GarretGraves

I could really use some choir sounds. Willing to spend a couple hundred for software. Recommendations?

While I agree cracking DAWs is dishonest, I don't think lack of commitment is a relevant observation. Matter of fact, I think people may be TOO COMMITED to record music when they have to steal it. The only reason to swipe a DAW off the net is to not spend money. And mostly because people don't have enough money. But they want to record so bad that they have to steal it. So IMO, over-commitment is the problem there.

I have yet to recieve XILS lab's 3LE synth! It's been 2 weeks! WTF!?! EDIT: Nevermind...it's downloadable like the TrackBox. Why the hell did it offer overnight shipping for something that could be downloaded? Da hell!?!

I personally didn't have a problem with Homecoming. Other than the fact that the PC version has MAJORLY ANNOYING sound problems. And to make things worse, the dev team ignores the PC community on the matter. On the Steam forums, people continue to complain but the cries of bitter sound fall on deaf ears. But it seems Homecoming is quite unpopular for some reason. The main reasons that I keep reading about are because the story is bland and that Pyramid Head should NOT have been in it (because he/it was a manifestation of James Sunderland's guilt in SH2)and that it took elements from the Silent Hill movie such as those guys in the hazmat suits or whatever they were. I liked Homecoming though. It's a shame no one else does.

Bought Shattered Memories on Tuesday. Since I pre-ordered it from Gamestop, I got a free OST disc with the game. (Which had 21 tracks. Not 18 ) First impression... Wait a sec... let me explain something. This game was so short that I was done in less than 5 hours. Considering the psych profile feature, I decided to play another round immediately after. Since I knew what I was doing this time, the game ended faster. About just over 4 hours. So I went ANOTHER round immediately after that. So because of this, let me start like this... First, second, and third impressions... This is a GREAT game! I've never played a game like this and I highly enjoyed it! The story grabs you from scene one and never let's you go. The graphics are slick, smooth and definately shows what the Wii really is capable of. The snow alone will should tell you that. The voice acting is spot-on and very convincing. The chase scenes in the frozen nightmare areas, however, get a little repetitive. The first couple of chases feel absolutely horrifying. But that feeling gets smaller and smaller the more chases you go through. And when you can't find your way to the waypoint, it's just irritating when those little pink bastards grab a hold of you. Playing the game through 3 times (in a day, even) I got different results in certain parts of the game. The first time through, Cybil was a tough, fit and angry ass cop. The second time she was a more neutral-looking, mother-sounding officer. The third time she was dead sexy and busting out of her uniform....but also very angry. (Kind of a turn on for m- AHEM!) Out of the 3 play throughs, i got 2 different endings (not spoiling anything). I'm told there's more than that so that means I gotta go through it AGAIN or else i'm not gonna feel complete. Overall, definately worth the buy and a great reimagining of the first game. It's a little short, but that shouldn't stop you from adding it to your Wii collection.

Was that what they meant by the Pepsi Challenge section? I was kinda confused when I read that.

HAHA! I like that Death Magnetic was the opener for this. I was so pissed when I got the album. Clipping all the way through. Fucken Rick Ruben man. He got Metallica back on track with metal (mostly) and we coulda had a perfectly solid metal album since The Black Album. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Something HAD to be jacked up. I only say that cause Load and Reload set fans apart and St. Anger was way too raw and dry. And crap. And SOLO-LESS! But personally, I liked Load and Reload and I can respect the direction St. Anger went cause of the issues they were goin through. And say what you want, but I thought Some Kind of Monster was an important movie. It showed what ALL bands go through at some point (the point where everyone goes their seperate ways)and it showed that Ulrich and Mustaine had a man to man talk, putting a cap on the the 20 year feud (I hope). Sorry to rant about my favorite band in the world, but I was drafted into the Metallica army. I didn't get a choice! ANYWAY! This should be a great read for me cause I'm trying really hard to find a way to get my tracks louder without distorting the effing crap out of it. I started learning about limiters recently and I'm getting better with compressors. But reading this is gonna take a while... HERE WE GO!

They're not hideous. They are actually decent. But the snare and cymbals and snare sound a bit too artifical at least for my taste. and when the kicks are pounding really fast it's very noticable they're fake.

It's pretty much the same thing I think. I think the software is the same as what the Gearbox uses.

I HIGHLY recommend Superior Drummer 2.0: http://www.toontrack.com/products.asp?item=30 and yeah, I click them in the piano roll and adjust the velocity for each hit. It may sound tedious at first but you get use to it and quick at it real fast. And with this drum kit, you cant go wrong. The drums you got now sound robotic but you do use them efficiently. I think with this kit you'd be all good. Toontrack also makes other kinds of drumkits as you can see on their site. Take your pick and go nuts For your guitar, you could really benefit from a Gearbox Gold edition for metal: http://line6.com/gearbox_plugin/ It cost me about $100 a year ago I think it should be the same price or cheaper by now. (I cant see the price on the site) The guitars you got now got no meat on them and lack equalization. This plugin is a cheap, easy way to get by with great quality.

I actually did know but was also joking.

Im with Souliarc. EWQLSO Gold has become my dominant orchestra supplier as well. Only two things missing from it tho. And that's choir and keyboard instruments. But I use Garritan Personal Orchestra for keyboards (Which also has some decent quality instruments on it but doesnt offer as much as EWQLSO). For drums im using Superior Drummer 2.0 which I HIGHLY recommend. Using them in FL 7 and mixing down a wav file and importing it into Adobe Audition for guitar and bass work. By the way, what the hell kind of a name for a program is EWQLSO? Sounds like someone couldnt come up with a name, got frustrated and slammed their hands on a keyboard! I mean, what do the letters stand for?

I dont know what use i'd have for such things, but im gonna get it anyway. ya never know what'll come in handy. Even for a metal head like myself. EDIT: Just bought both of them. Waiting for one to ship and I downloaded the track box. I'm a little confused on what the trackbox does exactly. I see TUBE, GATE, COMPRESSOR, and EQUILIZER and the corresponding knobs (release, thresh., etc.) I take it that this is something that goes on the master track? or am i missing the idea?

it's a good read. It's like a more condensed version of my Modern Recording Technique book. Except it's more of an intro thing but still worth the eyestrain from my monitor.

thats EXACTLY my problem right now. i don't know where to take it after the kick ass part i've just written. and what i find myself doing is writing out the scale degree of the key the track is written in. Let's say, E flat minor. I'll write out Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C, Db7 on my white board. That way I can actually see where I can go. But then there's the question of modulation. Is it a good idea and when should I do it? What key should I modulate to and how can I make it work? And what are the rules regarding modulation? That's where I get stuck a lot when I try to spice up the melody or whatever else. Cause there's a ton of music I hear out there that modulates from A minor to like Fb minor or whatever and even in school I've found it hard to do such a thing. And the thinking process continues and nothign gets written. I HATE THAT!

DO you ever get this sort of "writers block" when writing or recording? Like, you're just so uninspired to write anything? And do you get depressed and discouraged by it? I get these moments a lot and it makes me feel under-educated to write music. I feel handicapped some how. And these moments can last for WEEKS at a time. It's irritating! Anyone else get this problem?

yeah i figured it wasnt going to be super awesome outta the box. But I just got super frustrated when I couldnt mix it right. I guess I just need patience. But yeah, dannthr, im gonna go try those right now and see. I wanted to know cause there's a MASSIVE selection here and only so much my brain can read on the screen. EDIT: Im a jackass. I REALLY need to learn how to use the fricken MOD WHEEL! VELOCITY, MAN! VELOCITYYYY!

Just bought EWQLSO Gold and nearly went bankrupt. And there's such a vast selection of samples. I'm trying each one by one but I'm not sure which sounds to go with as far as strings or woodwinds are concerned. Brass for me was surprisingly easy to choose from and im not a brass man at all. But there are a lot of samples (strings primarily) in which I find highly unusable. Cellos for instance dont have any staccato option. That's a little strange. and I've messed around a lot with the violins and violas and they can sound seriously robotic when they're lushed (i guess is the term). I tried adjusting the velocity like I should in FL but I still am not quite confident with it yet. here's a sample: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WX6Q350C I could just be mixing it badly or maybe I need better verb. But what I'm really asking (the people who own EWQLSO) is what are the recomended sounds for general composition? primarily for long-bowed strings and for staccato cello since I cant find any staccato sound for it?

ASIOs. Got The Gearbox already and it has great tones on it. Granted it could use some more meat for metal rhythm. I try adding enough low end on the EQ for some tones but it's a tad thin IMO.

I was gonna say. I don't think anything is audible past -35db or so. lol!

crap i got no reeds. gonna have to find something similar i guess. EDIT: Well a piccolo flute comes close. Timbre isnt quite what im lookin for.

I recently posted about this and people on these forums (a big thank you to Harmony) helped me out by introducing me to limiters. After toying around with it and learning how it works, I find that I would rather not touch the master fader if I can help it. Instead, I put a limiter on the master track and adjust the threshold, ceiling and release accordingly to get rid of the headroom after i have completed recording everything. That way I maximize my sound with no clippage.

I need a little help identifying these instruments being used in this Castlevania:SOTN clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0zA6djdFL8&feature=PlayList&p=6D692C49C153D064&index=6 at 54 seconds in.

OH! Got it! ok. So I'll also be able to use this as sound for my PC itself? Like for my 5.1 speakers? It looks like i can. And those MIDI in/outs would come in handy later.

I'm an idiot. I had this in my bookmarks and I forgot I had it. Thanks guys! Also in regards to that m-audio 192 audiophile, am I correct to assume that I would require a mixer for that card? Cause All I see are the s/pdif I/O sockets and some other connection that looks like a printer port lol.