PavlovsCat

Aha, so I was right that you're a pro! It's you Hans, isn't it?!! Kidding. Yeah, I have one library from those Skybox Audio folks and it's the Wurli 145B and it is a beautiful, I'd even say perfect, sample library. One of my absolute favorites. But I knew from how in depth you've written about sample libraries and music over the years, that it seemed rather obvious that you're a pro. I just wanted confirmation. It seems like Skybox Audio -- the Hammer + Waves folks are one of those developers that consistently put out incredibly high-quality libraries. I definitely plan on buying more fom them in the future. Thanks for all of the advice, BTW. while I don't have the skill or budget to buy the stuff you own, I have learned from your posts and find your insights and stories interesting. P.S. To be clear, I had a typo that stated "I own Kirk Hunter." In fact, I've never owned Kirk or even rented Kirk, we're just friends and I've consulted to his company in the past! I meant to have written, "I'm friends with Kirk Hunter and the 8Dio folks." But to be clear, I really don't know what the heck I'm doing with orchestral sample libraries.

I understand what you're saying. Of course, I'm aware that sharing any non-positive info can be considered undesirable/annoying to those only looking for deals and unconcerned with things like ethics. I agree with your desire to not clutter this forum and concerns that it doesn't become toxic like a VI-Control-like thread (although, with Technoista's posts, it's too late for that). I'm keeping it concise and linking to details for anyone interested in learning more. However, I believe that it is very important to share such information when we are aware of businesses engaged in ethically problematic practices. It is, IMO, worth making a 3 sentence post about, as I did. Unquestionably, this is a very friendly forum. That's a huge part of why I love it. I've consistently been friendly and helpful to others in this forum over the two decades I've been a part of the community. I think many forum members would agree., I've given dozens of devs free consulting in return for giving low-income musicians free libraries. So why share info that I realize many will see as controversial, knowing it might even result in my facing personal attacks from an angry developer and fanboys? Because this forum is focused on users, not developers. That's by Bandlab's design, according to their own statements. This forum is for users helping other users. My posts are for the benefit of my fellow sample library users. My desire is to share knowledge and help my fellow forum members as they have helped me. While, undoubtedly, the vast majority of forum users are ONLY here to find the best deals and don't care about the ethics of the companies they buy from, there are some members, like myself, who do care about the ethics of the companies we buy from. That is why I feel compelled to share this information. Hopefully, you can respect my right to do that even if you don't share my values or opinions. For some of us, it's as important, or even more important, than someone praising a library or plugin. Because it's a lot harder to do, but I believe there is an ethical imperative to share such knowledge. In any event, it was a 3 sentence post that can easily be skipped over if you don't like it. But I believe those 3 sentences will be important to some users here.

One of the few developers I will never buy from due to their incredibly bad ethics and defamatory attacks against their competitor. The sample development world can be pretty cut throat, but this developer stands out for engaging in the worst practices in the industry or really that I've witnessed in my entire career in business and writing about marketing and business ethics. There are plenty of other sample developers that make similar libraries that have decent ethics.

Carl, I admit, I read your posts and learn a lot about orchestral libraries and I know Kirk Hunter and the 8Dio folks (Troels and Tawnia), but as a musician, I was trained on piano, organ, drums and had a handful of guitar lessons, I know very little about orchestral composition and arranging. Are you a professional or a very advanced hobbyist?

I bought it many years ago. It's, of course, not comparable to the realism you'd get from a detailed bass sample libraries like the Evolution line, but for a lightweight sample library, I think it sounds very good.

This developer makes superb sample libraries. I own several and all of them are impeccable.

With regard to iLok, I already use it and I'm only going to use effects like this on my main DAW PC. But couldn't you just create another account for an additional computer if it's an issue? Otherwise, my reason for installing it is that Slate very consistently delivers excellent quality (FTR, I am friends with Steven, but I wouldn't say/write that it if I didn't mean it; I'm friends with a bunch of devs whose libraries and plugins I don't use -- and the reality is, I use every devs competitors products, it's just reality) and it's worth installing for me because different saturators have different characters. If I compare it to others and it doesn't stand up, I'll just delete it. But, IMO, it's worth trying. Also, I already have other Slate plugins, so I already use their installer.

Some of their drum kits I think are worth checking out: Smoker $29 USD SALE $14.50 - Great for jazz or acoustic, played with sticks. A 3.54 GB library with up to 7 velocity layers and 6 round robins. https://www.analoguedrums.com/products/smoker/ Pizazz $29 USD SALE $14.50 - A jazz kit played with brushes with a great vibe. A 2GB+ library with up to 7 velocity layers and 6 round robins. https://www.analoguedrums.com/products/pizazz/ Royale $29 USD SALE $14.50 - Great for jazz or acoustic. Played with mallets. A 2GB+ library with up to 7 velocity layers and 6 round robins. https://www.analoguedrums.com/products/royale/ Monotone $29 USD SALE $14.50 - Captures that Motown vibe very well. Up to 7 velocity layers and 6 round robins. https://www.analoguedrums.com/products/monotown/ Bombastux $29 USD SALE $14.50 - A classic rock kit that fits well in mixes. Up to 7 velocity layers and 6 round robins. https://www.analoguedrums.com/products/bombastix/ The Boxer $29 USD SALE $14.50 - An alt rock kit. Up to 7 velocity layers and 6 round robins. https://www.analoguedrums.com/products/theboxer/ Blacksmith $29 USD SALE $14.50 - A hard and alt rock kit. Up to 7 velocity layers and 6 round robins. https://www.analoguedrums.com/products/blacksmith/ Plastique $29 USD SALE $14.50 - A Ludwig Vistalite kit that has the sound that only comes from that line of drums (due to their use of plastic shells; John Bonham used them on some recordings). Up to 7 velocity layers and 6 round robins. https://www.analoguedrums.com/products/plastique/ Split Sticks Red $9 USD -- played with hot rods as opposed to standard drum sticks. The downside is that this kit lacks round robins. However, I don't plan on doing a lot of long rolls with a kit played with hot rods. However, if they re-record it with round robins and more detail -- I'm buying that right away. https://www.analoguedrums.com/products/splitsticks/

You're done? Come on. We're never done. We are plugin and sample library junkies enabling our fellow plugin and sample library junkies.

Man, it's too easy to get me interested. For anyone else who is freebie curious.... https://www.dawesomemusic.com/love/

I hesitated on the last IK B3X sale. I'll be ready for it next round. I had the original Sampletron -- heck, I'm friends with the guy responsible for it -- but never upgraded. But I love MTron Pro and this Pendle Poucher expansion sounds right up my alley.

PSP expansions? Sorry, we're strictly XBOX users at our house. 😉

Nice to see I'm not alone in how I felt about this developer closing up during the pandemic and how happy I am to see them back again. They really make some very good sounding drum libraries and their list prices are very low. So it's great to see them back. File under businesses lost during the pandemic that have since returned. Now if only my favorite Italian restaurant could return.

Twenty years ago these were pretty innovative. The recordings were not very good, but the scripting was really clever. In fact, 15 years ago I heard demos for a brand new KONTAKT developer's guitar and bass libraries that blew me away. I contacted the developer, sent him my bio and told him I'd been playing virtual guitar on keyboards since the 80s and proposed some ideas for a next level virtual guitar system. The result was Orange Tree Samples Evolution guitar and bass lines. RealGuitar was definitely one of the inspirations for what I proposed. They were an innovator. Since then a bunch of virtual guitar libraries have tried to match Evolution. I don't think any hit the mark and it's partially because Evolution isn't just a sample library but uses modeling also. I think the best contender is Ample Sounds. I think RealGuitar was great for its time 20 years ago, but Evolution was a game changer and that was exactly why I came up with the name Evolution, as it represents an Evolution from what has existed and it remains the best virtual guitar solution on the market. Professional composers and producers have been using it in final productions for a long time at this point. That was the way it's been a game changer, as no one was using these instruments in final productions until the Evolution line came along. No one would use RealGuitar in final production.

Jesus is a talented dev and a really nice person. I'm a long time customer and find he makes very good libraries.

Side note: This is a good example of a developer infringing on another brand's intellectual property. Casio is a registered trademark of the same named company. If that company finds this developer using their name it's a guaranteed slam dunk lawsuit win. But most of the instrument manufacturers will just send out a cease and desist letter telling the developer to change the name (if they're using factory sounds, that's also an infringement). I've helped out a bunch of devs who've received C&D letters years ago.

I've had it a long time and regularly use it. I really don't have the expertise as a mixer to put together pro level effects chains to get that same level of quality sounds on my own, so for me it's great. I own the lead vocal pack, so there's nothing else in this sale that interests me.

I've held off upgrading my MTron Pro, but with this deal and a new bank by Pendle, forget it, I can't resist. I'm a total sucker for Trons and Pendle Poucher AKA Sound Dust is great at these kinds of sounds. I've been a fan of his libraries for I don't know how long, but it's been a long time. My demo for Orange Tree Samples Vintage Violin Bass contains a bunch of MTron patches. https://on.soundcloud.com/YYvcv

It's part of FL Studio.

Analogue Drums is a small developer out of New Zealand that makes drum sample libraries recorded to 2" tape and use all vintage gear and have a fantastic vibe to them. Their libraries are in KONTAKT, Trigger and Wave formats. They shut their doors during the pandemic with no plan to reopen, but recently reopened and I'm really happy to see that and wanted to make sure they stick around a long time. 50% off all drum libraries-- regularly $9. USD to $29 Sale starts Friday 24 November and runs to Monday 27. They have a free kit called BIG MONO, that's worth downloading. www.analoguedrums.com/blackfriday

No, it's implied whatever I say. Especially if we talk about music. To him, rock is Boomer music. I'm in between Boomer and Gen X. Some researchers put me in Gen X, others as a Boomer. I actually even did an acapella rap track collab to impress my son recently. Although I did get feedback that I sound like a rock band trying to do rap, which probably is accurate.

They gave away 3 or 4 pianos and some other instruments over the years. The pianos were one or two velocity layers, really bloated to the point where I found the developer inflates the sizes of libraries to make it seem like these are deep sampled libraries. They're not. They're not very good quality. I would strongly recommend against them. They're bad enough that I would consider this developer in a category of less than legitimate and strongly recommend avoiding anything from Muze. If you're looking for high quality KONTAKT pianos that are a great deal, check out SampleTekk. Excellent quality sample libraries, mostly pianos, now on sale for 90% off. Yes, many libraries have been around a long time, but they're still excellent and the developer is high quality. Even KONTAKT's factory library and the libraries on my curated recommended free sample libraries for KONTAKT are superior to any library I've tried from Muze. I suspect people rate everything high at PB because PB gives customers rewards for rating products.

On a related note, I was just talking to my son about two of his friends he's rooming with in college next year. I said, "I know your one friend, Matthew, but I can't recall your other friend's name." My son's reply, "His name is Peter, dad. Peter. " My name is Peter.

I found the thread and it was @Peter Hintze who posted that he owns the 8Dio Rhodes and Wurli libraries (I own probably 50 8Dio and SoundPaint libraries, but I don't own any of these 8Dio libraries) and their his favorite Wurli and Rhodes libraries. Peter, if you're around and wouldn't mind sharing your thoughts on Craig's questions above. My take is that strings, guitars and brass tend to be highly scripted libraries but keyboards, drums, percussion, tuned percussion and organs tend to have very little scripting. But you own some of those libraries, so I thought you could provide more specific insights and opinions.

You guys are absolutely right that there have been far better sales, but if you don't have Cello Textures, he's throwing in that library free with purchases in addition to 30% off, and, IMO, that can easily make this deal worthwhile. I LOVE Ben's Cello Textures library. It's a blast to experiment with and sounds beautiful. But considering I already have that library, this sale isn't very compelling for me.