PavlovsCat

My heart goes out to you. I have hearing and physical challenges (the latter stopping me from playing professionally many years ago, the former really only matters when mixing), so I can relate and want to encourage you in your artistic output however you express it. The older I get, the more I realize the value of having an artistic outlet for expression, especially after one develops skills in a certain area.

That post deserves the award for Least Self-Aware Post of 2023. I'm going to have a sense of humor about this, and I hope you can too, Carl. When you brutally ripped on Americans in the past, I didn't take too much offense. I thought it was more of a reflection of your worldview, as Americans, like citizens of any nation, can't be pigeon-holed so easily; they span a wide range of views, ethnicities, etc. But, as a lover of irony, I can't help but appreciate the irony of your complaining about people posting grievances in this forum while posting your own grievances and your posting about people not making helpful posts providing their insights while you never shared a helpful insight of your own in your post. If you're so unhappy with this forum -- as you very clearly expressed -- and prefer another forum, the logical thing is to simply use the other forum. If your objective is to make this forum more like you feel it should be, lead the way. Set the example if you want this forum to change into your ideal forum. I don't see the point in your insulting, demeaning and arrogantly lecturing this community, it's melodrama and attention-seeking worthy of a bye Felicia response. I've personally posted a lot of mini-reviews of libraries on this forum to help others and others have done the same on libraries and effects that I've found very useful. Even more, some of those people have PMed me with advice on mixing, on sample libraries and various techniques after seeing my posts sharing my interests and my lack of solid mixing skills. So my experience is that this is a very helpful and kind community. I spend time at multiple forums, but more at this one than any other, and my own opinion as to why I like this forum so much is that people here are helpful and friendly. That's the main reason I like -- no, I love -- this forum. Where I find VI Control has advantages -- and FTR, I've been connected to its owner on Facebook for many years -- is when it comes to cinematic or gaming music. I do rock music and find this forum is more in tune (pun intended) with my interests. But you started by attacking the forum and insulting its members and arrogantly and condescendingly telling people how you believe is the right way forums operate. Somehow, you find that constructive? Has this strategy been effective for you in other parts of your life? Rhetorical question. It's not effective. If you had a question about this library, you should have asked it, but instead, you complained and attacked. I'm objective oriented and don't see a point to that approach. So here's my take on why I like this forum so much and my contrast of this forum with VI-CONTROL, as someone who also uses both and knows the owner of VI-CONTROL. VI-CONTROL is incredibly developer-centric. Cakewalk forum is user-centric. VI-CONTROL's primary mission is to bring in revenue from developers. That has no small impact on the ethos of the community. I've seen many posts in various forums that describe VI Control as like a cult or series of cults and I think there's credibility to that assessment. There are a small number of pro composers from the film and gaming world that post there and they've developed personality cults, hanger ons; it's not subtle. Developers also have their share of hanger ons there too. That doesn't happen at this forum and many other forums. Look at the posts in this forum. They're the polar opposite. While VI Control charges developers to post and Mike (the owner) even discourages people from sharing bad customer experiences on his forum, Bandlab has done everything possible to ensure that developers don't have too much influence or use shilling in this forum. I don't know of any other music production related forum that has gone to the extent BandLab has to keep their forum from being manipulated by developers. And I'm a marketing pro who has given advice to more than two dozen developers, but I am a believer in facts and not the stereotype many people have in mind of a marketer. I want consumers to have control and developers to be here to honestly share their products -- but I don't appreciate hype or less than honest promotional tactics. While Bandlab goes far out of their way to do a great deal to make this community not prone to manipulation by less than ethical developers. VI Control does nothing and even engages in practices that enable shilling to flourish while discouraging harsh criticism of developers. Why? Their revenue model is based on making money from developers, Bandlab's isn't. Developer shilling is not rare at VI Control. That's not the case here from everything I can discern. It's no secret among developers is that some developers incentivize people to talk up their products at VI Control (some forum users disclose getting NFRs in their sig file, most do not). You don't see that here and the regulars here -- including me -- would make terrible shills! I know Troels and I've posted some very critical things about his sample libraries. I still like him as a person, but if you read my critiques, they certainly aren't something a developer would be happy with because they're honest and that honesty means sharing the positive and the negative openly -- and not the way an influencer does it (only making the most mild forms of criticism to create the mere appearance of fairness). There has been nothing at this forum that I could discern as shilling. A big part of that, no doubt, is due to the community size being much smaller. VI-Control has no consistent policies regarding forum harassment or bullying and bullying regularly occurs there. Cakewalk Forum uses best practices to stop bad behavior. VI-Control has a couple of well known bullies, the most infamous is a semi-pro composer who goes by the name re-peat. I've called the guy out on bullying people and I've gotten PMs from numerous people at VI-Control and two here who go to both forums, that have shared stories about being harassed or witnessing the guy harass people. The past forum owner and I had several discussions about his bullying after he bullied a sample developer friend of mine and I tried to have him banned. Why did they keep him there knowing of his bad behavior? Because he draws amateur composers who want access to a pro composer. He has a very large ego and craves attention and that means that while he's hyper abrasive and bullying, he still gives many people what they want. Being really blunt, it's about the hanger ons, the wannabes. I have been coming to Cakewalk Forum since the very beginning and I rarely have seen any bullying or harassment of forum members -- and yes, when I see that stuff, I report it. I have zero tolerance for bullying or harassment and if we tolerate it, we create a community where that kind of behavior becomes normalized. I don't want anyone to have to face that. But I also don't see a personality cult here (okay, someone might say that Larry has one, but that's not a cult, we just appreciate the man).

Asking those who know their opinion. Is this chorus worth picking up? I realize it's dirt cheap, but I'm not interested in installing effects I won't use.

Thanks for the insights, Erik. Based on the numerous favorable comments people have made about Trackspacer, and especially comments about its advantages being its simplicity and ease of use, I thought it would be a really good fit. Now I just need to learn how to use it! And now, I know that I should start with my cover of "Strawberry Fields," although I'm guessing that my cover of "I Am the Walrus" has the same issues, as both tracks contain a lot of instruments at the same time (electric piano, bass, electric guitars, strings, etc).

@fret_man I really enjoyed your track and especially loved the percussion. Nice job!

Thanks, Larry. I get their emails, but probably wouldn't have noticed this without your post. The developer is giving away (FREE) their guitar harmonics library (reg. $25 USD). It has some nice patches and if you put it through Guitar Rig, Amplitube or whatever your favorite guitar amp sim is, it sounds pretty nice, IMO. It requires the full version of KONTAKT, but it's a generous freebie. https://splashsound.org/harmo.html

I only clicked to see what it was, but wow, the graphic they use is a mess. At this point, 8Dio has so heavily discounted just about every library, that they've trained the market that their retail prices don't mean much. It's a lot like Waves. When you know a plugin is constantly going on sale for $29.99 USD, it no longer makes the retail list price of, say $299 USD, seem like the product's actual value.

While I shared this deal, I wasn't sure I was going to buy Trackspacer. But after all of the recommendations -- especially when people shared how this is useful for those not very practiced at mixing (Bitflipper's quote), I thought it sounded like a good fit. So thanks, everyone. I chose Cherry Audio CA2600 as the gift freebie along with my purchase and after playing around with it this morning-- it's a lot of fun. I really like it and would recommend checking it out before the deal is over (you can get it with any Plugin Boutique purchase). The freebie ends tomorrow -- and I think the Trackspacer sale does too -- so if you're interested, act soon.

Happy new year, everyone. I was the first one up at my house and doing a little reading and came across this article I shared to my Facebook friends and thought I'd share it here. I'm going to give this a try. In short, only around 9% of people who make new year resolutions say they accomplish them, but this author has a very interesting -- and simple -- alternative that may be more effective. A brief except on what the letter should cover: "Your letter should talk about the year you want to have ahead. Simon says the letter should answer five questions: What are the fears you plan to tackle, those things you believe are holding you back? What are adventures you will embrace in the year to come? How will you connect or reconnect with others in your life? How will you plan to grow? What can you do to serve others?" https://www.fastcompany.com/90824133/forget-resolutions-write-new-year-letter?utm_source=newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FastCompanyTop10-Dec 31, 2022&leadId=1328687&mkt_tok=NjEwLUxFRS04NzIAAAGJDJOd6a3zFYGK6RBW5MTWjm2cGen3NTkyjIZJs922-gt1go_TZLBbkHGJ1hiaheZuF-zeVqTvstKxYH20035ih5hfbiQsN5jyxzjr6N7s

That's a very nice freebie! I originally started with Polyscape and upgraded to Polyscape Pro.

Sorry if I'm too serious. But I do think a lot of us struggle with trying to reign in our GAS and, of course, this isn't a great place to be if you're trying not to buy stuff. I think it's rather obvious that a lot of us come here because we love deals but also due to the camaraderie. I think this is a great group of people. Really positive and encouraging. It's why I come back and I think, from posts and PMs, a lot of others feel the same way. So, I'm just throwing this out there -- maybe no one will agree -- but if anyone does agree, pick it up and run with it, maybe others have additional ideas. I propose that those of us trying to reign in our GAS in 2023 commit to spending time in other parts of the forum, say in a subforum focused on production techniques or sharing songs. Personally, while I spend 99% of my forum time in the Deals forum, when I have a song I want to share, I put it in the Song subforum and while there's not a lot of people there, they are really friendly, encouraging and helpful. I recommend checking that section out to anyone who hasn't already done so -- and share what you're working on. If you can't finish something, why not share a work in progress to get some feedback and tips from others who have been there? I've seen nothing but helpful feedback and positive remarks in the Songs subforum. And wherever the appropriate subforum is for people to share struggles and tips for finishing songs, I think most of us (including me) should consider that section too. Even if you're not using Cakewalk, that applies to everyone whether you're doing EDM, hip hop, rock, cinematic, R&B, jazz -- whatever. Anyhow, @pseudopop while you were being lighthearted, I think you also hit on some common areas that a lot (most?) of us struggle with. This is truly such a nice group of people, I think that's why we all do these off-topic threads in the forum. In any event, one more time, thanks to everyone in the group for making this the friendliest music-related forum I know of. I hope everyone has a good time tonight (wait, I realize in some parts of the world New Years has already happened; I have friends in New Zealand and Australia), and that 2023 is far better than any of our expectations. I think the world is due for a great year.

I like that one. It's very 80s-ish in a good way.

Happy New Year to you., Steven, and everyone at the forum! I wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year celebration and a great 2023.

Wait, that long-haired hippie rock musician, that's our Larry?

Thanks for the kind words and the helpful suggestions. I'm definitely going to try doing different things to the vocal. There's an effect chain on the vocal -- using ezMix. I never even thought about trying to mix the vocal like the rest of the instruments, although they're a bit of a mix. Because they're all sample libraries and I got to around 32 tracks, I wasn't using much in the way of effects beyond what's built into KONTAKT and I used Guitar Rig on some of the guitar sample libraries. I threw ezMix on the lead vocal, Antares Duo on a duplicate of that and then another instance of ezMix for the harmony vocal on the final chorus. I really don't know much about mixing and used Ozone's AI for mastering.

I'll just share it. Loot Audio suggested it on the home page. Listen carefully and you'll find two different sampled notes have the faint sounds of dog barks. There is am old EastWest guitar sample library I have were you can hear someone cough on one sampled note. https://www.lootaudio.com/category/kontakt-instruments/kenpond/dusty-rosewood

An alternative rock song I wrote called "Tired." Despite the title, the track has a good deal of energy. As always, I appreciate constructive criticism and mixing advice from the community.

Okay, I suppose I won't link to the sample library, but I clicked on a link to a sample library from a small developer I never heard of and heard a demo that was really poorly played, with the noisiest samples I could imagine -- including two notes that clearly had faint sounds of a dogs barking in the background. Man, Buyer beware. True story, years ago when listening to demos for a sample library from a developer a lot of us know that was pretty popular on KVR back in 00s, I noticed on a drum sample library that the drummer moaned during one sample (which is pretty annoying every time you play that note -- and in this case it was a snare sample). I posted about it, the developer got VERY upset at me for posting about that publicly, let me know that he was aware of it and asked me very firmly to revise my post and delete the comment about what I found in order to not hurt his sales. Be careful out there, friends.

Loot Audio Winter Sales - up to 95% off on plugins, Kontakt instruments, sample packs and presets, up to 85% off on bundles + an additional 5% off on every purchase with the code: WINTER5LOOT Valid until December 31. https://www.lootaudio.com

So wait, your theory is that Larry sleeps? Interesting.

Now that you have it, you have to turn it into a digital audio file, upload and share it! I forgot what year you had said this was from, I think it was the early 80s?

Happy birthday, Larry! I hope you have a great day!

All the above and more. The Wurli sounds like it has a single velocity layer. When you play it softly I'm certain that it's using the identical samples as when you play it loudly, which is nothing like a real Wurli -- one of the great things about a Wurli is how different it sounds when played soft and loud, but not the SoundPaint library. That's especially ironic considering how SoundPaint greatly hypes the libraries for having 127 velocity layers as superior to KONTAKT, but owning several SoundPaint libraries, they're not even close to the same quality level as my better KONTAKT level. The SoundPaint acoustic pianos tones just lacks depth. I can't explain it technically, but they're just not as full sounding as my KONTAKT libraries. Consequently, I think your comment about effects is spot on. That is the one reason I'll pick up a SoundPaint library, for the effects and the ease I have creating my own programs using the built in effects. My hope is that they'll improve the sample library quality as I find programming patches really easy and enjoyable with SoundPaint.

Greg is just friendly. He's the real deal.