Starship Krupa

Yeah, you definitely got that lead vocal to pop. It's also nice and isolated frequency-wise, did you use Nectar 3's function for that or Trackspacer or do it "manually?"

I'm with Brian as far as Nectar being the one I find least useful of the iZotope suites. I got in on the recent pricing mistake deal on Standard. It has the usual top notch UI and processing, but so far it hasn't gotten me anywhere I wasn't already getting with good ol' compression, EQ, and a license for Trackspacer. Also there's one of its modules that it assumes I'll always want to have turned on, and while I figured out how to bypass it, I find that annoying. @mibby, I'd like to hear more about what you dig so much about Nectar, in the hopes that it will help me get more out of it. As with everything iZotope, I want to love it because it looks so great and I know they put a lot into making their products useful. One of the things I've always liked about the other Ozone suites is that (despite what I had heard), you can turn on and use each of the processors individually if you like. Nectar seems to lean more toward the pre-configured. I'm sure I can get more out of it. Nectar Elements on the other hand is of no use to me whatsoever, it's like having a handful of Cakewalk Style Dials or Waves One Knobs stuck in one UI. I don't care for single knob interfaces that don't allow me under the hood, and having 4 of them is like a box of bleah. For anyone who doesn't already have any flavor of Ozone or Neutron, they are, even in the Elements configurations are both amazing, stunning, even. Ozone was heartbreaking at first because I had spent months learning mastering processing and just throwing its presets on my mixes blew away my best efforts. But it was also a great learning tool, because I studied what it was doing and kept at it until I could take almost any combination of paragraphic EQ, compressor, and limiter and get results that I liked better. Even if you already have your mixing and mastering chains dialed in, the Elements are killer for making immediate preliminary "playback mixes" that will impress the people who are recording or just hanging out in your studio. Also, I think the current Neutron Elements comes with Visual Mixer, which if you've not tried it, is an amazing tool. Going forward, every time I have multiple background vocals to mix, I'll be putting Visual Mixer on there. I turned myself into the Moron Tabernacle Choir with it. I'll be jumping on this in order to be able to gift the licenses to friends who are just starting out in home recording.

BTW, I've said it before and I'll say it again, although I am a rah-rah for BandLab and the free license, I am also aware of and grateful to everyone (which included me 20 years ago), who made the creation and development of Cakewalk/SONAR possible when it was funded by license fees. While it's true we wouldn't have this happening DAW without BandLab, it would never have existed if we hadn't paid our license fees.

Really, are people down on Cakewalk in the KVR forums? I've poked around there from time to time and it seemed like CbB (as opposed to SONAR, which had a negative rep for being crash-y) had kind of dropped off the radar (so to speak). Fortunately "at all cost" is zero cost for CbB. ? And yes, choosing what works best and going with it is really the best thing to do. Both Reaper and Cakewalk may be tried in full functionality at no cost. And the fun thing when trying CbB is that if you like anything about it, say just the editing, or the recording, or the fabulous mixing, you can use it alongside another DAW. For people using Windows and doing EDM, I think the combination of Ableton Live! for composing and Cakewalk for editing and mixing is unBEATable (sorry). Althoough I must say, this 59-year-old who does make beats as well as using the tape studio workflow, makes his beats in Cakewalk using the piano roll and plug-ins like Break Tweaker.

W.A. Production are running a Halloween Flash Sale (I couldn't figure out how long it runs, so get over there) with such juicy deals as the Mystical Halloween Bundle, which includes Mutant Delay, Dodge Pro, and Screamo, for $9.90, and The King 2 (I'm getting this one for sure), Vocal Compressor (ditto), SphereDelay, PunchyWorm and Instascale, for $4.90 each. This is some Halloween candy right here. W.A. Production are a new fave, don't let the low prices fool ya, they're not another SoundSpot with mostly "nothing special" algorithms tarted up with pretty UI's.

Meldamoonie here, but not a regular user of convolution reverbs. (I'll drop a heads-up here to suggest Meldaproductions Free Bundle fans keep an eye on their website, as we're coming into a time of the year when Vojtech runs one of his "everything half-off" sales, when you can upgrade the Free Bundle for about $25) How does the one in Cakewalk's ProChannel stack up against other ones of this type? To the OP, my favorite reverb for anything is iZotope/Exponential Audio Phoenix Stereo Reverb, which I got on sale for $10. iZotope have now come out with a reverb of their own based on the Exponential algorithms, called Neoverb. I don't know what you consider reasonably priced, but right now it's a $99 crossgrade from any iZotope product at Pluginboutique.

This one's been endlessly requested, and unfortunately, the answer from the devs is that the Windows function Cakewalk uses for this doesn't recognize the wheel, so it's not just a matter of turning it on. From this I would guess that doing it some other way would require too much re-tooling. My workaround is that I created a category called "A-List" that contains the dozen or so go-to FX I use in every project. Since "A-List" begins with "A" that category is at the top of my list, hence no scrolling needed.

This. There is a fundamental issue to consider when posting about adding a feature that "Cakewalk lacks and every other DAW has," which is that if the feature in question is actually implemented in other DAW's and not implemented in Cakewalk, then people who use Cakewalk will have likely found a way to accomplish the task that the feature enables, even if it's in a possibly more cumbersome way. Therefore, it's natural (although sometimes annoying) for people who use Cakewalk to tell the poster how the task is done in Cakewalk. Please don't be surprised that I'm ignorant of how it's done in Pro Tools or other DAW's. Especially when the name of the feature in question is so similar to a feature that Cakewalk already has, i.e. literally a button on every track that you can switch to "Clip Gain," that is used to enable editing of gain automation on a per-clip basis, and which I (while assuredly a non-professional) have used to duck plosives. I haven't used it for a choir or background singers, but I'm not surprised that such can be done by grouping/multiple selection, as Lord Tim shows. So the question of "how is what you're suggesting different from what is already available" seems valid. How is what Pro Tools offers different? Is there a control on each clip that adjusts the clip's global gain?

It's actually the best I've tried for that use. Even as downloaded, the included effects can take you to a well-mixed, well-mastered track. Add some freeware plug-ins and it gets even better. I think it's the perfect companion for Ableton Live!, which I find really lame for audio editing and so-so as far as the mixing console. For EDM performance and composition, Live! is awesome at what it does. No program does the work for you; learning how to mix and master well take years of learning and experience. It's like Photoshop or GIMP or Paint.NET, yes, you can get professional results with them, but you also have to start with good raw material and then learn how to use the tools they have.

abacab puts it in a nutshell. I'm sure that I could do everything in REAPER that I now do in Cakewalk, but it would take me a long time to figure out how, and I'd be staring at an ugly UI for all or most of it. So CbB for me, and here's why: Cakewalk has a very attractive (to me, de gustibus) UI, including and especially the best looking (and sounding) mixing console I've seen anywhere. When I first downloaded it, I understood the paradigm right away. Two types of tracks you can record into, audio and MIDI. Arm an audio or MIDI track for recording, hit record, and you're recording. The results come out in clips that sit in lanes underneath the main track. You can edit the clips in several different ways using tools and keystrokes that are familiar to people who use mainstream DAW's. Boom. If you want to really fly at comping, there are a couple of different workflows, one of them, Speed Comping, really rips. When your comps and edits are done, you can leave your clips in their own lanes or flatten everything into one clip. At first I hit some snags in the workflow (it favored the expert mode, IMO), but the developers listened and smoothed them out. There's just about the right amount of customization available (Track colors, Workspaces, Track Control, Console module and strip menus, then theme editing if you want to get really into it) and it's just that: available, not necessary like it is with Reaper. It's a cliche, but truly, as a musician/songwriter, it's crucial that "when inspiration hits" I can be ready to record in minutes without having to do a right brain/left brain mode shift to get the recorder working. On a farther reaching level, as it says in my KVR review, I think the free subscription licensing model allows the developers freedom that is not available to other developers who are dependent on new licenses in order for their business to survive. The freebieness also translates into a mellower user base that don't mind helping their fellow users out when necessary, because at least in my case, I know they are a smaller team than Cakewalk Inc. had, and I'm grateful to BandLab for backing the project. I put in some of my time helping other users and reporting bugs, and that's my way of "tipping." BandLab do Cakewalk because it's good for the music community, which eventually makes its way back to them in the form of more sales of their for-profit products. I'm happy to help forward that effort, and I think that spirit is reflected by other people in this forum. Having said all that, from many reports, Reaper is also great software, it's just great in different ways from Cakewalk. Really, at this point, all the big names are great, and it's a buffet feast for users to choose which one(s) best serve their needs. I have a good friend who loves Reaper and has detested Cakewalk ever since SONAR went from 8.5 to the "new" UI. Why? He can't rearrange the mixer strips the way he used to. The same feature that's my favorite is the one he can't stand.

Fanan make the Spacelifter2, which is a free effect. And I wonder what happened to Sonic Anomaly. My favorite master bus limiter is Unlimited. No matter what else I try, I keep going back to it.

LOL, me too! Well, hey, "free-advertising" for them, they produce some things I don't see elsewhere.

Oh, Fanan, yes, I love their stuff. Ethnic clarinets with trance gates? Scandi-vegas slot machine UI's? Some companies produce things that the world needs, some companies produce things the world did not know it needed, and I think Fanan does a wonderful job of the latter.

Oh, right you are. The all-caps naming and "Sonic ___" created a crosslink in my brain.

Thanks, @HIBI, I really like the koto and sakura. (For some reason .SFZ instruments keep falling off my radar, maybe because they don't get as much flashy promo as the likes of Kontakt and Sampletank, so I appreciate the .SFZ people in this thread reminding us!) My contribution today is one I noticed that @scookmentioned in another thread. If you want reed instruments, (Virtual Accordion, Concertina, Bandoneon, Bayan, Melodeon, Melodica, Flutina, Harmonium), check out Syntheway's Free Reed Aerophone Instruments collection.

Thanks for the heads-up on that. Most of the time when I post something here I vet it first (hence the "favorite" in the OP) in battle, but I haven't done that with these. I do now remember trying his SLAX (SSL bus compressor clone) a few years ago and not being inclined to keep using it for some reason. I did at least read some of the comments and it looked like he was being diligent these days, but who knows until you actually try it. Maybe the fact that he's getting some decent coin now allows/inspires him to do some cleanup work.

I just discovered Analog Obsession, a developer with a deep collection of compressors, EQ's, and channel strips. Some of them emulate specific classic hardware, some not. They have an LA-2A and an SSL bus compressor, both with expanded features beyond strict emulation. I was also pleased to see that they are earning $1,400 a month from Patreon subscribers.

Excellent! I am an enthusiastic user of the Sampletank version. I see a few different versions for download. My guess is that I would download Orchestools 306 to get all the sounds.

MAGIX are always full of surprises, a lot of that is probably because while they are supposedly huge in Europe, they don't seem to work the US market as much. Also, they have absorbed so many product lines that things seem to get tucked into the corner. I just discovered they have their own Halion/Kontakt/Sampletank sampler, called Independence, and you can register and run it in free mode. https://www.magix.com/us/free-download/independence-free-sampler-software/ Installation notes: At one point the process will stop and show a dialog saying that there are missing files. Just click on the button that says to agree to download them. Registration is free, but does require that you set up a MAGIX account. Out of the box it comes with an acoustic piano, after you install all the extra sounds it's over 100 instruments including some nice drum kits, both acoustic and electronic, and a variety of world percussion instruments. Also pianos, a pipe organ, many synths, basses. A worthy download if you want more sampled instruments.

I'm doing my first "for reals" theme with actual global art changes, it will be on its way to public consumption soon. I would really like to have the pan knobs be like the ones @Adam Compeau did in his AC DA with the C option. Digits in the center of the knob. That's the only theme I've seen use them. I imagine it was done using a button editor, but I've never used one of those. I'd swipe Adam's, but they are not quite right for my theme. Also, one swoopy idea I had was for the knob or digits to change in color or shade as you pan to one side or the other. Like the digits would get darker or something. That would provide a very quick assessment of where you're panned. Hints, suggestions?

I'm doing one based initially on Tungsten, but with green taking the place of where Tungsten uses orange, and using hue shift in Paint.NET has delivered. I got a rhythm to it after a while. I will soon be posting the results of this, my first full theme for public consumption. It's sort of evocative of an old school country club, rich greens and browns.

Just a note: the comparison section of the FAQ still says that the Classic Creative Suite is missing from CbB. I love the new features list on that page!

I am all about consistency. It's important for the new user, learning curve and skill retention. The idea is that once someone learns "how Cakewalk does things" in one View, that skill and knowledge can be immediately put to use in the next one they tackle. "Oh, cool, there's a list of track headers here, so I should be able to work it like the list of track headers in the other views." One of my peeves is that the Track Manager is under different menus in Track View and Console View. The root of the request came from realizing that in the View where I do the most work with MIDI/Instrument tracks, Piano Roll, I couldn't add a MIDI track without switching out of it and back to the Track or Console view. It cuts into efficiency. Especially for people on laptops who only have one screen and have the PRV maximized. While I'm beating the efficiency drum, Drum Maps are my prime example of this kind of inefficiency: if you're working in the PRV and decide that you want to add a drum track (using a map), you must switch over to Track View both to add the track and to assign the map. You can show and hide the Drum Pane in the PRV, but from there, there's no way to proceed without going over to Track (to add the track and access the menu that assigns the Map), then going into the Drum Map dialog, then it's back to PRV. By which time, the mad beat (yo) that I wanted to lay down may or may not still be in my head.? This kind of thing is what makes a program's workflow feel "tight" or "loose" to me. How many context switches does it take to perform common tasks like adding a track? Even the beloved Track View, while it has a button for adding tracks, and you can do it from the right click, technically has no menu command for inserting tracks (it's up on the Global menu). With a PRV right-click menu command to add a track and a right-click menu in the empty Drum Pane header that launches Drum Map manager, it would eliminate the trip to the Track View (with its mental context switch) entirely. I could even right-click, add a drum track template and be ready to go.

Excellent and informative review. Been working on mine, may end up pushing that 10,000 character limit. ? Here's the link to the CbB listing

Ah, I now notice that the thing that @Will_Kaydo quoted says that "freeware and donationware should not be voted for...." It didn't say may not be voted for. ? Besides, CbB''s not really freeware. ? Seriously, should people not vote for Acon Digital Multiply or any of their other beloved loss-leader freebies from companies that use them to market their payware products? I get that KVR need advertising to support what they do, but it reduces the credibility of their poll if it's not open to all products. Ghettoizing freeware just perpetuates the unwarranted stigma against free licensed software.