Starship Krupa

Sometimes "finding other software that's not such a PITA to acquire" is a good option, too. The last time I set up a build system was when I wanted to try compiling Audacity with ASIO support. What a slog that was. I did eventually get it to build, but what a carousel of missing dependencies, confusing instructions.... And at the end of the day, I wound up with a program that I would have to rebuild all over again the next time Audacity was updated.

Cheers for sharing the direct link. My spirits always take a dive when someone recommends some free software and the link points to the top level of a Github project. Just. Tell. Me. Where. To. Download. The. BINARIES. Please. I don't want to build it myself, I'm not interested in (and wouldn't comprehend) the code, I just want to download the thingie(s) that run on my computer. A goal that I suspect is shared by 99% of the people visiting the site. Yeah, cool, your project is open source. Rock on, can I just use it please? It's almost as if Github is ashamed of hosting binaries or is deliberately obscuring them for some reason. I have spent many long minutes combing over some project's Github site, ultimately failing to figure out where it was hiding the binaries and then giving up and punching in Google searches like "Cardinal binaries download" in an effort to just be able to use the thing. That fails often enough, too. Is it that open source people tend to be into Linux and they're jealous of how easy it usually is for Windows and Mac users to obtain software? Spiteful.

Don't think I didn't see what you did there.

The freedom of speech granted by the US Constitution only says that we'll be protected against the government making laws that restrict it. It doesn't guarantee us protection from people taking objection to what we say (which itself is free speech, of course), nor does it guarantee us a platform or audience. Whytse was cool about it, I thought. He painted his fingernails, someone in the comments section expressed that they thought it was "gay," (and presumably made them uncomfortable) and Whytse asked them (paraphrasing here) if they react verbally like that to seeing a guy with nail polish on, how they expected to be able to deal with the diverse types of people you're likely to meet in the music business. He didn't "eliminate" anyone's opinion, he didn't even object to it. He never said that he wanted them to stop expressing it. He didn't say that such talk wasn't welcome, he didn't say that he was going to stop making videos or that he was even offended. I thought it was a good question: They will run into people who look (and act) out of the ordinary in the music business. Not just run into them, they might wind up working with or for them. Hair metal, goth rock, glam, country singers in full sequined regalia, black metal dudes in corpse paint and spikes....it's not good for business to be looking at clients like you think they're weirdos.

We've probably all asked the question "why is this person so offended by something that doesn't bother me at all?" Or maybe just put someone down for being offended by something that doesn't offend us. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but we do have a collective etiquette that recommends that certain opinions are best kept to oneself when in a public place or forum. My opinion on our waitress' rear end, no matter (or maybe especially) how positive and heartfelt, is not something that the entire diner needs to hear about. I suspect that the (unsolicited) "opinions" that were expressed in his direction regarding his nails included slurs referring to a specific group of people. It's not hard to imagine what form these comments might have taken. ("It makes you look like a ___, dude!") Matter of fact, I have a hard time imagining the negative comments being "neutral" in that regard. ? I think that people who do creative things and who have followings tend (at least prefer) to think the best of their audience. Having homophobic (or derogatory to any group of people you sympathize with or even belong to) comments slung by members of that audience must be (literally) disillusioning. He spoke up about it. My attitude about things like that tends to be more "fsck the h8rz," but I don't know how I'd react. If you stay silent, you run the risk of giving the impression that you think talk like that in a public forum is okay, if you speak up, well, then you run the risk of people accusing you of being oversensitive. Which is the least bad option? If he had worn gold chains and a hoodie and someone had said that it made him look n-word, would his response still be oversensitive?

He mentions a phenomenon that I have yet to experience, which is the ones that are promoted via social media. I've yet to see one of those ads actually on social media; it seems like I only learn about them if Whytse decides to do a SNAKE OIL? video on one of them. I assume we all know who Whytse/White Sea Studios is, if not, get thee to YouTube. There was one a while back that he did that seemed like it might have been the first to show up, or one of the first, seemed like a knock-off of UJAM Finisher Micro. I actually think that Finisher Micro is a clever idea, if you have the nagging impression that a sound needs a little something but you can't put your finger on what, it lets you try a couple dozen common processing chains. It also has the right price: it's a free promo item. Do you all see these things being advertised? I guess they're like the "Amazing Ronco" ads that ran in cheap TV advertising slots when I was a kid. Ron Popeil. I think he started with the Popeil Pocket Fisherman, a folding 18" long plastic combo rod and reel. The ad showed someone pulling a humongous trout out of a tiny stream with one. The first "magic bullet that all the kids have to have" plug-in I was aware of was Dada Life's Sausage Fattener, which is a two-knob compressor/EQ combo. It cost $20 (or was it less?) and didn't take itself too seriously (now I see it's up to $39 and they have another single knob job called "Endless Smile." Seeing as Dada Life are prominent Meldaproduction endorsers, I suspect that their sound isn't all about these black box processors....

That's their thing, physical modeling. Objeq Delay even involves physical modeling somehow although I'm not sure exactly how. I think it's as if you're sending your signal through a physically modeled pipe or drum or whatever, then it's delayed and mixed back in. I kinda get the concept but it's hard to describe. I suspect that all of their instruments use the same engine, which is how they can do Swatches/Player. The fact that Player can play soundpacks from any of their instruments suggests this. Those aren't samples, they're the actual patches being played by their engine, which is why sometimes A|A|S Player can bog my laptop down. A|A|S Player trick: limit the number of simultaneous voices to 8. They often have very long tails. Strum (and the Strum-based soundpacks in Swatches/Player) has 3 different modes of operation. Loops, where you trigger strummed loops, Chords, where you trigger chords, and finally Notes, where you trigger individual notes. Chords and Notes modes include articulations like damping, squeaks, etc. So to do what you want, you should try it in Notes mode. If you're using Swatches/Player, each Strum soundpack lists the different modes and you just select which one you want. The articulations use the same key triggers as Strum and Strum Session, so if you look at a manual for one of those, you can figure out what keys do what in Player. At first I wondered why anyone who didn't own Strum would want a Strum soundpack that only played via Player, but then I sat down and figured out how to do it. Their programming for the Loop and Chords mode is pretty good, probably better than I could do manually. I think their stuff sounds more authentic than the actual sampled guitar libraries I've heard, but I'm no expert. I don't know how, but maybe their methods allow for more flexibility than just playing back a recording of someone playing a note or chord. They can have their engine respond to velocity more accurately, maybe. Once you start throwing in the articulations (damps, scrapes, etc.) it sounds pretty cool. Even though I'm a guitar player, and my pride probably wouldn't allow it, if all I needed were some funk chirps or the occasional ambient nylon string chord or something, Strum would do a fine job.

The thing where they install the dll's for every T-RackS processor whether you have a license or not is a pain, but I have a folder called "T-Racks bullpen" on my computer that is not in a VST scan path. I drag the dll's of the ones I don't own to that folder until such time as IK has another giveaway. Then I drag only that dll back to the scanned folder and all is well. This time with Comprexxor is the first time that Product Manager was able to handle the registration by itself without my needing to invoke Authorization Manager, so I congratulate IK for that achievement. Such high quality stuff. My IK Multimedia products definitely survived the recent plug-in purge.

To get a taste of physically modeled guitar (and a ton of other useful sounds), go to A|A|S and download Swatches. It's their 560-patch fully-functional demo of all of the patch sets ("soundpacks") for their excellent line of physically modeled instruments. Their guitar product is Strum, and there's a lite version of it out there that can sometimes be found for anywhere from $10 down to free, depending on promotions. Mmmmm, yeahhh, but there's a tradeoff, which is that physical modeling, especially as it gets more realistic and/or complex, is more "expensive" in terms of processing resources than sample playback is. (surprised Dave didn't bring this up) In most cases, I'd rather have to wait a second or two for a library to load than have the audio engine pack it in as my project gets bigger. I know I can freeze, but that doesn't suit how I create (I swap instruments and FX a lot while putting together the sound of the project). As much as I LOVE the sound of A|A|S' instruments, I've resisted purchasing the full version of Chromaphone even at 50% off because some of the patches bog down my laptop. Admittedly it's kinda old, but it does have an i7 in it, and it runs most other things pretty well. This doesn't happen with SONIVOX Companions or Orchestools, both of which are sample-based. Of course, if you're on a rocket sled, processing resources are less of an issue. As Jim pointed out, NVMe M.2 drives haul booty compared to SATA SSD's, and they have a comparable price:storage ratio. If your mamaboard is out of M.2 slots, you can get PCIe adapters that will allow you to install multiple NVMe drives. I hacked the BIOS in my Dell Optiplex 7010 to allow it to boot from such a drive. Fortunately, new #1 system has an M.2 NVMe slot built in. Oh is it quick. Still, even on the new system, loading from the onboard NVMe drive, MSoundFactory's Monastery Grand takes a while to load.

Then ye needs ter expand yer reach of streaming services, lad. The only platform I use is Bandcamp, which allows your customers to download their music purchases in FLAC form. Their playback CODEC sounds excellent, way better than the Other services I've listened to. And you know from your other topics that I listen critically. I was pleased and surprised to discover after I bought Big Thief's "Contact" on Bandcamp that the FLAC I downloaded was 96K ?. That song deserves it, too. Great dynamic range and killer production. Bandcamp lets you keep most of the loot from your sales, too, which is another reason why musicians and lovers of high-definition audio like me check Bandcamp first to see if a song or album is available there.

If you (or anyone else reading this zombie thread) are interested in stochastic methods for composition, you should check out my tips regarding Cakewalk's built-in support for this:

I stumbled across this review of SONAR X from 2011 while trying to find cites for the Cakewalk by BandLab Wikipedia article. It's interesting to read the impressions of a reviewer seeing what later became Cakewalk by BandLab for the first time. Also, in typical Cakewalk fashion, I picked up a handy tip from a review of the 11-year-old first version of the product. I've mentioned the value of explicitly switching tools rather than trying to figure out how to make the Smart Tool do everything I want. The Smart Tool is awesome, and it is very smart, whoever worked out what it does in all those different contexts did a great job. But if, like me, you sometimes find yourself fighting it a bit to get exactly the results you want, if you're doing a bunch of complex, tricky editing, switch to one of the 4 flavors of the Edit Tool (but if you just want to Split a clip or note, hit the Alt key). If you're drawing MIDI notes or automation, there's 8 flavors of Draw Tool for that, and you don't have to double-click or drag to lay MIDI notes. If you've never figured out how to use it, the Pattern Tool is crazy useful for duplicating selections of MIDI notes or automation nodes. Spend 10 minutes and try it. It only ever has to save you 10 minutes to be worth the effort. Right-click usually takes care of the Erase Tool, but there's a Mute Tool under F10 as well. Soooo, if you're trying to get in the habit of switching tools with the F5-F10 keys, wouldn't it be nice if right after you used one, it could automatically switch back to the previous tool you were using (presumably the Smart Tool)? Well, Cakewalk can do that. All you have to do is press the function key that switches to the tool you want to use, but don't release the key until you're done with the tool. Then, when you lift your finger, Cakewalk will switch back to the Smart Tool (or whatever you were using before you hit the switching key). This means that you can treat them as 5 different modifier keys that return to the Smart Tool every time. (if you have trouble remembering which F key goes to which Tool, all of my custom Cakewalk themes show the keys right there on the Tools module)

Fundamentally, yes. But there have been some changes in that area. Since they're not big front-facing features, we sometimes forget about them. They're things that we think of as always having been there, because in most cases, they should have always been there. A couple of differences I can think of offhand are the (important) fact that Cakewalk now scans the system's VST3 folder under all circumstances (it doesn't have to be explicitly listed in the VST scan paths), and the flyout menus for adding plug-ins are much improved. Also, when you replace a synth, the new synth's UI is displayed. VST management (like forced re-scans and sandboxing options) has migrated from Plug-In Manager to Properties (although Plug-In Manager still works). Even something as mundane as adding or replacing a plug-in....it's improved in Cakewalk. Someday, I hope, we'll get the oft-requested "Replace Effect" command. ? BandLab has now been developing and publishing Cakewalk by BandLab longer than Gibson owned Cakewalk, Inc. As far as I can tell, BandLab has done more with Cakewalk than Gibson did with SONAR in terms of development.

Good to see you, ChuckE. Through this discussion I have been wondering why you don't want to just put whatever plug-in you want to use first in the FX rack.

This. Cakewalk by BandLab is light years ahead of Sonar X3.

I'd start with the PC 2A Leveler, which is an emulation of the Teletronix LA/2A compressor. YouTube abounds with tutorials on how to use an LA/2A on vox. The PC76 U-type also has some vocal presets.

This is a good analogy. Study up and learn what things really make a difference (my votes go for tires, brake pads and occasional throttle body cleaning ?). In the case of the DAW, and sample rates and whatnot, it's free to experiment. Don't even trip on whether it's a "placebo effect." If it sounds better, it is better. Anyone who does this long enough will eventually have the experience of spending 15 minutes dialing in a compressor plug-in only to discover that it's bypassed (or actually on a different track). If you read about it, try it. See if it makes a difference. There's no authority judging us for subtleties in sound fidelity. How many people who listen to our music will listen to it as critically as we do? Probably none, but since I make music primarily to please myself, it has to sound good under the audio microscope. Grainy reverb tails, harsh (in a bad way) synth notes, my ears pick those right out.

If it has anything to do with actually finishing songs....well, I'm working on that. ? As for what bitrate you record at, 88 or 96 isn't going to hurt anything (unless you find that you run up against processing power and disk space), but accepted wisdom these days is that if there's any sonic difference, you'll perceive it on mic'd up acoustic performances with a lot of space and minimal processing. For the pop and rock and electronic stuff that I think most of us do, probably not. You're a pro, though, and I'm a hobbyist. If I were earning money from this, I'd probably invest in a faster computer (I did recently spend $250 to build what would have been a screamer half a dozen years ago ?). As for the 64-bit double precision....not all plug-ins handle it well, IME. There's a very nice freeware compressor plug-in called Leveling Tool, modeled on the LA/2A, that has a huge volume drop when 64-bit double precision is engaged in Cakewalk. As for upsampling individual plug-ins at render time, a thing to be careful with is if you have songs that depend on a virtual instrument's internal arpeggiator and FX like rhythmic delays. The timing of those can get thrown off by upsampling, so that if you're mixing with the upsampling disengaged and then flip it on for rendering, the song will sound different. Plug-ins don't all do their math in the same way based on the same timings. As I said, I did some listening tests and experiments when I released "Sensation," and what I determined was that leaving plug-in upsampling off and rendering at 88 (or 96) yielded the best-sounding (and most faithful) results. You can listen to "Sensation" on my Bandcamp page and hear how much it depends on the arp and delay timing to be just right. My favorite sound design (and even compositional) techniques involve rhythmically-sync'd delays and modulations, so this is critical for me. Not so critical when I'm using a bit of slapback and chorus to fatten up a vocal. Rhymes with "you rip a'dese."

Have you tried any of mine? They're designed by/for someone who don't see as good as he usedta.

I haven't take a Spanish class in 40 years, so I want to thank this thread for giving me the chance to use what I learned. ¡Mas vale tarde que nunca!

Ya-hoo!

I suspect that with Cakewalk the formers is seldom true, but the latter, often. I rarely run with multiple projects, and when I do, it doesn't exactly ruin the experience for me to see the old Aero look. I liked the Aero look, I like rounded corners. But I do understand that it contributes to the impression that there are many areas of Cakewalk that continue to party like it's 1999.

A workhorse freeware, cross platform audio format converter. I've been using it for years to convert for distribution formats. Simple and effective. The biggest visible change is that there's now a "dark" theme available. https://www.mediahuman.com/audio-converter/welcome.html

I'm in the same state as probably 1.000.000 other producers of electronic music: sitting here trying to find a path to releasing another actual song from one of the several dozen of (really good, IMO) song ideas I have on my computer that are 50-75% "there." One of the problems with the genre, and it's the reason that multiple books and articles on this subject have been written, is that it has no fixed set of instruments and sounds. The forms are loose, the sky's the limit. It's easier to know when a 4-piece indie rock song is ready for final mixing. All parts have been nailed, takes have been recorded. But with electronica, there's always some little bit of ear candy that can be dropped in. It's a hobby, I consider my songs messages in bottles. I wrap 'em up, toss 'em out there, and maybe 100 years from now some hipster will be digging deeply into early 21st century bedroom chillout and thrill their friends with the totally obscure stuff they found. That's the level of success I aspire to. But....no deadlines except my own death, which should be upcoming in 3 or 4 decades (although I'm rooting for being a brain floating in a jar on a shelf who can control soft synths with my thoughts). The depression and anxiety that have been my emotional wallpaper for almost as long as I can remember don't help at all. But one of the things that can put me in a rare state of giddy joy these days is coming up with a great new set of changes, sounds, and rhythm. Making it into a 2-minute snippet I can listen to on repeat while I drift off to sleep. "I made that! It sounds awesome!" I'd like to be able to share more of it, though. The thought of helping someone to feel happy, get closer to an emotion, relax, or however they connect with music seems to me to be part of my answer to "what's it all about."

That list-y pane that should pop up on the right side of the Cakewalk UI when you hit "B" on your keyboard. You didn't recognize it from the screenshot? Among other things it does, it provides you with a list of installed/recognized plug-ins. Which may be organized in 3 official ways and one undocumented way.