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Almost paradise... Well, for me, anyway.


Rain

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One computer provides all the most current technology, bells and whistles, including the so-called AI players (that I really have no use for but, still...). So far, I've been using it to mix existing projects, and create instrument patches, but I've not written anything. 

The other provides the last solid release of the previous version - and access to Z3t4+ (on screen) and Dimension Pro. I have a hard time imagining the moment when I finally lose access to these forever. So far, I've been very lucky. Cakewalk released Mac versions shortly after I made the switch. And now, because I installed the last version on those old computers before the installers disappeared, I can still use them. But I dread the day...

There are far better instruments out there, but these have been part of my workflow for so long now... When I think of my favorite instruments, it's my Les Paul Studio, then these Cakewalk synths and EXS24 (Logic's own sampler). If there was a fire and they were actual instruments, I'd grab Dimension Pro and Z3t4 before my Gibson SG.

Anyway... The last one provides access to what remains my favorite DAW of all time almost 15 years later - as well as access to older incarnations of Cakewalk's Dimension Pro and Rapture, which I happen to be very fond of.

Every time I take the laptop and the keyboard downstairs to work in the living room, I load my default template which is just an instrument track running Dimension with a customized Piano patch. And hitting one key is usually enough to get the ideas rolling. It's almost shocking.

In an ideal world, I would find a PC that can run XP + Sonar 8.5 and all my old favorite softsynths, like those old RGC synths, and HG Fortune's Protoplasm and STS-21, and maybe use it as a live instrument. But the idea of dealing with a bulky tower and literally installing a soundcard... Uhg.  I do have an old Alienware running the last Windows version of Logic and Sonar (and even Cakewalk Pro Audio 9), but it's not really in working order. I only use it to open up old Cakewalk projects and bundles and prepare them for transfer. 

I miss a lot of plugins and the simplicity of software like Sound Forge 4, and in my book, Sonar 8.5 is still one of the finest DAWs ever, but the gymnastics involved in adding RAM or a PCI card and the trips into the BIOS to troubleshoot IRQ conflicts I do not miss at all. Or the bulkiness. And the noise those old machines made... I'd sooner deal with my old reel to reel. That one I actually genuinely miss.

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Edited by Rain
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51 minutes ago, John Templeton said:

Nice dig Rain ?

But are we sure it's really his place?  I don't see a dozen cats... ?

(Actually, I remember a picture you posted of your ex up on a ladder dressing a Christmas tree in front of that fireplace... ?)

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Great looking place you got there Rain. Really good looking lightning effect with the candles above the mantle. Wings in just the right spot. :)

Is that a horse head way above the fireplace?

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Thanks guys.

Craig - Good memory, my friend. Would you believe I only have one cat left? Time flies. A lot of those were older cats and rescues.

Grem - Yup. After the ex left, I redecorated mostly with whatever she left - which really wasn't much. And stuff that I had in my studio, like the torches and the portraits of Beethoven and Nietzsche... Not sure why she left that horse head behind. 

The rent costs me a fortune so I really don't have much money for decorations. I bought cheap rugs and curtains and tried to be creative with what was left. 

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19 hours ago, pwal³ said:

yeah looks comfy ? tho i don't know if you'll get any vampires parking with those crucifixes so close ?

According to Ann Rice, vampires are often quite fond of crucifixes.

I've always been told I looked like a vampire. I fought against it for years and did all I could to get rid of the image. I'd be at work and someone would tell me the ladies across the hall referred to me as Dracula. So I figured it was easier to just embrace it. It makes people happy to be able to put a label on you, it reassures them. They've figured you out.

As a result, they start believing that you have social skills so you don't really need to pay attention anymore. 

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1 hour ago, Rain said:

According to Ann Rice, vampires are often quite fond of crucifixes.

I've always been told I looked like a vampire. I fought against it for years and did all I could to get rid of the image. I'd be at work and someone would tell me the ladies across the hall referred to me as Dracula. So I figured it was easier to just embrace it. It makes people happy to be able to put a label on you, it reassures them. They've figured you out.

As a result, they start believing that you have social skills so you don't really need to pay attention anymore. 

Whatever you say Vlad! ?

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20 minutes ago, pwal³ said:

who on earth would christen a baby girl "howard"?

Howard Allen Frances O'Brian at that!  So she picked Anne herself on her first day of 1st grade.

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