KVR Audio

ntom · Post by **ntom** » Sat May 19, 2012 11:36 am

I did contact them about my issues and mentioned a few of the issues you guys had, they were quick to respond and when we could not find a solution they said they'll make sure to include the repairs in the new build. Hopefully this will solve a lot of the issues.

If you continue to have some, contact customer support! They are very friendly! I have been using Mixcraft for a long time now and I always loved their support.

LawrenceF · Post by **LawrenceF** » Sat May 19, 2012 3:19 pm

camsr wrote:Tech tip, a 64-bit CPU and OS would not have required a restart. The program would have crashed to desktop. Another benefit of x64 based DAW.

Nothing to do with Mixcraft per se, but that's not necessarily true, not for me. What happens with some applications is that they'll crash or hang and the process itself can't be unloaded. I mean, the application can be forced closed on the screen but the process can't be shut down in task manager, sometimes keeping hold of the audio card driver, sometimes holding onto memory.

When that happens I log off and back on which seems to clear the process but sometimes still eventually leads to a BSOD if memory is still being addressed or something, dunno.

When applications crash and the process persists like that (during a real session where it matters) I just reboot. Thankfully, it doesn't happen very often and it doesn't take very long.

Anyway, software will crash. It's a fact of life. I tend not to believe people that say they've run X software for 5 years straight and never had a crash.

LawrenceF · Post by **LawrenceF** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:29 pm

On deeper inspection, I may purchase this if only to have it to accept Mixcraft projects for mixing so questions for you long time users...

Sends... do you really have to switch to an active send every time to adjust them or is there a way to show many sends at once?

Also, below I have Addictive Drums loaded with multiouts and I can only send to the reverb from the master track, no other. I'm trying to send the snare to Altiverb, no luck. The main track sends but the others don't.

I'm also getting some pretty bad screen redraw flickering with the key editor when resizing as shown below...

Screen Flicker

Thanks.

ntom · Post by **ntom** » Sat May 19, 2012 10:17 pm

LawrenceF wrote:On deeper inspection, I may purchase this if only to have it to accept Mixcraft projects for mixing so questions for you long time users...

Sends... do you really have to switch to an active send every time to adjust them or is there a way to show many sends at once?

Also, below I have Addictive Drums loaded with multiouts and I can only send to the reverb from the master track, no other. I'm trying to send the snare to Altiverb, no luck. The main track sends but the others don't.

I'm also getting some pretty bad screen redraw flickering with the key editor when resizing as shown below...

Screen Flicker

Thanks.

Screen flicker has been like that for as long as I can remember, though, normally I have that undocked and floating on my second monitor, never do I have docked to the daw.
Per sends...I never really use them so can't really say.

original flipper · Post by **original flipper** » Sun May 20, 2012 3:08 pm

Hi

I was pretty surprised with this application - certainly has lots of positives.

I found that it passed the 'user friendly' test: I was able to knock up a simple tune with a few minutes - so, most of the basic functions do not require too much searching/reading/head scratching to find.

I need to do further demoing to see if it could work for me - in lieu of the above comments about multi-out sends, I need to check out the FX implimentation.

Thanks.

LawrenceF · Post by **LawrenceF** » Sun May 20, 2012 3:20 pm

ntom wrote:Per sends...I never really use them so can't really say.

How do you share things like reverbs or build headphone mixes without using sends? Anyway, for $80 I may add it to the collective. That's really a steal given what's all there... especially the pro version with the additional plugs for ... $99 I think? I may bite.

I'm always looking for good apps to push clients towards to do their personal productions in, things that I would't mind working in at the mix stage.

Anyway, I personally think it's a really great app. If their intent is to service the consumer / home music production market mostly, they're on the right path. It's a tremendous value for the money. If their intent is to - really - compete with the big boys on that other playing field they'll likely need to take a few detours from the current design path... especially with the mixer which is really not a very good overall design at all imo. It's the weakest part of the entire application for me.

I do very much like the way multiout instruments fall into group busses by themselves in the mixer though, that's a very, very nice touch. I really dislike that you can only see plugin chains with a floating window and that all sends nor inserts aren't exposed as they typically are on real mixers. In a large project both are a real workflow / speed hindrance.

Anyway, in the Garageband / Sequel market I'd personally rate it a 10+ for features and value. In that other market I'd rate it a 7... not quite there yet.

But oh... so... close.

luxgud · Post by **luxgud** » Sun May 20, 2012 3:40 pm

Out of curiosity and boredom, I downloaded this software and I have been playing with it for a number of hours and I have found it to be very stable and it certainly has not crashed. It's very easy to use - you really don't need a manual as its all straightforward.
It uses the Elastique timestretch technology (I thought it sounded familiar) but I can't see how you can choose different algorithms for drums, vocals etc ?

This software would be a good safe purchase in my humble opinion

Mattox · Post by **Mattox** » Sun May 20, 2012 4:22 pm

The mixer is actually quite new in Mixcraft, only been around since V5. Acoustica are very good at making steady incremental upgrades to their software; I'd expect it to get better with time.

ntom · Post by **ntom** » Mon May 21, 2012 12:42 am

Mattox wrote:The mixer is actually quite new in Mixcraft, only been around since V5. Acoustica are very good at making steady incremental upgrades to their software; I'd expect it to get better with time.

For example...just now adding the ability to reverse clips in V6, that was long overdue, but I am SO glad they put it in now!

And, I never found a use for sends, I was always capable at doing what I wanted to do without using them, so I didn't use them. Still not really sure what they're good for even now. Maybe if I understood then I would use them more.

Conslaw · Post by **Conslaw** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:11 pm

I tried the demo version of Mixcraft 5 after struggling with Tracktion for more than a year. Mixcraft was like a breath of fresh air. Unlike Tracktion, Mixcraft would automatically detect my midi keyboard if was plugged back in after coming loose. The Wave RT drivers in Mixcraft have far less latency than the drivers for Tracktion. (My computer doesn't like asio4all very much.) Mixcraft imports general midi files much better than Apple Logic does. Some of the general midi files are pretty usable right after automatic conversion. Others require minor tweaking. Importing general midi into Logic is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.

What I like most about Mixcraft are the instruments. The Mixcraft general midi sounds are very usable. The "expanded instruments" enhancements are great, especially the vocals. I was already familiar with the Messiah (Prophet clone) and Minimogue Luxus (Minimoog clone). I was pleasantly surprised by the Impulse generic polysynth.

Recently Mixcraft lowered the price of the Pro Studio 5 version to $99.99. This version is the one to get now because it is only about $25 more than the basic version but it includes licensed version of the ME80 (Yamaha CS80 clone) and Memorymoon (MemoryMoog clone) as well as the 250 megabyte Pianissimo deluxe grand piano. Any one of these is worth the $25. Plus, you get to upgrade from Mixcraft 5 Pro Studio to Mixcraft 6 at no charge. Others upgrading from 5 to 6 must pay $20.00.

By the way, I already owned Arturia's CS-80V. After trying ME80, I can say that side-by-side, I like ME80 better. In fact, more than half the time I've spent with Mixcraft I've spent just playing with the ME80 both by itself and layered with other instruments. (I'm not knocking CS-80V. That and the Korg Mono/Poly (KLC) are my go to analog synths on the Mac.)

Mechanought · Post by **Mechanought** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:12 am

ntom wrote:I never found a use for sends, I was always capable at doing what I wanted to do without using them, so I didn't use them. Still not really sure what they're good for even now. Maybe if I understood then I would use them more.

So when you want reverb you put it on every single track individually?!

Do you know how much cleaner a sound you would get, and how much CPU you would save, if you used a Aux Split?

ATS · Post by **ATS** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 2:00 am

My second favorite host next to FL Studio. Mixcraft is great.

C-note · Post by **C-note** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 7:57 am

I've been trying it out for a few days now and really like it. Love the racks and the transpose key. Nice to be able to transpose a whole mix without starting Cubase. No crashes and the Wave RT driver is excellent. Most likely will buy

summer2000 · Post by **summer2000** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 10:36 pm

Last I checked Mixcraft was not a 64bit DAW. Has that changed? I only use 64bit plugins in my setup.

flugel45 · Post by **flugel45** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 1:00 am

Nope, only 32 bit for now.

Mixcraft 6 Released!