Spoke too soon...

Of course, my problems couldn't be solved that easily. Turns out the EnergyXT work-around only works before it is registered. So fixing the project file became a fairly high priority. Luckily, overwriting every previous instance of amplitube and deleting a few unused project tracks seems to have knocked some sort of sense into it.

EnergyXT, although it didn't solve my problem, is pretty damn cool. A lot of pro-guitarists use signal-splitting weirdnesses and guitar doubling to get the sound they want on their records. If you know what you're doing, it's actually pretty easy to simulate that sort of wiring in EnergyXT and get the same effect with a lot less pain than cranking around in Cubase would take. On the other hand, the Cubase built-in effects aren't available, which highlights my need for a good set of third-party effects. That powercore looks nicer by the minute...

All of which, in total, means that I have spent over a week now worrying about technology rather than music. Not a good feeling, all in.

VST woes

Now, this has been frustrating. I write guitar based music. As such, a fundamental part of my toolkit is my guitar amplifier. I use a tool called Amplitube which is entirely software-based. If you'd seen my recording space, you'd understand why. Anyway, my principal song recording tool is Cubase SX2, a computer based sequencer.

Imagine my horror when I load up an old song and discovered all the amplifiers had gone missing. You'd have to hear it to fully appreciate the effect but trust me, an unamplified electric guitar doesn't sound that good. Just to make it worse, Amplitube wouldn't even load up anymore.

So, I patch everything, repair everything, uninstall and re-install (did I mention that I've lost several days to this already?). No joy. Until finally it occurs to me that Amplitube was working last week when I was working on a newer song. In other words, it's Cubase that's the problem, not Amplitube. In particular, the project I'm working on is somehow corrupt.

Now, I suspect what's happened is that the project is from a time when Amplitube was in a different directory, but why it can't spot that it has moved (given that Cubase knows exactly where it is), and why it decides to just disable Amplitube because it's confused. However, the project file doesn't seem to include the location (I checked it in notepad) so I can't see how that works, either. Either way,

• It's a six month old project file.
• It's not working, and
• It's not even possible to export the settings in order to rebuild it.

So, Amplitube is working, but it won't work on this project that I've spent months on. Needless to say, I'm not happy. Then, it occurred to me to try a demo of EnergyXT, a weird sort of modular processor that can be hosted by Cubase. I've been thinking about this thing for some time anyway, and there's never a better time than the present.

Turns out EnergyXT is a bit of a pain to learn, because it doesn't come with a manual. But, it can load Amplitube, and my corrupt project can load it, so I can get guitars working again. Cool.

Of course, I've still lost the settings for the original amplifiers, which is the whole point of working in software. I'm going to see if I can recover the original settings.

Incidentally, needless to say, I have contacted technical support at IK Multimedia, but now that I understand the problem better, I doubt they can help, unless they've got a Cubase guru there. I haven't contacted Steinberg yet, because they make it so difficult to actually submit a support request. On the other hand, the guys at KVR have been helpful as always. Thanks guys.

Anyway, I think I'm going to buy EnergyXT, because it looks like a useful tool for managing complex signal chains, and because it's going to get me out of a tight spot. None of this, however, fixes my project file.

The UK Songwriting Competition

The UK songwriting contest is here again. I submitted two songs last year, neither of which got anywhere, sadly. The enormously talented Kevin Briggs did, however, so someone does actually listen to submissions.

The debate goes on about what exactly I should submit. My girlfriend reckons "everything" is a good idea, but I'm not particularly enamoured of the scattergun approach.

Anyway, I saw Kevin play as part of his Briggs & Co alter-ego on Sunday. Highly recommended if you appreciate good guitar playing (or impromptu performances of Elvis numbers, for that matter :) ).

At least they've given better guidance about categories this year, although I'm still at a loss to know where to put some of the stuff I write.