maestro2be

Holy crap is that ever a great idea! I never thought about that. What would you recommend for an external reverb unit? I use all software based at the moment but I know I could get something like a Lexicon, Bricasti or some other various brands I see you all talk about quite a lot. Would love a good recommendation for "orchestral/piano" type situations. I would be throwing my voice into that mix as well. This is exciting, possibly a fix after all this time will be very easy. Maestro2be

I have already thought of this but at times the orchestra/players are provided, sometimes not. Sometimes a piano accompanist will do, sometimes not. The other problem is I am not interested in "managing" all of these players to be sure they are practicing, feeling good that day etc. Besides, a half ass clumsy band isn't half as good as a good sampled performance . Not to mention the "ego" that starts to build amongst musicians that "they are the most important part of the band". Not interested. Prefer to stay solo. Thanks, Maestro2be

I have a huge hang up mentally about this whole orchestrating with samples for live accompaniments. Here it is. Every CD published of a commercial recording of say a symphony orchestra, or an opera recording has "natural reverb" in it. You can clearly hear the room in the recording and it sounds nice and blended. However, in my mind that only works for the recording. When you are trying to write an accompaniment, things change. Imagine now that you are not the listener in the middle of the hall, or the back of the room. Imagine you're the performer, standing right beside the orchestra. You do not hear as much reverb as the person in the middle/back. Instead, you hear a "clear and detailed" representation of the instruments. You can clearly hear the bow on the violin, and the damper pedal coming off the piano. So if you were singing with an orchestra, you would hear much more detail than the person in the middle or back of the hall. Sure they hear tons of detail but, yours is an "up close and personal" feeling. It's much brighter and more intense. Not as distant, lush and romantic as it may come across in the back of the hall/room. Pavarotti or Domingo sound aweome on their recordings with all the reverb from the performance. However, when they are on stage doing a live concert with violins etc surrounding them within 10 feet of where they stand, that is not what they hear. So for me, I get hung up on making my own accompaniments because when I put a longer tail on the samples, it sounds wonderful for a recording but if I then take that recording and try to play it in a small theater hall it's not realistic. The reverb it has PLUS the reverb it gets from the natural theater/hall will make it way to reverbed. The reverb from the recording is to "early" for the front row listeners and the people in the back think they are in a massive cathedral hall. So I think I need two seperate templates per song. One for a CD and one for performing. The problem is that samples don't seem to sound as good with "small amounts of reverb" because you can clearly hear the breaks and blips between the notes. Think of a huge string section playing back on samples, with little to no reverb. Every note has a strong and immediate disconnect in the sound when transitioning from note to note (unlike in real life). This is my current goal to get beyond. I feel it will push my music much further and faster once I get over this mental wall. Ideas, experiences or wisdom? Need to get beyond the "what the listener hears and what I hear from the players position". Thanks, Maestro2be

Well it's official! I received the paperwork in the mail last Wednesday. The court case was on Friday, they had mailed it to me on Monday. So much for needing 30 days to make a full decision as they said. I did much better than I thought lol! Details to come AFTER I sign and make my final payment (which at this point, actually looks like they will owe me years of payback money). Between taking money from me through levies, wage garnishments and tax return snatching, they will owe me years of payback and interest. I won't know the entire total until we sit down and do all the calculations this week or next. Fun days ahead (and some more equipment with the extra money they are going to owe me lol)! Maestro2be

Is two computers doing audio/midi over ethernet using 1Gigabyte network cards (such as VE Pro etc) FASTER than say two RME Hammerfall 9652 cards sending all channels over ADAT Optical directly connected to one another? Faster meaning lower latencies for playback and recording from a slave back into Logic. Thanks! Maestro2be

Hi all, The court hearing was incredibly fatiguing. Over 2 hours of debating and proving my points but I proved them wrong in every area. They ended up ruling in my favor on all 7 accounts. I will post an entire in depth of exactly what happened but not before the paperwork etc has been completed because I don't want anything getting in the way "politically" that may affect all the hard work I put into this. In short, if you're telling the truth one day it will be heard. Took me 5 years and dam near destroyed me. They lied, withheld information, mislead the court and me/system, crossed way over the line and denied me of all of my legal rights by law. In the end I proved to the courts (using their own regulations etc) that I was entitled everything I did and they ruled in my favor on all accounts. They manipulated my own documents and only gave the courts "portions" of it and claimed that I never gave them the others etc. All BS. Although some posts here will make you possibly stereotype that "I was f$@%ing with the IRS", this was a clear case of the reverse. Yes, some people really are innocent. And if you are, never give in and never bend to their intimidation. It took me 5 years of threats, levies, garnishing etc only to win. Now it will be my turn to repay the favor and sue for damages and years of abuse. I am just glad it's over for now. What a relief. That's all i can write for now, I am dead tired and need to hold my tongue until all paper work is processed. Maestro2be

Lol DK thanks for the response. I will be sure to keep those in mind hehe. They are proving to be quite the truth, even delivered in a comical way. And yes, it has been told to me now by several people that S Corp is the way to go. I asked a few CFO and Financial controller friends who are in charge of major corporate business financial teams and they all said the same, S Corp. Nublu - Thanks again. I meet tonight with my Accountant and IRS Lawyer/Advisor. We are going to come up with the strategy and delivery for my court hearing. I should have some updates soon. Thanks again all my fellow musicians (musical business owners) for all the support and information. Maestro2be

The problem happened because I went in to delete the Tempo Fader object and I bet it deleted that cable without me knowing it. It wasn't a bug. I know I fat fingered it now. Maestro2be

Lol thanks Ski. You hit it right on the head. Only I beat you to it by a few seconds lol. Logic 9.1.1 32-bit is the version I am on. Started the project fresh on this current version (few days ago). Didn't import anything from any earlier version. Created an entirely new project, with new channel strips and VE Pro template. Maestro2be

Found it. Somehow my "SUM" in the environment lost it's cable to the input keyboard device. Reconnected the cable and works like a champ again. Maestro2be

Hi all, No idea what happened. Was chugging along just fine and then all of a sudden Logic decided it didn't want to see my Axiom 25 anymore. I shut down my Mac, no avail. Unplugged the Axiom 25, no go. Reset everything, no go. It works on other projects but for some reason stopped on this one. I can go into the environment and mash the keys of the environment key input device (using mouse) and logic responds. It just refuses to see my Axiom 25 at all. Any ideas what might have happened or what I can do? Thanks! Maestro2be

Thanks Scott. That makes really good sense broken down that way. Seems it would have been a better idea for many reasons. I think as part of my layout plan to them I will show them that from here on out I have hired a professional to do all my taxes from now on, a lawyer to defend me and be sure I am within the law, and incorporating my business. As well as I will start depreciating most if not all items to take some of the law complications out of the scenerio. Perhaps having this already completed and in place prior to going next week will help them be a bit more understanding. I can't incorporate by then, but I could be well on my way having the forms filled out or at least started and begin the submission part. Maestro2be

Thanks Fader! Exactly what I needed. Maestro2be

Hi all, I just bought a Mandolin sample library and building an EXS24 instrument for all the articulations. With C4 being middle C, where do the highest and lowest notes of a mandolin fall on the keyboard? Thanks, Maestro2be

Thanks Lagerfeldt, those are great ideas actually. Having the friend purchase the stuff and then just buy it back from him is a very good idea. Because it is well beyond the recapture years, I could sell it without fear of a recapture of taxes. We are allowed to privately buy an item and introduce it to the business as a business expense. The issue here is the two ways of deducting the item. One you can do a section 179 if you meet all the requirements, which allow you to deduct the entire amount in the same year. The other way is through depreciation over 5-7 years. Perhaps depreciation would have been the best way to do it for me and probably would have been able to dodge a lot of this stuff. These are exactly the kind of input and ideas I am looking for. There have been some really good ideas and informational responses so far. I have a meeting with a another lawyer next week prior to the trial so that I can get not only the 32 year IRS retiree representing me, but a true Tax lawyer of 27 years experience to give me strategies to add to our approach. Maestro2be