Cute Trick

Weasel · Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 1:21 am Post subject:

Here's a sort of a neat trick I'd like to mention. It's bit on the "under-the-Mac-hood" side of things and I don't think many of you may ever encounter this, but I thought it was interesting enough to pass along.

Quite a while ago, I passed my old Quad G5 along to a needy friend after I purchased a Nehalem.

As a kind of quick 'n dirty safety backup, I yanked the G5's 10.5.8 boot drive with all my audio stuff (Cubase, plug-ins, libraries…etc) from that box and stuck it into an empty slot on my office's Intel 8core. No problems. It booted fine in the new environment, and with the exception of a few plug-ins, nothing need to be re-authorized. This has been working fine for over a year.

Here's the thing:

That drive was originally formatted on the G5 and used the Apple Partition Map (APM). What I wanted to do this weekend was to update the OS from 10.5.8 to 10.6.3 starting with a SnowLeopard installation disk.

I discovered I couldn't do it. Even though the APM formatted drive would boot and operate in an Intel box OK, it wouldn't permit upgrading the OS to SnowLeopard because the drive's format wasn't formatted with the newer GUID Partition Table that Apple now provides.

So this is what I did: I cloned the 10.5.8 APM drive to an unused partition on another drive in the 8core then reformatted the original drive to GUID and renamed it with its original name. This copy was then recloned from the temp partition back to the newly reformatted drive.

Here's the important part: apparently you can only pull this off if the initial cloning procedure is initiated from the booted 10.5.8 APM drive. (Something about the cloning software needing to repair permissions on the original drive before passing it over to the new drive). It won't work any other way. I'm guessing Fitz knows the explanation for this.

Like I said…not many of you may ever need to do this….but the procedure works flawlessly. And….best of all: nothing needed reauthorization.

I used Super Duper.
_________________
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Weasel · Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:55 pm Post subject:

I bumped into this little freebee reverb plug-in. It's quite reminiscent of the old Steinberg-issued Reverb A and Reverb B, in terms of sound and controls. Two important differences: it's a VST2.4 (UB) plug and it uses practically no CPU. Good substitute for those old VST Bridge-sucking CPU killers.

http://www.martineastwood.com/downloads/MVerb-OSX.zip
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Posted from The Cornfield™
QuadCore 2.66 Nehalem w/8gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU 424e/2804MkIII • PODxt • 2-MIDI Express 128's ••• DualCore 2.8 iMac w/4.0gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU/ULmk3 ••• D8B/V5.1 • GenX192.

sunshrined · Member Joined: 15 Nov 2005 Posts: 526

this is a mac os key command i just came accross which is proving to be handy.

cmd +tab opens up a small version of the dock with only the actively running applications displayed and if you keep the cmd key down and tap the tab key you toggle through the list of apps . very handy if you happen to need to quickly jump from one application to another. the only drawback is it doesn't integrate with spaces as it moves the selected application to the current window
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curteye · Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:35 am Post subject:

Weasel · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 2:53 am Post subject:

In the first page I wrote about Melda's free MAutopan. Does a bang-up job duplicating the almost-square wave panning that the Fender Rhodes amplifier produces. Very clever modulation shaping UI element. It's part of a fairly substantial free suite of plug-ins that Melda offers. Here's the thing: they're all now VST 3 compliant. The install throws 'em into the Plug-Ins VST 3 folder....so if you have the older ones, the new ones will co-exist side by side with the VST 2 versions.

http://www.meldaproduction.com/freevstplugins/manalyzer.php
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Posted from The Cornfield™
QuadCore 2.66 Nehalem w/8gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU 424e/2804MkIII • PODxt • 2-MIDI Express 128's ••• DualCore 2.8 iMac w/4.0gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU/ULmk3 ••• D8B/V5.1 • GenX192.

misnoma · Member Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 281

back to the original multi-channel-mute/solo-toggle trick . . .

if you want to make adjustments to a channel during this,

check preferences>editing>project>"Enable solo on selected track" is off,

so when you navigate to a channel it doesn't change the mute/solo situation.

It took me a while to figure this out, so I'm sharing it here.
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Cubase 5.5.2 - OS10.6.5 - MB & MBP - CC121 - Apogee Ensemble - Waves - TC Powercore / Sonnox - http://www.misnoma.com

Weasel · Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 7:50 pm Post subject:

Good tip.
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QuadCore 2.66 Nehalem w/8gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU 424e/2804MkIII • PODxt • 2-MIDI Express 128's ••• DualCore 2.8 iMac w/4.0gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU/ULmk3 ••• D8B/V5.1 • GenX192.

Weasel · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 12:39 am Post subject:

I'm sure plenty of you have used some of the plug-ins within the free MDA suite over the years...and may still be using some of these plugs. Interesting news....the suite became open source and someone was nice enough to bump them up (Mac Universal Binary .vst (32+64-bit Intel, 32-bit PPC) ) and they now work quite smoothly on Intel boxes. These are not the 2006 UB versions but reworked 2010 versions that don't get tortured by VST Bridge. Go here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mda-vst/files/mda-vst/mda-vst-src%20100214/mda-vst-bin-osx-UB-2010-02-14.dmg/download
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Posted from The Cornfield™
QuadCore 2.66 Nehalem w/8gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU 424e/2804MkIII • PODxt • 2-MIDI Express 128's ••• DualCore 2.8 iMac w/4.0gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU/ULmk3 ••• D8B/V5.1 • GenX192.

NYC Composer · Senior Member Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 1360

That's not only interesting news, it's also excellent and helpful news. Thanks, W.
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Regards, Larry

Mac Pro dual quad core 2.8 Harpertown, C5.5,10.64, 18 gig RAM, MOTU UltraliteMk3 hybrid; Dual 2 gig G5, SX 3.0.2, 10.46, 4.5 gig RAM, Presonus Firebox; Mac Book 2.4 dual, 10.58, 2 Gig RAM, too many drives to count, 1 billion plug-ins served, UAD-1 (highly recommended, especially Plate 140 and LA-2A)

curteye · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 9:39 am Post subject:

Said it before and I'll say it again.
Weasel's da man!
Mahalo!

{'-'}
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richardbrown · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 9:23 pm Post subject:

I noticed a couple of new ones in there too (certainly since last time I updated my mda plug-ins) - mdaEnvelope and mdaTransient. Will check them out forthwith...

Weasel · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 9:34 pm Post subject:

You bring up a good point, Squire....there seem to be one or two new ones....but, there are also one or two old ones missing. So check what you have before globally dumping the old ones. And speaking of which: they changed the naming convention by removing some of the spacing between words. This means, you could drag the new stuff into your folder and it won't over-write the older versions.

It also means older Projects that used the early MDA stuff will whine about missing plug-ins once the older ones are deleted. In that case, it may be the safe move to keep both for a while, so the old ones will launch...and the settings can be screenshotted or saved as presets to be reloaded into the newer versions, once substituted.
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Posted from The Cornfield™
QuadCore 2.66 Nehalem w/8gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU 424e/2804MkIII • PODxt • 2-MIDI Express 128's ••• DualCore 2.8 iMac w/4.0gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU/ULmk3 ••• D8B/V5.1 • GenX192.

richardbrown · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:36 pm Post subject:

Weasel · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 11:35 pm Post subject:

Since I actually posted the finding to start with....wouldn't it be fairer to say:

England 1 : 2 USA
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QuadCore 2.66 Nehalem w/8gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU 424e/2804MkIII • PODxt • 2-MIDI Express 128's ••• DualCore 2.8 iMac w/4.0gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU/ULmk3 ••• D8B/V5.1 • GenX192.

curteye · Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 12:29 am Post subject:

Weasel · Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 10:55 pm Post subject:

Here's another one of those little VST instrument freebees that has a solid featureset for what it is: an excellent emulation of a Vox Continental organ. Doesn't use up much CPU and has some nice under the hood touches. It's called ComboV. If at first you think Cubase is acting up because of what appears to be a big blank orange interface...don't be. That's supposed to be the top of the organ (traditionally littered with beer bottles and ashtrays). It gets populated with controls once the Settings button is activated. It also comes in PC and AU flavors. Simple but well done first effort.

Did I mention it was free?

http://www.martinic.com/combov/

I think Martinic should offer an alternate skin....one that IS littered with typical gig flotsam.
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Posted from The Cornfield™
QuadCore 2.66 Nehalem w/8gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU 424e/2804MkIII • PODxt • 2-MIDI Express 128's ••• DualCore 2.8 iMac w/4.0gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU/ULmk3 ••• D8B/V5.1 • GenX192.

richardbrown · Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:13 pm Post subject:

Weasel · Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 5:20 am Post subject:

Weasel · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 10:12 pm Post subject:

I've mentioned the free Melda plug-in bundle a few times here. This week, they've added a new effect to the bundle: MFreqShifter.VST. This one is quite amusing and I think some of you are going to dig it. The synchronized delay regen is more than worth the price of admission. There are 13 other plug-ins in this bundle....and there are VST3 versions. It's free and it's here:

http://www.meldaproduction.com/freevstplugins/downloadmfreevsteffectsmac.php

Here's another cutie: The Aradaz 5 Maximizer. Simple and effective. And free. Get it here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1475748/AradazMaximizer5_v16_Mac_VST.zip

Finally, TAL revamped the older Elek7ro synth into a more efficient and feature rich version called NoiseMaker. Of course...it's free. Here:

http://kunz.corrupt.ch/downloads/TAL-NoiseMaker.vst.zip
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Posted from The Cornfield™
QuadCore 2.66 Nehalem w/8gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU 424e/2804MkIII • PODxt • 2-MIDI Express 128's ••• DualCore 2.8 iMac w/4.0gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU/ULmk3 ••• D8B/V5.1 • GenX192.

curteye · Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 8:58 am Post subject:

I have not read about this softsynth in this thread so here goes:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/audio/voguemk2.html

I like the sounds. Very Clean. (a nice kind of 'organ/synth' approach)

It's free.

Nice docs with it.

Efficient GUI.

Won't load as a plug but you can do the 'SoundFlower' thang.

If someone has already mentioned this, my bad!

{'-'}
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If yer gear ain't breakin' down, you ain't workin' much.
iMac i7/2.8Mz/8GB/X.6.5/C5
Macbook 2.4Mz/4GB/X.6.5.C5

Weasel · Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2010 7:12 am Post subject:

curteye · Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2010 7:15 am Post subject:

Ma Bad!

{'-'}
_________________
If yer gear ain't breakin' down, you ain't workin' much.
iMac i7/2.8Mz/8GB/X.6.5/C5
Macbook 2.4Mz/4GB/X.6.5.C5

Weasel · Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 8:05 am Post subject:

OK...this is Cute Trick worthy. Apparently IK Multimedia released SampleTank Free. But it's not the old crippled version. It seems to be (at least as far as I can tell compared to my original full version) the full 2.5XL version. Samples and all.

You'll have to register...but they are giving away what they say they are. Enjoy.

http://www.ikmultimedia.com/sampletankfree/download/
_________________
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QuadCore 2.66 Nehalem w/8gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU 424e/2804MkIII • PODxt • 2-MIDI Express 128's ••• DualCore 2.8 iMac w/4.0gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU/ULmk3 ••• D8B/V5.1 • GenX192.

bigrobbie · Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 1:34 pm Post subject:

Thanks you very much Bothell of WA State

to think i was going to pass over looking in here, glad i didn't
If it was a ploy by IK to get me to part with some hard earned on a fuller suite of offerings, its worked
The Chamberlins are the things that did the deal.

And I needed something to take the bad taste of the ChickenSys 'Nil Exception Error'
thievery out of my system. If ever i'm in Willmar MN i'm going to do things
with that guys ass that will jeopardise my airport departure, you bet. ' Evil or Very Mad

'

Back to Sampletank:
Took a bit to work out how to load the browser, a bit like the aforementioned Olga Synth, find your own way
if you dont mind can i share it here?,

on the right there is a small vertical list of words, the bottom one of which is PREFS. not to be confused with Preferences Menu. Click on this and then in the flydial that comes up, click the browse button to locate where you put the sound libraries. ( Their default is System Drive>Library>Application support>IK Media )

Drill down and double click the sample to load into the track list
Good to go.

Weasel · Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 6:55 pm Post subject:

They do offer a manual with it. Yeah...the Chamberlin stuff is pretty authentic sounding (play the opening to Strawberry Fields to see what I mean). The nice thing about this is that it is a multi-channel/output (also in the Prefs) ROMpler with a lot of control over internal settings....and a fairly extensive set of internal send/return EFX. Hey...for free? Can't beat it.
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Posted from The Cornfield™
QuadCore 2.66 Nehalem w/8gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU 424e/2804MkIII • PODxt • 2-MIDI Express 128's ••• DualCore 2.8 iMac w/4.0gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU/ULmk3 ••• D8B/V5.1 • GenX192.

richardbrown · Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 7:07 pm Post subject:

Do you get the library in the install process as my download was only 18Mb?
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Weasel · Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 9:54 pm Post subject:

Did you go to the Sounds Download section of the User area? The full 500mb sample collection for Sample Tank Free should be there.
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QuadCore 2.66 Nehalem w/8gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU 424e/2804MkIII • PODxt • 2-MIDI Express 128's ••• DualCore 2.8 iMac w/4.0gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU/ULmk3 ••• D8B/V5.1 • GenX192.

richardbrown · Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 8:34 am Post subject:

mpayne0 · Member Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 802 Location: NYC

Weasel · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 6:31 am Post subject:

The Woow and Drive controls appear to be broken. I've clicked the Woow in an out at all kinds of settings while switching my console's mono switch in and out and I can't hear one iota of difference. Pretty much the same for the Drive control.

But the rest of it seems OK. The sound of the high and low end boost/cuts are fairly close to that of a Pultec EQP-1A. Particularly at 12K.
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QuadCore 2.66 Nehalem w/8gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU 424e/2804MkIII • PODxt • 2-MIDI Express 128's ••• DualCore 2.8 iMac w/4.0gbRAM • OSX 10.6.5 • C5.5.2.637 • C4.5.2 • MOTU/ULmk3 ••• D8B/V5.1 • GenX192.