Jim Roseberry

I've heard she's making 13 million per show.

The issue you may run into... Sometimes high DPC Latency can be resolved via a driver update/roll-back... or disabling the device (if its driver is monopolizing the CPU). Other times, solving DPC Latency issues requires tweaking BIOS parameters. Many off-the-shelf motherboards don't expose the necessary parameters. In this scenario, there's unfortunately no solution (short of swapping hardware).

I'd liken the situation to Joe Bonamassa and tube guitar amps. Top-tier modeling/profiling guitar processors sound good and are far more convenient/cost-effective, but purists are always going to choose high-end tube amps. It's the same with Lisa Bella Donna and her analog synths. Been a workstation keyboard user for decades. Have owned most recent makes including Montage 7/8, Kronos 88, K2700, Fantom 7/8 If you're talking about authentic analog sounds... none of those workstations are going to satisfy a purist (Lisa Bella Donna). Montage: Analog type sounds are OK... but the filter and mono voice priority/articulation are not quite right. ie: On Foreigner's "Feels Like The First Time", there's the analog synth melody in the Bridge. Montage can get in the ballpark... but something like the Nord Stage 3/4 VA Synth section gets a whole lot closer. This is partly why I got rid of my Montage 7/8 keyboards (having used them for several years). K2700: UI is horrible. Programming VAST is a "vast" time-consumer. Even a simple mono lead sound is super tedious to program. The digital VAST filters don't sound anything like a Moog/Oberheim/Prophet Filter (compared side-by-side). Portamento on the K2700 isn't smooth like what you'd find on an analog synth (One, Model-D, OB-X8, Prophet-10). It's hard to put into words, but the algorithm is somehow skewed... and just sounds odd/wrong. Nothing like "Ridin' The Storm Out" intro/outro where the pitch-glide is smooth/consistent. I can't believe that got past beta-testing. Kronos: The modeled analog synth engines (~12 years old) still sound pretty-good... But if you compare directly to a OB-8X, Prophet-10, Matriarch, Model-D... you'll likely be disappointed. Kronos' greatest feature is its ability to stream samples directly from disk. If you've ever tried loading your own samples into Kronos, it's fairly tedious. With John Melas' Waveform Editor, it's much easier to get user-samples into Montage. Kronos keyboard action (88 weighted) is one of my favorite. Fantom: The new Roland Fantom series has a great UI... and IMO some of the best sounding digital filters. That said, if you use 3 or 4 partials (loosely the equivalent to an oscillator), you can quickly run out of polyphony and hear obvious voice-stealing. This is when layering sounds... for songs like Here I Go Again (where you've got layers of acoustic piano, electric piano, synth pad, and a vocal type pad). Montage and Kronos can pull more real-world polyphony. Setting up a similar dense 4-part layer on either... you can't hear any voice-stealing. Live, I often have a mic in one hand... and have to play with the other. I need usable Aftertouch to add vibrato/etc. Aftertouch on Fantom series takes massive pressure to initiate. It's more of an on/off switch (not a lot of subtle expression). Getting user-samples into Fantom is slow/tedious. Sold my Fantom 7/8 due to these reasons. Certainly workstations have a lot of useful features that go way beyond the scope of re-issued analog synths. Having owned the One, OB-X8, Prophet-10, Matriarch, etc... it would be nice to see modern appointments to bring these instruments more up-to-date. Higher polyphony, onboard effects, more controllers, more extensive/flexible modulation, larger display, presets, etc. Over several years, I found myself getting more frustrated with Montage acoustic pianos, electric pianos, organs, and analog type synth sounds. Never had an issue with the UI, programming, or convenience. In fact, out of all workstations, Montage (until something else comes out) would still be my first choice. On a lark, I tried a Nord Stage 3 (after seeing Toto), and the Stage 3 was strong in all the areas where I felt Montage was lacking. Never ever thought I'd love using a "Stage Piano". I'm making it sound like Montage is terrible. It's definitely not. I just grew more frustrated with its limitations... over a period of several years. My needs as a player were expanding... At 56, I appreciate that the 88-key Nord keyboards weigh ~40 pounds. I know for sure that I'm not taking out a 60 pound keyboard... no matter what the brand/features/etc. I'm curious to see what Yamaha releases as Montage's successor. IMO, It needs a dedicated VA Synth engine. I'd like to see dedicated Piano, Organ, and Synth engines... each with separate polyphony. Borrow some of what Nord is doing... but take it further.

Presonus Quantum was their first (IMO) great audio interface. Rock-solid... and super low round-trip-latency Later Quantum interfaces maintain that same level of performance.

Hi Steven, Orion Studio Synergy Core's round-trip latency at 96k using a 32-sample ASIO buffer size is 1ms. Takes a monster of a machine, but you can run some things (ToneX) with ASIO buffer size of 24-samples or even 16-samples. Both of those settings yield sub 1ms round-trip-latency. I prefer an audio interface that doesn't (itself) put a hard cap on lowest possible round-trip-latency. Only (effective) limiting factor is the speed of the machine.

Been using an Antelope Orion Studio Synergy Core for a couple years. Love it. Great fidelity Ultra low round-trip latency (sub 1ms) Good sounding onboard Preamps/DIs Onboard DSP for processing/routing/monitoring Proper re-amp outputs Rock solid performance

Just responded via Email. We'll get it squared away.

It's the configuration... not the video card. I've got a Gigabyte RTX-3060 running in the machine sitting next to me (the one I'm typing on). No DPC Latency issues. I've used RTX video cards many times for both myself and many clients.

I tend to prefer Asus and Gigabyte.

Some of the MSI cards do... but many do not stop the fans. The MSI cards with semi-passive cooling tend to be slightly more expensive.

I've had many Zildjian cymbals over the past 40 years. I understand paying a bit more for highest quality cymbals... and that they do sound fantastic. I had a 20" K dry ride that sounded/recorded beautiful. I believe I paid ~$300 for it (new). Also had a 22" Paiste Signature series Dry Ride that was amazing. It was maybe ~$500. 20 years ago, I bought a DW Edge Snare drum that was ~$1000. Probably the best snare drum I've seen/heard. I thought that was a crazy amount for a snare. ?

After the computer itself, the audio interface is the next most critical choice for a rock-solid DAW. USB mics are not what you want for recording music. Dedicated audio interface with proper ASIO driver Your choice of dedicated microphone/s, preamps, etc If you go with an audio interface that's proven to be rock-solid, you'll never give it a second thought. Then, you can focus on things like the song, parts, performance. ?

Generally speaking, faster is "better"... but I've never had an issue with 60Hz refresh. I'm not a fan of many MSI video cards... as the fans aren't semi-passive. Yes, you can control the speed... but that's not the same as dead-silent (not running). If the fans/cooling don't support shutting fully off, you won't be able to do that with Afterburner.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/A40020--zildjian-limited-edition-400th-anniversary-vault-ride-cymbal-20-inch I must really be getting old... but $2000 for a single cymbal? I have no doubt it's amazing... but wow!

Yeah, I was thinking the same. I wouldn't avoid using Reaper due to the above... but it does make one do a double-take and a head-shake. You find the same thing with Friedman Amps. Pink Taco, Dirty Shirly, Brown Eye, Hairy Brown Eye, Small Box I think Dave's amps are great (have owned several)... but the naming is a bit sophomoric.

I'd want to make sure the card has semi-passive cooling. IOW, The fans won't run while you're working with DAW software (meaning it's completely silent). Download drivers directly from Nvidia. Brand itself isn't much of a concern. Regarding using a TV as a monitor: Make sure the TV doesn't suffer from excessive lag. This will result in sluggish mouse movement/etc. Whatever the display, make sure it can do 4k with at least a 60Hz refresh. Slower refresh (30Hz) can cause eye-strain headaches. If you haven't suffered migraines, this is almost guaranteed to cause one. ? I tend to favor dedicated video monitors... as these issues are moot. You can even get "Smart Monitors" that have built-in TV Streaming.

I see Reaper as more of an engineer's tool than a music production tool. I tend to use Reaper for simpler projects (audio editing, learning songs, recording a VO for the wife, etc). I gave up trying different Theme's years ago. That rabbit-hole can burn hours of time... and doesn't seem to change much (anything?) function wise. Reaper is incredibly CPU efficient... and is particularly good for audio editing. The Item Editor is similar to Samplitude's Object Editor (lots of realtime control). I'd actually like to see the "road plan" or stated development goals for v7.

I'm saying you want to avoid AMD's latest video cards... especially if you're pushing the limits of ultra low latency audio performance. I use Nvidia RTX cards in many builds... including two of my own. They work just fine. ie: A 13900k based machine (with RTX video card) can run IK's ToneX (similar to Kemper but in a plugin) at sub 1ms total round-trip latency.

FWIW, If you're pushing the limits of ultra low latency audio, a machine will glitch sooner with an AMD RX6xxx/7xxx vs. Nvidia RTX-3xxx/4xxx.

Kemper (using Rig Manager) is a similar scenario. There are thousands of Profiles that sound terrible. I hear the new "Liquid Profiles"... with modeled Tone Stacks sound excellent. Pretty amazing coming from a 12+ year-old piece of hardware. FWIW, I didn't get ToneX to browse thru other peoples Captures. I got ToneX to Capture my own amps/pedals. IK should update ToneX so it can run multiple Captures simultaneously. ie: It would be great to run an Amp/Cab Capture... with a separate drive/boost Capture. If you use ToneX within Amplitube 5, it's a lot more flexible.

Nice keyboard rig! Nord Stage 3 and Kronos are two of the very best available. Spider keyboard stand is also great. My home rig has Nord Stage 4 (bottom) and Wave-2 (top) on a Spider stand. Only use the Stage 4 live (no top tier). It can take some time/doing... but if you can get to the point where you're hiring commercial sound/lights, it's a tremendous relief (mentally and physically). In Central OH, commercial sound/lights (with good engineer) is $300-$350. If you're typically charging say $800, that may seem impossible... but here's the thing: Without commercial sound/lights, an $800 band sounds/looks like an $800 band. With commercial sound/lights, you look and sound like a more expensive band. You ARE that $1100-$1200 a night band. Quality commercial sound/lights pay for themselves. Taking it even further, get the guitar and bass player to go with a DI rig. No carrying heavy amps... and no 100w tube-amps blasting on stage. Our guitar player uses a POD Go. Nobody misses his Marshall half-stack. No one questions his "tone". Bass player is using an Ampeg Scrambler (pedal preamp). This way, each player is responsible for his/her gear. Simple load-in and load-out... With adequate monitors... you'll never miss the amps. If you play festivals, the crews/engineers will love you. You can get on/off stage in literally 10 minutes... and without having a coronary. ? We all have day-jobs (careers)... so the gigs really aren't about money. But, it's pretty nice to play a gig where you walk away with decent pay. We wanted to have NYE off this year. One venue kept asking us to book it... so we threw out a high figure (hoping they'd say no). They agreed (facepalm emoji). Don't limit your possibilities.

Always like the original Omni Channel. Lots of useful tools in the plugin. ie: The two de-essers are great for multiple things... including reducing guitar string squeaks. I like the way Andrew Scheps goes thru the plugin in the demo video. Real-world examples showing the utility of the plugin. My Omni Channel isn't currently under WUP... but (IMO) it's worth the $29 to grab v2. Of late, it seems cheaper to just purchase a discounted (new) version... vs maintaining WUP.

If you're playing festivals or corporate events: Make sure the event provides some type of cover/canopy (this is important for both sun and potential rain). See if the event will provide some type of access to AC (an RV, trailer, building, etc). It won't help while performing, but it will provide some relief during breaks or pre/post. If you're playing in the hot sun, a fan on stage helps tremendously. I'd also have a cooler with damp cold towels (put them around your neck). Yesterday, we played a festival opening for Lynch Mob and Jackyl. Was raining during load-in... temperature was about 77-78. After we started, the sun came out and it was hot as hades. Since it was 60-70% chance of rain, I didn't worry about my fan or the cold damp towels. Had to play two hours straight (no break). Drank loads of water. Only used the restroom once. With a large stage/crowd, I try to move a lot and put out as much energy as possible. Totally and completely exhausted! Thankfully, we had a RV with the AC cranked... so pre/post show we could cool down. Get some rest..

I use RTX-3060Ti and RTX-3070 (separate machines). The 13900k sitting next to me can run IK's ToneX at 96k using a 16-sample ASIO buffer size (~0.5ms total round-trip latency). If there were DPC Latency issues, that wouldn't be possible.

Hi Jack, There have been Nvidia driver versions that were problematic... but the vast majority have been fine. If you do encounter a DPC Latency issue (specific to the Nvidia driver), there are both "Studio" and "Game Ready" drivers available... as well as being able to roll-back to a previous driver. I'm not a fan of current AMD RX video cards. At ultra low audio latency settings, you'll encounter audio glitches sooner (vs using a Nivida card).