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OK, after my testing with Muse Hub, I was able to get everything except the Muse Hub Background Service under control. In the Windows Taskbar Notification Area, open the Muse Hub applet and in the settings area (gear icon), you can control several items, including Muse Hub startup when you sign in. Toggled that off, as well as auto updating and "community acceleration" (that sounds like a torrent-style bandwidth sharing scheme). Windows > Start > Settings > Privacy > Background apps > [toggle off Muse Hub from running in the background]. You can "quit" the Muse Hub task and GUI, but the Muse Hub Background Service continues running, and Windows services will let you stop it, but not disable it or set it to "manual". So the Muse Hub task no longer starts up at boot, but the service does. The service path is "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Muse.MuseHub_1.0.0.624_x64__ ...". But as far as the Muse Hub task and GUI are concerned, I can manually start and stop it as needed.

As I mentioned earlier, I use Autoruns...

Gotcha! Technically it's an application program, that runs on your Windows or Mac OS.

https://kilohearts.com/banks

Me too! Those are 5 of my 14 freebies! https://www.arturia.com/products/analog-classics/spectrum-sound-pack/resources

Correct, the Background apps control is just for the modern Windows apps. I have a couple that I leave running such as my Nvidia control panel and my HP printer app. The rest get shut down or uninstalled if possible (if MS allows).

Try this: Click Start > Settings > Privacy > Background apps > [toggle off the apps that you don't want running in the background].

I gotcha! But like I said MuseScore 4 still includes a usable default soundfont for playback, even without the Hub. I also use Autoruns (and a few other Sysinternals programs), but I think Windows app startup can be controlled by other means. I'll have to look into it to be certain.

"OS"?

Can I assume that we can also take a favorite DAW and use all of the stock plugins included with that?

In my system, Kontakt 6 is just "Kontakt" (no number), while Kontakt 7 is "Kontakt 7". And as I recall, Kontakt 5 was "Kontakt 5".

True, but that falls in line with many publishers now requiring installers for their sound sets. However, MuseScore 4 still includes a usable default soundfont for playback though. And you can use your own VST instruments with it, just be aware of the VST host sync issue mentioned by John above. The instruments cited all use internal transports so that may just be an issue for that use case, but otherwise standard instruments shouldn't have an issue with host sync. I would expect that since this major 4.0 product release is just out of beta, it will be improved in upcoming point releases. Review: https://www.scoringnotes.com/reviews/musescore-4-0/

The only Pigments packs that I have purchased other than Cinematics, are Synthwave 2085 and a 3rd party pack from Luftrum. The other 14 banks were either factory or freebies. So a total of 2,456 presets already. I'm good at this point, so not really tempted. Those 2,456 should give me more than a few ideas to create my own! Definitely check out Luftrum 23 for Pigments! https://www.luftrum.com/luftrum23/ Promo code "hellosnow" will get you 50% off of $29.00, so $14.50 for 100 presets. Description of "Stillness of Stars" and "Fast Radio Burst" are below... "Luftrum 23 for Pigments is an ambient cinematic soundbank for the film scoring space traveler and the electronic producer, containing 100 Pigments presets, with 75 original presets and 25 alternative versions. Also included are 22 “sweet spot” FX presets, for the reverb and delay effects. The soundset is created by Luftrum, taking sounds back-to-basics in the vein of early Luftrum releases with rich pads, silky Vangelis-like keys, bit-crushed yet mellow synth leads, underscoring textures and conceptual granular work with sonics originating from space itself. Such as the dusty, mesmerizing granular pad Stillness of Stars sculpted out of a short snippet of otherworldly frequencies from Voyager 2 as it passed through the outer magnetosphere in 1979 and the pulsing drone based on the cryptic FRB signals from deep space billions of light-years away, which are intercepted, noise reduced and timestretched 350 times."

Hmmm. This will require some thought!

I grabbed the Wavelengths Cinematics pack for $9.99, the other 2 were not to my taste, especially the Neuro Bass. You can audition them from within Pigments using the "Store" tab/page.

They're paid expansions for existing Pigments owners, but are included with a new license purchase. You can grab any one for $9.99 or all 3 for $19.99 at the intro price.

Apparently installing the free Muse Sounds for playback requires the Muse Hub.

Link above fixed. Did not paste here correctly the first attempt. Or use the link from the Musescore page, it works. https://musescore.org/en/4.0

https://musescore.org/en/4.0 For those wanting to download a Windows or Mac version of MS4 without the Muse Hub, please use the appropriate text links at (oops, link fixed): https://musescore.org/en/download

Massive X now be like...

Sonokinetic was given a break on Player licenses from NI if they used K7. At least that was true for EMP. Sleigh Bells working here in K7 Player...

To see only the new presets, go to "Explore", then "Banks", and select Pigments 4.0.

Nope. You can move it, but the Resources path is literally everything that the Arturia instruments need to function. That's where all of the presets, samples, and other resources such as the config stuff lives. The Arturia plugins are not self contained in the .dll and .vst3 files. For example the Pigments.vst3 is only 22.1 MB. The Arturia path "D:\Resources" uses 23GB on my D drive for the V Collection plus Pigments. I believe that this is not unique for large virtual instrument collections. I prefer Arturia's method to those of Native Instruments or IK Multimedia.

Here is how I have it set in ASC Preferences:

FYI, also an update for Analog Lab V. V 5.6.1 New features: Integration of Pigments 4.0 Bug fixes: Playlists are now recalled properly when opening a project saved with a playlist preset loaded