Thank you, I’m glad you liked it.

You raised a good point, perhaps the percussion is pushing against the backseat cushions a bit too much. I intended the drums to take a step back, to let the double bass be the driving force.

I posted this tune knowing going in this was a bit rough, so I’m happy you pointed out the percussion. Next opportunity I get, I intend to remaster this track. Thank you, Darkroom, I appreciate you kind words.

Thank you, Speck. That means a lot to me, because I consider your own talents to treat vocals, and indeed varied instruments, to be exceptional. I’m glad you enjoyed my song.

I mostly use Magix Acid Pro as my primary DAW.

For the vocal treatment on both Minwen’s and Snowflake’s voice, I imported the stems into my DAW, then opened the track properties, then the clip properties.

There, I changed it from a one-shot clip to beatmapped clip, chose the “elastique” option for time stretching, entered the original bpm of the track and transposed the original key to the key I’m using. The DAW does the rest. Then I added a slight reverb to the voices to make them sound richer. On Minwen’s voice, I also used an autotuner to bring the slightly off key parts back to the right key.

Both voices are also subjected to an equalizer to soften any harshness the clip may have picked up during the changes.

I hope this makes sense to you, it’s sometimes difficult to explain without adding a tutorial with pictures (for me, at least lol).

I understand it. I used Sony Acid for most of my mixes before 2014 if I remember correctly. Using Cakewalk now which has some nice stretching features.

Does Cakewalk for Windows 10 work as well as it does for a Mac O/S? I understood there were still compatibility issues…

Quote: WhitewolfDoes Cakewalk for Windows 10 work as well as it does for a Mac O/S? I understood there were still compatibility issues…

Acid will always be my favorite since I used it so long. However I really like Cakewalk now. It seems to give me more true instant feedback on how the mix actually sounds than Acid did if that makes sense. However it sounds like Magix has done some… well magic with Acid.

The learning curve was about a week or so for me to map out where everything is on Cakewalk. I think there are features here and there that I keep discovering but were able to easily make tracks without them. The only thing I dont like is when I record a midi track, it doesnt show up on the bar I started recording but instead when I start playing notes. Rhis makes it harder to loop that midi track. There is probably a setting I can play around with. I haven’t noticed any compatibility issues with Windows 10.

This is good information. I’m still using Acid Pro7 as my main DAW and have been considering the upgrade to whatever Magix version they’re up to now. I think the Elastique time stretcher is new. As it is now I’ll use Reaper if I’m going to stretch anything more than a few bpm (I believe Reaper uses the Elastique).
Anyway, thanks for the info.
Any more thoughts on making the change? Any regrets?
I’m assuming you also used to use Sony AcidPro? (I’ve been using it since it was Sonic Foundry Acid Pro.)

I recently upgraded from Acid Pro 7 to Acid Pro Next Suite (basically Acid Pro 10 with a few small extra bells and whistles). Elastique has been a part of Acid pretty much since Magix took the wheel.

Plugins like Kontact and it’s many iterations (Guitar Rig, etc…), and Reason Refill are pretty stable and more seamless now, also FL Studio works nicely for working with midi instruments (though there is a bit more of a learning curve now, for me at least because I rarely used them before). I understand most other major plugins work much better as well. The host of VST’s and VSTi’s that come with Acid Pro Next are very good, they are called Vita now.

If you do chose to upgrade, Speck, I recommend you give it a try. You could do worse. The learning curve is minimal if you are already an Acid user, and you will especially like the new cosmetic features, such as dark mode for less eye strain, and the way the grooves feature is handled, as well as the ReWire. Also, the feature to isolate vocals from most songs is clever (Stem Maker), though needs a little work.

I have been using Sony/Magix since Acid Pro 5 and while I’ve tried other DAWS, many of them have a much steeper learning curve and I haven’t the patience for them. Acid remains my favourite and easiest DAW.

Happy you liked this tune. It was a joy to remix Minwen and Snowflake together. An honest to goodness duet would be an awesome thing to contemplate!