396

You can also buy the AIR Complete Expansion Pack 3 upgrade which comes with a bundle of AIR instruments, plus the FX collection for $74.99, IF you have any single AIR instrument you qualify for the upgrade price. https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/58-Inst-Bundle/2294-AIR-Instrument-Expansion-Pack-3-COMPLETE-UPGRADE-

Single instruments can be had for as low as $9.99 if you don't yet have one.

And yes they are old, and probably best for someone starting out on a tight budget. Because they are inexpensive!

9 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

As for taste in Rhodesalikes, my current fave is A|A|S Lounge Lizard Session, which is on sale for $24. Before that, it was the freeware Dead Duck EPiano. I must have bark and growl when I lay into it. I used to own a Stage 73, so I know what the real deal sounds like and how it responds, how the tines "bark" when you hit harder, and I have to have some of that in an emulation. Both Lounge Lizard and EPiano are hybrid modeled/sampled, which seems to work best for my playing style.

Not quite free, but still quite cheap at $14.99, AIR Velvet 2 is another option for Rhodes, Wurly, and Hohner:

Five Legendary Electric Pianos

Velvet is a virtual electronic piano that combines five legendary electric pianos from the 60s and 70s into one versatile instrument. Based on the Fender Rhodes Suitcase, Fender Rhodes MK I and MK II Stage Pianos, Wurlitzer 200A and Hohner Pianet-T, Velvet accurately emulates the sound quality, response, and nuances of each original instrument to bring your piano tracks to life. Additionally, Velvet features a pallet of onboard effects and allows you to control every aspect of the sound for unparalleled realism: turn up the tube drive controls in the preamp section to warm up your tone; adjust the timbre, dynamic response, and velocity curve to customize the playing feel; and mix in the sound of pedal and other keyboard mechanical noises to recreate an authentic electric piano track.

https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/64-Virtual-Instrument/1559-Velvet-2

Until Sept 3rd this time, but AIR does almost always have something on sale... https://www.pluginboutique.com/deals/show?sale_id=6396

7 hours ago, craigb said:

FWIW - If you had a valid Windows 7 Pro license (or similar), then you can still upgrade for free.  You just need to have a Windows 10 Pro .iso file (which is very hard to find now).  Needless to say, I happen to have one for v1903 which we're still using to legally upgrade a lot of our clients (the most recent was just tonight). 

You can always download the Win 10 Media Creation Tool directly from Microsoft which will allow you to put the latest Win 10 .iso (2004) on USB flash, or DVD.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

If you upgrade a Win 7 Pro machine, you are entitled to Win 10 Pro. Or else from Win 7 Home to Win 10 Home.

On 6/30/2020 at 9:12 PM, Robert Bone said:

GREAT news!  They are keeping this deal going, through July, too.

I am sooooooo stoked for those who were able to take advantage of this crazy 80% off sale price.

Bob Bone

The link in the OP appears to be dead now...

1 hour ago, Nigel Mackay said:

Kontakt 6. Many synths in the Kontakt instance. Each with a MIDI and an instrument track.

If I solo a MIDI track, all the instrument tracks solo. If I solo an instrument track all the MIDI tracks solo.

This is very inconvenient.

I would think that you would only require one instrument track per Kontakt instance, with the rest of the tracks being one MIDI track per instrument sent to that Kontakt instance. Using a different MIDI channel per MIDI track should keep you straight as far as routing within Kontakt.

You can insert audio tracks if you require Kontakt to output separate audio tracks for each instrument. No need for extra instrument tracks.

Maybe a screen shot of your setup would help?

3 hours ago, Bill Phillips said:

Sounds like an Apple add.?

Not really an Apple fan here, except for an iPod that I bought 10 years ago...haven't used it in years, since Android smartphones have taken their place. But there's no denying that the music app market is leaning toward iOS.

1 hour ago, emeraldsoul said:

Let's not rule out Sturgis!

Safe returns and best of luck, Larry . . .

 

1 hour ago, Jim Fogle said:

PG Music's Band-in-a-Box and RealBand include DX effects and accepts the Cakewalk by BandLab DX effects and DXi.

Not surprising as even the  BiaB 2020 version of still has a 90's look and feel to it...

2 minutes ago, Starise said:

No I wasn't aware of this. Reaper looks more and more like the swiss army knife of DAWs.

TBH I don't often use anything DXi . Might be a good time to revisit some of that.

I keep Reaper around to test plugins and their routing, if I have an issue with one elsewhere, but don't  use it much other than that.

It is like a swiss army knife though, but I find it much too cumbersome to use as a daily driver. Lots of power under the hood, and unmatched routing capabilities!

Respect to the developers!

1 hour ago, scook said:

May want to update the OP and subject since v1.7.1 is out

The SurgeEffectsBank now scans OK in CbB

 

I changed the subject to 1.7.x, as they update it so frequently. The  current version is always available  by following the link in the OP .

6 hours ago, Wibbles said:

A rival to the VST standard?

Remember when Cakewalk put DX and DXi up as a challenger to VST and VSTi?

3 hours ago, Starise said:

This is a good example of what could be done.  Reaper is a prime contender to look at for plugin code modifications ideas they have two very interesting things, Reascript and  JSFX. All of these run on Mac, Linux and Windows...that's the kind of talent we need for this. It's already been done just need a DAW porting standard.

 

Did you guys know that Reaper could run DXi?

Like your good old TTS-1 for example?

1 hour ago, Wibbles said:

A rival to the VST standard?

Remember when Cakewalk put DX and DXi up as a challenger to VST and VSTi?

Yup, but those are Windows only.