Kanthos

Their support is really good. Ask them about it, and they'll straighten it out and tell you why they asked for ID. Many of us have bought from NI before; I've done it several times without issue.

Oh sure, it wasn't useless information, and it's not that I have a general dislike for all oriental music; I have some oriental and oriental-influenced musics already in my collection. Some of the chanting-type stuff was a bit odd, for me, but that doesn't mean I didn't learn anything from listening to it. I meant more that I didn't see how most of the content (the Human Condition and Environment videos) fits in with the theme of the course. Sure, the more you know about sound, music, the psychology of music and sound, the better, but was it worth roughly 90 minutes out of a course that will have roughly 8 hours of lectures? I didn't really think so. I'd see it fitting much better in a "Music 101" style course that gives an overview of music and how we understand it. The stuff on timbre and how we hear, on the other hand, I've read enough to see how that relates directly to the rest of the course. I was also pretty tired when I listened to the lectures yesterday, so between that and the content seeming out of place, I probably wasn't in the right headspace to appreciate everything he said as much as you might've been. I should listen to it again when I'm less tired and accept it for what it is, not what I think it should be (eg. something more in line with the other three lectures).

I'm there, I just haven't checked out the forums much yet. I saw the first few posts were about technical issues with the course or threads about which DAW is good and whether you can use ProTools or Logic to do the stuff in this course, so I stopped looking more than that. Also, anyone else find the last half of this week's lectures to be kind of boring? Useful from an academic sense, I suppose, but not that helpful for someone who knows what musical contexts they already do/want to make music in, none of which are traditional Japanese music? Kind of felt like filler to me, possibly because he didn't want to break up the next lecture.

Just watched the MAGFest video. Awesome stuff, though Amy was mixed too low for the first few songs. Not that it would work out in any practical sense, but I'd love to play keys with you guys.

I don't use FL Studio, but I'm a keyboard player and I've done pretty much everything you want to do. I use Ableton Live rewired with Reason, with a few sampled instruments loaded in Kontakt and Omnisphere within Live, and most of my pads and leads done in Reason. I also launch clips or backing tracks in Live. I can't recommend Live enough as a host for the pre-recorded stuff. It's not the best host ever for the sampled instruments, but there are some tricks you can use to compensate. Plus, if you're trying to do a one-man show kind of thing, versus playing keys in a band with a massive setlist (I play at my church; we've got over 100 songs we play, with new ones added all the time), things will be simpler for you than for me. Before you get any hardware, I recommend you think about how you want your software set up, and then get the hardware to match. Also think about your audio interface, specifically how many outputs you have. Here's what I use. Audio interface: Roland Octa-Capture. It's absolutely fantastic. It has 8 1/4" or XLR inputs and 8 1/4" outputs. I use three inputs: two for my keyboard (I use it for MIDI control and for its organ sounds), and one for the monitor feed I get from the house mixer (I get them to send everything BUT the keyboards and loops). It gives me 10 outputs to use in Ableton, so I use 2 for my piano sounds, 2 for other keyboard sounds, 2 for key loops (loops with harmonic content), 2 for beat loops, and 1 for a click track for the band. It also lets you mix the inputs directly along with the output from the DAW and route that to different output pairs, so I make a stereo monitor mix for myself and send the loops, keyboard parts, and click out to separate outputs depending on what the sound tech wants. The best part is that all that mixing is done on the Octa-Capture itself, which reduces the processing load in Ableton. Other controllers: I use a Novation Launchpad for launching and stopping clips. I've also got a Korg nanoKontrol where I use the buttons to toggle individual keyboard sounds, the faders to adjust section volumes (eg. a master volume for piano sounds, another for EPs, another for pads, etc.), and the knobs for things like filter and cutoff. And lastly, a Line6 FBV Shortboard Mk II that I use for tap tempo and to control the effects for my electric pianos: I have a track for EP sounds in Live that behaves like a guitarist's pedal rig, and I control it from the Shortboard. I highly recommend any of the gear I have. For other options, do you have a keyboard? You could get a keyboard with most of the knobs and faders built in (there's also the Novation Launchkey that just got announced at the NAMM conference going on now; it probably won't be on the market for a while, but it might do most of what you want). I've heard great things about the APC40 and its little brother, the APC20; the APC40 has all the controls I get on my Launchpad and nanoKontrol rolled into one. I prefer my setup though, because if I don't need loops for a given gig, I can leave the Launchpad at home, plus the nanoKontrol sits on top of my keyboard where it's easier to reach when I'm playing. Anyway, my main recommendation is that you figure out the software side of things first, especially making sure you can load all the sounds you need to have loaded at once without maxing out your RAM or CPU. Get used to what you need to do with the software, and then spend the money on the hardware to match it. I do recommend, if you have the money or if you already have a hardware keyboard, that you at least consider doing some of your keyboard-controlled sounds (eg. anything that you're playing live, stuff that's not a loop) from a hardware keyboard just to reduce the load on your computer. Anyway, playing back loops is the easy part; what kind of sounds do you want to play live? What are you hoping to have for a set (how many sounds? How many live parts per song, roughly?)

I don't really listen to metal so I don't know what you're after specifically, but could you get what you want by sending each drum to its own output and applying EQ and compression yourself? Why do you you think you need to edit samples?

Esperado, if you didn't have any issues importing MIDI files, would you be happy with Ableton? There's probably a free (or at least much cheaper) solution that will let you import MIDI files or convert type 0 to type 1 so they'll import into Live cleanly; that might be a better choice than buying and getting used to a new DAW.

There may be issues with PLAY's installer; I doubt it though, because if it had a common bug that a lot of people experienced, it'd have been easy for you to find out what went wrong. The most likely cause of all your issues is you. This is why I suggested reformatting and then not touching ANYTHING; even if you don't install or move stuff around from now on, who knows what state your system is already in? As for the claim that PLAY's install is bizzare because it puts files in multiple locations, that's just nonsense. All kinds of Windows programs install files to various locations. NI products, for example, will put files in several locations under Program Files (usually Program Files\NI and Program Files\Common Files\NI), plus they'll make a folder buried under your user folder for user-created sounds, plus the VSTs will go under the VST folder (folders, if you have a 64-bit system) that you specify, plus if it's Kontakt or Battery, the library goes somewhere else too. The days of dumping everything a program needed into a single folder ended with Windows 95; there are very few programs that install that simply now.

Yeah, makes sense. A reformat is a good way to help prevent future problems but unless you have problems you simply can't fix now, it's not something you have to drop everything to do immediately.

Not exactly. DLLs are code packaged slightly differently than an executable; most of the time, they're generally designed to be used by multiple programs, though there are some other uses of DLLs (VST plugins are DLLs on Windows, for example, because EastWest and Spectrasonics and NI can't build software directly into Cubase or FL Studio). Like all programs, DLLs may need updates, either because the developer makes further changes or fixes bugs. They'll put out periodic updates to their set of DLLs, and a program can grab the whole set and make use of the new features (if there are any). DLLs aren't unique to the software using them; rather, the software has been built with a certain version of the DLLs, and it depends on the DLLs to have certain features. My suggestion is that you reformat your computer and install the OS and drivers from scratch (if you know how), and then ONLY install programs you know to be safe and that you actually want (eg. FL Studio, your samples, your browser of choice). Don't ever touch the registry, DLLs, or the Windows or System folders unless you know exactly what you're doing and WHY you need to do so. Don't try to be clever. If it's not a data file (MP3s, PDFs, FL Studio projects), don't touch it, don't move it, don't replace it. Same goes for system restore points. There's no reason to do any of that kind of stuff. The only exception I can think of are plugins, since some installers leave them in their own directory while others put them in something like C:\Program Files (x86)\VSTPlugins. If you're running out of space, uninstall some programs, get rid of some media files, get a larger hard drive (again, if you're comfortable with an OS install), or get a second hard drive or external drive. Don't try to save space cleaning up "unnecessary" system stuff or registry entries; you don't know for fure if they're actually unnecessary.

Almost right. You're right about launching PLAY standalone. When running from within FL Studio though, PLAY is itself a DLL (all VSTs are DLLs on Windows; they have to support a specific set of methods that other DLLs would not so that the host can send them MIDI or audio and get MIDI or audio back and so on). Any request for a DLL made from a program OR THE DLLs IT CALLS (eg. PLAY) is resolved by searching the program's path first (even if the DLLs are in another folder, and even if that folder contains the DLLs in question; see this if you want to know more). I bet Moseph's advice about setting the path will be all that you need to fix the DLL issue. I don't use FL Studio or PLAY though, so I have no idea about the right-channel-only audio problem. I'm curious to know why you say you have frequent software problems. In my experience, things mainly go wrong because of a) sketchy programs that people install, like the registry cleaner, and people mucking around with things they don't understand. Yes, it's possible that software is faulty (though not to the extent you seem to be describing), it's possible you could've been hacked (though it's probably not that likely that a hacker would bother screwing up your files, if you were even hacked at all), and it's possible you could have/had a virus (though the Qt library probably isn't common enough to be a serious target for virus-writers, and wouldn't cripple your system the way that screwing up Windows system DLLs would do), so I'd suspect it's either programs you've installed or things you've done. Whether you do it now or wait until your problem's fixed, it might be a good idea to describe both the ways you use your computer (especially what software you install, if you ever change things in the registry, etc.) and some of the other problems you've had. I'm not trying to be a condescending prick here or say that this is your fault; what I am saying is that if you seem to have more problems than most people, figuring out why that is and what you can do to change things will make you much more productive. Besides, if you are doing something you shouldn't be, or are installing software you shouldn't, wouldn't you want to know so that you can stop doing so?

I must seem like the worst Secret Santa ever. Brad, I had you. First off, I ordered you the Guild Wars 2 soundtrack within minutes after getting your name. The confirmation e-mail had your address with my name on it, so I opened a ticket with them. They said there'd be a 10-business-day delay on shipping. Ok, fine. I updated my ticket a couple weeks ago, since it hadn't shipped; no response. I waited a week (December 19th by now) and opened a second ticket, asking that they cancel the order or ship it that day. No response. I just opened a PayPal dispute right now, hoping to get a refund so I can get you something from your amazon list. We also had a Target gift card that we were going to hand-deliver today, if that had worked out. It's in the mail now (though from Canada, so we could have a return address on it in case anything went wrong); use it for you or for stuff for Joshua or just to help out with the extra expenses of having a new little guy in the house, up to you. Regardless, don't worry, you're not forgotten

For point 3, you have to listen to a song to figure it out by ear, and even if you're good enough to figure it out, you might not be good enough to (or might not want to put the time into) memorizing the source tune, especially if it's something complex or with multiple melodies. Obviously, someone who uses asio4all will have to close their DAW in order to do any of those things, but just because it can be done, that doesn't mean it won't be annoying. Especially for the last example; seems counter-productive to close your DAW to listen to the thing you're trying to remix and hope you remember what you've listened to by the time all your samples load again.

Loads of reasons. You're making music and want to take a break, doing something that makes sound (playing a casual or browser-based game, maybe), or you're remixing a track for a game that you only can get on youtube (eg. you can't just import the MP3 into your DAW).

I don't have any games which I have not paid for. The only way it could be argued that downloading for a short trial (usually 30 minutes to an hour; enough to get through the intro and into the basic gameplay and get a feel for it) hurts game sales is if, by trying it, I decide that I don't like it and therefore don't buy it. However, since I have a limited amount of money each month to spend on entertainment, I don't buy games unless I'm quite sure I'll enjoy them, so if I'm sitting on the fence, I won't buy the game because I'm unsure, and trying it and then deciding I definitely won't buy changes the outcome. On the other hand, there have been a number of games I was unsure about until I tried them, and then went out and bought them. It's basically like borrowing a friend's copy of the game for an hour to decide if I want my own.

I said I didn't like choral music much, but thinking about it a bit more, that's not entirely true, and I do own a bit of choral music. What makes the difference for me is the instrumentation backing up the singers. I've got Wagner's Ring Cycle operas, and though I have to be in the mood for the singing, I love the orchestral parts. Also, Carmina Burana. Avatar, I guarantee you've heard the opening song, O Fortuna, played in the background of a movie trailer somewhere; it's probably the most well-known classical piece. Oh, and I also like Beethoven's 9th Symphony which has choral accompaniment on the last movement. I guess for me, I generally like big, interesting orchestral parts behind the singing; I'm generally not interested in hearing a bunch of singers with a piano.

That's seriously awesome! What album was it?

I think you're making a couple incorrect assumptions about classical and orchestrated music. Soundtracks are blatant within a range of emotions, I think; it's the visual that makes it more specific. For example, is playing while Theoden dies in Return of the King, but if you didn't know the title and couldn't associate the visual footage with the music, I'm not sure you could identify it specifically as mourning loss as opposed to some other "sad" emotion.Classical music can do the same; compare even the first couple minuets of to .Film scores and game music is generally more bombastic, that's for sure, but having discernible melody isn't something more for game music. If anything, game music and film scores can get away with more textural pieces because they also have the visual element, or because the music is just there to support the visuals and is intended to be ethereal and textural, not melodic. Try the start of this, for example; it gets a bit more melodic later on; it's just the first remotely good example that came to mind. In fact, a critique of modern video game music is that as it's been easier to orchestrate soundtracks and produce them either digitally or via recording an orchestra, something's been lost in terms of discernible melody. I think that you and your loved one need to recognize that not all forms of music are for all people. You can certainly work on not looking deathly bored, but ultimately they need to understand, and you need to tell them, that you're doing your best by showing up and that you support their efforts, even if you don't like the music. Maybe that will change, but you're not going to be super-excited about their choral concerts overnight. As for developing an appreciation, I'm sure you're open-minded enoguh to recognize that even when you don't like the music, it still takes skill to perform. I'd also point out that classical music encompasses a very wide scope of sounds, and not everyone will like all of it. I generally like classical music, but favour music from the romantic period and beyond, have some affinity to music from the classical period, and don't care much about the baroque period. I much prefer a full orchestra to smaller groups, and I generally don't like jazz or classical vocals, unless it's a large choir being used texturally, as more of an instrument; think the Lord of the Rings soundtracks for that. I'd suggest listening to a variety of classical works (I and others can give suggestions), and give some thought to what you like or don't like about the pieces, and look for similar elements in the music you're going out to see. I find active listening, analyzing what you hear, is a great way to appreciate things more.

I have a lot of digital downloads on the PSP and on Steam and GOG, but not on the 3DS. I'll get PC games as digital downloads if they're cheaper, which on Steam they often are if you wait for sales, or if they're not easily available physically (eg. most of GOG, since the games are older). On the 3DS, I prefer physical games (unless it's eStore-only, of course), because a) You can't play them and trade them back and I haven't bothered to get a larger SD card. The one game I might buy digitally, if I buy it at all, is Animal Crossing, so it's easier to switch between that game and whatever else I'm currently playing. PSP games load data faster when they're on a memory stick, so all my games are on memory stick (even for the few like Crisis Core that were only on UMD; my PSP is hacked so I kept the original and downloaded an ISO for the speedup). Plus, with a hacked PSP, you can try out a game before committing to buy it, so there's not as much desire to trade anything in.

Oh, the yak is awesome, but I couldn't bring it home and not let Will play with it. If it wasn't for him, I'd have it on my desk at work.

Picked it up on launch day, and my game store had gotten a couple pre-order bonuses but no one had preordered, so I got one. It was a 6" stuffed yak that's now my one-year-old's favourite stuffed animal.

I received mine a couple days ago in a Steam conversation (though I don't know who my Secret Santa actually was). Thanks for the iTunes code! Mine's in two parts; one part definitely won't be ready until after Christmas (I'm sorry!) and the other hasn't shipped yet, but I'm still hoping it'll get there before Christmas.

No, I'm not! I was just poking around Steam last week, saw the "Your Inventory" menu, and clicked it to figure out what it was. I saw I had two games to give away (anyone want Torchlight 1?), I'd seen your wishlist from this thread so I knew you wanted Monkey Island, no one on my friends list at the time had it on their wishlist, so when you accepted the friend request (took you a week, slacker!), I could give it to you. Everyone should have the joy of experiencing Insult Sword Fighting. Enjoy!

Where did you hear the song? Is it in your collection (and you just don't know where), or did you hear it somewhere else?

Done, that was easy. I thought of something I know my person will like that wasn't on their list. Only downside is that after I ordered it, they said it'd be about 10 days before it would ship, and then it may take a while to ship too. Hoping it makes it to my person before Christmas.