Specs, DAW Computer, Opinions

[fretworn]

Oh man and I had just bought the iZotope advanced....More money...Awesome
MacBook is down atm. I opened it up to upgrade the internal SSD, and found some fluffy pillow lithium batteries while I was in there

So I haven't even bothered to install everything yet. Waiting on the new battery pack to arrive, along with a new to me iMac i9 (8 cores and 64GB of RAM) should be good for a bit.

And still need to get some better drum plugins and a midi controller and the hidden fun money is about depleted.

The wife is onboard for the midi controller/keys for my birthday or Christmas - tough to choose without playing them due to individual keybed preferences. I'll have to see what the local GC has around to test. I haven't mentioned I might also want a Maschine mikro MK3 to her yet.

I really miss my old Roland with 88 full-size weighted keys at least for acoustic piano instruments - it just feels more natural to me.

I bought a Native Instruments Kontroller - great feel! Great features too like 8 channels of mix knobs.

 

[mavrick102000]

I like the NI offerings. I was just trying to keep a little lower on the budget from the keys side and still stay in the 49-61 key size.

The Nektar Panorama P6 has some nice features, but their keys are so clanky sounding I think it would drive me nuts.

 

[fretworn]

I like the NI offerings. I was just trying to keep a little lower on the budget from the keys side and still stay in the 49-61 key size.

The Nektar Panorama P6 has some nice features, but their keys are so clanky sounding I think it would drive me nuts.

I passed on the P6 because there is no native Apple Silicon support at the time (and the awful keyboard)

 

[Moondog Wily]

I like the NI offerings. I was just trying to keep a little lower on the budget from the keys side and still stay in the 49-61 key size.

The Nektar Panorama P6 has some nice features, but their keys are so clanky sounding I think it would drive me nuts.

I too have the NI S49 Komplete Kontroller and have been very happy with it. The only thing I don't like is not having on board sound capabilities. I wish I could upload some of the sounds and play it independent. It is best/most versatile when used in conjunction with NI instruments, but plays well with others!

 

[fretworn]

I too have the NI S49 Komplete Kontroller and have been very happy with it. The only thing I don't like is not having on board sound capabilities. I wish I could upload some of the sounds and play it independent. It is best/most versatile when used in conjunction with NI instruments, but plays well with others!

I am using a lot of the synthesizers in Logic. Solid integration (after you install Kontact Kontrol)

 

[FuzzyAce]

Same here, have had NI for a # of years and enjoy it. Thought about getting a kontroller to go with it but for the cash i'd prefer a synth/controller.

 

[mavrick102000]

I too have the NI S49 Komplete Kontroller and have been very happy with it. The only thing I don't like is not having on board sound capabilities. I wish I could upload some of the sounds and play it independent. It is best/most versatile when used in conjunction with NI instruments, but plays well with others!

I hear you on at least allowing a small bank of sounds to be imported to be played - but then that would require a soud card controller and dedicated memory onboard.

You'd think with the free space on the face of the board they would've put at least 8 pads on it, even smaller pads on the right hand side.

Pads can come in handy with 49 or less keys and allow some single finger chord options while doing melody with the right hand.

The pricing between the 61 key and 49 key is a bit irksome though...$100 more for 15 keys really NI? I can't imagine the flexible circuit and sensors being that much more expensive. - I could be wrong.

 

[fretworn]

I hear you on at least allowing a small bank of sounds to be imported to be played - but then that would require a soud card controller and dedicated memory onboard.

You'd think with the free space on the face of the board they would've put at least 8 pads on it, even smaller pads on the right hand side.

Pads can come in handy with 49 or less keys and allow some single finger chord options while doing melody with the right hand.

The pricing between the 61 key and 49 key is a bit irksome though...$100 more for 15 keys really NI? I can't imagine the flexible circuit and sensors being that much more expensive. - I could be wrong.

I would call B&H photo and get them to take $100 off

 

[mavrick102000]

Very good point! I like B&H, I forget they carry a lot of other things other than gear for my camera.

 

[fretworn]

They make solid deals all the time. Good luck Mav

 

[Whizzinby]

Demoing Gulfoss and trying it out on a throwaway track I had. Like most plugs I lack the mix sophistication to know any more than it is in fact doing something. I’m using Igloo’s post as a guideline, which helps. (Keeping recover and tame under 30%, and then using bias and brighten to get rid of the sliders)

 

[Moondog Wily]

Demoing Gulfoss and trying it out on a throwaway track I had. Like most plugs I lack the mix sophistication to know any more than it is in fact doing something. I’m using Igloo’s post as a guideline, which helps. (Keeping recover and tame under 30%, and then using bias and brighten to get rid of the sliders)

If you have not already done so (as Digital Igloo suggested earlier in this tread), the videos at the Gulfoss website seemed pretty good in the couple I watched. I have not tried this plugin yet, but intend to.

 

[fretworn]

Still at the limits of the M2 … but better organized.

I think this is my best mix yet, but I have no lead/melody - LMAO - really procrastinating here ‘cuz it’s hard …

One thing I found useful with Soothe2, is to use it on certain instruments, rather than just on the master.

Also, Neutron4; really playing with the masking modules, great feature as I think it really helps clear out all the crap between the keyboards, rhythm guitars bass and kick.

Very different mix buss than previous ones …

 

[Whizzinby]

View attachment 9046

Still at the limits of the M2 … but better organized.

I think this is my best mix yet, but I have no lead/melody - LMAO - really procrastinating here ‘cuz it’s hard …

One thing I found useful with Soothe2, is to use it on certain instruments, rather than just on the master.

Also, Neutron4; really playing with the masking modules, great feature as I think it really helps clear out all the crap between the keyboards, rhythm guitars bass and kick.

Very different mix buss than previous ones …

I’m only use Soothe2 on the guitar buss and occasionally bass.

I need to look at the masking module for the next TGF mix. Does it add it to the chain using the AI assistant or do you have to manually add it? (I always use the AI assistant )

 

[fretworn]

I’m only use Soothe2 on the guitar buss and occasionally bass.

I need to look at the masking module for the next TGF mix. Does it add it to the chain using the AI assistant or do you have to manually add it? (I always use the AI assistant )

Manual …

… however post AI, just add it to the block chain then move internal/left of the signal chain so yore soft clip and limiter are the last thing in the path

 

[mavrick102000]

View attachment 9046

Still at the limits of the M2 … but better organized.

I think this is my best mix yet, but I have no lead/melody - LMAO - really procrastinating here ‘cuz it’s hard …

One thing I found useful with Soothe2, is to use it on certain instruments, rather than just on the master.

Also, Neutron4; really playing with the masking modules, great feature as I think it really helps clear out all the crap between the keyboards, rhythm guitars bass and kick.

Very different mix buss than previous ones …

Wow... And you have your buffers set to 1024 for Mix & Master stage?

It doesn't look like you have any one bus overloaded with plugs or instruments. It looks like your guitar and probably keys bus is just a little right of center. Still surprising that it's overloading.

You could do a bounce in place on the heavier tracks to free up some resources and then finish the mix and master stage and see if your system still complains.

 

[Whizzinby]

Interesting thing about buffers. Moving to 512 to resolve performance when mixing, also doesn’t seem to be giving me any issues tracking. I forgot to change it back to 128 like I had been using, and it didn’t dawn me on me until last night after I had been tracking unknowingly for a couple hours without issue.

 

[fretworn]

Buffer size doesn’t seem to make a difference above 256 for me … but I’ll definitely print a stereo file and then master that separately.

I should just go see what’s gobbling up resources…

 

[mavrick102000]

Interesting thing about buffers. Moving to 512 to resolve performance when mixing, also doesn’t seem to be giving me any issues tracking. I forgot to change it back to 128 like I had been using, and it didn’t dawn me on me until last night after I had been tracking unknowingly for a couple hours without issue.

If you're not being bothered by any latency then rock on.

 

[mavrick102000]

Woohoo! Scored a good deal yesterday.

Where can you find a 27" 5K monitor for $256 that aesthetically matches an i9 27" iMac?

eBay! 27" i5 iMac. Use a Thunderbolt cable between the 2 and use OCLP to force update to MacOS Monterey or Ventura onto the hardware and use target screen mode to extend my display to 54" of 5K Retina display goodness. .

Beats the price of an Apple Cinema display for about ~1/6 of the price.