Starship Krupa

Hybrid 3, Vacuum Pro, and Xpand!2 are all synths that I would not wish to be without. I think I have about $30 invested in them, not counting various $5 expansion packs purchased to qualify for PB BOGO's. If you're into building songs around arps, as I am, Hybrid 3 does things that no other synth I've tried can do. Very versatile arpeggiator that can be stacked 2x for very complex arpage. And it just sounds great. Xpand!2 is a crazy capable ROMpler with some great sounds. Vacuum Pro is a great emulation of a subtractive analog synth, especially nice if you aren't interested in recreations of specific instruments.

IMO, Harpsichord holds up, but I'm with Peter on the rest of them. If you want a nice harpsichord, get Harpsichord next time it comes up for under $10.

$29 for Trackspacer is a "go directly, do not pass GO" purchase.

I think I'm interested to know more about what you think is missing from the Matrix as currently implemented, vs. Project 5 (and Bitwig, FL, Ableton Live, and so forth). What features should be added? What features should be changed?

Only if you believe that Cakewalk's inability to send a single stream of audio at a time via its external insert feature without also tying up a second audio stream is somehow down to a limitation of WASAPI. In my years of following this issue, I don't remember anyone else suggesting that. While the introduction of WASAPI may have made it more difficult for Cakewalk's coders to change the external insert feature for whatever reason, it wasn't that WASAPI somehow only allowed I/O channels to be used in stereo pairs. SONAR introduced the ability to output individual mono channels with the same release it introduced support for WASAPI: SONAR 8. (source: Noel's blog) The bottom line for me is that if Studio One and REAPER can do it, it is possible to do. And they're just the programs that I personally know can do it. There are probably more.

Keep in mind that the Windows versions of REAPER and Studio One can handle mono external inserts no problem (or so I'm told). If anyone tries to tell you that the issue is some limitation or other of Windows. I hold that if Windows program A can do something, it calls into question the credibility of claims by developers (or dedicated users) of Windows program B that they can't make Windows program B do that thing due to some shortcoming of Windows'. The reason that some audio programs don't support WASAPI and instead either supply or recommend ASIO4ALL is that the people developing those programs are simply put, lame-o's. There is no other explanation or excuse for a Windows DAW not supporting WASAPI. Cakewalk is in no danger of dropping support for WASAPI, and one of the many reasons is that the CTO worked closely with Microsoft when they were developing it.

Been going through Theme Editor withdrawal and kinda liking the new look of Sonar (mixed-case), so I whipped up a facelift for Session Drummer 3 to give it a look inspired by Sonar's Dark color scheme. Files and instructions are in the link in my sig. It only replaces 2 files, so easy to try.

It's fine for making simple charts from my MIDI parts to hand off to other players. If I were a "real" composer, I'm sure I'd find it too limited. But that's what Finale and Musescore and the rest are for.

I'm not as well-versed in this issue, as I only have a couple of outboard processors, so not in danger of running out of sends. But I've seen the plaintive cries over the years and sympathize with having "if they'd only fix this ONE DAMN FEATURE it would be the greatest thing ever" going around in my head. To the extent that the devs have replied, I think they mentioned that mucking about in that area would be opening a can of dusty spaghetti, and they'd likely also want to do it better this time. The current method seemed kind of kluge-y when I tried it. When I've done it in the hardware world, that kind of thing is well-integrated into the mixer itself, not as an add=om. From what I've seen, the devs really have their hands full trying to get the initial release of Sonar ready with the vector UI being the big new feature The silver lining with Sonar going payware is that the development will naturally shift in the direction of features. "Now with!" being a favorite marketing phrase. That could be "now with completely overhauled and expanded support for external rackmount signal processors!" Gotta have the word "rackmount" in there.? Payware license-driven software development can hit the pitfall of adding a new feature, then letting it dangle in the wind when the development team is then put on the task of working on the next big set of features before things are fully right with the new feature, and from what I've seen, SONAR, with its various changes in management, may have suffered from that one. At least for the nasty crashy bugs, the current team have been ferociously active about setting that right. There are older features that could get some love, like Matrix view and the Arpeggiator. My understanding is that those were grafted on from Project 5. The Matrix isn't as well-integrated as it could be (right click on clip, Send To Matrix cell, eh?), and there's no way to create and edit arpeggiator patterns. They're both features with more potential, especially for current music styles. The boom in use of external processors is not a thing to discount. People shell out a LOT of money for those little mono 500 rack gadgets. I hope that BandLab goes back to the NAMM Show someday, last time I was there it seemed like half of Hall D was taken up by people peddling 500 rack stuff. I know from personal experience with my boutique pedal company that musicians LOVE using stuff that not everyone can find/afford/figure out how to use. It's a segment of the market that doesn't mind opening their wallets. There's no reason not to treat them with the same importance that compatibility with software processors gets.

Create an instrument track with Stochas. Create another instrument track with the synth you wish to control with Stochas. Set the synth track's input to Stochas, MIDI channel 1 (that's the default for Stochas, although you can change it). Turn the synth tracks Input Echo on. Set the Stochas track's Channel to 1. Enter some notes in Stochas' editor. Set Cakewalk to loop for a measure or two or however many measures you want it to loop. Hit Play. At this point you should be hearing output from the synth. If you're not, make sure that the synth has a patch loaded, make sure you have input echo turned on, make sure you have some notes entered, and make sure the synth track's audio path is clear all the way through to the output (the usual troubleshooting when you can't seem to get a synth to make sound). Make sure that the Stochas plug-in is set to enable MIDI out (which you do using the menu under that "VST3" button in the plug-in UI). This setup should work for any generator or sequencer like this that acts as a virtual MIDI instrument generating MIDI information. If you want to get results similar to what Stochas does, I really encourage you to try using Cakewalk's built-in Step Sequencer, as outlined above. It does the note probability thing no problem. Once I found that out, I didn't bother with Stochas anymore.

It's what allows it to do time stretching. Pro tip: don't go deleting DLL's that aren't in your VST folder.

If the coppers find him.

I know that Chromaphone gets the lion's share of love, and it is indeed a great synth, but I recently picked up Ultra Analog VA-3 and like it better. Chromaphone sounds "colder" where Ultra Analog VA sounds "warmer" to me. So I encourage anyone considering buying an A|A|S synth to try them both (they have fully functional free trials).

Absolutely worth it. I'm very leery of "exciters," but I listened to a song done by someone here on the Cakewalk forum and noticed a real ear candy sparkle to one of the elements. Asked them about it and they said it was the Vitalizer.

I was pleased to find that Libbyapp from my local library has Beat. Now to wait until this issue comes out....

If you're exclusively using virtual instruments, samples, and loops to create your music then, no, you don't even need an external interface. WASAPI Exclusive will get you decently low latency and good sound with just your system's built-in audio CODEC (invariably Realtek, they seem to have the market for onboard hardware audio CODEC's completely monopolized). I don't know what the problem is with getting an ASIO driver for Realtek's CODEC's. There's nothing inherently wrong with the hardware, it's even capable of doing 192K/32, 7.1 channel, S/PDIF (if the board manufacturer implements those things) but that lack of an ASIO driver is a big deal for audio work. Why no programmer has come up with one is a mystery. Realtek shipped one for a while, but it was so buggy they pulled it.

It's certainly against the forum TOS. Dropping a fiver or finding a way to read the issue via a library membership is a small enough consideration to give Beat and A|A|S. And for those who think they have everything A|A|S, they usually come out with multiple new soundpacks in between these freebie deals, so at least check and make sure. Their stuff is so great.

Updates to NI Access always make sure that the NI hardware support services that you've disabled a dozen times because you own no NI hardware get re-enabled. So there's that....

(shoots for Deals forum, hits rim)

I've received many (sincere I hope) compliments, but since the topic seems to have gone toward the wah wah WAHHHH..... I was in Bath, England, in a small lightly populated pub one afternoon. Was chatting with the barman, a young chap, mentioned that my (proto grunge Faith No More-ish) band had just finished doing a demo in a studio. He showed interest in hearing what was coming out of San Francisco at that time (1990) and asked if he could play it on the pub's sound system. Joy! Halfway through the second song, a grumpy pub owner appeared and ordered him to turn it off, snapping "this isn't a heavy metal pub!" Well, it wasn't a heavy metal band either.... As for people's reactions to my music in general, well, I've always tried to remember that I make it so that it sounds good to me, that my own tastes have always been outside the mainstream, and that if anyone else at all likes it, that's a bonus. Even if someone's just pretending to like it, that's nice, that they like me enough to care about my feelings. The best/funniest times have been when friends have come to shows or listened to tracks out of a sense of duty, and I can tell that they are genuinely surprised that they like it. ? And @User 905133, I'd take the "good driving music" to be quite a compliment.

It would be great for those times when someone posts to a music forum saying "I got these tracks from a band who recorded them in their rehearsal room, no possibility of recording them over again, so I need advice on how to salvage what they gave me." Followed by five replies suggesting they re-record the tracks.

Except for.... The inexpensive 5-pin-to-USB interfaces on Amazon are fine, just don't be tempted by the under $10 black ones. Avoid this type (the one with the body that's black with rounded corners and usually has a staff/clef symbol on it that typically goes for under $10). This type (the one with the clear window with activity lights that typically goes for $15 or so) is fine. I know the above from (bitter, in the case of the <$10 one) experience. With those, it's common to experience dropped notes and stuck notes. The slightly more expensive one has been solid as a rock for years. The only hitch I ever ran into was that the MIDI hardware spec calls for a diode across the input to any MIDI device. This was originally part of an optocoupler, but I think optocouplers have long since been superseded by less expensive solutions. Most manufacturers probably just stick an LED across the input in case there's any legacy equipment that still expects to see a diode drop. Of COURSE I wound up with one that didn't have the diode, and OF COURSE I had one of the very very few pieces of MIDI equipment that insists on having a diode drop across whatever it plugs into or it petulantly refuses to operate (this would be the famous Rockband keytar that doubles as a MIDI controller). I solved this by soldering a diode across the input myself. The Rockband keytar is the only device I've ever heard of that won't work unless it senses the diode drop, probably uses it to know to turn of the wireless connection and use the MIDI port instead. In other words, unless you need to plug in a Rockband keytar, you should be fine.

That would be using whatever cable/connector the hardware unit has available. If it's 5-pin DIN, then you need to plug it into a MIDI interface, either built into your interface (most PreSonae have them), or dedicated. If it's USB, then straight into a USB port. If you're trying to choose a controller based on which type of connection it uses, then it depends on whether your interface includes 5-pin DIN. If it doesn't, then a controller with its own USB connection would be necessary. The advantage to the 5-pin DIN MIDI connection is that you can use it to plug bits of MIDI hardware into each other without the need for a computer (what MIDI was originally intended to be used for).

If you have an interface that has its own ASIO driver, then use it. There's no reason not to. If you are basing an interface purchase on whether it has its own ASIO driver, yes yes, a thousand times yes, only get one that comes with ASIO support, and by that I don't mean ASIO4ALL.

I go with Intel myself, mostly because it's what I know. You can put together a killer system for that amount of money. My system (see specs in sig) can do the tasks you mention without getting anywhere near breaking a sweat, and it's years and processor generations older than what you're going to get today. Heck, I could put together a good system for half of your budget! Do you have an audio interface? If not, that's really the critical component and the first one to decide on.