burning of the midnight lamp

Post 35 of 90

I've done it again. Enthusiasm overcame me, and after having a cappuccino for dinner at Lookout Joe, I zipped home to find my copies of IK Multimedia Total Effects Bundle Upgrade and Guitar Rig 2 waiting for me. Then it was guitar playing followed by the loading and authorizing of software, then on to experimenting with the fxpansion BFD version bundled with Pro Tools. The "humanize" functions are so effective and extreme that you can make it sound like a drummer who doesn't know what he's doing, has no rhythm, and is making mistakes all over the place. Then I dove into Ampeg bass models, including a groovy chorus sound which I laid down over the drum track I had printed to audio. Then some work in Amplitube 2.

All of these programs are CPU hogs. I'll try switching some settings tonight to lift the processing load a little bit while tracking. Since ProTools only records the un-amped sound off the pickups, I can go back later and print the plugin sounds to audio tracks, then deactivate the tracks with plugins to lighten the load. Mixing is definitely going to be a separate step from tracking. On the Roland recorder, a lot of the processing was distributed to soundcards, so I could often run a mix as I tracked. That is not possible with this setup, but it's a disadvantage that I can maybe turn into an advantage. Having to separate mixing could clarify my thinking about it and maybe help me find my way to some more interesting results.

I did have the feeling that maybe something else was going on in the background on the computer. I made the suggested changes to my system, but maybe it wasn't enough.

Also, I've found a 256 buffer setting is something I can cope with in terms of latency. I think my Johnson amp just about the same amount of latency in its A/D conversion. I know this mostly by feel. That amp always gave me a vague feeling of disconnection when I played through it. With a real analog amp I could very clearly sense the circuit's response to what my hands were doing, and it just felt better. Still, I was able to work with it, so this isn't so bad. Even a 512 setting was workable, maybe like having your amp across the room with the slight delay from the sound having to travel through the air.

1024 is no good, though. It's like playing with a pre-fade delay line where the original signal is not present at all in what you're hearing, just the slapback echo.

I also figured out finally how to select audio regions and make some backwards guitar. This is going to be fun!

And now it's almost 4 am.

If I can only pull myself away from the recording console, I'll get some sleep.