bitflipper

Oops, that screenshot is for a different plugin. The "True Mid-Side Extractor" does not have all those controls. Here's the one we're talking about: With "Adjustable" as the selected output, this plugin pretty much acts like a normal M/S gain effect like MSED (free from Voxengo). If you turn the knob all the way to the left, the result can be comical. I tried it on a full mix that had a stereo organ track. The Leslie effect was turned into a weird bubbling noise, since all I heard was when the sound went fully to the side, while the panning transition through the center was quashed. With "Middle/Center" selected, it does the same thing as Cakewalk's Channel Tools plugin if you center the L and R sliders. Basically a stereo-to-mono effect. "Stereo Sides" works like MSED when you turn the Side up or the Mid down, emphasizing the harder-panned components. "Left Side" and "Right Side" are exactly that. Eliminates the opposite side. Still looking for a practical use case. At this point that would seem to be as a M/S widener, but I can already do that with Channel Tools or MSED.

Maybe opening a hole within a stereo synth pad to make room for vocals? Obviously, it depends on your definition of Right, Left and Center. Looking at the screenshots on their page show that these are all user-definable. They definitely make a better case there than what's in the KVR product description. On their own product page, they advertise it as a width maximizer. Sounds like you'd use it to emphasize the Side content - which is exactly what you do with a M/S-aware EQ or compressor, except with the added ability to treat Left and Right independently. These pictures make it more clear what the plugin does.

I've already got multiple ways to do this, but I picked it up anyway. For 17 bucks, it's a - I refuse to use "no-brainer" because I like to think my brain is always engaged, even for easy decisions. Let's just call it a good value. But please, everyone, don't over-use it. Not every vocal needs to sound like a Disney princess theme.

WTF. I had to read that explanation twice to figure out wth they're talking about. First, they give the actual literal definition of M/S and then proceed to tell you that it's all wrong by giving a misleading explanation of how M/S processing works and what it's for. And then arrogantly designate their interpretation as "True" Mid/Side. The good news is it's not complete bs. You just have to read between the lines. What they call "True" Mid/Side is just a way to make left, center and right content available as separate streams. I'm not sure at this point why I'd want to do that, but it legitimately is a new way of looking at stereophonic processing. I take issue only with confusing it with what they call "traditional" M/S processing, because that's what M/S processing is. Of course, they use the same technique internally to determine the common content that M/S encoding does, but this is in no way a replacement for M/S encoding/decoding. I'd be curious to hear anyone's hypotheses as to potential applications for this plugin. Separating voices in a spoken interview recorded with a stereo microphone in the same room, perhaps?

Good tip! I found a bunch (800MB) in \program files (x86)\common files\avid\plug-ins. Didn't think to look there. Not sure which of those were due to my own inattentiveness and which were due to lazy installers. Almost every vendor in there was a reputable source: Spitfire, iZotope and even Cakewalk. And, of course, AAS. My mistake was doing a global search for *.aax. 32-bit versions have an extension of .aaxplugin. When I went to root and typed "dir *.aax* /s" I found a bunch more.

Just listened to your recording. That's the sound Windows makes when it senses a USB device being plugged in or unplugged, or switching from external power to USB power. Maybe something's only partly plugged in, or a bad USB cable?

You could try running Task Manager off to the side, or on a second monitor if you have one, and potentially catch the culprit in the act if you notice a jump in CPU whenever the beep sounds. Or you might get lucky and spot a process called AnnoyingBeep.exe.

When I worked for corporate masters, no new feature was allowed unless you could first prove that it would increase sales. That's one reason I respect the Cakewalk model. Sometimes cool stuff just appears and I don't remember anybody demanding it.

Weird indeed. Some had no problem while others, like me, just gave up after multiple attempts. I might just give it another go, just for grins.

It's been a while since I've attempted to get Dim Pro going, but when I say "every trick in the book" I'm pretty sure that included a complete uninstall and re-install. What eventually worked was something very obscure that only someone with access to DP internals would have come up with. Wish I'd made notes at the time. I'm usually a compulsive note-taker, but didn't think I'd need to do that again, i.e. didn't anticipate my computer being stolen and having to rebuild everything from scratch. It's no big deal. Once upon a time, Dim Pro was a go-to instrument. But that was 1.5 terabytes of Kontakt libraries ago.

As a former programmer, you are probably aware that in most companies installers are a last-minute consideration, and typically assigned to the most junior developers. But I certainly understand your disdain for lazy programmers. I think about it every time I open my microwave and the "READY" beeps just keep on going, ignoring the fact that I've already responded and have removed my food. Meanwhile, my 40-year-old microwave that I keep in the garage to warm my coffee knows to stop beeping as soon as I open the door.

I haven't been able to authorize Dim Pro in years. Believe me, I've tried every trick in the book. Last time I was successful was around 2008, after a Cakewalk employee (who no longer works there) gave me an obscure workaround, but I've forgotten what his trick was. I just keep hoping someday they'll dust off the source code, get rid of that arcane authorization scheme and start selling it again. It's a great product.

Two different questions. When exporting a track at 32 bits, you're just copying it unaltered from its internal format. So if you're sending a file to someone to incorporate into a mix, it makes sense to send them 32-bit files. However, no one would actually notice if you sent them 24-bit files instead, as that's still plenty to push the noise level way below audibility. So there technically is an advantage, but it's extremely small. Note that converting to a higher bit depth (e.g. your project is at 24 bits and you import a 16-bit file) just means adding some zeroes to the data. Doesn't actually change anything. Cakewalk uses 32 bits (or 64 bits if you're concerned about not using all the memory you bought) for one reason: to preserve accuracy when performing multiplication on the data within the DAW (which just about everything does, from setting faders to adding reverb to inserting an EQ).

Newegg has been receiving a lot of flak lately for not vetting garbage products from China, such as thumb drives and SSDs that don't meet their advertised specs or are outright counterfeits. And then blaming the customer and denying a refund when the faulty device is returned. I will not buy anything from Newegg anymore.

Just the Northern Hemisphere, afaik. The wacky jet stream itself is therefore not a "global" phenomenon. It is, however, caused by warming oceans, which is global. There will be areas that are less affected than others, of course. But everyone will be impacted eventually, as more of the planet becomes unsuitable for agriculture or , in some cases, human habitation. The good news is that you and I will probably be dead before then. With any luck.

Thanks for clarifying, Ed, on behalf of the slower readers.

Ironic, isn't it, that you're still forced to install copy-protection software for a freebie? Maybe to quash the secondary market.

Local pot shops usually have specials on 4/20. Coincidentally, I 'm scheduled for a tooth extraction that day.

The point of Kenny's post is that it doesn't snow much in his area, even during the coldest months of winter, so snow in April is indeed a very rare occurrence. I'm a few hours north of there, and even though we're farther north than notoriously snowy places such as Chicago and Buffalo, the jet stream usually protects us. That's what's spooky about the changes going on now - the jet stream has become unstable. That's why you can have devastating winter weather in normally-moderate Texas, oranges freezing on the trees in Florida, and snow in April in the Pacific Northwest. Those things happen when the jet stream deviates from its normal patterns. So yes, while it may be counter-intuitive to blame unseasonably cold weather on global warming, that is indeed the case. I struggle every year deciding whether or not to buy a snow shovel. My personal theory is that as soon as I buy a snow shovel, it will never snow here again. Just like the time I bought an air conditioner in July 1979 during a hot streak and never used it again. Left it behind when I moved. Then July 2021 happened. In an area where 90 degrees F is considered a crazy hot day, it hit 115 here. Time to buy another A/C, I think, for the good of all.

You're injecting a substance that makes nerves grow. Now, wouldn't it be cool if the treatment was somehow too good, like those fertility drugs that make women have septuplets, and the ear treatment left you with superpowers, like being able to hear bats and dolphins? We'd have to start mixing at 384KHz because we'd miss those upper upper highs in the crash cymbal tail. Not to mention having to buy some of those previously-ridiculed speakers with their 30KHz supertweeters, and expensive 40KHz Earthworks microphones to capture those frequencies. Or, it could go the other way and we'd be kept up at night by the sound of whales singing and distant earthquakes.

Look at the bright side. You're close to Mexico. Which is where you'll have to go for the treatment since here it'll be $100,000 and your insurance won't cover it.

Some smart fellows at MIT are testing a drug that encourages the regrowth of cochlear cilia, the little nerve endings in your inner ear that sense sound. They tend to die off when abused by loud sounds, and don't naturally regenerate. It starts with the ones near the front that react to high frequencies. We all know about that. It used to be called "age-related hearing loss", but we now know that it's not caused by aging, but by long-term exposure to this noisy world. If you are in the Boston area, they are seeking volunteers for the next trial (link to apply in the article). https://scitechdaily.com/mit-scientists-develop-new-regenerative-drug-that-reverses-hearing-loss/

I had Spamsilog for breakfast this morning. Filipinos will know what that is, even if over there it's considered a fancy breakfast, something you'd order at a restaurant.

That wouldn't be a bad deal if musicians got paid as much as movers. There was a bar manager who complained that we charged $50 more than the next most-expensive band. I think we were splitting $350 that night. I told him, "tell you what...if you can get a plumber who charges less for three hours' work, we'll take whatever you'd give him instead."

In actual practice, aliasing is hard to hear. SPAN can show it to you, but if the aliased frequencies are more than about 50 dB below the main signal, you won't be able to pick them out. You may, however, experience a vague dissatisfaction with how a track or mix sounds but not be able to put your finger on why. That's why it's a good idea to Understand what causes aliasing *, Know which types of processors are capable of causing aliasing** and Which ones don't*** Visually check for it with a spectrum analyzer **** * Aliasing happens when frequencies are introduced that are beyond the capability of your project sample rate to handle. Those frequencies can be generated by a digital oscillator or by harmonic distortion. I know of no other circumstance. ** Anything that clips the signal is a candidate for aliasing. Hard clippers are the worst, followed by compression with extremely fast (< ~8ms, but frequency-dependent) attack times and high compression ratios. Anything that generates tones (e.g. a synth) that can exceed the Nyquist frequency can cause aliasing. Note that most synths mitigate this internally and won't require oversampling, but there are exceptions. *** Most effects don't alias. No sample library made at or below your project sample rate is capable of aliasing on its own. Gentle compression with low ratios and medium-to-long attack times won't, either. Transparent EQs don't cause aliasing, even at extreme settings. As noted above, most synths don't have an issue. Even if they do, it'll be on specific patches that have a lot of high-frequency content, such as the Clav example Craig suggested. **** Note that just because you can see aliasing with a spectrum analyzer doesn't mean you can hear it. I've read some ridiculous threads on Gearslutz where people endlessly debated whether a plugin with aliasing at -160 dB is inferior to one whose aliased content is at -190 dB. It's angels dancing on the head of a pin.