Canopus

Unfortunately for me, PB doesn't seem to have any crossgrade to KORG Collection 5 from 3 KORG products. KORG always have that when on sale, but their crossgrade price has always been above my pain threshold; I think it's been $149 at the lowest. But I can wait. Oh yeah, I can wait.

A no-brainer price. I've had M1 and Wavestation for a long time. Now, after also adding MS-20 to my KorgID, I will hopefully get a better deal the next time KORG Collection 5 upgrade is on sale. Didn't care to claim the freebie at PB though. Too many reverbs already.

Thanks, corrected. And, yes, I know.

You also have a number of tutorials on YouTube. Here’s a playlist featuring seven different videos, where the first five are made by Cakewalk. Sure, it’s about 14 years old, but except for the DAW being used is Cakewalk 8.5, nothing has changed in Session Drummer 3. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt3VhS98XSi9n1G4UAsrSAxf2N6w21B7L

Welcome back from the dark side, John.

As for SONAR, there hasn’t been an updated version since October 2017. As you know, Gibson pulled the plug in 2018. That also means that there are no upgrade options, or additional benefits, to those who once owned it. Believe me, I was one. Enter the world of Sonar. You have two options; go subscription, or download the free, scaled-down version of Sonar. Although some features have been removed in the free version, it’s still a much more mature product than SONAR Professional ever was.

If that includes free Sonar, that would be a great solution for everyone missing a drum sampler.

I’ve had SONAR since X1, so I’m not sure when Session Drummer 3 turned up. But, for sure, it was included in Platinum, part of the Artist Instrument Collection. As far as I know, it was part of all available versions of SONAR, i.e. Artist, Studio, Producer and Platinum. It might also have been included in the Cakewalk 8.x and earlier incarnations, I don’t know, but for some reason it has never been part of CbB. Maybe BandLab simply didn’t purchase the IP rights to those products.

I think it’s even simpler than that. If you make too much available in the free version, there isn’t much incentive to pay for the full-fledged Sonar. Some functions that most users would want simply have to be left out. Also, I guess that the functional gap between these two versions will increase over time.

Cakewalk XSampler only holds one sample at a time. I would use NI Battery, but of course any multi-sample sampler would probably do. Indeed, if you have Cakewalk Session Drummer 3 from the olden days, that should be fine as well. In Session Drummer 3, samples can be dragged onto the different kit pieces and then saved as a user kit.

It may be worth noting that VAT is not included in the advertised prices, but it will be added at checkout. I noticed that last year when I was considering Play4Life, so I eventually backed out.

About 10 hours. The license link came through some middle-man called Skuport, so check your spam folder if it doesn'r arrive in due time. Well, provided you bought from JRR Shop, that is.

Just a quick tip for anyone thinking the Lounge Lizard EP-5 GUI lost too much of its contrast compared to EP-4. It is possible to enhance the legibility to more acceptable levels pretty easily. As all EP-5 GUI elements are stored as images in C:\Program Files\Applied Acoustics Systems\Lounge Lizard EP-5\Bitmaps (in Windows, that is), all you need is an image editor that can handle png files. I used Photoshop, but free alternatives like Gimp will do perfectly fine. Be sure to create a backup of the Bitmaps folder before you begin. As for me, I updated the four background GUI files (two for Tines and two for Reed) by adjusting the levels; first by brighten the midtones and then by increasing the contrast. Here’s one of them, as displayed in Sonar. It took me some 20 minutes in total for all four images, and, although subtle, I think it turned out pretty well. Of course, much more could be done by anyone so inclined.

I can't see that when running the VST2 version in CbB. The drop-down stays where it should be. I tested 75 %, 100 % and 125 % scaling to see if there was any difference, but it worked as expected regardless. However, I much prefer the Library view as it allows presets to be changed without the need to press Enter each and every time a new preset should be loaded. Using the Up and Down keys are sufficient there.

Wow. Is the site up again already? That was fast! Just a tad more than 24 hours. As to the question, I can’t really hear any difference when running the EP-4 sound banks in EP-4 and EP-5 side by side. But that may be a good thing. I’m sure the enhanced physical modelling core will add to the realism when put to the test. However, I honestly prefer the main user interface in EP-4; it’s brighter, has better contrast and larger knobs compared to EP-5. Also, to have all the tweakability that’s available by default in EP4, you have to switch EP-5 to its detailed Expert mode. Sure, you can resize the GUI in EP-5 from 75 % to 200 % in 25 % increments, which is great, but to my aging, not-so-20/20 vision, it’s questionable whether the UI overall can be considered an upgrade. On the other hand, I do appreciate the new Library with its Search function and possibility to select and filter Favorites. An additional 150 factory presets won’t hurt, and the updated Effects rack is a step forward. As always, you win some and you lose some, but overall, I have no regrets.