Starship Krupa

Regarding @Carl Ewing's visual comparison of channel strips, I really like the most recent iteration of Eventide's UltraChannel. There are knobs, buttons, and sliders, and they look enough like those things for their functions to be clear. However, there's no imitation 3-D stuff, no drop shadows or reflections. I think it fits between the bx and the Softube. I don't like the Softube, I don't really want to learn a new control paradigm, knobs and sliders are fine. I just prefer the flat look over the 3-D. No offense intended to those who prefer them (even I love my T-RackS processors), but those screws and 3-D controls feel like 70's simulated woodgrain to me these days.

You'll find Modules Manager in C:\Program Files\IK Multimedia\T-RackS 6. Run it and you'll likely be delighted to see what it does. Background/tl/dr: I had read the blurb about T-RackS 6 before I Bumble Hundled it that mentioned that they had added the ability to only install the modules you own (or wish to install). The spamming of unowned modules is a longtime complaint about T-RackS. By default, they dump every module in the line into your VST3 folder, which causes them to show up in your hosts' plug-in lists with no indication as to whether you own licenses for them or not. So two types of clutter, both hard drive and visual. In the past I solved this by creating a "bullpen" folder where I would move unowned modules until such time as I acquired licenses for them. I expected this ability to be part of the installer or built into IK Product Manager, but it's not. Weeks later I was doing some cleaning work on my C drive and poked around in IK Multimedia's programs folder. That's when I discovered Modules Manager. Modules Manager allows you to see what licenses you own and choose to only install those modules. IK seem to be still into the idea that you (or they) want to dump the unlicensed modules onto your system, and some of the design of this tool reflects that. So you need to be careful when using it. When you first run it, select "Show All" in the left column. Then you can look over on the right and see the ones you own and the ones that are only available as trials. Toggle the button as appropriate for each one. Then click "Apply Changes" down at the bottom. This will remove unwanted modules. What to watch out for is that the next time you run it you may get a message about how your installation doesn't match your preferences. Do NOT click yes to this dialog. If you do, it will reinstall all of the modules you previously excluded. It's a useful tool, you just have to keep an eye on it.

Wow, $129 for a refurbished 4i4 is a great price. I like refurbished gear. It often means that it was either an open box return or a warranty return due to whatever factory defect (defects happen) that has been recertified (and repaired if necessary). So what? Well, whereas final QA on the manufacturing line is performed by people who just connect it to the test rig and push a button. Go or no go. And these days, often/usually done in China. Returns are usually processed by higher level technicians who know how to make repairs and adjustments. And depending on the company and the individual unit, it might be done in the US office. So such units can end up being very well gone over.

Here's a tip for anyone using MeldaProduction plug-ins: when you go into Settings/Style and select a style, there's a selection of color presets, and you can download color presets from the Online Preset Exchange. I've uploaded a couple for my favorite style, Argon. Mostly I turn the background darkest black and use aquamarine text with burnt orange highlights. I highly recommend fiddling with Styles and colors with MeldaProduction's plug-ins. I agree with those who say that the stock style and colors are....plain? Fugly? Whatever, their basic UI is purely functional, designed for high visibility over sexiness, and I find that it increases my enjoyment of using them if I can give them a color makeover. I like the darker styles like Argon, Titanium, and Uranium Dark. I'd love to dig deeper into Styles and even Devices, but it's pretty complicated and has the traditional MeldaProduction minimal documentation.

I'll claim here that there's a difference between "easy-to-use" and "easy-to-learn." There's also a difference between (what used to be called "shrink wrap") software like Sonar or Vegas where there are a zillion features, some of which may be touched by the user only once over a matter of weeks or months, or even never, and software designed for a more specific task like data entry or point of sale. In the second type of software, the user is expected to be given intensive hands-on training and then probably at least at first, operate it with an experienced user close at hand, ready to answer any questions and give useful advice. In the former type, the user will have nowhere to turn to except documentation and Reddit /YouTube/forum (if the program has a large enough user base to have a useful Reddit/YouTube/forum community). With these two types of software, there's a big difference in the importance of how easy features are to figure out. In the case of DAW or NLE software, the user could go long enough between using a certain feature that they don't remember how to access and use it the first few times they need it. In the case of DAW software, it's important for the export/render features to be easy to figure out because of how infrequently a user may actually get a project to the point where it's suitable for rendering.😒 Deciding which features, options and operations should be the more "front-facing" vs. buried behind menus is important. Case in point: MeldaProduction's MDynamics vs. MCompressor, MModernCompressor and MLimiterX. MDynamics is the flagship and wins hands down in the "will it do what I want it to do" category, but I have used it on exactly zero projects despite having access to every MeldaProduction processor (and instrument). On the other hand, I use MCompressor and MLimiterX all the time, and even use MModernCompressor (MeldaProduction's Edsel) occasionally. Why, when MDynamics will do any dynamics processing task you'd ever want to do? Its feature set eclipses the other three. The answer is that MCompressor and MLimiterX are easy to learn and easy to use, and MModernCompressor has one important feature front-facing (this would be the ability to select different types of detection algorithm, including "psychoacoustic," which is buried 3 configuration screens deep in MDynamics). It saves me time and loss of flow to be able to set up the less capable processors so quickly and easily vs. the more complex and capable one. Of course, if my task were to do nothing but set up dynamics all day long, and I had to choose only one of them, MDynamics would win hands down because once you get good at it, you can do everything with it that the other three do, and probably just as quickly if it were the only choice. Despite having to negotiate multiple menus to do the same thing, I could get good at it to the point where it wouldn't matter. Much of MeldaProduction's product line has been revolutionized by the addition of "devices" that present subsets of the products' features in a variety of simplified formats with more skeuomorphic UI's. You can still ignore those and use the products in their "under the hood" mode, but I am sure that the devices have helped sell a lot of plug-ins and have helped a lot of existing users make more use of them. So software isn't always just software, design philosophies and objectives can vary depending on the intended audience and function of the program.

Grumble grumble, while Vegas 22 would be an upgrade, I already have that version of Sound Forge Pro. Pondering whether a single digit upgrade of Vegas is worth $45. Any Vegas users help me out as to whether it's worth it? I've never clicked with Movie Studio or Music Maker.

I, too am a "splitter," despite having begun using the program when CbB came out. One thing that I do regularly that I'd find more difficult to do with a Simple Instrument track is drive multiple synths with a single MIDI track. Although, frustratingly, Sonar has no native way of doing this, it can be done with the help of certain MIDI plug-ins that themselves include MIDI out. Part of my song creation process is to experiment on the fly with different sounds, especially drum sounds. Having the MIDI data separate from the drum machine allows me to quickly switch back and forth between two different drum machines. When I was first learning CbB, separate MIDI/Synth tracks just seemed more versatile, so I got used to using them. I agree that part of the Sonar culture still seems to involve hanging on to old workflows so as not to disturb the set in their ways grumpy old man contingent. I've learned to emphasize the word "option" whenever I make a FR like this one, because there will inevitably be someone totally opposed to whatever change and don't want to be forced to adopt it.

Okay, I need to set something straight here, as I got a fact wrong about a line of virtual instruments that I really like. Chromaphone is NOT the only A|A|S synth that lets the user mark favorite patches. There is a valid reason that I got it wrong, which is that the synths' UI's differ and it can be difficult to find whatever they are calling the preset manager. I've been using them more in the past few days, and poking at them more. As I discovered, 3 of them actually allow the user to set favorites among the zillions of presets. That amounts to less than half the line if you count Player, which a lot of people use. Details, in order of modernity: Chromaphone 3 has the most contemporary UI and has the ability to mark favorites. Ultra Analog VA-3's editing panels still party like it's 2015, but the front-facing UI looks similar to Chromaphone 3, complete with a similar browser that allows marking favorites. Lounge Lizard EP-5 has most elements of the newer look, including being able to mark favorites, but it varies from the above in that you click on a button labeled "Library" in order to open the view that the others call "Browser." There aren't as many editing options with this one anyway, Multiphonics CV-33 has elements of the new UI but as far as I can tell, only has a list of patches, not the full-featured browser that the above 3 have, missing the very important (to me) ability to mark favorites. String Studio VS-3 has the old "Session" style UI, but it does have a browser that allows you some of the category sorting that the other newer browsers do, but no favorites and the browser is hard to find, the button for it is just an unmarked down arrow next to the previous/next patch buttons. Strum GS-2 looks and functions like Strum Session, except it can also load soundpacks. No favorites here either. It's the one most in need of a UI refresh. Overall it looks like they got the Chromaphone 3 UI just like they wanted it, then transplanted elements of it down the rest of the line never making it down to Strum GS.

Mic Parts has interesting ideas for mic upgrades, and an interesting business model (people love to customize and upgrade our stuff) but they really undermine their credibility with the $99 IEC cable. Kinda makes me wonder if their prices on other things are inflated. The idea of "Compared to stock AC power cords or even premium cables at similar or higher prices, NRG-X cables have always delivered enhanced bass definition, improved transient articulation, greater soundstage scale, and more of the precious spatial cues that bring recorded music to life." Some of this is due to "Direction-Controlled Long-Grain Copper (LGC) in a Semi-Solid Concentric Topology." Are they implying that they somehow found a way to make a copper wire conductor directional? This would be an odd thing to have in an IEC cable, because IEC cables carry alternating current....

To answer the question in the topic title, the "MIDI+Keyboard" icon was retired from service with the introduction of Cakewalk Sonar. The MIDI jack icon is used for MIDI tracks. The keyboard icon is used for Synth (VI) tracks. There is no longer a special icon for Simple Instrument tracks (which are tracks that include both the VI and the MIDI tracks displayed as one unit), which leaves the "Keyboard" icon to do double duty on both Synth and Simple Instrument tracks. Long form blather: While I do agree that it would be handy to be able to tell at a glance when a track is a synth track vs. instrument track, not being able to tell is better than having it be backwards. And the way it was was backward: the "Keyboard" icon was displayed on Simple Instrument tracks while an icon that consisted of the "MIDI" and "Keyboard" icons overlaying each other was displayed on Synth tracks. There was a lot of lobbying, especially from the theme creator community, to swap them so that the icon that was essentially one with Synth and MIDI stuck together would appear on the tracks that were essentially Synth and MIDI stuck together. This lobbying was not acted upon, and the "MIDI+Keyboard" icon was quietly dropped. Those of us who cared kept our mouths shut because anything was better than having it be backward. Most users probably use either Simple Instrument tracks or separate Synth and MIDI tracks in their projects, but not both at the same time, so being able to tell them apart is not a big deal. The "MIDI+Keyboard" icon is pretty ideal for indicating a Simple Instrument tracks. I have no idea how or why they got mixed up originally, but looking at it drove me nuts. One of the first things I did with creating themes was to swap those icons around. This could theoretically have led to confusion with the images in the documentation but I didn't care.

Does toggling the plug-in's DPI awareness change anything?

What did you think of the Addictive Drums 2 facelift of a couple years ago? Going from that faux brushed aluminum 3-D fantasy spaceship control panel paradigm to the current crisp, flat look. I neglected AD2 for a long time because the UI made me feel like if I turned away and then looked back it would be 1992 and I'd be running GeoWorks on a 386. I made a new skin for Session Drummer 3 so that I didn't have to look at that faux metal panel complete with drop shadows and two little vents (or speaker grills) up at top left and right. Putting vents in the panel of something that's not even supposed to resemble an actual real world object is weird. It's worse than rack screws on FX plug-in panels. No wonder so much recent music has been so boring. The people who designed our music software UI's once dreamed of sending us to the stars. No wonder that the music made now sounds two dimensional like the current UI fashion.😁 Seriously, I reeeeeallly don't like the embossed metallic plastic 3-D look for software UI's in 2025. Maybe it was the hot thing 20 years ago but we now seem to have less need for our computer programs to look like physical objects. I used to tease Acoustica about the "woodgrain" side panels on Mixcraft's mixer. Maybe I'll live long enough to feel nostalgia for that sort of thing. Or....do you mean the Spartan, plain, homely as hell look, like the DXi plug-ins that still ship with Vegas Pro and Sound Forge? The ones that make the Sonitus fx suite look fancy? The ReaPlugs look. I think AirWindows must be the masters of that, where the plug-ins don't even have UI's, rather it's supplied by the DAW presenting the user with a generic page of labeled sliders. Do most DAW's even still let you run plug-ins using the "generic" UI? It might be fun to try a few modern plug-ins with the generic UI turned on just to see how they look. Especially something weird like Motion: Fractal or whatever.

Would you call this an "impulse" purchase? Or is there a more convoluted reason to want it?

Given what I said about Roku and Netflix and the TV manufacturers being in cahoots? Yes, let's update the app riiiiight before the holiday shopping season. It will break it on multiple streaming TV's, which means either sales of new streaming TV's, for which we get license fees, or sales of new Roku boxes, for which we get license fees.

Saverio gives the user the choice of using the omnibus installer or not. So depending on your comfort level with installers, how many licenses you own, you get to choose what method you think works best. Would that they all operated that way. Are his UI's "bland?" I guess they are compared to IK Multimedia T-RackS. They're flat, but have color.