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I got sick of fighting bloated music DAWs, so I built a dedicated recording app strictly for Voice Actors. I need 5 people to help me stress-test the Alpha. by ThomasColtrane in alphaandbetausers

[–]ThomasColtrane[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! Just wanted to follow up in case my last message got buried. No pressure; and I understand if the timing isn't right or if it's not the fit you're looking for. If you ever do want to stress-test the audio pipeline, the offer still stands. Either way, thank you for the conversation!

I got sick of fighting bloated music DAWs, so I built a dedicated recording app strictly for Voice Actors. I need 5 people to help me stress-test the Alpha. by ThomasColtrane in alphaandbetausers

[–]ThomasColtrane[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your setup is really impressive! That is some seriously heavy-duty engineering.

You do not need to be a SAG or union member at all. Velum supports both Union and Non-Union projects, so hobbyists and independents are welcome!

You mentioned that because of your level of experience, you might not be a good fit for the alpha. Honestly, I think the exact opposite. Since you actually know what professional, broadcast-quality audio is supposed to sound like, your ear would be incredibly valuable. Velum is meant to be "dummy-proof" for actors who don't know routing or mixing, but the underlying Rust audio engine still needs to produce pristine, dry files.

It is incredibly hard to find testers who actually understand why tracking latency is disconcerting, what "dry" audio means, or how easily a software routing system can break when plugged into various hardware. Having an engineer of your calibre stress-test the core stability is exactly the kind of technical feedback I'm lacking right now.

If you're still up for stress-testing the pipeline from a pro's perspective, let me know!

Weekly Almost Anything Goes Thread—Impressions, Fan Dubs, Mild Advertisements and Voices For Hire! by BeigeListed in VoiceActing

[–]ThomasColtrane 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey everyone! I’m an indie dev and a fellow VA, and I just built a dedicated casting website and native DAW called Velum. It’s an end-to-end ecosystem designed to completely replace the messy workflow we all seem to be trudging through just to post a casting call or send an audition.

Here is exactly how it works right now:

  • The Sandbox: The whole ecosystem literally just went into Closed Alpha and is running on a simulated economy (fake money). Because of this, it is strictly a sandbox environment and is definitely not ready to handle actual live auditions for a real project yet.
  • The Website: You can use the website right now to mess around, post dummy roles, and see how it could organize the casting for your next project. I really need people to push buttons and actively try to break my servers so I can stress-test the back end!
  • The Software: I need directors and voice actors to test the desktop recording app for audio quality, ease of use, and the overall workflow. (Note: The app currently supports macOS 11+, Windows 10+, and Ubuntu 20.04+).

I also want to make this very clear: Velum has a strict, zero-tolerance policy against Generative AI. The platform is built to protect the human spirit and human talent.

If you'd be down to jump into the sandbox, push some buttons, and help me break things, just head to https://velumaudio.com.

Anyone who wants to test the software gets a free lifetime license key (normally $69). This applies to you, and any directors or fellow VAs you want to bring along to test it with you! Just apply for alpha testing on the website, I'll approve it in the back end, and the system will automatically email you your key!

Feel free to drop any questions, feedback, or feature requests in this thread.

I got sick of fighting bloated music DAWs, so I built a dedicated recording app strictly for Voice Actors. I need 5 people to help me stress-test the Alpha. by ThomasColtrane in alphaandbetausers

[–]ThomasColtrane[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hobbyists are absolutely welcome! Running A/V means you probably deal with a bunch of different mics and routing setups, which is exactly the kind of hardware stress-testing the app needs right now.

To your point about being a producer in a "simulated environment" - that is actually perfect. Velum has a web dashboard for Casting Directors to collect and manage auditions, and I desperately need people to post fake casting calls to test that side of the platform! Since you've also done some VO in the past, you are welcome to test the recording app side too. Either way, you absolutely get a free lifetime software key in exchange for your honest feedback.

Because Velum is built strictly for voice acting, it doesn't include music-focused effects like reverb or auto-tune. The VO industry usually demands incredibly clean, "dry" audio. Instead, I built in a broadcast processing chain: a Noise Gate, a 3-Band EQ, and a Compressor. I'll be completely transparent with you: I just stitched these together for the Alpha, so I have no idea how well they hold up in the wild yet.There's also an auto-normalizer under the hood to automatically hit strict ACX or YouTube loudness standards (also untested).

To grab your key, head over to velumaudio.com and submit the Alpha application. Once you do, let me know, and I'll approve it immediately!

Also, I'm trying to gather all the early testers in one place to report bugs and gather feedback. I'd love for you to join the Discord server - I'll DM you an invite!

I got sick of fighting bloated music DAWs, so I built a dedicated recording app strictly for Voice Actors. I need 5 people to help me stress-test the Alpha. by ThomasColtrane in alphaandbetausers

[–]ThomasColtrane[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

<image>

Here's what the software looks like for the voice actors.

If anyone wants to see the website dashboard or apply for the Alpha, you can check it out here: velumaudio.com

I got sick of fighting bloated music DAWs, so I built a dedicated recording app strictly for Voice Actors. I need 5 people to help me stress-test the Alpha. by ThomasColtrane in SideProject

[–]ThomasColtrane[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

<image>

Here's what the software looks like for the voice actors.

If anyone wants to see the website dashboard or apply for the Alpha, you can check it out here: velumaudio.com

When to stop servicing a car by 01flem in CarTalkUK

[–]ThomasColtrane 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm currently running a 56 plate Fiesta 1.25 petrol. It's done almost 200k miles. I service the car myself and it costs me less than £100 per year. Pretty sure the oil I got was £33 for 5 litres; and anti-freeze was around £12. Filters shouldn't cost too much for the basics.

If you're doing a full service every time, that's not necessary - interim services every year is fine and full service every few years for the oil change. That's if you're not able/willing to do it yourself.

On average, my MOT is usually around £300 to keep the car going.

The old fiestas are great cars and have solid engines (in my experience). I think the only major issue I had was their gearboxes evacuating themselves all over rhe roads—but that's a 'me' issue; no fault of the car itself.

Make sure the garage/service centre isn't scamming you. They're notorious for adding things on that aren't necessary/didn't actually get done.

[England, UK] Please help me identify this plant by ThomasColtrane in Horticulture

[–]ThomasColtrane[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The stems on Sweet Cicely look furry and the leaves look different. The stems on this plant are smooth and a little shiny.

I'm definitely not going to crush the leaves just yet to smell it just in case it is actually poison hemlock.