zircon

A few hundred is reasonable. Just... not $1000 or more.

Is it possible to expand the number of normal PCI slots on a computer without spending exorbitant amounts of money or completely switching out the motherboard? I've just found out my new MOBO only has 2 PCI slots. While I have a FireWire soundcard and PCIE video card, 2 PCI slots is kinda low compared to my 4 slots currently. I've seen large-scale PCI expansion systems for thousands of dollars - anything cheaper than that, or am I out of luck?

Ok, it seems like you don't understand the basic FL workflow. 1. Everything you do in FL is composed of "patterns". Things you write in the piano roll and step sequencer are written within patterns. One pattern can contain as much or as little data as you want. You can choose to have one instrument going for the length of your whole song in one pattern, or a 4 bar loop in one pattern, or five instruments. Whatever you want. 2. The "Playlist" window is where you actually arrange your song. There are two components to it, the top window and the bottom window. The top window is where you sequence your patterns. The bottom window is where you sequence your audio (or "audio clips" - eg. wav/mp3 files) as well as automation. 3. New in FL7, you can actually put patterns in the audio window too, if you prefer not to be locked into the pattern "lanes" in the top window. Thus you only REALLY need the bottom window. Thus, you should start by making patterns. Say you want to make a song with drums, piano, strings, and bass. For the sake of example, we'll assume your song is 16 bars, with a repeating chord progression that's a few bars long. Here's how I would approach it. 1. Make the drum pattern in, say, pattern 1. You can use the Step Sequencer for this because it's easier than the piano roll for sequencing drums. Then, you can use pattern 2 and 3 to make variations or fills. 2. Make the piano part in pattern 4, using the piano roll. This pattern can be 16 bars long if you want the piano to be constantly doing new stuff. 3. Make the bass part in pattern 5, again using the piano roll. Now if you have a simple, repetitive progression, this may only need to be 2 bars (or however many bars your chord progression is). 4. Make the string part in pattern 6. Then, open up the Playlist and simply draw the patterns, as described in the tutorial(s).

Multi-DAW setups are not uncommon in the pro audio world. There are three main ways of doing it. 1. Send out MIDI data from a host (sequencer) computer to other computers, through MIDI cables. The other computers receive the signals, generate audio, and send it back via audio cables to your main computer to be recorded. Not necessarily the most efficient option, but it works. 2. A MIDI-over-lan program. This eliminates some of the cablework you need, and works great if all your computers are on a high speed LAN network. 3. FXTeleport. Perhaps the most efficient option, though it can take some software tweaking to get working properly. FXTeleport is like a MIDI over LAN software, but makes it even easier by letting your host computer open up and edit plugin GUIs running off networked computers. This gives you ultimate control - like using external DSP hardware. www.fxteleport.com for more info on option 3. There's also a new sampler that East West is producing and bundling with their new products, starting in March, that has networking integration built in. However, this probably will only work with East West products, and only new products. Also, consider using DSP cards if you are using a lot of effects like EQ, comp, and reverb. $250-300 gets you a PowerCore Element card which has multiple DSP processors. You can run a decent amount of extra plugins as VSTs, but they drain no host CPU.

Perhaps "remake" is the wrong word. It's a nearly 1:1 port. However, there is added content, as I understand it, as with all the latest GBA FF ports.

Please be more specific. Start with: * Hardware or software synth, or both? * Purely synthesized only, sampled sounds, or both? * By "best" do you mean most realistic, best value, most sounds, "best" for a certain genre?

No thread for this yet? I just got it today. I played the original FFV in earnest on an emulator maybe... 9 years ago, so I only vaguely remember the story. Never beat it, either. Then when the PSX remake came out, I picked that up, but load times kind of dragged down the whole experience. Anyone have any thoughts? I noticed (so far) that there appears to be no slowdown like in FFIV Advance, which is cool. Bodes well for FFVI.

Yeah. Plus, Audacity's noise removal gives the best results I've heard from a free program. Maybe you just need to get better with it.

Er, Electric Guitar, or Eclectic Drums? There's no Electric Drums.

The best place to start would be the video tutorials available on www.flstudio.com in the Support section. They're wonderful!

The samples are not hot, generally, but you don't need better ones to pass. Sample USAGE however could be better. Some of the sequencing is rather mechanical, as is the playing. Use more automation to control dynamics and expression of the sounds. Also, try picking up some nice soundfonts off hammersound and layering them with what you have. I'm pretty sure there are better piano and harp SFs than the sounds you are using here (Garritan?) At 1:40 flutes sound like they have some weird phasing stuff going on. Might want to check that also. Also, the articulations of the sounds could be better. 2:51 for example just sounds REALLY mechanical and lame - need some powerful staccato or marcato samples there. I hear some variation in the arrangement. However, it's close to the original for a lot of the time. Perhaps too close. Plus, the instrumentation is not far off either. I would try to branch out more with your own ideas, and play with the rhythm and melody with the original. Adding new harmonies or re-harmonizing is a good place to start. Also, as Larry said, the ending is kinda weak as it's kind of a rehash of the earlier section. Not quite at the bar, but not far off. Resub would be cool. NO

I actually think the intro is pretty cool. But generally speaking, production is a little on the weak side. Everything sounds kind of lo-fi, mono, and "small". Needs to have more stereo width, a higher bitrate, more mids to highs, better mixing (bass drum is kind of loud, can't hear bass guitar assuming there is one), among other things. The performance is good though - and that is often the hard part. The arrangement could be better. You are free to take more liberties with the original theme(s). Add solos, original riffs over the progression, new chords, bridges/transitions, additional instruments, anything it takes to personalize it more. As it is this is closer to a rock cover of the original than a "ReMix" as we define it. As Vig said though, it would be nice to hear more from you. Don't forget to visit our Workspace forums for feedback and technical help. NO

LIGHTNING ROUND (wingless style) * Arrangement has good ideas, a little repetitive though towards the end. Try integrating another theme maybe? * Texture is generally a little sparse, try adding more instruments like pads to fill out the background * Needs a more prominent bass instrument of some kind * Try to mix drums better, change up the samples so they fit the style a little more * Strings could be more realistic (try a little reverb and starting the samples earlier so they are at full volume on the beats) I also agree with Larry and Vig's points generally speaking. Good effort, keep at it. NO

Alright guys, again, it was a fun run... but we've reached the end. You can still post in our vgdj.net blog of course. Catch us on IRC!

Sure, here you go. + GAMING PC, Core 2 Duo SLI Gaming System 1 $2034.04 $2034.04 # INTEL, Core™ 2 Duo E6600 Dual-Core, 2.4GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 4MB L2 Cache, 65nm, 65W, EM64T EIST VT, Retail # NMEDIAPC, ICETANK CPU Cooler, Socket 754/940/939/AM2/775/478, Copper/Aluminum # ASUS, P5N-E SLI, LGA775, nForce 650i SLI, 1066MHz FSB, DDR2-800 8GB /4, PCIe x16 SLI /2, SATA RAID 5 /5, HDA, GbLAN, FW /2, ATX, Retail # CORSAIR, 2GB (2 x 1GB) XMS2 PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz CL5 (5-5-5-12) SDRAM 240-pin DIMM, Non-ECC # ASUS, EN7600GS SILENT/HTD, GeForce™ 7600 GS, 512MB DDR2, PCIe x16 SLI, VGA+DVI, TV-Out, Retail # WESTERN DIGITAL, 74GB WD Raptor®, SATA 150MB/s, 10000 RPM, 16MB Cache # SEAGATE, 500GB Barracuda 7200.10, SATA II 300MB/s, 7200-RPM, 16MB cache # RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives # MITSUMI, Black Internal 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive # SAMSUNG, Super-WriteMaster SH-S182M Black 18x DVD±R/RW Dual Layer Burner w/ Lightscribe, IDE/ATAPI, OEM # LIAN LI, Classical Silent PC-6070Bplus II Black Mid-Tower Case, No PSU, ATX, Aluminum # SEASONIC, S12-600 Power Supply, 600W, 24-pin ATX EPS12V, Dual +12V, SLI Certified # MICROSOFT, Windows XP Professional Edition SP2b w/ Free Upgrade Coupon for Vista, OEM # MICROSOFT, Wired Keyboard 500, Black, PS/2 # LOGITECH, Optical Mouse, USB/PS2, Black # GAMING PC, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty) Along with 2 20" Sceptre monitors from Costco (came out to a little over $500 total for those), a $300 PowerCore Element DSP card, and hopefully a $400 Creamware Luna II soundcard.

Uh, what? Reaktor is a modular interface for programming synths and effects. GarageBand is a multitrack audio and MIDI editor. They really couldn't be farther apart. There are tons of programs LIKE Garageband, but you won't find anything that's identical. You could try things like energyXT, Tracktion, FLStudio, Magix Music Maker or Magix Music Studio, etc. I would say the closest (of those) would be the Magix programs.

Converted to Soundfont, QL Brass is about 3gb. I have it in Akai format. The free demo of CDXtract will easily allow you to convert it to whatever format you want, though.

Audacity, imo - no contest.

I'm clearing out a lot of my sounds because I'm spending a ton of money on a new computer setup, and I need all the $ I can get. Here's the list. * Garritan Personal Orchestra - $150. This is the "first edition" meaning it came on 4 CDs rather than 1 DVD. However the sounds are identical, and if you go to the Garritan website and download the free update you'll be at second edition. Fantastic orchestral library - it has served me well (see: Nightmare Before Kefka). * Quantum Leap Brass, East/West Ultimate Pianos, Quantum Leap Guitar & Bass - $20 each or $50 for all three. These are versatile sample CDs in older sound formats, but can be converted easily (and for free) to formats like Soundfont. These were hot libraries a few years back and are still very usable today. In particular, QL Brass is tops if you aren't willing to spend $500-1000 on a specialized brass library. * Steve Smith Rhythmic Journey - $15. Well-rounded acoustic/rock drum library. Comes with loops in different tempos AND a very good kit w/ multiple velocity sampling. Oneshot WAVs means it's very easy to use with FL and Reason. I'll be sad to see this one go. * Tascam Gigastudio 3 Ensemble - $50. Speaks for itself. My Windows XP installation is screwed up and I couldn't install the drivers to run this, but for any non-screwy computer it will work fine. If you ever wanted to beef up your sounds this is a great place to start... also comes with OVER 10gb of gigasamples to get you started. * Bela D Media Studio B - $100. This is a Kontakt 1-format library, so anything that imports Kontakt 1 files will play it. NOT an encrypted library either!!! It's a several gigabyte collection that contains three well-recorded, thoroughly multisampled instruments; clean electric guitar, drum set, and bass guitar. This is a great lib - the drumset comes with 8 mic positions so you can adjust how much bleed you want, the e. guitar lets you control vibrato speed/depth and harmonics with midi control, etc. * 6 Sonic Capsules; Groove, Eclectic Drums, Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Bass Guitars, Studio Drums - $250 for all or $50 each. Each capsule is about a full CD of multisampled material (except Groove which is various drum loops). This is all Sonic Reality stuff (makers of Sampletank 2 XL, Sonik Synth) so you know it's high quality. NO sampler required - each comes with a universal installer to install to any one of many different formats, OR you can just use the bundled SampleTank LE VST sampler. Any of these are great ways to beef up your sound arsenal w/o dropping big cash on a library ilke Colossus. Post if you have any questions or if you're interested!

True, but the difference there was that there were smooth transitions from host to host. Rayza was able to train Jill for many a show before he stepped down, and by that time, she could basically do it herself and train other people (eg. me). Right now, we're BOTH stepping down, so anyone new wouldn't have a clue w/o us training them (which I don't think we have time to do). All of this has been explained already, though, and ultimately (as we said on the show itself) the future is still uncertain. There's always the possibility of Larry picking up an official OCR show again, even in podcast form, though it might not be VGDJ in our format. That's one example.

Hey guys. VGDJ is alive once again, albeit only temporarily... Our final show, Episode 067, has been released and is now available at www.vgdj.net! We figured a real resolution was in order for everyone, and fittingly, this is our largest episode ever. It's filled with lots of content, from the RRR, to special audio treats, to our massive MAGFest coverage / panel audio and more. I hope everyone enjoys this fond farewell. :> ps. This thread is unlocked now, but please, no drama!

Re-mixer - Goodlucknate Real name - Nate Bartlett E-mail - goodlucknate@hotmail.com User ID - goodlucknate Game Remixed - Journey to Silius (NES) Song Remixed - Stage 3 Remix Title - Journey to Silius - Infiltration I first heard this song on a midi site. After I bought the game, I realized how amazing the entire soundtrack was and I had to remix at least one song. So I hope you enjoy Journey to Silius - Infiltration.

That's cool. As I've been telling people, this isn't really meant to be anything groundbreaking, but rather a compliment to the factory bank of a very good synth. It didn't have any presets like this, and lots of people wanted 'em, so I made some myself. Z2 itself is hardly a "Virus wannabe" however. It's a pretty unique synth in its design, and sound quality. If you read up on some of the tech specs and features you'll see that it's a very deep machine, and manages to be fairly CPU efficient because of the way its programmed. Most people would not buy it for the type of sounds I have created for it. If they wanted strictly that, they would get Nexus. That said, it's still a nice addition if they're not interested in taking the time to program themselves.

Not sure how many Zebra 2 users there are here, but I'll post anyway. For some background, Zebra 2 is one of the wickedest VST/AU soft synths I have ever used. It's produced by Urs of u-he (www.u-he.com) and pretty much blows most other plugins out of the water. IMO anyway. So here's the post, copied from KVR: I recently completed a bank of 64 presets for the u-he Zebra 2 synthesizer. The focus of the bank is to fill in some of the gaps in the factory library which, while excellent, neglects some more traditional sounds one can hear in most modern dance & electronic genres. If you're into popular styles like trance, breakbeat, big beat, or DNB, this expansion will be right up your alley. All patches are intended to be as playable as possible, and to fit in a mix with ease. Plus, tasmaniandevil has optimized all patches for volume and X/Y control so it really is good to go "out of the box". Interested? You can purchase the bank for $15 USD using Paypal; send to aaversa (at) gmail (dot) com, and I will send you the presets. Urs will also be making them available in his shop at some point, though this might not be for a few weeks to a few months. If you want a little more info, check out the thread in the u-he forum and also look at the preset exchange area, which has some free samples from the bank. >>> MP3 DEMO HERE <<< Feel free to post or PM me if you have any questions or comments. Thanks! ps. I'm working on another bank of 64 sounds that takes advantage of some of Z2's more complex features (including the new XMF filter) - though again, playability and usability will the #1 priority.

Perhaps not ONLY compression though, I would imagine. The tonal characteristics of the sound (not just dynamics) were probably shaped too in some way. Extra harmonics/noise getting added in a way that sounded good.