Jim Roseberry

I looked... and couldn't find it anywhere else. Sweetwater says Ableton (as a brand) is no longer available. I assume they've gone to direct only sales.

MPE functions are great. An i3 NUC powering the standalone features is going to be a bit under-powered (compared to most DAWs). Push-2 was ~$800... so a couple hundred more for MPE function doesn't seem out of line. $2000 for the stand-alone model seems about right... but I agree that it's primarily going to appeal to the Live power-user. IMO, $2000 MIDI controller keyboard (with similar features- that could be used with Live and other DAWs), would have more broad appeal. MPE is still early in development. There's a lot of room left for someone to create the perfect balance between tradition/evolution.

For ToneX Captures to be accurate, you need proper re-amp configuration. ToneX Capture is a re-amp device (proper impedance and level for this purpose). If you have something like the Radial Reamp box, that's basically the same thing. If your audio interface has re-amp output/s, you don't need ToneX Capture. Most audio interfaces don't have proper re-amp output. In that case, you'd need ToneX Capture (or similar). Captures are created with a computer. Captures can then be loaded into ToneX Pedal... or used in your DAW (within the ToneX plugin or loaded into Amplitube 5). If you just want to use the Captures in your DAW, ToneX Pedal isn't necessary. If you want to take your Captures to gigs/rehearsals, ToneX Pedal makes a great "virtual-amp" on a pedal-board.

These libraries are expensive... especially if music is more a hobby/interest vs. career. Orchestral Tools and Spitfire are both popular with professional TV/Film composers. Probably the two most popular with our professional composer clients. To my ears, both Ark series and BBC SO sound amazing (I own both). Also have the EW CC subscription. EW Hollywood Opus series is pretty decent for the price of admission. That said, Opus multi-core CPU performance is significantly worse than Sine/Kontakt. For this reason, Opus is not popular with professional composers running large scoring templates. ie: A layer of string parts in Opus can take ~30-35% of a 13900k CPU. In Sine/Kontakt, the same type thing is ~2-3% CPU. If you're not working with large scoring templates, it's relatively easy to work around. Nashville Scoring Strings, Cinematic Studio Strings, Albion One, LA Scoring Strings, and Modern Scoring Strings are also widely used. First time I fired up BBC SO and played a few notes, I smiled/laughed... as the sound is immediately impressive.

Hi Gordon, Some companies have Thunderbolt-2 interfaces that have problems with Thunderbolt-4. The ironic part is that there wasn't a dramatic change with Thunderbolt-4. Focusrite makes some nice hardware... but I've never been a big fan of their drivers.

Don't expect miracles from under-volting. Too much... and it's completely unstable... or you're significantly under-clocking the CPU. At that point, you'd have been better off getting a lower-end CPU that naturally runs cooler (less expensive and less hassle). The 7950x needs top-tier 420mm water-cooling (same with Intel's 13900k). Anything less is neutering the CPU. While I get the point that heat dissipation could be more efficient, butchering a high cost CPU isn't an elegant solution. You're much better off spending time/resources on proper cooling. It's a guaranteed solution. Choose the right one and configure it well... and it'll run quiet.

I've mentioned this before... Configuring latest generation AMD (Ryzen 7950x) and Intel (13900k) CPUs is more involved than previous generations. If you put the machine under any kind of load, you don't want to, "Set everything to automatic and forget it". The motherboard needs to be properly configured... and the hardware (as a whole) needs to be tested under load. You don't want to skimp on cooling. You need to be aware of current limits of DDR5. Asus motherboards work just fine (including the Asus Crosshair X670E Hero in this video). I've used that exact motherboard with the 7950x... and it runs perfectly stable, doesn't thermal-throttle under heaviest loads, etc.

I think the cool part about Profiles/Captures/Clones is that you can "virtualize" your real amps/pedals. You can then load any of these Captures into Amplitube 5... which offers a lot of flexibility.

FWIW, It's probably more hassle than it's worth. 4GB RAM is barely enough to run Win10 or Win11. With a host application and Keyscape running, the machine would be hitting the VM Swapfile (in lieu of having enough physical RAM). That would kill performance.

Hard to make good recommendations without more specifics about the types of projects the OP plans to do. If it's larger scale Orchestral Composition (using the likes of Hollywood Strings, Orchestral Tools Ark series, Spitfire's BBC Symphony Orchestra, etc), an i9 CPU with 64GB RAM isn't overkill in any way. If it's simple 24-track song-writing demos... with just a couple of small Virtual-Instruments, then the i9 and 64GB RAM are totally overkill.

Thunderbolt 3 and 4 work great under both Windows 10 and Windows 11. Just a matter of tending to all the details... RME UFX+, UA Apollo/Satellite, Presonus Quantum, Antelope are all rock-solid connected via Thunderbolt. Anyone who says Thunderbolt doesn't work (or is flaky) under Win10/Win11 doesn't know what they're doing.

Years ago, I had an early MiniMoog. Keyboard player from my high-school band owned it... and it was sitting in his basement collecting dust. Sold it to me for $50. I kept it several years... and ultimately sold it to a friend for $200. I was planning on getting it refurbished... but never wanted to spend the money. Bad decision... as (good condition) they're currently selling for $10-$12k. The current reissues are a more "affordable" $5k... and they're better instruments. Tuning stability is shocking. I leave it on for hours (sometimes days)... and it's still in-tune. There's a dedicated LFO, so you don't have to use the 3rd Oscillator for vibrato. Key-bed has velocity and aftertouch. I traded a lot of gear to get the reissue. Wasn't going to do it... but figured I'd regret missing the opportunity. There's no way I'd pay $10+k for a vintage Model-D. Nostalgia plays a big part... but there's nothing quite like the sound/experience. Software synths are infinitely more practical... but it's hard to beat the immediacy of a knob/switch/button laden hardware synth. If you were into the PPG in the 80s-90s, the new "3rd Wave" from Groove Synthesis (couple former Sequential guys) is pretty amazing. Has the same filter as the Prophet 10. Kind of a renaissance or new golden-age for hardware synths

It would be nice if Yamaha released an 88-key Montage successor that weighed about 40-lbs. Better Filters, better mono behavior, VA synth section, etc.

At nearly $2k, who is this targeting? Someone with a more elaborate setup is going to need more inputs (keyboards, guitar processors, etc) Someone looking for a two-channel audio interface most likely isn't wanting to spend nearly $2k. I'm always a bit leery when a company new to audio interfaces has a first release. Yes, Neuman is a name/brand with stellar reputation... for microphones. What Neuman doesn't have is a 10-20 year reputation for creating rock-solid low-latency drivers (equal to the best available).

Here in Columbus, OH... (at gigs) most guitarists are using Modelers or Profilers at gigs. The ones using amps are typically using smaller tube heads like the newer 20w Marshall JCM, Friedman PT-20, etc. I can think of one guy who's using a 50w 5150-III. Sound is fantastic, cartage is minimal, much smaller stage foot-print, and stage volume is lower In short, just a whole lot more practical... and especially so with the quality available today

I watched... and thought... "Is this guy actually enjoying playing?"

Picked up a Nautilus 73 a while back. Absolutely hated the keybed. Aside from the key action feeling "cheap", the velocity response of the acoustic pianos just felt off. I hear the 88-key version uses the same keybed as Kronos (sans aftertouch). If that's the case, it's an excellent keybed. If wish they made Nautilus in module/rack format.

Love the SSL plugins.

I completely understand. ? I sold my Triamp mk3, Helios, and Revv Generator 120mk3 All sounded great... but G.A.S. got the best of me... and I wanted other things that I'd use more.

Look at the price of "boutique" amp heads: H&K Triamp mk3 Friedman BE-100 Deluxe Bogner 20th Ecstasy All are $4000+ I bought four boutique amps to Capture/Profile. Started getting more into keyboards... and realized I had way too much tied up in large/heavy amps (not being used enough). Cost on everything is getting out of hand. The new MiniMoog re-issue is $5k. Absolutely crazy... until you compare with a vintage Model D... which (in good shape) is selling for 10-12k. When I was 17-18, I used to make of list of all my "dream" studio gear. I would add up the total cost... and it would be ~$200k. Remember freaking out thinking... OMG I'll never be able to get those things. Now that I'm old, I can get some of it... but I have to pick-and-choose. I did liquidate three of those expensive tube amps... and grabbed the Model D re-issue. As a kid, I loved the MiniMoog. For me, the re-issue is a chance to have one (in good working order). It's a nostalgic thing... To get back on topic, I'm not overly surprised by the cost of the MESA Mark VII. Given the relative cost of everything increasing (components, labor, packing, shipping, etc), it's inevitable. Cost for large boxes that I use to ship DAWs has literally doubled the past 24 months. A large bag of (worthless) packing-peanuts is now ~$100! ?

If using IK's ToneX plugin for Advanced Captures, you pretty much have to be running a RTX video card (unless you like waiting for hour/s).

FWIW, I don't have any issue with RTX-3xxx or RTX-4xxx series video cards. With a RTX video card installed, 13900k and 7950x can both run IK's ToneX at 96k using a 16-sample ASIO buffer size.

Darn fingers sometimes have a mind of their own. I've corrected my post. I meant video card.

Video card supply and prices have somewhat normalized. RTX-4090 is pushing $2k RTX-3050, 3060Ti, 3070Ti are more than enough for most... and cost a whole lot less.

I would not currently use AMD video cards. In my ultra low latency (audio) testing, AMD's 6xxx series resulted in audio glitches sooner (vs running a RTX-3xxx or RTX-4xxx) Some applications/plugins can benefit from a dedicated video card. ie: Modular synths (where there are scores of widgets changing/moving)