And reaks. Bad. Like Raman noodles, smelly old shoes, and some really, really cool stuff!
It's been many years since I've purchased gear, becuase I had way more than enough for my home demos and the studio is well equipped.
But gentlemen, and ladies. The beast has awoken and he's hungry.
Lol figured I'd just start a thread to discuss new stuff I got or am seriously considering so they're aren't a million threads of me being undecisive about things.
It's 4:13 am and I'm still talking a client thru routing issues so I'll start w just one thing I scooped recently (today).
This is a super useful looking plugin that's been on my hit list for a year or so. I saw it on sale for $10 so I got two copies. I might get the third of its still there depending on how many ilocks they allow me to put it on.
This isn't something most engineers would jump at but the ability to audition codecs is a big deal. Especially with so many different formats out there each one should be checked and if it's a seriously project, mix tweaked accordingly. This isn't glamorous but it should save a lot of time. Particularly with my new rig at 192k I'll be covering nearly everything in some way.
This is the basic version that was selling at $100, the full on version is $435. I'm not sure of the differences but either way $10 is a hillarious price for a useful tool especially from such a good company.
I'm hoping it has the ability to run on the master bus and/or stereo track so I can mix into it on my capture daw but I basically just bought it because I remember wanting it a while back, but never dig too deep. Anyway here it is. The site link has more vids.
https://www.sonnox.com/ plugin /codec-toolbox#
From the site:
"Codec Toolbox is an affordable yet invaluable Plug-In to encode your music for the internet. We all want our music to sound great in every format, so why not take control of the process?
The product results from a partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute, the body that was significant in creating the mp3 and AAC formats that most listen to today. Audition codecs in real time before committing to encode, ensuring your music sounds as good online as it does in the studio.
Codec Toolbox consists of two applications: the Toolbox Plug-In for auditioning your mix, and the Toolbox Manager for encoding it and adding metADATa."
I got a couple others for cheap today too. Much more to come.
I'd love to hear about all you guys new toys either here or on your own gas thread. We all know gas doesn't descriminate!
Comments
Snagged nectar essesntails for $7 on. Clearence and wave arts tr
Snagged nectar essesntails for $7 on. Clearence and wave arts track plug AAX, channel strip for $10. Not having high expectations but figure they could be fun for something. At that price I couldn't resist.
I'm not sure if the track plug is AAX format only, I'm waiting to get a response from wave arts.
If I really like it I can get the multi format version for $90, if it's required. I'm trying to make sure all my plugins run in PT and everything else. I'd like my work to move as smoothly as possible around different setups w minimal downtime/workarounds.
Looks like I'll have to find my ilock account info to get this codec tool box registered. The wave arts registers via ilock or they're website. Got nectar registered already last night. The track plug seems kinda low fi and cheesy which might be useful once in a while. I could see myself using nectar on backup vocals, or even acoustic guitars. Getting super excited to break out the laptop, get my stuff installed and get playing!!!!!!
Lmao $7!!!!!
https://www.izotope.com/en/products/mix/nectar-elements.html
$10....
Ordered waves GTR3 amp sim pluggin a few minutes ago, for $50.
Ordered waves GTR3 amp sim pluggin a few minutes ago, for $50. With no guitar amp, and the Marshall waiting for the basement to get done I needed something. I have been looking into the avid 11 rack becuase I like its sound. But it only goes up to 96k. So it's pluggin editing features may not be useful, and neither would it's audio interfacing capability. So it'd end up a lot of money for just an amp sim unit, even tho it sounds cool. Fractal axe fx is another option but at $1700 I wasn't quite sold on its sound set.
So this pluggin sounds cool and for $50 being cross platform, and standalone I think it'll do the trick. Sounds quite good, and much much cheaper than guitar rig, and amplitube. I've tended to like guitar rig much better than amplitube. But this GTR3 pluggin sounds as good as I remember guitar rig 4 sounding. And again much cheaper.
This GAS has only just gotten started!
I have Nectar 2 and IMO it has a little easier workflow than Mel
I have Nectar 2 and IMO it has a little easier workflow than Melodyne.
The pitch correction on Nectar 2 can be a little harsh if you overdo it...instead of trying to correct the vocal entire track I just work on those sections that need saving. It helps leave a bit of the human element and feel to the track, other wise weird things occur and the vocal starts to sound like Cher on acid.
Yeah that's interesting. I didn't even look into nectar 2, didn'
Yeah that's interesting. I didn't even look into nectar 2, didn't realize it did pitch correction.
About the only good thing about DP is it's built in pitch correction. I was using that for the last 6 years or so, so I've never really considered having to have a pitch correction pluggin.
Guess gonna have to look around.
On a side note, I just realized that both the h-delay, which i grabbed free w the H comp (or vice versa) and the gtr3 I just got only supports 92k sample rates. So I'm screwed. Thankful the h comp supports 192, becuase I like it a lot, i really like the delay too but if it had to be one I'm glad the comp supports 192.
So now I'm in a predicament. Basically my options are make a dedicated guitar computer/interface combo and run gtr3 in standalone, or grab guitar rig 5 pro (I'm pretty sure it supports 192, but I wrote to them to double check)
I've always figured on a dedicated guitar / instrument computer becuase of last minute mix overdubs, I'd never get the latency acceptable. But really at this point I didn't want to have to get another interface and computer just for that.
The other option is guitar rig 5 for now and plugging into whatever interface I grab. But that's $200 ugh.
The third option is just using the free guitar rig version fwiw and deciding on everything later.
I can always give GTR3 to my cousin or sell it, but what a pita. This whole thing is discouraging. I was too eager to click buy becuase the thing sounded so good, especially for the price I didn't even consider it has limited sample rates. I have a little while to decide but looks like I still am in the market for an amp sim...
I track at 192. So I'd need a seperate computer to run the amp
I track at 192. So I'd need a seperate computer to run the amp sim. If I had the desktop unboxed with all the drives in it this would only be a matter of adding a little 2 ch scarelett.
The problem is the desktop needs like $600 worth of stuff still.
I'm using the laptop cuz it was cheap, and the NAS drive allows me to have the seperate drives I need. Plus I can't stand not using all this new stuff, and need to get moving on the archiving before I'm in the vault myself lol.
What I'm thinking is grabbing one of those kangaroo mini pcs for $100 and a $100 scarelett. That's the price of guitar rig software. So It would be an even trade. The advantage is I'd have a (meager) but dedicated amp sim computer saving me the hassles of buffer issues and latency overall.
To be honest I'm just angry at myself for jumping the gun. But in all reality I'd have to face this issue sooner or later. The 92k thing still sucks becuase it means I can't use the amp sim computer to host vsti's transmitted digitally at the same time. The ideal would be guitar rig 5 and the dedicated amps sim/vsti computer but that's a bit much at this point.
So really it comes down to one or the other. Dedicated machine/interface, and no latency buffer issues, or no additional hardware and a killer amp sim program. But w BFD and vsl running native I'm concerned about buffering and latency when I'm jamming on guitar.
I think unfortunately the solution is hardware first. If I'm hosting vsti's too I'll have to resort to the free guitar rig amp sim for now, or print the vsti and run gtr 3.
Either way I'm a world class bonehead. It's $50 I coulda spent elsewhere for now. But again it's an issue that would have come up as soon as the basement was done anyway. I was planing on a dedicated rig for amp sim and vsti just not this soon. So maybe this mistake was actually a good thing becuase I'm gonna have to figure out not long term and short term solutions.
In the meantime lol check out these expansion packs for BFD 3 I
In the meantime lol check out these expansion packs for BFD 3 I scored for 50% off last month. I auditioned all of them and besides the zilgan expansions, and the percussion, and maybe one or two more (I've forgotten) these are the only ones I really liked. The others were either poor sounding, or just not something I felt I need or didn't have already.
The orchestral fills the hole for now because then vsl ensemble stick library is only 10gb total, and the vsl percussion is like $300 so it'll be a while till that comes on sale when I have funds. I figured this BFD library is good quality and was like $35 and 8-10gb. So should take care of my needs for a while.
https://www.fxpansion.com/products/bfdx/bfdexpansions/bfdorchestral/
Since snares are sooo important i picked what I thought was the best snare collection.
https://www.fxpansion.com/products/bfdx/bfdexpansions/bfdsignaturesnares1/
[MEDIA=soundcloud]fxpansion/bfd-expansion-sig-snare-vol-1
I just loved the piccolo in this expansion so for $25 I made it my own. IMHO the snare sound can make or break a recording 2nd only to vocals. I wanted my collection of snare to be vast and of high fidelity. I'm eventually going to make sample sets of any good snares I've recorded myself, and especially the ambience impulse responses. I'm looking forward to starting my own sample sets. But these are a good start. I felt the rolls were quite convincing, and very well captured and programmed, particularly the first clip.
https://www.fxpansion.com/products/bfdx/bfdexpansions/bfdsleishmansnares/
[MEDIA=soundcloud]fxpansion/sets/bfd-expansion-sleishman-snares
And last but not least at all was this cymbal collection. I found the BFD Sabian expansion underwhelming, and the zildjan was a bit too much out of my money at the time becuase I wanted these others. So I'll grab it another time.
Sampled / programmed cymbals are the biggest giveaway so I wanted to have options. So this seemed like a great start. It's apparently boutique brand 'bosphorus' cymbals, and while it only comes w like 6 different cymbals they seemed well done and it was like $35. Which is affeodable and considering I couldn't buy one boutique cymbal and stand for under $3-400 it made sense until i have live room at my own house.
https://www.fxpansion.com/products/bfdx/bfdexpansions/bfdstantonmoorecymbals/
[MEDIA=soundcloud]fxpansion/sets/bfd-stanton-moore
So that's pretty much all I'll be adding to BFD 3 besides the percussion and zildjan packs.
But I think this is a great start, and combined with the stock set I've closed the chapter on BFD 3 and called it complete for now. Once the 'studio' is up and running I'll determine if I need anything more.
I'm still saving/waiting for drummagog platinum to go on sale which will complete the whole digital drum arsenal. Allowing pluggin hosting, live performance, and audio to midi and midi to audiofunctionality, I'll have all bases covered.
There's plenty of low fi and average samples of drums and stuff out there but I wanted to convert my hifi acoustic samples. Gonna start working on a selection of electronica style drums sometime.
Sean G, post: 440176, member: 49362 wrote: The Percussion pack h
Sean G, post: 440176, member: 49362 wrote: The Percussion pack has everything...including the kitchen sink.
Literally.
Have you used it at all? Jw. Also which one are you talking about? There's one simply called 'percussion' then there's 'swan' percussion and two Japanese percussion ones lol. It gets absurd after a while.
Also I've decided to bite the bullet and try my hand at the mini PC. The interface can double as an iPad interface, and the mini PC can be a capture daw. This opens the laptop up to being a portable recording rig with its own interface, and when incorporated into the full system, it will host all my vsti via the VSL pro player and Ethernet connection.
I'm telling you man nothing about where I'm heading is the cheap way. Im glad I got the good vsl pro player becuase the standard one doesn't support pluggin hosting or Ethernet slaving.
Come to find out the codec pluggin won't directly encode anything above 16/48k or any surround. That's why the codec pro is $425.
I'm not mad tho, for $10 this was still an extremely useful buy I believe, and a great test to see if the pro version is gonna be useful and/or necessary.
well I finally did something completely right. This VSL PRO pla
well I finally did something completely right. This VSL PRO player turns any second computer into a networked pluggin and instrument host. With 3rs party pluggin support this thing is it man. No interface necessary just an Ethernet connection. The potential power of this arrangement smokes the potential of dsp cards all day. And you can use all your own plugins / vsti's, without having to buy exclusive proprietary versions of stuff.
So not only is it the best sounding orchestral instrument, the player is one of a kind and takes audio processing burden off the master computer. A standard license gives you the ability to run it on 3 computers. Imagine 3 Xeon computers linked to your daw computer just for plugins and vsti!?!?
I'm gonna write them and see if it works w multiple sample rates at once so i could use gtr3 with 192k sessions without double converting but I'm not super hopeful.
Check it out!
I recently picked up a Warm Audio EQP-WA. The first thing I
I recently picked up a Warm Audio EQP-WA.
To find that it had...you guessed it...Tung-Sols...:D
I front loaded it on a vocal track initially to test it and it sounds awesome. Lovely warm low end without the mud.
Now I'm saving up the pennies and looking down the back of the lounge for more pennies to buy another...then a WA-76...
then another WA-76...I looked at the Hairball Audio Stereo Link Kit http://www.hairballaudio.com/catalog/parts-store/more-diy-kits/stereo-link-kit#tab-110 and spoke to a guy here that does amp builds / repairs about putting the kit together for me and linking the two WA-76's as a stereo pair.
Gas is contagious. Very contagious, and charcoal tablets don't help