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Certainly appreciate the UJAM freebie! But I am stumped with how to use this thing. Maybe it's just me, with 100+ synths, but I'm usually able to unravel a synth's use case in a short time. Still scratching my head here though... 🤔

Got it! Great lens, but is a bit heavy, feels like carrying a brick. It's rare to get a fixed aperture at all focal lengths in a less-expensive zoom though, so it's a go-to for lower light at f4. Plus with the Sony anti-shake built into the body, you can take advantage of that with any lens! Another decent Minolta lens that I found used is the 100-300 APO. That's like 450mm equivalent and relatively lightweight. Unfortunately it's only f4.5-5.6, so you really need a tripod for that unless you are in bright daylight.

I already had the Minolta Maxxum 7 (35mm film) with some Minolta A mount lenses, so it was a virtual no-brainer to transition to the Sony Alpha DSLR with the same lens mount. Found some more used Minolta lenses in a local camera shop and grabbed them up! The only disadvantage was that the APS-C 1.5x crop sensor on the Sony digital pushed the effective focal length of these lenses out from the full frame film camera. So in effect my standard 50mm lens now became a short telephoto and now my 35mm lens was my "standard" lens.

I shoot with a Sony α700 (DSLR-A700), which is almost a vintage camera now. I downloaded the Capture One Express (Sony) and it is able to read my Sony .arw (RAW) files. So we'll give it a run and see what's up... At least the price is a DEAL!

Lightroom 6 + Photoshop Elements combo have met my needs for 10 years. I have tried other tools and they just haven't clicked for me. I'm not a pro, and don't have a pro budget. But I have owned a camera since I was a kid, including several film SLR's, and developed my first roll of b&w film in a makeshift darkroom at home in the early 1970's.

Actually I fall more into the photographer type of user, rather than graphic design. Instead of Photoshop style pixel editing, I have more need for digital darkroom tools. I guess if there was an area of photography that I would really be interested in exploring deeper beyond developing and adjusting from RAW, it would be with focus stacking, exposure stacking, and HDR. I have an older model DSLR that only has exposure bracketing, and none of that other new-fangled stuff in-camera, so I'm in manual territory in that regard...

I know that feeling now and then... 🙄

Here is a list of what's included. Just run through it to see what you are missing... unless you have forgotten what you already have, LOL! https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/ts3/index.php?p=whatsincluded

If you are referring to Sunset Sound and Fame, I forgot to mention that I still do lack Fame. Sunset Sound is very cool, and Fame would be another nice addition!

The anxiety meter just redlined here today! 🌡️

If that's all that you are really interested in, best to wait to see if they are included in TS 4 MAX. That's what I'm doing, as I already have everything in TS 3.5 MAX except for the latest MODOs, and Sampletron.

Don't plan on selling any IK licenses. There is a $19.99 transfer credit required for each license, so it hardly makes it worthwhile... https://www.ikmultimedia.com/faq/index.php?id=44

No updates means that's actually a compelling reason for me to drop it hard! I have other photo editors, raw developers, photo catalogs, and graphics and paint tools. I only picked Affinity up at v1 because it was a good deal at $24.99, and appeared to offer something fresh. But I never really found a good use for it. I also have Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020, Adobe Lightroom 6 (perpetual), Corel Painter 2022, Paintshop Pro 2022, Aftershot Pro 3, & CorelDraw Graphics Suite 2019. And a nearly dead early version of Photoshop 6 that still runs on a Windows XP virtual machine.

I would probably choose the Cherry Audio emulated version of the Synthex over the IK sampled version... But I have enough synths already, so anything new goes on the back burner wish list for now. Trying to save money... 🙄

I got excited for about 3 seconds with the ST squared deal. But the freebies list is just a re-hash of existing titles that many folks may already own, with none of the new titles listed.

When is TS 4 MAX due to arrive???

I already have everything on the "Free Products: The following are the products you can choose for free" list! LOL, moving right along... nothing here for me!

The only Affinity product that I have is Affinity Photo 1. My price for Photo 2 is $40.99. Is there any compelling reason to update to Photo 2?

It seems that FileSilo went back to issues from CM #310 and newer (such as this #311) to reinstate the word quiz. Assets from earlier issues still appear to be open.

I have generally stayed with the arps/seqs included in a synth, and not really used any host or plugin based arps/seqs. But these are due for a deeper look for sure!

Not a Kontakt instrument, but if I mentioned a B-3 it would have been the IK Multimedia B-3X. It's probably all you need, and is officially endorsed by Hammond, includes the Leslie cabinet section and much more. All the settings, controls and circuits were modeled to IK’s exacting standards and every detail checked and re-checked with the team at the Hammond Organ Company. $129 at IK. https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/hammondb3x/ It is both a standalone or plugin instrument, not part of SampleTank. For serious organists you can use separate controllers via 3 MIDI channels to control upper & lower, and bass pedals.

That was recent history, after Tracktion broke free from Mackie's clutches, where they were unfortunately left nearly abandoned for 5 years... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracktion_Waveform Tracktion was developed by independent UK designer/programmer Julian Storer, and released in 2002 by UK-based Raw Material Software. US-based Mackie is a division of LOUD Technologies specializing in studio recording and live sound products. It took over the distribution of Tracktion in 2003. It was sold in standalone, boxed retail versions and bundled with Mackie, Tapco, and Echo Audio computer-audio interfaces and digital-capable mixing boards. Although no official word came from Mackie, the user's understanding was that Tracktion had been discontinued as the company issued no updates, communication, or announcements on it since January 2008. However, at the January 2013 NAMM show, Tracktion's original developer Julian Storer announced he had reacquired control of the software and would continue developing Tracktion with his new Tracktion Software Company.

Mackie acquired Traction many years ago. How did that work out? 🤔

Ooohhhhhh...

Bapu is fire!!! 🤣