Starship Krupa

An oft-asked question. The bare minimum is 2 mic inputs, no MIDI, must have factory provided ASIO driver. In that category there are multiple options under $100. The one I currently recommend is the Mackie Onyx Producer. It has 2 mic inputs, as well as 5-pin MIDI jacks to go with any MIDI controller. Dedicated headphone volume. Reputable brand, ASIO driver, comfortably under $100. The only thing that makes me prefer my PreSonus Studio 2|4 is that the Studio 2|4 has bar graph meters instead of just the peak overload LED's, which make it easier to dial in a good hot signal that doesn't go over. Not essential, but handy. Noise floor and headroom isn't as big a deal in these days of 32-bit digital recording. You can record it cool and normalize it. For metering, the plug-ins I favor are LEVELS from Mastering the Mix, and (free) dpMeter 5 from TBProAudio and MLoudnessAnalyzer from MeldaProduction. The MeldaProduction one comes as part of their FreeFX bundle, which also includes other useful tools for your task, such as a noise generator and an oscillator (for doing sweeps). The important thing to me was settling on one meter and learning to trust it. This was dpMeter 5 at first, then LEVELS once MtM gave me a free license. They all attempt to combine a bunch of readings into one UI, which made it confusing as hell. The advantage LEVELS has is that rather than trying to put all of that on one screen, it has different screens for different meters. You can switch from LUFs to Peak to Stereo Balance, one at a time. Curious: what headphones are you mixing on? You can tell by my sig that I am a studio headphones geek.

Well, that's what I mean by "command." Something you can add to the Custom module and as a keystroke. Doesn't have to be part of a menu, though that's always nice.

Y'know how we have that lovely command in Track View to zoom fit the extent of the project data on the screen horizontally without disrupting anything vertically? If y'don't know, then next time you want to see your whole project in Track View, hit Ctrl-Alt-F and observe the results. It would be equally useful to have a command to do the same thing in the Piano Roll view. Matter of fact, my brain is convinced that it's already there and I find myself reaching for the keystroke only to remember....wah wah waaaaahhh.

Y'know how in most Sonar views, activating Scroll Lock stops the view from scrolling? It would be reaaaaaaaallly handy if that could also apply to the Event List.

Why don't you ask the ghosts of Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper? There are plenty of women who understand DAW's better than I (male) do and plenty of men who will never get a handle on DAW's. Understandability of any given type of software has nothing to do with the gender of the user.

Yes, actually, they do, if you're completely unsubscribed from email communications from them (which I don't recommend for this reason, don't you want to know when you've gotten a free plug-in?). Two things have triggered this for me in the past. First when they introduced MSpectralDelay, they added it to every registered user's licenses as a loyalty gift. Second, if you have a bundle and a new plug-in gets added to the bundle, you automatically get the license(s). Since I have MComplete, that means I get at least a couple of new toys a year. They just show up as being available next time I do an install. Another example of the company sort of being the opposite of stingy. Their upgrade prices are always less than you think they should be during a sale, every so often you get a free plug-in, and when doing euro to dollar currency conversion, they round down to the nearest dollar. It's all added up to me getting more than I thought I would for my money over the years, one of the reasons I'm a fan. You might not find a use for every single one of their plug-ins, but there are plenty more where those came from.

This. For mixing and mastering FX I'm beyond maxed out. The things that still interest me are "creative" FX like Glitchmachines, Unfiltered Audio, Freakshow Industries, and the like, and freebies from major houses (like the recent CM T-RackS giveaway). As far as virtual instruments, I have more than everything I've ever wanted, so unless A|A|S is putting the rare soundpack I don't already have on sale for $10, or it does something in a novel way (like Sonuscore The Orchestra), it's freebies only, and very few of those make it through. Unless they're doing something kinda novel, like Sonuscore's The Orchestra, I have all the sample libraries I need. My collection of plug-ins feels like a huge iceberg that I chip pieces from to put in my drink.

I really doubt that you'll have buyer's remorse about dropping $50 on MEssentialsFX. Once you get a look and listen to MTurboDelay and MTurboReverble, you'll see what the fuss is about. MTurboDelay is ridiculously comprehensive and the Bricasti-alike in MTurboReverble is my go-to 'verb. Better still, while you have time, demo them. I think they reset the demo period counters, so you won't even have to hear the dropouts you'd otherwise get in demo mode.

Somerville Sounds offers their Prototype series for pay-what-you-want. Of the three, I've downloaded and tried Antiquarian Echoes and Meyer Choir. Both are ENORMOUS sounding pad instruments that kind of remind me of Atmos (the piano-based virtual instrument). Antiquarian Echoes is based on guitar samples, although I'd be hard pressed to figure that out from the finished product. I watched the video by the proprietor, Jon Meyer, where he talks about how he created the instruments. I recommend this, because his folksy manner and friendly appearance (the Meyer Choir is based on the voices of him, his lovely wife and their two kids) will not prepare you for the massive walls of cinematic ambient sound that these things generate. Jon looks and speaks like a friendly guy you'd run into at the local blues open jam. His website features photos of old pickup trucks and dusty smalltown main streets. His instruments on the other hand sound like they came out of some spartan loft studio in Berlin. In other words, he's my kinda madman and should be encouraged, so having downloaded and enjoyed his products, I'm going to kick some coins his way in appreciation. He calls them the "Prototype" series, and if this is what he comes up with when he's just messing about, his commercial products must be outstanding.

Today we have three interesting instruments from an interesting independent developer and sound designer in Texas. Somerville Sounds offers the Prototype series for pay-what-you-want. Of the three, I've downloaded and tried Antiquarian Echoes and Meyer Choir. Both are ENORMOUS sounding pad instruments that kind of remind me of Atmos (the piano-based virtual instrument). Antiquarian Echoes is based on guitar samples, although I'd be hard pressed to figure that out from the finished product. I watched the video by the proprietor, Jon Meyer, where he talks about how he created the instruments. I recommend this, because his folksy manner and friendly appearance (the Meyer Choir is based on the voices of him, his lovely wife and their two kids) will in no way prepare you for the massive walls of cinematic ambient sound that these things generate. Jon looks and speaks like a friendly guy you'd run into at the local blues open jam. His website features photos of old pickup trucks and dusty smalltown main streets. His instruments on the other hand sound like they came out of some spartan loft studio in Berlin. In other words, he's my kinda fruitcake and should be encouraged, so having downloaded and enjoyed his products, I'm going to kick some coins his way in appreciation. He calls them the "Prototype" series, and if this is what he comes up with when he's just messing about, his commercial products must be outstanding.

This has been a holy grail sound of mine for a very long time. Sergio Mendes used one on Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66, on "Slow Hot Wind." Those early Brasil 66 albums have some of my favorite sounds ever. In addition to grand piano he used combo organs, electric harpsichord, etc. If you do manage to track one down, please mention it.

They've come a long way from when the installer forced you to install the 32 bit VST2, the 64 bit VST3, the 32 bit VST2, the 64 bit VST3 AND the 64 bit AAX versions. I used to have a whole routine I'd go through after running their installer or A|A|S' or Native Instruments'. A|A|S was the biggest offender, I'm pretty sure it would drop a copy of the VST2's into any folder with the string "VST" in its name. I'm not kidding, either. I eventually wrote them a nice email message pleading with them to stop. I got no reply, but within 6 months they had stopped doing it. Some of Izotope's older installers will even leave you with the 32 bit RTAS versions of their plug-ins installed. The only real benefit (and not everyone sees it as such) of VST3 is that it dictates an install location for the plug-in DLL's.

Calm down and take a deep breath. The current MPluginManager has a function where you can create an offline installer for your plug-ins. Look in Settings and you'll see where you can do this. Presumably, if you can download things at all, you have at least one computer that's connected to the Internet. So it should work similarly to the old download manager or maybe better because when you copy the install package to your music computer, it will only have the plug-ins you want to install instead of the whole line.

When seeking build advice for a new system, it's helpful to list the specs of your current systems. Processor type, RAM, video, etc. There might be a component such as insufficient RAM or underpowered video that is bottlenecking your system. Also, what program are you using for video editing? If you're getting overheating (and the processor throttling that goes with it), often a good blast of compressed air to the processor's heatsink will work wonders. When was the last time you did a dust removal on your systems? If your video card has fans, hit that with the duster as well. If you're using your processor's onboard video, that may also account for the bogging on your video editing computer. Mark (not "Scott," although he is a Scot) uses an i7-3770 system as his studio computer. Many would consider this an outdated rig, but it works just fine for his purposes, and he's one of the Cakewalk developers.

That is easily and inexpensively remedied. You can get a set of urethane wheels that will likely fit any chair. I got a set for my Herman Miller Mirra (as seen on House M.D. as the chair in front of his desk) just because I didn't want to ruin a cable by running over it with the original equipment hard plastic wheels. Here's a set for $13 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-Hardwood-Carpet-Support-Universal/dp/B08XK176F8/ I got the ones that look more like rollerblade wheels, but if I had seen these I might have gone with them. Although the rollerblade wheels are larger diameter, which probably makes for smoother rolling and less likelihood of cable damage.... For the price of a single cheap cable or phone charging cable, I think they're a great investment. And they roll more smoothly. When the Aeron was first released, I happened to go to an office furniture expo in San Francisco. I worked for pre-Adobe Macromedia in the 90's, and their office was near the design centers. As soon as I sat in it, I promised myself that one day, I'd have one. I missed out on the dot com bust, when they were cheap and plentiful due to massive office liquidations. Still check Craig's List from time to time, which is how I snagged the Mirra.

Some excellent plug-ins in that bundle. Unfortunately not part of the "celebration."

Except of course that you'd get to start using the software now instead of waiting until the next sale rolls around.

If you have any interest in MeldaProduction products, this is the first and best deal to get. If ever a product lived up to its name.... https://www.meldaproduction.com/V17Intro Includes 10 plug-ins, including my personal go-to's MAutoAlign, MTurboReverble (yes, "LE," but I never touch the features you get with the regular version), MLimiterX, MTurboDelay, MAutoDynamicEQ, and MCompare. And in true MeldaProduction fashion, if you already have any of these, log in to your account and check your personal price on it. You'll be amazed. If you're looking to eventually level up, the price of any of the higher tier bundles that overlaps with this one will be greatly reduced the next time there's a 50% or 60% off everything sale. At that point, say you are interested in MMixingFX Bundle, multiple of the MEssentials Bundle are in that bundle as well, and you will get a huge discount that's always more than you expect it to be. As always, if it's your first purchase with them, use someone's referral code and sign up for the newsletter and it will knock the cost down to under $70. MTurboReverble alone is worth it, it's the only one I've heard that can match the quality of the Exponential ones.

You need to find a way to "tell" the MIDI track to use the Monster Drums track instead of whatever synth it's now driving. We need more information before we can tell you exactly how to do it. These old project files, what soft synth are they using now? Are these drum parts that you programmed yourself or are they part of a General MIDI file you obtained from a 3rd party? As @JnTuneTech says, if the drum track is part of a GM file, it's a different process from when it's a drum track you programmed yourself. In my opinion, the Drum Map Manager is a difficult tool to figure out, at least at first, and there are other options. It might turn out to be the right option for you, but we may be able to come up with something easier. If you wish, you could even put a sample project up on a file sharing service for us to check out. That might be easiest if you find our questions confusing.

As of now, I know of no laptop that uses any audio hardware CODEC other than ones made by Realtek, all of which are similar to each other. Someday, some genius will design a laptop purpose-designed for music production that includes a better hardware CODEC than Realtek's, but as it stands today, the Realtek CODEC has plenty of "horsepower" to spare for DAW work. Basically, don't worry about it, they're all pretty much the same. Purchase the laptop based on your usual laptop criteria, use WASAPI as your driver mode, and have at it. It'll actually sound great. Realtek haven't been sleeping when it comes to working on their technology (with the exception of still not having an ASIO driver). Good-sounding, low-latency audio is also desirable for gaming, which is an important segment for driving computer hardware development. If cost were no object, I'd get the best gaming laptop money could buy, because the criteria for excellent gaming performance are similar to media production. Good sound, fast CPU, fast GPU.

They did. That's why Damien said "now you don't have to download everything within the six months following the purchase." Unless you thought they changed it back, which I don't think they did....

Probably not, if you have all the content you want from SampleTank 3 MAX. Look and see what instruments/packages it comes with, compare it to what you have. The engine itself is a free upgrade, of course. SampleTank 3 used to be really crashy, wouldn't last very long in Cakewalk, but 4 is much more stable.

Umm, SampleTank's UI is kind of dark, and dopey looking guys prefer UI's that look blurry and out of focus? Or what? I can tell you that I find the SampleTank UI (and user experience in general) to be more attractive (and easier to get around in) than the holy Kontakt. I have some Kontakt instruments that I really like, but every time I start up the Kontakt Player plug-in, I have to get a whole bunch of EZ screen crap out of the way before I get it to display the view I want. Of the sampler/sample player plug-ins on the market, I probably like Soundpaint's UI the best. Kontakt is about even with sforzando as far as being clunky and confusing. SampleTank is behind Soundpaint, but ahead of MSoundFactory, with sforzando and Kontakt on hind teat.

Dang, $50 seems to be What SampleTank 4 MAX Goes For these days. So useful. It's become a staple, go-to around these parts. For Syntronik and SampleTron alone it's worth the price (but of course it comes with so much more). SampleTron includes libraries from antique samplers other than just the Mellotron (like the Optigan), and also includes all the seldom heard oddball sound effects and loops that came in the libraries. Of all the vintage synth emulations I have in my plug-in library (which includes a couple of versions of Analog Lab Lite), I find myself reaching for Syntronik when I want a vintage synth sound (although Cherry Audio's DC-106 is my Juno 106 go-to).