Starship Krupa

I admire your self-restraint. Sounds like you have a pretty cool business set up. I've always done my own websites, but if I decide to start another business I'll PM you. I went freelance over 20 years ago and have done a variety of things since then. At the end of my 9-to-6 office employment, I took a look at what elements of my job I liked. That was building things, solving problems and helping people. I didn't like sitting there waiting for something to break. So freelance was the way to go.

What do you have your eye on? I just upgraded from my trusty GT 1030 (which may now be had for under $50) to a GTX1070 for $100. The price bubble seems to have finally burst, and people are dumping their older cards. I got the 1070 to be able to run Red Dead Redemption 2 at higher settings, which it does fine, I'm getting 60 FPS with VSync turned on, and that's with no special uberklokking (although I do overclock my i7-6950X CPU). Anything in the 10 series is going to be very affordable, even into the 16's. I know people go on about "future proof," but if your onboard graphics are handling everything but gaming, yer already there. Since my interests are in indie games rather than AAA sports/FPS, the 1070 with its 8G of RAM will do me for years. If I hadn't gotten a nice inheritance last month, I'd still be fine with the GT 1030.

Anything with MYST in the name (except for the 2021 remaster, which, like Obduction, uses the Unreal engine) should fly with your onboard graphics, but of course the only way to find out is to try. Also, for anyone getting this who wants to play MYST: Chronicles of Uru, I suggest not even bothering with the version that comes with the bundle. Rather, go to mystonline.com and play it there, where it is the same game for free and has much better graphics (and will run like a bat no matter how antique your system). And don't worry about the collaborative aspect; like BandLab, it's optional (although I do find MYST Online to be a great deal of fun with help from the others who are online). My handle on there is Superabbit and my Hood is Musicians Guild (which I founded).

Meldaproduction has a lot of products and it can be tough to sort out which ones cover what functions. The first individual processor of theirs that I bought was MModernCompressor, and if I had understood the product and the product line in general, I might have spent my money on something else from their line. Generally speaking, the "Turbo" suffix connotes that the effect tries to loosely emulate classic effects in its category. MTurboComp, MTurboEQ, MTurboReverb, MTurboAmp, MTurboDelay all seek to provide you with dozens of different models of classic whatevers in one plug-in. The idea is never to try to make it sound exactly like some old processor or other, but rather to sound like idealized versions. For the categories of dynamics, EQ, and reverb, there is overlap across different price points. MDynamics can do everything that MCompressor and MModernCompressor do, but not the other way around. And MModernCompressor is 1/3rd the price of MDynamics. They've been around a while now and have never discontinued a product, and they also do "Swiss Army Knife" and "does one thing very well" tools. In addition to that, there's some stuff they do that doesn't really fit into standard processor categories. MDynamics is a "Swiss Army Knife," meant to be the only single band precision compressor/expander/gate/limiter you need. Its capabilities are a superset of MCompressor and MModernCompressor (and one or two of the limiters, not sure which). It does have the "devices," that add prettier UI's to the processor, but it also has its traditional mode where you can edit every last parameter and even make multiple parameters editable with the same control (what they call "multiparameters"). MTurboComp is a collection of analog-style compressors with different characteristics in one package. MSpectralDynamics is a different critter. MLimiterX is a limiter. Another good Chandler video tries to make sense of the various "MStereo" processors. I find it hard to remember which of them does what. $21 is a steal for their top of the line Swiss Army Knife dynamics processor. And although buying it from Audiodeluxe is only $19, buying it from Meldaproduction is much preferred if you think you might ever want to own a bundle license that includes MDynamics.

Since I haven't played the 2021 remaster, I'd have to read some reviews. It would have to be really good to top realMYST: Masterpiece, but I'm sure it's capable of being really good. It's like having Revolver in mono, stereo, CD, and remastered CD. They're all great. Congratulations, and there's no need to wait: Obduction is the only game in the package that would exercise a GPU in the slightest. I played Obduction on an i7-3770 with GTX 550Ti and it ran great (not at ultra settings, but it still looked fantastic). Think of what a "powerful" system was when these games came out. Even Obduction is made to run on a merely above average computer of 2016. For those too young to remember, or just not into games at the time, MYST was the first point-and-click exploration/puzzle game. It made a lot of other firsts at the time as well, like being the first computer game that collected a substantial fanbase that included women and people over 30. It was the first video game for people who had never been interested in video games. It was also notable for being the first video game to have a soundtrack that was worthy of a separate release, and the soundtrack by itself sold multiple platinum. Not everyone loved it, some of the video game press of the time and some of the established gaming community thought it was a snooze. But for a lot of other people it introduced the idea that video games could be a form of art. Before MYST, the idea of a game requiring a professional composer to create its soundtrack was unheard of. It's responsible for creating a lot of work for musicians and composers, really for the whole job title of "video game music composer."

It is a SMOKIN' deal. If all it had was realMYST Masterpiece and Obduction it would be way worth it. It has every game that Cyan ever released, not including Firmament, which just recently shipped. They're are no doubt doing this to pique interest in Firmament. If you decide you can live without the 2021 MYST remaster, it's only $10, which makes it acephalic. I haven't played the 2021 version, but I can say that realMYST: Masterpiece, which is MYST ported to the Unreal engine for 3-D, looks and plays great. Warning: this bundle may induce Game Acquisition Syndrome. I hadn't played a computer game in 20 years, then bought the 11 item $10 bundle when it came up for sale in December 2021. Started off with realMYST: Masterpiece Edition (which is the version I'd recommend, it looks great and has an extra Age), then went to MYST III: Exile, which I was in the middle of playing 20 years previously. Then ripped through the rest of the MYST series and went on to Obduction, which is what pushed me into Gamer territory. Obduction really is spectacular. In the year and a half since I got the bundle, I have added at least 50 games to my Steam library (see my post on the Steam Summer Sale from a couple of weeks ago). If you like Cyan/MYST type games, I have several to recommend. There's even a guy right now who's preparing a MYST-alike game (Neyyah) and doing the sound and music with his Steam'd copy of SONAR.

Yes. At this point, Cakewalk's support for 32-bit plug-ins is hanging by a thread. I consider it to only be there to allow people some time to replace their FX with current technology. Considering that you were having trouble with it 6 months ago, and apparently still are, is this obsolete reverb plug-in really worth it the hassle?

One of those cases being if you want to be able to access the big ol' library of loops.... I tend to forget that the BandLab Assistant has uses other than messing up Cakewalk installs.

I like to compute (especially mix) with all the room lights off, so a lighted keyboard is essential to my requirements. I got one with nice big letters on it. Mouse is a Logitech Anywhere 2S with a fast scroll wheel and assignable side buttons.

An interview with Jyoti Mishra of White Town. Cool. Hero of mine. Went to number one in 1997 with a song he did in his bedroom.

Oh, now I get it. That term could be weaponized in the wrong "mean girl" hands. It had me thinking of database connectivity or those things that you connect to your car to read the service codes.

I wonder if Fab DuPont knows Tony Dow.

The links, etc. for changing your email address on the old site may still be dead/misleading. Your best hope is to contact BandLab's Cakewalk support team (link at the top of this forum page) and tell them what's happening and see if they can help.

That's a little harsh, dontcha think? I think of mine more as an aging musician's electric train layout. ?

Here's some food for thought (which made me feel kinda uncomfortable when it occurred to me): We all talk about "getting to really know the (friggin' excellent, in most cases) FX we already have," and nobody reading this would disagree that it's the best thing to be doing. So....how much time (online or elsewhere) do I spend sharing that information with other people vs. how much time I still spend sharing deals information (even though I've decided that I already have enough/too much)? The answer for me, is "waaaay less." I know more about forum friends' tastes in plug-ins and manufacturers than I do about their tastes in EQ, compression, and reverb settings. Yes, we do talk a bit about what this or that plug-in is good for (all hail the almighty MCompressor dynamics display). And it is the Deals sub after all. Still, if what I want to be doing is honing my skills (which I'll probably never be "finished" honing), why am I not spending at least as much time sharing about that in a forum that's not about deals? Not entirely rhetorical question, there may be some logical reasons, like wanting to find my own path through it, reluctance to admit what I don't already know, etc. It's more fun to be an "authority" about something than it is to be someone asking for information. And for sure, there's a camaraderie in this sub, the value of which isn't to be underestimated. We joke, but topics like this one do act as an opportunity for mutual support around the idea that some bit of software or other is going to "save" me. ?

It wasn't even a question. It was an answer with no associated question. Odd.

Not financial as such, but for other reasons, mostly that I've "topped up" my collection. I exceeded my desire/need to own any more FX when I leveraged up to MComplete in the last Melda 65% off bundles sale. Prior to that I had gotten the iZotope MPS5 in the glitch, and at that point was confident that I was not going to be slowed down from anything I wanted to do for want of tools to do it with. The way I am with tools and instruments and so forth is that once I'm confident that money can take me no further, I pretty much stop (and move on to the next project that involves shopping!). I know it's a truism that if you know what you're doing, you can do a great mix with one good each compressor, EQ, delay, and reverb, but it's nice to have a wide variety to choose from (as long as it doesn't lead to being frozen due to too much choice). Virtual instruments are the more slip'ry slope, but even with those, I'm beyond my own capacity to make use of the ones I have. I have MASSIVE, Chromaphone, MSoundFactory, MDrummer, and MPowerSynth. I think my bas(s)es are adequately covered. I'm not going to be sitting thinking "I just can't find an appropriate sound." Every once in a while some trinket or other will catch my eye, and I'm usually up for checking out interesting freeware. I'll confess: I do crave the dopamine squirt that I get from acquiring some new trinket or other. But I do get to the "enough" point (when there is one).

Just have to vent. F'n with me is right. Last week, I ordered some replacement woofers for a couple of pairs of my beloved Radio Shack Minimus 7 speakers, from Newark Electronics. Nice aluminum cone replacements that get good reviews in this app in the hi-fi enthusiast forums. Newark has 'em for $11 each so I ordered 4. Eager to get going on them since my studio monitors are in storage awaiting my big move and I'm down to listening on these paired with a subwoofer. First FedEx says they'll be here today, the 19th, a week from the ship date. Fine, I chose the budget ground shipping, so I'll wait. Then a couple of days ago I check, and, happy day, they say they'll be arriving a day early, on the 18th. Great, I can get started on the project, which will also include upgraded crossovers I got for cheap on Amazon. But yesterday, no show, so I check again today (the original scheduled ship date), and the shipment is now due tomorrow. The extended tracking says that the bar code was messed up when it arrived in the distribution center in Stockton, so they had to put a new sticker on, which apparently delays things by an entire day. This is all before it even gets into the hands of a delivery bozo. I'm fine with waiting, I opted for the cheap shipping, but don't tease me. Now I'm wondering if they're going to show up at all. The struggle is indeed real.

Climb Ev'ry Mountain, P Any Plug-In.

MEssentialsFX gets my vote for the best bang for the buck (providing you already have the upgraded FreeFX bundle). With the discount, I guess it would be about $80. MTurboReverble alone is worth that, throw in MTurboDelay and it's crazy, add MAutoDynamicEQ, MAutoAlign, MLimiterX, MCompare, and MSpectralDynamicsle and it's the proverbial no-brainer, and then there's MTurboComple, MAutoVolume, and MSaturatorMB. This isn't a "starter kit" of their stuff (the FreeFX bundle is that), it contains their heaviest hitters. For anyone concerned about what they're missing with the "le" part of any of them, I don't believe I've done anything with the hidden features except to open them to see what they looked like. Which was "a set of parameters way over my head."

No, it is not. However, as Tim said, you could certainly change the colors and button images to match, and use the Workspace feature to hide elements that you don't wish to look at.

For those who haven't played Road To Gehenna, the DLC for The Talos Principle, I can vouch for its excellence.

Pretty sure that even BandLab-in-a-browser would blow its DAW(s) off.

Line it up against a Tesla and I bet you could blow its DAW(s) off.