Duncan Stitt

A cheap alternative to expensive ribbon mics might be the SE V7. It's a $100 dynamic mic for stage vocals, but with a less crispy high end. I use mine on violin all the time. I also add the Nomad Factory E-Tube Tape Warmer plugin, which reduces any crispy high end that might still be there. Mic positioning also makes a big difference. Using Direct Sound Isolation headphones helps with positioning. You might find a sweet spot on either side of the body. At the center of the body (the neck and strings) you got lots of raspy string sound but not much fullness.

The Arranger track is great! It'll be an extra step - I work on a Mac with Digital Performer and then transfer the midi files (with markers) to Cakewalk - but it'll really help with making sure I know where the arrangement is going on new songs.

New to CLB, wondering if the Theme Editor can enlarge the text for markers in the timeline? I'm going to be using CLB to run midi sequences live on gigs. In the old Cakewalk from 25 years ago, marker text was clearly visible. In the new version, it's tiny.