Michael A.D.

Here's the Bricasti files: https://samplicity.com/bricasti-m7-impulse-response-files/

I really like Windows 11. No problems at all, and I find everything is a bit snappier than Windows 10.

I downloaded the upgrade to Scaler last night and played with it a bit. Then I opened EZKeys2. I dragged a progression from Scaler into the chords section of the Bandmate area on EZKeys2. I then put the progression into the track and used the Replace MIDI feature to convert the original Scaler progression into countless variations. I'm amazed at this new Replace MIDI feature! It's a very nice workflow - Scaler to EZKeys2.

A similar (and completely FREE) product is Transition from CodeFN42. https://www.codefn42.com/transition/index.html (Windows only - VST2 compatible 64-bit host.)

I'm REALLY liking the new EZkeys2, but like all Toontrack products I find their instruments to be just so-so. And yes, this new grand piano in EZkeys2 is pretty good. But I substituted some of my PianoTeq grand pianos and well, they just blew away the Toontrack grand. And I don't mean this as a knock on Toontrack as I think the strength of their products is their compositional abilities - and I believe EZkeys2 is the best product they have ever made in that regard.

Is Musician's Friend actually Guitar Center? The Musician's Friend ad that Larry linked to says: The limited-edition D'Angelico Premier Bedford SH electric with tremolo is available exclusively at Guitar Center.

How do you pull in the loops that are close to 132? That seems to be THE problem that I can't solve and why I am suggesting that Toontrack needs to add a BPM range request... for example, show me the grooves that are within 10% or 20% of 132.

Hey John, Thanks for your suggestions. You have always been a kind contributor on this forum and I really appreciate your input! I’ve only had the demo EZD3 program for a week and had not tried the tap-tempo feature, so hopefully I am not doing something wrong. But I found that the tap-tempo input gave TOO MANY results and they were all over the place with result tempos shown hundreds of BPM apart, but I presume they matched in some manner to my taps. The interesting part was that some of the results showed 100% match, but there were lots of other matches that showed a percentage of a groove that matched. Which leaves me to believe that Toontrack may have the necessary code to interpret a BPM and show it, even if it does not exactly match. But overall, thanks for the suggestion, but tap-tempo is too much work compared to just typing in a BPM. I will send Toontrack a note suggesting that they input a feature that will qualify (tempo range, etc) matches of a searched BPM.

John, I had tried that. If EZD3 has no loops at 132, then it says NO MATCHES FOUND (or something to that effect). Apparently the program will only match the exact BPM that you search. It needs to have a range feature in the search engine. (For example, I tried searching 120-144 but that doesn't work either.) I tried using a wildcard (*), but nope.

I downloaded the EZD3 demo last Sunday and am looking for a feature (that it may not have). I've looked through the manual and looked at some YouTube videos for a way to choose a groove based on it's tempo. For instance, I am working on a tune that is 132 BPM, so I would like to see the grooves that match 132BPM. I can see how you can sort grooves based on tempo, but nothing that would allow me to specifically find the BPM that I want. Am I missing something? Or perhaps it just does not have that feature? (I am used to AD2 where you can say exactly what you want as well as specify closely matching BPMs that are within either 10% or 20% of the requested BPM.)

I could not agree more! I would go so far as to say it's the most amazing music program I have found in the last few years and it's just in it's infancy. The SynthV voices are already realistic enough to fool most casual listeners, but the voices are going to get more sophisticated, more stylized, and I think they will slowly infiltrate modern music production as a standard tool.

Here's my favorite FM synth. Yeah it costs $50, but it's absolutely fantastic! https://www.plogue.com/products/chipsynth-ops7.html

Chord Potion is great! Especially for bad keyboard players like me! Another way you can change the patterns is to assign the keyswitches to pads on your keyboard controller. This is useful if you don't have a full keyboard that can allow you to reach the lower keyswitches while playing in your preferred range.

I got the SR-88 as a freebie just a few days ago. I was not impressed - rather boring, with mediocre samples. Will probably never use it. (Good thing it was free!) Looks like Latin Percussion is the same program with different samples. I'll pass.

Besides the cool interface (a great way to interpret/create beats!), Beat Scholar comes with GREAT sounds and grooves. If you like percussion that can border at times on being melodic, then Beat Scholar is highly recommended!

I got an email from Toontrack offering a 20% discount on everything in my cart. They gave me a personalized discount code and said it must be used by December 31st. I thought to myself that it's time to get EZDrummer3 ! Then I read the rest of the mail and realized that their offer is basically a joke: All items available in the webshop for the duration of the promotion apply, except for: • EZdrummer 3, the EZdrummer 3 Upgrade, EZdrummer 3 Bundle, EZdrummer 3 MIDI Edition and the EZX Value Pack • EZbass, the EZbass Bundle, EZbass MIDI Edition and the EBX Value Pack • The Superior Drummer 3 Bundle, Superior Drummer 3 Orchestral Edition, Superior Drummer 3 MIDI Edition and the SDX Value Pack • The EZ Line Software Collection bundle • All single-title SDX expansions currently not on sale • All single-title EZX expansions currently not on sale Thanks for the meaningless offer Toontrack! They should have listed only the items that you could actually use the code with.

I was not impressed with Vogue - I thought it was too expensive for what it offered. And at that price I would expect MIDI out. So I was a bit reluctant when they announced Vibe, but what the heck - it's a 30 day demo, so I decided to try it. Well, Vibe surprised me - I like this very much - perhaps because it's a more percussive instrument. It seems to create much better results than Vogue, but I still feel it's a bit pricey and the lack of MIDI out is terrible. (Maybe they are saving MIDI out for V2 when they can charge everyone for an upgrade?) I'll play with this a bit more tonight, but I am leaning towards purchasing it. (And yeah, I feel I should get a discounted price as I own at least 15 Ujam products, but it appears they only want to give a discount to Vogue owners.)

I'm confused. I have the latest version of Loopcloud and it allows my content to be indexed by their search engine. (And I have about 600,000 files that it indexes.) I get a 50% off deal to buy the annual studio plan which is $60 for the year ($5 per month). That plan also gives me 3500 points to buy clips, so with most clips costing 2 points, that gives me more than 1700 clips that I can purchase with the points. It also gives me 25 free clips every day. I think it's a great deal, especially considering how good their search engine is.

OPS7 has been a favorite of mine since it was released. HIGHLY recommended!

I own quite a few of Rigid Audio's instruments and they are an excellent value. If I didn't have so many of their titles already I would grab this new offer. I do have one big complaint about most of their titles in that they number their patches instead of naming them. Many of their titles are blending two or more sources and when you get a pull-down menu for source A that shows 300 numbers and source B shows 300 numbers... well it's pretty tough to remember what those sounds are. Yeah, I'm sure you can save your favorite patches, but it would make more sense to see a source named BELLS22 rather than just 22. Other than that I would recommend their products - they sound good and are interesting to play with.

I've had the Miroslav orchestra for years and rarely use it. If you are looking for a low cost orchestral library, I would suggest Amadeus. I think you can get it for about $100 when it's on sale: https://sonicscores.com/amadeus/

The Sordino Strings sound really nice. I gotta get this tonight! Not too many opportunities to get a Sonokinetic library for $39 (unless it's their annual Xmas sale when it might be free or a BIG sale).

Kenny said "Before Charlie everyone was just playing banjo's and arch-top guitars non amplified on the band stand ..." A little correction on the history. Eddie Durham predated and inspired Christian. In 1935, he was the first to record an electrically amplified guitar with Jimmie Lunceford in "Hittin' the Bottle" that was recorded in New York for Decca. In 1938, Durham recorded single string electric guitar solos with the Kansas City Five (or Six), which were both smallish groups that included members of Count Basie's rhythm section along with the tenor saxophone playing of Lester Young. Durham inspired Christian to start using an amplified instrument in 1937.

These "computer" voices are getting better and better. Check this out made with Synthesizer V using the Solaria voice:

Acoustic Samples is the same company that constantly has specials on their guitars - usually a package of 3 or 4 instruments. I (and others here) have commented many times about how those guitars sound nice but are very difficult to use. As a matter of fact, I never use them because of their difficulty. I have never heard of these Acoustic Samples basses, but when I go the Acoustic Samples website they are not even listed, which makes me wonder if these basses are VERY old and may exhibit all the problems that the guitars have.