Michael Fogarty

Hour long piece in 6, 9, 5, 4.. Was considering using the arranger but I have literally scores of markers as to save my eyes I often write my chord changes as markers. I want to move the last section I did further back into the song. I tried sliding to make space for it, but my time signatures went out of whack. You can copy/paste special and it includes all that but I don't see a Slide Special. But I don't see lots of things.

Hi. Just doing tests to see whether the RME or MOTU Mk4 has better latency. Cakewalk reads them both, but the RTL utility won't give me a reading on the Babyface. Says it might be up to 50% off, do it again, and then a different prompt shows up. I am testing at 96buffer. Both will record down at the low levels but it seems the Babyface likes it better. I usually record at 128 once things are up and running and tracks are filling up and only need these low latencies (96 or 64) when I am comping digital pianos. Not worrying about the RTL utility here, can I pretty much bet that the onboard Cakewalk utility is accurate? Why is it when something is stand alone or only does one thing we give it more credence?

thank you Jim.

Update of my post above where it says everything is purring like a kitten. I have intermittent skips. I don't want to steal the thread, but I was so happy with my portable set-up (Thinkpad XI) and Yamaha keyboard or Babyface interfaces. Did all of Pete's tweaks that I could understand and it seemed to run well. Is there a button list somewhere of all the exact tweaks that the kind gentleman took the time to make for us? I want to make sure I didn't miss something because my classy computer is unusable in a professional surrounding right now and that's things that make you wanna go..... What happened is I was listening a to a one hour piece in Sound Forge and about, gosh, 12 minutes in the sound completely took a dive like the tape snapped, but back on again in time. It happened to me live with my XPS 9350 that I was using for VST's or some songs just a stereo loop - and it would skip. Random. Intermittent. Once in a song. Some kind of interference. On the live gig I wasn't online so it wasn't that. Is anybody successfully using a Thinkpad for recording. . Tonight -update, edit, it did it watching YouTube. I will try stuff and get back.Maybe I should try offline as it is wi-fi. (or get a LAN adapter for the Yoga. Thanks.

Yes, hi. I would like to try hooking up my DP88 (a gift). Beautiful hardware. I had the original Digimax and then the one they came out with after that after that about 15 years back. Heavy hardware, very clean pre-amps, but as changes come, we parted ways. I always liked their pre-amps and it is what came my way so kept smiling and making music. I used to hook up them up through their analog ins and outs into my MOTU analog ins - no pipes this time Danny Boy. Just felt good and I hate crackles and latency issues. But alas, the DP88 doesn't have analog outs. So, I am destined to try to get it to be happy with a blue light. I have either an RME Babyface or a MOTU Ultralite MKIV to plug it into. They both are supposed to happy with these blue lights. I have the light cables. I don't really understand word clock or if its needed. I am a player first, and dabble in computers and electronics. Emphasis on dabble. I am happy to grasp what I can. Has anyone tried it or own one, or knows someone that owns one? Are there going to be latency issues or rice crispies? I saw a tutorial on YouTube how to do it, but it was a guy hooking up a live performance with two of them in tandem and I got lost. Basically I want to know what to look out for and the basic hook-up. It doesn't have to be a DP88. Any ADAT unit that you have had success at low latencies through Cakewalk. Do I use sympte? (that was a joke really. I know a little bit.) Also, on a side note, If anybody happens to use a Studio 192 (gifted) I would be very curious if you ever got it to work? I love the sound again, but it has proven latency issues with any DAW that isn't Studio One. I had to purchase other interfaces for that reason. I am a keyboard player and the majority of my productions, unless I am collaborating, are composed with large library VST's like Omnisphere, NI, Ravenscroft, Scarbee's. So latency is life when I am tracking. I found out through my trial and error and many other chaps and gals online that that its a hardware flaw and it can't be fixed. But does it work for you? I am forever loaning it to a kid down the street that only records acoustically so he is a happy camper. It is a pretty pricey unit and sounds great- great DSP and eq. and you don't have to be online to use like my MOTU unit (is there a way around that? Oops - another thread.) Ok, hope you have a good weekend. It's Sunday night here in Japan and I am off tomorrow. Appreciate you all. PS - I would be happy with a YouTube link -but it has to be dumbed down. Sorry.

I had a Gina.

just to chime in I did these tweaks on a new laptop and she’s purring like a kitten. Thank you so much.

intriguing. Must try this. Chrome really flakes out on Ipad.

Understood. I bought the MOX8 (14kilos) with rolling softcase years back, but still hard to move around. Now have a P121 and MX61 for live use triggering VST’s. But alas, no live gigs at the moment. Have a good day.

Mild Bill. Glad you got it working. I have the ES Rack and Editor and had an S90es which I lost in a fire - lovely keyboard. Have you gotten the editor to work properly for the Rack so that you can make all the tweaks from your computer? I’ve set it up a few times, but this time it didn’t catch.

this is the final mastering. Guess I wasn’t very clear.

Fixed.

best to you. That is really discouraging. I hope you can see the brighter side of your condition. The outlook may not always be easy, but the uplook is promising.

thanks bitflipper and marled.

thank you Eric. Yes, I turn off all the FX as you mentioned. Never heard about the extra audio takes, though mine are archived. I probably just need a stronger computer.

hi everyone. So, working on hour long ambient pieces. Two instances of Omnisphere full multi, East West Play full, various plugs and reverbs. Have to put my DAW up to 256 buffer. Realize there are some piano parts to tweak and would like to go down to 96 or even 128. Would be a simple solution to freeze the two Omnisphere instances, but have you tried freezing and unfreezing an hour long track? Hmm. What I have done in the past is make an mp3 of the mix sans piano, and then open up another instance of Cakelab, do the piano part and import back into original track. Any other ideas outside of a new computer? I'm a Gen3 Intel user so would have to build something new and not an option at the moment as just purchased a laptop for backup and live work. Would archiving the tracks help (not). Freeze just the section that needs the tweak? Play the piano part with my CLP tone for the tracking and then copy to Ravenscroft track? (not the best because sound and response very different.) I've done all these but looking for a quicker solution.

I agree with that. And that's why I seek the help of scientists like yourself.

this is an excellent answer, though I have had no success compressing the hell out of it. I get this perfect sounding mix using 2 instances of Omnisphere and other VST's including's Scarbee's Rhodes. The mix is all sounding great but then I put a mastering plug on it like Izotope and all of a sudden the rest of the mix is beautiful and in your face but the piano is metallic and sounds like hell in my personal opinion. I have experimented with various hi end reverbs but alas. This goes for Synthogy Ivory, Ravenscroft 275, and NI pianos. I will go back to the mix (one hour ambient) and set the piano how I like it with the mastering plug and add the other instruments and hope the client is happy with the volume with the overall volume.

you mentioned in another post the Audiobox. I have had and still have a Presonus interface. On my Studio 192 the pres and converters are very good -close to the big boys. What i did find out from the Asian representative though is that their interfaces are made to go with the software. The latency doesn't work well with other DAW - and I can testify Cakewalk is one of them. Seems it might have been a bit of an oversight, but they were stuck with the results. My RME and MOTU and even the interface in my Yamaha Keyboards get great latency - the RME down to 64 and it is an older unit. If you don't need more than two tracks, get a used Babyface. Probably very cheap on ebay or in a music store, classifieds.

hi old timer. think I've been seeing your name here for about 25 years if I recall right. What does that quote mean? Thank you.

if your main setback is latency, I would suggest upgrading you digital interface. If you want to keep the budget low, then research the newer (last few years) MOTU units. They have really improved the latency compared to the older. I still get better latency with RME, but they are pricey -or buy used like me. I am still using an i5 but usually can work with two instances of Omnisphere loaded, various other plugs at 2.9ms. When I start adding Izotope mastering plugs, etc for mixing, I boost if up to 5.8 or even 11.6, but I am finished tracking by that time. And yes, SSD will make a huge difference.

A question here since we are onto SSD drives. (pardon me Andy if this is considered stealing your thread.) One of the reasons I got a fantastic deal on this laptop is the specs are low. It only has a 256GB SSD but I got it anyway because it was only $400. (quite the find, as my XPS 9350 blew its 2nd mobo and can't spend big bucks again.) Would it be best to put in a 1TB or 500GB SSD or leave it as it is and get an external SSD?

Yes, so I am working on a song with a couple of instances of Omnisphere and other plug-ins. Decide to use my NI Gentleman piano. Somedays it might be Ivory or Ravenscroft. I have to pull all of the Omnisphere performances way down because the volumes of the pianos are so low in comparison. Of course, I can raise the volume with compression but then the piano to me sounds like metal. At low or somewhat "normal" volume it sounds great and a pleasure to play, but at louder volumes brittle shall we say - harsh comes to mind.. When it comes time for mixing because I have brought the volumes down so low on all the Omnisphere tracks, when I export and look at the .wavs (stereo mixdown) in Sound Forge the overall level is about -29. What is everybody doing to combat this? The answer is not, "oh, it's 24bit so you don't have to worry. Just limit it or raise the volume of the overall mix." Limiting and enhancement sounds great on the pads and synths and basses and drums, but the piano suffers.

good news. Loving it as we speak.

sorry to hear. My XPS 9350 fully loaded just blew its second mobo. First replacement cost me $700. Just paid $80 to find out it needs another. Seems such a waste this gorgeous sexy piece of hardware. Years of laptops and this is the first time it has happened. I can only suspect its because they are so thin (I just read.) Just bought a used Thinkpad. (this is not my main DAW -I use desktop.)