Nick Blanc

And the winner is.... Berlin House Grooves 02 https://www.zenhiser.com/collections/house/products/berlin-house-grooves-02

Ok ok, I stand corrected ? But still, I'M not paying it. I'll slap on Soothe 2, some PA dirt box, reverb and delay, play a fat Moog bass under it and nobody is the wiser I'm here in my untreated livingroom with just a mic reflection shield and a Behringer XM5800. Or better yet, that IK Multimedia measure mic and their Mic room plugin.

I know I'm probably not right and the same could be said about analog synths (but then you would be wrong! ?) Why should I pay $1500 (or a multitude) for a microphone when a $100 Sure mic plus a bit of EQ would give me 95% of the same result? Software EQ's don't cost 1400... Every song out there is heavily produced, compressed, limited, eq'ed, mangled, reverbed and delayed. Surely the nuance difference is hardly noticeable? I think it made sense 50 years ago when the recording was everything. But honestly, pick any populair song with vocals, any. I'll bet it is impossible to hear which microphone was used or even what pricerange. I just don't get mics. Yes to get it right without much processing saves valuable time. But then we circle back to the heavily produced part. That also takes time. So how about an extra 15 minutes setting up an EQ and de-esser? Then you can slap on the 50 reverbs (we know you have them! I do too). No-one will ever know if you recorded it on a Behringer XM5800 or a gold plated Neumann which has only been handled and shipped by a Bavarian virgin who will be ritually sacrificed when the product is delivered, just to keep everything pure.. *rant off

That seems about right. I have a "Z files' folder with incomplete projects, idea sketches, etc. That folder has more than10 times the files than my completed projects. Why Z files? I started with DOS and trackers. So when scrolling through a huge list of files, it was hard keeping track which song I was working on. I named the 'work in progress' files Zx (x= a number). So I could just press pagedown a couple of times to scroll all the way down and I was always at the most recent project. I kept the system when Windows became a thing.

Yes I know, but the amount adds up to be eligible for the freebie.

This is going on the wislist for the next black friday. Maybe this year I will exceed the threshold for the freebie.

If only I was smart enough to check which plugins I already had. I bought all 3 of those, only to find out I too already had Tube Delay. Weirdly it gave a lot of rewards so it balances out, but still. Feels like I wasted €10. So if anyone wants a Tube Delay license for cheap, message me. I haven't used the license.

It gets weirder when you watch the video. All praise. "Fantastic product, amazing, nothing like it, my go to for x, I always use it for...aaaaand it's not up to our standards so bye!" Price still seems pretty up much to their standards, even with 50% off. Make it 75-80% off and I will consider buying such an inferior product.

Was looking forward to this one as a very in the background texture tool, but it is a bit too present for my taste.

You are right, I couldn't find an option to put it in front with the Rob Papen plugin. Still a good one though ?

Indeed, but I got an email. And also note that this update doesn't install (automatically) from Ableton. You have to download and manually install it from their website. And also note that my first 2 startups after the update made Ableton crash immediately. Third time was the charme though.

I don't know for sure. As usual, I buy stuff and then just look at it sitting pretty. I will test it this evening though. But never underestimate a Rob Papen plugin for its functionality.

RP-VERB2. It has a reverse function. I haven't tested it for workflow against this one, but it seems to have a similar idea.

So I'm running 48k and 256ms latency, which is a good workable setup. Latency can be brought down on occasion when I need it. But this is absolutely fine. I feel confident now I can throw a lot at it for the coming years. Latest test with 75 Spire channels with an NI EQ and Ableton arpeggiator was running fine. When I switched to 100 tracks there was some mild crackle and 98% CPU load (on playback, idle = 3%). Changed the buffer size to 512 and everything was going well (at the edge I think, but still). But regarding something I see coming up: temperature running stable at around 65C at full load. It drops back to 40 when I stop playback. And I don't have the most expensive cooling system. Just a random (actually one of the cheaper) Noctua cooler which fitted this CPU architecture.

Almost bought it, but then I remembered I have an excellent Rob Papen plugin which does basically the same.

Just want to say I absolutely love the Chandler stuff (I don't have the germanium comp). And for this price.

If you have a coupon, it is applicable. That knocks off (for me at least) 20% which makes the price €31.20.

I'm just gonna pretend this topic didn't escalate. Craig N put me on to something. I did a benchmark test with a program he recommended. https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/50103348 And it said I was throttling. I THOUGHT I turned everything to 100%. I did. But there was some dropdown I missed which still said I was saving energy. Here's the thing with Windows 11 (or me, the user). You can change energy profiles at different locations and they seem to not communicate. That, or I'm a bit of an idiot. And since I once wasted days/weeks of Focusrite support for audio dropouts while I had my Scarlett plugged into a USB hub which I forgot I did, I think I know the answer. Anyway, I changed it and my idle problem is entirely gone. CPU usage is waaaay down. I ran the test again and it sill says I'm throttling. https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/50104211 ok..... So the situation is way better, but maybe it can be even betterererer.

I'm convinced it is the right choice, but my guess it the problem is with Ableton. I have run several test (similar to Craig N who PM'ed me, thanks!) and there seems to be very weird behaviour. Ableton has this neat feature where you can see which channel uses the most CPU. If I load a project with let's say 70 tracks. Only roughly 7 tracks exhibit extreme CPU usage and the rest are just cruising by. I can delete those channels and the problem moves to another set of channels. So if I begin a project with a couple of channels, the CPU usage is too high in my opinion. But if I keep adding channels, the problem doens't seem to get that bigger. Of course there is a limit but it's like it idles at 8-10%. Every channel up to 7-8 adds 10% and after that every new channel adds almost nothing. I just relayed al this info to Ableton support and I will wait for their reply. Again, seems weird that I'm venting on a cakewalk forum, but I like you guys better than the Ableton forum ?

Well, I don't really see a solution to the driver problem. Apart from buying a new interface, which is not going to happen. And weird that I did'nt have those issues with my old PC. And I already connected the interface to a dedicated USB connection on the motherboard. First thing I did.

Yeah I basically changed everything on my new PC. Went from Windows 10 to 11. Installed the latest Ableton version (so that didn't change), changed the sample rate from 44.1 to 48, changed the buffer size from...ehm 256 or 512? to 128. I did disable wifi and bluetooth yes. I'm not unplugging the peripherals (external SSD and synths) because those will be connected in daily use. I'm setting myself up for a test weekend. Running all kinds of similar projects between my old and new PC. Checking every setting. Not the greatest of weekends, but hey, at least I have some female companionship coming over looking pretty while I'm cursing at machines.

I've used Latencymon once when I had issues with my Focusrite interface cutting out. Was baffled by this sudden problem for weeks. So support (which was very helpful and quick to respond) helped my through all the steps. I was at the end of my options until, unrelated, I was shuffling some USB connections. I noticed I put the USB plug from the Focusrite into an USB hub. Probably needed a port for something else and didn't bother to check what USB cable I was moving. So there's my IT skill level for ya ? I excused myself for being an idiot and thanked them for all their patience.

I will dive into my power settings some more this weekend. I followed all the usual steps which are reconmended (found it on the Sweetwater website). Ableton support sent me a link to follow, so I will do that as well. And I will doublecheck throttling. Running 100% doesn't really matter for me, I have the PC switched off when I'm not making music, so I'm not driving up my utilities bill. See, your "150 track with 100 plugins" was what I was expecting with my setup, but I don't even have near half that. With a PC that was more expensive than my car (granted, it's a crappy one). But I'm not going anywhere near the registry.

At some point I think support would have me make a latency mon (or whatever the application is called) report. Which I cannot understand. But I recognise DPC. I already disabled everything I don't need. I'm running a clean ship.

You are right that the meter in Ableton is not corresponding with task manager. When I'm idleing (is that a word?) at 8-10% in Ableton and the meter is all jittery, the task manager cruises at 1-2% max. So I'm not stressing thát much. But there is so much weird behaviour. The first 30 seconds or so after I launch Ableton, the CPU meter hovers at 1%, which it should (and which my old i5 does!). But the moment I start doing anything (checking VST list, loading a sample, creating a track, whatever), it shoots up to 8-10%. I'm running Windows 11. Like it's waiting, like a predator, and as soon as I make a move, it strikes! So I decided to test it with Massive X, some Native Instruments EQ's, audio at 48k en 128 buffer. Playing the same apreggio on 50 tracks. CPU shot up to 98%. I was expecting something better. Same thing with Kontakt and Alicia's Keys playing an arp, some EQ, reverb and distortion, 60 tracks and the whole thing starts to crackle at 80%. I've seen youtube clips of people running twice this on an M1 and Cubase with no problem. I'm starting to suspect Ableton vs. Windows 11 vs. I9 12th gen is not a happy marriage yet. But first I have to convince Ableton support of this, and that requires me updating my graphic drivers... I know I'm ranting in a Cakewalk forum, but I'm a bit bored at work soooo....?