Brian Walton

Hope everything turned out ok. Glad to have you back, you were sorely missed!

Certainly one of the best on the market. I wish it had a binson and also the ability to have some of the settings cross mode type...i.e. ducking not tied to the BBD. Boz Imperial is another good all around one and can be had for $30 or less periodically.

Make sure it is the more recent update. It should have 2 sliders. The previous version only had 1 slider and created a massive bass boost. The new one is controllable for the "head bump"

Doesn't have near the same level of controls, but the newest version of Airwindows Tape sounds really good and is light on CPU http://www.airwindows.com/tape-redux/ A fine one to add to the tool box anyway.

Honestly a lot of it depends on the workflow. Something like the 737 works as the preamp to make the capture itself sound good. If you can get the recording into the daw (the capture) that sounds really good. Then high caliber plugins can do wonders. The other question is are the results noticably different on the end user playback equipment where the product is consumed. It is one thing for us to enjoy it in our treated studio with audiophile grade monitors. Most of my friends, including musicians don't consume other peoples recordings in that environment. It is fun to notice the differences, but at the end of the day, the vast majority only care if the music itself moves them. Even $300 headphones played with a phone pre-amp I can't tell what compressor or eq was used on an individual track in a busy mix, and people pay me to record audio.

I like how this things sounds, I wonder if they will continue to work on it to improve the efficiency. Fairly resourse hungry for saturation.

You already have better tools than even some pros have. My suggestion is don't spend any more money and learn the tools you have.

For that first upgrade I'd have to image it is difficult to beat iZotope, but the next version path, I'd agree could be more friendly. I haven't seen anything about a current sale, and would imagine I'd hold off as something much better would be around the corner. All are best of the best. Izotope is all over just about every hundred + million dollar film production, that actually sees audio played back at better than CD quality sound. They are good enough for literally any production. And it is a case of tools you know how to use....and with iZotope, I think they did a great job of helping bridge that gap with the AI and tool set they offer. Fab-Filter you are dependent on the skill you bring to the tools. iZotope gives you both worlds. Fab Filter is only going to provide some "better" result in the right hands, no different than two guitars that came off the handbuilt production line back to back. Both instruments any pro could use, one might be technically slightly better, the audience will never know - and the guitar player other than doing a side by side outside of the context of the band blasting isn't even going to tell the difference either. Picking between Izotope's advance and FabFilter are some real first world problems. Both are 100% good enough for anyone.

I'd tend to suggest the opposite. All the plugins from both are best of the best. But the assistant fuctions in Izotope (with the cross track workflows) of Izotope seems like it provides a whole lot of value to the individual doing the mixing. And having Izotope Ozone and Neutron advanced certianly negates the need for anything in the FabFilter Mastering Bundle, IMO. That said, honesly how many people actually need something better than Izotope Standard? I'd argue not many and would take a closer look at if it is a better idea to just keep the money that could have been spent in this rather expensive upgrade situation. I view Fabfilter Mastering Bundle as highly redundent (thoiugh pretty and shiny) to Neutron and Ozone standard.

I'm sure this sounds fantastic as all the T-Racks suite seems to. That said, too expensive given other option s on the market.

I'm actually not a fan , but they could have recorded on any medium and done well becuase frankly the tunes and melodies hold up and are very memorable. (i.e. talent) There have been plenty of reports of the poplulatiry they had even in non- English speaking 3rd world countries, that had no knowledge of them other than a cassette tape that was donated (i.e. a format that has nothing to do with physical apperence).

Just used them as an example as everyone knows them and were in the 4-track days. Real point being basically every daw these days provides tools to record and manipulate sound (and use midi for those that are not recording traditional audio). Anyone with talent can create quality music with any of them (including entry level apps like Garage band). Some DAWs do have tools that help those with less talent make something passable (Chord track tools, comes to mind). But with Apps like Scaler, the DAW itself then again becomes irrelevant, since it can be used with any of them.

The Beatles recorded some of the most popular songs of all time on a 4-track tape machine. The DAW one chooses is irrelevant.

Even the "current" state preview in the OP you posted 3 months ago today, looks better than dare I say, most themes that have been released. I'm sure you have have also made other refinements since then as well. Any chance you would just post the current draft version? Just as you have updated (and changed) your Boston Flowers Theme over time, I'm not sure I understand why this would be any different here. It isn't like a theme would break the interface or usability of the application itself. I'm sure there are those that would take the work you have done and then tweak little parts of it to fit their own needs irrespective of if a finnished state is released or not. That is kind of the beauty of Themes. Based on the OP preview, I think a lot of people are going to like and use it in what ever state you release it in. In celebration of the 2 year s of Bandlab ownership - that was now 5 months ago.

I have both. Only recenlty picked up InstaScale thanks to the cross grade they were doing for about $10 for InstaChord owners (deal is over). Haven't really used InstaScale much yet, but the interval approach to InstaScale is much different than the interface and workflow of Scaler 2. (IMO)

Scaler 2 is supposed to have a future update that will add more "guitar" functions to it, don't know the details. Video does help get more out of it, but honestly the bass and lead stuff he talks about can also be done in Scaler and honesty in a more straightforward way (in my mind) The way you can switch strumming styles between chord changes or repetitions is really the only value add I see in Instachord. However the plugin does cost a lot less, and with that makes it a good starting program in this space. I personally think they should rework the interface...it does have some good features and functions.

Thankfully picking up Auditory's Tube Modulator for $10 recently curbs any gas I would have had for this one.

+1 own it but don't really use it. Designed to work better with larger keyboards - and two hands Scaler 2 just makes a lot more sense to me for similar stuff. But for $10, it does come with quite a few chord progression ideas.

This is an old video series about Sonar (before it became cakewalk by bandlab) that being said this series of 50 videos cover s a ton and the vast majority are basically teh same as current release (or at least provide a guide) Very first video is audio interface setup

The terms and conditions on the trial of Imprint state it is only a license for one single machine. This is unusual as my other WA Productions purchases do not have this limitation in practice. Any chance you can confirm /deny if this is actually the case? Anwered my own question, does install on 2 machines.

Aware Reaper is efficient - but really don't bond with it. There are tons of other EQs and Compressor on the market that sound "good enogh" and don't have the CPU hit. My workflow includes a lot more than EQ in my projects though.

They make cool stuff....but until they make more efficient coding, the only real market for the products are for Mastering or pros/hobbiests with really powerful machines and disposable income.

Sorry don't think that is the case here. Many of us begged Larry to move to the Cakewalk by Bandlab forum when the Sonar one was shutting down, we knew his involvement here is key to value and success of the forum.

Even at 75% off, I'd pass. It doesn't sound like you are sold on it either.