bitflipper

I am. Their stuff is often pricier than the competition, but I really like the clean UIs and low CPU burden. But this post isn't a fanboy love letter to Blue Cat, but rather a call for comments from those who use any or all of the following plugins: Oscilloscope Multi FreqAnalyst Multi (not FreqAnalyst Pro) StereoScope Multi I know some of you picked these up when they went on sale back in June. I'd like to hear your opinions: what you like, what you don't like, how you use them, and whether they've proven valuable to you. Did you find them confusing or intuitive? Did you switch from a competitor, or perhaps abandoned them in favor of another competitor? Maybe you find these types of tools useless or more trouble than they're worth, or are content with CbB's built-in analysis tools. This is research in preparation for a review in next month's SoundBytes Magazine. Thanks in advance for your observations.

Start up Kontakt in standalone mode and see if it recognizes MIDI input the LPK25. If it does, then you probably just need to enable the keyboard in Cakewalk. If it doesn't, then verify that the keyboard is set to channel 1, and that the Kontakt instrument is also on channel 1. Both should be by default. If the channel is OK, then Windows isn't seeing the device. Try unplugging the USB cable and plugging it back in.

If your only concern is the display, you can set its power-down time separately. Go to system settings -> display -> power & sleep.

That's pretty vague, Tom. That's what you get for being a CIA assassin back in the 60's. btw, I'm hiding out not far from DeeringAmps.

Best joke you've ever posted, Craig. And you've submitted a great many over the years.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07P86584R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 A mere $47 on Amazon. You can, of course, spend a whole lot more than that. But I trusted the published specs, which claim to drive up to 500 ohms (most inexpensive amps say 150 max). The 500 mw spec, of course, means nothing - that's for a 32 ohm load. I plan to test the amp under load and see what it delivers into 300 ohms, but I'm guessing it's going to be around 50 mw. Which is actually plenty. I also didn't need a DAC, since I'm feeding it analog from my device. The $129 version includes a DAC, and can therefore take audio from your computer via USB.

I don't notice it at low levels, but surprisingly do hear an improvement at moderate levels. I haven't yet verified this by objective measurement, but to my ear it sounds like when you turn down the ratio on a compressor. I assume that when the output signal approaches the maximum dictated by the voltage rails, transistors are driven into nonlinearity. At moderate levels this could be subtle, not necessarily audible as distortion but rather a loss of clarity caused by the dampening of transients. A headphone amplifier should (if it's designed well) accommodate higher voltages than your phone or media player, and thus a greater swing before the transistors are pushed outside of their linear envelope. This, I suspect, is where anecdotes of increased clarity come from. BTW, I am also using HD650s.

I've always been skeptical about what a headphone amplifier could really do for fidelity. When not in the studio, I do my pleasure listening on a high-quality media player driving high-quality headphones, and it's always been pretty good. However, sometimes when listening on my highest-impedance (300 ohm) cans there'd be some discernible distortion if I turned it up too loud. So I took a chance and bought a well-reviewed portable amplifier, wondering if I'd just spent too much money on yet another soon-forgotten gadget. Fortunately, I didn't. Holy crap, these cans sound great now! At least, on well-recorded material that is - mediocre recordings still sound mediocre. Funny how that works.

Short answer: yes, you can. Minor downsides: - your projects will take a little longer to load - they won't load properly at all unless that external drive is connected - file organization will be a little less tidy - existing projects that reference Iris will have to be edited to reflect the new location

Oh, my, that IS remote. Be prepared - you will absolutely draw crowds there. You'll be tallest person on the island and the only one with hair on your face and arms. Having been in exactly that situation (being in a place where they've never seen a white person up close before) several times, here's a tip: take a bag of candy with you to hand out to the throngs of children that will look upon you like you're a rock star from Mars.

What? Sixty-somethings still playing music. And doing it well. Who knew such a thing was possible? It's almost as if experience makes you better at stuff. Oustanding cover!

Where is Supang? The Philippines is my second home, and I've traveled all over those islands, but haven't heard of Supang. Whether in the north or the south, November-April will let you sample every weather variation that country offers. Well, there are only two: wet and dry. Both hot. But in November you might get lucky and experience a typhoon.

Truth is, the audience hardly ever notices. A friend from a past band had this advice: if you make a mistake, immediately repeat it and call it jazz.

Um, that's 'cause you are old, my friend. Same kid, couple years and a Pearl endorsement later...

? Ever notice how the guy who needs a van the most - the drummer - always squeezes his kit into a Toyota?

In every previous band, I've served as bandleader. I provided the van, lights and PA, called rehearsals, picked material, created arrangements, made up set lists, made posters, interfaced with agents, signed the contracts, cashed the checks, sang lead on 60-70% of the songs. I never took any extra pay for those duties and made it clear that off-stage everyone had an equal say in everything. I enforced the band policies we'd all agreed upon: no alcohol on stage, no girlfriends at rehearsals, no Elvis impersonations. I just don't have the energy or ambition to do all that stuff anymore.

You'd think that in a band of over-50s there'd be no infighting, bickering, power struggles and out-of-control egos. Turns out, maturity just seems to be especially elusive among musicians. Time to fire up Cakewalk again. Superior Drummer will never refuse to play a song it doesn't like, complain about not getting the respect it's entitled to, nor criticize Trillian for not playing in the pocket. Kontakt won't mind if its only duty is a tambourine part, won't insist that its talents are wasted unless it's the focus of the song. All of the vocalists (me, me and me) will know the frickin' words, know their frickin' place in the mix and know better than to demand more reverb. Of course, I'll still be rehearsing with my new band on Sunday...

99% of the time, freeze the synth. Simpler, easier and more easily un-doable. If you find that there's some compelling reason to have a separate audio track (and there are legitimate reasons for doing so), just insert a new audio track and click-drag the frozen track down to it. Of course, this only works for single instances; if you want to combine two or more synths or create a stem submix, then you'll have to bounce. Otherwise, freeze.

So how, exactly, does being part of a massive conspiracy work? Do you get, like, annual hush payments or just periodic death threats? Are there meetings and secret handshakes? Of course, we know you can't answer these questions, so don't bother.

Yes, I have seen that on at least three occasions I can recall. Once it was a defective power supply. Once it was dust-clogged fans. The third time it was defective capacitors on the motherboard (if anyone remembers the Dell fake-cap episode some years ago). So yup, it's hardware. First step: open your computer and give it a thorough cleaning, especially the power supply and CPU fans.

Too bad you had to mortgage your home and sell a kidney to pay for it all...oh, wait, you don't live in my country. Enjoy your mobility!

I hear ya, Craig. That's why I work at home and never leave the house.

Don't let it put you off coming back to Seattle. Worst case scenario: you get to witness the Big One, have stories to tell back home - where your house is still standing.