The TelenatorMore directly to your question: In Podium, you need first of all to install any new plugins to a proper file in your PC. I use C:Programme Files (x86)VSTPlugins as my main plugin folder.
Once installed in a folder per the plugin makers directions (some plugins you simply drag into the folder, no special installing needed), you then direct Podium in the Preferences page to find and scan that folder. In Podium, you then essentially build your plugin database(s). Once the plugins show up on your Devices list on far right (along with your audio hookups and all), you can then choose them for whatever channels you have set up on your Arrangement page. With instrument plugins, you will need something to control them, produce notes and sounds . . . many keyboard controllers available from $50US to as much as you want to spend.
It all fairly clear in the directions. Click on the WIKI link above to read more about it.
The TelenatorGreetings and Welcome to the Zynewave Forum! You’ll find a few members and users of Podium here who know lots about this DAW.
You can do practically anything you wish with the free version of Podium, just keep in mind that you are limited to using only one core of your CPU (not an unusual limitation for the free version of a DAW), and do keep in mind that the free version is several editions older than what’s currently available for a very modest price. The one you have will give you a pretty good idea of how Podium looks, ‘feels’, and works, but the newest releases have many improvements.
Regarding VST plugins, both effects and VSTi (instruments) I hardly know where to begin. There is much you can read on the Net to bring you up to speed. Swing by the KVR Forum and their info pages concerning almost every VST known to man. A nice collection of plugins (90% of what I use are free ones — very many as good as you can buy) will make all the difference in the world to your future recording skills. It may seem a bit new to you now, but it will be second nature to you very soon.
These things are effects and instruments that can be controlled and used just like all the hardware gadgets you can go out and buy. To begin, remember that you want versions of these plugins that match your PC, MAC and your DAW. Are you using the 32-bit version of Podium on a 64-bit PC? Well then, you want to download 32-bit plugins. A 64-bit DAW will want 64-bit plugins. There is a feature called “Bridging” that helps to accommodate the mix of 64 with 32-bit and vice versa, but stay away from that for now until you get comfortable with using VSTs.
You are jumping in at a wonderful time for digital recording. So much free stuff nowadays and much of the previously flaky software has either been ridden of bugs and incompatibilities or has died off. There are plenty of truly wonderful synthesizers and other instruments, along with every effect you could ever need. For free or on the cheap you can have simulations of $100k studio rack units.
I would encourage you to test many many of the free ones before buying anything. Feel free to spend a few weeks as there is a learning curve. I’ve tested, used and tossed out a couple of hundred before settling on the ones I love best. On every forum in some thread or two, you will find lists of suggested best VST plugins, so some of the work has been done for you already. I find most on these lists to be the better picks for good (and often free) stuff. One suggestion I ought to make is, regarding instruments, especially the better synths out there, try a few of the top free ones and get good at using two or three, instead of trying to master the subtleties of 20 or 30 of them.
Most of all, enjoy yourself in all you’ll be learning! An awesome range of possibilities is now at your fingertips for recording music.
The TelenatorI want to offer that, aside from trying to get podium to accept virtual keyboard plugins or other related workarounds and oddball stuff, I have never had a plugin issue of any kind using Podium. I have used Podium to test well over a hundred new and old ones, too. It once placed a plugin into quarantine, but this was only because in initial setup of the database it had to scan the massive Proteus right beforehand. I removed the rejected plugin from the quarantine file and all was well.
This is part of why this thread caught my attention. Of my horror stories from long ago with Cubase 4 and 5 crashing on many plugins, I suppose I remain sensitised. I don’t want to learn some plugin bug has crept into what has been a truly clean and bug-free system. I reverted back from 3.1.2 because of an unrelated issue that I have most likely corrected now, but soon after I read of perhaps more minor issues. I jumped at the betas of 3.1.2, breaking one of my own rules and got stung in the process. I am leery about moving beyond what I have that’s working perfectly now, so I can’t be of much assistance with this one, but I’d really like to get to the bottom of this because it seems something is not quite right here.
The Telenator3.1.0 should open anything you are up to now. I reverted from the betas of 3.12 as did one other.
Someone kindly chime in here if I am wrong!
The TelenatorThe TOUCH screen thing: First time I’ve seen this issue brought up anywhere, 4mica!
I hate them with a vengeance, too! You see, I have rather — no, extremely — oily skin. This works wonders for getting around on a guitar neck. I always laughed at those spray cans such as Fast Fret and related products to do the very same thing for $5 to $10 dollars.
But when I’ve been handling my guitar and then switching to my laptop (the norm always), I can’t have any touch screen stuff going on. I tried it on another’s setup — VERY BAD. From an angle, the dried sludge later was grossly apparent. Never again. I have a great mouse I can use, but I’ve got really good at the laptop’s touch pad, and it’s much much faster and much less effort. Very accurate too. I rarely even use keyboard shortcuts, because I can get to it via touchpad usually faster. Cleans up with one quick wipe, too.
As regards the Maxis, . . . well, I do recall as a little lad getting into a box of those and some tampons out of great curiosity. Later, when Mum walks in to find me soaking in the tub, there were a couple of each floating alongside my navy ships as the enemy in epic battle. The look on her face was priceless. Toys indeed!
I have a growing concern over the whole PAD issue. I’ve done battle so far with two who clearly revealed themselves as being of this insane Cult of Apple, who would just as soon everything was on their iPads and the laptop (unless a Mac Pro, of course) be damned. Can’t talk any sense to them, and they got rather nasty and name-calling.
But the larger issue concerns me much more: If the faddishness of this pad phenomena does not pass quickly, we will indeed see, more and more, our favourite devs and companies doing exclusive and time-wasting work — to the neglect of software development for real PCs. I pray for the day that pad sales flatten and begin to reduce, as more people discover how useless they are for many tasks, and how there is no advantage to portability when compared to a modern laptop.
The TelenatorThanks, levendis, but getting the actual mag (with disk) into my hands is the actual issue here. Lovely area of the Coast I’m in most of the year, but mostly rednecks and tourists. I’m sure I can find a copy next time I have to go to Chapel Hill. I’m informed that the CM version is a regular offering each month on the disk and, yes, I was aware that it is what might be termed Zebra1 now, the first version of that very cool synth.
To the OP here: Which version of Podium are you using? I have stopped at 3.1.0 for the time being, as I saw bugs suggested for 3.1.2 and I haven’t seen them fully addressed yet.
Two things — your ‘fix’ may not have solved your Zebra situation (if any), and the problem persists with the other instrument. Choose a preset that doesn’t have an extremely long delay or reverb tail to it. Notes then should not “stick”, as you referred to it, at all. I’d seriously like to know if this is a bug or not. Unfortunately, I’m unwiling to fool with 3.1.2 to find out. NO issues at all with the 3.1.0 I’m using. If problem still persists you can revert to a previous version. There should be none of this ‘sticking’ stuff going on
The TelenatorMe thinks it may have something large to do with your data files for those synths. Do you have them stored in write-able file locations — i.e., NOT in your Programme Files?
Reason I ask is that, although I haven’t bought any of Urs’ wonderfully thick-sounding synths yet and can’t seem to find a copy of the magazin that always carries said CM version on its included CD, I do happen to know he uses a rather unusual file setup. You have to put the DLL in the normal VSTPlugins location, then put data files in another write-able location and shortcut them back for the DLL’s use. Otherwise, you get warning messages at the very least or other, more unpleasant things happening.
I think it’s that PLUS using one of those long-playing envelopes on various preset(s).
Or it could be something else, of course. I can’t sus it out on my end, having no Zebras around.
The TelenatorI think anyone who previously planned to wait it out and buy a Microsoft pad computer would have a number of problems, particularly after this week’s announcement — both in what was said and what was left unsaid. The Android products have miserable latency, therefore rendering them totally unfit for any serious audio use whatsoever. From Microsoft on this issue we have . . . complete silence.
Probably the biggest problem is now cost, combined with the realisation that the lower-powered RT pad, said to be starting priced bare-bones at $700 will be wholly inadequate for any sort of DAW use or any other heavy computing work. It is sounding more and more like it will mainly be a ‘check your mail and social networks, stream a movie and let your children use it for lighter children’s software’. Regarding the full-duty pad, I think anyone planning to purchase one would have a problem, not knowing what they can expect to pay for it. Those who have brand loyalty as well, as I do with the outstanding ASUS designs, will now be uncertain whether ASUS will be making many for Microsoft, after this news.
Another real concern is for the Apps to be offered. With two very different Microsoft pads, will the designer of your favourite Apps build them for both pads or only one — and which one will that be? Additionally, some outfits may choose now to avoid Microsoft totally and not offer anything for Windows on a pad, considering that Microsoft has become increasingly demanding and further cannot promise any guaranteed market share. Would you rather place your App on a pad that is much more affordable and that many people will use, or will you offer it to a very restricted smaller market of the few who can afford the pricey premium pads?
These are all problems for the prospective consumer indeed, as well as for the designer of potential Apps, and other concerns for anyone contracted to provide any actual hardware. And there are other concerns. All of the above should be considered in light of Apple’s incredible strength in this niche. The Microsoft pads may actually end up causing sales of iPads to increase, once the iPad has a major contender and price points for comparison. And let’s not forget that Microsoft has had its several blunders in the not too far off past and the present — a bum OS version or two, the relative failure of Bing, the complete failure of Live Essentials, SkyDrive (its shot at cloud storage), and Live Messenger, which has been completely eclipsed by Facebook’s chat. Considering this collection of blunders, it would be extremely unwise NOT to have serious concerns when looking at Microsoft’s track record. I suggest that the only reason Microsoft still exists at all is because it has a complete monopoly in its OS.
I have recently determined, as have most of my friends, colleagues and the vast majority of forum members throughout the Net whose comments I have read, that I will not be purchasing any brand of pad computer, as I am simply without the need for one. As I’ve said before, I believe the PAD is a solution seeking a problem. It is no more portable than today’s laptops — especially once all the cables, wires and needed external devices are connected, as in working with a DAW — and will never be able to match the storage, battery time, heat dispersion and processing power because of its physical limitations, namely the size of its case. The iPad has also been used as a control surface for audio and it does work; however, it has proven a poor second to units dedicated to this duty.
druid: “In short, I’m not really sure where your problem with it lies.” Instead, you can say that I really have no problem at all with Microsoft as it affects me personally, as I wouldn’t touch a pad PC with a 10-foot pole in the current state of things. Although I believe the pad is here to stay, much of the interest is the pure novelty, and much like any new toy, the excitement is gone before long.
If I have any problems and concerns with anything at all in computers, it is that I fear someone like our Frits will devote entirely too much time with developing Podium for an MS pad, thus stretching himself too thin, and we who own Podium on a regular PC or lap top end up paying for this neglect — fewer, smaller upgrades to Podium in what has already attained a snail’s pace. As I read in a very active thread about the iPad at Reaper, one fellow summed it up best: “I own two iPads already but please God, NO! I don’t want Reaper on iPad. I don’t want to see all your energies spent on that when there is so much more left to fix on Reaper as it is now!” I couldn’t agree more with his statement, and I understand his fears. These pads are becoming a nuisance to the advancement of much more practical ways of using PCs and software.
The TelenatorI went ahead and got me one, supposedly the best virtual version of the Minimoog ever produced. It sure wasn’t a lot of fun, taking a full two hours to connect, starting at 4 a.m. Eastern Time in the States, and moving to the download page. They had to add a third download site in the middle of my trying to connect, as the Arturia site was clearly getting slammed hard. Even with a turbo connection, I was timing out repeatedly trying to hook up with their server.
I knew this would be a hot one. After all, it usually costs $259US and had Bob Moog’s official endorsement and name on it shortly before his death in Asheville, NC, in 2005. In fact, part of the reason for this one-day free release, besides this ‘World Music Day’, whatever that has to do with an American synth, is a tribute to Moog and all his achievements through the years. He was at work at electronic music and design until his death, and spent several of his last years also teaching Electronics & Music at the State University of North Carolina in Asheville.
Thanks to the performances of Walter (nea Wendy) Carlos on a huge Moog modular, I bought the hardware version of this VSTi, the original Minimoog, back in about ’74 0r ’75, so I’m rather curious to hear just how close this VA edition is. Those first encounters and hearings of the early synthesizers left a lasting impression on the lot of us aspiring young musicians — that distinctive Moog sound that one never forgets. As it has been talked about much, this free edition will actually be closer to the original hardware version, since it doesn’t include the modified back wiring that normally came with this soft synth. I need to give it a first run now.
This offering extends to all until midnight tonight at the link posted at top.
The TelenatorOn the 21st, the offering listed above gets my rating of ‘best free Minimoog-type instrument’ currently available.
But if for any reason you miss this freebie, I find the Minimogue and MinimogueLUXUS to be just as good in the area of VA replicas. Both of these are always free, and both got a major update back in December I believe it was. In some respects the LUXUS version has Arturia’s offering beat for features anyway. Further, this site also offers a version of the old Arp 2600, called Arppe2600VA — always free also. These three also come with standalone versions, for those times you want an instrument (with keyboard included) to play quickly and without the extra hassle of having to start up a host and load a plugin.
The TelenatorConquistador:
I really don’t know what would lead you to the assumption that I’m somehow “upset” or angry about Podium’s several shortfalls in features when compared to other DAWs as they currently are offered. Aside from my required dealings with infinitoar, a member here who commonly takes anything posted in his direction the wrong way, even misunderstanding the term ‘devil’s advocate’, everything I’ve posted above was a review of the situation we find Podium in now and the course development appears to be taking.
If I have any burning desires at all here, they would be these two: first, that Zynewave seems no longer responsive to users’ feature requests and second, that Podium could become one of the very topmost and popular DAWs available if only it would add these most requested features by users here, which are essentially the same ones you will find in all the other leading systems.
I wholeheartedly agree with you about the two features you yourself would like — some updates to the file system and autosaving, but neither of these were among ANY of the users’ requests, and therefore I couldn’t deal with them. I might add to that the fact that these two were already discussed elsewhere in threads on this forum (have a look around) and Frits has already said he intends to add autosaving. He also made some mention of changing the file situation, so I’d say both of these are moot points and perhaps why no users included them in our recent Feature Request thread.
Rather than be upset, if anything this most recent round of dealing with missing modern features has been a wonderful revelation to me and a couple of others. Suddenly now I completely understand why all pro studios, even with their choice of DAW in place, still invest in a half million dollars of hardware rack units and routing cables. As applies to us in our home studios and myself in particular, the revelation has been that I simply should not rely on one DAW to take care of all modern recording needs.
Therefore, as of last week, I was forced to relegate Podium to the role of Final Mixing/Editing and Mastering DAW, and I am now relying on Reaper to get most of the startup work done. Additionally, Ableton has been offering its Live 8 Lite for free and fully licensed (through the end of MAY 31, I should add), so several of us are now playing with that one as well.
There are indeed some similarities with my departure from Steinberg in all of this. However, there are many more dissimilarities. In this case, I have in no way lost hope over the situation at Zynewave, neither am I discontinuing my full support AND use of Podium. But my own needs must come first — I must have a DAW that is ‘up to snuff’ when it comes to modern recording techniques, able to handle most every task as I move more and more into the use of MIDI. Reaper handles all and smoothly.
There was a time when I wouldn’t even mention the virtues of other DAWs on this forum, although I have studied practically all. Personally, back then, I felt my approach was not completely truthful to other readers. That time has now passed, too. What needed to be said in my review above is what got said. Sorry, but it’s case of ‘like it or lump it’. But beyond anything else you might call it, it is the truth — based on facts and research.
I’ll close by reminding you that we all have private lives, and all of us have to fit our work within them. But business is business, and it is in no way unreasonable to suggest that the products you support — and pay for — be the best they can be. Anything less is pandering, and that what I’m seeing a small few of you attempting to pull in this discussion.
Thanks for chiming in, though. I have this forum as home page on my email browser and all I was hearing in many days was the sound or crickets here . . . and a deafening silence.
The TelenatorIt may be closer to 5, since I haven’t counted in a while and it depends on how some are grouped, too.
Yeah, Reaper did add the timestretching not very long ago, and from what I’ve read users are pretty happy with it. That massive routing update and improvement is what did it for me today.
For other DAWs and free ones to boot, I saw that MAGIX has their Samplitude Silver-the SoundCloud Edition as their free one and it looks permanent. That one seems like the child of if Reaper and Cubase got married from the look and way it works. Not bad at all; I’ve tried it. I think this ‘Silver’ edition is technically Samplitude 11 but not sure.
The TelenatorI believe my son (the genius) has become better at sound engineering than I am (he had a 2-yr. head start on these DAWs), and he swears up and down his full version of Live 8 is to die for, especially if you like loops or ever want to use one live. I almost went for the free offer myself but instead am just passing the word around today.
Still waiting for the other shoe to drop over on the ‘review’ thread, but just moments ago I made The Decision, as I was able to do on Reaper what I’ve been struggling to do for days with Podium: I can now record MIDI tracks with sound monitoring right from any electric guitar. I KNEW this was possible with the right routings. I’m using practically any plugin from Fretted Synth to achieve this, since most of their plugins also output MIDI along with audio. No hexaphonic pickup either, but with a tiny bit of knob turning it tracks perfectly. I’m favouring VST’s GuitsynSE, Junction and SafFron2VA Pro. A weird little plug called 2SYN and a few others will do it, too, but Junction seems the winner. Now I don’t even have to fool with a virtual keyboard unless I’m going heavy chordal and don’t feel like comping and piling harmonies of single lines to get there.
Reason I brought it up here is, I’m not leaving Podium by any means. Reaper always looked a little ‘high-schoolish’ to me but I’ve finished tweaking a couple of skins for it. So, I’ve decided to make Podium my Mixing and Mastering DAW and just drag in mostly finished tracks.
I’ve known about the free StudioOne for a while and now Ableton, but I think I’ll basically stay put. In fact, there’s tonnes of hosts free now, this list being only about 75% complete: http://bedroomproducersblog.com/2011/05/16/bpb-freeware-studio-best-free-vst-host-applications/
I am rather sad, though, about one fail after another with Podium. Let me fix maybe 8 to 10 things and it would be the best DAW on the market. No joke. Still, at $50 for Zynewave and $60 for Reaper I can probably afford to do both — and favour using Podium however I can.
The TelenatorAbleton Live 8 Lite with some extra goodies is totally FREE until May 31, and they’ll send you the license and it’s permanent, not some temporary deal. It’s the full-blown Live 8 Lite.
All they ask is you send them a screen shot of your personal SoundCloud page, because this promotion is partly about their SoundCloud uploader feature they added. (And it’s also to make some noise and get attention because Ableton Live 9 is finally going to come out before we end up in the rest home.)
Go to the Ableton site for details.
Oh, AND you get FIVE months of SoundCloud Pro membership with this for free, too.
[EDIT: See Guaranath’s below, who has found perhaps easier way to register/license your Live 8 Lite.]
The Telenatorinfinitoar, don’t think my last post was directed at YOU. Far from it. Maybe read what I wrote again (e.g., devil’s advocate and all).
But since you put those two points up top where anyone scanning quickly and not reading in detail would still see them, I jumped on them because they have previously been excuses I’ve read in the forum. So don’t get all on the defensive — I was only going after those points, not you . . . and I saw how you turned it around at the end.
Okay, but you’ve brought up a third common excuse now: This sacrifice and hardship nonsense. Look, all jobs are work, time, sacrifice, and I might add to that the fact that designing software is a heck of a lot better work (especially with no boss or no deadlines) than tonnes of other jobs out there.
So I don’t buy this sacrifice nonsense for one second. Let’s all get off this sanctimonious BS and get real here.
He’s charging money for this thing. In a year or so I’ll have to pay again. So will the rest of us paid users. (At some $50, I might add that there is no excuse for using something for free more than 30 days or so that someone has put real work into. Any kid can come up with that if he wants a new bike, even if it comes from flipping burgers. I pay for the things I use whenever possible, but I expect them to perform properly too.)
There is a fair amount of prestige being known worldwide as a designer, the owner of an online business, the maker of rather well-received pro audio software system, having the potential to win awards and be written up in journals and magazines. If you go re-read his homepage remarks, you will see that he is doing this full-time, not trying to balance this with some factory job or teaching gig. Trust me, I’ve had much tougher work and a very demanding career that I got the heck out of as soon as I had piled up a retirement pension and could return to music full-time.
No, I’m not a coder and I don’t like programming but I’ve done it (years ago in the stone age). I know enough to do the math on a proposed project and have a rough idea of how many lines of code it’s going to take to get there. The advantage of working on your own proprietary software is that you know inside and out (or at least should!) how its structured and what a new change should affect all around. Some things can be hard to predict and programs seem to take on a life of their own, hence potential bugs. But that’s part and parcel.
I say, “if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” There’s one of the pieces of code I live my life by. While I’ve complained sometimes about crappy gigs and the like, It’s always been either just to get it off my chest or for the wry humour it contains. I’ve had musicians in bands whine constantly, and I usually turn to them at some point and ask, Why on earth are you a working musician if everything involved bothers you so much — maybe you should be a plumber, aye?
I hope you see my point. Sorry if you felt I was directing my comments at you, but I’m not backtracking anything, especially in this thread. I’d suggest that music is one of the worst places for a thin-skinned person to try to make a living. You’ll get eaten alive. At the same time I like to joke around, too — I’m not all business all the time. But I’ve got to get some stinking work done here; some two months total since November has been tied up horsing around with these Podium shortfalls.
Either we get some assurances of improvements and soon, or Podium is going to end up as just a glorified, pretty-plaything audio editor. I’m considering only using it further for mixing/mastering, because it’s way too limited and inflexible as is for modern recording techniques. I’ll make that decision this week, and if so, I most likely won’t be renewing my license; I’ll simply keep the last update when it expires.
Now . . . may we all get off this and back to the meat and potatoes here? We need more serious upgrades and less sidetracking.