jackson white

sounds like your issue is -relative- dynamics which normalization will not help. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_normalization you could try some fidgety combination of compression and/or automation or perhaps leveling tools in Melodyne might get you closer.

@Dega sounds like we might be coming from the same place. Indiginus and a couple from Orange Tree are the only ones I've heard that didn't totally bum me out and can be useful in a mix. However not a kybd player and not a fan of the Kontakt UI/workflow. There are many expert users out there but it's a bit of a learning curve to get them to sound like what you might be used to with a naturally played instrument. I got close to making the commitment when I lost my network of live players, but it would take some effort to get anywhere near as productive. jmho of course...

both hw/sw preamps get used here for pretty much the same desired end result, with hw getting used for tracking a vibe on the way in ("performance enhancement") and sw for adding "character" to tracks that might have been recorded a bit cleaner. But more for vox than guitar as amps are pretty useful on their own.

so kinda like NASCAR? ... would be interesting to understand how system performance maps to performance cores vs efficient cores. and how clock speeds roll out.

The 2nd pass at this made it a useful option for a Neve channel. Trying it out on a few male LVs and getting somewhere.with the saturation. Demo'd the compressor but nothing compelling there. not planning to demo the Smash. The non-support for machine activation forced an iLok 3 purchase here as I got ambushed by a cloud flame-out think it was Pace.

? didn't find the post any different than... etc. etc. my bad, could've stated this differently but it's just a very broad (and snarky) reference to some differences between "consumer oriented" sw vs a "typical" Linux build and meant for those who might have had some development experience. and why they -might- not have bothered with the basics. apologies if you were troubled by it.

all good now, but no different than posts on S1, Cubase, Mixbus, etc, etc. updates. Linux devs are big on the DIY aesthetic with a strong assumption of technical competence. ya, you won't find them on TikTok

imagine there's a few wallets that didn't miss him, but despite multiple panicked discount options, partnerships, etc, the real reason is PA's sales went so far downhill after he left that they had to bribe (recruit) him out of hiatus...(jmo).

I took this post to be a comment on value, i.e. go-to plugins with enduring quality, usability (= intuitive UX, minimal overhead/DRM ), versatility, .reliability and support. perhaps something that might be considered a digital "classic" at some point in the future. my dive into the whole ITB experience is relatively recent but a few have stood out after sampling far too many across the vast cornucopia of options out there. fwiw, my initial criteria was a comparison with the analog/hw experience but getting past that and just focusing on how well it serves a project. Indiginus has certainly caught my ear, but the requirement for full Kontakt has made it a non-starter to date. I find the UI to be birth control for ever using samplers and the $300 ante skews the value pricing a bit. (if I was running Soundwide, I'd put the iZotope team full time on a complete redesign as a first priority.) It would get a shot though, if NI ever considered subsidizing Kontakt with an Indiginus purchase. Valhalla. yep, they just work. I've tried a number of others and there's only 3 go-tos that aren't Valhalla. UADs EMT 140 (because it was the first and parked in half my templates), the Liquidsonics bricasti and there's better springs. Scuffham S-Gear also makes the cut here. There are better options for anything high gain, but if Mike ever came through with his take on an AC30, I'd put (almost) everything else in the shed. Discounts do not often represent real value (looking at a few too many under $20 purchases sitting in the corner). The better ones are from companies with great products but poor marketing :-).

Preferences > Audio > Configuration File > Properties > ThreadSchedulingModel might be a factor in some cases. fwiw, I've had to do some project specific buffer "optimization" (both Playback/Record I/O and A/I) but all projects are running well here. Max values were not always the best solution, which implies system specific configuration, at least in my case.

yes, only I didn't know -what- to check. FAQs refer to a cog in a window which isn't displayed... found this and made the obvious change. { "AssetType": "SoftubePreferencesFile", "FileFormatVersion": 1, "Preferences": { "ENABLE_OPENGL": true >> false } } seems to work, had to reinstall one plugin, but assuming the best for now.

anyone having any issues with Softube UIs not displaying? (getting a nice black box for all the ones I checked.) > Softube plugins updated to latest version. > just ran a win10 pro service update and the latest version of CW

fwiw/jme, this tends to be a recurring issue that takes some -system- "exercising" to shake out the changes. been running fairly complex projects just fine until something gets updated and noting some performance degradation (i.e. dropouts, "responsiveness", etc.) nb. only making level changes, minor fx tweaks. no tracking/editing/swapping out a bunch of vsts. initially assumed it was some system cfg setting reset with the update, but that hasn't been the case for a while. looking more like vst specific issues. sometimes deleting/reloading them has made a difference,

no doubt, i've heard your mixes. just dropped a link for those who might be interested.

not a sample guy, but the Indiginus catalog is the only thing that might make me get a full version of Kontakt.

https://gearspace.com/board/new-product-alert/1390309-kiive-audio-releases-xtressor-compressor.html Xtressor will be available at an introductory price of $64.99 (using code SUMMER35) at kiiveaudio.com starting on October 7th 2022, and the sale will run through the entire month of October (afterward it will go up to $149.99). Xtressor will also be available to any customers who already own at least one (1) paid kiive plugin for an extra discounted intro price of $50.99. will be sending out that email with the loyalty voucher in an hour. 14 day Free trial: https://www.kiiveaudio.com/downloads FREE PLUGIN AS WELL we're also giving away a new free plugin; Xtressor NUKE https://www.kiiveaudio.com/nuke ... have been holding out for a deal on https://www.empiricallabs.com/product/arousor/ as the only compressor I -need-, but don't have. ELI has cred as the original dev for it and almost bought the lite version they put out earlier this year, perhaps in an attempt to bridge the gap to their current pricing. however, knowing i'd still want the full version, decided to wait for a deal but it's never gone below $129 afaik. and that was with a email signup, iirc. ... any thoughts, comments, experience with kiive as a dev would be appreciated. Or any of the other alts out there? I demo'd the UAD some time ago and found it to be pretty good, but looking for alts to their ecosystem. have not demo'd the Softube version based on minor "grumbles" and at some point bought the SKnote clone, but didn't love it.

They sound great, but don't those need huge amounts of CPU? yes. clock speed / # cores make a difference. but they've also been pretty pro-active with improving the efficiency of their internal processing. fwiw, i come from a hw background and it's a bit amazing to actually hear the difference. AA are not without their sonic limitations (they can be all over the map) but starting to get some pretty interesting results. interestingly enough, i was told I'd have to run Reaper to use these, but Cakewalk has been holding up just fine. the ongoing exploration on CPU here.

agreed. tbh, had it for much longer than actually using it but thanks to the pandemic started exploring it in detail as an option to existing platforms. my initial post was a comment on click bait YT titles not worth the pixels they're printed on, let alone being relevant. think it's worth noting Cakewalk even -got- a mention, which might be the result of Meng's decision to offer it for free. however. ime there's some reflection of reality in the rankings, so -why- is Cakewalk 'underrated'? imho, ecosystem dynamics are bigger factors than inherent capabilities, ala the VHS/Beta or DOS/Mac wars where incumbency, pricing and marketing were key. ~70-80% of my network is 100% Mac based with maybe another 10-15% dual platform = a limited pool for active elements of the musical community. That includes 100% of the commercial facilities which are another channel of influencers. ymmv. so platform compatibility is a factor. yes, you can export/import, but that's overhead with "interoperability" issues on the finer points of collaboration. Couldn't get rid of PT fast enough but most of my Mac peeps are pretty productive with Logic, along with the likes of Live, Cubase, maybe Reaper or DP, etc explored a couple of cross platform candidates as an option (S1 and Reaper). Reaper is highly capable and just as highly obtuse for peeps who could care less about tweaking tools when they could be making music. I get that and quickly learned -not- to recommend it given the support load required to become productive. S1 shares many of the main conventions as other major DAWs with some nice project mastering capability but that's becoming less significant as artists evolve to releasing content on a schedule as a tactic to maintain a social media profile vs releasing an "album". Some current projects are on S1 but still preferring workflow and features in Cakewalk. Live has a different (but interesting) approach. Cubase is just too cluttered for me. it's also a "horses for courses" thing where goal, access and genre are factors. if ur just banging out some loops 'cos ur bored, u really don't need or want to fire up a rocket ship or science project. and ya, sure you can play guitar parts on a keyboard after loading a klunky ui, reading a manual and programming a bunch of articulations, but it's easier to just plug into an AI and roll. then there's the perception of "reliability". in both my experience and observation, this is the challenge of being on a PC platform with an infinite number of system configurations hobbled by a decidedly finite level of technical capability. a quick survey of the forums should confirm that. Macs have their own issues, but for must musicians, it's much less to deal with. and ya, marketing. but you know this, and expect the same as most on this forum would agree that Cakewalk not only is, but -has- been a mature, full featured DAW with leading edge capability that other "market leaders" are still struggling to catch up with. agreed. it's music first, then tools. my preference is Cakewalk. I recommend it for anybody considering a PC platform, advocate for it (to the extent of helping peeps get started with it) and appreciate the ongoing development and support. it's also worth mentioning just how useful and valuable this forum has been for becoming productive with it. not just Cakewalk itself, but wrt to a wide range of related topics.

ya, had it before some of the others, still efficient for dialing in basics, preferring the PA townhouse for color though Arturia, OL GEMs and some of BRA, are all great options, still working through them to get a better feel for favorites. this link made the OL LA3A a winner. LA-3A Compressor SHOOTOUT against 4 PLUG-IN emulations unfortunately, it's also sent me down the Acustica Audio rabbit hole... ... have yet to try Dopamine on acoustic/organic material, one of those 'magic wands' that's too easy to overcook as noted, but could give it a demo sometime.

any guesses for how long before it becomes

the "secret sauce" of https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/waves-maxxbass Bass Mint is less refined in this aspect, but with some additional options. 'preferred' results are somewhat dependent on the style of music and target playback systems/devices.

that's been the ongoing challenge here. upgrading has been on the to do list for a while now but the increases in TDP, a relocation to a region with higher ambient temps and video becoming a growth opportunity are making this more than a simple incremental upgrade. have done well with 4U rack mounts using i7s with active fan control, basic passive cooled GPUs and SSDs. we could go to a 5U case and larger fans but not sure that's going to be enough. had been avoiding water-cooled systems based previous 'research' but GPU performance is looking like a real challenge, most likely a separate build if the workload becomes real.

Comp G is also a fine workhorse.

pretty limited scope... "? GENRES ? • Electronic Music • EDM • Electro House • Big Room • Dance Music • Techno • Tech House • Beats" but hey, it's YT, where click bait titles are typically the sum total of their creativity. didn't bother to do any fact checking on who the "pros" were...

or get a magic wand https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/unfiltered_audio_bass_mint.html for free today (04 Oct) with voucher from PA