Brian Walton

See chart here. https://discuss.cakewalk.com/topic/85290-current-sonar-release-202506/

The RHoF is a sham and I can understand why some would want to reject being a part of it. However, the reasons I've seen stated from her don't make logical sense. Reject it because it doesn't give recognition to the unsung heroes? Isn't that exactly what they are doing by adding her? She is a legend that for decades very few even knew about and frankly outside of music circles and youtube videos drawing attention to her as this "bet you didn't know" kind of content - she wouldn't be known to any kind of mass audience unlike the artists who's albums she put down tracks for. And as for the wrecking crew name. Well I think technically speaking there is some validity that group of amazing musician's did wreck the ability for others to get hired and fundamentally changed the artist / recording landscape in LA in particular.

Yeah I did that out of necessity but really didn't like it. Laptops have fewer and fewer ports and between using an interface and a decent mouse, external drive, etc the space is a lot a premium and if you compound that with ilok and others it really is unacceptable for software one has legitimately paid for. Even my desktop has gotten out of control with the ports with everything I use between audio, video, and photography.

Who knows but if I was on WUP I would to get resizable UI across all plugins as well as have the tech support if something breaks. If you are outside WUP even if they did let you upgrade you would be outside of support and have to pay for WUP for them to help you get operational again. The UI resizable update is about the most meaningful thing I recall them doing in the last 5 years. Glad I ditched them when Super Clear was able to replace Clarity VX which was the only thing keeping me tied. As someone who works across multiple computers the single seat when now on WUP is absurd. This isn't 1985 when only the Uber Rich could afford more than. One computer.

Looks like they have moved to a once a year new version cycle to push people to WUP unnecessarily even faster. The company is 33 years old and the versions would last a few years....until recently.

Well this is odd. Now that I have both installed the Boz Pro Channels no longer show up in CbB - and also not in Sonar (I had the paid Hoser XT, as well as the Bark of a Dog)

Here is my hot take. Years ago they bought Cakewalk and released it as free. At that time the outcry was we don't believe you and expect they will charge us. Over and over we were told the core platform and features would be free, but if they added back things like the Adaptive limiter EQ, synths, etc then those would potentially be paid products. Honestly this feels like they are trying to keep their word after pulling the rug out for a few months with a sub only option. Once again, we will see.

I agree the interval can be problematic. Any computer that is used to create one of a kind art needs the option to work offline for security of that data. I do appreciate we can now use the new version without paying for it (as someone who purchased lifetime updates back in the day always hoped this would be honored even though legally they were not responsible do to they way they purchased the IP. That said, I hope they keep CbB as there is a massive difference in the UI for those of us running custom themes. If you use one of the defaults getting used to the same theme but flat isn't a world of difference. My custom theme is already pretty flat but both the colors and the fact I've decluttered it by removing text and things of that nature in a few places is easier to work with. There are also some pro channel stuff that is installed in my CbB that isn't in Sonar on the same machine.

I don't have it but everything I've seen suggests it is a license key and 3 authorizations (online- offline auth not supported) but does have an auth and deauth process to move around computers. https://www.scuffhamamps.com/support/faq/licensing https://www.scuffhamamps.com/support/product-activation/s-gear-activation

Almost forgot about the Tapes, I love a couple of those but they are super resource hungry and I always wait until the end of a project to add them. That said, a lot of the older (but still great) T-racks plugins are pretty light. The 670 comp or the black come to mind and I'm betting the same algos are used in mix box for those.

My main complaint is it is a bit resource heavy. It was at one time one of the more expensive bundles and has quite a bit of stuff in there. As a windows user, I expect it to work for many years. If I was a Mac user I'd expect not only this but everything else to be a temporary tool outside of a subscription service like adobe where you know they have a vested interest to play the apple update game.

It isn't clear on the website but there is now a free version with unlimited tracks, it doesn't have all the addins and features of the paid version, but it is fairly close. Use the same installer as posted in the OP. Seems to just have a nag screen and you have to login to your account like you have to with CbB and will have the periodic check in requirement just like the same.

They also seem to be offering the $20 IKM Mix Box suite at check out (like PB was offering for a time previously) Just an FYI for anyone that had Tape Echo already and had no interest in that deal, but might have had interest in the "suite" for a fairly reasonable price. Just be aware reports are that the platform will no longer get new features or development.

That is a great track and a fun recording (I've personally recorded Derek Trucks Band covering that tune live myself more than once back in the day) but I think we have a different understand of what "amp in the room" actually means. That recording while it is a live recording and certainly has quite a bit of the room sound picked up on it - certainly doesn't sound like what the amp actually sounded like to the human ear in the room - this is a function of using microphones and different speakers to capture and play back sound - it will never actually sound the same, though you have picked a really solid reference of a live band in a room sound. I agree AT5 sounds like a layer of AT5 and I don't use TONEX within AT5.

This is why I reference Tonex as a warts and all. It sounds like the real thing when you mic a cab (which is how tone was traditionally recorded to tape) this is not as easy to do as most people think and therefore the results can vary wildly. As for what the real thing compares to. The real thing is not the "amp in the room" sound. No one in history has ever recorded that so it sounds like the same thing played back through speakers physically isn't possible. So the real thing is what does an amp sound like miced up for recording, and as far as feel - it goes through the same process. If I was sitting in a control room in a studio with my amp in a different room does it respond like that amp would as translated through a microphone and speakers? I've done the tests and TONEX is as close to that recreation as I've experienced. This isn't to say it is perfect, you can read my little blurb on the TONEX cab and how it can't overcome the harmonic content and richness of an actual super high end tube amp "in the room sound" but once it is going through a mic and speakers, it is rather close to that, or at least close enough for the average player. I've used S-Gear as noted, it can get a polished sound potentially faster than tonex. But as you observed, an actual amp recording is not a pristine thing without a whole lot of work. I'm guessing you haven't done much capture work with Tonex if you are not sure it is like the real thing or not. After a capture you can literally A/B between the "live rig" setup of your amp and your mic through headpones and compare it with the tonex capture in real time. That said, if you don't like the results of your personal amp+mic results - you are going to get close to the exact same thing with a Tonex capture.

They both seek to emulate the sound and feel of guitar amplifiers (and effects) and therefore I'd put them in the exact same category. You can literally capture an S-gear rig with tonex and see just how close the two can be. I'd argue that Tonex sounds and feels more like the real thing (but that also comes at a warts and all approach). So you are looking for a polished final product sound, S-gear in many instances takes less time to get there. But add the Tonex pedal in the equation with the super low latency and that realistic feel becomes more apparent than in a software based rig in my experience (and yes, I have a very high spec computer)

Shocked this is still in business after the TONEX ecosystem was created and the fact that have had the core software down to like $35 before that allows unlimited Tonenet downloads. And let's you expand into a hardware version that has 1.2ms latency, good luck getting that with a computer and feeling like the world is stable

Deal and website is legitimate, sounds like you are dealing with a personal problem. Good luck.

I've got the $20 offer but really wish this was an included upgrade. The v1 is unusable to me because of the UI. I get that devs should be paid for their work, but the UI has been a problem since it was released and should have been upgraded many years ago.

As an "audio engineer" myself I certain appreciate the work involved in that, but it doesn't really speaks to ones actual musical abilities at a deep level. I know lots of well respected engineers that couldn't write a tune if their life depended on it. I'm not a huge Sting fan but he is a writing legend and I can't even imagine arguing against it. -Every Breath You Take -Message in A Bottle -Roxanne -Every Little Thing She does is Magic - Walking on the Moon - Fields of Gold _Englishman in New York - King of Pain -If you Love Somebody Set them Free -If I ever Lose My Faith In You - Shape of My Heart - Desert Rose - Wrapped Around Your Finger Each of those is wildly popular. He also has plenty of other 2nd tier hits - Fragile - Brand New Day -1000 Years -When we Dance -Seven Days

There is more than one left. Jagger, Gilmour, Waters, Fogherty, Sting, Simon, Plant, Bryne...the list is actually pretty long as all of these created massively popular music and many critical hits a piece. And most of them have probably created better music in the 21st century than Paul did to boot.

Let us know how it turns out. There is certainly some magic to finding the best properties of each and getting them to work together. I feel like I've never been satisfied with any single capture. (but even micing my own acoustic - I end up pairing warm sounding mics to get tone closer to what I want out of it than say putting a pretty neutral sounding mic like an AKG 414 on it. (though it has gotten better over the years - I think the all mahogany Taylors like the 514 are much better recording guitars). The 814ce Aura captures (that used the same pickup system as well) I can tell those should be a great match, the problem is more the fidelity of how they translated that to the Aura and then it gets turned into a traditional IR. I think if we had a true IR from that combo with my guitar it would in fact feel like a good representation of the instrument Mic'd.

I've used an Anthem as well (though not in my 814ce -it was in a 4Kish Martin and liked it). Getting the 1st big Aura helped prevent me from doing a similar swap years ago - though was never really fully content with it. But then IRs came along and made me glad I didn't swap it out because that Fishman Matrix system was probably the most universally used in "good" acoustics for the longest single system which makes it a bit of a standard for having IRs created with them. It is also far more reliable than say the ES system. Blending IRs was the first time I felt like I could trade a direct sound for a mic setup when conditions were not good enough for micing (or if I'm doing live looping where an actual mic is a nightmare). Using the blending and eq technique (plus the on board mic/live knob) really helps dial in a usable "direct" sound that is so elusive in the Acoustic guitar world. The number of master players I've heard play with terrible tone live using insanely expensive instruments (ala James A Olson guitars) is really something due to the historically failed technology.

My favorite IR so far is actually a custom blend that I made using different IRs, putting them in Melda's Convolution plugin, mixing and EQ to taste then exporting that IR. I would post it here, but I think at least one part of the "mix" IR was from a paid pack (will have to double check) I think one IR was from a Martin D28 https://www.acousticir.ovh/rubrique3.html Maybe this free one? Then combined with mixed and edited with an IR from this pack https://worshiptutorials.com/product/tlr-816-acoustic-ir-pack/ Not sure your practical experience with art of matching Acoustic IRs, but my suggestion is to look for an IR made with the same pickup system you have in your guitar as #1. Then #2 is a guitar similar to yours (from maker, shape, wood, etc) and lastly experiment with what you find as the starting point, then explore further. My Taylor has the old Fishman Maxtrix system in it. There are actually some Fishman Aura 814 IRs around (I also have an outboard Fishman Aura - but find I can get even better tone with the right IR). I'm not sure where I got them, but I think they were likely created using the Aura unit itself as they sound very similar to my actual physical unit using the same models. I've never loved the tone of the 814 guitar itself, but the playability is fantastic. The mix of the Martin D28 gives a warmer roundness to the tone, and then the 816 gives some of that Taylor clarity and cut. I do not think the 816 was captured with my same pickup system which is a shame. I would suggest grabbing the WT free pack to see pickup models they use work with your particular guitar: https://worshiptutorials.com/product/acoustic-ir-sample-pack/ Also explore free IRs here: https://www.acousticir.ovh/rubrique3.html 3 Sigma also has some good offerings though I wish they had a free sample to let people get a feel if their "universal pickup support" actually works for you: https://www.3sigmaaudio.com/acoustic-impulses/ I've also tried creating my own IRs using the pickup, guitar and melda plugins but haven't created one that I like on its own yet (always end up mixing it in with another IR - and using that mix to output a new IR.

Wouldn't say I've fully put it through the paces yet (I'm not like the youtubers that spend a hour with something and then create a video on it as though they are an expert), but will share a few of my initial thoughts. Obviously the source matters (the capture, ones guitar, etc so I expect a wide range of experiences using this cab) With the the right capture, I felt I could get really good clean tones both at bedroom and gig volume. As is always the case, really low bedroom volumes you won't feel the dynamics and tone the same way - but if you turn up the volume a bit - the things you hope for and expect are there. Comparing this side by side with a high end tube amp and grail speakers/cab with low/mid gain harmonic content going on. This is where a really high end tube amp is going to be quite a bit richer and more 3D sounding. Part of that has to do with the fact Tonex captures are going through a mic (either in the capture or the IR used), a recorded tone really dumbs down what your ears hear in the room with a wonderful tube amp and effectively that what we get with a TONEX + CAB rig is like that recorded tone. This isn't to say it can't sound quite good - it simply isn't going to sound like the best tube amps on the world playing through the best cab in the world when it comes to glorious harmonic content swirling around the speakers and in the room. I'm also comparing this to arguably the best amp ever made and captures I've done of that same amp. Someone with a normal tube amp is more inclined to say the two are favorable to each other. IR loader means you can use acoustic IRs and amplify your Acoustic. This setup is actually some of the best I've ever gotten my Taylor 814ce (fishman , not ES equipped) guitar to sound direct without a mic. This of course also is very dependent on having the right IR, guitar and pickup system match. The Mic - Live knob really helps push a mic captured IR to be more focused and punchy (in a good way) that tends to get lost in a PA rig. I put a feedback buster in the sound hole and turned it up go solid gig volume and liked what I was getting. Drastically better than the old piezo to PA days, this sounded like a miced guitar (but only using a Piezo and IR) One of my primary uses for this thing, which I've always struggled with, is using an amp for a "live looping" rig. Either electric or acoustic. I put an S-Drum, Jamman, TONEX with various captures in front of it. Putting an S-Drum through an actual guitar amp sounds terrible. of course I can hear the fidelity limitations of the JamMan but this is a solid rig for doing a small gig or just jam and practice at home. I'll eventually setup my real looping rig (using Melda's MLooper with high end fidelity and drum VSTs on top) but this gave me an idea of what an actual portable rig would do, and it met my expectations overall. As an electric guitar rig with TONEX out front without all the other tone sucking pedals it is certainly usable, as it should be given the $800 street price plus $400 TONEX. I think ones perception of it will how close they are hoping it replicates the amp/rig they captured. If someone is a clean player, honeslty I think this is an amazing rig given the size, weight, and over all sound quality. For higher gain stuff, it does allow much more freedom than an non master volume amp does (and all the truly best amps are non-MV due to the fact a MV creates compromises in a circuit. The Mic-Live control does make the whole FRFR capture based rig sound far more like an actual amp - even if it can never fully overcome the harmonics/mic capture limitations I mentioned before. I do wonder what would happen if we get some IRs in the future that can remove the mic coloration and represent what an in the room speaker sounds like and behaves....maybe that plus a direct capture gets us closer to the true live amp representation. The "high end" sound. This is going to depend on the capture, but some amps that can be painful in person with the top end when cranked - I'm pleased to report that with the right capture and IR - you can get a pleasing top end. It is loud enough that you can get ringing in your ears even with those pleasant tones. Noise level seems very low as long as you are giving it a good signal to noise ratio on the input. Because of my combination of needs - Electric guitar amp, Acoustic Guitar Amp, Live Looping - I have yet to play an amp that does all 3 as well as this unit does in a singular portable package. I do find it annoying that they didn't include headphone jack on it, so if you want to run your entire rig through it like I'm doing for live looping, you have to send that DI style output to an interface/mixer when then has headphones. A built in headphone out could have been an easy and not too costly addition. The construction seems adequate. It does not feel like a high end boutique amp build. (everything from the knobs, pots, switch, handle, cab materials and construction. I hope it lasts for decades like I expect an amp to. For people that need to switch amps + speaker types (i.e Fender clean to Marshall crunch to Vox Chime) but only have one single amp/speaker, I've yet to come across anything that can do it better. Those who only want the Marshall sound through a pre-rolla 30 greenback sound - well you might be better off with a power amp and a dedicated cab loaded with a pre-rolla 30 green back and use a real amp (or maybe even a Tonex DI capture). Due to the Tweeter + Woofer setup in this amp - micing it would be a major pain - but the good news is that the DI output can really replace that need.