bitflipper

I am headed there in two weeks. Will pack some surgical masks...assuming the airport is still open and we don't get stuck in Seoul.

Same here. I ignored the band for decades. I thought of them as something the kids listen to. What little I had heard on the radio (e.g. Tom Sawyer) I found grating. What brought me around was a documentary about them called Beyond the Lighted Stage (which might still be on Netflix). I had no interest in seeing where they went to grade school, but the film featured some music segments that impressed me. So I came here to the Coffee House and asked around. Which of the 20-some albums were the must-haves? I ended up buying 6 of them, and love them. Especially Snakes and Arrows, which Rush fans always list among their least-favorites. Neil inspired more than one generation of drummers. And good as he was, they guy continued to take drum lessons. He made a series of video tutorials on drumming, which I found helpful even though I'm not a drummer. They helped me fake sampled drums better. Rolling Stone magazine named Neil the worst rock lyricist in the world. I guess we know now why Rolling Stone is no longer relevant. He was a great lyricist.

The good news is that it probably hasn't anything to do with the upgrade. "Static" is often used for many meanings, so it's not a particularly helpful description. Do you hear garbled playback, or a steady hiss? Are you using WASAPI or ASIO, and what are your buffer sizes?

Here's the bit you're missing: create a tempo map after the fact. Then you can then edit tempo changes if you like. Speed sections up or slow them down, change the entire song tempo, smooth transitions, whatever you want. Designate one track as the tempo master, since multiple tracks recorded freehand may not be in sync.

I was skeptical. After all, big-attack bass tones are bread-and-butter to anyone able to program and layer synthesizers. But after listening to the demos I have to concede that some users will find enough value in there to justify the $44 price.

I'm still waiting to come across that irresistible product that requires an iLok and thus prompts me to get one. Haven't found one yet. What was it for you?

The version of Cakewalk is probably not relevant, as it's not the DAW's job to discover audio devices; that's Windows' responsibility. If the DAW can't see the device, it's because Windows cannot see it. Actually, Windows doesn't look for devices but rather for device drivers. Your problem is therefore most likely a driver issue -- unless it's faulty hardware, anyway. Has this interface been used successfully on this machine in the past? If you can use it to listen to music or watch movies on this computer, then you can assume that the hardware and USB port are functioning properly. (Note that I am assuming you use this audio interface for all audio, not just with Cakewalk.) If you've never used this interface with this computer before, then I'd suggest going to the manufacturer's website and downloading its ASIO driver. (Re-)installing the driver may solve your problem.

If your project hangs every time, the folks at CW would be able to tell you why if they had a copy of it. Unfortunately, most hangs are nearly impossible to diagnose unless they can be reproduced consistently. Most are intermittent. If the project came up OK in SPlat, it could well have been purely coincidental. Most end up being hardware- or driver-related or the result of software conflicts and are rarely directly caused by the DAW itself. That said, a couple days ago I experienced my first hang in many years. I did not report it because I had no idea what I'd done to trigger it. But it was definitely a hang and not just a slow process - I let it run overnight to be sure, fearing a corrupt project if I forced-closed the application. Fortunately, the project was not corrupted and loaded up fine the next day.

Take if from me: once you've gone Asian, there's no going back.

Been watching music videos all morning...this one was particularly hypnotic. What a unique combination of musicianship, athleticism and dance. Makes me want to pull up that taiko library and do something creative with it.

I really like the sound of the bass trombone. Add in 8 tubas and some euphonia (I think that's the plural of euphonium) and you've got Epic...

It was started by a bass player. He just wanted to convince his bandmates that this was how the instrument was supposed to sound. It has to be, because the guy at the music store tuned it for him when he bought it three years ago.

I don't drink. Or eat grapefruit. Both make me ill. No cannabis for me, either. At least, not today. As it was I ate so much I thought I'd burst. Had the munchies also been factored in, I would surely have eaten myself to death. Like the final scene in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

It's not a bug, it's a feature! Really. Some Kontakt instruments use the mod wheel to control volume, especially orchestral libraries but many others do it as well. That often confuses users when they first try out such a library. It even bites me now and then, even though after 15 years as a Kontakt user I should know by now that CC #1 is the first thing to check, right after verifying the MIDI and audio routing. The easiest way to insert a CC1 event is via the controller pane in the PRV. I'd recommend that method because now that you know what CC1 does for this instrument, the next step is to use it in the way it was meant to be used, and to start adding in some CC automation. It's fun, and it's how you make a faux instrument sound more realistic.

I prefer to have one master and multiple sub-busses, which achieves the same result. It's useful any time you want to apply an effect or automation to a subset of the full mix, such as running all instruments through a flanger for an Itchykoo Park type effect. Or to fade out some elements and not others. But to answer the question, your technique is perfectly legit and there is no real downside to it other than lacking a true "master" bus (for example, where will your mastering limiter go?).

I'm a fan of Rick Beato and Adam Neely's instructional videos. Adam is a gigging gun-for-hire and Rick is a longtime producer, so both are able to spice up dry theory with real-world experience. Here's an example...

They are similar and both sound great. The Sonuscore product is more sophisticated. It has more articulations, lots of presets plus some surprisingly useful arpeggiators. I'd suggest going with that one if you're really into orchestration. But if all you want are simple backing tracks for pop and rock tunes, ASO gets you there very quickly.

$119 through the 31st. This is a really good general-purpose orchestral library for those who are more casual orchestrators (no exotic articulations, just the basics). Even though I have big full-featured string and orchestral libraries, this one has become my go-to for easy pop string backgrounds and such. The strings sound very nice (both solo and ensemble), but it also has decent brass, percussion and woodwinds. Even has your basic aah choir. An affordable alternative to the big libraries.

Anything helpful in the scan log? (Preferences -> VST Settings -> Generate Scan Log). Also make sure sandboxing is enabled (the checkbox immediately above Generate Scan Log). Hidden dialogs can be sneaky; Alt-TAB or Task Manager can sometimes reveal them when they're being especially devious.

This is it in a nutshell. Look around at the people you know or come into contact with regularly. How many of them would break your window and rip the TV off your wall? Probably very few, if any. Those that do are an aberration, a statistical anomaly. Which is what makes them newsworthy. Unfortunately, even a small number of miscreants can make a lot of trouble. Police say that arresting just one burglar will often result in a noticeable drop in local crime statistics. This Christmas, when burglaries historically go up, instead of leaving cookies for Santa, leave a syringe with a lethal dose of heroin on the kitchen counter. They get what they want and we depopulate the criminal community, it's win-win.

Interoptability challenges can be a nightmare for developers, including the legions of folks who make Windows itself. And it's been that way for as long as I've been in the business, a span that predates not only VSTs and DAWs but even Windows, TCP/IP and the World Wide Web. We take it for granted that you can watch Netflix on your phone or embed a picture of your cat in an email, but most users are unaware of the years of late night hair-pulling sessions and negotiations that ultimately birthed such technological miracles. A great many musicians and DAW users are also software creators. You'll find the makings of a band in any office full of coders (as evidenced by Mr. Borthwick, who is himself a great picker). Consequently, many Cakewalk users and forum participants are also propellerheads, geeks and bit-flippers. And across that particular subset of CbB users you will find unanimous respect for Cakewalk, its processes, and its dedication to quality. That should say something to the less-informed masses who continually whine about the most trivial bumps in the road. But sadly, it doesn't seem to.

He just shaved his head.

Same experience here, even though I did have serial numbers and receipts for at least two of the four items I spotted at the Lynnwood, WA Guitar Center. I naively thought they'd just hand them over. Nope. I asked the store manager if I could review their security footage, since they'd bought those items from the thieves and there are cameras above every register. They said sorry, they couldn't allow that because it's a privacy issue. They were worried about thieves' privacy! The local cops refused to even talk to me, since the store was not in the same city where the theft had taken place. Like fencing stolen property isn't a crime, too. Yeh. Useless.

An often-overlooked gem, I forget sometimes that I even have it. If you aren't familiar, GlissEQ is like a dynamic equalizer, but has its own internal logic that makes it sound different from all the other dynamic EQs I have. Even if you don't use the dynamics part, it's a great all-round EQ with one outstanding feature: the ability to show multiple tracks' spectra within its GUI. Great for complementary EQ.

I've done that. Carrying too many things under my arm at once, I dropped the drive on the pavement and it was toast. Couldn't even access it to run any diagnostics. It just sat there making clicking noises. When I replaced that drive, I also bought a sturdy carrying case and attached a lanyard so that whenever I'm over encumbered I can hang it around my neck. It was easier in the days when I just kept the backup drive connected to the computer all the time. Of course, that didn't work out too well, as it was stolen along with my computer. So now I keep the backup drive in the house or car. In a padded hardshell case. I also back up my most critical files on a laptop. But rather than trying to figure out which files are worthy of regular backups, I just got a big enough drive to hold the entire contents of all my hard drives - and let Acronis worry about what needs to be backed up. And yes, I do make a habit of compacting libraries, although I've been slacking off on that lately. As a consequence, my 1 TB sample drive is now 98% full. Thanks for reminding me.