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This week the free games on Epic Games is Islets. "Take to the sky and reunite a fragmented world in this surprisingly wholesome metroidvania! Help Iko adventure across beautiful hand-painted islands, receive letters from a quirky cast of characters, and face powerful monstrous adversaries." Get it here: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/islets-5f2670 Free until: April 4 Steam rating: Very Positive / Overwhelmingly Positive Steam page (for reviews & more info): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1669420/Islets/ Gameplay video:

https://lofiaudio.com/product/lofi-audio-vintage-resonance-upright-piano-embrace/ LoFiAudio has released a free piano for Piano day 24 in the free Decent Sampler format https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/ He also has other instruments available for free both in Kontakt and decent sampler format

https://sites.fastspring.com/fracturesounds/product/blueprint-toy-piano?coupon=BP-TP-280324

Dystopian Bow This haunting EBow effect was recorded on electric guitar in the same lush, concert hall environment as our orchestral libraries. It was taken from Symphobia 3: Lumina. The Free Orchestra 2 version 2.8.0 update is available in Native Access. https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra-2

AUDIOBRO SILVER Free inspiration… for free! A free and growing library offering five master instruments and a wide collection of Kontakt/NKS presets. What is SILVER? SILVER is a free, creative, growing collection of sounds. It started off as a deeply-sampled tongue drum, but we kept adding more and more diverse sounds to the library until we could create entire tracks with just this free tool. Listen to the demos for a few examples of what is possible. Silver is SIMPLE, DIVERSE, and FUN! It’s quick to load and packed with presets to get you started. It runs inside the free Kontakt Player and is NKS-compatible. The instruments (so far): Silver Tongue – a multi-dynamic tongue drum played with hands, soft mallets, and metal mallets. It includes Round Robin, unmuted and muted, isolated tongue tines as well a controllable resonance (“Reso”) Bowls – multi-dynamic hand-played bowls with Round Robin, slaps, mutes and semi-mutes Pads – Guitar Suspense, Slow Guitar Suspense, Strings Harmonics, Tongue Bells, Far Bells, Analog Wide, Analog Simple, Analog Zap Basses – Attack Bass, Attack Bass Monophonic, Simple Bass, Simple Bass Monophonic Electronic Drum Kit – A collection of General MIDI drums with various snares, kicks, rims, claps, and all the other regulars: hats, toms, crashes, tambourine, etc. SILVER is a “living library” and we will be updating with more instruments and samples as time goes by. https://audiobro.com/SILVER/

https://u-he.com/products/filterscape/ Filterscape 1.5.1 (revision 15664) Improvements: u-he menu Twitter link replaced with link to Mastodon VST2 > VST3 migration support for hosts using the IPluginCompatibility interface Fixed Bugs: Fixed: AU scan issue in Digital Performer Fixed: Junk setting not remembered in hidden folders menu Fixed: GUI loading issue if Windows account username contained special characters Fixed: Dialogs could appear behind plugin GUI in Cubase (Windows only) Fixed: registration dialog was not working in some Linux distributions Fixed: Windows system scaling was messing with positioning of dialog windows Fixed: Using Cmd+A in dialogs could lead to GUI disappearing (Logic only) Known Issues: CLAP note expression in legato/mono mode always using value of the first note RND button can get stuck if clicked too fast repeatedly (Windows only; close and reopen GUI to fix) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://u-he.com/products/satin/ Satin 1.3.3 (revision 15721) Improvements: Support for CLAP Support for native Silicon AAX Support for latest macOS Sonoma Updated VST3 SDK to 3.7.8 Improved GUI performance Improved dialog handling Browser: New option to show/hide folders in the context menu Browser: Saving search results now works via drag&drop as well Browser: Description and usage fields now scroll during text input in preset save dialog Browser: Folders can now be dragged & dropped onto tag smart folders Improved parameter automation in Pro Tools Registration dialog now purges unsupported characters (e.g. accidental spaces) Ctrl A/B "Set as Default" option added to MIDI Table page Windows installer now includes uninstaller Windows installer now remembers last used options Windows installer blocks installation to "C:\ProgramData" location u-he menu Twitter link replaced with link to Mastodon VST2 > VST3 migration support for hosts using the IPluginCompatibility interface Fixed Bugs: Fixed: Sound and analyser differences when switching to different sample rate (see notes in user guide) Fixed: Problem with parameter automation of a few parameters (Pro Tools only) Fixed: Group setting wasn't always remembered on project reload (Pro Tools only) Fixed: Adding new instance was deleting the group labeling (Pro Tools only) Fixed: Some parameter changes were not recorded in the undo/redo chain (Pro Tools only) Fixed: GUI glitch when switching to smaller GUI size (Pro Tools only) Fixed: Preset search input field did not receive mouse input (Pro Tools only) Fixed: Using Cmd+A in dialogs could lead to GUI disappearing (Logic only) Fixed: Plugin stayed mono when using "Mono > Stereo" option in Logic (native Silicon only) Fixed: Aborted preset save operation could lead to displaying wrong meta data in inspector Fixed: Using "duplicate" option in browser could crash if user permissions were missing Fixed: Renoise no longer needs "enable keyboard" option for menus to work Fixed: Plugin focus no longer needed for dropdown menus to work (Mac only) Fixed: Problem when loading init preset immediately after loading plugin (Mac only) Fixed: Scroll wheel not working on second display under some conditions (Windows only) Fixed: Installer now scaled correctly on high-resolution displays (Windows only) Fixed: Preset overwrite dialog was not showing up (Linux only) Fixed: Default Author was set to preset name (Linux only) Fixed: Auto versioning feature wasn't working (Linux only) Fixed: Right-click preset selection frame wasn't disappearing (Linux only) Fixed: Input field was empty when editing preset search result (Linux only) Fixed: Double-clicking menus could lead to crash (Linux only) Fixed: Dialogs always opened at left edge of the screen (Linux only) Fixed: Dialogs could be opened multiple times (Linux only) Other small fixes and improvements Known Issues: CLAP: plugin bypass button not always reacting in Reaper (workaround: use Reaper's bypass) Parameter automation issue with a few parameters in Ableton Live when using AU (use VST instead) Special Notes: AAX and CLAP are 64-bit only

Run NA 7.9.0 (2024-03-27) Sonoma compatibility, bugfixes ADDED macOS Sonoma compatibility FIXED On macOS 14, crash when switching Hypha presets whilst Kontakt is hosted in Logic Pro FIXED Crash when opening a Multi saved with Kontakt standalone whilst Kontakt is hosted in a DAW FIXED Visual flickers and crash when multiple Kontakt instances are hosted in Cubase 13 on Windows FIXED Width of Rack View side pane was recalled incorrectly after closing and reopening Kontakt instances FIXED Wave Editor slices are correctly recalculated when switching between Auto and Fixed grid settings FIXED KSP: Crash when UI ID of parent ui_panel is higher than the child ui_panel FIXED API: Console output to VS Code now works FIXED On macOS 14, main menu drop downs had no hover mode FIXED On macOS 14, filename path visible during drag and drop IMPROVED Drag & Drop from Files panel now works between different Kontakt instances KNOWN ISSUE On macOS, CoreAudio device needs to be reselected when updating from older Kontakt versions to 7.9.0. but this is only needed once KNOWN ISSUE In Pro Tools, Kontakt window is cropped when zooming larger than available display size KNOWN ISSUE In Single View, instrument loses focus when clicking level meter or blank space of the instrument header KNOWN ISSUE Crashes when loading content in Logic Pro in combination with the KKS MK3 keyboards, very rare if the KKS MK3 is not connected KNOWN ISSUE Crash on launching Kontakt standalone if Canon EOS webcam utility software is installed

Gearspace has a thread "Is this site a fake? - pluginboutique.SHOP" from mid March 2022!!!!

Yes there are plans to have purchase options outside of backstage pass which was intended to be the quickest way to get it right now. When details of it are known it will be announced.

You would have to ask WHY Facebook isnt policing this particularly as there advert got elevated to Sponsored which they would have had to pay for.

I have the e-instruments Wurli and think it's pretty good. I find it's greatest strengths are in how you can customize the sound with the GUI. Especially for the dead key sound (I think it's the unplugged Wurli key sound that they mix in -- which is what I love so much about the AcousticSamples Wurlie library demos). I've created my own presets turning up that dead key sound that I like more than their presets. But I'd say it's a library I'm really glad I bought. I also bought the 145B from SkyBox Audio which has slightly different characteristics than the 201A -- it's more pristine. I have a bunch of Rhodes libraries, with the Famous E being my favorite and I quite like the freebie Rhodes from Fractured Audio too. @jngnz This was the video that sold me on the W. I'd strongly recommend checking it out.

This offer contains among other stuff the course I bought in end of 2023 for 49$ and from which I got a letter of enrollment that I could send to many companies to get their EDU discount, which I got currently for most of those I requested. Now there’s an even better offer for 27$ and it includes more stuff: https://cinematiccomposing.com/composer-in-a-week-offer

Kontakt Player - use code PIANODAY https://teletoneaudio.com/products/golden-age-grand#

I didn't want to say anything, didn't want to sound ungrateful, but I just wasn't jelling with the big ol' U for turning snap on and off. I see in the new build that we get the old grid snap icon back. My muscle memory is most humbly grateful. My favorite them (Dark Gray) looks a lot more contrasty to me. Am I imagining things? It looks great! After playing around with the themes I may have to change my favorite to the Tungsten theme, it's quite good, perhaps better than CbB. And it just occurred to me that the icon change might be due to me switching themes. Doh.

My guitars rarely see the light of day, but every time I take my white Les Paul out of the studio and downstairs in the daylight, I am in for a surprise. This morning I realized that the lacquer had started to crack on the back as well as around the knobs on the front. It'll be 9 years next month, and it's been kept in a smoke free environment. You expect Stratocasters and Telecasters to get all beat up and worn, it makes them look cool - and my old Strat has seen a lot of abuse. But Les Pauls and Gibsons in general are a different thing, what with the set neck and all. So I’ve always taken great care of this one. Seems to me that it's aging rather quickly. But that's ok I guess. Gives it character.

Mastering The Mix LIMITER will be FREE via BPB on April 1st https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2024/03/27/mastering-the-mix-announcement/ To get a free copy, visit the Bedroom Producers Blog website at 5pm GMT on April 1st, 2024. The giveaway article will be visible on the homepage.

Just be aware of this guys. Popped up on my facebook feed as a sponsored link. Most of the comments on the post recognised it as scam at least

I ALWAYS ignore EVERY "Sponsored" post on any social media! Easy way to avoid scams.

As I said before, I panicked when Gibson pulled the plug. This time I shall wait till the dust settles and then determine which way I go as far as a DAW. I 'm just a hobbyist so most of the DAW's I have now would be fine for the little I do anymore.

Run IK Multimedia Project Manager to update.

FWIW, when subscriptions first started appearing I did an analysis of outright purchase + paying for updates compared to subscription costs. After several years, it turned out to be more or less the same because updates were less expensive than an initial purchase. The main advantage of a subscription was you had new features immediately instead of having them rolled into an update for which you had to pay. So, a lot of the decision-making process involves how often a company updates their software, and whether you need those updates. Cakewalk has a very good track record in that respect compared to, for example, Pro Tools.

Weird! I've never even notice this, and I've been mixing 150+ track scoring projects for 2 decades. Now that you've mentioned it, I want this feature!! Although I usually do all my track arranging in the timeline, which then auto updates ordering in the mix console...but would be very handy to be able to do this from console view. Having said that - $600 is a steal for a software of this complexity / feature set, regardless of a few strangely missing features.

Yan asked if it has anything new or special. They all have Babu's money 😉

And they shall call it karaoke...... Drunk people who, for reasons unknown to personkind, think they can actually sing will gather in holiday resort bars competing to see who can best murder a famous song and they shall be egged on by even worse singers who are thankfully too drunk to even make the few steps required to reach the microphone, but will still feel compelled to join in the choruses from their seats next to damp and sticky tables. By the following morning all their memories will either have been completely wiped or at least AI altered to make the memory seem like it was a fantastic one of a great night that was enjoyed by all and thus either way round will seek to make the same mistake again. Unfortunately, this handy mind-wipe phenomenon shall not be applied to the memories of those that experienced it only from their holiday apartment that proved to be not quite far enough away from the bar to not experience it. Those people will automatically reel in horror at hearing the first bars of "I will always love you" for many years to come and they will never be able to listen to Oasis ever again. So at least there is an upside.

https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/17-Reverb/11020-PSP-PianoVerb2-

For a limited time, we’re offering the incredible SampleTron II by IK Multimedia for only $39.99 - down from the regular $129.99. Extra $10 off with Loyalty code - check your emails! https://audioplugin.deals/product/sampletron-ii-by-ik-multimedia/

It's not just CS, it's all versions of TONEX and Amplitube.

Looks like Tonex CS has also been updated:

Dave Brubeck - Take Five

Talking about promos, bandlab has 30% off membership including backstage pass that includes both Sonar and Next for 104.99 for the first year. It doesn't get any better than that for pricing.

Sly and the Family Stone - Family Affair Definitely double.

Finally, something of interest from Rigid Audio. But it has been a long time coming; it was first scheduled to be released in October 2016.

That´s "Vocaloid" but with better sound voices and a "AI" tag

https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/53-Multi-Effect-/11990-BEAM

(previously*) Installed! *over a year ago

That actually would please me to no end. 🤣 🤣Ever hear the expression "Karma Always Finds a Way to Ballance Things Out?" 🤣🤣 I've never been one to hold a grudge, if it can be avoided, it isn't necessary, but I guess maybe I'm still bitter that Magix shut down ACIDplanet.com. For no reason, no explanation, and with a very quiet and VERY SHORT very fine print announcement warning. I lost hundreds of tunes and dozens of videos I published there, many of which I have no backups for. I had about 70k+ fans, 1000's of tunes by other artists I really liked that I can no longer get access to, lost contact with many friends and collaborators, and MAGIX Poofed it all out of existence with a simple flick of the switch, NUKING the Planet of ACID. Well in MAGIX's defense they did give us 2 weeks' notice to download and salvage everything we could, but due to very high traffic causing bottlenecks and crashes to their web servers, I for one didn't salvage much, and refused to purchase or upgrade any Sony Software from them. However, after a few years, I did in fact break down and upgrade Sound Forge Pro v10 to v15 and SpectraLayers Pro v4 to v7 both for $100 (us) flash sale. And upgrade Vegas Pro v7 to v18 for $150 (us) I figured I should drop the grudge on that considering I was also upgrading these apps from x32 bit to x64 bit should be an advantage all in itself, better performance, right? Well a RIGHT with Vegas Pro got several updated video codacs added & a noticeable performance boost with x64 version, and better more detailed enhanced acceleration and support for my AMD FirePro graphics card. which curiously, very curiously isn't branded as "Magix" Vegas Pro? 🤔 But with Sound Forge Pro? WRONG! Other than a face change with fancy new GUI grills, several useless bundles of Magix FX I don't want or like added, there are NO IMPROVEMENTS! In fact Sound Forge Pro 10 loads 2x as fast as v15, finds and REMEMBERS where all 3rd party FX plugins all by itself, & v15 DOES NOT! I still have Sony's ACID Pro 7 for access to archived projects and CD & DVD Architect 5 up and running on my computer. Contrary to popular beliefs, I sell quite a significant bit more CD's at live concerts then download cards or USB drives. Why? Because we typically make more money selling "Merch" playing live venues then we will get from a bar, cafe, or outdoor festivals or whatever. CD's and Tee-shirts sell, download cards or USB drives DON'T. Only the Kiddies want them, but the kiddies have an unusually warped sense of entitlement. Kiddies don't believe in having to be paying for the quality, or for paying for anything or supporting their favorite artists, the kiddies want muzac to come out of their cellphones, and they want everything for free. And even curiouser And even curiouser SpectraLayers Pro 7 was branded Steinberg, and no significant improvements or differences in performance than Sony's v4 x32 version. 🤯 7 was branded Steinberg, That was a "Surprise", guess I missed the press release if there even was one, but no significant improvements or differences in performance than Sony's v4 x32 version. However, I don't think Steinberg is very concerned about improving upon that. I'm thinking they are throwing up their hands to all these new free A.I. apps doing the same things all to easily in seconds that takes hours of detailed work to achieve with SpectraLayers Pro 7.

The Orb - Supernova At The End Of The Universe

Least we forget that Bandlab has been giving us SONAR Rebranded with EXCELLANT support and very useful and thought-out workflow improvements since they took over back in 2018 FOR FREE. I don't see them taking advantage of us to be much of a problem.. 🤔 Especially considering that CbB will continue to work on your computer unsupported, just like SONAR still continues works on your computer unsupported. SONAR Platinum still works great & extremely STABLE on my computer even though it hasn't been updated since Bandlab took over. I still use SPLAT frequently to open & work on older projects, before saving them to updated revisions in CbB. I have to keep SPLAT on my computer anyway because I have LOTS of GREAT 3rd party plugins registered to it, I PAID for LOTS of extra ProChannel modules & plugins that aren't included in CbB that I really wouldn't want to live without. 👍👍 Rapture Pro is much more stable running in SPLAT, not so much in CbB, but unfortunately it has been discontinued, but that's not too much of a problem because I still have Dimension Pro & Rapture installed and everything else does in fact work great in CbB. That would be a MAJOR PROBLEM for Cubase because they drop support for older software, and no longer support VST2.😵 So if you are a fan of Cubase and Waves™ plugins, you better be keeping an eye out for Waves plugin update/support deals. They are very reasonable and ultimately affordable, more so for us peeps using a free version of CbB.. However, even though I highly recommend doing so, if ya use CbB, you DON'T HAVE TO UPGRADE your Waves™ plugins because just because Waves will no longer support and improve functionality of their FX plugins without paying a nominal service charge, they still guarantee that they will WORK. But they can't guarantee that Steinberg won't allow them to. That being said, I found to be true over and under the course of 30 years or so that Cakewalk has always been approx. at least 30% cheaper than Cubase.... And approximately 50% more stable & POWERFUL, least we forget much more user friendly, what with being backwards compatible, TIMELY SUPPORT, and those little things like being forced to upgrade all your VST, VST2 FX plugins for the new latest & greatest Cubase version release. 😒 Another thing I've curiously observed over the decades is that's always given me fits of the "chuckles" is, Cubase users can always come to the Cakewalk Forums & HERE to the CbB Forums to discuss and find working solutions for Cubase, or any other software for that matter, FASTER and in a very courteous and timely manner from some of the friendliest, knowledgeable Cakewalk power users in any and all tech forums you can find anywhere. OK sure, to be fair, our CbB user forum gets invaded by it's fair ***** clowns who can't tell the difference between a tech site built upon empirical & scientific Audio/MIDI facts and truths are greatly appreciated, compared to a social media website where 'opinions' & 'beliefs' rule the house for 'winning' some kind of 'competition' normal honest peeps never even wanted to get involved in, and facts and truths get so buried under the blur of the sheer numbers of likes & thumbs ups by likeminded 'fans' &'friends' whom most likely don't even, nor ever will, know their real names, personally meet, or actually, in the real world, really like or know each other. 😜 And just so you know, I am NOT a Steinberg or Cubase hater. I still use their SpectraLayers Pro. But I've been using it before they appropriated it from MAGIX who appropriated it from SONY Software Division who actually created it. And I'm a fairly big fan of using Cubasis in my iPhone. It's a lot of fun for about an hour with 2 dynamic mics, about a 1/2 hour using 1 condenser mic requiring phantom power, wired to a battery powered IK Multimedia iRig Pro Duo audio/MIDI interface with it. 😉 👍👍 10-15 minutes using a Universal Audio Volt 476.👎

Try the Ctrl key. BTW, when switching tools, if you use the F keys to do it you can hold down the function key (in this case F8) to switch to the tool you want, and if you don't release it until you want to switch back, it will automatically switch back to whatever tool you were using before (in this case the Smart Tool).

Installed!

I just spent 2 hours with Mixcraft using it for the very first time. I have yet cracked the manual. I created a drum loop dragged it out with out issues. I added my guitar- I quickly edited a few bloopers. I even used Melodyne which seems to work better here. I recorded bass, converting it to midi and just finished editing it. If it had a smart tool I’d be happier but you quickly get used to shot cuts. The thing that makes this work is everything is clearly labeled and intuitive. Not bad at all for a super low price ( it’s on sale) I too am planning on carrying on with Sonar but have definitely decided I will not Lease it. And I now have a general idea of what prices are offered by the competition.

The more I use it, the more I'm growing to really appreciate the clean lines everywhere

I have been beta testing it and so far I really like it. Its simplicity I really like, it has more than enough for what I need. And where our band is concerned the cross platform aspect is a great advantage because two members are on MAC. I could really see myself moving to NEXT tbh. Sonar is as always excellent, but the simplicity of NEXT appeals to me tbh .. we will see

Looking good AND supports user samples!

Update - I decided to open an Etsy shop to see if I could sell a few ukes, and fund the next instrument design. Would you like your own custom, 3D printed uke? I'd be happy to give a discount to forum members thanks to all the help and feedback that has been provided along the way in my musical journey. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1696540481/3d-printed-soprano-ukulele This one has been quite the project. I got it into my head a while ago that it would be fun to write and record a song on an instrument that I made. Since my woodworking skills are non-existent, I turned to 3D design and printing. Since I was doing 3D printing, that meant the instrument was going to be a ukulele. Designing and printing a ukulele that sounded halfway decent turned out to take a fair bit longer than I was planning. But I'm pretty happy with the result. Ukology is the demo song, using the 3D printed ukes. Hope you enjoy. And if you have a 3D printer, and would like to print one, you can get the files here: https://www.printables.com/model/806849-soprano-ukulele/related#tabs Jeff

And I thought I had done a number on my Strat... Of course it's black, but still... Spilled beer and wine on the electronics countless times, played it out in the rain, threw it around on the stage, stepped on it with my boots, smash it against a tombstone, and it was kept in a small room where I used to chain-smoke for almost 2 decades. I did sand the upper part a little to make it more even because there were deep dents there and it wasn't comfortable. I've also sanded the back of the neck a bit last year and adjusted the truss rod for the first time. Other than that and cleaning up the pots and switch using deoxit a couple of years ago, no work was done on it since I bought it in 1996. It has the mandatory cigarette burn on the headstock and the fretboard finish is chipped in several places but not that bad. It's hard to believe that it is now older than the very first Strat I ever played when I was 12 was back then - a black 1957 with a white pickguard which became my holy grail and one of the reasons I eventually bought this one. 1957 seemed like ancient history to me at the time (1984)..

Never sold at $25, I think one is confusing this with our AK9x plugin.. Rekraft was launched on the 25th of March at intro price of $59 and with the coupon at $49. It will never sell at lower than that. I am the developer and CEO of Beatskillz. So rest assured .

"I don't know!" *WHOOOOFFF!!!" 😁

They're running out of available version numbers before 8.0

Dusty Springfield - Windmills of your Mind