mettelus

He has quite a few world instruments that sound rather good as is. Most of them have associated YT videos which seem also to be the "tutorial." What I find fascinating with his videos is that he delves into the construction/performance of each instrument. What is more impressive is these are synths, not sample-based, so the footprint on a computer is tiny by comparison. His SIM-DIZI (also called a Qudi) and SIM-GUZHENG are instruments that Ample Sound sampled and charges $149/$169 for respectively. When I have more time, I am curious about running these through FX chains to see how they sound.

Someone had asked about harmonica sims a while ago, and this seems to be emulate most of a harmonica as well (he does specify that down bending is limited to draw notes only, but this does all notes). Rather interesting fellow with a lot of knowledge. I never heard of him before, but clicking on the Quilcom section I was surprised... he has a LOT of free plugins available. A few of them are quite unique in their design and purpose.

You may find in the future that you might want the old vocals. The simplest way to remove vocals from a project is simply highlighting clips and deleting them (will retain the track and FX/sends used this way). You can also delete the entire track (but will lose the FX/sends). Both of these methods do not delete the previously recorded audio (so you can reference them again in the future if needed), but they will remove the audio from the project itself (which is typically the desired result). It is also best practice when noodling around to save a new project file (e.g., Project X vocals removed.cwp) so you still have the original one just in case. If you get into a situation where your Project folders are getting huge, that is when removing unused audio from project folders gains more attention.

This was what I was wondering initially in case those folders had been copied/moved from another computer (the read-only will often get applied doing this). I am not sure if you are familiar with xcopy/robocopy, but robocopy in particular has a nasty default of adding H (hidden) to both directories and files, so when you copy, things "vanish." The default robocopy command I use is: robocopy "[source]" "[target]" /A-:RASH /xo /fft /xj /e /j /njh /njs /ndl Note: I always use quotes, since they are required for anything with a space in the name (e.g., Program Files). The /A-:RASH is very important, because it forces those 4 attributes to be removed during the copy (regardless of what they were for the source). Doing that in Windows Explorer is sometimes hit-or-miss (what I posted above), but robocopy has never failed. More details on the robocopy can be found here (xcopy is faster, but robocopy is more robust).

Check quick with Windows Explorer and right-click your top level Projects folder and select "Properties." On that first (General) tab there is a "Read-Only" checkbox in the Attributes section at the bottom. It has probably got a black box in it because some folders are set to read-only (if they are all read-only, it has a check mark; if there are no read-only's it is blank). This can happen when archiving/moving folders around, particularly between PCs. Click on that Read-only box until the box clears, then hit Apply and select "Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files" in the next popup. You will need to have the projects closed to change attributes (best to just close Cakewalk as well to be sure nothing it in use).

Try shifting your Driver Mode to WASAPI Shared and see if that does anything. I shifted mine to WDM mode to check quick and the Surround was still there, but is odd that it is not listed for you.

Another thing to check is your Windows Display settings with 2 monitors. You may also have switched which monitor is 1 vs 2 as well. Windows will only allow dragging in the direction that connects them. Have you tried dragging a window off both sides of your main monitor (left and right)? Only one of those will work based on how Windows "thinks" they are oriented per the Display Settings.

I wanted to revisit this comment for you. There are VST synths specifically designed for game audio, meaning that the presets in the synth are going to be "pretty close" to something you are looking for in many cases. These will minimize control/filter manipulation and you can focus on Cutoff and Resonance and learn other tweaks as you go. Quick caution here... synth presets often use the entire frequency range (so they sound great solo), but they will not fit well in a mix. For this reason, hi-pass and lo-pass filters are often used (HPF/LPF) to isolate the content you want to keep from a synth, yet allow it to "fit" with other instruments. HPFs and LPFs is another thing to research and learn as you go... they apply to ANY instrument and are core functions of most EQs. I did a quick search for "free gaming-specific synths," and the below video might help you focus more quickly. Check that out and grab a few of those synths to play with and focus on as you learn. The controls are very common to all synths, but these synths tend to have presets already geared toward gaming audio, so you should be able to get "usable sounds" fairly quickly. Also note... if you make a sound you love, be sure to save that as a new preset, so you can easily find/use it again in the future.

Most synths have two very important controls readily available, "Cutoff" and "Resonance." These are essentially EQs that allow only certain frequencies to pass (Cutoff), and then enhance a select band (Resonance)... and you can do that with pretty much any EQ (even if the virtual synth doesn't have those controls). For your first example, that can be done with a small "horns ensemble" and tweaking the output filters. There is a lot that goes into tailoring a sound, so this is more to get you on a path for learning (sorry that there isn't a "slam dunk" answer for you). Attached is a video that focuses more on Cutoff and Resonance and how they work. For you, it would help learn with a "synth" instrument and play with Resonance and Cutoff on a "horns" patch to understand how they work. There are a lot of FREE virtual synths out there to play with. The reason I say that is that BBC Orchestra is limited in its controls and to get the "synth" sounds from it would require more FX added to the output. Lastly, don't get discouraged with this (very important)... focus on playing and learning. Once you begin to understand controls/FX and what they do, it gets easier each time you set something up.

Dupe

Are you clicking on the "Preset" button in the upper right of the GUI (in the grey area of the plugin)? The one at top left of the VST window doesn't work, but the button in grey area at the upper right does.

Flame Painter 4 (on sale for $9.99) is worth an honorable mention as well. It has 6 particle systems total, but 3 of them come with that basic version. It is similar to Corel's Particle Shop for adding FX to images (best to do with layers). Side note on Flame Painter 4... that was released 5 years ago, so it probably won't have any upgrades to a new version any time soon. Rebelle is the only application getting active development. If you got the Humble Bundle in the past, you probably also got Flame Painter 4.

The upper right corner of your posts has ... Click on that for the original post and select "Edit."

Edit your initial post. The thread title is part of that.

This would be worth submitting feedback to the developer on if you like it and want to keep using it. Many complex VST(i)s have a Panic button in the VST GUI itself, but the Panic button inside the host (any host) is going to try to the same routine Cakewalk is doing. If the VST doesn't accept that input, there is no way to control it externally. The host is doing its job (and no way to make it better), but the VST is in its "own little world." Side note: some VST(i)s have that kill switch hard coded to a specific MIDI note, but I couldn't find any documentation on Loop Track.

...

Check the number of Undo's you have set. The defaults for many audio/video apps if often rather excessive, and each undo is eating up RAM space (I tend to use 10 on most everything... but in painting apps each stroke is "1" so 10 might be a little light). I got a large brush set for Painter at one point, and the initial launch times took a massive hit from that. Painter has a load of "hard to hit" options in the control palette and the GUI gets finicky from time to time. Upgrades to Painter also tend to be a PITA, and I have found the simplest way to carry things forward between versions is to use the "Restore Purchases" in the menu options (depending on what you have purchased, this alone can take some time). Rebelle actually does some updates on launch and loads much faster. There have been a dozen or so updates to Rebelle 7 and the developers listen/interact with users a lot more. The software has a 30-day return policy, so you can run it through the ringer. Having the Visual Settings panel open while working is ideal... and things like modifying paint (especially metallics) after painting is a nice touch... this is by layer, so be sure to take advantage of layer use/management (layers can also be toggled to masks while working). Even though the GUI is simpler, there are a lot of functions in the panels, with most "right there," like shifting from Paint->Paint and Mix->Paint and Blend->Blend->Erase. Not sure which tablets you got, but programming buttons is a massive time saver (Ctrl-Z is always one of them). I find that using a mouse while working is very distracting so I got an XP-Pen model years ago specifically for the scroll wheel (center is a touch pad). That model (on sale for one more day) is the only one with that wheel now (but is also BT capable which mine is not) and the control utility allows setting functions by app so you can mirror your workflow/controls between Painter and Rebelle (and whatever else) to save confusion. Setting those up takes a little bit of time, but is worth the effort down the road (much akin to a MIDI controller). Delve a little into the controller app for your tablets and see what customization you can make to them. The "NanoPixel" functionality is rather impressive... on low resolution images you can zoom in on a pixel, but it is not square... it is a dot, and it is also blended into the areas around it. If you ever zoom in that far, you immediately get a feel for the performance differences between the apps. Even silly things like right click-drag being the default pan in Rebelle is "just nice" (that doesn't fly in Painter). Rebelle has significantly less time to get up to "actually working" IMO.

+1, Painter has a lot of features (like pic-to-painting, clone tinting, morphs, etc.) that do not exist in Rebelle (yet). Rebelle got its start with adding realism to water coloring (not a massive need for that medium), then expanded that approach to more mediums. Color diffusion into paper (including "water" loading in a brush), tilt of canvas, and the like Rebelle excels at. Masking is simpler, and the addition of structures (where you can embed a picture/drawing into the paper to give it texture) I absolutely love. A good metaphor would be a coffee filter, where the stain will darken and move to the edge... with structures you can make the paper texture into edges to stop diffusion, and a mask the edge the complete object as well. Once that is set up, you can easily use a large brush with proper tilt, loading, diffusion settings to have an object almost auto-paint for the background work (the tilt will make the object "auto shade" as the diffusion works). The texture of the paper and response of the medium is also better in Rebelle (e.g., like charcoal on a rough canvas is not going to get into the tiny pits of the canvas). To Brian's point, Rebelle is more focused on realism, and while it does have a lot of the same features of Painter, its use with pictures is a little more limited.

That is an incredible deal for folks who like to paint/draw (half the price of the pre-order almost a year ago). I didn't see an "end date" to the sale though? Rebelle 7 Pro has some really nice features and additions over prior versions. The past couple of years they seem to have focused on "get the word out" and it seems to be working well.

OBS Studio is another option that is gaining a lot of traction and also free. I did a quick search and it supports VST2 plugins (not VST3) but I have never tested that. I have only used OBS few times, and a lot of the setup revolves around the "scenes" you set up at the bottom left. Basically OBS allows you to "assemble" both audio/video streams resident in your machine and send to your desired output (streaming, video capture, etc.). I apologize that I mentioned OBS early on in this thread, but it is not bound to any specific hardware/software; it is its own thing. I am glad you found something that works for you! Best of luck with everything!

I had to look up a topographical map of Asheville out of curiosity. There are areas right outside of town with 600' drops in less than 1/4 mile (essentially the edges of the missing lights in the map above). I was talking with someone about the Titan submersible last week and told them the thumb rule is 44psi/100' depth, but that is only static pressure, not including the momentum involved in a run-off situation. Even a wave slap on the open ocean can reach hundreds, if not thousands, of psi from "relatively" neutral ground. Standing water is bad enough, but moving water has such incredible force. My heart goes out to all those impacted by this. The only flood I ever "experienced" was Agnes in 1972, and even though that one was an oddball event, it truly pales in comparison to what Helene did.

The "on the fly" aspect really throws a wrinkle into your situation. Be sure to review headsets (especially the 1-star reviews). The Logitech headset I have had foam ear pieces that dry-rotted and crumbled to dust after a few years, and the faux-leather ones seems to exhibit the same behavior where the surface chips off and only leaves the underlying cloth (some said within months). I did a cursory check of some headsets after posting last night and some blatantly stated, "The noise cancellation feature doesn't work!" If you go that route, definitely get one from a vendor with a liberal return policy so you can test them thoroughly. Quick edit: Another option is to use a cell phone. For those meetings I bought a phone case with a kick-stand on the back and some phones have better noise cancellation (especially with 2 mics built in). Bandwidth/connection and provider can become a concern that route, but I always do Zoom "on the fly" meetings from my cell.

Quick question... are you using only the audio stream from the mic and the meeting app (i.e., no mixer required for other apps)? Reason I asked is that when you mentioned "simple setup in a hurry" *if* you only need the mic/headphone combo, your simplest solution may be a "call center headset" like receptionists use. That may be another option to consider. I got a Logitech model 20 years ago for dictation that is not even made anymore, but there are a slew of options available these days (most models come with specific noise canceling by default because of how they get used).

+1 on the PreSonus Revelator Dynamic. That comes with its own software mixer (Universal Control), which includes a simple mixer and FAT Channel components (gate, compressor, EQ, De-Esser, etc.). This video walks through a major overview of the Universal Control app (which only works with PreSonus hardware, unfortunately). I grabbed both Revelator versions last year to run them through the ringer, and the dynamic version was rather impressive for streaming/video creation, and capturing multiple source streams. It even comes with its own OBS drivers (if desired), but the Universal Control allows you to tailor your mix before sending it to another application. Caveat to the Universal Control installation... it offers the option to install drivers for ALL PreSonus hardware on installation... only install the drivers you actually have hardware for (it won't hurt anything, just makes a clutter otherwise). Here is the quick review I posted on them last year if interested.

There are still 2 million without power, so the checking in may take time. Potable water is the highest priority, and without power that can affect even more . The geniuses that are trying to ban gas appliances to "protect them" are putting them far more at risk in this situation. I had never really thought of LifeStraws being included in emergency kits until these recent events. I hope folks that were affected are able to recover safely. Please check in when time/situation allows.