KVR Audio

T-CM11 · Post by **T-CM11** » Sat Mar 05, 2016 5:53 pm

Karl the Hermit wrote: MIDI - I'm pretty much a MIDIot and need something, again, as close to plug-n-play as possible. I just received a new Arturia Mini-Lab in the post and want a minimum of fuss hooking it up and being able jam on my VSTi's as soon as possible. Which host handles MIDI hardware more easily?

If the OS installs the (class compliant or not) drivers without problems, then any host can use it "without fuss".

Karl the Hermit · Post by **Karl the Hermit** » Sat Mar 05, 2016 9:33 pm

Lotsa great advice and comments here, folks... thanks! And this is why I love KVR...

I will be checking out Mutools and Mixcraft, along with Reaper in the very near future. I'm saving Tracktion for last only because of previous experience. You know, my initial impressions of T7 indicate that it may be best for folks who're more into loop-based song creation. I'm actually moving away from that and more into a MIDI track/soundfont and soft synth direction... probably use only the occasional loop and vocal wav in my stuff.

I gotta ask, though... what is up with the 32 vs 64 bit crap the Reaper demo was asking me about? What exactly on my PC needs to be 32 or 64 bit? I will check with Belarc Advisor but I'm not sure what "bits" they're talking about...

Thanks!

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sat Mar 05, 2016 9:39 pm

Karl the Hermit wrote:You know, my initial impressions of T7 indicate that it may be best for folks who're more into loop-based song creation.

Nah, I have never used a loop in my life but use Tracktion daily. It's the fastest DAW to get into and get music made. The only time I use Reaper is when I am using plugins that really tax my system as it does handle those a lot better (than any DAW, not just Tracktion).

Karl the Hermit · Post by **Karl the Hermit** » Sat Mar 05, 2016 9:42 pm

Okay... I just checked Belarc and it says my Windows 7 is (x64) and my processors are "64-bit ready"...

Guess I can d/l 64-bit then...

LawrenceF · Post by **LawrenceF** » Sat Mar 05, 2016 10:34 pm

DarkStar wrote:Pick a significant project that you did in your current DAW.

Try to do it in the two DAWs that you are considering. You'll learn much more that way about which is better for you then any number of comments from others.

That's the clearly logical path as opposed to asking people what "the best daw" is.

But of course, if we did that, we'd have to shut the Internet off.

nix808 · Post by **nix808** » Sat Mar 05, 2016 11:56 pm

I'm not sure what bits they are talking about either K,
a hazy concept is a more bandwidth binary.

Practically speaking, 64 bit allows practically any large amount of ram to be accessed. So for us musicians large sample libraries and mem hacks will run.

You can be all 64 bit host and vst these days, unless you like old school ones.

Karl the Hermit · Post by **Karl the Hermit** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 8:43 pm

Wow! Totally not what I expected...

Reaper - After watching just a couple of Kenny Gioia's video tutorials, but NOT d/l'ing or reading the actual manual, I was able to set up some audio clips and add an effect. Now the effect sounded okay but when I was adjusting some of its' sliders, it kept affecting the sequencer behind it. I was adding their native ring modulator to a hi-hat wav in real time. And another thing I noticed was that I had to preview wav files with my WMP and not in-program. Are these normal issues with Reaper or am I doing something wrong I could find in the manual?

Regardless of the weirdness, Reaper is my front-runner of the 3.

Tracktion - I spent a bit less time with this, but thought I had the upper hand on Reaper because I've used it before... lol! Not even close! I couldn't do a thing with it. I checked out a few tutorials, but found them to be less helpful than Ken's Reaper tuts. On top of all that, I found out you have to PAY for additional video's... and just checked out the manuals section of their site and apparently you have to pay for that, too! is this something every host company does? Or did I miss something here...

Either or, the whole "pay for the manual" thing sucks! I haven't touched a DAW in over 10 years and I've never heard of such a thing!

Mutools - Opened it up and immediately felt like I'd gone from Lego's to blocks! 'Nuff said... delete!

I have to admit that I've been unable to figure out how to jam any of my old VSTi's... Triangle II and Claw are old faves... in any of these hosts (along with FL Studio, as well, come to think of it)... I feel almost aged out of the DAW scene. I do find just opening a new host and just trying to figure things out unaided is a decent measure of how "intuitive" they are, but I will definitely be needing to pore through some manuals for any DAW I end up with...

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 8:54 pm

Karl the Hermit wrote:Okay... I just checked Belarc and it says my Windows 7 is (x64) and my processors are "64-bit ready"...

Guess I can d/l 64-bit then...

Mind that you have to use 64-bit versions of all of your plugins too then... Reaper has a bit-bridge though, so you can also use your 32-bit only plugins, not sure about Tracktion though.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 8:58 pm

Karl the Hermit wrote:I spent several hours last night looking at a pair of $60 DAW's... Tracktion 7 and Reaper 5.

How is Reaper a $60 DAW?

A commercial license costs $225

Karl the Hermit · Post by **Karl the Hermit** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:14 pm

chk071 wrote:
Karl the Hermit wrote:Okay... I just checked Belarc and it says my Windows 7 is (x64) and my processors are "64-bit ready"...

Guess I can d/l 64-bit then...
Mind that you have to use 64-bit versions of all of your plugins too then... Reaper has a bit-bridge though, so you can also use your 32-bit only plugins, not sure about Tracktion though.

I was looking for updates to my VST(i)'s and quickly found out that they aren't even available anymore! Thanks for the tip about the "bit-bridge," though... that may be a reason it's not recognizing them when I scan for plugins...

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:18 pm

Karl the Hermit wrote:I checked out a few tutorials, but found them to be less helpful than Ken's Reaper tuts. On top of all that, I found out you have to PAY for additional video's...

No there is a video tutorial by Groove 3 that you pay for, there's one for every other DAW there is pretty much too, are you going to blame them for someone else providing a paid tutorial series too or maybe you'd rather they just didn't mention it?

Boone777 · Post by **Boone777** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:28 pm

Make a folder for 32bits plugins and another one for the 64bits. Point Reaper's vst folder to both of them. Or you could have issues by mixing them up in the same folder. Check youtube for some more Reaper videos. You can definetly preview wav files in Reaper using media explorer.
" Now the effect sounded okay but when I was adjusting some of its' sliders, it kept affecting the sequencer behind it."
Wich fx did you use? This does'nt sound like anything that happened to me using Reaper fx they are rock solid usually.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:29 pm

Numanoid wrote:
Karl the Hermit wrote:I spent several hours last night looking at a pair of $60 DAW's... Tracktion 7 and Reaper 5.
How is Reaper a $60 DAW?

A commercial license costs $225

Correct, so it's not a $60 DAW for people making at least $20k from their activity with the DAW. However, for most people, it's a $60 DAW.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:32 pm

ghettosynth wrote:Correct, so it's not a $60 DAW for people making at least $20k from their activity with the DAW.

It would be difficult to live off $20K a year, so in other words it is a no-pro license

Would be interesting to know how many KVR Reaper users have had to pay $225 for Reaper.

MuTools · Post by **MuTools** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:58 pm

Karl the Hermit wrote:Mutools - Opened it up and immediately felt like I'd gone from Lego's to blocks! 'Nuff said... delete!

Pls elaborate a bit more on this. Are you sure you were not mislead by the 'simple' UI of MuLab, which is intended. MuLab has serious depth, hope you saw all that. And even more and better with the forthcoming MuLab 7.

Attack of the 60-Dollar DAW!