sugesOops yeah AltiVerb is only for Mac. I’m gonna try out this SIR business.
suges@darcyb62 wrote:
For a start plugs I would be looking for include:
Single and multi band eq
Single and multiband compression
Reverb
Delay
Chorus
The BEST plugins in those departments are riduclously overpriced (Waves) but if you’ve got that kind of money, look nowhere else.
Although I hate on free plugins a lot, there are some ones I’ve tried which are awesome. Go here:
http://www.digitalfishphones.com
And get every plugin this guy makes. They sound spectacular.
For your basic chorus and delay use those Kjaerhaus free plugins at their site. I like their chorus a lot.
For verb, once I started using convolution verbs, I can’t go back to the synthesized ones, so go with Altiverb…it’s not free or cheap, but I don’t know of any free ones in that department.
And for good, well-priced compression (multi and single), check Elemental Audio Neodynium. I love it.
See if you like any of those.
suges@Zynewave wrote:
And it’s mostly instruments using huge sample-sets. One reason could be that the instrument doesn’t know the number of programs and their names before they are loaded from disk.
That’s probably the exact reason…since some NI instruments DO announce (like B4 II, only has a few presets) and some don’t (like Kontakt). More and more VSTi’s these days are huge libraries I guess so they’re harder to pirate (since they’re so big they would take too long to download) and it’s the only way they can compete with hardware synths (i.e. Roland Fantom piano is awesome…right up until you hear Ivory, with 10-velocity layers and no looping samples).
@Zynewave wrote:
When do you expect to have this feature enabled?
Hopefully within a couple of months.
Soon as you get that done I’ll start uploading device definitions for all the plugins we have at the studio and a few more hardware devices. It’ll look good on the list.
sugesIt seems a worrying growing number of high-quality plug-ins have their own built-in patch selectors and don’t announce the names of their patches to the host, some examples I checked out:
– Spectrasonics: Trilogy
– USB: Ultra Focus
(…based on these two and the the other Spectrasonics plugins Malcolm mentioned, it seems that any plugins using the UVI Engine (widely considered to be the best-sounding engine) don’t announce their settings)
– Arturia: Arp 2600, CS-80V, Minimoog, Moog Modular
(…so none of the Arturia ones either)
– Way Out Ware: TimewARP
– Native Instruments: Kontakt 2, Elektrik Piano, Battery 2
– Synthogy: Ivory
(…this one announces 32 programs for some reason (even though it has more), but none of them have names
– FXpansion: BFD
(…same kind of thing here, it announces only 2 programs, both unnamed, even though it has many more)
– Hollow Sun: Nostalgia
(…publishes no names, and is one of the many instruments that use the Intakt Player engine, so I’d bet the rest are the same)
– Wizoo: Latigo, Darbuka
I’m sure there’s many more. Only a few of the plug-ins I tested actually DO announce their program names, so that seems to be a part of the VST spec that’s widely ignored. It makes sense for some of them too, drum machines and effects processors are typically plug-ins that you whip up your own settings on the fly for one project and one project only, then never use that particular patch setting again. So maybe that invisible preset thing is more serious than any of us thought.
sugesVery odd.
Well if you get all the Podium users who want ReWire to e-mail them saying “Why haven’t you responded to Frits?!?!” maybe they’ll finally answer. When the time comes, of course.
sugesHere’s the license application link for ReWire:
Just writing this to be helpful…I not only don’t care if ReWire is implemented or not, I think Reason sucks and so does the whole clunky ReWire concept. But everybody else loves it so hope this helps!
suges@darcyb62 wrote:
I think you’ve gone a little too far west. The Saskatchewan winter can be pretty brutal although this year its been pretty mild.
Ooops I don’t know why I thought you were representing BC. I take it back: winters on the praries are notorious.
sugesBut look at the bright side: at least you guys got the better weather. What passes for winter in that province…
suges@darcyb62 wrote:
I do have a credit standing with L&M but they didn’t have any in. I think the stores out west only get what’s surplus from the east stores (just kidding). They said it could take up to two weeks to ge one in (but they have Tascam in stock which is why they are pushing them and not the PM I guess). I’ll tell them to bring one in.
I appreciate your help on this.
Nooo problem Darcy, and actually I think you ARE right about that east surplus to west thing…I went in last week to buy a Virus TI and they said allll of L&M only had one…and it WAS there at the Bloor location, but since no one bought it they shipped it out west. Dammmnnn!
sugesThat’s nice. Why don’t you just go to L&M and get one? Put it on their monthly payments…they don’t even check your credit, just want to know the name of your best friends and stuff (I actually wish they WOULD check it, then I could get a begger line of credit with them).
You know they have that 30-day return policy eh? Let me tell you something: ANYthing you buy from the keybaords department on Bloor, 75% chance I’ve had it in my studio hahah. Seriously, I buy and take things back almost every month there until I find something I like. They don’t care.
So why read magazine reviews and listen to what people (including me) have told you. Go to L&M and get one. You don’t like it? Take it back. Try something else. Or get your money back.
That’s why L&M is cool.
sugesNo not a nuisance at all. I’m always thinking about ways for Podium to “look” good so it was just a way to see a lot of defintions in the list. Yeah, maybe think about it when the user base starts getting huge.
I think having two seperate installers could be more trouble than it’s worth…the main consideration actually is YOUR bandwidth: if you’d save some money offering a minimal version for existing users to reduce bandwidth costs, then by all means.
sugesIt’s been a while now but I tried a couple different Tascam versions, a Behringer one, and the Mackie Control. I can’t stress highly enough how important that scribble strip is. I mean you can buy one without one, you’ll use it for a couple months, and you’ll take it RIGHT back to the store to get one with the display.
I mean, a controller is not REALLY a necessity to produce and mix music right. A lot of people make do without. You buy one of these things to make your mixing easier and more intuitive (and to look cooler), so to that end you want a controller that goes ALL the way towards making things easier for you. Otherwise, if you go kinda half-assed, there’s no reason to spend that money in the first place right.
Optimum set up would actually be a Mackie Control plus a Fireface/Apogee, but for a good value and money well spent, the ProjectMix is the best option. At the under $2G price range.
suges@darcyb62 wrote:
Thanks Suges… I’ve called to the stores in town here and none have a Project Mix, but I am heading to Vegas in a couple of weeks and check one out while there. wo stores quoted a price of $1250 (cdn). Any idea on pricing in your neck of the woods.
No probs Darcy. Bought mine from L&M here in Toronto, if I remember it was about $1200 yeah. Cheaper than a Mackie Control, same functionality PLUS a built-in sound card. It’s a good deal really.
sugesThe motorized faders will have no effect in Podium. I used to have this but took it back and got a Mackie Control instead. Motorized faders without a scribble strip (the LCD display) in my opinion is almsot useless. The whole idea of buying one of these things is so you DON’T have to look at the screen much.
In any case, may I direct your attention to the M-Audio Project Mix I/O. All in one, good price.