Troll Cave Music

Troll Cave Gear

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:48:00 +0000

I've had a few questions recently about what gear I'm currently using in my studio, so I thought it was about time to give a quick breakdown on my studio equipment. I will update this list as I add or remove gear.

Guitars
Washburn Idol Series WI-64
Epiphone SG Special
Samick Strat (80's vintage, I think)
Daisy Rock Wildwood Artist Acoustic/Electric
Daisy Rock Mojo Jojo Guitar (for decoration, mostly)

Bass Guitar
Canvas Bass CTFB10

Microphones
Peavy PVi2 Microphone (XLR)
Battlerap.com branded microphone (1/4")
Radio Shack Realistic micphone (1/4")
3 or 4 random generic PC microphones (mini plug)

Interface Hardware
Line 6 UX1 (Blackface)
M-Audio KeyStudio 25
Steinberg USB-2-MIDI Interface (2 x 2)

Misc. Guitar Hardware
Danelectro Black Coffee Metal Distortion Pedal
Epiphone Studio 10S practice amp

Monitors
Audiovox Home Theater System (junk, but it's all I have)

Computers
Dell 3.4 GHz Hyperthreaded CPU, 1 GB RAM (primary), Win XP SP3
Compaq 1.4 GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM (slave), Win XP MCE
Dell 933 Mhz CPU, 512 MB RAM (slave), Win ME

Software
REAPER (primary DAW)
Psycle (nice retro tracker)
Audacity (sample editor)
Session (junk)
MIDI-OX (great for monitoring MIDI signals)
MIDIYoke (virtual MIDI cables to connect MIDI programs)

VSTs
I have a massive collection of several hundred VSTs (all free except for POD Farm)
My current favorites are:
POD Farm
Independence Free
ShortCircuit 1
Tweakbench plugs
GTG plugs
Kjaerhus Audio Classic series
ArcDev Noise Industries plugs

If you are interested in finding out more about any of my gear (buying recommendations, reviews, etc) drop me a line.

In Memory of Matthew Schultz

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:45:00 +0000

Faithful readers, bear with me, or skip this post. There will be no tips and tricks in this post, but perhaps a few memories and food for thought in the grand scheme of things. I do feel the need to say goodbye to an old friend and pass along what I have learned about life, death, and how the choices we make affect everything. If you choose to join me, you are more than welcome. If you pass by without a glance, I understand.
On Friday, June 5, 2009, Matthew Schultz drown in the Missouri River. He was an old friend of mine, though we hadn't seen each other in a decade. He and I formed a band while I was in college and he was just out of High School. We had 3 names, as the writing and demoing process went: Wampa Spectrum, Wombat Spectrum, and Susperia. (We always preferred Wampa Spectrum, but figured if we ever released an album, George Lucas might take us down for using "Wampa".) Anyway, I was the principal songwriter with my Amiga-based studio (running OctaMED, with a Yamaha RY-30 Drum Machine and Casio CZ-101 keyboard slaved to it). He was the impetuous kid I met at work who styled himself to be somewhere between Paul Stanley and Rob Zombie - he was neither, but his voice really worked well with my writing style.

We started to cut our demo in Pumpkin Shell Studio (owned by musician extraordinaire Richard Schultz). We completed one rough demo for the song "(E)motion Violation". This has been my favorite song from my catalog for a long time. I recently began to re-make it in my current studio, because state-of-the-art home recording has come so far since that demo was cut in 1995 or 1996. I cannot continue on that project at this time. The rough mix with Matt singing will stand. I plan to release it here in the near future.

Anyway, we had compiled the songs for an EP. We had it priced out, planned out, and were going to start auditioning local guitarists to replace some of the scratch guitar samples I had used. I took a vacation, he had a change of heart during that time, and we called it quits. End of the band, end of my music for many years. We exchanged emails once in a while for a couple years, but then he disappeared for a while, and I had no idea where he was until last year. Yet I put off getting in touch with him, and now it's too late to send him an email.

So what, right?

Here's what: I went to the Memorial service his brother held for him (on the shore of the Missouri River, close to where he died). I only knew a couple people there, but most were from Matt's life after I lost touch with him. Everyone said the same basic things about him - his quest for knowledge, his drive to pursue his dreams, the way he was on a journey through life. There were Rocket Balloon Races, Belly Dancers, Singing, Glow Sticks, Drums, and a solemn sing-along of KISS' "Shout It Out Loud", all in Matt's honor.

Near the end of the memorial, I realized that the person they were talking about was not the same person I remembered. All the talk of his being on a journey, and his journey had come to an end in the river. It was then that I realized that I knew Matt at the beginning of the journey, when he was still the impetuous kid idolizing his big brother and not yet seeking answers to the big mysteries. He had grown, evolved, and pursued a life much bigger than any normal life.

And that's when I realized why learning about Matt's life in the past ten years and his untimely death shook me up so much: I could have been him. He pursued some of the same topics I myself had been studying earlier in life. He chased his dreams. I took the safe path: went to college, got a steady job with a conservative company, got married, had kids. Safe across the board.

Matt lived life boldly, and he died boldly. He left his mark on all the people he ever met. I am known as being more reliable than spontaneous. Matt's death is a wake-up call to me in a lot of ways. I know I need to live life more fully, instead of putting it on the "to do" list. Pursue my creative goals doggedly, not passively. That's not to say I'm quitting my job and running away from responsibilities. It's about unlocking the passions and the fires that burn inside. If we don't fan the flames, the dreams will die in a vacuum.

Adding a little more kindling to my "wake up call" - the day before I learned of Matt's death, I was in a car accident that left my car pretty much totaled, but somehow I walked away from with only a slightly sore arm and shoulder. (I was hit directly in the driver's side door and the car was thrown a considerable distance.) I have been living a safe life. Even when bad things happen to me, they happen to me safely.

Matt lived a spontaneous life, and a spontaneous decision to wade into the Missouri River led to his death being broadcast on the evening news. I envy Matt his choices in life. It's not often that we can see a glimpse of what we might have been had we made different choices. I have seen that alternate history of my life, in the shapshots of Matt's life. And the single biggest impression I saw of Matt's adult life is how many people he touched, and how deeply he connected with life on every level.

Although I regret not getting to see the "upgraded" Matt of the last ten years, I cannot dwell on it. I am assimilating what I can, and will move forward with more purpose in my life. I will straddle the line of the safe and the unsafe and grab for that brass ring.

I'll miss you Matt. We all will.

Gear Review: REAPER v.3.01 now available!

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:20:00 +0000

REAPER has now released version 3.01, and there are some nice changes to it. There is so much new about it, it's hard to know where to start. REAPER's website (http://www.reaper.fm) also has been given a very slick overhaul that now screams "I am a serious contender!". They also appear to have raised the prices slightly (now $225 for full commercial and $60 for discounted) and gotten away from the previously confusing "commercial" vs. "non-commercial" terminology. Basically, if you use it for yourself only, as a business with less than $20K annual income, or are a educational or non-profit, you qualify for discounted pricing. And they still adamantly refuse to engage in any strange copy protection schemes. It's the honor system, folks!

My favorite new features are probably the addition of Automation lanes and the ability to have multiple MIDI items in the editor at the same time. However, there's a lot of other goodness packed into version 3. I'll try to give my take on some of the features here. The full feature list for version 3 is at http://www.reaper.fm/whatsnew-300.txt.

Automation Lanes
Automation lanes are a really nice feature that already exist in a lot of other major DAWs, so seeing REAPER add them is a great step forward to full equality. In prior versions, you could see your automation lines as overlays over the track itself. If you were trying to automate a lot of parameters on the same track, it got rather messy and I was always either having to memorize exactly where I was shifting other parameters, or when I displayed multiple lines at the same time (for reference) I was always grabbing the wrong line (i.e. changing the wrong setting). Now with Automation lanes, the automation parameter lines appear as separate sub-track "lanes" that you can display, hide, or bypass on an individual basis. With all of the parameter-heavy VSTs and VSTis out there, this is a great thing.

Edit Multiple MIDI Items
It's sometimes hard to keep track of what is going on between different MIDI tracks. Previously, to edit multiple MIDI tracks, you had to open separate MIDI windows and fiddle with the window sizes so you could get everything on screen at the same time. As of version 3, you now have options in the "Options" menu of the MIDI window named "Reuse MIDI editor for multiple items" and "Reuse MIDI editor for multiple items, keeping items as secondary". The first will just reuse the window. No big surprise there. The second one - wow. It will shade the notes and parameter settings (like velocity) for any items in the window that are not currently active. The really nice thing about this is that all MIDI items are shown in proper time-context. In other words, all notes are exactly where they should be in relation to one another. This is great for trying to harmonize different synths together - you can actually see what you're doing without a lot of trial and error. You can switch between which MIDI item is active in the window by either using the "Filter" button in the top left, or by simply clicking on a note from the item you want to edit. The clicking on a note can be problematic in a couple of ways - you can't directly write a note over the top of another MIDI item's note, since it will select that track instead of putting down a note - and you can't always see the other item's notes if the current track overlaps. But really, these are spatial issues, not UI issues. I'm loving it!

Multiple Tabbed Projects
Another exciting improvement is the ability to have multiple projects loaded at the same time. This is handled beautifully by the addition of a simple tab control at the top of the screen. Obviously, this adds load on your system as you add more simultaneous projects, but the flexibility this allows is so much better than the prior one-at-a-time design.

A Lot More...
There are so many improvements, many behind the scenes performance upgrades, it is an exhausting list to read. There are a lot of MIDI enhancements (MIDI sysex is now fully supported, for example). Ther are also quite a few general performance enhancements to make REAPER play nicer with some potentially unruly plug-ins. And a lot of memory management improvements. Bottom line: you need this upgrade. If you're not a current REAPER user, now is the perfect time to jump in and try it out. The trial version is NOT time limited or crippled in any way. You've got nothing to lose, and version 3 continues the trend of growing stronger and more powerful with each release.

Improving Your Drum Track, Part 1: Getting Started With Independence Free

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:15:00 +0000

In a home studio, it is easy to make electronica, techno, and dance tracks. There is an expected level of machine-like precision to the music. Perfectly accurate precision and artificial drum beats are readily acceptable. (Let me go on record with a disclaimer: making those forms in a home studio are easy. Making good or great tracks is another story. I am not trying to downplay the level of artistry involved. I saw Aphex Twin spin live in the mid 90's, so I can appreciate the level of complexity of the art form.)

Where it becomes much more of a challenge in the home studio is when you're trying to sound like a traditional band (guitars, bass, drums, vocals). There is some level of trickery that is required to achieve your desired sound for all of these instruments. Right now I want to focus on the difficulty of drummers. Much like Spinal Tap, I have always had a hard time keeping a drummer on call. And then you have the acoustic issues of sound isolation, excess mic bleed, having enough mics and inputs to record the whole kit, complaints from the neighbors, etc. As usual, I will be focusing on use of this within REAPER.

My Dream Drums, For Now
Years ago, I had a Yamaha RY-30 Drum Machine. Bought it used for $330 in about 1993. Like an idiot, I sold it around 1998. Now they're hard to find, but it had very sweet sounding drum kits. Their natural kits were extremely beautiful, using 16 bit samples at a time where the average home user was rocking out to 8 bit. Listening to old recordings I did with that drum machine make me once again regret having parted with it. I have been working to try to achieve the "is that a real drummer?" sound and feel using only free tools.

This is the first part of an ongoing series of posts that will be focused on the best tools I have found to "fake a drummer" and how to tweak your drum tracks to get the "real" drum feel.

Yellow Tools Independence Free
One of the best all-in-one packages I have found so far is Yellow Tools' Independence Free 2.0. As the name implies, this is the free version of their very robust sampler tool. There's a couple features disabled in this version, and the bundled sample library is "only" 2 GB of data. The "Basic" version ships with 12 GB of samples, and the "Pro" version ships with a whopping 70 GB sample library!

My initial goal is to have one or two good "natural" kits. Included in the free 2 GB library are 6 acoustic drum kits, so there are plenty of options. The kits have multiple velocity samples for each sound, so there's more detail than your average single-sample kit.

So What's Missing?
The Free version lacks a couple of major items. The most notable is the lack of ability to import your own samples. The other is the lack of ability to import 3rd party VSTs. Of course, if you're hosting this in your own DAW (like REAPER), that's not really a problem. You can add your VSTs to the chain after Independence Free, and have as many add-ons as you want. Lacking the ability to import your own samples is more of a concern if you want to branch out into custom kits. Later in this series I will tackle this issue with another tool.

How Do I Start?
You can start by going to Yellow Tools' website at http://yellowtools.com. Under their "Products" section, you can find Independence FREE. You'll have to register on their site to download it, but registration is free. All of this is detailed on the page. (Alternately, you can pick up a copy of the UK magazine "Computer Music", which comes with a DVD that includes the "Independence Free CM Edition". Same thing, with an extra logo on the UI. You will still have to register on the site & download the instrument files separately, however.)

When you install it, the installation location is for the standalone app only. It will prompt you separately for the location for the VST. Either install in with your other VSTs, or add a path in REAPER's VST configuration screen to find it. Either way, the next time you boot REAPER, you should see a new entry in FX "VSTi: Independence Free (Yellow Tools) (24 out)"

Starting Simple
To start a simple track in REAPER, open a new project. Insert Independence Free as a VST, and then open it. Your first view is probably going to be overwhelming. This is a very complex and sophisticated interface. Since we're starting simple, look for the layer controls. There will be a highlighted item that says "01 click here to load instrument". When you click on it, you will get a popup menu. Select "Load Layer". When the standard file requestor opens, navigate to the "Independence Free - Instruments" folder, and then into "01 Acoustic & Electronic Drum Kits". The .ytil files are the ones you care about. Select "Acoustic Drum Kit 1.ytil", and click "Open". Now your Drum Kit is ready for you on MIDI channel 1.

If you want to hear the sounds in this "layer", click on the "Mapping" button at the top of the VST's display. You will get a piano key layout, with colored bars representing the samples. If there are breaks in the line, that represents different samples used for different velocity ranges. As you can see in this kit, there are 11 velocities for B1 and C1, which are your kick drums. You can play the samples on the keyboard by clicking on them, but it is not going to be easy to trigger at varying velocities that way. It's easier using REAPER to control it.

Close the FX chain window and insert a "New MIDI Item" in the track where you set up Independence Free. Hit some notes, and you'll hear your new drum kit. How simple is that?

Ummm....What Happened To My Octave?
The first thing you might notice when you compare Independence Free to REAPER's piano roll is that the octave notations don't match. What Independence Free calls C1, REAPER calls C2. This is a common problem across music apps, because of differences in opinion on what octave is considered to contain middle C. You have 2 options: make a mental note of this difference, or reconfigure REAPER to honor the offset.

To reset REAPER to use the same notation as Independence Free, go to Options->Preferences->Media->MIDI. The option "MIDI octave name display offset: 0 octaves". Change the value to -1. Now REAPER will call the notes the same as Independence Free. This change only affects the labeling in REAPER's piano roll. The same/correct MIDI note numbers will be used regardless of this setting.

What Now?
Start experimenting with the kits available and see how good the samples are. Be sure to vary the velocities, so you can get the full impact of the multi-sampled drums. So far I've been quite happy with the kits in Independence Free. Keep in mind that this is a sampler tool, NOT a drum machine. Look at all the other instruments that come bundled with it. They are of equally high quality and very useful in their own right.

Up Next...
In Part 2, we will go into more features and uses of Independence Free as a drum machine, including adding effects, using multiple ins and outs to minimize CPU usage, and some other random tweaks.

Site Review: Tank-FX.com

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:25:00 +0000

In any reasonably priced studio (home or pro), one of the elusive sounds is reverb. Sure, there are any number of free reverb effects available, both software and hardware, but they all fall a little short of the ideal mark: real echoes in a real environment. Sure, you can get those echoes by recording vocals in a bathroom (a la Jim Morrison), but that is really impractical for most reverb needs. Some effects are getting closer (like convolution reverb) but there is a lot of CPU power you'll eat in a hurry when you use one.

I have recently found a German site that is a really fresh take on the problem of reverb. Tank-FX (http://www.tank-fx.com) is a site with a unique claim - they will play your sample in a concrete water tank and record the resulting sound. As their subtitle says, it is "Non-Virtual Reverb".

The Tank
My apologies if I get any of these details wrong - the details on the site are only in German, and I'm at the mercy of a semi-garbled translation by Babelfish. The tank itself is part of the Oberhausener train station, built in 1932, and was originally built to hold water that was used to refill steam locomotives. This tank is massive - 11 meters (36 feet) tall, 7m (23 feet) in diameter. Look around the site (especially the tab "aufbau", which translates as "structure") for pictures of the tank that they're using. Massive. Somehow, the operators of the site were able to get the permission to install speakers on the bottom of the tank and suspend microphones in the top of the tank. This is all wired to a Unix server, and suddenly you have a new FREE reverb toy online.

How To Use It?
This is really simple to use. Click the red "Record Sample" button at the top of the screen, and you get a clever rack-mount style interface. Samples are by default Normalized, but you can skip this with the "Bypass Normalize" button. Output format is selectable as MP3, FLAC, or Ogg-Vorbis formats. You also select you Wet/Dry mix.

When you hit the "Record" button, you are taken to another screen where you Browse to select your upload file. Uploaded files must be WAV files. This seems odd, since you can't get the output back as a WAV file, but we can still work with it. In a non-user friendly move, the "Do It" button is instead labeled "Submit Query". Then you wait for it to do its job and it gives you a file back that you can do a "Save as..." to save locally.

My Experiences So Far
I've been playing with Tank-FX for a couple days, and the results are pretty good, with a few words of caution. First, I have had mixed results when using any wet/dry mix. It seems that even a 50/50 mix causes the dry to seriously overpower the wet. I think the much lower levels of the wet sound are not properly compensated for in their mixing routines.

I have also found that as of this writing, the right channel is basically dead. You get a wash of static and only a faint trace of the sound. This was done with 100% wet signal, so you can hear the tank by itself. It's fairly simple to pull the MP3 output into Audacity and split the channels (and discard the right channel), and the sound really jumps out at you.

My recommendation is to run everything at 100% wet, strip the right channel, and mix it back to the original either in Audacity or within your DAW.

I have also seem on their comments board some people have gotten unwelcome environmental sounds back in their samples. Mostly banging, most likely from construction or other heavy equipment in the general area. This seems to be more of a problem if you're running sounds during the daytime (in Germany) and not a problem if you're running during German night hours. Do a little time research, and you should be fine.

Limitations
The limitations on the Tank-FX site are fairly few. You have to upload in WAV only. The file cannot be more than 60 seconds. Output in MP3, FLAC, or Ogg-Vorbis only. The space is a single defined BIG space, so you're only getting BIG reverb.

Yet, it would seem that all of these limitations still beat the heck out of digital fake-reverb if you're going for the big hall reverb sound. Of course, this is not the type of reverb you'd want to put your whole track through, but for enhancing a specific instrument, voice, or sound bite, this is a great option.

Wrap-up
I honestly think Tank-FX is one of the coolest net freebies I have ever come across. The limitations are really a lot less than your average free VST's limitations. And there is no "this is nice, but how about pay for more options" angle that we have all grown so accustomed to seeing. Check it out and give them praise on their board. This is one site that deserves to get some positive credit.

Sell Your Childhood, Buy Your Future

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:37:00 +0000

As I have worked on building my home studio, the one question I have kept coming back to is the ultimate issue of cost. As long-time readers know by now, my desire is to get the best studio for as little money as possible. I think most (if not all) aspiring musicians start with the same basic idea: I will invest money now, and make my money back when my album is released and sells a million copies (or a hundred copies, for those who set their sights more realistically.) The main problem is that it doesn't always work that way. We spend a little. And then a little more. Eventually, we have a studio that cost as much as a car, and we still haven't made a dime on the album we are still working on. I'm there with you, brothers and sisters. Recently I've been on a budgeted buying binge. (I apologize for the excessive alliteration there. It couldn't be helped.)

Sell First...
So what is my advice? Sell Your Stuff. I don't mean sell your studio gear - that will be worth its weight in gold when you finally release your album on iTunes. But we all have various and sundry things we have been collecting (intentionally or otherwise) over the years, and we don't really need it all, do we?

In the modern age, when we talk about selling, we are inevitably talking about two places: eBay or craigslist. I'm personally not a fan of the whole free-for-all that is craigslist, so I avoid it. But eBay is a great place to sell your extra stuff. Look around your home. I'm sure you can find any number of things you wouldn't miss if they were to find a new home. Outdated video games you haven't touched in years. Old, out of print books. CDs, especially boxed sets. Old computer hardware. Seriously, there's a market for everything on eBay.

Since I began trying to tip the financial scales toward breaking even (in the last month), I have sold enough items to almost completely pay for my current studio gear. And there's not a single item I've sold that I will ever miss. The biggest question to ask yourself is which is more important: making the best music you can, or holding on to that Playstation 1 game that hasn't been played in 8 years? I can't answer for you, but for me the answer is a resounding MUSIC!

...Then Buy
Of course, it's not just about getting people to pay way too much for your old junk. It's also a great way to get the gear you want cheaply. You need to be a little smart about what you buy, but you can find some great deals. For example, I got a great deal on a new Canvas Bass Guitar for $71.00 (with free shipping) recently. Even buying a entry-level Bass from a traditional retailer will set you back twice that. (Side note: I'm loving the Canvas Bass, model CTFB10. I'm not really a bassist, but it plays exceptionally well and the pickups have a great tone. But I digress.)

Buyer Cautions
There's a few things to keep in mind if you're buying music gear on eBay, or from any second-hand establishment for that matter.

1) Beware Fakes - If you can buy a $1,000.00 guitar for $50.00, it's a fake. There is no way you're getting a real 70's Gibson Les Paul for under a grand. Period. If you're not sure, Google it and compare photos to see if anything looks wrong - especially detail like logos and designs on the headstock. That's where a lot of the fakes get the visible details wrong.

2) Buy economy - Buying lesser known brands is often better, since there is almost no profit margin in making fake versions of $200.00 guitars.

3) Beware Used Software - If you're buying gear than includes software, make sure it isn't something that requires a registered serial number with the maker, or you might be SOL. Used gear tends to be already registered to the prior owner. So if you buy a Line 6 UX1, for example, you must be the owner registered with Line 6, or you may be prevented from downloading Pod Farm (or GearBox) software. Personally, these are items I will only buy new in box because the headache isn't worth saving $20 on an already reasonably priced piece of gear.

4) Make Sure It's Compatible - If it's recording hardware, you can get screaming deals - just make sure it's compatible. A good example is the wonderful MOTU hardware. The older, non-Firewire hardware is still great gear. But it needs a PCI card interface. Many of the auctions I've seen on eBay include the MOTU PCI-324 card, which runs on a different voltage level than most modern PCI slots, so it won't work. You'll need the PCI-424 card, which if you are the registered owner, you can buy direct from MOTU for $295. Or buy one on eBay for slightly less than that. So a screaming deal on an original MOTU-2048 is dampened considerably if you have to shell out another $300. to make it work on your system. You MUST do your homework to avoid getting the shaft on these "good deals".

5) Buy From Established Sellers - If a seller has a lower feedback rating, I'm always a little nervous, even if it is all positive. You never know how serious they are. Now, if they have a 100+ feedback score, you know that is a much more serious seller, and more likely to be treating their transactions as a business.

6) Does it pass the Sniff Test? This goes back to #1 above. If the deal is too good to be true, it might be. If something feels wrong about the seller, move on. (I made that mistake once - and 3 weeks later I'm still in limbo as to whether I'm ever going to get the item.)

Bottom Line
Yes, I know this post is probably coming across as an eBay advocacy lesson. Probably so, since I'm spending a lot of free time working with eBay, and I'm getting sucked into its vortex more each day. But at the end of the day, I know that auctions are short-term commitments. If you lose your motivation to sell, and want to get focused back on music, you can be free and clear within a week, with no lingering after-effects like other "make money now" schemes.

As all of us struggling to get our music made properly in our home studios know, there is almost always someone who is keeping tally of how much we're spending on our gear. Wife, mother, husband, child, landlord, collection agency, etc. The only way we can dig ourselves out of the bottomless pit that is our home studio is to offset the expenses with an income. And I, for one, am willing to sell my childhood for a new pair of reference monitors. I'll keep selling until I get what I need. Of course, if you have a spare set of KRK Rokits that you'd care to donate to the Troll Cave, drop me a line. I'm always open to donations.

POD Farm supports REAPER...finally

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:15:00 +0000

The music-makers have finally been heard! As of the Pod Farm 1.03 update, the POD Farm plugin now works in hosts that use a 64-bit VST engine. This includes REAPER. So now we not only can skip the whole "VST wrapper" annoyance, it also means we can now access the Automation parameters in Pod Farm. Yes, we can finally "knob twiddle" POD Farm from within REAPER.

There is a big learning curve on the automation, however. I say this because every possible parameter appears in REAPER, whether it is in the current effects chain or not. Since POD Farm allows you to have 2 effects paths at the same time, this means there is also 2 of everything. Users with lower screen resolutions might have some difficulty in REAPER, since they all appear in a single window.

Even so, this update means that POD Farm users can finally get the full power while using REAPER. You can get the update by using the Line 6 Monkey to update your software.

Gear Review: Line 6 Pod Studio UX1

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:25:00 +0000

If you've been reading here for a while, you know that my previous guitar recording interface, the Lightsnake, had some serious limitations and generally left me pretty unhappy with the results. I can say now that the Lightsnake has been retired, and has been replaced with a Line 6 POD Studio UX1. After playing with it for about a week, I think I've seen enough to give it a proper review.

The Hardware
To kick things off, let's look at the box itself. The UX1 connects via USB, and all power is handled through the USB cable - no additional power supply needed. On the front of the box, there are 3 ports; one XLR jack, one 1/4" unbalanced instrument input, and a 1/4" headphone jack. On top of the box are a power light and 2 knobs: Mic Gain and Output. No big surprises in the function of each of those items. The back of the unit has jacks for two 1/4" analog outputs, two 1/4" Line Inputs, one 1/4" Stereo Monitor line in, as well as the USB socket.

As you might imagine, you can record from any of the inputs, except the Stereo Monitor line in - that acts as a pass-through for anything you want to show up in the mix but not be part of the "recordable" input.

Sound Card
Oh, did I mention it functions as a complete sound interface, including output? That's right. It comes with its own ASIO driver which you can easily tap into with most any audio software that supports ASIO. When I connected REAPER to the "ASIO UX1", then ALL of my audio output from REAPER was directed at the UX1. I have read where this can be confusing if you don't think about what you're doing, but it's a good thing. In my case, I have a moderately cheap sound card in my PC. With this, I don't really have to worry about upgrading that card, since I'm bypassing it for my audio work.

Latency? We Don't Need No Steenking Latency...
One admirable trait of the UX1 is that it is able to pass through the input audio to the output WITHOUT waiting for the PC to handle it directly. This gives you effectively zero latency in the monitors, even if you have a relatively high latency setting in the ASIO driver itself.
From my testing on an existing project, I have reduced the slips and stutters in my system from being a frequent occurrence to flawless audio by incorporating the UX1 into my setup.

Is It Clean?
If you read my review of the Lightsnake, you'll know it was a dirty, dirty interface, with odd pulses of interference and general noise. The UX1 suffers from NONE of those problems. Line 6 boasts a greater than 100 dB signal to noise ratio, and I believe it. Running the same spectrographs on the signal from the UX1 yielded a much cleaner signal, with a slight noise level in the lowest extremes of the graph, but nothing audible and it was a steady baseline, so it essentially vanishes when you record.

Bundled Software
The POD Studio UX1 comes bundled with 3 programs: Riffworks T4, Ableton Live Lite 7 Line 6 Edition, and POD Farm. I haven't played with Riffworks yet, and I already know that Ableton is a very cut-down version of that program, supposedly tailored to the hardware bundled with it. Considering this is stripped even further than the LE version, I'm not too interested in it. POD Farm is where the real second stage fun comes in.

POD Farm
POD Farm replaces the former Gearbox software that used to be bundled with Line 6 interfaces. The idea and many of the features are the same, but POD Farm has a much slicker interface. POD Farm includes a stunning array of software models of amps, effects, and cabinets that you plug together in a very obvious signal chain on screen. These are mostly based on real gear, including Marshall's JCM-800, Fender's Deluxe Reverb, and even the Orange AD30TC. They give cute names in the program, but they are very forthcoming on what the sounds are modeled after on their web site. Anyway, you have pretty much the gauntlet of gear to work with - certainly more than the home studio could ever hold much less afford - and there are additional model packs available to buy from Line 6 in case you are craving more gear. While more options are always better, I'm sure what I have will more than meet my tonal needs for quite some time to come. POD Farm also allows you to break your signal into dual signal chains, so you can get some really powerful and wild sounds going.

Playing Standalone
POD Farm works great as a standalone program. It gives you some nice options - like sending not only the fully processed signal out (to your DAW), but also sending the unprocessed/raw signal out (to your DAW) at the same time. So you can record the completely dry signal at the same time you record it fully effected, and also be pushing the signal out to your studio monitors via the 1/4" outputs in back. I'm loving it!

Playing As A Plug-in
Pod Farm as a plug-in needs a little work at this point. As of this writing, POD Farm 1.02 is the current version, and it has a problem in about half of the major DAWs on the market. Apparently, if your DAW has a 64-bit plug-in host (and no 32-bit host as a fall-back), then POD Farm will crash. Yes, REAPER is one of those affected. The workaround to this is to use a VST Wrapper to act as a middle-man between REAPER and POD Farm. I've been using ACON's EffectChainer, and it works OK, but you are left with the inability to use any Automation ("knob twiddling") on anything inside POD Farm, since the DAW can only see the EffectChainer, not POD Farm itself. Line 6 has posted in their forums that this issue has been logged and is on the "to do" list. Hopefully this problem is resolved soon, since "knob twiddling" is often needed.

Standalone and Plug-in Together
I like to use both versions together. I record through the standalone version into REAPER (monitoring the processed signal and recording the dry signal) and having a plugin on the recorded track with the plug-in version of POD Farm replicating what I was doing with the standalone version. This gives me the flexibility to change the sound after recording, but not having to rely on just hearing the dry tone while playing. In this fashion I can also record the wet signal at the same time, so it gives you a lot of configuration possibilities.

Tone Port vs. POD Studio
If you've looked around, there is a TonePort UX1 as well as a POD Studio UX1. The hardware is exactly the same, except the TonePort has a red faceplace and the POD Studio has a black faceplate. The only real difference is in the bundled software. If you have a TonePort, it comes bundled with the standalone version of GearBox, you can upgrade for free to the standalone version of POD Farm, but you'll have to buy the plug-in version of POD Farm. Both versions (standalone and plug-in) of POD Farm come bundled with the POD Studio. To save yourself time, I'd suggest the POD Studio UX1 over the TonePort UX1, not only because it will save you some time, but also because the black faceplate looks much cooler than the red.

Bottom Line
The bottom line is that you owe it to yourself to buy a POD Studio UX1 (or the big brothers UX2 and UX8). The Line 6 POD Studio UX1 is a simple box with a simple purpose - which is does amazingly well. It sells new for around $149.99 at most shops, and it is fabulous. The hardware is solid and very clean, and the software so thoroughly exceeds my expectations that I am becoming inspired by the wide variety of tonal possibilities. The only difficulty I've found at this point is that POD Farm offers so many options, I'm spending more time fiddling with new sounds and not enough actual work on recording. If you need to record audio, you need one of these. Trust me.

Welcome to 2009, it's nicer here.

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:26:00 +0000

The Troll Cave fell into a lull in December, in case you missed me. Between a lingering illness and the general insanity of the Thanksgiving through New Year's holiday season, there hasn't been much time for music. That should change in the coming weeks, as I have some new gear on its way, including a Line 6 POD Studio UX1 interface. I'll be posting a thorough review of it soon.

Also in the works for the months ahead are VST reviews/recommendations, a ReaMote tutorial (slaving other computers to take some of the load off REAPER), and how to wrap a cranky plugin to work where it doesn't want to.

Thanks for keeping up with me - drop me a line (send an e-mail, post a comment, etc) if there are other topics you want me to cover. I'll give it my best shot!

Gear/Site Review: Hobnox AudioTool

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 05:47:00 +0000

I'm not really sure if this is technically gear to be reviewed or a web site with a cool app. I think it's a little of both. What I'm talking about is an online app that gives you the look, feel, and control of old school electronic music making. What I'm talking about is the Hobnox AudioTool.

Who are they?
Hobnox is a site that focuses on collaboration between artists and is very much centered on the collaborative spirit of the whole "Web 2.0" thing. There's a lot of content on their site, and it ranges from simple to inspiring to a plain waste of bandwidth.

What is it?
The Hobnox AudioTool is a simple point and click interface that simulates a number of major electronic instruments - the TB-303 bass synth, the TR-808 drum machine, and the TR-909 drum machine. You also have a host of other effects pedals to use - everything from compressors, flangers, delays, gates, EQs, Reverb - all standard stomp box effects are here. You also have a 16 channel mixer, a master output control, and signal splitters and mergers. That's a lot of gear to play with.

How do you use it?
The Hobnox AudioTool is extremely simple to use to get started. You connect up wires in the signal paths you want, and let the machines run. Sound simple? It is...if you know the machines. For those of us spoiled by the current style of DAWs to put our music together, this is going to be a completely alien experience. There is no central handler for the patterns in any of these machines. (Yes, you can make the 303 trigger from an external source, but it's still not "true" control, is it?) You build each pattern in each machine, and control them by turning the correct knob. The machines seem to be fairly accurate simulations of the originals, though the 808 doesn't have that unholy deep subsonic bass that the original was notoriously famous for.

No, Really, How Do I Use It?
If you really want to be serious about how to make something "real" with it, you will probably want to Google for programming guides for the TR-808, TR-303, and TR-909. These machines are so popular that there are a wealth of resources on how to use them. I'm not that old school, so I prefer the "what happens when I do this" school of thought. Nothing comes out planned, but it always comes out fresh.

What Can I Do Besides Play Around?
The Hobnox AudioTool includes a recorder function that allows you to record your "performance". It is saved under your Hobnox account (a clever way to encourage you to register on their site). So if you want to get all "old school" with your music, you can build your fantasy machine here, record it, and merge it into another project later on. The files are compressed with a Vorbis encoder, so you may need to convert the output file to another format, depending on your project needs.

Final Thoughts
According to the news on the site, this latest version (which is still listed as a BETA) has a lot of under the hood enhancements that will allow them to (in the future) give users the ability to create new synthesizers and effects. This sounds promising, but it also sounds like they are trying to get people sucked into the vortex of building add-ons for this toy/tool/thing. While I'm all in favor if user-developed content, it seems a little silly to have everything built from scratch for this system. Now what would be really great is if they would develop a VST host into the site, so users could plug in their freeware VSTs. That would give the Hobnox AudioTool a lot more flexibility and value.

As it is, Hobnox AudioTool is a cool toy. It is definitely one of the most advanced audio toys built on a Flash platform to date. It is definitely worth playing with at least once.

Check it out at:
http://www.hobnox.com/audiotool.1046.en.html

Happy Thanksgiving!

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:00:00 +0000

While I was getting ready for the Thanksgiving Day feast, it dawned on me that of all the holidays in the United States, Thanksgiving is the only major holiday without its own soundtrack. I don't know why this is, but it seems odd to me.

Christmas Music is a genre unto itself. Valentine's Day has any romantic songs as an appropriate soundtrack. St. Patrick's Day is the traditional stomping ground of any bawdy singalongs. New Year's Eve is filled with songs of reminisce, with "Auld Lang Syne" as the benchmark against which all others are judged. Even Independence Day, Veteran's Day, and Memorial Day have the canvas of patriotic songs that have been deemed "correct".

Yet Thanksgiving only has a few odd novelty songs that really don't do it justice, like Adam Sandler's "Thanksgiving Song". Why haven't we ever found a voice for Thanksgiving? Perhaps it has become so overshadowed by Christmas that nobody cares much about the spirit of Thanksgiving being expressed in song. We gorge ourselves on food, watch some TV, and get up before dawn the next day to fight the crowds and start our Christmas shopping in unison like so many lemmings racing off a cliff, leaving Thanksgiving as a faint memory of having extra time off work.

So what should Thanksgiving sound like? How do you express overeating, football, and the sneak preview of the family stress to come at Christmas? What suits it? Intimately happy songs like Christmas carols? Songs of gluttony and excess? Teen pop? Today the Jonas Brothers performed at a halftime show, which was strikingly odd - they were playing while surrounded by the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. It was jarring, but was it Thanksgiving music?

We need to find a voice for Thanksgiving. What does it sound like to you?

Gear Review: Make Your Own Noise With SynthEdit

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:00:00 +0000

There is one major reason for the explosion of freeware VSTs available on the web: SynthEdit. If you've never heard of SynthEdit, you've no doubt been the beneficiary of the program. There are a huge number of plug-ins available that were designed with this program, many without any evidence that they were built in SynthEdit. And it's fairly easy to make it work.

What Is It?
SynthEdit, developed by Jeff McClintock, is labeled a "Modular Synthesizer" for Windows. Using a graphic interface, with a "connect the wires" interface, you can create pretty much any plug-in you desire, from a synth to an effects unit, or any sort of hybrid thing you can imagine. It also includes a Save-As-VST function that allows you to use anything you built in any VST host (pretty much any DAW).

How Does It Work?
Written in C++, SynthEdit comes with a battery of component types, ranging from oscillators, filters, math functions, MIDI controllers, memory functions, as well as a host of sliders, knobs, and other control objects. Every object has inputs and/or outputs, color-coded by the type of connection it needs. By connecting up wires between components, you are essentially doing the same thing on-screen that you would be doing with wires and solder if you were building a machine in the physical world. Except here you don't have to worry about causing damage from connecting the wrong bits together.

Is It Really That Easy?
Yes and No. First, it takes some time to figure out what the various pieces and parts do, and how to control them. Thankfully, there are a few examples (and links to more on the SynthEdit web site) to help get you started. I took a stab at following the instructions for the 3-Oscillator Synth posted under "Building Tips" on the web site. It was a good starter tutorial that let you start building simply, and then adding pieces one section at a time.

I say it is also NOT that easy, because there is such a range of options available with the initial download that it wasn't immediately obvious what they did and/or how to use them. (To be honest, some of them are still so foreign to me I haven't the foggiest idea how to use them) I would be willing to bet if you know something more advanced that I do about audio electric design, you'll probably be able to get more use out of it that I have so far.

Help! How do I...
The included Help files are absolutely wonderful. It gives straightforward answers to how to use the program and the features, though in some cases you might need to do some web searching to figure out the theory behind the uses. For the most part, if you are patient and read thoroughly in the help files you can get the explanations you need.

The SynthEdit Community
SynthEdit appears to have a very good community following. Their Yahoo Group has activity pretty much every day, with bug reports and feature requests usually answered within a few hours or so by Jeff McClintock himself. It is always a good sign when the developer is actively interacting with the users, which is something that a lot of the "big box" companies lack.

There is also a lot of sharing going on. Users post new bits of code and new modules they are working on all the time. Chances are fairly good that you can find extra pieces or examples of things you can learn from by looking at the files posted on the Yahoo Group.

For The Hardcore...
If you are a C++ programmer and want to design your own modules for SynthEdit, there is an SDK available on the site. This allows you to "roll your own" to enhance and expand SynthEdit to whatever level you want to take it. This add-on functionality really enhances the option, especially with the active user community.

Alas, It Is Not Free...
Keep in mind, though, that SynthEdit is not a free program. It is shareware. The trial version has some limits (number of patches allowed, only 2 outputs, etc) and has "SynthEdit" plastered all over it. (The registered version will let you remove all traces of SynthEdit, and even let you add your own nag screen to your plug-ins) The registration fee, currently a modest $50, is very reasonable for a program of this quality. The trial is not time limited, so you can give it a good test drive before you decide to buy it.

Bottom Line
Between the quality of the program, the depth of options, the sheer quantity of user-created modules you can use to enhance the program, the great developer support, and the ability to make your own VSTs, it would be hard to argue against this program being a great value. The true deciding factor is how much time and dedication you want to spend on learning to build your own machines. It could be pretty consuming, but the end result is probably worth your while.

You can get it from the official site at http://www.synthedit.com.

Where is My Cowbell? (a.k.a. General MIDI Drum Assignments)

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:00:00 +0000

When you are first beginning to use Drum VSTs, it sometimes comes as a shock when try to actually find the notes that trigger the sounds. This is primarily because drums are attached to individual notes (unlike a synth that you can play up and down the range). It is also because not all Kits are created equal. Most freeware drum VSTs only offer support for a standard 8 drum kit, sometimes more, sometimes less. This makes the game of "find my drum triggers!" even harder, if you're just hunting and pecking.

General MIDI standards
Fortunately for us, this has been a problem from the early days of MIDI music. The General MIDI standard was developed in 1991, and expanded in 1999. In a nutshell, the General MIDI standard included several pieces, most notably the assignments of specific instrument assignments to specific bank slots. So, for example, instrument 10 is always a Glockenspiel on an instrument that adheres to the General MIDI standard.

Drum Standards
For the mostly software-based home studio, most of the General MIDI standard doesn't impact too much, since we are more likely to have pieces that are custom-written specialized for out gear. The portion that I think is more important is the General MIDI Drum Standards. According to the standard, Drums should always be on MIDI Channel 10 (and 11 if you have 2 kits in use at the same time). Even more useful is that specific drum sounds are identified by specific note numbers. Notes 35 to 81 are identified as very specific sounds.

Why Should We Care?
Simply put, it allows you to swap out full drum kits without having to tweak your music. If we didn't follow a common standard, that means to change from one drum VST to another might require you to re-write all the drum parts to connect the entered notes in your DAW to the actual notes the new VST wants. By using General MIDI Drum Assignments, everything is much more portable. And easier to find the sounds you're looking for. (In the piano roll in most DAWs, you should have the option to see "named notes" or "note numbers", so you can see exactly where these sounds should trigger from.)

General MIDI Drum Note Assignments
35 Bass Drum 2
36 Bass Drum 1
37 Side Stick
38 Snare Drum 1
39 Hand Clap
40 Snare Drum 2
41 Low Tom 2
42 Closed Hi-hat
43 Low Tom 1
44 Pedal Hi-hat
45 Mid Tom 2
46 Open Hi-hat
47 Mid Tom 1
48 High Tom 2
49 Crash Cymbal 1
50 High Tom 1
51 Ride Cymbal 1
52 Chinese Cymbal
53 Ride Bell
54 Tambourine
55 Splash Cymbal
56 Cowbell
57 Crash Cymbal 2
58 Vibra Slap
59 Ride Cymbal 2
60 High Bongo
61 Low Bongo
62 Mute High Conga
63 Open High Conga
64 Low Conga
65 High Timbale
66 Low Timbale
67 High Agogo
68 Low Agogo
69 Cabasa
70 Maracas
71 Short Whistle
72 Long Whistle
73 Short Guiro
74 Long Guiro
75 Claves
76 High Wood Block
77 Low Wood Block
78 Mute Cuica
79 Open Cuica
80 Mute Triangle
81 Open Triangle

Closing Thoughts
These are only applicable to instruments that adhere to the GM Standard. Not everyone honors the standard, and there are variations created by plug-in makers who are apparently blissfully unaware that they are making something completely incompatible with any existing drum standard. There are also a number of other accepted formats (mostly pricey "pro" kits) that don't necessarily adhere to the GM Standard. Keep an eye for GM Standards-compliant packages while building your discount studio. It will make transitions a lot easier, and you will always know where your cowbell is. (It's note 56, in case you missed it.)

REAPER Tutorial: Multi-Out Drum Tutorial

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:02:00 +0000

One of the hardest parts of a home studio to "get right" is the drums (unless you happen to really be a drummer). In a world of free and/or cheap tools it is hard to find a good virtual drum kit that gives you the options needed to get a solid drum sound and have the ability to mix the drums off into separate channels.

With most free drum VST instruments, if you want to be able to treat each drum separately (i.e. if you wanted to do something like add some extra reverb to ONLY the bass drum), you would be forced to use multiple instances of a standard drum VST, and program each drum sound as a separate instrument. This causes 2 problems: it increases your processing overhead by running 8 or more versions of the same VST (eating your CPU power like candy), and it is really hard to lock in your drum pattern when you're dealing with so many separate MIDI tracks feeding the sound of your drums. Notice I said "most free drum VST instruments"?

GTG Drum Sampler I
GTG makes some absolutely wonderful drum sampler VSTs (and some pretty good synths, too). Most of them feature a stereo out, but the GTG_DrumSampler I features a total of 9 outputs; 1 main output and 8 individual outputs for each piece of the drum kit. The UI has a nice picture of a Drum Kit, and the drums vibrate when they are played, which is a frill, but it's a nice touch.
Configure Your Outputs
First we want to configure the track itself for the drums. Since we know GTG Drum Sampler I has a total of 9 outputs (8 for individual drums), we will need to reconfigure our track for 8 channels. On the track where you want the drums, click on the "io" button on the left of the track panel. This will open the routing window for that track. There is a field in the top left labeled "Track Channels". This usually defaults to 2. Change that to 8.

Configure the Drums
Now that we've expanded the channels that this track will control, let's go to the UI of the DrumSampler I. In the top right of the window, there is a button labeled "9 Outputs". Click this to get the routing matrix for the drum kit. You will get REAPER's attempt to do what you want, which is a stair-step appearance, and completely useless as it is. It is useless because as is you will ONLY hear the bass drum. Here is where the labels take some getting used to. If you just want to hear all the drums together, you need to fill in the boxes for outputs 2 through 9 across the top row (Channel 1). This will play all the sounds through the left channel.

For our purposes, we want all the drums isolated. So instead, let's make the routings in this order: 2->Channel 1; 3->Channel 2; 4->Channel 3;etc. Your routing diagram should look like the one shown here:

This configuration means that the first drum (bass drum) will be output on channel 1, the second instrument (snare drum) will be output on channel 2, and so forth. To see a complete list of the outputs, click on the INFO text in the to middle of the Drum Sampler interface, and it will change to a drum assignment listing. With the way it interfaces with REAPER, these numbers are 1 below the way the output is numbered in REAPER. (BD = 1 actually comes out on output 2, according to REAPER's routing).

Make the Targets
Now we need to make the target tracks for all the drums to go to. We will need 8, and you should probably name them according to the drum to avoid confusion later on. In order, they are: Bass Drum, Snare Drum, HiHat, Tom High, Tom Mid, Tom Low, Cymbal Crash, Cymbal Ride. These new tracks will be IN ADDITION to the track that you have the drum kit installed on.

Lock The Feeds
Now that we have the channels isolated, and somewhere to send them to, we need to enable the sends. Go back to your original Drum pattern track, and click the "io" button again. The first thing we want to do is disconnect this track from the master. We do this because we only care about the drums coming through the individual channels, not from this pattern directly. Disconnect this by removing the check mark from the "Master/Parent Send" option in the top left of the window.

Now click on the drop-down "Add New Send", and select the track you named "Bass Drum". This will create a new block in the window about the send to the track named "Bass Drum". Below the sliders are a couple of drop-downs labeled "1/2 => 1/2". These are channel numbers, and it defaults to paired sends. "1/2=> 1/2" means "send channels 1 and 2 from this track to tracks 1 and 2 on the track I'm sending it to". In our case, we know that the Bass Drum is on Channel 1, since that's what we set up on the Output Routing in the VST. So change the FIRST "1/2" to "1". We will leave the target as "1/2", because that will put the drum as a stereo track in the target track. That's all we need to configure this send.

Now go back to the drop-down "Add New Send", and select the next track, "Snare Drum". Go to the new section it created, and change the send to "2=>1/2" so we send channel 2 to the Snare Drum track. Repeat this process for each of the drums.

Try It Out
That's it! Now insert a new "Empty MIDI Item" on your original drum track, and build a drum pattern. As it plays, you will notice that the mixer controls will show that the levels are coming from the individual drums as they are hit. Build a pattern with all the drums, and play it in a loop. Now you can start playing with adjusting the levels on each drum individually, as well as adding "fx" to individual drums (like the reverb on the bass drum example).

This is a fairly simple example, but by using simple track sends, you can also simulate mic bleed between drums (by adding a send between the drum tracks, with very low volume), among other ideas.

Other Notes
I should also mention that this wonderful drum kit comes with a pretty decent single kit of drum sounds. As far as a standard drum kit, they drum samples that come pre-loaded are pretty solid and will work great for quick drums without the need to sift through samples to build a kit. If you don't like the sounds, you can still load your own through the interface.

Also, the one drawback to using this drum VST is that you are limited to an 8 piece traditional setup. So if you want a double-bass kit, heavy cymbals, extra toms, etc., then you'll need to either use multiple instances of this VST with alternate drums, or upgrade to more serious software. But for simple drum tracks, it's still a great place to start.

REAPER Tutorial: How To Save A Project From A Bad Plug In

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:09:00 +0000

One of the risks of using virtual instruments and effects is that not all are created equal. You will run into compatibility problems with certain plug ins in certain hosts. I'm pretty much a VST/VSTi user, so I'll focus on those plug-in types, but the tricks I will suggest should work for any plug-in type.

I write this from experience. Recently, I've been working on a new version of an old song of mine, so I've spent a lot of time fiddling with VSTs trying to recapture the original sound and feel of the old song. And I will freely admit I have a lot more plug-ins than I have had time to fully test. This is the perfect scenario where BAD THINGS CAN, WILL, AND DID HAPPEN.

So What Happened?
Everything was fine when the last few times I worked on the song. Everything was running smoothly and I was making a lot of progress. Tonight, I loaded REAPER (and it auto-loaded the project), and instead of gracefully fading out from the splash window, REAPER crashed. I tried it again, it crashed again, but at a different part of the loading process. Third time's a charm, right? Wrong. Third time it loaded most of the way, the splash window got to the "Fading out" status message, and the entire computer froze. I had to resort to a hard reset (hold down the power button until it forces a shutdown). For the sake of full disclosure, I went through this same process (including the forced reboot!) TWICE before I decided I was being stupid.

Option 1: Go To A Backup
REAPER keeps backup copies of the last time you saved the project, so all is not lost. Find the file in the same directory as your project that has the same file name with a .RPP-bak extension. This is the backup made of the next-to-last saved version of your project. Rename it to something with an .RPP extension, and try loading it. If you're lucky, the bad plug in was not included in this version. More likely, it is still in there, and you crash again. If it doesn't crash, you are left with the problem of losing any changes you made since that save. Not ideal, but if the changes are minimal, this might be a viable option.

Option 2: Disable Suspect VSTs
If you have a pretty good idea of what new VST you added before the project went south, you can disable the suspect VST in one of two ways. One: Find the .dll file for that VST and rename it with a different file extension, like .dll_disabled. Two: Move the entire VST out of the path that REAPER looks at. This can be a good idea if you know exactly what you've been playing with, and can isolate the one "problem child".

Option 3: Kill Em All
In my situation, I had been working with so many VSTs, I had no clue what was in and was not in my project. So I instead renamed my root VST folder to another name, so REAPER wouldn't find any of my VSTs. When REAPER loads, it will not find any VSTs under the path it is looking at, so it will present you with a clear list of all plug ins it couldn't find. Copy down this list. Rename your VST folder back to its original name. Now you can try the same steps I outlined in "Option 2: Disable Suspect VSTs", since you now know every VST in your project. I can almost guarantee one of them doesn't play nicely. Move one out (or rename the .dll), try it. If the project works fine, then keep that VST separate/out of your toolkit. Newer versions of REAPER might work with it, so I'd recommend having a "doesn't work with REAPER yet" folder to drop all of these into.

Safe At Last
In an ideal world all VSTs would work with all hosts. I've never been "under the hood" on a VST host before, so I'm really not sure why some plug-ins are stable in one program and totally corrupt in others. But the fact remains that this is a reality. Since there are so many free/cheap VSTs out there, I know I don't really have too much to complain about if one doesn't work correctly in my DAW. For just about any type of plug in you want, you can probably find dozens of others out there that might work better.

If You Like Testing...
If you're the type of person that likes to have all the bugs worked out before you start, then you should test each and every plug in before you put it in your "real" toolkit. I have seen plug ins that crash on saving the project, crash on loading the project, crash on loading the plug in itself, as well as aberrant behavior when twiddling knobs in their UI, and even the occasional situation where using the same plug in multiple times in the same project will cause a meltdown. Frankly, there are so many parameters, I can't even imagine how rigorous the testing should be to declare a plug in "stable".

If You'd Rather Live on the Edge...
I'd rather spend my time playing than testing, so most of my "uh-oh" crashes come during real projects. So if you're like me, you'll need to get used to recovering quickly from a total project collapse. Once you step back, take a deep breath, and look for the unruly plug in, things will sort themselves out pretty quickly. I have also seen quite a few references in the forums to "pro grade" (i.e. expensive) plug ins that are also temperamental and will crash out your DAW, so the problem is definitely not just because you're using "the cheap stuff" like I am. These problems come with the territory, so get used to it.

Good Luck and Happy Bug Hunting!

Not all XPs are Created Equal...

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:56:00 +0000

I have recently come to terms with the fact that not all versions of Windows XP are equal. I have been blissfully unaware for the past couple years that Windows XP Media Center Edition is the ugly stepchild of the XP world. Yes, that's the OS I have been running. Somehow I have managed to keep myself on versions of Windows that are the least desirable for years. Before the Windows XP Media Center Edition, I had Windows ME. Oops.

So what does this have to do music? Simply put, it means everything. I have yet to find music production hardware or software that doesn't single out WinXP MCE as being not supported. It gives you a sinking feeling when you have a piece of software (or hardware) that runs on basically everything from Windows 95 to Vista, but doesn't run on this one version of XP.

What's So Special?
Windows XP MCE is a somewhat stripped version of Windows XP Pro, with the addition of the "Media Center" features. Those features are really only useful if you have your computer hooked to your main TV and feel like using your computer with a remote control. For the record, I am not one of those people. From what I understand, WinXP MCE lacks class-compliant audio drivers, which hurts some processes. It also is running their "Media Center" services, which I understand have the potential for clashes with audio processes.

The Straw That Broke...
For me, the last straw that made me decide I needed to fix my OS "problem" was when I changed my PC audio from using the onboard audio to a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 card. As soon as I switched sound card drivers, my MIDI keyboard quit being recognized. The PC told me it was there, but it didn't want to believe it was a valid MIDI interface! After some poking around, I found I could make it work again by disabling the Gameport/MIDI port that's on my Sound Blaster. I'm sorry - that makes no sense that I have to disable one MIDI port to make an unrelated USB MIDI device recognized. This was caused by XP MCE's audio compatibility problems.

What Can I Do?
You've got two options if you're running Windows XP MCE, as I see it: you can try to trick your system into behaving less like MCE, or you move to another OS. As far as tricking your system, there are forum posts out there that claim to give a list of registry keys to edit to disable the MCE features, which some people claim helps with SOME problems. But you are still left with the "it might work, it might not" status with every item you're drooling at in the latest Musician's Friend catalog or at your local music store.

Run Away...
I took the latter option: I have actually moved my home studio forward by downgrading my PC to use Windows XP Home Edition. Since I'm (ahem) frugal, I have an extra PC that was a hand-me-down from a friend who was going to throw it away. It had XP Home Edition installed. So I backed up everything from both systems onto CD and DVD, wiped the hard drives, and started over with fresh installations on both machines: XP Home Edition on my main computer, and XP MCE on the hand-me-down. It took a week to back up everything I needed, and a weekend to get the machines scrubbed and rebuilt, and a few more days to get all the apps in place and configured the way I want them.

Last Thoughts
If you're running XP MCE, don't let this scare you too badly. A lot of audio gear I was using worked fine. REAPER was rock solid. The Lightsnake, despite the interference, worked normally under XP MCE. But if you keep growing your studio based on XP MCE, be aware that you're rolling the dice each and every time you invest in new gear. But if you choose to move to another OS, I would advise XP Home or XP Pro, since Vista is also fairly well unsupported by a lot of companies at this point.

(Before I get the Mac contingent on me, yes, OS X is more stable for audio apps, but having to re-buy your apps on another OS is really counter-productive to being frugal.)

Tutorial: Fixing a Noisy Line, Part 2

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:30:00 +0000

In Part 1 of this tutorial, we looked at gear and line investigation techniques to try to identify and/or minimize the problem. Here, in Part 2, we will focus on software solutions to handling a noise-laden signal.

REAPER Tools
While using REAPER, I have found 2 viable options to cleaning up a noisy audio track bundled with the program itself. ReaGate, and ReaFir. We will look at both of these options in turn. But first, we need a good way to see the sound. REAPER comes with a good tool for just this purpose: "JS: Analysis/gfxspectrograph". Add this into the end of your FX Chain, and you can use it to visually monitor what is coming across on your line. Totally black means it is totally silent. You can use this to gauge the effectiveness of your cleanup methods.

ReaGate
ReaGate is the bundled VST gate that comes with REAPER. A gate is essentially an automatic on-off switch for the audio. When the overall level drops below a certain threshold, the line is silenced. Gates usually have a bunch of other features, but you probably don’t need them forthis situation. To use ReaGate, add it to your FX Chain. It should be in the top slot, before any other plug-ins are used. This will keep the other plug-ins from amplifying the noise problem.

On the left of the ReaGate interface, you have a vertical slider that measures dB (decibels). The higher you move the slider, the higher the threshold for the gate to turn off the sound. Move the slider up until the background noise disappears. For my situation, a setting of –37.8 db was the lowest point where the noise dropped off. The green bars beside the threshold reflect the incoming signal. You can watch the Output mix meter on the right hand side to see when the Gate turns the signal off.

To Gate or Not To Gate
Gates are a tricky thing. On one hand, they stop the low-level noise from coming through very well. But when you have a gate in your chain, ANY sound below that threshold will be cut off as well. So if you’re letting a guitar ring out, when it hits that threshold your sound is completely dropped out. Depending on your style of music, this clipping could sound really strange and unwanted.

ReaFir
Another option is ReaFir, with is identified as a FFT EQ+Dynamics Processor. This is a tool with quite a few modes, including a gate. The gate in this doesn’t work quite the same, and is not as effective as the standalone ReaGate, in my opinion. Change the “Mode” to “Subtract”. There will be a new check box beside it labeled “Automatically build noise profile (enable during noise)”. This feature can be your new best friend. Make sure your equipment is connected and that the track is armed, with monitoring on. If you are combating line noise, turn your instrument’s volume to zero. If your trouble is from the instrument itself, silence it as best you can with the volume at your normal recording levels. (For guitars, you can loosely tie a bandanna or other soft cloth around the neck so it mutes the strings.) You should see the noise profile pulsing in the window.

FFT Size
This setting is essentially the size of the “chunk” of data it will evaluate at a time. A smaller number means it pushes your computer harder, because it is evaluating a lot of data. A larger setting is more economical on your system resources, but it also causes a lot of latency while monitoring. Personally, I usually set mine to 512, and it is a good balance between the two.

Build A Noise Profile
Mark the check box beside the “Build a noise profile” option, and let it run for a few seconds. A red line will begin to raise from the bottom where it is detecting noise. After it stops adding to its height, click on the check box again. That’s it. You have now build a noise profile that will be applied to the audio signal passing through this VST. This is basically a frequency-reactive gate, where a traditional gate is volume-reactive.

ReaFir or ReaGate?
Both ReaFir and ReaGate suffer from the same problem with sustained audio levels. Neither one is actually removing the individual components of the noise. They are both removing the audio when there is little or no instrument audio. If you have sustained sound coming through, like you would with a rhythm guitar passage, then the noise might be evident within the sound of the guitar itself. This is because gates are trimming the quiet levels noise, but they do nothing to actually stop the individual elements of the noise. I personally prefer ReaFir's "subtract" mode to a traditional gate, because the sound doesn't just stop when it reaches a certain point. Individual frequencies do, but not the entire sound. It sounds like a more natural fade than what you get from a gate crashing down on your sound.

Other Options
Depending on your noise source, you can also investigate notch filters to try to remove individual offensive frequencies, but these will impact your overall tone significantly. In my situation, I have such a wash of noise across a lot of frequencies that it is impossible for me to take this approach.

Do you have other software tricks that you’d like to recommend? Post a comment!

Tutorial: Fixing a Noisy Line, Part 1

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 04:25:00 +0000

Something I’ve been combating lately in my recording is line and interface noise. As I mentioned recently, the Lightsnake USB interface I’ve been using worked OK with my acoustic, but once I started recording with an electric guitar, the noise is much more prominent. There are 2 ways to correct a noisy interface: 1) Buy Better Gear, or 2) Use the tools you have to try to minimize the audible noise coming through.

Since we are about frugality, we will assume that you don’t have the scratch right now to pick up a better interface. (I’m crossing my fingers and hoping a better interface box is under the Christmas tree, or at least some cash to buy it guilt-free.) That leaves us with the duct tape and chewing gum solution (i.e. a non-ideal solution) to cleaning up your audio.

Check Your Wires
The first thing to check when you’ve got excess noise coming on your input is to check the connections. Do you get pops and crackles when you touch the cables while connected? You might have a broken wire that is adding noise when it is flexed. It might be cracked shielding in the cable that might be picking up interference. Try to eliminate as many sources of noise. And remember, an incoming audio source MUST be plugged in to something when you’re testing. A cable end dangling on the floor usually will pick up a little charge from the air, perhaps a little extra hum from finger grime on the plug ends. Also, make sure the volume on the instrument is turned all the way down. This will help you isolate whether it is the instrument’s electronics causing the noise or something with the line/interface itself. If you identify a possible broken wire, try to swap it out and see if that helps.

Check Your Gear
If you have a clean line when the instrument’s volume is turned off, then you might have a problem in your gear itself, or interference causing problems with the gear. I have found that CRT monitors will cause a little extra hum on some lines. If you can, turn off the CRT and see if the sound goes away. If this is the case, then see if you can re-route things to keep the lines further from the monitor.

Another source can be some fluorescent light fixtures. I have used a couple that will generate a lightsaber-style hum on lines nearby. Turn off the lights and see if that helps.

If you can determine that the instrument is somehow at fault, but you can’t identify anything else reacting with it, then you may want to consider borrowing someone else’s similar instrument to see if it exhibits the same problem, or take the instrument to a qualified tech and see if there are modifications you can make to reduce the noise. (For guitars, these usually either means replacing pickups, switches, or at least having the wiring re-soldered to make better connections.)

Extra Hardware
Sometimes you can isolate that it is the instrument, but there’s nothing you can do to directly fix it. There are some line filters and power filters that might be able to help fix your signal. Frankly, most of those are out of my price range, especially for a “it MIGHT fix the problem” potential solution. If you have friends with this type of extra gear, by all means borrow their equipment and see if it cures your ills. If it does, start saving your loose change to buy one for yourself. Again, this falls under the “Buy Better Gear” option, which isn’t always a viable course to take.

It’s the Interface!
In my situation, I was able to isolate it to the Lightsnake itself. As I explained in my post “Eating My Own Words”, it became more evident with the electric guitar than with the acoustic, but it is definitely the interface itself, since I don’t get the same problem with other line or microphone inputs on the same computer.

Software Solutions
If your final verdict is like mine, then the garbage on the input can’t be directly avoided without buying new hardware, so you have to try to clean up the signal after it has been received. In Part 2 of this tutorial, we will look at software solutions to this problem.

Eating My Own Words - Lightsnake Review Updated

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:10:00 +0000

Well, I'll be the first to admit that having to eat your own words is not too tasty, but sometimes it is exactly what you need to do.

Recently I posted a review of the Lightsnake USB Instrument Cable. In that review, I gave it decent marks in my experience - no errant line noises like some people claimed to have heard (I even parroted the corporate "must be a bad cable" approach to people's problems.) I have once again proven to myself that you will get different results with different gear. At the time I wrote that review, I had only one guitar to try with it, a Daisy Rock Wildwood Electric/Acoustic Guitar. So my review reflect my experience with it at that time. The extra environmental noise normal with an acoustic guitar in a non-soundproofed environment caused me to always put a gate in the effects chain to clean it up. The natural fullness of sound from the acoustic guitar came across nicely and I was satisfied that the (gated) recorded material was fairly accurate to the original sound.

I recently picked up an Epiphone SG Special, which is an admittedly low-end electric guitar. Of course, I plugged it into the Lightsnake. My first reaction was "what in the heck is that racket?" The racket was, unfortunately, an electric pulsing noise over the monitors I never noticed previously (thanks to the gate). Okay, fine. I put a gate in the chain, and did some trial recording with the SG. The gate worked to take off the noise in the silent sections. But as soon as you hit anything loud and sustained (like a chord progression), the noise was embedded in the louder sections. I also tried using the ReaFIR VST in Subtraction mode to build a noise profile. Again, it works fine for trimming the noise off in silent or very light, quick notes, but if you have any continuous playing, you can hear the noise interlaced with your guitar sound.

I took a shot of a spectrograph of the line noise with the Lightsnake plugged into the SG with the volume knob set to zero. What you see is a wash of noise, with a lot of other structured pulses embedded in it. I checked old recordings from the Acoustic - I see the same "pulse signature" in the signal. I think the reason I never noticed it with the Daisy Rock on recording is that the acoustic is naturally a very full sound, so the noise was actually getting lost in the sound of the acoustic. Since the electric doesn't have the same wide-spectrum wash as the acoustic, the noisy cable is laid bare for all to see and hear.

So here I sit, eating my own words about my value shopping, and have to say I spent my money poorly. (However, I have been using it for 6 months or so before I came to that conclusion, so maybe it wasn't a total waste.) I heartily recommend saving your pennies (as I am) and save up for a more "pro" box. I'm currently looking at the Line 6 TonePort series, since it is more of a name brand with a lot more positive reviews.

Since this is the net, we can rewrite history, so I plan to. I have added the core of this post into my original Lightsnake review, so folks stumbling across it will be wiser that I was when I first wrote it.

Site Review: HowToTuneAGuitar.org

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:40:00 +0000

If you've ever looked for instructional guitar videos online, you'll find an ugly pile of subscription sites and "pay us and you'll play like Clapton in thirty days" claims that you know are extremely bloated. I've looked at a few sites that have appeared to be good, but I'm not going to spend the money to get into the subscription areas. It seems like it is a misguided use of my money. Recently I have come across a site that is playing by a (slightly) different set of rules: http://www.howtotuneaguitar.org.

Why On-line Tuning?
The name of the site makes it seem like a one-trick pony, but it actually has more goodness buried inside. First, let's talk about the main focus: Tuning a guitar. Yes, I know most guitarists have a digital tuner of their own, but when you're working at your desktop studio, sometimes it is easier to use online tools than to 1) find your tuner, 2) find fresh battery for the tuner, 3) unplug your rig to connect the tuner, 4) tune it, before 5) putting everything back the way it was, and you've forgotten what you were going to play.

Tune Me
The online tuner is a six note widget that allows you to turn on each note, and it will repeat a clean guitar tone of that note until you turn that one off. Then you can tune by ear to the tone it plays. (If you're really interested in wasting time, you can play a rudimentary tune on it, as long as you are only playing the open strings - but that's goofing off, isn't it?) What makes this so helpful beyond a pocket tuner is all of the alternate tunings. There are a ton of alternates both familiar (Drop D, Half Step Down, etc) and a lot that are completely alien to me (I have no idea WHAT a Buzzard tuning is, but I now know it tunes to C, F, C, G, A#, F). One weakness to the tuner is that when it is playing tuning notes for alternate forms of instrument, it uses the same tones. For example, the Dobro setting still sounds like a regular guitar. But this can be overlooked for two main reasons: It is a free tool, and I don't actually own any of the unusual instruments like a Dobro.

Another bonus is the tuner widget. It is a mini-version of the tuner on the site, but limited to standard tuning only. I have embedded it in my sidebar (Called "Tune-O-Matic"), if you want to play with it.

Tutorials
In addition to the tuner, the site also features a decent library of guitar lessons. These do not appear to be custom videos for the site, but rather the results of extensive YouTube digging. As a result, they are at various levels of helpfulness, and the "teachers" are at various skill levels themselves. But they are pretty good. (I particularly like the way the teaching video for "Keep On Rockin' In The Free World" includes on-screen diagrams and read-along fingering and pattern charts overlaid over the video). Even though these are all YouTube embedded videos, the site provides a good filter for pre-screened content, so you don't have to waste time getting lost in the vacuum of YouTube, where people have been known to get lost for days.

Chords and Scales
They also another widget called "Chordbot", which gives you 4 fingerings for just about every possible chord you've ever heard of, in a nice visual of the fretboard in a very readable format. If learning the various scales is more your interest, there are also multiple fingerings presented for every major and minor scale, again in a nicely presented format (though as individual pages for each scale, unlike the integrated "Chordbot").

Reviews
There are a few "reviews" on the site as well, primarily of teaching tools and lesson software. I'm not too interested in buying lessons, as I mentioned earlier, but I took a closer look anyway. It didn't take long to realize that the "reviews" section is really just an affiliate link farm, with all the ones I checked linking to pages that were built in exactly the same endless one-page-infomercial format common with "get rick quick" e-book sites. So there isn't anything that I would consider a "review", and I'd recommend pretending that section doesn't exist.

Other Stuff
Yes, there is actually a section called "Other Stuff", which is a infrequent blog of guitar related topics. There seems to be some level of ranting against Guitar Hero, but that's to be expected from "normal" guitarists. Not a lot of action on the blog, so probably not something to be on the top of your feed reader (if at all).

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
HowToTuneAGuitar.org is good at their core proposition: tuning your guitar. They are also good with their collection of YouTube-scavenged Guitar lessons. And yes, the Chordbot and the scales are worth your while, too. The rest? Blatant ads that take up more space than their original content. Go for the tuner, stay for the Chordbot and the lessons. Skip the rest.

Remix Other People's Music

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:03:00 +0000

Previously, I talked about rewriting other people's songs in a different style (see Musical Re-Visioning) as a tool to break out of your box. Another way to break out of the doldrums and get something new going is to remix other people's music.

In the early 90's, I used to do this without really thinking of it as remixing. I would record sound bites on a tape deck, jack it into the Perfect Sound sampler on my Amiga 500, and rip small passages that I later would use in my own "new mixes". Sure, they were gritty, 8-bit samples with WAY too much background music, but they helped stretch my imagination because I was playing with full musical passages, lyrics, and a musical signature that wasn't my own.

Like other techniques I have mentioned here before, remixing is an interesting way to get your hands dirty and come away with not only a new appreciation for the complexity (or simplicity) of the artist's work, but also with more knowledge of how they assembled their beats, how they took simple passages and made a really memorable song, etc. You increase your mental musical database with these snippets that will influence your later original work.

Where To Start
Now with the free-for-all of the web and the change in moods from some artists, you can take this a step further than my early remixing attempts, without all the suffering through poor quality rips of passages and the omnipresent "other music" behind the clips you really want. We are now in a climate where some artists are releasing the bare bones bits-and-pieces of their songs with the intention or creating remixes. A couple artists that are worth noting doing exactly this (separately) are Jay-Z and Nine Inch Nails.

Jay-Z released an acapella version of The Black Album, which immediately encouraged fans and remixers to use his tracks in their own mixes. (The best of the remixes of this has got to be Danger Mouse's "Grey Album", which remixes Jay-Z with The Beatles' "The White Album". It has been banned from official release, which means you can find it all over the web, but can't actually buy it. Find it. Enjoy it.) One downside is that Jay-Z released the acapella version as another commercial album, so there's no free ride here.

Nine Inch Nails has taken another approach, by releasing all the source audio tracks from quite a few of their songs for free download on their site. These are in a variety of formats, including GarageBand, Ableton Live, as well as raw WAV files for people using other programs. They also released the source tracks for EVERY SONG from the album "Year Zero" on their followup remix album "Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D" as enhanced CD content. More recently, they released the source tracks to every song on their latest album "The Slip" on their site. To take it even a step further, they have provided an online community to share your remixes of their material online and to listen to other people's remixes as well. You can find the Nine Inch Nails remix community at http://remix.nin.com.

Drop me a line or post a comment if you have found any other worthwhile artists giving away source material for remixes. It is always fun to see how established artists crafted their songs (and how easily we can take their visions in other directions).

REAPER Tutorial 1 - Part 2

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:16:00 +0000

BEGINNER TUTORIAL

Part 2: Let’s twiddle some knobs…

In Part 1 of this tutorial, we walked through the basics of setting up a MIDI track with a stock VST and made a little tune, and extended it to loop. In Part 2, we are looking at what I refer to as “knob twiddling” – dynamically changing settings within your track structure in REAPER. This is a very small part of REAPER, but the end results of “knob twiddling” can really help your music “pop” for the listener. We will assume you have either the sample track you threw together in Part 1, or have a track loaded that you want to experiment with.

What Is It Called, Really?
The official term for the function is “Automation”. Automation allows you to control the settings of pretty much everything in your track either in a live mode or by actually drawing the settings as a line across your tracks themselves. When I say pretty much everything, I mean it. You can control volume (before and after your effects chain), pan (before and after your effects chain), as well as every control available in your virtual instruments and effects. This allows you to create exactly the same “knob twiddling” as would often happen during recording, mixing, or mastering phases of production.

The control envelopes are grouped by what instrument or effect the control resides in, with the control’s proper name on the left. Check the box beside it to turn it on. If it is turned off, this entire envelope will be disabled. The “Visible” controls whether or not the automation line itself will be visible on top of the track display. The “Arm” check box controls whether or not this particular setting is ready to be recorded.

How To Get There From Here
To the left of the track display is a button that by default is labeled “trm” (This is showing that the envelope control is currently in “Trim/Read” mode. The label on the button will change depending on the mode it is set to). Clicking this will launch the automation control menu (with a title “Envelopes for Track #”). At the top of the display where is a drop-down box for “Automation mode”. We’ll get to what those options mean in a moment. The basic layout of the menu will expand as you add instruments and effects to your track, but the way you control them is identical.

The control envelopes are grouped by what instrument or effect the control resides in, with the control’s proper name on the left. Check the box beside it to turn it on. If it is turned off, this entire envelope will be disabled. The “Visible” controls whether or not the automation line itself will be visible on top of the track display. The “Arm” checkbox controls whether or not this particular setting is ready to be recorded.

Armed and Ready To Twiddle
Let’s try bouncing some tracks from left to right. Check the box to the left of “Pan”. Make sure “Visible” and “Arm” are both checked. (The normal default is to have them already checked for the Track Envelopes.) Change the Automation Mode to “Write”. Close the Envelope window.

You’ll notice that the pan control to the left of the track display has changed color, to a menacing red, and there is now a line across the track itself. Press the play button on the transport. As the track plays, click on the pan slider and start shifting it back and forth. The envelope line over the track will change itself to represent the values you are changing the slider to (For the pan control, pan full right is at bottom and pan left is at the top, so you can see the value.)

Re-open the Envelope window (the button is now labeled “wrt”) and change the Automation mode to “Read”. (“Read” will let you see the controls moving, “Read/Trim” will not move the controls). The pan control now is green, so you can see that it is going to move for you.

Hit play, and your track should now ping-pong back and forth in something reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s dangerous-to-listen-to-on-headphones “Interstellar Overdrive”.

Let’s Fix Something
Maybe you decide that everything is perfect except for a small part where you want to alter your pan envelope. Let’s fix it using “Touch” mode. Open the Envelope window (the button now is labeled “rd”), and change the Automation mode to “Touch”. Close it again. The pan control is now an odd yellow shade.

Hit play and get your mouse up to the pan control quickly. Let the envelope you already recorded play for a bit, and then grab it and twiddle it again for a little bit, and release it. This has now overwritten only that section of the envelope. As soon as you let go of the slider, the envelope will snap back to whatever was recorded before.

If you had used the “Latch” mode, it would have been exactly the same process, except when you let go of the control, the rest of the envelope would have written out the same setting that you left the control on.

Let’s Fix Something By Hand
Sometimes the adjustments you want to make are something you are struggling with changing live, as we just did. If you want to “knob twiddle” by hand/mouse, you simply need to check the box to the left of the setting you want to control, and make sure the “arm” and “visible” boxes beside it are both checked. It doesn’t matter what Automation mode you are in – hand/mouse editing still works. If you have points all over your line, as you have from our prior recording, you can grab a point on the line and drag it to its new value. It’s that simple.

If you are overwhelmed by envelope points, you can click on them to select them, right-click, and there are several delete options if you want to purge them. If you don’t have enough for what you’re doing, just double-click on the line and a new point will appear.

Changing Line Shapes
By default, all lines between points are straight lines. If you want to change this (and change the behavior of the envelope itself), you can right-click on a point, and select “Set point shape”, which will give a sub-menu of several options, including Square, Slow Start/End, Fast Start, Fast End, and Bezier. If you change this, it will modify the line from the current point to the next point only. This gives you the flexibility to make the individual segments of the envelope behave differently, so you can tweak for exactly the effect you want. You can also change the default to something other than “Linear” from the same right-click menu “Set envelope default point shape”.

Can’t I Just Type Them In?
Yes, you can. Create the points on the line by clicking where you want values, then right-click on the point and select “Set point value”. A menu will pop up that allows you to not only type in a value, but also select the Line Shape for the point. This is really useful when you are working with envelopes for controls that have only a few specific values that you want to adjust to.

What about external control?
You can also record input from external control surfaces and external interfaces. You need to have the control either directly mapped or use the “Learn…” control to assign a control knob or slider to that particular envelope.

In my experience with my M-Audio KeyStudio 25, I have had difficulties with the “Touch” mode, since it does not appear to “see” that I’ve stopped adjusting it. It effectively acts the same as “Latch” mode when I’m using “Touch” mode with that keyboard controller. I believe this is because it is not a “real” control surface, so REAPER and the keyboard are not working well together in that respect. When used by controlling by mouse on the on-screen controls, it works fine.

What do the Automation Modes Really Mean?
Here’s an at-a-glance at what the automation modes will do for you.

Trim/Read mode – In this mode, envelopes are used in playback, but the controls themselves don’t move (i.e. you don’t see the knobs and sliders moving around).

Read mode – In this mode, envelopes are used in playback, knobs and sliders will move, but it won’t save any changes you make to them, even if you’re fiddling with the knobs while it is playing.

Write mode – In this mode, all changes made to an armed control will be saved. This will completely overwrite anything that is already there. If you aren’t moving the control, it will record a flat automation envelope at the current setting.

Touch mode – In this mode, automation is recorded based on you manually altering a control in the UI, such as a volume knob, pan slider, or any setting on a virtual instrument or effect. Touch mode ONLY records new settings while you are touching the control. Once you have stopped “twiddling”, the control will revert to whatever was already drawn in that envelope.

Latch mode – Latch mode is similar to touch mode, except the setting does NOT revert to the previous envelope. So if you let go a volume control on a +3.0dB setting, it will continue to write that same setting until you stop recording.

Til Next Time
That wraps up part 2 of our beginner’s tutorial for REAPER. Stay tuned for more tutorials!

Terminology: Arm

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:15:00 +0000

In a DAW, the term “arm” refers to the act of turning on a setting or track for recording. This allows you to play back some items (disarmed tracks or settings) while recording on other (armed) tracks or settings at the same time. The origins of the term “arm” come from the language of weaponry, not anatomy.

Terminology: Automation

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:15:00 +0000

In a DAW, Automation refers to the ability to control settings within the DAW from within your project. This is the digital equivalent of adjusting knobs and settings while a track is being recorded, mixed, or mastered.

Automation creates envelopes, which are graphic representations of the settings that are being recorded for use during subsequent playback.

Gear Review: Lightsnake USB Instrument Cable

TrollCaveMusic@gmail.com (Paul) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:02:00 +0000

THIS GEAR REVIEW HEAVILY REVISED ON 10/12/08. See here for details why.

One of the initial challenges of getting started with recording your own music with non-virtual instruments is that you have to get them connected. When I first started recording guitars on computers years ago, I would usually record to cassette first, and then patch the tape deck through my sampler. Did it work? Yes. Was it good quality? Absolutely not.

I needed a good solution to hook in my guitar to record some tracks, but I wanted the best quality for the cheapest price. After looking at the various options, most entry-level devices are $150 or more. That's a little richer than I had in my pockets at the time, so I found this odd little device, the Lightsnake, at Target for around $40. I knew nothing about it, had not done any research (like I normally do), but it was a gamble.

So What Is It?
The Lightsnake from SoundTech is best described as a "sound card in a cable", with a USB plug on one end and a 1/4" instrument plug on the other. There is also a 1/4" jack splitter, so you can send the audio signal to another destination (like a monitoring amp). The Lightsnake comes with a CD of drivers if you're running on antique version of Windows (i.e. Windows 98), but newer computers should run fine without special drivers. Interestingly, SoundTech themselves recommend the use of ASIO4ALL as the best driver to use with their product. (The company is completely unrelated to ASIO4ALL, except as fans of it.)

How Do You Use It?
I have tried the Lightsnake in a number of audio programs, including REAPER and Audacity, and I am pleased with the results. The Lightsnake must be plugged in to your USB port BEFORE you start your software, or it will remain unrecognized by most programs.

Every time I run REAPER with the Lightsnake, if turn on monitoring on a track and play through, I get horrible latency (nearly a second delay!). But after I open up the ASIO Control Panel and just LOOK at the ASIO4ALL options, and then close it out, all my latency issues disappear for the rest of the session. I think it may be caused because I don't have the Lightsnake plugged in every time I run REAPER. It is a minor inconvenience, at best.

How good is it?
Originally, I thought the Lightsnake had a fairly clear sound without additional line noise. That was when I was recording with my Daisy Rock Wildwood Acoustic/Electric guitar.

I recently picked up an Epiphone SG Special, which is an admittedly low-end electric guitar. Of course, I plugged it into the Lightsnake. My first reaction was "what in the heck is that racket?" The racket was, unfortunately, an electric pulsing noise over the monitors I never noticed previously (thanks to the gate). Okay, fine. I put a gate in the chain, and did some trial recording with the SG. The gate worked to take off the noise in the silent sections. But as soon as you hit anything loud and sustained (like a chord progression), the noise was embedded in the louder sections. I also tried using the ReaFIR VST in Subtraction mode to build a noise profile. Again, it works fine for trimming the noise off in silent or very light, quick notes, but if you have any continuous playing, you can hear the noise interlaced with your guitar sound.

I took a shot of a spectrograph of the line noise with the Lightsnake plugged into the SG with the volume knob set to zero. What you see is a wash of noise, with a lot of other structured pulses embedded in it. I checked old recordings from the acoustic - I see the same "pulse signature" in the signal. I think the reason I never noticed it with the Daily Rock on recording is that the acoustic is naturally a very full sound, so the noise was actually getting lost in the sound of the acoustic. Since the electric doesn't have the same wide-spectrum wash as the acoustic, the noisy cable is laid bare for all to see and hear.

Pretty, Pretty Lights
One of the interesting features of the Lightsnake is the odd green glow that emanates from the entire cable while it is plugged in. This shows that it is connected. But it also pulses and flashes when it is passing data through the cable. This "pretty" feature gives you a clear visual indication that it is doing its job.

Bundled Software
The Lightsnake comes with a throwaway DVD containing 30 day trial versions of pretty much all of the Sony audio programs like ACID, Sound Forge, Vegas, and others. Time-limited trial demo versions don't interest me, so I've never even put the CD in my machine. I was hoping there would be an unlocked/non-trial version of something in the bundle, but instead it is all demos that are available on-line already.

Other User Opinions
The opinions on their forums are very mixed, and it sounds like there may be the occasional manufacturing defect, but more likely there is some level of compatibility issues on some systems. I have heard allegations that the pulsing light can actually affect your audio streams. I believe the type of instrument you plug in (acoustic vs electric) can play a big role in whether any excess noise is noticeable. I believe laptop (on batteries) vs desktop (on AC power) makes a difference in the amount and type of line noise. I bring these items up as a constructive caveat: I've had some good experiences with the cable and some very bad experiences with this cable.

Bottom Line
The bottom line on the Lightsnake is OK for beginners who don't care about the subtle nuances in their sound (like electronic ticking noises), and also for those NOT playing electric. I would recommend looking for something from a larger, more established company. Even though it was substantially cheaper than most entry level input boxes, ultimately you are NOT getting a good deal with this cable.

If you're still interested in trying it out, with these warnings being known, you can find it at most major online retailers.