mettelus

The sound sets are pretty capable as is, with the ability for SO to drill into their own patches. If you want "cello" (or whatever), you can search and find fillers quickly in the browser and keep composing... then either tweak or replace the VSTi as you go. For composition "speed" that has been handy for me; getting distracted with searching while composing tends to wreak havoc on workflow.

ProAudioStar also has 5% more off sale items using JULY5 in cart. Roughly $95 each for the two advanced upgrades (and Ozone qualifies all the way back to v5).

Thanks for the heads up. I have never heard of them before, but even at full price it is roughly 1/4 of the initial Camtasia purchase ($60 versus $249). Even after that, Camtasia charges $50/year maintenance fee to keep the software current. For FREE, this is something everyone should grab, even if they "think" they don't have a use for it now. Granted, it is the old version (I cannot find a link to this without using the OP), but it has green-screening and looks pretty capable. With a name like Smuckers... er... AC/DC.... er... ACDSee, it has to be good!

The VST plugin was 2019 IIRC. That made BIAB much more usable IMHO.

SO5 doesn't come across to me so far as very earth-shattering (most of the heavy hitters dropped in 4), but I did hear them make mention that they spent a lot of time recoding Notion to get the current implementation inside of SO5. I have not gotten to use that feature much yet (so not sure what Notion stand-alone has over SO5), but it seems that a good chunk of their SO5 effort was to get Notion embedded. The bridge has been there since acquisition, I think, but tearing the code down to put it inside of the DAW must have been a intensive venture. I still think PreSonus spends time reading other DAW forums... it seems a lot of features requested or complained about with other DAWs just magically show up in SO.

To add to the "learn what you have now," there are guides for just about everything now. iZotope has Mixing and Mastering guides specific to Ozone (and it modules), but concepts in them can be applied to any VST with the same functionality. Conversely, items you come across in videos may very well be available in things you already own (Mid/Side processing, side-chaining, etc.); so when you come across something new and cool, take a step back and see if you already own it. Videos can be a bit tricky, since you almost need to have them open side-by-side while you are working them (dual monitors), and some are not as concise as they could be (but you can also play back YouTube at double speed). Dan Worral did a video for FabFilter Pro-Q that I have shared the most with people who are new. In 10 minutes, he covers a lot of ground but in a way that new people can understand readily. Again, the same results can be achieved with other plugins, but his presentation is exceptional for someone new to mixing.

The iZotope Standard versions cannot be split apart and used as their modularized components, so the only real gain with Advanced is lowering CPU hits from using them. Matthew's advice is solid... just starting out, you need to learn tools before having "great" ones do you any good. The standard versions you have now are more than adequate, and the assistant feature will teach you more starting out. An upgrade to Music Production Suite 3 would yield more bang for the buck if/when you get to that bridge. I have not used FabFilter, so cannot speak to their quality versus cost. A couple upgrade cycles and you could own Melda Production's CompleteFXBundle (for life). The AI similar to iZotope is not there yet with Melda, but the FX are (and more tweak-able than most programs).

Focusrite should get their act together... BandLab has a "Master Volume Knob"!

This would definitely be something to pass along to PreSonus since they are the only ones who can address it. That functionality should actually be handled by the VSTi, not the DAW, and it seems like the note OFF is not being sent. For a VSTi that must be in a "mode," the note OFF is ignored (by the VSTi itself) until it sees the articulation switched; but for VSTis that do specific articulations on key press only, the OFF doesn't seem to be relayed to it. I haven't gotten too deep into trying SO5 yet, but even saving a prior project immediately as an SO5 version still causes SO4 to warn you that a "newer backup is available." Since you dirty files almost immediately on opening, the folks who simply save often are going to lock out files.... for those who are only doing the trial, they can end up locking out their own projects if they go back to SO4.

And their pictures show just how excited some can get playing violin!! (I wonder what people were thinking when they come up with marketing materials like this.)

4 brought a lot to the table and dug its heels in with ARA2 integration (chord track specifically), so you will be busy for a while with new features.

I am as well. Tried about 6 hours ago and again just now, same error.

That pop up means the installer is checking OS prior to executing, so it won't install at all if not Win10 (without a hack). I wouldn't deal with the trouble if not on Win10. Not supported makes sense, but not installable is not very common.

Bear in mind... SO upgrades are every two years (the .5's are free), so the "Sphere" offering is more than double the cost of an upgrade (even at full price) - roughly $330 versus $150 for those "two years." Because v4 went 26 months, the JRR buy (then) is roughly $5 a month (one third the subscription).

Very well could be, but to me that is not a "product" but rather a purchasing option (although comes with storage and some "collaboration tools"). Someone spammed "WHAT IS THE UPGRADE PRICE???" at the end, but didn't see a reply before chuckling and closing it down.

YIKES!! ... Main product 2... subscription plan! ?

*If* their Show Page works like they are advertising, you can load multiple songs for set list and play the VSTis "live"... that is an impressive loading optimization. They said on the outset that the goal was to be reliable (not crash).

They said initially "same pricing" as previously, but not sure if that meant first-time buyers. It is actually going on sale at the end of the stream (11AM CST), 37 minutes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNrrTbcxV48 Live Stream going on... yes, they embedded Notion into SO5... Also added a "show page" for live gigging...

3.5 had a HUGE marketing horse and pony show with it that seemed to "just go away" when 4 and 4.5 hit. I would expect this is for v5, since May has become the annual update.

I am definitely late to the party on this one. @Chandler made a video all the way back in October 2019! The Sampler module also lets you load up sfz files, so from about the 6 minute mark to the end covers sfz and then vocal sampling / choir effect (7 minute mark onward). The GUI on MSoundFactory is another deep one, and uses some module formats from MXXX. Now that I have gotten to fiddle with it a bit, it definitely has capability for self-made choir usage. The Sampler seemed to be the only way to import the MDrummer sounds, but I am not sure if there are other means to do so.

At least the upside is we have until DEC 11, 2020 to redeem it!

The whole shebang goes "beyond V8" ... You can have the Shelby GLH-S and AMC Gremlin too! It took them a long time to find a Gremlin that would run long enough above 3000RPM to sample; that is where the real cost came from.

+1, 2020 was the first I have used since PSP5 (which was still JASC at the time, and the manager lived next door to me in MN). PSP5 has "saved the day" so many times for touching up ppt files (often moments before going live). That version is only 17.4MB, lives on every thumb drive I own, and has most of the "go to" features Windows never offered that folks need in a pinch. The clone feature has even been handy... our CFO was looking at a presentation sweating the wrong check boxes being marked, so I grabbed his laptop, jacked in my thumb drive and switched things around. The "How are you doing that??" gave me a smirk, but PSP5 continues to be my go to for what features it has (which is a lot more than people would assume, given its "age"). Layers, histogram, deformations, filters... pretty much unchanged in 22 years over what existed then (that it has embedded). That particular software makes me very critical at times of things that proclaim "game changer," even with DSP. DSP matured rapidly a long time ago, but integration and AI are still seeing movement.

The MDrummer Electronic Genres was new (to me) and I just happened to check on More Details->Installation Notes and was surprised that it says it also plays on the SoundFactory Player (or MDrummer). I just drilled into ALL of the MDrummer packs and they ALL say they play in the SoundFactory Player, so there is roughly 22GB of nice drum samples available now to anyone. I would test that before jumping into the Studio Pack downloads (20GB) with the smallest one first (i.e., the MDrummer Electronic Genres (500MB) to see if that is accurate. The Studio Pack for 2018 was incredibly impressive (and big, 14GB IIRC), but seems is available to anyone now. If so, great "deal." If someone tries it, please let others know if it works or not. I need to delve into MSoundFactory again... I didn't realize you could set up your own instuments similar to Kontakt until I saw a comment on that fly by. After seeing the thread where the guy made a choir of his family, I want to see how "choir capable" MSoundFactory is in this regard.