abacab

2 hours ago, Paul P said:

My favourite drawing package, that I still use regularly, is/was Micrografx Designer (and the rest of the Suite, including a 3d modeller).  I purchased it sometime before 1991.  I still haven't found a replacement that does as much, is as easy use, and is affordable.

I used it in XP Mode under Windows 7 and then, when I just this year moved to Windows 10, thought I'd lost it forever.  I actually went about setting up a nested virtual machine to run XP Mode inside Windows 7 inside VMware but at one point discovered that my problem was only the fact that Designer was 32 bit.  Installing my Windows 7 as 32 bit in VMware solved everything and I can continue to use my beloved drawing software for more years to come.

So old software doesn't have to die, if you're lucky...

 

I did a similar workaround! No XP mode inside Windows 7 for me. I installed a full copy of Windows XP Home (32-bit) in a VM (I use Oracle VirtualBox).

I have an old copy of Adobe Photoshop 6 bought over 20 years ago (2000?), which worked fine on Windows 98 & Windows XP, but didn't make the trip to later Windows versions. Installed Photoshop 6 in the XP virtual machine, and it works fine there! VirtualBox allows for shared clipboard, folders, and a seamless GUI between host and VM guest, so it's almost like running Photoshop on the host desktop! Running Windows 10 64-bit here.

So yep, if you are geeky enough, some old software doesn't have to die! But I'm afraid that doesn't always apply to DAWs for music production, unless you are just doing basic tasks that don't require real-time audio. Just out of curiosity, I installed Sonar 6 and Sonar 8.5 (32-bit) in the XP VM, and they will play back audio projects. But using virtual instruments in them is not practical. The latency in a generic virtual machine audio device throws a curve ball into real-time audio. No ASIO.

Besides, all of my audio toys that I use today work fine on Windows 10 64-bit.

1 hour ago, Tim Smith said:

I purchased the upgrade, but man I don't think the portal downloaded anything. I mean it shows up as AS and not AS intro. I guess I have it. Fastest download eva.

I think something's up. Maybe not.

The upgrade apparently just unlocks the advanced features and additional presets. It was very fast here as well!

2 hours ago, Kevin Perry said:

Somewhat off topic, but does anyone else find that they download a demo of a plugin/instrument, play with it for a bit and like it, so decide to buy it, then find that the purchased version just doesn't seem to sound so good?

No. That's what full demos are for. I could see a possible issue maybe if it's a demo involving a large sample library, and all the demo includes is a teaser.

And that's the main reason I have never bought Omnisphere. No demo.

2 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Yep, there they are. I got rid of the Presonus shell thing, it was taking years off my life waiting for it to enumerate, and just not worth it for the sake of one good vintage analog delay emulation and a channel strip containing vintage hardware workalikes duplicated elsewhere.

Yep, that's not a bad idea.  That PreSonus shell scan is annoying as hell. And so is Waves, but a few of those are indispensable!

I'm not likely to ever use the PreSonus plugs outside of Studio One, nor even  likely to in Studio One. They are probably very good if you are just starting out with a DAW, but I have my own collection of go-to plugins now. I Installed the PreSonus Hub plugins out of curiosity, but have never really used them.

Music: Jerry Goldsmith

Great movie!

$29 and I'm in like Flint!

1 hour ago, PavlovsCat said:

"But I won't be collecting any more sampled synths, that's for sure!"

I don't believe any of us when we say stuff like that,  including me.  

No, really! And I've actually been deleting some sampled synths that I own and never use, such as from UVI and Tracktion.

I've set a hard limit for my disk space to use for sampled libraries. Orchestral and other "real" instruments make sense, but synths, nah not really. I'll allow Syntronik to remain, but that's it!

Arturia is my go-to now!

3 hours ago, Charlie Martinez said:

Why would we want a program as good as Cakewalk to adopt a license like the GPL?

GPL? Never going to happen.

Cakewalk is proprietary closed source software, and highly dependent on the Microsoft ecosystem. It apparently would take a complete re-write to create a cross-platform Cakewalk application. The attempted port to Mac many years ago was a failure, even when Cakewalk as a company was still backed by Gibson. So it's likely that  the odds are even much worse for a port over to Linux/GPL. I don't see any incentive to open source it, and it seems to be doing quite well as is.

BandLab is supporting Cakewalk today as a path for its 50 million web users to step up to a full featured DAW.

https://www.bandlab.com/

https://blog.bandlab.com/category/community/

https://caldecottmusic.com/

@Charlie MartinezBTW, you just revived a thread that's been inactive for a year.

2 hours ago, satyabrata satapathy said:

do arturia can really load sfz files , if yes which and how

Don't think so...

4 hours ago, pseudopop said:

Is there something unique/different (= not something I can get with any other synth) for sale that doesn't require Omnisphere?

I have the Discover Station, UniLofi and Cloud City.

Here's a few that only require Unify that I have found to be very good! There are a lot more listed, but the easiest way to locate them is if you hover your mouse over the "Products" menu on the top bar of the web site (don't actually click on "Products").

A page will appear below (looks like Javascript magic) that lists all products by type. The Unify only products are listed in the first column. Yes, I know, they really need a better web developer with an eye for design! ?

https://www.pluginguru.com/products/megamagic-guitars-for-unify/

https://www.pluginguru.com/products/modern-cinema-renegade/

https://www.pluginguru.com/products/unichill-v1/

3 hours ago, antler said:

I'm not sure whether multi-CPU load balancing is a good idea at the plugin level - it certainly is at the host/DAW level; I'm just wondering whether there will be any 'conflicts' if your DAW is trying to spread the load, and then a plugin that the DAW is managing is spreading the load too.

Kontakt also has a multi-CPU option - the documentation suggests that it's enabled when run standalone, but disabled when running inside your DAW as a plugin.

Unify can be a host too.

Exactly!!!

4 hours ago, John Bradley said:

That’s why I love the Arturia synths and just don’t ‘get’ Syntronik. 

I have them both, and enjoy them. From the usage standpoint with modelling, Arturia definitely has the advantage. But the Syntronik synths can sometimes sound more realistic. Maybe because they sampled real vintage synths? And the new samples and synth engine in Syn 2.0 are even better!

But I won't be collecting any more sampled synths, that is for sure! The house is full! ?

12 minutes ago, Fwrend said:

Not for me.  I've tried changing settings but to no avail.  Yeah, I've got BBCSO Core but just haven't jumped on Unify - but the time will come.

I hear ya!

All I can suggest is to temporarily try another browser at this point. The site may still be experiencing issues with it's  security certificates, and some browsers can be very strict in that regard! I don't think that all of the issues with GoDaddy hosting have been resolved yet, but at least the domain is accessible again!

1 hour ago, Fleer said:

You stupid woman. 

I dunno, looks interesting...

7 hours ago, Jacques Boileau said:

... and to anyone that has an older PC that can't even upgrade to 11, let alone 12!

The general advice is usually to just buy a new PC with the desired OS pre-installed. Or build your own, DIY...

Alternatively, you can keep your old system running for as long as you are able to. But eventually you will be limited to applications that only run on the older platform. It is what it is!!! Progress!!!

21 minutes ago, Fwrend said:

I still can't open in Edge nor Chrome.  Shows as "Not Secure."  Does the sale include Unify?

EDIT: never mind.  I see a "day or two" includes today

They are back up, and no, Unify is not (ever) on sale...

But BBCSO Discover is free, and Unify Discoverstation is on sale!

48 minutes ago, kevin H said:

 

You know, I actually really like that song! It's excellent for a POP song!!! ?

1 hour ago, Fleer said:

Falcon unified is particularly interesting as Falcon is not multi-core compatible, but Unify is. 

Unify being multi-core aware is a generally less well understood feature of Unify, and one of the most impressive technical features that it offers!

Each layer in a Unify preset gets assigned to a different core/thread. Allowing multiple instances of a plugin to be spread around a CPU. Load balancing!!!

For example, each layer of Unify can contain another instance of Unify, which can contain another ... and another... and another ...

4 hours ago, RexRed said:

After spending some time on Google, it seems 96khz seems to be the hotspot for DAW recording.

But the question still is, are the samples and effects we own up to that level?

Are they being "upsampled" to accommodate that frequency?

I think that the internal sample rate of plugins is dictated strictly by the developer of the plugin. Such as the resolution of any sampled waveform libraries they supply with the product, or by DSP processing if the waveforms are algorithmically generated. You would need to discuss the logic of those individual design decisions with them.

So I'm suggesting that it's only the available audio output sample rates of the plugin that the DAW, and your audio interface can be adjusted to.

The plugin is what it is, and most of the modern ones today are capable of very high sample rates on the output side. How they get there, of where "upsampling" is employed internally in a plugin, is just a guess unless they documented it somewhere.

DiscoverStation is now $32.45 on sale, until Monday! A definite no-brainer for Unify users (you must have Unify in order to run DiscoverStation)!

https://www.pluginguru.com/products/discoverstation-corestation-unify-bbcso/

Unify is still $79 for those without. It isn't on sale, but it's still an awesome value! https://www.pluginguru.com/products/unify-standard/

Unify Standard includes Guru Sample Player and 14 Effects, so that Unify ships with 400 ready-to-play patches out-of-the-box when you install it!

There are also many free "Unified" factory preset libraries available for download at PluginGuru.com. Many of them greatly expand the usefulness of your existing synth plugins with layered presets that combine your existing factory presets in unique and creative ways. The following is a list of synths that have already been officially "Unified", but you must already own the respective synths in order to use a "Unified" preset library for it. I have about 20 of these installed, and the Unified libraries for them are AMAZING!!! ?

• Applied Acoustic Systems Chromaphone 3
• ART Tube Synth
• Arturia Augmented Strings Intro 
• Arturia Pigments 3.5 MPE Enabled
• Arturia Pigments 3.5 NOT MPE Enabled
• BrainWorx Knifonium
• BrainWorx Oberhausen 1.5
• Cherry Audio CA2600 C
• Cherry Audio’s DC-106
• Cherry Audio Eight Voice
• Cherry Audio’s Memorymode
• Cherry Audio Polymode
• Cherry Audio’s PS-20
• Cherry Audio Quadra 
• Decent Sampler 
• Dmitry Saches Diversion
• Dmitry Saches / PlugIn Alliance Thorn
• GForce impOSCar 2
• GForce MiniMonsta
• GForce OB-E (Macro Knobs Updated for V2, doesn’t include V2 patches (yet))
• GForce SEM (Includes support for both VST2 and VST3)
• GForce VSM (Virtual String Module)
• Gospel Musicians FM TiNES 2
• Impact Sound Works Harpejji Sample Library– Kontakt 6
• Initial Audio Sektor  NEW!!
• Kilohearts Phase Plant FACTORY
• Kilohearts Phase Plant “Gratis”  BONUS Free Library
• Klevgrand Borsta
• Korg M1 (1750 Patches)
• Korg Prophecy
• Korg Wavestate
• Lennar Digital Sylenth1
• Martininc AX73 Analog Synthesizer MAC
• Martininc AX73 Analog Synthesizer PC
• MOK Miniraze
• MOK WAVERAZOR
• New Fangled Audio/Eventide Generate
• New Fangled Audio/Eventide Pendulate – FREE SYNTH  LINK
• Native Instruments Noire – Kontakt 6
• Nylon Sky Sonic Extension for Omnisphere 2
• Oblivion Sound Lab Hex Drum
• Reveal-Sound Spire 1.5
• Rhizomatic’s Plasmonic –  uses VST3 format
• Rob Papen Punch 2
• Softube Model 82 Uses VST3 format
• Sonic Charge Microtonic
• Spitfire LABS Unified (Updated 2/6)
• Spitfire ORG Cimbalom Unified
• Spitfire ORG Cinematic Pads Unified
• Spitfire ORG Cinematic Percussion Unified
• Spitfire ORG Epic Brass n Woodwinds Unified
• Spitfire ORG Epic Strings Unified
• Spitfire ORG Felt Piano Unified
• Spitfire ORG Frozen Strings Unified
• Spitfire ORG Intimate Grand Piano
• Spitfire ORG Intimate Strings
• Spitfire ORG Media Toolkit Unified
• Spitfire ORG Mrs Mills Piano Unified
• Spitfire Audio Recording – Hainbach – Landfill Totems
• Spitfire Audio Signatures – Fink Acoustic Guitars
• Surge Original, not JUCE version – FREE SYNTH – Uses VST3 Format – LINK
• Synapse Audio Dune 3
• Synapse Audio Dune 3.5
• Synapse Audio’s Obsession
• TAL-J-8
• TAL U-No-LX
• Tone2 Icarus 2
• Tone2 Nemesis 2
• Tone2 SAURUS 3 (VST2)
• Tone2 Warlock – uses VST3 format
• U-He Bazille
• U-He DIVA
• U-He Hive 2.1
• U-He’s Repro-1 and Repro-5
• U-He Zebra2
• U-He Zebra2 HZ
• UVI Falcon 2.5
• UVI Falcon Quadra Muted and Harmonics
• UVI Workstation Quadra Muted and Harmonics (The UVI Workstation is FREE, The UVI Workstation is Quadra is not)
• Waldorf Largo
• Xfer Records SERUM
• Yamaha TX816 Factory Patches (you only need Unify for this library to work)

1 hour ago, Yan Filiatrault said:

 

Thanks, but that's what I updated my thread with 3 hours ago!