mettelus

I set my D drive for caching and suddenly brush folders showed up on it (when installed). Same folders are where they should be so I moved contents over. Not sure if this is associated with a Painter 21 predeployment or something. There was an install record for Painter 21 on that D drive (deleted it), and also a Painter 21 folder where the brushes should be. Not had any issues of recurrence of running 2020 after. I am not sure if this is a bug in the caching feature, and couldn't find any reference to this online. Anyone else seen this?

The mud issue may also be coming from low end that really shouldn't be passed into the FX chain (and especially to time-based FX). A HPF is common to use on instruments early in mixing to remove that low end. Same principle to dial in till you hear it bite, then back off a smidge. This is also why reverb on the bass/kick is not common, or needs special consideration.

rbowser had a nice generic walk-through from 2006 that is still applicable. The comment about reverb giving the perception of far away is valid. How he talks of setup is good, especially for beginners (with sends/busses). No real "rule of thumb" with that part. He hints at using other reverbs (on other reverb busses), but doesn't go into that detail. Being sparing in reverb usage is a good guide (depending on genre). Comments like "dial up till you can barely notice it, then back it off" is often good advice for anything front and center. Other than that, no real "rules," but be mindful that reverb is like a "frequency smear." If you go overboard, you will often negate any EQ you took the time to do prior (i.e., the mud). For this reason, any time-based FX should be last in the signal chain in most instances.

IRL, the effect of reverb is also highly dependent on source placement in the space. A few feet off center can change the dynamic dramatically. Whispering walls are an interesting effect which result from curved walls as in rotundas. Concrete stairwells have a fun effect in them as well. Because of placement, reverb will not sound as natural on a mix as it will a source, and the off center portion ups the computing power, especially when taking into consideration a room the is not a "box." IRs for different placements in the same space are not common to find. Oddly enough, digital recording centers on dry mixes and faking the space after the fact, but many studios and halls are sought after specifically for their reverb character. The issue with those is cost and editing options being limited.

Melda's stuff doesn't have the curb appeal, but they definitely cover the bases of most things out there. It made me step back and think for a second... when the 50% off bundles hits, MCompleteBundle is roughly 1100USD, which is about 10USD per plugin (just over 100 of them). Actually, roughly 1/3 have free single-band processing versions (MFreeFXBundle), so is more like 15USD per plugin; not too shabby with the free upgrades for life behind them. iZotope has been consistent with upgrade pricing, and it seems after the acquisition of Exponential Audio, they are putting less in their core products and pushing reverbs as additional content. Paulo may be on the money about them just getting around to putting an iZotope GUI on the front end of them.

These two links give a rundown of new features in PSP 2020. https://learn.corel.com/blog/introducing-the-new-paintshop-pro-2020/ https://www.paintshoppro.com/static/psp/docs/products/paintshop-pro/2020/psp2020-version-comp-matrix-en.pdf I am not sure if anything was "more intuitive" though (I jumped from PSP 5 to PSP 2020).

What an odd link anyway. Everything is the full word except "studio"!

Some applications can also tap into the UEFI directly, the most concerning I have seen is Corsair's cooling app. That set my CPU target to 5.1GHz, and the system started cycling the cooling system like a jet plane ramping up and down. I disabled the app, but left the drivers installed to prevent recurrence. It is good to check the UEFI from time to time if things seem odd. I ended up locking mine at 29% OC, and that is actually displayed on the splash screen at startup (ASUS MB). I am not sure if other MB do similar, but is nice to verify. If it is simply the Turbo mode doing its thing, I wouldn't get worried for it unless the system misbehaves. Systems spend a lot of life at relatively low CPU usage, so that mode allows the machine to shift gears as needed.

I think the only thing not current is the Sound Forge Pro 13, but that (of course) pops up an ad when you first use it to upgrade to SFP14 for $149. One oddity I noticed after installing Spectral Layers Pro 7, was that the "Vstplugins" subfolder disappeared in the Steinberg directory. IIRC, that was where AAS defaulted to installing its VST2s. Everything that had been in there had a VST3 version, so I didn't lose any sleep over it, but it is something to note. I didn't realize it had vanished till I was trying to add that VST path to Samplitude. FYI for anyone who has the Independence Pro libraries from earlier... Independence Pro will recognize you have them, but try to install them (again) in a "MAGIX" subdirectory, if you do not go about it a specific way. This video was useful to load them up again cleanly.

Isn't that everything now? Am I missing a quicker alternative or do you need to drill into each VST to know what version it is (or keep the most recent downloads)?

Quick bump to to point out what Sidney mentioned above. The current Samplitude X5 Pro Suite offer also includes Convology XT Complete (all of the IRs). It also includes Spectral Layers Pro 7, so is a good bang for the buck deal, especially since it is not an upgrade or anything.

This also includes Convology XT Complete (not locked to Samplitude), which I noticed was listed in another thread. That has like 5 or 6 GB of IR files (the engine is free, the IRs are not), so get the IRs with this package too.

Sharke posted an interesting solution in the old forums that used a vocoder to control and enhance crowd interaction. On my cell now, so fat chance I can find that link offhand. IIRC, that was using a small group and generating a stadium crowd from it. http://forum.cakewalk.com/m/tm.aspx?m=3146538&p=1 Damn, that link is almost 6 years old already.

Whew, good thing it endured hanging without breaking its neck. But... how is the air quality??

I got the X3 Suite in the great Gibson debacle as well but never used it on my new machine. Updating Spectral Layers Pro 4 from that buy is also $199, so I ended up getting this but only loaded Spectral Layers Pro 7 so far. The e-license wasn't a huge issue, but you need to download via the Steinberg Download Assistant before you can redeem as a "soft e-license” to the machine. After that, was all good. Been having fun with the unmix stems, but it seems to have issues with certain genres. Wall of sound stuff makes the reverb tails wonky.

Is the Spectral Layers Pro 7 locked to Samplitude?

I posted a fun trick a couple years ago on the old forum using MDrumEnhancer by tapping a condensor mic with fingers, then replacing it with a snare. The other thing about about MDrumEnhancer is it has no latency, so you can do drum replacement real time (the dry and wet tracks in that post were recorded in one pass).

The "very versatile in tone" is best met via humbuckers that are clean, hot (catch harmonics), and can be split. The "plays comfortably" comes mostly from the feel of the neck (for you), and that the guitar has been PLEK'd (either when built, or after the fact). I forget if you like to tinker or not (HUGE caveat to the following), but you can achieve the split coils on any humbucking guitar without altering the appearance via Seymour Duncan Triple Shot Mounting rings (can buy cheaper as a pair, and come in flat mount/arch top versions) and most humbuckers (that have 4 wires out, exposing the individual coils). These allow you single coil, parallel wired, series wired (by pickup) in addition to the selector switch(es) they feed. On most guitars, rolling off the volume knob slightly will take the "sting" out of the harmonics (without a treble bleed mod installed, which is easily identifiable if you look at the volume pot) - for hot PUPs, the frequency rolloff can actually be good for versatility. If a neck already feels good for you (something you own now, with neck radius and scale you like), PLEKing a guitar that has never been (some newer guitars get PLEK'd by default now, but good to check on). I refretted my first guitar to a set radius and bass frets when I first got it... the guy who PLEK'd it said that neck should be compound radius to play best, so he PLEK'd compound radius into the frets, and PLEK'd a new nut to boot. Talk about a night/day modification to what was already there. If you like to tinker, it is about $600 and a bit of elbow grease to take any guitar (+ two new PUPs) to do this. In my case, I have two switches to "select" the PUPs (I had to route/drill the second one)... either up is "on," both up is series, both down is parallel (in addition to how the Triple Shots are set). I also replaced the tone pot with a push/pull switch to control out-of-phase between the two PUPs. I replaced the PUPs in mine with Dimarzio D Activator Neck/Bridge (DP219/DP220) which were touted at the time to be the highest output passive pickups on the market (I personally detest "active" anything, since I hate swapping batteries). The guy who PLEK'd it asked me if they were active because when he checked it afterwards he was surprised by the output it has. I have never used the Sustaniac PUPs, but read on them a while back. Again, the active issue for me, but it is similar to an E-Bow, takes the driving PUP offline when functioning as an E-Bow, and is limited to the guitar it is mounted on. Digitech's FreqOut pedal was on sale a while back for $99, and I didn't really read up on them till the sale was over, but I liked the features of that guy more since it is more versatile and can be used on any guitar.

I was looking for similar a while ago and reviews kept steering me to a Zoom Q2n-4K. I ended up getting a tripod and using my phone, but that Zoom is 4K and records 24/96, so it does have some advantages for ease of use. It seemed more focused on capturing gigs, which is why it is cheaper than some alternatives (and not bad if that is what you want it for).

My cynicism kicking in here, but I associate "pre-order" with something in high demand that is going to see a limited run (manufactured hardware basically). Last pre-order I made was for X2, and we all know how that went (and why it never happen again). No way I would pay money early to be a beta tester.

Win10 Educational is the same as Enterprise, which has more security protocols exposed than Pro or Home, plus other stuff. If you are a student, Win10 Educational is a good option.

Just to reiterate the above, CbB is "SONAR" that was given a name change through the acquisition process. It is primarily the DAW now, so missing third-party content, but supports all Windows-format plugins (AAX and such won't load).

Could take the Best Fiends twist on it... ”That's friend without the r." Just need a "musical imp" logo.

Unless you can connect to a SATA III port, you are not going to see the advantage of a high-end SSD, except for longevity/warranty differences, which may not be cost effective. A second drive would let you pull data from 2 drives at once. Another consideration is an "older" i7 machine with higher specs than you have and you can scavenge from your current machine. 250 GB SATA III is actually a good O/S drive option. https://www.cpubenchmark.net/ Is a good reference site. The money of putting extra components into a machine that cannot use them might better be used on a machine upgrade (and scavenge what you have now that will work).

Look up the motherboard on that machine. It is possible your current SSD is plugged into a SATA II port. If you do not have a SATA III port available, you won't see the full speed from even a new SSD.