Browsers

[Tomaaz]

I've just started to use Vivaldi and, so far, it looks great. I also have Firefox installed.

[Ed Davis]

I've just started to use Vivaldi and, so far, it looks great. I also have Firefox installed.

Same here.  I've been a long time Firefox user (tried Chrome for a while too), but I tried Vivaldi a while back, and now I very rarely use Firefox or Chrome.

[B+]

FireFox better than Edge but not idiot proof enough for me, lost all my data thanks to it updating something.     

But can Vivaldi save me from this:

[Tomaaz]

But can Vivaldi save me from this:

No. But disabling adblock or paying can.

[ZXDunny]

That's usually a very good reason to leave the site and never return. Even Google's ads (which are generally regarded as being the safest on the web) occasionally serve up drive-by malware. If the site is worth me paying to access, I will but the number of those is very, very small.

Or you could just get creative with something like uBlock origin and block the adblock nag screen, which although complicated can be done.

[Tomaaz]

That's my point. Of course, I use ad-block, because searching Internet and discovering new sites without it is a nightmare. However, I'm happy to disable ad-block on sites I visit regularly. If Cybermonkey decided to put here a static banner to earn some money for hosting, I wouldn't have problem with disabling ad-block on this site. If 3/4 of the screen was used for ads in form of video clips, popups etc., I would simply stop visiting this forum. You can not expect to get everything for free and without ads.

[ZXDunny]

Oh, absolutely. But to make it crystal clear - I will only, only pay a site's owner for the content. If I'm paying to remove ads, then it's a no-sale and never return.

[Tomaaz]

The problem is that some people are never happy. They don't want to pay for anything, they don't want to see ads. There was this crowdfunded magazine called "Linux Voice". No ads in it, but some people still kept moaning about the price which was about... £5. It's gone, now. There is also beginner-friendly DAW called MuLab. Full version costs €69 Eur, but for nothing you can have version limited to four channels only. It comes with no ads, no dodgy stuff (toolbars, spyware, shareware itp.) included in the installation file, but when I once recommended it, I was told that I shouldn't be doing it, because the author is extremely greedy ("How dare he limit the free version to four channels only!?").

[Cybermonkey]

Hey, seems I have to start a crowdfunding campaign like: Ad free retro game coding and BASIC forum. "Pay what you want".
No, just kidding, of course ... 
Actually you get this forum for free, the only thing I ask is to take part of the community now and then. (There are still some memmbers who never wrote a line nor visited the forum even twice - they will be deleted soon).

[ZXDunny]

Professionally, I write DAW software for a living. We provide lifetime free updates - you pay once and never pay again, and we add seriously useful and cool new stuff for every update. Our DAW can be used for free, but you can't re-load anything you've saved.

We're also pretty cheap for a major DAW too, but the amount of bitching we get when we change our protection systems is phenomenal - people asking why their cracks or reg keys no longer work... it's hilarious. We tell them to buy it... but no, they won't. And then when we take down their social media presence for broadcasting the use of our software (and monetising it no less) we get all sorts of reprisals.

Thing is, when I was a kid I had zero income so pirated the crap out of everything. But that all changed once I got a job. We do understand what it's like to want something but not have the means to pay for it, but people need to understand this stuff doesn't grow on trees.

[Tomaaz]

Professionally, I write DAW software for a living.

What's the name of it?

[ZXDunny]

Professionally, I write DAW software for a living.

What's the name of it?

FL Studio.

[Tomaaz]

FL Studio.

Wow! For those who don't know - it's one of the most populas and best DAWs.

[Mike Lobanovsky]

<Offtopic>

Kudos Dunny,

And while we're at it, could you possibly suggest some MS Windows based DAW that would emulate more or less veritably the Hammond B3 organ, as a built-in feature or plugin, that I can run on a desktop PC? I'm currently using Apple's Garage Band (that's the only fair application I could find for my MacBook) but I'm somewhat irritated by having to use an alien OS and app in my otherwise PC-based audio tool chain. Another bottleneck is a relatively limited set of Hammond features that Garage Band's Hammond plugin offers.

Needless to say the lower the price of the DAW/plugin bundle and the richer the feature set, the better.

</Offtopic>

[Tomaaz]

Mike, have a look at  this site.

EDIT This one is free.