8DIO 8W Owners Get Majestica Ultra For $20!

[PavlovsCat]

On 11/9/2023 at 4:06 PM, Technostica said:

VI-C also has some great people there, so defaulting to talking about a particular incident there and suggesting that therefore VI-C should be avoided seems unbalanced.
There are people there that I block but I do that here also and at KVR.
I only hang out out in the deals section here so I don't need to block many.
People who regularly write essays on their pet peeves are included.

Of course,  no one is asserting that all 40,000 community members at VI-Control are all terrible people. I've interacted with some wonderful people there. The worst behavior comes from a small, but aggressive group. However, just like bad actors on Facebook, X and larger social media vehicles, the bad actors are usually the ones with the loudest, most aggressive behavior.  Mike, unlike Frederick,  the previous owner, doesn't do anything to keep the bad behavior in check and sometimes Mike participates in it. Add to that the group think/mob mentality that's  fairly pervasive at VI-Control and personality cults, and you have a toxic mix.Frederick at least used temporary bans on some of the worst bad actors who engaged in cyberbullying. That no longer happens under Greene. If you  contrast that forum with this and other civil forums,  you'll find that civil environment didn't occur by accident. It starts at the top with ownership with good ethics, ethical policies and consistent enforcement of those policies. 

As far as your shot at me for long posts. I'm clearly guilty of long posts. But your analysis on why I write long posts is wrong. I don't write "essays on pet peeves," I write long posts when I've seen bad ethics, libel, toxic behaviors and cyberbullying -- and in this case, a developer/forum owner's obsessive mission to destroy a fellow developer's business and reputation. IMO, that's worth writing about. Just look at what's happened in every thread in this forum since Greene egged on an attack on 8Dio on VI Control. You can't mention 8Dio anymore without someone saying they won't buy them due to Greene using his forum to attack a competitor based on lies and distortions. Sadly some people are going to believe Greene's unethical smear campaign. 

Edited November 11, 2023 by PavlovsCat

[kitekrazy1]

24 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said:

No one, well certainly not me, was asserting that 40,000 community members at VI-Control are all terrible people. Not at all. I've interacted with some wonderful people there. The problem, IMO, and I'm saying this as someone who has started and led forums on my own and at Fortune 500s. I even handled forums used by survivors and families of victims of 9'11 when I was a director of the second largest tenant of the South WTC tower.

The problem at VI-Control is rooted in the lack of best practice policies and enforcement at the forum. Bullying and angry mob mentality goes unchecked at VI-Control. Why? It's owner doesn't have a problem with it. Compare that to this forum where that stuff isn't tolerated. The people who engage in that bad behavior at VI-Control are easily far less than 10% of the entire community of 40k. But groupthink/mob mentality is pervasive among many of the most active participants and that does  also impact normally civil community members and before you know it, they're engaged in behaviors they might otherwise not engage in without peer pressure. 

You don't see that at forums I've led or here at Cakewalk forum (even KVR isn't anywhere near as bad as VI-Control), because of strong policies and strong enforcement of those policies. When bad behavior and bad actors appear, the community and/or moderators stop it, guided by strong ethics-based policies and management that is clear on where they stand on things like cyberbullying.   A big part of the problem at VI-Control has always been that the owners are focused on optimizing money and encouraging the personality cult and mob mentality. A decade ago I was advising around a dozen developers at once and the former forum owner, Frederick, was very focused on getting money for the site any way he could, I did very publicly try to persuade him to establish a zero-tolerance anti-bullying policy.  There is a forum member there, Greene is pals with. He goes by re-peat. He was and still is a serial bully. But he also has a big personality cult following. Frederick was disgusted by the guy and banned him probably ten times back then for just, crazy bad, awful behavior to other forum members.  Frederick told me that  he too was sickened by this guy's behavior, but feared if he banned him, he would lose a lot of forum members who adored the guy. After the guy was bullying a developer friend of mine, I chimed in, and the re-peat and a couple of his pals, turned their venom on me. Frederick banned him and told him he had to apologize to me and he came back to the forum and returned to the same behavior, but that was the reason I stopped going there. Greene is pals with re-peat and actually enjoys the guy's bullying as entertainment. 

Clever shot on the essays, though. There's no question that I'm guilty of long posts. But your analysis is off. I don't write essays on pet peeves, I write on bad ethics, libel, toxic behaviors and cyberbullying. But considering that it was your toxic posts that led to cclarry to take a break from this forum, I realize that my case unlikely to win you over. 

Um ya think?  I rarely read past the 1st paragraph of posts.  When I search for youtube how tos, I go for the shortest ones.

[kitekrazy1]

So who is going to be the first one to get this library?

[PavlovsCat]

1 hour ago, kitekrazy said:

Um ya think?  I rarely read past the 1st paragraph of posts.  When I search for youtube how tos, I go for the shortest ones.

I'm absolutely guilty of writing long posts, I tend to write fast, and it's like the old quote about a short letter taking longer to write than a long one, and that is the case here. When I write long posts it's because it's something complex and significant. That said, I also realize that a lot of people don't want to read long posts. So I'll tell you what. I'm going to commit to writing shorter posts moving forward starting now.  Dead serious. 

[EDIT: I edited/shortened some of my earlier posts. ]

Edited November 10, 2023 by PavlovsCat

[Carl Ewing]

14 hours ago, PavlovsCat said:

Wow, that does sound is beautiful. I've seen a lot of posts praising Performance Samples. Do they sell the solo cello alone? I've been looking for a dry solo cello with great tone and great scripting. I've been looking at Sonixenima mostly. As they have a cello library -- actually two-- that just sound gorgeous to my ears. I know people have recommended the Embertone Blakus one, but I simply don't love the tone of the cello.  And getting back to my point about pros vs hobbyists, I want a library that features great, intuitive scripting that I can play/record once not have to screw with midi editing.

It seems these recent demos are just for Vista II, but no indication they will be sold separately. Pacific Strings (also Performance Samples) has a solo expansion coming as well, but I don't believe there are demos yet, or indications if it will be sold separately. But I love Pacific Strings ensemble, and hoping the solo strings have a similar tone. 

I'm also not a fan of Blakus. I am a fan of Cinesamples Tina Guo Acoustic Cello Legato - it's one of the only virtual solo cellos I've ever liked.  But it is very limited in what you can do with it - just two articulations (legato & sustain).  Definitely more for live performance - especially slow melodies - than programming.  I think you can test it out with the free Musio trial. This would also allow you to try CineStrings Solo Cello, which is also supposed to be excellent (have not tried). 

Virhamonic's Bohemian Cello is considered one of the best - tone wise and playability. May want to check that out. I have not tried it yet though.

 

 

 

[kitekrazy1]

No one has this yet?

[PavlovsCat]

10 hours ago, Carl Ewing said:

It seems these recent demos are just for Vista II, but no indication they will be sold separately. Pacific Strings (also Performance Samples) has a solo expansion coming as well, but I don't believe there are demos yet, or indications if it will be sold separately. But I love Pacific Strings ensemble, and hoping the solo strings have a similar tone. 

I'm also not a fan of Blakus. I am a fan of Cinesamples Tina Guo Acoustic Cello Legato - it's one of the only virtual solo cellos I've ever liked.  But it is very limited in what you can do with it - just two articulations (legato & sustain).  Definitely more for live performance - especially slow melodies - than programming.  I think you can test it out with the free Musio trial. This would also allow you to try CineStrings Solo Cello, which is also supposed to be excellent (have not tried). 

Virhamonic's Bohemian Cello is considered one of the best - tone wise and playability. May want to check that out. I have not tried it yet though.

 

 

 

I've heard a lot of great things about the Tina Guo libraries and I almost certainly would buy those IF they were recorded dry. Consequently, the dry solo library that I'm hoping goes on sale is Sonixinema's Contemporary Soloist Cello. It sounds beautiful and just what I'm looking for in the demos. I'd love to hear about his how playable the library is. That is, does it feature really intuitive KONTAKT scripting or not, as that's a big factor for me too. This is the library. If anyone here owns it, please chime in (sorry, influencers not included):  

https://sonixinema.com/collections/strings/products/contemporary-soloist-cello

Edited November 10, 2023 by PavlovsCat

[artturner]

Has anyone seen upgrade pricing from Majestica Standard/2.0? 

 

[Carl Ewing]

1 hour ago, PavlovsCat said:

I've heard a lot of great things about the Tina Guo libraries and I almost certainly would buy those IF they were recorded dry. Consequently, the dry solo library that I'm hoping goes on sale is Sonixinema's Contemporary Soloist Cello. It sounds beautiful and just what I'm looking for in the demos. The one think I'd love to hear about his how playable the library is. That is, does it feature really intuitive KONTAKT scripting or not, as that's a big factor for me too. This is the library. I'd love to hear feedback from anyone who owns it (sorry, influencers not included):  

https://sonixinema.com/collections/strings/products/contemporary-soloist-cello

Ya - Tina Guo is definitely quite processed, in that that dark / warm Zimmer tone. I've actually paired it with LASS 1st chair to give it some sharpness, but only in larger pieces where you can't tell it's paired - not really possible in quartet or strictly solo work.

I'd definitely keep close eye on Performance Samples the next 6 months - looks like 2 different solo libraries coming out, and I think Vista may have a much dryer tone than Pacific. which I assume will be mix-matched with the ensembles which are quite warm.

[Carl Ewing]

6 minutes ago, artturner said:

Has anyone seen upgrade pricing from Majestica Standard/2.0? 

 

My upgrade price from Majestica 2.0 is $40. 

[artturner]

48 minutes ago, Carl Ewing said:

My upgrade price from Majestica 2.0 is $40. 

Thanks. I haven't seen an email yet, and the site isn't applying it automatically. I sent support a chat message.