Starship Krupa

Perhaps not as sexy and new as some of yours, but no contest, iZotope Exponential Phoenix Stereo Reverb, which I got for $9.99 and is currently on sale for that. There's not a reverb I've tried that can touch it as far as making my mixes sound like they are in a landscape, and that includes MReverbMB and TrueVerb, both of which tout their talents at spatial positioning. I just slap the default preset into my reverb bus and that's it. After that, iZotope Exponential, same price, also now on sale. It's a multieffect. For advanced sound design glitchy warp sync delay pitch shift sexiness: Unfiltered Audio's Sandman Pro (with Instant Delay bundled) If you are doing electronic music with any kind of glitch delay sauce, this thing will rock your world, and it's on sale for $15. I bought it when it was at $49 a few weeks ago and used a $25 voucher. I had been waiting patiently for a holiday sale on it, but could wait no more. I do not regret the $9 extra I paid to be able to use this monster (Instant Delay alone is worth more than the $15). It combines power with the ability to get good results quickly depending on which work mode I'm in. I also took full advantage of the big sale on Glitchmachines plug-ins at PB. I now own all of them except the Subvert distortion, because I already have plenty of weirdo distortion FX. $60 to get the entire Glitchmachines suite of tools! And I bought them one by one so as to savor the dopamine rush of buying a new plug-in and to collect each of the December goodies.

Yes, all excellent as well as inexpensive. I'd recommend checking out Surge as well. Vacuum Pro, Hybrid 3, and Surge are great for diving in and learning programming. Development stopped on the AIR products a few years ago, but they sound great. Surge is open source and gets better with every release.

Note: it appears that closing and opening the project makes it switch back to Farfisa "bass." And yes, what solved it was deleting the drum map. Now the custom note names bug needs to be squashed pronto.

I've thought of putting together some kind of filter box, but I just use the TenCrazy MIDI plug-in. Happy Chrimble, BTW.

On any MIDI channel strip or track header, click to open the FX rack and you should find a collection of 7 MIDI FX that will do stuff like apply patterns and randomization to velocity, volume, etc. There's a chord analyzer and a MIDI event filter, too.

I've been using Cakewalk by BandLab since the first release in April 2018 and I still have a zero batting average for trying to apply a drum map successfully without anything going wrong. No matter how many times I've thought I figured it out, that I finally understand how it works and what to do, the very next time I try to use one, it turns to shiitake mushrooms. I finally just gave up and used this method where you can put drum names on the piano keys in the PRV, which works perfectly, but CbB has a bug where that doesn't persist through closing and reopening the PRV. So I gave up again and have gotten pretty good at remembering which piano key corresponds to a General MIDI drum kit. Or I just tap on my controller until I find the drum I want and then count keys on the screen. Isn't that a fly workflow? I might as well put some of those binary switches on the front of my computer case and use those to program beats. Every once in a while, I get tired of counting keys and think "hey, let's throw a drum map on there so we can just see the instrument names right there on the left side of my screen." Just to see what happens. It's kind of like going on a date with your crazy ex to confirm they are still very bad news. It can be anything from just forgetting how many times I have to return to the MIDI track (first you launch the Drum Map Manager, then you "create a new map," then you call a preset up from a list and apply that to the new map, then you click okay and close it all, then after that you go back to the MIDI strip and tell it to use the drum map that you just created) to it just. not. working. and sound stops coming out. Tonight I found out that Drum Maps have the ability to fudge up tracks that are just innocent bystanders. This time I did the create, call preset, apply preset, and it set all the notes to output to the interface's MIDI out port. Why? Because it can, I guess, and what am I going to do about it? Go buy Studio One? Use Mixcraft? Deleted the map, created another new map, preset....bang, same deal. Okay, so let's go in and set the ports to XPand!2 which I'm using for the drum sounds. Open the manual to see how to change all the entries at once, click, apply....and.... No. Drum. Sound. At. All. Just the bass synth track playing in Analog Lab, which has somehow changed to a Farfisa patch. And no drum names in the PRV. Drum Map Manager, you little tease! Set the synth back to the right patch, cool, huge bass sound, still no drums. Go back in, delete, create, apply, save, exit, apply to track and....all Farfisa, no drums. Back in the Drum Map Manager, I notice that somehow I've got the channel assignments wrong, which should in no way account for the patch change in Aisle 4, but I fix them, and go through the dance again, and yay, we get drum names, but still no sound, and Farfisa Syndrome. Out the hole and round the tree again with deleting everything and reapplying, and now we get names, drum track playing....and a Farfisa organ playing the bass part. This all takes the better part of half an hour, at the end of which, you can imagine, my enthusiasm and creativity levels for tweaking my drum part are just off the charts, so far off the charts that I don't care about cymbals any more and am wondering what I can watch on Netflix. As it stands right now, I can apply the drum map, get note names in the PRV and drum sounds in the speakers, but Farfisa in the bass. I can easily go in and manually set it back to the ripping detuned double sawtooth bass patch, but the world wonders: after all of that why do I still have to prop it up with a stick? How can a drum map cause a program change on the bass synth just by being applied to the drum track? I've examined the drum map and the program and bank have not been changed, not been set to anything at all. So a warning: drum maps aren't just an overcomplicated, counterintuitive, fussy, clumsy, ugly trip to Windows for Workgroups 3.11 land, they are also capable of getting loose and messing things up in other tracks. Now I have to get back to my project of writing GM drum names on my MIDI controller, need to decide: Sharpie or P-Touch, so Merry Xmas! Sleep well, sugar plums.

Thanks, Jim, I have a K1 sitting right in front of me. It's my main MIDI controller because I like the action so much. Of course, every track where I use it I have to filter out those blasted "All Notes Off" messages that it sends out whenever it detects that I've lifted off the last key. Otherwise my ambient pads get staccato and I get ugly clicks elsewhere. Years ago, before I figured out what it was doing I rejected a number of freeware synths because I thought they had crackling problems. It turned out to be my "All Notes Off" spewing controller. Can't seem to get it off the desk, though. Such a nice action, not too springy, not too much inertia, I can fly on the thing, nice rounded keys for organ smears....

My favorite right now is: "Register at https://soundbetter.com and get Arturia's Analog Lab Lite and Izotope Ozone Elements 9 for free as member benefits." If you don't have Ozone Elements 9, well, duh, get this. I was kinda blown away by the great sounds come with Analog Lab Lite. They are many, and sound really good. An incredible selection of Vox Connie and other combo organs. SoundSpot Propane? Maybe if you only need it to fill up your SoundSpot bingo card. It's a mid-side panner like Voxengo's free MSED except it doesn't allow you to individually adjust the levels of mid and side. A mid-side panner is a good tool to have. One that allows you to individually adjust the levels of the mid and side is even better.

60p without the code! Act now.

You can remove any company's .aax files if you don't use Pro Tools (and if you decide to check out Pro Tools at some point, just run the installers again). As far as removing different versions of Waves plug-ins, I tend to be the most hands-off with them because they hide so much of the process from the user, and they use those shells and all that. Are all your Waves plug-ins WUPped into the newest versions? 'cause mine aren't, one's on 10, a couple more on 11, and the rest on 12. I'm pretty sure that due to that situation, I need to keep all of those older version WavesHells around. I know they keep other folders around in their program directory for older plug-ins, but I just leave them alone.

Cakewalk has the ability to use external programs for audio export that do leverage GPU power (it would be nice if that would work for internal bounces as well). You just have to find one and do the configuration (maybe worth the time and effort, maybe not). Rest assured that your rocket sled video card is helping. Even with only 2-D images on screen, the faster the video memory the better.

I usually switch them off if they're just room emulations because I have a room reverb plug-in that I like much better than the ones that come with software instruments and because I like to use the technique of sending most instruments/subs to a single instance. It helps me to create that aural sculpture where the ear hears it like everything being in one space (I won't say"room," because most of the time I don't imagine an actual room, just a space where all the elements could be). In this case, integrated room reverb can pile up and sound confusing and soupy. Sometimes, though, character reverbs are part of the patch, this is often the case when using A|A|S sound packs in their Player. Those huge ambient sounds use long, dense reverb as an integral part of the preset. So: mostly the first way, but sometimes the other, depending on the sound. If the instrument is a sampled or emulated piano, organ, strings, wind, brass, drums, or other physical instrument, I turn it off. If it's a "sound not heard in the real world," then it depends. As always, the final answer is "whatever best helps you get the sound you're trying to get." Listen with your eyes closed. Get a mental picture.

I'm not 100% sure it's possible by just copying the files, but if it were, you'd need to go into C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\ and copy the whole Studio Instruments folder and its contents to a folder on the other system that Reaper scans for VST's. Never tried it but it should get all the bitmaps and samples over.

Welcome home to Cakesville. Your best hope is probably going to be to copy the list of FX that are missing from a project and replace them with ones with similar functionality. There are many good bread-and-butter FX that come with Cakewalk by BandLab, and the www is a cornucopia of good freeware ones. The one from the '20's may even sound better than the 2002 ones.

When releasing a custom theme for use by others, is it considered okay to "swipe" images from others' themes that are in active development? Is it necessary to acknowledge it in the Properties, or does it depend on the amount of swiping? For example, my current custom theme, which I would like to release into the wild soon, swipes @Colin Nicholls most excellent "Plug-In Tree Icons." This is an easily identifiable swipe due to the special icon for VST3's in it. I really like the image, it has manila-colored folders for another thing. The spot-it-in-an-instant VST3 icons make it easier to avoid using duplicate VST2's. I see the "based on" reference, used when someone starts from someone else's theme, but mine starts right at Tungsten, with a couple of image swipes from Colin and @Matthew White.

I'd like to suggest some additions: On p. 51, for Console view / Modules / Sends/Patch / Open Insert Send Menu, Console view / Modules / Sends/Patch / Scroll Sends Down, and Console view / Modules / Sends/Patch / Scroll Sends Up, there are no hot pink highlights in the image. I'd like to see that added. Also, these images seem to be used for the similar functions in the Console FX Bin, and if that's the case, a cross-reference to indicate it would be nice.

Reminder that during the sale, if you don't yet have a Meldaproduction account you can upgrade the FreeFXBundle to the pro versions for about $11. Sign up for the newsletter (credit 10 euros) and use a referral code (mine is MELDA1923165) (another 10% off). The only time the FreeFXBundle upgrade goes on sale is during these seasonal 50% off sales. 37 plug-ins, some of them I consider to be best in their class and worth multiple what the upgrade costs by themselves. (Hidden benefit: when collaborating, make use of the FreeFX; your collaborators don't need the upgraded versions to be able to load them)

That is a conundrum. I think if you're into multiple lid positions, go for "deeply sampled." When using a grand piano in a mix with half a dozen other instruments, lid position flexibility can really help a track stand out. But, as I always tell myself, get 'em both, they're free!

Apologies for pitching a license in a freeware thread, but I'm bumping this one because they're once again doing the 50% off everything sale. If you're a new use a referral code (ask someone else who doesn't have the Everything Bundle?), for the 10% off. They'll get a small vig. Hot rod your pile of 37 plug-ins and give a little to a manufacturer who was a pioneer of the free loss-leader marketing model years before it became SOP.

I went there and signed up for their rewards program and newsletter and received reward points good for about $7. So I decided I'd use it to grab an A|A|S soundpack in order to qualify for Solids. I had to go through a process of converting the points to money, at which point I got a pop-under at the bottom saying that before I could use it on a purchase, I would need to email their support and let them know what currency I was using. Apparently their currency converter is broken. That was Friday, so I'm still waiting for their support to clock in Monday morning GMT. So far, they don't stack up too well to PB in the convenience department, but it seems like they are trying to carry brands (more "upscale") that PB either doesn't carry or doesn't feature (I think PB is happy to get $20-$30 a week from people like me buying multiple heavily discounted Glitchmachines, W.A. Production and iZotope products). Connoisseur vs. addict market.

What I really need is more compressors. Something that is "designed for [x] but can also sound amazing on [y or z]." I want something that's only limited by my imagination, or, better still, the sky. Something that can make sounds both sit correctly and pop in a mix. For adding just the right satiny sheen to a vocal track and adding excitement to a thumping dance track. Lord Chris Algae uses it on every channel, but mostly bypassed. If I can't get that I want a plug-in that emulates a tape machine of some kind and has a UI so faithful to the vintage units of yesteryear that I'll need to buy a new video card to be able to display it. In software instruments, I need more 75 Gig grand pianos sampled from instruments in remote religious enclaves, or maybe something that'll give me a faithful, no, really this time, faithful Rhodes which also includes the most generic chorus and reverb algorithms they can source from a 30-year-old college textbook. It must also have a "Wurlitzer," where the word "Wurlitzer" means "the same sound as the Rhodes, but EQ'd to be a little more nasal-y."

Note: just now, after installing a single A|A|S sound pack, I went around and deleted a total of 15 instances of the A|A|S player plug-in in various locations and formats that are unused on my system. Total 2.7M. This is pretty ridiculous.

I just did a bit more digging and it looks like everyone who's getting this message on trying to set up a wi-fi adapter has some sort of VPN set up. The fix seems to be disabling the VPN. https://www.partitionwizard.com/clone-disk/windows-is-still-setting-up-the-class-configuration-for-this-device.html

It may need an explicit driver download. Couldn't hurt: https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/USB-AC53-Nano/HelpDesk_Download/ Whoops, you did already download the drivers. Sorry. What does the funny icon look like?

BA has a tendency to balk and tell you you need to update it before you can proceed, then when you let it update, the update fails and you must visit bandlab.com to download the latest one and install it. Tedious. At least it does have a progress monitor (I think). Most of them don't.