PavlovsCat

There is a story behind me recording the song. It was recorded very late at night, and was just an impromptu version of a song I wrote when I was a kid after I vamped on the "Dear Boy" chords. I didn't even write down the chords, so when I did some additional tracks the next day, I had to figure out what chords I played. But I was having a buch of MIDI problems at the time-- I later learned were due to memory/space issues (hard drive). For example, the piano sustain pedal wasn't working, so I was playing the piano part without it (and I'm not fluent at editing MIDI, so that's just the way it is in the final mix). The lead guitar part had a bunch of notes that sounded slightly out of tune, as if the mod wheel was slightly up. I couldn't figure out how to edit any of that and I asked Greg, the CEO/Founder of Orange Tree Samples if he wouldn't mind looking into it. Greg offered to look at the MIDI and there were some weird things going on. I offered that if he wanted to redo my guitar parts, I'd love that (Greg is a killer multi-instrumentalist). So he ended up redoing a bunch, if not all of the lead parts, playing the identical parts but adding some harmonies and he added some rhythm guitar arpeggios. So, this ended up being a collaboration, the second time we've worked together on a song (last year Greg played bass guitar on my cover of John Lennon's "Isolation" -- he played a physical bass guitar and I played the rest of the parts and sang).

It is a medley. The first 16 bars are me vamping over a 4 chord progression from Paul McCartney's "Dear Boy" with my melody. I then go into a song I wrote when I was 13 that had a very strong McCartney vibe, called "Brighter Days," for the remainder of the medley. My concept was that together it would serve as my tribute to the music and bass playing of Paul McCartney and how much it influenced and inspired me. I had written 4 new compositions for the demo and received the green light on one, but I recorded this one impromptu, as a little jam, and it just felt more enthusiastic to me. The part you like, I think, is the part with the drums drop out and the Mellotron strings (with a cello in the background) come in? I actually pulled the drums out of that section to draw more attention to the sound of the bass, which, of course, is the point of the demo. This is my cover of "Dear Boy" that I took the 16 bar intro from (this was before Orange Tree Samples released the Evolution Vintage Violin Bass library; I used MODO's modeled Hofner. During exposed parts I actually doubled the parts with a guitar, as the modeled bass, when exposed, lacked depth in the tone and it becomes transparent when it's exposed in a mix. BTW, that demo is the first music ever really shared publicly, beyond my SoundCloud account that I don't promote, but mainly share with my friends and get feedback from the Cakewalk Song Forum on. While I played drums semi-professionally in bands from 18 until sustaining a repetitive stress injury in 1999, none of the bands I played with (beyond an instrumental band I put together when I was 18 that had like 3 gigs) performed any of my music. So after all of these years, a song I wrote when I was 13 is now being shared publicly. I never really would have been comfortable with my playing being shared publicly, but Greg Schlaepfer, the CEO of Orange Tree Samples is a friend and has been encouraging me to play music again -- so anyone that hears my demo and thinks it's terrible, blame him and his encouraging me! Hahaha. But I seriously also rationalized it as something to put out there that shows even a guy like me, who is no longer a competent musician, can still pull off something semi-decent with the right tools and a little musical imagination. This was the cover I did of McCartney's "Dear Boy" that I pulled the first 16 bar progression and arrangement from:

You'll want to remove the link to that site. They are software pirates. 100 percent sure. Scam. You don't want to get ripped off and you don't want these folks to have your credit card info.

Wow, thanks. Disclosure. You might have realized that I get a kick out of your posts because you're so non conformist! When everyone is praising something you'll come in and say you hate it -- which I love in terms of your independence. I don't know much about production. While I've made demos of original music since I was a kid, I played other people's music professionally and always relied on sound engineers and never learned their tricks. I didn't mix the Orange Tree Samples demo, that was my only track that was mixed by someone competent. I am pretty happy with Cakewalk. I've been trying to play again since early last year and also bought Studio One. It was nice, but Cakewalk works for me. Until recently I've never even used comping or midi editing. When I played a part really poorly, I would just delete it and re record. This year, I mostly still do that, but I've started comping vocals and guitar leads and I will go in and delete bad notes I bump into or ones I held too long or two short. The first song I played in over 10 years was "I Am the Walrus " and it's sloppy as heck with all first takes but I think it may be the best thing I've done in these past couple years. I do own V-Drums, but I've only been playing a midi usb keyboard in my office and using a podcast mic for vocals. So not a very impressive setup. My acoustic drums, synths, percussion, guitars, a glockenspiel-- they're in my basement collecting dust. PM some of your music. Encouragement should go both ways. Thanks for the kind words.

I just did my first ever demo (I stopped playing music professionally 23 years ago after a repetitive stress injury resulted in really bad tendonitis' I started playing again early last year and can only play for short periods at a time -- literally, sometimes only like a few minutes if there is, say an 8th note cymbal pattern a fast tempo; so my playing is pretty much never going to be good again. But I'm trying to play again and can handle very simple stuff. This uses all Orange Tree Samples guitars and their bass (they're all KONTAKT libraries), NI's Abbey Road 60s Drums, Spitfire's Jangle Box Piano, Sound Dust's 1900 Dulcitone and GForce's Mtron Pro. All of the instruments are virtual and were played in real time (as opposed to writing in MIDI or step sequencing, etc.). I was once a very good drummer -- Jimmy Chamberlin of the Smashing Pumpkins once said I was one of his favorite drummers (back in the 90s definitely not today! And he did say "out of Chicago" which is less impressive. Oh well, it's still my favorite brag! Today I can't even play as well as I could at 8, literally, I'm just focused on trying to play beats decently). https://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/PeterDeLegge-DearPaul.mp3

I actually just bought and then returned SoundPaint's 1975 Soulful Guitar -- it's the first time EVER that I've returned a sample library. I didn't find any patches that got the cool sounding leads in the demo and the patches were not scripted, just super simple recordings like I would expect in the era of Soundfonts, but not in 2022. But I've been spoiled by Orange Tree Samples' libraries and probably the only dev of guitar libraries I'd consider if OTS didn't have a certain guitar (in this case, they don't have the same Gibson model as the SoundPaint library yet) would be Ample Sounds. But you probably don't care as much about guitar or bass samples as me, because I'm using them in the final mix and you're replacing them. I own a bunch of 8Dio string libraries, but their unforgiveable shortcoming is that they're not well scripted like some of their better KONTAKT library competitors libraries. I like to play everything in real time and not have to go back and fiddle with MIDI editing, so scripting is super important. Consequently, I look to 8Dio and now SoundPaint for libraries that don't rely heavily on scripting of complex articulations, like pianos.

I see a ton of ads for Urgitone with deep discounts selling for $10 and $5. While I used to be a rock drummer, I wasn't a metal drummer (but had friends who were) and listen to some metal here and there. But the kits I like best are from Toontrack for Superior Drummer, there's probably some great ones for ezDrummer, but Ive spent more time looking at SD stuff. I actually own a couple of their early metal kits. The downside with Toontrack's Superior Drummer is that they're really expensive; but, IMO, they're the best acoustic drum plugin and drum libraries. BFD has some bargains, but their interface is very dated and there a ton of support issues. Steven Slate Drums are also worth looking into. I know last Black Friday there was a great deal on Steven Slate Drums. I find they sound cool, but I prefer a less processed, more organic drum sound.

Same!

Still Dave, KONTAKT, at least in my opinion is awesome. I use it more than any other plugin. For pianos, electric pianos, organs, bass guitars, drums, synths, glockenspiels, percussion, tuned percussion... I am from the world of physical instruments. But with some physical limitations I have and convenience for my family's sake, I use MIDI controllers and sample libraries for everything these days although I own a bunch of physical instruments too. You wrote MIDI percussion and I believe you meant that for keyboards, strings, everything else your also using MIDI, right? If so, there are a ton of great percussion, keyboard, string and other libraries for KONTAKT. Most of the music I make in my home studio uses sampled acoustic physical (and amplified like electric guitar and electric piano) instruments (piano, guitars, basses, drums, percussion) as opposed to synth and EDM drum machines. If you're ever looking for any starting points on great percussion and other libraries for KONTAKT worth exploring, just PM me. Also, what genre(s) do you play?

On a related note, if you have no use for KONTAKT, why would you click on threads for free KONTAKT instruments? The plot thickens.

Duly noted, see my original post, as I mentioned that the library is referred to as a demo but doesn't appear to be time limited. The term demo, of course, short for demonstration, seems to be used by the developer to denote a limited free version. Again, I installed this and there's no indication that it is time limited, if that is your point (which isn't clear beyond pointing out the word DEMO twice; so I'm just guessing that's the point you intended to make). I suspect the developer and whoever wrote the web copy are not native English speakers and used some terms like demo that often have connotations other than what they were trying to communicate.

Dead serious, I'm contemplating shooting Steven an email that reads: "Hey Steven. I just wanted to let you know that your name came up in a forum when someone referred to you as 'an arrogant mother.' In your defense I basically responded, 'Nah, he's just from Boston.' " Hahaha. Before I get flack for that, know that I get grief for having a loud voice. A lot of people attribute it to my being Italian-American or a former rock musician. Spoiler, I'm hard of hearing and was born that way. But deep down, I realize it might also be the Italian thing too.

I can speak to that. I recognize some of the libraries from more than a decade ago. Maybe they've updated the libraries, but some of them go back maybe 15 years when AcousticSamples was still making KONTAKT libraries.

Every thread in this forum so easily goes astray! And, hey, I'm not taking shots at anyone else, because that would be total hypocrisy. Just kind of having a laugh at how far we go off topic. With regard to Johnny calling Steven Slate "an arrogant mother," I've only had a couple of conversations with Steven Slate and I quite like him. Yes, he's from Boston and definitely moves at a high rate of speed (I'm a Midwesterner, am a total people pleaser and have often been told that I'm "overly polite"; so yes, even while I'm not as aggressive as some folks, I still can appreciate them), but I think he's actually a pretty nice guy. A LOT of the well known sample and plugin developers have pretty large egos, some of them don't have great ethics either (I'm putting that mildly), and I don't know Steven that well, but in my conversations he was always a straight up guy and very respectful to me. He also has a good sense of humor and we share a great love of The Beatles (he even named one of his businesses Yellow Matter Entertainment -- of course, in tribute to The Beatles, a reference to their song "I Am The Walrus") Our first conversation he asked, "Did you catch the Beatles' reference in my company name?" And being a huge Beatles fan, of course I couldn't miss that. Anyhow, Steven has always been a really nice person in my experience and a lot of fun to talk to and I'm not saying that because I have a business relationship with him, I don't. I just sincerely like him.

Update. I downloaded and installed the piano (KONTAKT version) and really like it. BTP posted that the deal expires in two weeks so act on it before then. I did find that the download includes a version for the FULL version of KONTAKT plus the piano in the SFZ format, so you can use this free piano in a free SFZ player like Sforzando. For those low on funds, pick up Sforzando (the free plugin SFZ sample player) and get this library.

The problem I have is with your videos is that when I end up buying the libraries, they never sound as good, which is entirely due to the guy playing them being incredibly less talented than you. It turns out, that's the most significant factor in how good a piano library sounds. Who would have known?

SampleTekk has started a deals site called SampleTekk Deals and is promoting it by giving away their MONO piano, Singularis, reg. price $79 USD for free and includes a KONTAKT and SFZ version. The KONTAKT version requires the full version of KONTAKT. The SFZ version can be loaded in free SFZ players and the developer notes he tested it in the free SFZ sample player plugin, Sforzando. I'm on my phone at the moment, so I haven't downloaded this library yet, but I have most of SampleTekk's pianos, and they're a very good sample developer that specializes in piano libraries. The version of this they sell is available for the full version of KONTAKT and in the SFZ format. A video promo for the piano. This the link to get the free piano: https://www.sampletekkdeals.com To skip the home page and go directly to the freebie page: https://sampletekkdeals.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=66 This is their regular website's product page with information on the Singularis piano -- and yes, that name sounds a lot like an allergy medicine, but SampleTekk makes very good piano libraries, so don't miss out on this freebie: https://www.sampletekk.com/grand-pianos&product_id=294

Thanks. That stuff does sound fantastic. But I'm not going to pretend I would ever make my own patches. And I do have some of their synths and honestly, beyond presets they're over my head. [Now is the perfect time for the jokes about marketing people or drummers not being very bright.] True story. This same friend of mine PMed me last year and wrote something like, "Hey, I just bought an Orange Tree Samples library and I see your name in the manual with a thank you! How cool! What did you do?" So I think that's cool too. Disclosure, that was the first time I learned my name was in an OTS manual and I use OTS libraries in almost every project. But due to a mix of impatience and who knows what else, I never read any of the manuals. I've always been able to learn what I needed from a mix of watching videos and fiddling around. And lately I've been making custom presets in KONTAKT and SoundPaint-- and I'm actually really happy with what I can now do in SoundPaint. But synth programming? It's beyond me. I'd rather pay someone who's great at and spend more time making music that maybe three people listen to.

I remember in the 00s, I was on business in Scotland and met up with Ben from Camel Audio for dinner and to hang out (great guy and an excellent developer). I confided in him that I loved his synths but only stuck with presets. He told me about research finding something like 90+% of soft synth users don't make their own patches -- but they mostly intend to and make it a factor when researching soft synths. I think it's awesome to make your own presets. I have a friend who is big into modular hardware synths and makes his own fantastic and complex patches that he sends over audio files to me that I listen to and am blown away by. But at best, I don't desire to want to make them myself, at best, if he does something for a soft synth, I'll just want a patch!

Unlike most of you guys, I have no talent for making patches -- don't get me wrong, I wish I did, but don't want to invest the time. I'm a lowly preset user. But I absolutely love Vital. I think it may be my favorite soft synth --- and I've bought a lot of soft synths over the years. But Vital, which anyone get pick up for free, is always the one I find myself turning to the most.

Yeah, you know, I was wondering how it worked without a serial number. But I have the full version of KONTAKT, so you know, I think it actually is NOT a KONTAKT Player library, only the full version is. I'll revise my original post accordingly. Sorry for anyone who doesn't have the full version of KONTAKT and saw my post prior to revision.

I just downloaded, installed and tried out the free version of the DS Drum RCS Essentials acoustic drum kit (yeah, don't blame me for it's long-winded name that really doesn't communicate anything of value) from a new developer called Red Pack Drums. It's a KONTAKT library that, I believe, requires the full version of KONTAKT and this is an excellent quality acoustic drum kit for free. It's a sophisticated, detailed/deep sampled drum kit. love that you can swap snares and tune the snares in the free version. It features a wide variety of mapping options, including for popular drum plugins like Superior Drums as well as V-Drums and GM. They call the free library a DEMO, but it's one full drum kit with two snares, a wood (mahogany) snare and a brass snare. As a former semi-pro drummer, I'm very picky about drum libraries and this is easily one of the best free drum libraries I know of (the competition, off hand, for a very high quality free detailed, multisampled drum kit libraries include Steven Slate Drums and the Sennheiser Kit for KONTAKT -- both are are worth having. I don't love the toms on this kit, but for a freebie, they're still nice. While many KONTAKT drum libraries are a disappointment when it comes to the GUI, while this one isn't my version of ideal, it's not bad. Everything you need it there and once you figure everything it out, which doesn't take long, it's easy to understand. It doesn't look like the standard KONTAKT GUI -- and for a drum library, I think this is much better than the standard KONTAKT GUI. You can easily figure out how to do drum mapping, use the mixer, tune the drums, swap out snares and find pre-made MIDI drum grooves. That's superb for a freebie. I highly recommend downloading it. I don't know if I am ready to buy another drum library for its current sale price of €139, but I definitely think this developer has done a very good job. Don't sleep on this freebie. The ones this good don't always last. https://www.redpackdrums.com/product-page/the-official-ds-drum-library You can find an audio demo of the Mahagony Kit they use for the freebie on this page (and no, they didn't do a great job of putting the site together and organizing the freebie page (there's no audio files on that page), but you can hear it on this page. https://www.redpackdrums.com/dsdrum-kontakt

I managed digital marketing globally, led social media, search and advised on the Google/Motorola partnership at Motorola in the 00s and one of my old friends from those days was the GM of their first manufacturing plant in Asia that earned them the Malcolm Baldrige Award. He was one of my favorite people at Moto, just a wonderful person and a musician who lives in Austin and regularly plays at night clubs -- so we share a love of technology and music. He's older than me and was always fascinating to talk to. His educational background is electrical engineering. He's now senior technology advisor at the US State Department and soon going to be talking to my son about potential tech careers. But where I can still use someone is big data. I have a friend who is a former editor of one of the top marketing magazines and used to be the editor of Computer World, who writes on big data for trade publications, but no one actually in the field, so if anyone here specializes in big data and is open to a 20 minute call giving insights to a young person trying to figure out a career path, PM me!

It's wild how heavy and honest this thread turned about careers. Off to take my son of UIUC this morning to tour their engineering school.

I jumped on my computer for a bit. Here's a screenshot of the list of presets.