Recent posts
#1
Music, Videos, and Playlog discussions / Re: Any such thing as a perman...
Last post by milky - June 10, 2025, 11:49:11 PMUpgrading hardware and software is almost inevitable at some stage. If your hardware is reliable and you don't NEED to have the latest and greatest version of Windows or the flashiest laptop, you can do what Socialdancer is doing and stick with the same platform. I used Ots on a lowly Pentium 3 Thinkpad for a long time after both hardware and software had moved on.
Eventually, this may become a problem. Ots may release a new version which is not backwards compatible. The soundcard you use may never release a new version of the drivers for that early OS. The same goes for the VSTs you use. it is simply not possible to continue to support every piece of hardware and software out there forever. If you use Google Chrome as your browser, they will tell you up-front that they only support the last two versions of Windows. If you try to use it on earlier versions, it may run, but it will warn you that some screens may not be able to be rendered as intended and some websites may fail to load completely.
So, given that you are going to have to suffer the pain at some stage, what can you do to minimise this? Firstly, your music should NEVER be on the same machine as Ots. These days, large capacity external drives are cheap and have plenty or space for all but the largest music collections. Get two, and update both copies using something like Filesynch each time you make changes to your library. Alternatively, set up a NAS (Network Attached Storage) elewhere on your network. Most routers these days come with a sharable USB, so you don't necessarily need specialised hardware. If you have a subscription to a decent amount of Cloud storage, this may also be an option, but you need to ensure reliable download bandwidth to avoid glitches on playback.
OK, we've got the music off the Ots machine. You also need to store copies of your Ots program (and the licence text file), any VST installers, audio drivers etc in a safe place. You should also take screen images of any setup parameters you have used to set up all these addins. This is important to quickly get back up and running. It is also VERY wise to take regular copies of the OML file. I actually have a small script which takes a copy every hour that Ots is running and I keep the ten most recent iterations of this. This can save hours of scanning to rebuild this critical database if that file get corrupted.
When the big day comes where you have to install on a new machine (or re-install after crash recovery), you aply to Ots Corp *first* to get a licence replacement. They monitor the number of times you make a request and, if things look suspicious, they may query the reasons why, but, if it has been a reasonable time since the last application you should have no problem. Similarly, if you have licensed VSTs and other licensed support software, get this out of the way up front.
Now you just have to install Ots and set it up using the screen dumps you have saved. The same goes for support softare, drivers etc. You then point Ots to the external drive where your music is, copy the latest version of your OML file over the blank one that comes with a fresh install of Ots and you are up and running.
Eventually, this may become a problem. Ots may release a new version which is not backwards compatible. The soundcard you use may never release a new version of the drivers for that early OS. The same goes for the VSTs you use. it is simply not possible to continue to support every piece of hardware and software out there forever. If you use Google Chrome as your browser, they will tell you up-front that they only support the last two versions of Windows. If you try to use it on earlier versions, it may run, but it will warn you that some screens may not be able to be rendered as intended and some websites may fail to load completely.
So, given that you are going to have to suffer the pain at some stage, what can you do to minimise this? Firstly, your music should NEVER be on the same machine as Ots. These days, large capacity external drives are cheap and have plenty or space for all but the largest music collections. Get two, and update both copies using something like Filesynch each time you make changes to your library. Alternatively, set up a NAS (Network Attached Storage) elewhere on your network. Most routers these days come with a sharable USB, so you don't necessarily need specialised hardware. If you have a subscription to a decent amount of Cloud storage, this may also be an option, but you need to ensure reliable download bandwidth to avoid glitches on playback.
OK, we've got the music off the Ots machine. You also need to store copies of your Ots program (and the licence text file), any VST installers, audio drivers etc in a safe place. You should also take screen images of any setup parameters you have used to set up all these addins. This is important to quickly get back up and running. It is also VERY wise to take regular copies of the OML file. I actually have a small script which takes a copy every hour that Ots is running and I keep the ten most recent iterations of this. This can save hours of scanning to rebuild this critical database if that file get corrupted.
When the big day comes where you have to install on a new machine (or re-install after crash recovery), you aply to Ots Corp *first* to get a licence replacement. They monitor the number of times you make a request and, if things look suspicious, they may query the reasons why, but, if it has been a reasonable time since the last application you should have no problem. Similarly, if you have licensed VSTs and other licensed support software, get this out of the way up front.
Now you just have to install Ots and set it up using the screen dumps you have saved. The same goes for support softare, drivers etc. You then point Ots to the external drive where your music is, copy the latest version of your OML file over the blank one that comes with a fresh install of Ots and you are up and running.
#2
Music, Videos, and Playlog discussions / Re: Any such thing as a perman...
Last post by Kev - June 10, 2025, 09:06:51 PMIt is few and far between that I need to rebuild machines. Licencing etc is an evil necessity. If your Ots machine earns your bread then it should do nothing more than that. Then you should get many years of happy use between installs.
I store my Ots library in Google Drive, so if it ever corrupts I have a recent copy to restore. I don't use any VSTs etc as Ots outputs to a mixer which is then processed further down the chain.
I store my Ots library in Google Drive, so if it ever corrupts I have a recent copy to restore. I don't use any VSTs etc as Ots outputs to a mixer which is then processed further down the chain.
#3
Music, Videos, and Playlog discussions / Re: Any such thing as a perman...
Last post by socialdancer - June 10, 2025, 06:10:24 PMIn one case I don't! My old XP system is still working fine.
If you really have to re-install Windows then having your music collection on a separate drive/partition and recent backups of the media library makes it almost trivial.
If you really have to re-install Windows then having your music collection on a separate drive/partition and recent backups of the media library makes it almost trivial.
#4
Music, Videos, and Playlog discussions / Any such thing as a permanent ...
Last post by mikehende - June 09, 2025, 04:00:55 PMHey guys, how you all doing, hoping all is well with everyone.
Man, I am tired of having to reload windows and do my entire music setup from scratch whenever your pc has an issue and you need to reload Windows? Setting up OTSAV with the licensing issues is one ordeal and also the way my system is setup with Reaper and the VST fx is another. Having a 2nd pc is no help because that will get old after x amount of years.
Just curios how you guys deal with this issue of pc's getting outdated and having to reload your music system?
Man, I am tired of having to reload windows and do my entire music setup from scratch whenever your pc has an issue and you need to reload Windows? Setting up OTSAV with the licensing issues is one ordeal and also the way my system is setup with Reaper and the VST fx is another. Having a 2nd pc is no help because that will get old after x amount of years.
Just curios how you guys deal with this issue of pc's getting outdated and having to reload your music system?
#5
Music, Videos, and Playlog discussions / Re: Digitizing Cassette as one...
Last post by milky - May 26, 2025, 10:16:30 PMZoom right in on the waveform. Because of the size of the file, the total waveform is squeezed into the width of the window. If you use a wheel mouse, you can scroll the wheel to zoom. I think that I can see slight gaps around the 5 minute mark and about 12 minutes, but they will be much more obvious if you zoom in.
#6
Music, Videos, and Playlog discussions / Re: Digitizing Cassette as one...
Last post by mikehende - May 26, 2025, 04:24:51 PMRight, I'm ready to start and have imported a 'copy' of Tape 1 Wav file into GW. But even though there are gaps between the tracks I am not seeing any splits between the tracks as this screenshot of it is showing? What's best for me to do here please?
The start of Side B of the tape had been crossfaded over the end of Side A so that at around the 45 minute mark should be the only part which should not show a gap. The screenshot shows where the 1st track stops.
https://i.postimg.cc/YC5shRR2/goldwave-Tape-1.png
The start of Side B of the tape had been crossfaded over the end of Side A so that at around the 45 minute mark should be the only part which should not show a gap. The screenshot shows where the 1st track stops.
https://i.postimg.cc/YC5shRR2/goldwave-Tape-1.png
#7
Music, Videos, and Playlog discussions / Re: Digitizing Cassette as one...
Last post by milky - May 23, 2025, 12:05:50 PMWhatever you do, do NOT modify the master tape recording. Always produce "child" tracks from the master.
#8
Music, Videos, and Playlog discussions / Re: Digitizing Cassette as one...
Last post by mikehende - May 22, 2025, 07:10:06 PMOk guys, this being a holiday w/e, I will attempt this next week following the instructions given by Milky and will report back, thanks.
#9
Music, Videos, and Playlog discussions / Re: Digitizing Cassette as one...
Last post by milky - May 21, 2025, 10:04:07 PMYou can open the master track (with all tracks in it) in Goldwave, and then export each individual track as "Track01, Track02 etc"
Search the (very good) Help file for "Auto Cue". You will see that you can set a couple of parameters. 1) The noise level of the gap. If you set this to about -34 dB it should pick up only the quiet sections between the tracks. 2) the duration of the quiet section. If you set this to around two seconds, it should ignore any sudden quiet sections within the actual track. Once you have set these parameters, set the macro running and it should return a count of the number of tracks it can "see". If this corresponds with the number of tracks on that side of the tape, you can then export the separate tracks as CD quality WAV files.
Alternatively, load up the master file, highlight each "sausage" and copy to a new window. You can then manipulate each track to normalise etc and then Save As the correct name of the track. I still suggest adding a track number prefix so that they import into Studio in the same sequence as the tape. Once imported, you can edit the prefix from the track name.
Search the (very good) Help file for "Auto Cue". You will see that you can set a couple of parameters. 1) The noise level of the gap. If you set this to about -34 dB it should pick up only the quiet sections between the tracks. 2) the duration of the quiet section. If you set this to around two seconds, it should ignore any sudden quiet sections within the actual track. Once you have set these parameters, set the macro running and it should return a count of the number of tracks it can "see". If this corresponds with the number of tracks on that side of the tape, you can then export the separate tracks as CD quality WAV files.
Alternatively, load up the master file, highlight each "sausage" and copy to a new window. You can then manipulate each track to normalise etc and then Save As the correct name of the track. I still suggest adding a track number prefix so that they import into Studio in the same sequence as the tape. Once imported, you can edit the prefix from the track name.
#10
Music, Videos, and Playlog discussions / Re: Digitizing Cassette as one...
Last post by socialdancer - May 21, 2025, 08:39:51 PMAFAIK Goldwave's auto-split function only works while recording a new file, not when editing an existing one.
See Milky's Sausage analogy for the best way to split the large file. Work on a copy to be extra safe then you can always go back and start again. While you have the files in Goldwave/Audition you may want to de-noise and or normalise the tracks for best results before importing them into Studio.
See Milky's Sausage analogy for the best way to split the large file. Work on a copy to be extra safe then you can always go back and start again. While you have the files in Goldwave/Audition you may want to de-noise and or normalise the tracks for best results before importing them into Studio.