PavlovsCat

Thanks for sharing that, @BTP. I didn't recall that Cory made something on the library, but watching it, like everything I've seen from Cory, that was really useful. Darn, that makes me want this library! It sounds really beautiful in that video and the song Cory wrote/played at the end is really lovely.

Thanks, Jeff. Man, I think is triggering our GAS and FOMO instincts. Again, if this was solo strings, I would be posting that I've just bought it. As it stands, I really don't have much use for it -- but that doesn't stop it from tempting me, given the price!

Wow, maybe there is hope for mankind. Nah. Wishful thinking.

This developer seems really talented. I've read (I've never heard anything first hand) that this is a really beautiful sounding library from owners, and I agree, there's been some criticism that the workflow could be better and I've noticed a number of folks at VI-CONTROL have commented that it's not an ideal library if you're just getting started, but I don't recall seeing anyone articulate why; I'm guessing it's a combination of the library not having a great deal of articulations and the workflow. In any event, at this price, I think a lot of objections people have become less significant. I don't recall anyone who's posted they own this and they don't think it sounds great or that they regret their purchase, which I think is noteworthy. I only wish it was solo strings, because that's a better fit for the music I do. But considering the sound of this library and the sale price, it's still very tempting for me.

Troelsing?

On the flip side, if not for Larry and his deals, we could afford to buy that dang boat! Get outta here, don't let the door on the way out hit ya where the good Lord split ya! I kid, I kid! Larry's our buddy and he makes this obsession of ours a little more fun.

It is wild to see this thread here. A bunch of us sample and plugin addicts -- that in reality are just people who share a common love, maybe obsession for music. But this kind of thread, wishing one of our own well on a vacation, that just doesn't happen in many forums or social media vehicles among strangers. I think it's pretty nice that it happens here. I really like seeing, it a lot. Larry loves putting up deals in this forum and he's been doing it a long time and I've always said, "Cakewalk Forum, powered by cclarry.," because he's the person originally responsible for it and no one comes close to what he does in keeping it great. I've had a number of people PM me at VI Control to tell me that they come here and don't know cclarry, but they regularly check here for his posts because he's so great at keeping up with deals. Even though that community is significantly larger. But I don't see being larger as something really important for this area. I already spend too much as it is! But I can't imagine VI Control or KVR having a thread like this one. It feels like a bunch of neighbors wishing a beloved neighbor the best before he goes off on a trip. Anyhow, I just think it's really special to see people caring for others and it is stuff like this that makes this my favorite online community. Okay, I could just hear my (teenage) kids ripping on me for this message and calling it cringe! But I bet everyone who took the time to post in this thread gets what I'm saying.

I saw that title and I immediately thought to myself --- "Hmmm, a DarkSky Socora -- that's one of those new delicious Starbucks drinks! I want it right now!" And I clicked, and I'm not going to lie, you know I'm very fond of you Larry, but I was hoping for a coffee and I'm kinda disappointed and the only way to get over it is to go have a coffee.

Insurance companies suck.

Looks great! As always, thanks for all you do here and I hope you have a fantastic time on your trip. Be sure to tell us about your adventures. Now go have them!

I didn't get that one either. I think you needed to have made a purchase of a certain amount at Melda-- which is where the serial appears -- to qualify. I think it's simply too late if you don't see the serial number.

Yep, I do respect your opinion and shared earlier that I agree with you that Ben Osterhouse and UJAM are not in the bad category and it's nice to see we share a perspective on an appreciation for intellectual diversity (it just occurred to me that you might have thought I was referring to you with my comments on corners and tribalism, I 100% wasn't; I was thinking of Americans engaged in culture wars, especially on social media as well as the culture at VI-CONTROL in contrast to this section of the forum). We don't have to have the same opinions to respect and even be kind to one another. I wish more people in the world could come to that conclusion.

He was clearly stating his opinion. I'm not sure how one might think otherwise. And he definitely packs a lot of sarcasm into points. While I'm not inclined to express myself in the same way online (but do with friends and family IRL), I am just impressed that he's fearless in stating his opinions because while I'm not looking for a world where everyone is that savage, I respect that it takes guts to put out your opinion so boldly, especially when it's not a positive opinion, as it can be very poorly received by fanboys and developers. But unless we're talking about specs, saying we find something good or bad is purely in the realm of subjective opinion. I largely agree with jngnz's opinion that most of what VST Buzz sells is not what I'd consider good. But that's my opinion and you may disagree, and that's perfectly fine. I just respect when people have the guts to share an opinion that likely won't be well received. I even take it as far as having a small social media group where I regularly share my opinions and views that I know most will disagree with. I share them because I greatly value intellectual curiosity, and diversity and wish that more people in our society -- especially in the US in the current era where polarization is prevalent even beyond politics whether it's entertainment, beer, you name it -- I prefer greater respect for the diversity of thought and people trying to understand those who have different perspectives rather than resort to intolerance, extremism, retreating to corners and tribalism.

Hmm.. I didn't get the FireMaster serial from Melda. I think I've made one purchase there, but pretty small. There's a lot of people posting in the Facebook group I'm in that they didn't get one or the other deal. I don't know what the criteria is, but I suspect it's past purchasing that meets a certain threshold.

From the audio on the landing page, this plugin seems pretty cool. I really want to try it on drums based on the demos. Thanks, @cclarry!

Yeah, I agree that Osterhouse stuff is really good and UJAM and Medla is in no way bad (even though I'm not crazy about either developer for different reasons). But I just dig that jngnz shares his honest opinions. I don't think we need to agree with someone's opinions to respect them for having the guts to share opinions that may ruffle feathers. I mean, I love Ben Osterhouse's libraries, even if jngnz doesn't, I respect that he'll share that, because I believe it's his honest opinion. It takes zero guts to say a library or plugin is awesome and many people will do it if they see others do it. But if you go against popular opinion or if you're over at VI-Control and you criticize a developer who pays to post there or share a really negative experience, there is a real possibility they sycophants will bring out the pitchforks and torches, or Mike Greene will even delete the post. So, all of that creates an atmosphere that is not receptive to the sharing of honest opinions when they're not positive -- especially if they're decidedly negative. Granted, there are people that are always negative as a personality trait. I don't think that's the case with jngnz. There's plenty of stuff he likes. But when he doesn't like something, there's no filter and while I'm way more polite, I love the fact that he states his sincere views with no fears or concerns.

DISCLOSURE: I'm actually Thom Yorke using a pseudonym and linking to really poorly performed and sung music to throw people off track.

69% off? Who came up with that discount, Bill and Ted?

Even though it's not my style, I really do respect how brutally honest you are in sharing your opinions, jngnz. It takes guts and I think it can inspire others to be more open when they find a library or plugin doesn't hit the mark. Plus, I find you hilarious. If you did the same thing against one of the developers at VI Control with a personality cult and sycophants you'd be attacked. But in this community, you can share largely without that concern. A completely different vibe, I would attribute to the absence of pro composers and developers that attract wannabes as well as the ownership of this forum not being financially supported by developers. which is also a major factor.

But @TheSteven (FTR, I could ask a developer, but you're a tech pro, so I think you'll know the answer) I don't think there's a single developer that has a piano library or VST that literally sampled 128 velocity layers -- wait is it actually 127 or is it 128? I'm going to go with 127, because that's the max for MIDI. I believe that there isn't a piano sample library that has 127 velocity layers all fully sampled 127 (velocity layers) x 88 (keys) + round robins. Can someone confirm that? Pianoteq MODELS 127 layers, SoundPaint uses sampling and claims it has 127 layers for its pianos but uses modeling, not 127 individual sample layers. I've had the latter explained to me by a developer and he compared it to, I believe it was Yamaha, that he said used a similar modeling technique.

I was connected to Ken on Facebook until he killed his personal account and we had some nice chats. The funny thing is, he's done work with some mutual friends and I only meant to follow him and accidentally did a friend request and figured why not just keep it? He accepted it and later, when he ended up having a few chats. He's a pretty nice guy and of course, a legend! As far as Yoko, did anyone catch that McCartney finally let out how he, George and Ringo felt about her intruding on their recording sessions? No surprise. I suppose at 81, he felt he could finally speak more openly.

But here's the thing, those piano libraries promoting 128 velocity layers don't literally have samples of 88 keys (and round robins) for 128 layers. They use programming, I think it can correctly be called modeling to simulate all of those layers, right? Being realistic, there's a huge difference in the realism of piano sample libraries with 2 layers and one with 16 layers. In very simple terms, there are significant characteristics in a piano note struck very softly, moderately and struck with great force, very loudly. A 2 layer piano sample library is not going to handle a piece well that encompasses a wide dynamic range. A non musician may not be able to figure out what is specifically wrong, but depending on how exposed the piano is in a mix, they'll just find the piano doesn't sound that good. Two layers is definitely not enough for a piano sample library unless the entire piece of music stays -- dynamically -- in the sampled velocity range. For example, if you have a piano piece of music that stays ppp through the entire song. If the samples were recorded of a piano playing pianississimo, then its going to work, but if the piece only has that one velocity layer and the next section of the piece is mezzo-forte then forte, that sample will not sound right to the point an untrained ear will very likely realize that something isn't right.

Huh? Technically that's incorrect and it's profoundly incorrect. A sample library not having velocity layers means it has only one recording at a specific velocity. Instruments and voice have variations, and there's different resonances at different volumes. Sample developers try to approximate acoustic instruments by recording at various velocities due to that. A live singer has enormous variations when volume is changed, the equivalent of velocity.

It's been a lot of technology plus attitudinal shifts that correlated with that. Most households in the US do pay for a music streaming service. But people are largely no longer purchasing albums or singles. Record companies used to schmooze and bribe radio program directors and djs and now most of the focus goes on stuff like major Spotify Playlist curators. And there really isn't much hope there if you're not Drake, Travis Scott, Taylor Swift, etc. and I don't see anything changing that soon. I think that's really too bad. Although again, rock is resurging at the moment. But I don't see how the next Radiohead or Jeff Buckley could make it in the current age. It doesn't work for artists with very limited appeal / plays.

I realize this may sound like a name dropper, but I recall having a conversation with the CMO of Napster when we were hanging out at some event we both spoke at and that was in the 00s when things just started to radically change (there was another big dot com CMO involved in the conversation, but I can't recall who -- and I don't even think I mentioned that I used to be a musician who had a big opportunity with a major band ten years prior, they just knew me as a digital marketing exec). But at that point the transition to free was happening in a big way and that was maybe 2006, around the time rock started a huge decline in popularity -- which also had an impact on what was going on. Again, I think Peter from IK -- who went to a top music college himself (he's a guitarist and a super cool person, BTW; I knew him long before he joined IK) -- nailed it when he talked about how Dave Kerzner does things. I think the live show model -- or developing a big following on platforms like YouTube are your best shot, but you need to have a compelling product people really want to hear. We need to be honest with ourselves about market potential for what we're doing as much as that sounds like a downer. But for those who are super talented and create music that there is an appetite for -- people will pay to hear live and online -- you can find some success. I don't think you're going to make millions, but I think, if you really are super talented for a genre people really want to hear, you can still find a way to make a living, but it's going to take a ton of work and savvy with stuff like live touring—appearances, live shows, YouTube shows, TikTok, Instagram, BandCamp, etc.