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Most of us know all about the likes of Cubase, Sonar and Logic, but they´re not the only DAWs in the market. Some of the other sequencers on the market might not be quite so aggressively promoted or as stylish as the household names, but they´re quality applications nonetheless.
Take Samplitude 8, for example. If you´ve tried it, you´ll already know that it´s certainly not a program that´s short on advanced features. Now we have version 9 of Samplitude to consider. Available in Classic, Master and Professional editions, it´s the latter - and most expensive - version that we´re looking at here.
Features Open up the new software´s box and you find a concise, well-written ring-bound manual. There´s also a USB dongle; this is a WIBU CodeMeter Stick copy-protection device, so sadly, there´s no possibility of copying the Samplitude licence to any Syncrosoft or Pace iLok keys that you may have. However, the fact that (unusually) the CodeMeter Stick appears on your system as a disk drive means that you could conceivably plug it into a USB port on a totally different machine, if your computers are networked.
The complete list of new features is far too extensive to reprint here, so perhaps the best thing to say is that all of the key elements of the software have been improved in one way or another. Perhaps the most significant development is the introduction of the new Hybrid Audio Engine - we won´t bore you with the technical details, but the good news is that this allows Samplitude to run more simultaneous tracks, instruments and effects than ever before. Then there are the score-editing features. Score editing itself is nothing new, but in contrast to certain other applications, Samplitude 9 Professional can display the music score in the same window and in alignment with your piano roll MIDI editor. This will make life a lot easier for the many people who transcribe sheet music into MIDI data to create their own versions of existing songs.
But what about flashy new toys? Don´t worry - Samplitude 9 Professional doesn´t disappoint here either. As well as the offerings from previous versions, there´s a new valve channel modeller, an advanced convolution reverb, a spectral cleaner, a Loop Station-like composer and a copy of SampleTank 2.1 LE. All of these gizmos work extremely well. Impressive tools Elsewhere, we´re pleased to be able to report that the improved mixer retains its killer feature: zoomability. Even when screen space is extremely tight, you can zoom the mixer window out to a tiny size and have every single control on it continue to function properly. This still represents one of the most remarkable achievements in user interface design that we´ve ever seen.
One of the more noteworthy things about Samplitude Professional is that the developers have made no attempt to hide its functionality in hard-to-reach places. Instead, all of the menus are jampacked full of features. Although this can sometimes make the program feel a little overwhelming, it does mean that most tools are just a click or two away.
Samplitude 9 is certainly impressive, then, but you do need to bear in mind that - as with any advanced music sequencing package - it´ll take you many, many months to master all of its features. What´s more, you´ll inevitably get stuck from time to time as you try to figure out how to do things. The good news, though, is that once you´ve learnt the ropes, it´s possible to navigate your way around both your projects and the application itself pretty quickly. And best of all, Samplitude 9 Professional sounds terrific. Magix claim to have spent a great deal of effort on refining their sound-processing algorithms, and we believe them.
Verdict So let´s ask the crucial question: how does Samplitude 9 stack up against the competition? If you make your comparison on a feature-by-feature basis, Magix´s software suffers slightly, but this isn´t really the best way to look at things. When you´re evaluating software as complex as this, what you need to consider is whether the feature-set meets your needs in terms of control, workflow, and performance. If you work mainly with other songwriters when putting tracks together, Samplitude 9 Professional is ideal.
As a sound engineer, it gives you all of the tools that you could possibly want. If, on the other hand, it´s you who´s the songwriter and you mainly make music alone, you may well find yourself both swamped and befuddled by the program and feel that its complexity drags you down. If you´ve never used Samplitude before, it could be a long time before you become fully productive. To be fair, though, this is true of most applications, and its steep learning curve shouldn´t deter you from giving Samplitude 9 Professional a try. It might not be for you, but equally, it could be the alternative DAW you´ve been searching for.
It is clear and logical, there is not much sr dispens open the manual (online), English for the moment (French version prvue to March 2003) SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE My config: Athlon 700MHz Slot a first generation, 768 MB PC100 SDRAM, UDMA 66, mre Gigabyte 71iX card, Creamware cards Pulsar1 SRB1 + + Luna (= 11 Sharc DSPs on 3 PCI slots) In short, the stuff antdiluvien (3 years of age), has turned impeccable. Incritiquable stability. If there is possibly crash (very rare), d is a plugin config particulire additions is reproducible and thus vitable. Samplitude 7 Professional makes the most of CPU and disk ACCS, the del of what any other audio software on PC.
As many people know, I have not been very happy about my Music Maker Premium purchase, but have been pleasantly surprised by the functionality in Samplitude Music Studio. So when I saw Humble Bundle had a deal for Samplitude Pro X2, you can imagine I was pretty excited and paid the top tier price for the software. As a general caution to others this is NOT a new version of Samplitude Music Studio. It an older (no longer available even) version of Samplitude Pro (separate product line) with a confusing product name. So, if you buy into this bundle hoping to upgrade from Samplitude Music Studio to Samplitude Pro X2 like I did, thinking it would be a newer (but less feature rich) software package - you will be in for a bad surprise.
Just hoping others avoid my mistake.:). It is, and states very clearly 'Samplitude Pro X2 Silver' edition. This is not portrayed as the full version, is definitely not misleading, costs a few dollars/Euros/Pounds, and clicking on the icon in Humble Bundle provides the details shown below. Why would anyone have to indicate in an offering for what is basically a free offering that this version is not the latest fully-blown version? 'There is also a link to the Magix.com website where users can see what it is all about. ' Samplitude Pro X2 Silver provides musicians and producers an ideal environment for creative audio and music production. It combines professional tools and highly efficient workflows with high quality standards in the areas of recording, arrangement and band mixing, as well as post-production.
Download brian greene el tejido del cosmos pdf software. HIGHLIGHTS:. Up to 8 tracks, 2 submix- and AUX busses.
Up to 44.1 kHz sample rate. Up to 4 instruments and 4 plug-ins per object/track/master. Flexible plug-in routing. Numerous Samplitude effects included: Advanced & Multiband Dynamics, Bit Machine, Delay, EQ116 (standard mode), essential FX, and more. Comparisonics and spectral display of objects.
Visualization with spectroscope, spectrogram, tuner and more. VST2 interface support. 32-bit and 64-bit support Note: Samplitude Pro X2 Silver usually requires audio controller hardware to run. As an exclusive offer for Humble Bundle customers, this version of Samplitude Pro X2 Silver does not require a hardware device. Additionally, the video included here showcases the full Samplitude Pro X2 Suite and features additional programs not included in the bundle.' I apologize as I thought I had articulated this in the post. The problem was not that it is a Silver version - I knew it was less feature rich.
What mislead me into the purchase is the naming of Samplitude X2. I believed the hierarchy to be Samplitude - Samplitude X2. I already own Samplitude, so as you can imagine, I was very excited to pay for the software during the deal and try out a feature limited but newer version of Samplitude. I couldn't find anything online that suggested otherwise before purchasing (I did look on the MAGIX website first) so I made the assumption that version 2 came after version 1.
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In actual fact, after purchase, I discovered the version Hierarchy is Samplitude X2 - Samplitude X3 - Samplitude Turns out, Samplitude X2 (version 13.x) is over two years older than Samplitude (which is version 23.x). I don't think it is surprising that I felt misled by the naming. Regardless, if I came to that conclusion, someone else will, and my hope is to prevent this from happening to at least one other person:).
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The misleading part is that Samplitude X2 is older than Samplitude. Logically, one would assume the opposite to be true. Nothing is misleading. Why did you remove everything from the product name so that only Samplitude will stay? Clockworkmod pro apk free download. Samplitude was originally the company behind it and not the product itself.
Samplitude Music Studio vs Samplitude Pro X It's like when you would compare Video deluxe (german version of Movie edit Pro) and Video Pro X with each other and remove 50% of the name. You would complain that MAGIX Video 15 is older to MAGIX Video x7., but when you write the correct name and do a little research then you would see that MAGIX Video deluxe 15 is from 2009 and MAGIX Video Pro x7 is from 2015. And when you go on the MAGIX website you can see. So take a guess which version is newer and which is older. Also, a simple research could simply bring about that 2 is older than 3.
Hierarchy is Samplitude X2 - Samplitude X3 -Samplitude - making it much older than the Samplitude I already own. Apparently the responses here suggest that I am wrong and that is an intuitive naming sequence, however to me logically version 2 should come after version 1.
And as a result, I bought a product I don't have a use for. Again two different products: The Hierarchy is Samplitude Pro X - Samplitude Pro X2 - Samplitude Pro X3 The Hierarchy from the recent versions is Samplitude Music Studio MX - Samplitude Music Studio 2013 - Samplitude Music Studio 2014 - Samplitude Music Studio 2015 - Samplitude Music Studio 2015 - Samplitude Music Studio 2016 - Samplitude Music Studio (v.23). The Hierarchy from the recent versions is Samplitude Music Studio MX - Samplitude Music Studio 2013 - Samplitude Music Studio 2014 - Samplitude Music Studio 2015 - Samplitude Music Studio 2015 - Samplitude Music Studio 2016 - Samplitude Music Studio (v.23)- I just want to repeat what I said above and bold the relevant part. I don't think it is surprising that I felt misled by the naming. Regardless, if I came to that conclusion, someone else will, and my hope is to prevent this from happening to at least one other person:) If I had found the Hierarchy information you shared, I would have made a different decision. Hopefully that helps educate others with the Samplitude product line and thanks for sharing. It didn't occur to me it was valuable enough to warrant more than a single product line.
Regarding the upper part of the content, yes, I would find the naming convention for the product lines very easy to confuse for new MAGIX users. You indicated in the heading of this post 'Samplitude X2 Silver.'
Then you stated 'So when I saw Humble Bundle had a deal for Samplitude X2, you can imagine I was pretty excited.' Then you said, 'What mislead me into the purchase is the naming of Samplitude X2,' followed by 'I discovered the version Hierarchy is Samplitude X2 - Samplitude X3 - Samplitude.' This is totally confusing. The Humble Bundle wording is exactly ' Samplitude Pro X2 Silver,' not 'Samplitude X2' as stated by you.
Your hierarchy is wrong. You have mixed in Samplitude Music Studio, which is definitely not Samplitude Pro X2. Please use the correct and full name of the product when you are referring to it to avoid confusion. You then state, 'Turns out, Samplitude X2 (version 13.x) is over two years older than Samplitude (which is version 23.x).' Which Samplitude? If you mean Samplitude Pro X3, then you are wrong because the current version is 14.2.1.298, not 23.x.
You are likely referring to Samplitude Music Studio. If so, then say so - with the full name. This is why your posts are confusing; you have mixed and matched different products without indicating the full names. Here is the hierarchy from the low level to the top of the Samplitude line:.
Music Studio - (I had this) discontinued and replaced by:. Music Studio 2 - (I had this) also discontinued. Samplitude Music Studio - these came out by date, I had 2013, 2014 (20.0.2.28), and 2015, only 1 of which is still installed. Now, no date is indicated for this product on the Magix site, but the proper name is 'Samplitude Music Studio,' not 'Samplitude.' . Samplitude Pro X3 (14.2.1.298). Samplitude Pro X3 Suite - same as the non-suite but with more add-ons (I have this one).
Sequoia 14. The lower levels are stripped down versions of Samplitude Pro X(whatever) or Sequoia. Samplitude Pro X2 Silver is not available for sale on the Magix.com site. The Silver versions, that have been updated over the years, were bundled with certain equipment by the vendors of that equipment. This, of course, was in the hope that the user of the equipment would purchase the full version of Samplitude Pro (whichever was the latest version).
As I indicated in my first post, Samplitude Pro X2 Silver is a stripped down version of Samplitude Pro X2 (not Samplitude Music Studio), and what I indicated was the information copied from the Humble Bundle site. So, given the multitude of versions available, it is important to always indicate which one that you are talking about, to avoid any confusion. Did you bother to read the entire thread?
Did you read my first post above in which I copied and pasted the information from the Humble Bundle site (click on the icon in Humble Bundle to see the description)? Did you look at the Magix.com site to see anything about this? Do you see 'Samplitude Pro X2 Silver' on this site for sale? Did you look at the details for 'Samplitude Pro X2 Silver' and compare that with 'Samplitude Pro X3?'
'Samplitude Pro X2' is no longer for sale on the Magix.com site. So, if you insist, yes, what is offered is the full version of 'Samplitude Pro X2 Silver,' not 'Samplitude Pro X2,' not 'Samplitude Pro X3,' not 'Samplitude Music Studio' which darkspartan referred to as 'Samplitude.'
The 'Silver' version may have been sold by Magix on its website a couple of years ago, but I don't remember seeing it. Like everything out in the market, the MRSP is not the price that things are sold. Lastly, you are getting a bunch of software for a 30$ donation. Basically, it's free, so don't expect to see the latest and greatest stuff for free. Once again, the product on Humble Bundle is 'Samplitude Pro X2 Silver.' Note the word ' Silver!'
I already indicated what is included in my first post above. In Humble Bundle, click on the icon to see the details - the same ones that I indicated above.
There should be no need for me to repeat this, but the first thing on the list is that you are only allowed only 8 tracks. You are not paying 300$; you are paying 30$ for a bunch of software, not just Samplitude Pro X2 Silver. Samplitude Pro X2 and X3 sold for about the same retail price, so you are wrong to assume that Pro X2 sold for less than Pro X3 because it is older. Once Pro X3 hit the market, yes, Pro X2 would have dropped in price.
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This is normal. Also, very few people pay the Manufacturer's Recommended Sales Price - for anything.
Retailers can and do sell for less. Magix has been offering recently the entire 'Samplitude Pro X3 Suite' for 150$ - to new and existing users. That was the biggest deal out there. John - I don't think you understand how the Humble Bundle system works. The suggested retail value of the entire bundle is '$1,117'.
Of that amount Samplitude X2 Pro Silver is valued at $300 (USD) and that is why it's in the highest price tier. Acid Pro 7, Sound Forge Pro 11 and all of the other software in this collection are properly labelled, have correct srp's and contribute appropriately to the bundle. Samplitude is the only item in this entire collection that deviates from that. I am personally frustrated by this because I bought this collection specifically for Samplitude and because 8 tracks in a DAW is completely useless (most people will have more than 8 tracks just for their drum mixes unless they are using a stereo midi track) and because something that is being advertised as regularly selling for $300 should, infact, regularly sell for that amount (again all of the other applications in this list do). Your hierarchy is wrong. How do I put this politely. I'm sorry John, I know you are really trying to drive home a hard point, trying to troll or whatever.
But everything you have said so far, has been covered in more detail by someone before you. I've met a lot of people like you in my life.
I honestly don't know what value you are trying to add by being condescending to people in this thread but I for one am clearly missing the real intention of your posts. I don't think it is surprising that I felt misled by the naming. Regardless, if I came to that conclusion, someone else will, and my hope is to prevent this from happening to at least one other person:) I started to reshare the above, because I started to think you misunderstood the original post and intention of this thread (to caution others to think carefully about a product before buying), but I'm thinking you have a different intention here. I encourage you to take a reread of this post. Do you feel your replies are answering questions? Because I certainly wasn't asking any. Do you think your replies are providing some kind of guidance?
Because you've replied more in this thread than anyone else but the posts are just generally condescending attitude. I'm hoping you don't somehow think these kind of replies are helpful. You are just repeating other peoples information long after the point of purchase - information which doesn't really address the intent of the post. Kind of unnecessary, unhelpful angry noise. But, by all means, you be you, I'm just hoping you have an important point that was somehow missed by us saying 'hey, be cautious about your purchase when buying Samplitude'.
Magix's marketing department (which is probably a part time duty of some dev in the office) has always been very clumsy. I don't think they intentionally inflated its value, but I guess it's technically OK on their end, because they can value it any way that they want. ' I bought this collection specifically for Samplitude and because 8 tracks in a DAW is completely useless ' Come on now. Engineers had to generally work with 4 tracks up to only recently. I used pro X silver for a while before buying a copy of pro X off of eBay. It's excellent in spite of its limitations.
Probably the second best 'free' version DAW after Studio One Prime. My point is that clarity is important.
If I say that something is not clear or is incorrect, it is important, IMHO, to not leave it at that but to show what and why. I suggest that you reread your first post. You have changed it somewhat, 'misleading' is now 'confusing,' but there is still no mention of the offering being 'Samplitude Pro X2 Silver.' And that, in your excitement, you thought that the offer was for 'Samplitude Pro X2' not 'Silver.' You still use the term 'Samplitude Pro X2,' which is incorrect.
The point of purchase is the Humble Bundle offering, and simply clicking on the image brings up the description, which I copied and pasted into my first post to inform and instruct. It is easy to sound condescending when one is trying to point out errors, omissions, imprecisions, etc. Reread what I wrote, out loud, but in a different tone of voice, one that is trying to inform and instruct. Compare that with your second post.
You didn't ask questions, but what you indicated was incorrect. I wanted to make sure that you understood what was wrong and why. Given the plethora of Magix software and variants, it is confusing enough for users, so it is important to be clear and precise. That is my message. I hope that you don't find that condescending.
I posted 4 times, twice for you, twice for Jason. Look at my profile, go through a bunch of my comments on various threads, look at some of my tutorials, then come back and tell me if I'm a troll. I know how the Humble Bundle system works. I bought the last Magix offering, after reading all of the descriptions and comparing that with what was currently being offered in the market. It was a very good deal, even if I gave much of it away. If my recollection is correct, the full price (MSRP) of Samplitude Pro X2 was always 399$, same as for Samplitude Pro X3.
I got Samplitude Pro X2 as an upgrade to Samplitude Music Studio 2015 at half price - 199$. Caveat emptor.
To all contributors to this thread, especially and I am becoming concerned about the level of personal accusations to which this thread is descending. The OP clearly felt aggrieved by at least part of the Humble Bundle offer, with particular reference to the Samplitude version.
Other posters, especially and have explained very clearly, precisely and accurately the naming and numbering system that Magix has used for the Samplitude product range. Please do not continue to post accusations (of trolling, or similar) or half-truths to this thread, or elsewhere, otherwise I will have no option but to lock the thread to any additional posts and consider whether the poster concerned should be blocked from making any further contributions to the forum. Magix' rules for forum users can be found. Jeff Forum Moderator.
John - I don't think you understand how the Humble Bundle system works. The suggested retail value of the entire bundle is '$1,117'. Of that amount Samplitude X2 Pro Silver is valued at $300 (USD) and that is why it's in the highest price tier. , This is the essence of the problem. A teaser version of a DAW that is limited to 8 tracks simply does not have a suggested retail price of $299. End of story.
Having said that, I don't know whether this mistake (or was a deliberately misleading statement??) was made by Magix or by Humble Bundle. It was equally misleading in either case. Full disclosure: I too was misled and paid $30 for this. True, I also got some other stuff but I already own Acid Pro 7 and Sound Forge Pro 11 - purchased when they were still Sony products.
Samplitude Pro X now includes a dedicated Tempo track and this tutorial shows you how to use it. Here's the Introduction: Sometimes you may need to work on an audio recording which has not been recorded to click track. Problems can arise when this song doesn't conform to a Tempo map. For example: midi parts or tempo-based effects will not synchronise because the audio doesn't recognise the current Tempo grid. In this situation it will be necessary to create a Tempo map based on the varying Tempo of the project.
If time signature changes are included this will provide an extra challenge. This tutorial will provide you with necessary information to facilitate Tempo and time signature mapping with Samplitude Pro X.
Over the last few years, Magix's Sequoia and Samplitude have quietly been establishing a name for themselves in the mastering and recording communities, and the new version 9 of Samplitude looks set to win plenty more friends. Samplitude from Magix is now one of the more established names in the music technology market place, with a growing and dedicated band of followers (especially in Europe) using it for recording, editing, mixing and mastering. This growth might, in part, be a trickle-down effect from the recent rise in the popularity of Sequoia, Samplitude 's bigger — and very much more expensive — dedicated mastering cousin. Even just a couple of years ago, Sequoia was still being described in professional circles as a 'relative newcomer', as an upstart challenger to the then worldwide dominance of Sonic Solutions and SADiE systems, but it now boasts many top-rung mastering engineers as recent converts.
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My own facility had been a loyal SADiE supporter for many years, but then the narrowing gap of functionality (especially in terms of classical editing capabilities) and an increasing gap in price made us look again at native-based editing technology, and when we came to think about replacing our SADiE 4 system a year or so ago we too took the plunge for Sequoia, keeping SADiE in commission mainly for its suite of CEDAR noise-reduction processors. Even without its family connections with Sequoia, Samplitude has been gathering a reputation for offering serious capabilities coupled with tremendous value for money. It upped the free plug-in ante, for example, when it became one of the first software systems to offer free POW-R dithering (very much the dithering option of choice) giving expensive stand-alone dithering systems a jolt.
Its range of internal processors is very highly thought of, especially its Room Simulator and phase-coherent Multi-band Dynamics, and it has also been getting good press for workflow-related features such as rapid CD burning and secure back-ups, which are important considerations in a professional environment. But all software evolves, and much of what was unique 18 months ago is ubiquitous today. So can Samplitude in its new incarnation — version 9 — still compete?
Samplitude 9 certainly seems to be keeping up the pressure on its competitors with its bundled plug-ins. These may not be as extensive, or as visually stunning, as those found in some other programs, but they are carefully chosen and, in the main, very nicely executed.
From this year's crop, for example, I found good use during the review period for a very musical basic compressor and an 'optical' compressor from the Analogue Modelling Suite, a useful reverb from the Vintage Effects Suite, a De-esser and a Spectral Cleaning plug-in which offers — for free — something similar (in broad principle anyway, if not exactly in practice) to the very expensive Algorithmix Renovator and CEDAR Retouch. The new version of Samplitude also contains literally dozens of other new features: improvements to many of its existing plug-in effects; the addition of a whole suite of new signal processors; additional MIDI capabilities, including a new Score Editor; more effective and ergonomic track handling and file management; and a new Hybrid Audio Engine which, when working with ASIO drivers, allows a sharing of system resources to optimise latency/performance trade-offs. It would take up a large part of this review simply to list and describe all the new features in any detail. So what I will do instead is to describe how we concentrated on just some of these new features, and a couple of the old ones, to show what was possible in a week or so of music production from a moderately priced, all-in-one-box, software solution. In one sense this was a 'real-life' test as all of the sessions documented here were professional productions whose results were judged, not only by us, but also by the artists and the record companies paying for them. In another sense it was not at all realistic, as no one system is ever considered sufficient in itself to perform all of the tasks to an optimum level: specialist plug-ins and outboard processors are used as a matter of necessity and a matter of course. So, the fact that at some points we had to move outside of Samplitude to complete a production is not then necessarily a criticism of it, but the fact that we could work within it for as long as we did is certainly praise.
The new Spectral Cleaning plug-in allows you to isolate unmusical noises like this bow stroke (above, left) and eliminate them. One of the most interesting features of Samplitude 9 is the new Spectral Cleaning plug-in. Classical recording is dogged by accidental noise: piano stools creak at crucial quiet moments, often at the very end of a final long chord as the pianist leans back; vocalists play with their scores; string players move their chairs and so on. The development of CEDAR's Retouch (and, more recently, Algorithmix's Renovator) was a real boon for the industry, not just because it could be used in live recordings to minimise audience coughs and the like, but because it meant that good takes on recording sessions that would otherwise not have been usable because of a noise became so, with the noise being removed later by the engineer in post-production. As always, what was specialised becomes routine, and we have used Retouch (as a plug-in on SADiE) on all of our classical projects for the past four years. There is still a judgement to be made during recording, though, as to whether a noise is removable, or whether another 'safety' take needs to be called.
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As safety takes tend to be less inspired and less musical, there is a strong urge to avoid them if at all possible. And here's where we found an unexpected use for Samplitude 's new Spectral Cleaning processor. Unlike the included POW-R plug-in, which is the real thing, Samplitude's Spectral Cleaning, despite visual similarities, is not Renovator. We found that it can do a pretty decent job of removing very discrete and specific transients, and can usefully diminish some slightly more smeared noise, but beyond that, in the exposed situation of most 'classical noise', it was not up to full professional standard (which is, of course, no real criticism of a free-plug in when the real thing costs in the region of £2,000). So our use of it on the Karine Georgian session was not as an absolute removal tool, but simply as a guide to necessary retakes. If, during recording, we heard a noise, we immediately tried some quick-fix noise removal on it, and worked on the basis that if we couldn't improve it at all with Spectral Cleaning then we'd better do another take. If, however, we could at least approximate a decent cure, then we knew we would more than likely be able to do much better later with Retouch.
That indeed turned out to be the case: the left-hand screen (below) shows a portion of audio material that had a sharp non-musical bow noise (the central spike) superimposed on a genuine note (the broad horizontal portions continuous on either side). Having isolated that spike (right-hand screen) and Spectrally Cleaned its upper portion we were convinced that Retouch would easily be able to remove it. Samplitude is still a Windows-only application, and Magix recommend a minimum CPU speed of 1.5GHz, and 1GB of RAM, for running Samplitude 9 on Windows XP. That means that the host computer on which we installed the software slightly exceeded that specification, but it is still a pretty modest setup by current standards of what is available.
It's based around a 3GHz Pentium 4 with an 800MHz front side buss, and 1GB of RAM, and was put together as a recording rig for us by DACS over two years ago; in their custom black anodised rackmount livery, it looks like Darth Vader's desktop. The soundcard we used for these sessions was a Lynx AES16, and we simply let the Samplitude software run with its default settings, using MME drivers. (ASIO is of course the preferred option for low-latency operation when using third-party plug-ins or running external effects looms, but as we intended to keep all processing within the Samplitude system, we decided to use the vanilla Windows drivers.) Installation, from a DVD which also includes tutorial demos and the like, was a breeze, with all the drivers doing their job and talking to each other with no fuss or problems whatsoever. After running briefly through some of the new features to begin to familiarise myself with them (and to have fun: a couple of the settings in the new Ecox and Filtox plug-ins made wonderful chaos of some rather sober string quartets), I then used the program to complete three very different projects. The first was a high-resolution recording of some classical music — the Russian cellist Karine Georgian playing Bach's Suites For Solo Cello — which took place on location in St Martin's church in East Woodhay (a favourite venue for recordings that require a warm, but controllable acoustic). The second involved editing (vocal comping), minimal processing and mixing of some tracks for a CD by a young female vocalist; and the third was mixing the first CD from the acoustic jazz trio Quiet Focus. The common element in all of these productions was simplicity of instrumentation and hence open texture, making them an ideal testing ground because of their intolerance of any kind of distortion.
Heavy or dense material might have masked the subtle degradations that digital devices can introduce into the signal path; but in this music, everything was very much open to critical view. Karine's performance of the entire set of Bach's six Suites is due for release in 2007 and this was the second of the three sessions that have been planned to record the material. The project is an 'audiophile' production and so the signal path was minimal and absolutely pure: a pair of Sonodore RCM 402 omni mics, a Grace 801 preamp and a Mytek A-D converter operating at 24-bit/96kHz, all captured on this occasion by Samplitude 9 via the Lynx digital interface card. In such situations, capturing hopefully inspired performances, and where the technology has to be entirely 'invisible' to the performer, the demands on the recording software are many and varied. Of course, its main task is that it has to be able to capture with no loss or degradation the output of the A-D converter; but in classical location work it also has to be a little more. The system has to be quickly responsive and allow for easy organisation too: the producer, or the musician, can call for a new take with very little warning, so the engineer has to make sure that his recording system can respond immediately — and it helps enormously if it can also provide foolproof, automatic ways of logging and organising the many takes and part-takes that are a regular feature of modern classical music production. Samplitude's Spectrogram display in action.I like to work in hour-long file 'reels' (which are then easily run off as audio on CD, and to DVD for back-up) and it is not unusual for such a file to contain 50 or 60 takes, so Samplitude 's automatic take numbering was a real boon.
At the end of each take I pressed a single button to close the recording and save it, and then the press of another button brought the software back to a state of readiness for the next take, complete with 'reel' and incremented take number. In Samplitude each take creates a new Object, so when we took a break at the end of the 'reel', I then used the 'Set CD Index to Object Edge' and very swift CD burning functions to make an audio CD of that part of the session. Even though burning 'on the fly' was not possible because it involved sample-rate converting from 96kHz down to 44.1, the whole process was so fast and entirely trouble-free that I could produce a CD of what we'd just rcorded even before everyone else had finished their cups of tea! Another feature of Samplitude that I found extremely useful during these sessions was the feedback that is provided by its various 'visualisations'. Of course we have to rely on our ears in the final analysis, but it's nonetheless a considerable advantage to be able to check what they are telling us against the objective picture given by visual metering. Samplitude 's phase and correlation meters have obvious uses, as do the peak level meters, but we also found an unusual use for the Spectrogram — the visual representation of the material being recorded on a moving timeline which 'draws' its frequency and amplitude creating a screen full of colour which can be read almost as an orchestral score. (See the screenshot overleaf, which shows the fundamental of the solo cello line, traced in parallel above it by the harmonics).
Because there is barely anywhere in England that is not within earshot of a flight path, our sessions were occasionally interrupted by overhead planes. As soon as we heard them we stopped, and as soon as we couldn't hear them we started again. But it began to be a strain and a bit of a pain when we couldn't quite agree whether the noise had faded far enough to begin again or not — and here the Samplitude Spectrogram came into its own. The Sonodore mics have an extremely broad frequency response and are very sensitive, so even when there was 'silence' in the church, the Spectrogram showed us visually the physical noise floor (for example, low-frequency rumbles below 40Hz down at 50dB, which are clearly visible in the screenshot below the main musical action). So instead of wasting time discussing whether the plane noise had abated sufficiently or not, we simply looked at the screen: if it showed that there was anything more than the floor, we waited.
Generally it is the demand for swift response and rigorous solidity that sorts the wheat from the chaff in location recording equipment, and until now has been one of the main motivations for choosing non-native systems (such as Pyramix or SADiE) which, being run on dedicated DSP cards, are widely regarded as inherently quicker and more stable than programs that depend on native computer power. If that were ever completely true, it seems now to be changing: we ran Samplitude for 10 hours a day for four days (and have subsequently run it at the same intensity) with many user interruptions, and regular multitasking, and it didn't suffer from a single glitch. It's also worth noting that native systems tend to run more quietly: this is not a huge consideration in a studio environment with a separate machine room, but occasionally crucial on location where there is usually no luxury of a separate room (and sometimes not even the luxury of a separate control room). I regularly meet Pyramix engineers who have to run lines to their monitoring space from their main systems, which have to be left in their vans outside.
On the other hand, I still have to sound one sour note: the enforced use of a USB dongle to confirm the continued legitimacy of the installed software is, for the location engineer, a disaster just waiting to happen. Such a setup is fine when the computer is safely installed in a studio rack, but when it is regularly moved, there's a real possibility that the flimsy key could be damaged in use or in transit, as well as the likelihood of do-do moments when the engineer actually forgets to take the dongle with him. I tend to barricade my computer away from possible dangers, but it's far from ideal, and I really wish I didn't have to. Our second project for Samplitude was post-production work on a few tracks from a non-classical CD by a young female vocalist. Most of the tracks featured harmony vocals and a full band backing, but on some songs her solo voice was accompanied by just piano, or a stark arrangement of strings. Although there was no requirement that the music be absolutely 100 percent naturalistic — imagine an English Tori Amos — the producer called us in as he felt that the vocals on these tracks needed to be treated with much more delicacy. 'Treatment' here was largely a euphemism for 'bringing back into tune': even the loveliest of voices can stray from the centre of the note.
Although moderate use of modern auto-tuning software is generally fine against the backdrop of a dense mix, vocal comping — the art of reconstructing a vocal line from a number of takes — is always better than Auto-Tune on more naturalistic or intimate recordings, and it has recently become something a fine art. Using techniques derived from our classical music editing, we've been using Sequoia for quite a while now to provide pretty complicated vocal comping: at one point on a recent project we constructed a single word ('beautiful') and the preceding intake of breath from five different takes (yes, five — it was the way the singer sang the word itself as though it had four syllables.). Obviously, such super-fine editing requires technology specifically designed for the task, such as SADiE or Sequoia, but I was keen to see just how much could be achieved in this case with Samplitude 's editing facilities, especially using its dedicated crossfade editor. In addition, on many such recordings the vocal line is usually very lightly compressed after editing, and — as a result — probably requires de-essing, and so I was keen to see what Samplitude could offer in this respect too. Although it's not as sophisticated as that of its big brother Sequoia, Samplitude's Crossfade Editor is still a powerful tool.The answer to the editing question turned out to be: quite a bit. The crossfade editor window (overleaf) does not, like that of the more expensive Sequoia, display the waveform, and nor can the fades be directly manipulated by mouse, but as the editing window stays on top of the main window, at least the changes made to shape and duration of fades can be seen being updated in real time. For comping at the level of whole phrases, or even separate words, Samplitude 's editing capabilities were entirely adequate.
It was rather slower, of course, than a dedicated editor, and it would probably take a lot more experimentation in inexperienced hands, but within these limitations we found that it could be used to produce fully professional results. On a number of occasions, though, under pressure of time, and with more complex edits to be made, I loaded the files into Sequoia to let Sequoia do what it does best. For compression duties I turned first to the new Am-phibia plug-in, which is described as being an 'optical' compressor with very gentle characteristics, making it 'ideal for vocals'. But in use, I found that although it could certainly be gentle, it was neither colourless nor absolutely controllable, and although I can well imagine it fitting more robust vocals, it was not suitable for this project. So I tried instead the other Analogue Modelling Suite compressor, Am-track. In VCA mode, with adjustable threshold setting, this seemed much more promising, and in the end, using its pretty unique 'mix' function, we found that moderate compression mixed in at a fairly low level was just what we needed. I'm not sure that this mix function is accurately described as providing 'parallel' compression, which normally refers to a process in which an entirely unprocessed signal is mixed with a time-aligned compressed signal with a variable make-up gain, but it's a useful tool, especially when used exceedingly sparingly as it was here.
The gentleness of the compression stage meant that few artificial sibilants were created by the process itself, but as the singer has a tendency to natural sibilance, we decided to bring the new De-esser into the signal path. This is a very simple affair, with just two user-adjustable parameters — the 'tune' or frequency setting (from 4 to 12 kHz) and the amount of reduction (up to 36dB). There is also a 'listen' button which allows you to monitor what has been taken out of the signal. Sadly, I found this rather lacking for the needs of this project.
It has no user-adjustable threshold, and so although it might offer a good quick fix (and with some surprisingly successful non-standard uses — see below) it could not meet our requirement with such an exposed vocal line for an entirely transparent reduction of sibilance. De-essing is, in fact, incredibly difficult to do well without introducing distortion or 'rhythmic' artifacts, which is probably why units that do work so amazingly well (such as TC Electronic's System 6000 de-esser, which we were trying out at the time, or the Weiss DS1 Mk2) are also so amazingly expensive. We also used another Samplitude plug-in on one track.
This rather weird song featured solo voice and an upright piano that was, deliberately, slightly out of tune. We comped and compressed the verse vocals, but then the producer asked if we could add a little more 'interest' in the choruses.
So, with intentional punning but sonic considerations paramount (honest) we tried another new Samplitude plug-in: the Corvex Chorus/Flanger. At first we set this up as a subtle chorus effect on an Aux buss returning on its own mixer channel, so leaving the main vocal untouched. But we found that we got a much more usable sound if we cloned the vocal track at that point (a very simple drag-and-drop process in Samplitude) and used Corvex as an insert on this new channel, processing the whole of that channel and then mixing it in, almost inaudibly, under the main vocal at the required moments. The effect was shifting and whispering, and slightly unsettling, but entirely suitable for the music. I'm not sure why that route through the plug-in worked better than standard aux buss processing, but the producer was happier with the result, and so were we. Quiet Focus are a drummer-less jazz trio whose music features the fragile trumpet of Toby Mak, Ken Rose's classic smooth, complex jazz guitar, and the muscular acoustic bass of Pete Scherr. Each is a formidable player in their own right, and have recorded a number of CDs under their own names, but on this, their first CD together, they explore the textural and timbral interplay of their instruments as much as their harmonic possibilities.
All of this was captured very effectively at 24/96, and hence was music that could very easily be diminished by heavy-handed processing and presented a unique challenge for mixing. The CD was recorded live in Pete's studio in Hong Kong, with all of the musicians playing together in the same medium-sized room.
They were positioned so that they could maintain eye contact, and the recording was made using a technique which deliberately exploited the bleeding of the instruments into each other's microphones to create the illusion of a greater space than was actually there. The requirements of mixing then were: to bring out the best of each instrument without altering its tone and timbre; to create a natural, essentially static, mix which allowed the musicians themselves to control the performance dynamics (no riding of the faders or pan-pots to highlight the soloist); and to maintain and make more uniform the sense of acoustic space. Samplitude's extensive library of bundled plug-ins includes the Am-track compressor and a De-esser.We started with the bass. Pete has a huge technique and his playing gives both rhythm and heft, as well as a harmonic underpinning, to the music.
So although we wanted to lessen a slight tubbiness at the low end (and, as a matter of course, to EQ it down where it had bled too much, as basses tend to, in the other instruments' mics) we didn't want to lose too much weight, and we also wanted to give a slightly better snap to the rhythmic contribution from the fingerboard. We used Samplitude 's standard four-band parametric channel EQ and found very little to complain about in its performance: its graphic presentation made it very easy for us to see what we were doing as we swept through the bands looking for the required frequencies (using the mouse to drag directly on the EQ graphics), then as we narrowed in on them, and then finally as we dipped and boosted to taste. Remembering the 'yin and yang' of equalisation (that bands tent to interact) we found that gentle (a Q setting of 0.6) minimal addition at around 2.5kHz and slightly sharper (Q at 0.8) but still minimal subtraction at around 80Hz did the trick. Ken's guitar, an amplified semi-acoustic, was, in principle, even more simple to deal with, as he has taken great pains to perfect his sound and wanted it in the mix just as he heard it in the room. In practice, things are never so simple, and there were certain clashing frequencies between the lower range of the guitar and the middle/upper bass that had to be tamed.
Again, some minimal channel EQ did the trick, and we also brought the Am-track compressor section back into use: the compression on Ken's amplifier got him his sound, but very gentle compression helped that sound to 'sit' more easily with the others in the mix. Toby's sound was initially more of a challenge as the trumpet is naturally much more dynamically varied than the other instruments, with a timbre that changes with volume: quietly mellow, but much sharper when louder. Of course, Toby was completely in control of these features and used them for deliberate musical effect, but there were still places where the mics were probably a little too close and so the very top edge of the note seemed a little too much, or out of place. Simple EQ did not produce the results we wanted, as no matter how little we dipped the offending frequency, it adversely affected the tone overall. Standard compression was out of the question — it would have destroyed the hallmark fragility of his sound which depends on the micro-dynamics of Toby's playing — and long hours with the Multi-band Compressor plug-in were very frustrating. And then inspiration came as we tried again the same De-esser plug-in we'd found unsuitable for the female vocals. It worked really well: set at about 9kHz, much higher in the frequency range than we'd previously thought was suitable (we adjusted it using the 'listen' facility) and with just a few dB of reduction, it gave us just what we wanted.
The effect was pretty subtle: not really noticeable on an instant A/B comparison, but just enough for the listener not to register a slight 'over-insistence' in the trumpet. Of course the instruments were mixed differently on each track, but with experimentation around these basic parameters, so the final task at track level (and ultimately at CD level: this feature did not vary very much across the different tracks) was to tie the instruments together more.
The idea was not to create an acoustic space, such as Samplitude 's Room Simulator is able to do so well, but to keep and make more uniform the one that had already been captured. I have to admit that I turned to the new Variverb Pro plug-in (see the main screenshot at the start) for this task with some scepticism: it is exceedingly hard to find artificial reverbs that do not sound unnatural, and maybe because all of our recording, and much of our post-production work, deals with more naturalistic projects I actually have a bit of a prejudice against most of them. However, I was really pleased by the contribution Variverb made to the final mix of this project.
Using the 'Club' preset as a starting point, we tweaked and tuned the early reflections and the damping until we had something roughly the same 'size' as the space captured in the recording, but then added a very slightly longer decay time. We set this up on an Aux buss and sent it varying amounts from the different instruments — comparatively more of the trumpet, rather less of the bass. The overall effect, when this was mixed back in at a pretty low level, had exactly the 'glueing' effect we were after, even if it was not entirely natural-sounding. I'm not entirely convinced that it would have worked so well with a drier recording, where there would have been a greater proportion of the reverb in the final sound, but in this instance it certainly suited the performance and mood of the music. I'm not really sure how you can go wrong with this new edition of Samplitude. As it is, in the box, and as it says on the box, it will enable you to record, edit and mix your music to a professional level. As a recording machine it is probably as good as they get, and although no one of the new plug-ins or standard processors represents the state of the art, the combination of so many which are so good for such a relatively modest outlay makes this software a very serious contender.
Magix Samplitude 9 £660/£330/£205 pros. Rock-solid recording engine. Useful, high-quality new plug-ins.
Efficient on-the-fly CD burning. Excellent project 'housekeeping' facilities. Cons. Use of dongle for software legitimisation is a hazard for location recording. Summary Samplitude 9 is a very attractive software package for recording, editing and mixing.
The included plug-ins are not state of the art but are very usable, and in every respect, this is a top contender as the basis for a professional recording setup. All contents copyright © SOS Publications Group and/or its licensors, 1985-2018. All rights reserved. The contents of this article are subject to worldwide copyright protection and reproduction in whole or part, whether mechanical or electronic, is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the Publishers. Great care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this article but neither Sound On Sound Limited nor the publishers can be held responsible for its contents.
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