PavlovsCat

I'm not in front of my DAW right now, but I love mixing and matching drums and cymbals in SD3. What surprised me the most out of my Toontrack libraries -- in a good way -- isn't even an SD library, it's a ezDrummer library. Custom Shop. Yes, it doesn't have the detail of an SD3 library, but for my purposes, a guy mainly playing just to attempt to play again, it's great. I think I'm probably going to pick up Alt Rock next sale. I like Indiependent. I like Avatar. I like the NY whatever it's called SD3. EZx Big Rock Drums is cool, but for bombastic rock drums. I actually like Kontakt Studio Drums a lot. One of the kits toms are tuned like I tuned my toms back in the day. I also like the NI Abbey Road Drummer libraries you can pick up for a steal used at knobcloud.com. I own AD2, but rarely use it because I mostly don't love the toms.

I suspected. I love Superior Drummer, although I wish everything was priced lower.

My son is in college now, partially inspired by my story, to become a physical therapist. And that's another TMI story from me! I told him that psychologically, when you have a really serious, life changing injury, the psychological aspect is as significant as the physical. I stopped playing all together for a long time before trying to play again a few years ago. It's disappointing knowing that I can't play at a decent level, but I still appreciate playing at all. So, I want to encourage you too! Never stop!

I've now listened to three of your tracks and this is my favorite. Apparently we share a similar story with tendinitis. I spent 12 years playing drums semi professionally-- counted Jimmy Chamberlain among fans of my drumming-- until I had an injury and tendinitis ended my playing days. I can play drums for a max of 30 seconds before the pain starts, so I'm mostly using my fingers on keys and pads these days and can't play any instrument (I played piano, organs, percussion, drums, a little guitar and glockenspiel) long enough to play with other musicians, so I record songs for as long as I can play.

Cool track. How can I be the first one to give it a like? If people are giving my stuff likes, surely this deserves a like too. I'm a rocker, so I especially enjoy everything rock, so this gets a thumbs up from me. Also it's nice to know that our forum isn't just a bunch of old guys (and that comes from an old guy)! I grew up playing in a band with my two very talented musician sisters.

Rock and roll with real musicians! And wait, that's not an analog tape plugin??? Cool!

As usual, excellent. Kudos. Top notch.

I really like it. It sounds good and I like your tastes. But next you need to fill that room with people getting into the music. If I lived nearby I'd happily be over and getting into it.

I think it's cool. Good job! As a (former drummer, pre injury), I like the sound of the drums and have to ask what you used. Also, it's cool to hear some of your music after seeing you around and interacting in the Deals subforum. I wish more regulars would share their music, as we've all interacted so much, and the reason we're here isn't merely a love for spending money -- it's a result of our love for music.

Very well done. Very fine musicianship, songwriting, and performance. I especially enjoyed the violin solo -- growing up loving Kansas, that was right up my alley. Kudos to you and everyone involved. I also just want to make this additional observation. Over the years I've listened to a bunch of different projects you've been involved in, and the playing is always really, really good. Keep on rocking!

I don't know why, but I haven't been getting notifications of comments on this thread and saw it still on the first page, clicked and was happily surprised to see a bunch of really positive feedback. Thanks so much for the encouragement. Just a few years ago I was too embarrassed to share anything with just me playing. Now I'm still embarrassed, but figure, why not? You guys are very kind and I really appreciate it.

With top tier devs like UAD doing such deep discounts this summer, it makes me pretty interested about how they might go bigger for Black Friday. Also, cclarry continues to do a superb job of keeping this forum packed with deals. I feel like this is his forum more than Bandlab's. I subscribe to emails from a lot of these devs, but candidly, I pretty much ignore them. I check here instead, where I can ask my fellow gear addicts their opinions and get enabled for my habit. Hey, I don't have many vices. It's this and coffee-- and often, both at once.

I either saw an ad for this on Facebook or in a Facebook group I'm in. My immediate thought is that sampling copyrighted material isn't very useful unless you ignore the copyrights. Is there some non copyrighted use for this that escapes me?

It's just a guess as to why the developer didn't release this as a Player library, but it is very possible... When developers license the Kontakt Player, they negotiate a per license price based on their sale price. If they later decide to give away a bunch of licenses for free (not NFRs), they'd have to pay NI for those or negotiate again (as opposed to when they start upfront with a free library for the Player, NI gives them an extremely low price up front -- we're talking pocket change; I can't disclose what various developers have told me, but it's peanuts). So, this developer may have wanted to take the easiest route and just remove the Player aspect and distribute the files -- that's all it is without the Player, no licensing involved -- for this giveaway. Of course, there's nothing in the way of anti-piracy measures, but I'm sure the developer just wants to get the business's name out there to build awareness and was willing to accept that in order to promote his business.

The Group Buy is presently at 50% off with 1080 people and on track to hit the highest discount level of 60% off when it reaches 1,200 people. Pretty smooth sailing, as long as everyone continues to share in forums, Reddit, and other social media about the Group Buy and your opinion of and experience with Orange Tree Samples libraries. I've been a huge fan of Orange Tree Samples from the early days from the original Strawberry electric guitar and Cherry electric bass (I've also provided professional advice over the years, but more than anything, I'm a huge fan of this developer's work; I've known brilliant engineers, scientists, strategists, researchers in my career and would count Greg as an innovator in this space, as do most sample developers I know). More than a decade later, no other sample guitar library or plugin can equal the realism and capabilities of Evolution. I would estimate that at least a dozen Kontakt sample developers I've known-- including direct competitors-- have privately praised Greg's libraries as being at another level, even from their own guitar libraries. The biggest names in film (yep, that includes the guy you're thinking of)and games composition are customers / users. But it is the recommendations of known community members that gets people to consider a sample library or plugin, so please share with any relevant groups you're a part of. https://www.orangetreesamples.com/group-buy

Wow, this was on sale for $5 USD just last month. Inflation.

I've read up on exciter plugins, but what are the real world scenarios you tend to use them in? I seem to recall an example being adding sparkle to an acoustic guitar. But do you just tend to try it when a mix is lacking luster or do you tend to try it whenever you have certain instruments in the mix to see how it can affect things?

Hey, my joke was intended to be self depreciating, not group depreciating.

Getting back on track... I just discovered our own @Simeon Amburgey recently did a video of Evolution Indie Guitar. I always get a kick out of Simeon's videos because he really expresses that childlike awe we have for music and he possesses the chops to convey it musically. I also enjoy identifying the songs he plays and usually can name them all. I don't know about anyone else, but when an instrument or sample library moves me I get pulled in by it, and I see that same thing happens with Simeon and it makes his videos really enjoyable. Anyhoo, Indie was one of those libraries that I immediately found really inspiring and couldn't easily pull myself away from. Whether you already have it or are considering it, you may also enjoy this video. I did.

Just to add a little humor to this, part of me was thinking I set you up for a great opportunity to reply: "I wrote 'you don't need it,' after clicking on your SoundCloud link and hearing some of your recordings." It would have been savage, although a fairly legit point. Peace✌️

I was just being polite. It's okay to stop now.

I don't need any of this. None of us hobbyists do. It's only purpose is to bring us a little joy. I'm not sure why you keep following my posts and posting things like "you don't need it." (You've done that several times.) You can post that about most of us. Why single me out?

I didn't know that Simeon did a video on Evolution Indie. Cool. I'm watching now. @Simeon Amburgey When you say that Orange Tree Samples reached out to you, I know that Greg (the head of OTS) have discussed how we both enjoy your playing and videos (Greg us also a superb pianist -- as well as a superb bassist, who went to college for, I believe jazz piano performance). I'm so used to watching you play piano libraries, I can't even recall the last video I saw of you playing a guitar library. Watching now. Very cool! I'm a huge user of Evolution guitar libraries (and I've advised them too) and love it!

@Simeon Amburgey I don't have it, but a few forum members have enthusiastically recommended Sound City Studios. I think it's worth demoing. What do you think of Capitol Chambers? The audio demos sound gorgeous; I especially like it on piano (I have to download the demo plugin and try it for myself, but you know a lot more about this stuff than me, so I'm interested in your opinion).

Thanks for sharing! The universe seems to be leading me to Capital Chambers... I've read a bunch of comparisons in other forums between Abbey Roads and Capital Chambers and the consensus seems to be that CC easily wins for both efficiency and sound. Based on audio demos (I need to try the product demo), I love the sound of CC, but I still love the sound of AR too. I think what got me with the audio demos for CC was the Burt Bachrach piano vibe that I just love. I most want to try CC on piano. Even better if I could use it real time. I love AR on piano and wish I could use it real time, because I find it inspiring when I play, but I'm doing projects with 20+ tracks of Kontakt sampled instruments and effects on some of those tracks, the latency when putting AR on a sampled piano can be a deal breaker.