I don’t think I’ve done much writing about GForce Software on these threads. Which is odd. GForce Software are, without question, among the elite of commercial independent audio developers - along with fxpansion, SonicCouture, Audio Damage, Ohm Force - that are cool beyond all reasoning.

I know, “cool”… what does that mean, right? A word so overused as to be meaningless, a verbal tick slightly better than people who stammer “you know” every three words. But I feel about these developers the way I felt about certain independent record labels during my formative music years, labels like Homestead, Touch & Go, SST: creative, adventurous, with a lot of attitude and the taste to back it up. In some ways, as a fan, it felt you had a relationship with these companies because they were run by a few individuals who knew their shit. I didn’t always like everything they were putting out, but I was almost always interested and had respect for their choices.

Imperfect and over-thought analogies aside, you get the point.

The first GForce product I procured was the MTron, which I still love, though, let’s face it, has limited use. (Disclosure: I don’t have the 3rd Tape bank, so I’m about 20 sounds short of the full sounds. I’m holding out for the promised MTron Pro.) But I’m fascinated by vintage sounds so this was one of the first VSTs I bought. Then I got impOSCar, which is still my go-to softsynth. Really, I can’t stress enough how much I love that software. The beauty of GForce products is that in addition to sounding great they seemed to be designed by actual musicians. While sometimes it’s fun to tuck into a multi-page synth that makes you feel like you’re trying to solve a rubic’s cube, the amount of milage GForce get out of a single screen on impOSCar is truly impressive. And, yes, it screams like a bastard.

(I just bought Oddity; I haven’t really had a chance to explore it or utilize it.)

So I was very excited when I heard that GForce were producing a sample-based instrument of the great string machines of years past. I was listening to M83 a lot at that point, so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. Unfortunately, when it finally was released I was skint, so it wasn’t until a few months ago that I finally got around to ordering it.

Not that GForce products are expensive; they’re really cheap compared to a lot of other synth makers, especially considering the quality. I was just really broke and short on work.

And, yep, it’s already been used on a few tracks. I’ve heard some people write it off as a “one trick pony” on boards and a few bone-headed reviews. This couldn’t be more wrong. The depth of sound is perhaps not all-encompassing but it’s certainly not limited. It is very versitile. And with the additional control built into the smartly designed but still classy GUI it can do a hell of a lot more than just lush pads.

Though, if you like lush pads this shit is a no brainer.

Well, the folks behind this page have ported a whole lot of the some very cool formerly Windows-only code over to Mac.¹ Some of it’s AU, most VST. All of it is freeware/donation-ware, so like Rainbows pay what it’s worth to you. (Don’t ask me, I haven’t even heard it yet.) But there are some nice tools/toys in there, including some Smartelectronix collective plugs, daHornet which I remember to be a pretty fun machine (note to self:…), and some BigTick stuff that is quite quality.

So perhaps not the Motherload, but at least a motherload. Probably stale news to those who will most benefit from such things, but I thought it was pretty cool.

^{1At least, I think that’s their/his/her role, the page is pretty lo-tech and scant on info. Which can be my favorite sorts of pages. Seriously. I sometimes love web pages that look like the were built in a text editor.}

In the inbox this morning: Zebra V2.2 released!

So, while most user have been using the beta for a few weeks (months?), developer Urs has nailed down the last of the bugs and made it official.

Requisite purloined update feature list after the jump:
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Without getting too inside VST geeky, there was a developer who went by the name Arguru, a real rock star in the development/advancement of making music on computers. Chances are, if you are using software sequencers/samplers his work has at least influenced what you are using. Sadly, he died a while ago, unexpectedly, in a car accident.

Anyway, for a while he was involved in the discoDSP venture and developed a sampler/host hybrid that is mind-bendingly advanced and incredibly simple. The fabled Highlife. Anyway, after Arguru parted from the company Highlife was released as freeware, frustrating everyone who had paid for the thing, delighting the rest of us cheap bastards.

Well, discoDSP have gone and released the source code under a BSD¹ license.

To quote Ugo over on the *cough* KvR *cough* forums, “Wow, that was unexpected!”

Remember when Netscape decided to open up its source code? No? Well, I’m old. But, unless I’m mistaken, it directly let to Mozilla/Firefox. I imagine this is the same. Only with DSP.

I imagine we’ll quickly see ~nix versions, right? This is big news indeed, correct?

^{1From what I understand, this means you can do what you will with it, commercially or not, as long as you keep a credit to the original copyright holders intact.}

_{Note: I only came to know of Arguru and his work after his passing, other than seeing his name around from time to time. One of those morbid cases of only learning of a person/their work only exactly because of their death. But once I began reading up on the guy and his life I realized how influential he was. Apparently a pretty stellar individual as well.}

The final top 3:

1. Elements of Nature
2. hypercyclic
3. The Element of Surprise

In 2006, 3 of the 4 I singled out were the top 3 placers.

This year, I’m batting 3 out of 3!¹

A keen eye for quality and innovation? An influential opinion among the members of KvR? Or am I merely some sort of idiot savant?

I suspect it has something it has something to do with this², but there’s no way to back that argument up without sounding like a complete jackass.

But, obviously, I believe three very worthy digital contraptions were awarded their due. Not the order I would have put them in, but why quibble?

Anyway, some morning-after notes:
Because of my recent adventures in system maintance none of my initial downloads got beyond a 2nd chance. So, yes, I may have overlooked some gems, but apparently I was pretty damn close.

It’s interesting that a SynthEdit plug took the top spot. And the 3rd spot. I would have thought that the cross-platform plugin would have drawn in votes the SE plugs couldn’t get. Then again, hypercyclic’s genius isn’t quickly apparent: it’s a MIDI tool, a smart and unusual MIDI tool and one that benefits from strong host MIDI-routing, but not as gee-wiz apparent as a snyth or DSP.

About the SynthEdit plugs. It’s great that this development environment is out there and lets some real artists do some fine work. We now have access to all sorts of plugins that commercial developers wouldn’t come up with on their own. But its bugs are becoming more and more limiting, for both the developers and the users. Even if te SE developer releases a new version which fixes the dual-core bugs that apparently plague it (I haven’t had my dual-core long enough to encounter this myself) and the “all notes off” bug, that leaves a lot of plugins out there that were created on the old version that need to be recompiled. Nevertheless, this is a real victory for the necessity of VST development platform that is available to the enthusiast as well as the more serious coder.

As rekkerd says “…it is a well deserved win. xoxos has released tons of cool freeware plug-ins over the last few years, more than doing his part in the community.” It’s a cool idea, thoroughly executed, though it’s actual long-term usefulness is still a question. Kudos to Ugo for his exploration of simplicity in the creative process. And cheers to the hypercylic devs for giving me a tool I look forward to exploiting more fully.

^{1Look below the list, in the notes, at the bold text; the bold formatting was inserted at the time of writing.}

^{2The link is to a google lecture on the paradox of choice. Watch it while thinking about your workflow, your plugin folder, all the things about you current setup that you think could be better. Really, it’s enlightening.}

I’m more or less back to square one. Or, rather, 1.5.

I’ll tell you, I was a lot more sternly judicious in what I installed this time. Because my sample storage was intact, I was able to save myself a lot of time re-installing libraries like BFD and SampleTank. Even still, it was fuckin’ tedious. And there were a lot of recent updates that I didn’t have burned to backup so tracking/downloading files and registrations, logging on the various websites, only adds to the chore.

Here are some thoughts/observations on DAW-oriented pre-crash recovery. This is may be real 101 stuff but they’re lessons I’ve learned.

• Know you’re sequencers’ default audio storage location. Even if you immediately change it, or have been working from the same per project directory structure for years, make sure you check it during backups periodically. I know that mine had accumulated a fair degree of crap over the years for various reasons. I corrected it when I came across it but never really addressed the WCS. So I’m not sure how deep the damage, and hopefully it will be mostly on projects long ago abandoned, but nevertheless…
• Futher this: When working with plugins, particularly softsynths, and you’re shutting a project down for the night, it’s a good idea freeze/render/bounce/whatever before closing out. If it’s a complex multi-out instrument you could just bounce to a temp track, just so you have guide. I’ve had this nip at me occasionally just as it is, you load up some synths and it has suddenly detuned itself or reset all its parameters. But when you start changing plugin addresses it’s a really recipe for things breaking.
• Maintaining a simple text file of all your registrations and address information will only get you so if you’re audio rig isn’t connected to the internet. A thumb drive is essential. Nevertheless it’s still cumbersome.
• Some companies need to take a good look at their web-based registration strategies¹. And thank you to those companies who make it easy.²
• Keep your drive image software up to date. Otherwise it’s just useless.
• Do not attempt to “slipstream” your install unless you really know what you’re doing.
• Simplifying is not over-rated.

I also misplaced my Sonar 2 CD case serial number (perhaps temporarily; I might be able to dig it out yet, there’s some boxes in the closet…). So I don’t have the Timeworks EQ and Compressor at the moment. While I certainly have a lot of things that can replace ‘em ably, I used them a lot for many of years.

So, yeah, a lot of this is due to my glacial working pace. And my stubborn refusal to hook my audio computer up to the internet teat.

So, I’m looking at my hard drive crash as my computers way of telling me it was not happy, and I needed to streamline my process. I plan to get a good disc imaging program and make a good clean go of it.

^{1Spectronics comes quickly to mind while I wait to hear back from support on just how to re-authorize StylusRMX. But there a couple others whom I won’t slag off here.}

^{2Anybody who generates their serial number from a unique user name or user account - Melodyne (particularly sophisticated), SonicCharge, AudioDamage - and while NI I believe is machine based they’ve pretty much nailed the engineering of the activation control (YMMV).}

^{Photo courtesy of Jim Hankey. (See comments.)}

Okay!

Further my earlier post concerning this year’s Developer Challenge.

While I haven’t come to any truly informed decisions, here’s what I downloaded:

• Alien Artifact
• Blip
• Bouncer
• Flicker
• hypercyclic
• Najnaj
• Rasta Box
• Rhythmic Tangent
• Shaker Maker
• Sounds of Nature
• Speak & Pluck
• The Element of Surprise
• Tiny-Q
• ?

Like I said in my initial post this time ’round, it’s a very Book-by-its-Cover year. So apparently I passed over a lot of the synths and a lot of GUIs that just aren’t to my liking. No offense to any dev who I might have overlooked through my aesthetic prejudiced - let me know if I completely missed the boat on your offering.

A couple of off-the-cuff notes:

- I was most looking forward to hypercyclic & The Element of Surprise. Both have proved to be worthy of my anticipation.

- I especially like the conceptual approach of Sounds of Nature & Element of Surprise. (Coincidence?)

- Again with tEoS: Really, read the manual. Even if you don’t grock with the sound, it’s a good piece of writing and a helpful approach to actually getting music done.

- Sometimes concept and results part ways. A few of those that I’ve tried have proved this sadly true.

- Since I’ve purge my VST folders and cleaned up my audio drive, I’m testing everything out of eXT2 rather than Sonar or P5.

- Except hypercyclic which I’m using in Sonar because of its internal MIDI-routing.

- The “?” isn’t the name of a plugin (someone snap that up for next year!) but means I might have downloaded one or two others but either they didn’t install correctly or I they got lost in the purge. The list reflects my notes so far.

And a special call out to one of my readers with a Mac: Have you tried the mac plugins? Do they work? Are they useful?

There had been this one glitch that had crept into my audio production that I had been working around for months.

In Sonar 6 certain plugin went missing from plugin menus. So we had gotten this great plugin manager but I was losing menu access to a lot of my favorite plugin instruments. I first noticed with microTonic, a synth I use a lot. I could see it in the list of installed VSTs, and I could add it to the menu editor. But in the actual menu they just weren’t showing up. Oatmeal & V-Station were two others I know of off the top of my head that went MIA. I could get to some through track templates (yea for remembering to create them), but some were apparently lost. to Sonar. I was hoping 7 would be the magic number and it would all be good. Nope.

And not only that, there were a lot of ghost plugins showing up in the Sonar plugin manager and SoundForge, listed weirdly, some of which probably dated back to when I was using the fxpansion VST wrapper.

Yet I was hesitating going back to a completely blank slate, wiping the system and buiding from scratch. Why? A lot of reasons I suppose: because it would have been tedious reinstalling all my plugins - digging out installers, updates - not to mention having to reregister a whole lot of ‘em, but also because I was just curious to see if I could figure out what was wrong.

So in frustration, I ripped all my versions of Sonar off the computer, along with a whole lot of old software. Old Project 5. All those versions of Sonar I had going back to version 2 - outta there. Gone. I didn’t touch my plugins too much, including Dimension Pro and Rapture, but I washed the registry several times with two different registry cleaners, including by hand. I was careful but thorough.

But no luck. The plugins were still not showing up in the menus and the ghost registry entries were still there.

So I started thinking of strategies to clean out my plugin folder. I knew there was a lot of detritus in there. I’m pretty good at deleting what I don’t want, but it was way too easy to tuck stuff out of the way and not really think about it. Freebies I thought might be cool, mag-ware I might have used once or twice, some of lesser SynthEdit creations. I whittled it down to just the commercial plugins and the free/donation-ware I know works and use a lot. I created a 2nd vst folder that sits right next to the current where I moved everything else. So I can still use these miscellaneous VSTs in other programs; perhaps bring some into Sonar using eXT as a plugin. I also tossed any overall folder structure (”c:\program files\audio_plugins\instruments\samplers\..”) and went with just splitting them up by developer and project (”c:\program files\audio_plugins\u-he\zebra2\..”).

Then, with the very helpful configuration information that the Plugin Manager provides, I used a block of CLSID numbers to ferret out where they were sitting in my registry. (I used Registrar Lite 5.5.1 if it’s helpful.) Just a huge block of dead info. So scappled it out. Did a complete update on XP (using the quasi-illegal post-SP2 updater).

So now my Sonar 7 is a lean, mean plugin machine.

Seriously, it’s easier sorting through them, rescanning them, changing properties, and the whole plugin manager just operates faster. Whatever your platform, whatever your host, I highly advocate getting a good handle on what’s going on in your plugin directory.

I’m not a big advocate of moderation when it comes to plugins - whatever you can afford, why not? - but there is something both cathartic and useful in really simplifying your plugin structure.

Well, what were you gonna do with that money anyway?

link via gearslutz.

Not my particular poison but people swear by it. So this seems helpful, right?

Still don’t get the name, but, whatever.

Well, it’s official. Cake not only announced but launched their new Sonar update.

For us longtime users, at least the specs are a plate full of “Yes, please” in terms of work-flow, especially if you do any degree of MIDI. It’s not a complete overhaul, so if you do extensive notation work you might want to look elsewhere. And it’s probably not going to replace anyone’s DV audio editor just yet. But there is no denying that they listened to their customers and, frankly, took everything that was useful in, well, other MIDI-oriented software, and integrated it into Sonar.

The forum is a bit of zoo right now, but here’s the official release thread and it details the goodies pretty thoroughly.

Here’s a few of what I’m most looking forward to:
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