Problem with Pigments 5 when mixing down to MP3

Software Instruments Pigments
#1

Hi all,
I just recently bought Pigments 5 and am running into a problem with it.
I am using a factory preset called “Really long keys” and one that is called “Cooks knife”.
I am using Mixcraft 9 as my DAW. When I am playing my song inside Mixcraft, it is all sounding fine. However, as soon as I mix it down to MP3 (or WMA or OGG) the sound is off by about half a note lower. Rest of the instruments I use all sound fine, it is just the instruments from Pigments that get messed up. Does anyone know if I am doing something wrong here? Is it a bug in Pigments? A bug in my DAW?
I have tried recreating the tracks that pigments is on from scratch and nothing seems to help.

Also Pigments 5 VST3 crashes my DAW where Pigments 4 VST3 seemed to work fine.

#2

I’ve never used Mixcraft, in fact I’ve never heard of it. Does it not allow you to bounce-out your project in real time so you can hear what the flat file is going to sound like?

#3

I am sorry, I am new to the whole music making thing. What do you mean by “bounce-out your project in real time so you can hear what the flat file is going to sound like”?
I mean, I can play the music inside my DAW and there it sounds fine. Only when I try to save it to MP3 or the like the problems start.

#4

Sorry I have used terms you are not familiar with.

Firstly I have zero experience of Mixcraft, so please bear that in mind with my responses. I had actually never heard of it until you typed it.

In my DAW (Logic Pro) the option to export a multitrack project as a stereo flat file is called ‘bouncing’. There are options to do it in real time (where the computer plays the project while it saves the file) or what Logic calls ‘offline’, where it doesn’t play the project, it just runs through it silently as fast as your CPU can handle. I never use Offline when the project contains midi instruments (such as, Pigments), because sometimes the final result can sound different to what I hear when I play the project within the DAW. I always choose real time.

Presumably Mixcraft must have something similar.

#5

Thanks for explaining that!

For as far as I can tell, Mixcraft does not have that option. I can mix it down to either MP3 (or FLAC, OGG, WAV, WMA) or I can mix it down to Stems. I have never used that option, but as far as I can tell from the screen that pops up when I select that option, it saves every track to its own WAV file.

I just installed a trial version of Mixcraft 10 though and for as far as I can tell, that doesn’t cause the same problems.
Although even Mixcraft 10 still crashes when I try to load the VST3 instead of the VST.

EDIT: Since Pigments 4 did not crash my DAW with the VST3 and I am curious if it would give me the same problems when mixing down, is there a way to downgrade to version 4 when I got 5 installled?

#6

Not sure…maybe someone with better knowledge can chime-in.

It’s too bad Mixcraft seemingly doesn’t have an option to bounce/export in real time. It guarantees your stereo file will be just an exact copy of what you hear when you play your project normally.

If you’ve not yet committed financially to Mixcraft, you could perhaps consider choosing a better-known DAW for your PC. There are lots. Some are even free.

#7

I have bought it a few months ago and frankly, it was the first DAW I instantly understood. I looked into Fruity loops and Cakewalk in the past and found them to be quite overwhelming. Mixcraft has professional capabilities (or so the reviews told me :D) but it has a less intimidating interface. Besides, I made a few songs in Mixcraft now and I guess there is not an easy way to convert them to another DAW’s format (including automation, effects and what not).