Amicus717

I grabbed this one, since I am a sucker for no-brainers. First impression: it is a quite good, although there are some things I'm still undecided on. The cymbals are all very nice, with smooth shift between velocity layers and the crescendo/rolls sound great and not phasey or artificial. Really useful. Hand drums, drums, snares, etc -- all great, and a nice mix of tones. The different mic positions are really useful and I already have some mic mixes that work well with my existing template. Glock/Crotales/ Tubular Bells, etc -- bright and clear, sound great. I really like the choke key for the tubular bells, since not all libraries have that feature, for whatever reason. The different mics on the tubular bells really vary the sound, although to my ears the bells do have a bit of a thwack sound to them, like the mallet/chime hammer being used is pretty hard. Not a problem for me, but if you want a more sonorous and/or warmer tone, these might not be quite what you are looking for. Marimba - quite lovely, with a smooth mix of velocity layers Timpanis - Gotta admit, these are disappointing me so far. There are some nice samples here, for sure, but I don't find the transition between velocity layers is quite as smooth as I'd like, and I'm not all that keen on the timp rolls with the mod wheel. It could be that I just need more time with them, but I find the rolls are really phasey if you move the mod wheel too fast, and they cut off instantly - and very artificially - when you let go of the key. That would be fine if you could cap the roll off with a single hit, but I find that the tone of the rolls does not match with the tone of the single hits, and so doing a crescendo / end strike with the mod wheel and the single hits just doesn't sound real to my ears. I gotta play with this more, see if it's just a matter of finding the right velocity. But so far, I don't see me using the timps all that much. I have other timp libraries that better suit my template. Overall though, this collection is totally worth $48 bucks, as there is a ton of great stuff in it.

I have a handful of their starter packages, and really like the sound of them. But the lost / broken key policy, which requires you to buy back libraries you have already purchased -- unless you buy into their insurance policy -- is ridiculous and insulting. I no longer have any interest in buying into their ecosystem.

Dirk Ehlert has one of his walk-thrus for Dark Era: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxNObpEC4d8 Takes a while to get going, but a decent intro to how the library sounds.

Available here: https://www.bestservice.de/dark_era.htm Crossgrade for owners of previous Era libraries: https://www.bestservice.de/dark_era_crossgrade.html

Thanks! Yeah, I fiddled with the Dynamic wheel, but it made no difference, in this case. I'm wondering if I have to reinstall it or something. It is just the one articulation, in the one patch, and I restarted my computer and relaunched it, and the problem remained. Thanks for testing it on your end. Rob

Hi folks, Anyone who has Symphony Series Brass Ensemble library (the full library, not the essentials one), I'd be curious if you have the same experience I am having when I load up the full trumpets patch. I discovered tonight that when I load up the "Trumpets.nki" patch, and select the "Velocity Staccato" articulation, it does not play properly. The highest velocities don't make any sound, only the lower velocities do. When I try the same articulation in the "Staccato Trumpets.nki" it works fine. This is only in the "Trumpets.nki" one. Is anyone else hearing this? Thanks, Rob

I picked up Iris 2, as I've heard a lot of good things about it, but I can barely use it on my system. Crackles and pops like crazy, every patch, no matter what settings I use, so far. Not sure why that would be -- I have a pretty good system with lots of resources, and it handles every other plug in and synth without a problem. Has anyone experienced this?

It's been a few years since I built a new system, but the last 4 or 5 computers I've assembled (including my last couple of audio workstations, gaming computers for myself and my sons, and my home theatre PC), all use Gigabyte mobos. I've used Asus in the past, but for whatever reason, I've had poor luck with them -- early demises, stability problems, etc. That's all very anecdotal, and maybe just bad luck, as I have friends who swear by Asus and use nothing else. But I've had much better luck with Gigabyte mobos, FWIW, and they are now the only brand I will use. YMMV

Worth $20, for sure. Potentially very useful.

First freebie has dropped: https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra-1-tutti-hits/ More will follow on the last Thursday of each month.

Available here: https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra-1-tutti-hits/ Additional instruments released once a month, on the last Thursday...

Exponential Audio - Nimbus reverb is my goto: https://www.exponentialaudio.com/nimbus/ Love how it sounds -- clean and spacious and rich.

Well-written song, good vocal work, and I like the clarity of the recording -- very clean, nicely detailed. Has a real air of polish about it. Enjoyed this a lot.

"Passing Through Gethsemane" and "Intersections in Real Time"...and any episode where Zathras makes an appearance, of course. Poor, poor Zathras...

I really enjoyed B5, especially as the series progressed into the later seasons. Very addictive show, and I like JMS's approach to the story and characters he created -- very balanced, fair, not overly PC. Very broad-minded, for the most part. I liked DS9, too, but found it got a bit lugubrious and heavy-handed as it went along.

Good to know, Thanks scook!

Oh, this one looks like it contains some stuff I've been searching for, including decent throat singing samples. Trailer looks pretty good...

This is terrible, terrible news, Larry.

I really like the ability to export directly to BandLab, and use it regularly. The ease and convenience of this has convinced me to start using BandLab instead of SoundCloud for some of my streaming. However, I would like to have some control over how the track exports, in terms of privacy settings. Right now, Cakewalk will publish the track on export, and if I don't want it heard right away, I have to rush to the site and unpublish it. I do this because I always prefer to check that the upload sounds good, and possibly tweak the track a bit (with some mastering, etc), before I publish it. The ability to export to BandLab in Private mode would be very helpful.

Very pleasant listen, and quite relaxing. Really enjoyed it. Had a rather hypnotic vibe to it, but still maintained interest.

Great sound. Enjoyed it a lot.

Sounds great -- very enjoyable listen and I like the mix.

Very nice little freebies! Thanks for posting them. I expect to get some use out of these.

Great song, tight performances, polished mix and a pretty sophisticated arrangement. Really enjoyed listening to this one.

I like the song, has a nice vibe to it and made for an enjoyable listen. The one thing that struck me right away was the length of the intro. It was longer than I expected, and for a second or two I was wondering if this was going to be an instrumental track. Possible the vocals should start earlier, or maybe add some additional development of the arrangement when the opening phrase/progression gets repeated. Just my two cents. But overall, I quite liked the song.