Jason Neudorf

$39 for the upright, last year.

Purchased, because all the Melda stuff got upgraded to 16.05 and it gave me a nice warm fuzzy feeling.

IK tends to have really crappy upgrade policies in general. There's a crossgrade price, for anyone who's bought anything with an MSRP of $99 (ie, pretty much anyone), and a maxgrade price (for someone who has MAX of something). Deals seem to be on a "hardcover book" basis, more than loyalty. If you want something cheap, you need to wait and buy at the end of the cycle. Certainly don't expect any deals on upgrades unless you have a MAX product. Which isn't to say they're bad; if you like TONEX SE, and it has the thingies you want, go ahead; it's still cheaper than a couple guitar lessons, and you'll get it now, not in 2024.

"that said, its pretty solid, but something i only reach for after exhausting all my other options because the UX is frankly a pain" -- some guy who goes by "Cinaed" (he also dislikes that Melda is owned by the private equity that owns FL) In general: extremely powerful, less than friendly, but consistent across the line (the learning curve is steep, but applies everywhere).

mmmm, vibra-tomb https://www.waproduction.com/plugins/view/mvibratomb

Have been playing around with the Basic (demo version). The Pro version gives us extra tracks, full versions of some voices, and what else? At what point would we say "I need this!!!", because the basic version does seem pretty good on its own.

https://discuss.cakewalk.com/index.php?/topic/51127-ik-multimedia-total-studio-35-max-19999-jrrshop-rrp-99999/&do=findComment&comment=390351 I was surprised that they kept sales on TS3.5 as long as they did, but I doubt they'll give substantial deals on their star products for a while. If we're lucky we might get Toe-Necks SE for $49, or a good group buy. Best to save your pesos for groceries or drum lessons, and wait.

Strangely, I was able to find one. After logging in, I scrolled down the auth0 page, and found an egg, which had a 50% off code. But UJAM regular prices are rich enough that there wasn't anything I wanted. (it was something like EASTER2023-ZM blah blah-blah blah-3FG55BE).

OK, so here were my predictions from November '22: I'm surprised that there were 6 months of "catch up" sales at the $99 price point for TS3.5, but other than that, there's nothing unexpected. Not sure if I'll upgrade in 2024, but I'm sure by 2026, they'll have some new cool stuff. Or maybe I'll get something "free" with hardware.

$189 as upgrade from pigments (as compared to 149 now, don't think it includes minifreak).

There seem to be a lot of options; The BOCS bundle at 6GBP, various things from SoundIron at 4.18GBP, many 2GBP items from "Noisy Michael". I'm sure there are many bargain-bin specials that are quite good. Any thoughts on which one to choose? Edit: got the Notebook by Edu Prado. Looks fun.

The dynamic discounts almost sound enticing; 3 wedge force instruments as low as $8 each. Except nobody really likes them. The Unfiltered Audio stuff though ...

Retro aesthetic.

Now that's interesting. So IK is getting POSITIVE feedback on something. Nice!

The major issue with sample-based synths like Syntronik Mem-V is that some sounds from the real synth are intrinsically impossible. You get a small, finite set of pulse widths. Maybe modulated, maybe not. With a fully modelled synth, you can do a PWM pulse-width sweep, from x% to y% synced to 1/4 notes or whole notes, or anything in between. Or a sequence of sine waves that get "cut off" in the middle by a lower-frequency square wave. This allows for changes in harmonic content that you just can't get from single samples. It's probably the motivation for "wavetable" synths. Which doesn't mean that the sounds you get from this are bad, it's just limited.

Many libraries offer Beat for free via overdrive. But if you can't get it for free (via your local library's subscription) then this might be a great deal. https://downloadlibrary.overdrive.com/library/magazines/media/9530540

ooh, bazille presets.

With chromeaphone 2, the latest sets only worked as "presets" in AAS Player, but those originally mastered for Chromeaphone 2 still worked. One way to check is to look at the press section https://www.applied-acoustics.com/press/ . Anything after VS-3 released was released in 2018 would only work as presets (ie, String Theory, Fear Within, Masala 2). So "stranger strings", "masala", "aftermath" etc should work with VS-2. Of course, the macros added for VS-3 wouldn't be exposed.

Choirs maybe? I'm considering bought the Children's one in Ark 2.

Nice. I just wish there were a few more controls on AAS player to make use of instruments I don't have; even CC#74 for timbre would be nice. But I guess beggars can't be choosers.

I think IK may be going overboard with their use of exclamation marks. I know that I'm not jumping up and down to get a free pack of older stuff that I already own from TS3.5, with a full price sound pack. Oh well, I'm sure there'll be another sale come spring.

Reminded me of all the good things that come with Beat Magazine, free with my library card. Downloading Synthmaster BE, Trap Orchestra from issue 184, and yesterday got this month's Mystic Voices and an extra Bitwig 8-bit key.

I appreciate you giving your personal opinions here. It's much better to hear an opinion than just a quote from the manufacturer's blurb.

How do you get the bundle of all 3 expansions? Edit: nvm, go to the pigments overview page, above.

If no one has heard about them, it's not a deal. I've seen maybe 2 posts about it on KVR and Vi-Control. As a beginner, I'd be tempted to go for something like Addictive Drums, BFD3, Get Good Drums first, before even considering something like this. Or even Ugritone or Yurt Rock. I dunno about styles, though. Maybe they're boutique and cool or something, but my instinct says "no", without even listening, due to lack of buzz. Maybe someone with a real ear can listen to demos and say "ooh, they're raw/cooked/seasoned/??? in an interesting way" though.