Complete Dimension Pro Instrument Racks for Live 6

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:48 pm

I threatened to do it, and I did. I love the sound of Dimension Pro, and I already own it, but I couldn't stand working with it in Live. Too many windows just to select a preset. So I did the absurd: I created an instrument rack for every single preset, and created a library with full subfolder hierarchies etc. It's amazing, it works, and it's for sale cheap. More verbiage and pics here:

http://www.decrementia.com/content.asp?pg=Other

Oy, my wrist hurts.

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:46 pm

I don't think it's legal to sell this friend.

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:05 pm

Can you elaborate? I'll pull it if there's a problem, it doesn't really represent any significant amount of money for me. But I fail to see where I'm stepping on anyone's toes.

Just so there's no confusion - I cleared this up in a similar thread on Tips & Tricks - the files in question contain no part of Dimension or its program files. You must own both Live 6 and Dimension for this to be of any use to you. These are essentially wrappers which make it much more convenient to use Dimension from within Live.

If anything - and of course this is probably true only in the most infintessimal measure - I'm doing Cakewalk a favor by making Dimension more desirable for Live users. I went from nearly jumping ship to using it exclusively now that I have this new Library.

sgx · Post by **sgx** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:07 pm

You should release a demo

I don't know if this is worth $10 to me. Maybe $5.

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:15 pm

There will be a "demo" tonight - consisting of one of the subfolders for free. I mentioned this in my admittedly way-too-verbose web page. (But, hey, I was really excited when I actually got this done!

)

At $5, it's not really worth the hassle for me. Frankly, I foresee selling this to 3 or 4 people. This was a lot of work, and honestly, it is a really big help if DimPro is your go-to soft. $10 to enhance a $250 synth in a $500 host, I don't think this is unfair.

But, you know, decide for yourself. I'll post again when the demo folder is up.

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:16 pm

oh ok so someone must already own dimension pro for this to work? then I don't think it's illegal. I thought you made a multi sample collection of dimension pro and then wrapped it up in racks to sell which would be copyright infringment.

I don't think you have any problems the way it is but I could be wrong.

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:21 pm

Gotcha, John. Yeah, repackaging the samples would definitely be non-kosher. I didn't do anything like that. The only possible exception they could take is with me re-using the preset names, but that would be a real stretch, considering half of those are based on other companies' trademarks.

I expect this to appeal to a select few users and fly right under the radar anyhow. But who knows, maybe the value of it will be apparent and it will pick up some steam. I don't really know how many DimPro + Live 6 users are out there in the first place.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:24 pm

sgx wrote:You should release a demo

I don't know if this is worth $10 to me. Maybe $5.

OK Kyle.

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:56 pm

Figures, the Cakewalk forums have been down for hours. I'd like to post a little something on the Dimension forum about this.

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:50 am

OK, the "demo" is now available for download on that same page:

http://www.decrementia.com/content.asp?pg=Other

I chose the "Electronica Collection" subfolder as a sample because it contains multiple subfolders, offers a pretty wide variety, and does not include any content from the Expansion Packs. (The racks with presets loaded from expansions you have not yet installed may produce errors when loaded - I haven't tested this for myself.)

To put the sheer quantity into perspective, the sample file weighs in at 1.8M; the complete file is approximately 23M.

james Egan · Post by **james Egan** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:07 am

Cool Idea.
Do the Racks have knobs mapped? BTW $10 is very fair.

Thanks,
Jamie

jamester · Post by **jamester** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 5:34 am

I will check this out asap...this sounds pretty cool, and $10 is more than fair to cover all the gruntwork.

Question: Does this include the two Expansion Packs or just the original library?

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:38 pm

Hello Jameses.

Thanks for your comments re: the price. I agree, of course - any less and I'd effectively be giving it away.

First the good news: this includes both expansion packs in addition to Dimension Pro. (Note that this has only been tested on my own system, so I don't know what the ramifications will be if you don't have Exp1 and 2 installed. I imagine you'll get the wrong preset on Rack load, or perhaps an error message. In any event if there's any problem, I'll either help you work it out or refund your money.) The Expansion Content is folded into the main content wherever corresponding folder names existed. If anyone really takes exception to this, I can separate them out again to get back to the original hierarchy. I simply started out with what would be most convenient for me, and then as we picked up the pace and ambiguities arose, started to default to the original Cakewalk folder layout. All in all, you should find it's quite sensible. It's also very easy to tweak it to your own preferences, which you'll almost certainly do as you begin working with it.

Consider that I developed this for myself, so if you find any significant problems, I'll be as motivated as anyone to get them fixed, and I'll send any updates your way.

The semi-bad news: I haven't mapped any macros (knobs) to Dimension parameters. To be perfectly honest, this didn't even occur to me until I was nearly done, but further, it would have made the process impractically time-consuming (if it wasn't already). Besides which, I think everyone's tastes would vary as to which parameters should be mapped, and how.

What amazes me, and what prompted this effort, is that there is no easy way to select a VST preset from the plugin instance at the bottom of the Live screen. (If someone can prove me wrong... well at this point I will feel VERY stupid LOL.)

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:46 pm

(scratch this post, just got into Cakewalk.com)

pulsoc · Post by **pulsoc** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:45 pm

Johnisfaster wrote:oh ok so someone must already own dimension pro for this to work? then I don't think it's illegal. I thought you made a multi sample collection of dimension pro and then wrapped it up in racks to sell which would be copyright infringment.

I don't think you have any problems the way it is but I could be wrong.

The legal eagle strikes again...