bitflipper

Speaking of console emulators, Dan Worrall recently posted this excellent musing. Also ties in with the Plugin Doctor thread.

Well, they got me. Again. All I can say in my defense is that it was late at night and my nightly sleep aid was already in full effect. I also ordered two pillow cases from Amazon and a Terry Pratchet book from the Kindle store.

Cheese Louise, that's more basses than I have, and all of mine are virtual.

Pretty sure that was a false-positive from Kaspersky. Not the first time a software installer has been flagged for that same supposed trojan. [EDIT: I was wrong about that. See Matthew's post below]

If the mics are too far away from the drum heads, or are the wrong kind of mics, that can result in that hollow sound even if their polarities are correct. The idea is to have each of them pick up as little as possible of what the other one hears. It's that overlap that causes comb filtering. It's one of the reasons the Shure SM-57 is popular for snares - they're pretty dead off-axis, which is good. They are also small enough to get pretty close to the drum heads, and durable enough that they won't be damaged by a wild drumstick. As for which one to invert, most will invert the bottom mic. That's because the top mic will pick up more of the other drums and you don't want phase cancellation between it and your tom-toms, so it needs to have the same polarity as the tom mics. But if you're careful where you place them, you won't need to worry about it because the tom (and hat) mics will be behind the snare mic, in its dead zone.

Honestly, it was over three years ago and I can't be absolutely certain, but I think one of them was the BBE Sonic Maximizer. I don't think I bought it, since even though I wasn't sure exactly what it did I was already pretty sure it was snake oil. It is. I found it illuminating on a range of effects, including compression but mostly for distortion plugins, from amp sims to exciters to console emulators. Some of those do far less than their marketing material would suggest. Some do more, e.g. add aliasing. For EQs, it can show you the real spectral curve so you can tell if the plugin's own display is accurate (FabFilter Q3 and iZotope Ozone, for example, are spot-on), or reveal what EQs are doing that don't have a spectral display. In the latter case, there are some filters and "enhancers" out there that simply don't want you to know what they're doing because you'd be disappointed if you knew.

First, congratulations on choosing to do something productive with your pandemic time. Wish I could say I did as well. But also a warning: once this hobby sinks its hooks into you there won't be enough hours in the rest of your life to fully explore it. No, I'm not talking about you being a geezer of 63. I'm 70 and have been doing this since I was 15, and there's no apparent end in sight when it comes to learning about this stuff. I'd focus on the basics first. It's easy to get hoodwinked by marketers who love to convince you that the only thing standing between you and your certain Grammy is the lack of whatever it is they're selling. Don't buy stuff just because somebody here tells you to, including me. At this point you have a computer and some excellent software and that's technically all you need to get rolling. Think of your keyboard not as an instrument, but a data-entry device for recording MIDI. Software synthesizers and samplers can do a much better job of making sounds, and you've already got a few of them that came with Cakewalk. There are many free third-party virtual instruments to build up your arsenal of sounds. Explore these thoroughly before investing any money - unless you're very wealthy, in which case everyone here will be happy to help you spend your fortune. The first limitation you'll run into is your cheap (your adjective) microphone going into a generic audio interface. Unfortunately, these two things need to be upgraded together, because a better microphone will have an XLR connector and won't be compatible with the little microphone jack on your computer without adding a transformer/adapter. An even better mic will likely require phantom power, which your interface probably doesn't support. We can recommend some inexpensive outboard interfaces, but first you need to decide how many microphones you'll be using at once, as that will be one of the main determinators of price. A good starter microphone would be a Shure SM-58. Those go for $99 and are extremely versatile. Every professional studio has a locker full of them. But lack of those things shouldn't stop you from getting creative and having fun right away.

Somehow this simple trick never occurred to me before seeing it demonstrated by this guy, Marc Jovani. His other tutorials are worth a look if you're a fan of educators such as Christian Henson who inspire by making orchestration look easy. Yes, the method described below works in Cakewalk. Use the Transform tool in the PRV. I'll probably continue to do it the old-fashioned way most of the time, tweaking individual notes that are too strident or too quiet, but this technique will be useful for those quick 'n dirty parts that aren't featured melodies.

Sums it up. What plugins you use will have a far greater impact on CPU performance than the host. 200+ tracks of audio with basic processing (EQ, compression, reverb) will have no issues, while 16 tracks of unfrozen resource-hungry VIs can grind everything to a halt. You can't escape the need for resource management, regardless of platform. IOW, any of us here can bring any system to its knees if we try. I, for one, try on a daily basis.

I use this tool on a regular basis, to better understand what a plugin is actually doing under the hood. Here's my nerdy review of version 1.0 from back in 2018.

I've destroyed a few cones over the years. I'm philosophical about it. It's an excuse to upgrade. At least a blown speaker gets to go out in a blaze of glory. Not like an amp emitting smoke during a gig. That's unpleasant. As an experienced electronics technician, I can tell you that all electronics are powered by magic smoke. It is injected in the final phase of manufacture. I know this because if the magic smoke ever escapes, the device ceases to work. If you don't believe it, try drilling into your CPU and see what happens.

Grammar Police just stopping by for a "wellness check"...I think you meant to say "this will arrive". Unless, of course, it's walking to your house of its own volition. OTOH, it could be just the gear-envy talking. The last thing I looked forward to arriving was an XLR cable. To be fair, it was a 50-footer.

Yeh, that's it. Authentic vintage blues tones like they did in the golden age of screwdriver speaker mods. Maybe after it's been replaced I'll put it up on Craigslist. What do you think? A hundred bucks?

A dose of reality. This is what my grandson's cat did to my home theater JBLs yesterday. She'd been using the grill to climb on, the grill popped off and she probably fell, got angry and took it out on the driver. I don't blame the cat, and am proud of my grandson for immediately stepping up and ordering a replacement speaker. Which wasn't cheap.

The post count algorithm has been updated with the forum software's new AI plugin. Now, the number is incremented not by one, but rather by a value commensurate with the post's informational content. It can even go negative if, for example, reading a post causes the reader's overall mental performance to be reduced. In particular, each grade school-level grammar or punctuation mistake drops the value by 0.1. Phrases such as "ta very muchly" are tolerated, under a special exemption for regional dialects, along with "ya great 'airy yob" and spelling "fries" as c-h-i-p-s. Unless you speak Brummie (see Ozzy Osbourne) or Mississippi quasi-English, neither of which can be understood by anyone anyway.

I'd suggest one or two high-quality multi-pattern condenser microphones if Barbershop is your main thing. Much of the texture of vocal ensembles comes from the mixing of voices, in much the same way that double-tracking fattens rock vocals. Separation isn't a concern. In fact, you'll get better results without it. Look at photos of the Beach Boys in the studio, or the Beatles performing Because - one mic. In terms of cost, two decent condensers won't be a whole lot more than four 58s. And they'll sound a lot better on your uke.

Ah, that makes more sense. I'll wait for a sale on the full package. This one's a bit limited, basically a set of curated arpeggiations with pretty good but fixed-sounding ensembles. The lack of mic positions is going to make it harder to blend in with other orchestral libraries such as solo instruments. I also don't see a way to route different sections to separate outputs, so all mixing has to be done within the instrument. I guess Spitfire has just spoiled me.

Lovely! The guitars sound great. Good move backing off the reverb; makes the performance sound more close-up and personal. My only suggestion would be to flesh out the drum track a bit. It sounds very nice but repetitive, drum-machiney (if that's a word). Some accents, ghost notes, ride bell hits, maybe some hand percussion (e.g. shakers, bongos, congas) could dress it up without too much effort. (Check out Skaka for quick and dirty shakers.)

It was $399 when initially released, so $99 is still a deal. This product isn't just for beginners. It's also perfect for lazy people, regardless of experience [raises hand].

They aren't particularly "accurate", but they sound very smooth and pleasant. I wouldn't trust them for mixing or mastering, but they're great for pleasure listening in the dark. They are my final QA for every mix. I wasn't super impressed with them on first listen, but after adding a headphone amplifier to my nightstand sound system they really came to life. They sound even better in my studio, where I have a fancier headphone amp. Just don't expect your phone to be able to push them adequately, or even necessarily your audio interface's headphone outs.

I paid $200 for mine back when they first came out. I pounced on it because it was such a bargain compared to $500 for the HD650. Even if it did come in a plain black box. So $195 is a very good deal indeed. There aren't a whole lot of comparable products out there in that price range. Once in awhile you do see DT-880s for less, and those are fine headphones, but I prefer the relative linearity of a true open-back design. Be forewarned, however: these are high-impedance headphones.

Ah, yes. CA-2A. I knew I was forgetting an important one. I'm just the opposite - a contrarian who never uses ProChannel plugins. They're great, of course; I just like the tidiness of seeing all effects neatly listed there in the fx bin. CA-2A - as a VST - is my second most-used compressor. Nothing's better on vocals. I'd also like to see Dim Pro make a comeback. I always liked it but was unable to re-authorize it after replacing my stolen DAW. If it was reintroduced as a BandLab product, they'd likely change its goofy licensing scheme and I could use it again. Sorry, OP. None of this has anything to do with console emulators. What's the tie in here, besides Craig's book...um, yes, I've got it: CW has some excellent goodies in the vault that would help your mixes more than any console emulator. You just can't have them. OK, that's better, now we're back on-topic.

While it's true there's no lower level, at least you're not alone down here in the basement, Tim. Some, believe it or not, are here by choice.

Unique and good stuff there, ramscapri. Chilled synthetic and organic New Age with traditional Indian undertones.

Me, too. I sadly broke my favorite Cakewalk mug. My extensive collection of vintage 12-Tone t-shirts all have holes in them. I know I'll never have another V-Studio shirt, and it was a sad day when I added it to the rag box. Plus it's a shame new users can't enjoy the Adaptive Limiter or Z3ta+. Not sure what else they're missing out on - the percussion strip? VX-64? What about Rapture and Dimension Pro? Can those be purchased today? At least Craig's book is still available.