Here's an interesting observation, make of it what you will.

Ever since launch, Windows 10 has had a feature called RAM compression, wich in a nutshell means it compresses chunks of used RAM to conserve memory. I've never really thought much about it as it's always seemed to work as advertized.

However, to my dismay I recently disovered that some of my most memory-hungry REAPER projects (like Lore) didn't load anymore. Attempting to load them, the RAM usage kept rising and rising until it was well above the size of my installed RAM and REAPER crashed with an "out of memory" error message. First, I was stumped. These projects have worked fine before -- I created them on this machine, with the same amount of RAM -- so I concluded it must be a software issue.

Updating various plugins and even going back to older versions made no difference. Opening the projects in the trial version of REAPER 6 made no difference either. So I started suspecting that a system update in recent months (I was last working on Lore back in November) must have changed something in the way Windows handles memory. Researching this, I came across a mention of how to disable RAM compression. Which I did, just for troubleshooting purposes. And lo and behold, the projects loaded fine with it off!

I should mention that I have no idea what's going on here, technically. It might not be Windows that's at fault, but rather some obscure issue with some plugin I'm using. But I'm leaving RAM compression off as it seems to have done the trick. I can understand why it would be desirable on a system with say 4 or 8GB, but I have 16GB and I don't really see the point in Windows spending CPU time to save a 100MB here and there as it's nowhere near using all available RAM anyway. There's 13.5 gigs free, just use it!

I switched it off a few days ago and have yet to notice any adverse effects. On the contrary, my CPU runs around 6°C cooler than before so there's definitely less load on the processor.

So in closing, I'm not recommending everyone to turn off RAM compression. If you're not having any issues with it, leave it alone. But it might be worth a shot if you run into mysterious RAM-related problems.

I have to admit that I really don't have a solid approach when it comes to "action" or "epic" drums, so I'm curious to know what approaches those of you who do that sort of thing take. I have True Strike 1 and Apocalypse Elements and bunch of stuff in the stock Kontakt library, so I'm pretty well equipped. I'm just not always sure what I'm hearing in reference tracks (see below for a couple examples). I know a lot of the big boom-smack-bang sort of stuff is just bass drums, probably compressed and close miked. I just wonder how dexterous a person can get on an orchestral bass drum. Are there actually bass drum ensembles like Apocalypse Elements suggests? I suspect taikos and other drums make as much of an appearance. And what about hand percussion? Shakers? doumbek / darbuka? bongos? timbales and congas?


Legend of Grimrock 2 - Main Theme

Legend of Grimrock 2 - Master and the Apprentice

Another orchestral freebie has been launched, this time by Orchestral Tools. Layers is a library for quickly creating chordal parts using either individual strings, brass or woodwind ensembles, or full orchestra, complete with a selection of mic positions. Due to all this Layers weighs in at a massive 17GB, though it's well worth the download as it sounds magnificent.

I know a lot of people consider stuff like this cheating but I've found myself using Sonuscore's strings/orchestra chords freebies quite a lot (for saving time and adding a richer texture) and can I definitely see myself using this. As soon as I figure out the slightly unorthodox GUI of the SINE player that is

I'm updating my orchestra template to use a new SFZ sampler plugin called sfizz, and now each midi track has an adjustable send to one of the reverb busses. I previously had everything routing only through the reverb busses, with the reverb plugins set to something like 90% dry, 10% wet, but I'm finding that I like using sends way better because I can customize how much reverb I get per instrument.

I wrote up a quick demo as an audition of sorts, it showcases almost all of the orchestra in under 30 seconds:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kvi971tqv5a2df...-01-11.mp3

How well does this sound like it fits together? What can I improve?

I'm usually not big on saturation plugins, since most of them will just make things sound wooly, midrangey and distorted even at low settings. But then I found the CM version of Sonimus Satson in my vstplugins dir. I don't know how long it's been sitting there -- it's been years since I bought a copy of Computer Music -- but it actually sounds quite nice. It smooths out the high end in a pleasing way and doesn't add a ton of "character" (which in analog emulation plugin lingo means "make my music sound like boomy garbage"). So if you're looking for a way of making brittle/thin samples sounding a little warmer, this one might be worth a look.

I've had a lot of free time on my hand the last couple of days so I decided to get started on a project I've been thinking about for a while. Perhaps not a great fit for this forum, but I felt it would be fun to document the process.

Being a guitarist who doesn't gig and exclusively uses amp sims for recording, I own just a handful of small cheap amps for practicing or casual playing. Boutique tube amps are wasted on me, so stop rolling your eyes, amp snobs. Some of these amps I've gotten for free or super cheap over the years, a couple are non-functioning, and since they're practically worthless I might as well have some fun with them.

PART ONE

THE PARTS
First up is a 2006 Line 6 Spider III 15 combo that -- I kid you not -- I found lying face down in a snowdrift last winter. I guess someone in the neighborhood wasn't happy with their tone. Took it home, let it dry out and it works perfectly, except it's not a great-sounding amp.



The second one is a 1993 Squier 15 I pulled out of a dumpster once. It just crackles, hisses and spits and would need to be checked for loose solder joints and bad caps, which is more work than I am willing to spend on it.



Third one is a Crate TX-15, or more correctly the enclosure and speaker from a TX-15 that I picked up at a flea market for like $2 years ago. The amp part was missing when I got it. Never found a use for it, so it's just been sitting in the basement gathering dust.



THE PLAN
I'm going to 1) add a speaker output jack to the Spider amp so it can be used with an external cabinet, and 2) turn the Crate into a small angled cab that will project sound better than the forward-facing Spider. The latter will be done by 3) scavenging parts from the Squier amp, as it has a Fender speaker that I suspect is superior to the one in the Crate (the TX is a busking amp, not a proper guitar amp), and I will also use the handle, corner protectors and feet from the Squier, as those parts are either in bad shape or missing completely from the Crate.

WHY?
Why not? The Spider amp works, but I'm not too fond of the way it sounds, which I think in part is due to the speaker itself. The Squier and Crate are both useless as is, so why not Frankenstein them into something potentially useful?

HOW?
First of all, the Crate is going to need some thorough cleaning. The Tolex is grimy and who knows what busking adventures this thing's been on. I went over it with soapy water and a toothbrush and wiped it down with a rag. Major improvement!





Here you can clearly see the missing corner protectors and the ruined rubber feet.





Now it's time to remove the parts I need from the Squier. Here's the Speaker...



...and the corner protectors, feet, and handle.



This is the speaker that was in the Crate. Allegedly these were made by Eminence, but again, for electric guitar I trust a speaker that says Fender more than one from a busking amp.



Fender speaker mounted in the Crate...



...and front grill reattached.



Now on to the corners. I'm holding them in place with a bit of masking tape while I make new holes for the screws.



Feet are in place.



And corner protectors! They're not a 100% fit since the corner radius is ever so slighty different between the two amps, but it's only noticable at a very close inspection.



As for the handle, I decided to "capture" the hole spacing with a piece of paper. Not sure if this is the best way to go about it, but hey! I'm a guitarist, not a carpenter.



Carfully aligned the paper so I get the handle where I want it...



...and here we go! Almost sort of a vintage look to it now. Some silver grill cloth would look great, but since the enclosure wasn't designed for that I don't know how much work that would be. Maybe some other time.



Now on to the wiring. Sadly I don't have a switching jack and crimp terminals on hand (it's Christmas and all stores are closed!) so that will have to wait until part 2.

Stay tuned and happy holidays!

JUMP TO PART TWO

I'm about to upgrade my CPU (got an AMD FX processor from a friend), and I'm worried that iLok and other software licensers are going to think I'm on a new machine. Does anyone here know if this is even an issue?

What the title says 

Using the code "xmas19" you can get €50 off all Strezov libs older than one year (how to determine the age of the products I have no idea, you'll have to try and apply the code). I snagged the trombone section and the samples are NOT locked, so you can map them in any sampler if you so desire. Otherwise, full version of Kontakt is required.

I managed to snag this (out of one thousand free licenses I think) on Sonokinetik's holiday sale. And it's super amusing because I can't read music and I have no idea what I'm supposed to use it for! I mean, I know what an ostinato is of course but... we need plugins for that now, huh?

*Sigh*

Look out for HEROIC THEME™ and EMOTIONAL MOMENT™ libraries! Once proper AI kicks in, we'll have EPIC SCORE plugins that will just do all the work for you.