Brian Walton

Looks like a MAAG EQ4 emulation with a decent UI.  

Wonder what band they set the high air one at.

1 hour ago, Fleer said:

Got that sweet Amek 9099 for $5.99 with the WELCOME-BACK-25-OFF coupon on July 27th, 2022

I think I got additional authorizations for it for not that much more.  

$20 is still a good deal and frankly makes lots of other PA plugins obsolete.  

Well those of you complaining about being able to get Amex9099 for $20 are simply off base.

I get that lots of the deals are crap, but there are a few in there that are worth it.

7 minutes ago, bitflipper said:

I think most here would say the same thing.

But most don't consider saturators, exciters, tape sims, tube emulators, console/transformer emulators, fast-attack compression and clippers as "distortion", when that is exactly what they are.

That's what I mean when I say I use distortion often. Sometimes, it is "real" distortion (one of my favorites is Redopter by D16, which can get truly nasty) but mixed under the dry signal, e.g. to bring out the crack of a snare drum. More often, it's FabFilter Saturn, which can also do nasty but really shines at more subtle algorithms. If iZotope Trash had comparable versatility, I wouldn't trash it the way I do.

Yeah, exactly I do use lower level clipping, saturation, emulators, etc.  But I'm not someone pulling out an Tonebender MKII and slapping it on a vocal track, etc which some people who use "distortion" do.

I didn't find anything in Trash to be pleasing saturation, which I do use a lot -so in my tool box it was "harsh digital distortion" tool, which I don't tend to use.

46 minutes ago, bitflipper said:

I use distortion often, so when I got Trash as part of a bundle I figured one more flavor in the toolbox had to be a good thing. But try as I might, everything it did to audio just turned out sounding unpleasant. Even when I tried to use it subtly. Well, they did name it "trash", so I should have known what to expect.

I don't use real distortion all that often, but I also didn't understand the hype around it - everything I used it on sounded worse.

For people that really use heavy distortion in the box maybe it works for that kind of harsh digital distortion thing which I'm not interested in.  

I use distorted guitars of course but I'm not adding ITB plugins to make it happen.

1 minute ago, CSistine said:

I own some of those emulations and I still have a real Big Muff from the 80s. Frankly, one thing that all the emulations are missing, is the noise and the feedback like behavior between the notes (and this is not because the unit is that old, no it's been like that from the beginning)! I guess it will be difficult, or even impossible, to replace the real thing as a plugin IMHO!

Yep, I've owned a number of originals (and still have a few boutique versions - which I like better - such as options to remove the tone stack which makes them much more open sounding).  And the plugins I've tried lack the harmonic complexity of the real deal.  

TONEX is at least very close to the tonal range.

34 minutes ago, Wookiee said:

@Brian Walton Audiority do one call Big Goat, which is nice for 20 Euro's

Yeah, I have lots of their stuff and like the authorization system.  I ran a demo before and it didn't match my real world captures I did with TONEX (which I can use in a pedal as well as ITB), so easy pass at $20 for me.

19 minutes ago, Wookiee said:

It looks like a big muff distortion plugin.

Yep, with multiple variants of the circuit style.

Honestly can't image it is better than some of my TONEX grabs of a Triangle and RAMS head variants.   Though you do have to grab on Advanced settings to get the grain structure accurate.  

Haven't compared but Nembrini also makes a free one:

https://www.nembriniaudio.com/collections/free/products/big-stuff-harmonic-distortion-sustain

I can't imagine paying $19 for an in the box emulation of a fuzz pedal that can't be used as an actual pedal, but that is just me.

I love the "flat theme" idea, but I do think the color options available need work.

Hopefully we see more updates on this front or the ability to modify.  My theme in CbB is a whole lot easier on my eyes (which is a flat theme also) then these color scheme in the new Sonar box.  The base of the Light Grey theme is fine, but the bright orange for text and buttons, etc plus almost matching gray faders just isn't ideal.

On 3/6/2024 at 8:00 AM, ralfrobert said:

9 bucks with code FLASH-CLARO-90

I thought I was done with impulse purchases...until I used this yesterday.

I've been using the apps weekly for 7 years now.

Hard to believe V2 came out in Nov 2022.  

I bought it early on hoping to see some big updates.  Honestly not sure anything updated since v1 has been important to me  (other than I've used the B&W LUT pack a number of times - but since I plan to continue to use it figure they need some development money.

I do have some concern they haven't done any real AI dev work.  The reality is something like AI select tools can be a huge productivity booster that has nothing to do with "artistic" control.  

18 hours ago, John Vere said:

Far as I can tell software works on all OS up to a point. When was W7 discontinued?
I have the exact same version of Cakewalk on W7, W10 and W11. There’s absolutely no difference in the way it works. 
The only difference is every computer is obviously a newer faster more powerful computer. operating systems are the most boring part of all things computer wise. I’d even be oblivious if my computer was a Mac. I just don’t like the mouse. 

Win7 was only decommed 3 years ago (and 2 months).  

36 minutes ago, huoshui said:

Rebelle is the best digital painting software I've ever used, and I've been doing digital art since the 2018. 

It's still missing some features, and I actively try to get the Escape Motions team to implement my suggestions by hounding them in their forums and with emails.

There is no deal here, so why the 1 year thread bump?

(and yes, I already own v7)

13 hours ago, kevin H said:

In my head I imagine Dirk got upset and departed because they finally denied him when he pitched yet again another compressor  😜 haha

Ironically I just purchased the new Three-Body Technology Cenozoix Compressor as it was the only plugin released in almost a year that caught my attention as a valuable addition.  

(granted I didn't pay close to retail thanks to a forever 29 I'd been sitting on something worthwhile to use for)

29 minutes ago, TheSteven said:

Yeah if only that system worked... 
The difference in profit loss unfortunately for many companies is the difference between staying in business or not.

What bothers me is when companies either

• get too restrictive - e.g. only one iLok installation, limited installation restrictions, etc..
  There's a line between being protective and paranoid. 
  or
• implement 1/2 @ssed badly implemented protection / installation systems.

Another thing I like about iLok is that even if the licensing plugin company goes under the plugin licensing still works.
As long as you have access to a working installer you can reinstall/activate the plugin (at least this was true last time I rebuilt my DAW computer).
With a company owned license server you're SOL when the website gets taken down unless the company released a self licensing version before going under. 

 

Respectfully,
My 2 cents; YMMV.

 

It is a mystery as it is clearly working for some companies.  

(per my Drum Core 4 example above, unfortunately some plugins with ilok don't have a full blown offline installer one can backup)

3 hours ago, kitekrazy said:

It did have an advantage back in the day when software only allowed one authorization and you had other systems and didn't want to buy additional licenses.  iLok as come a long way since it started - a long way.  The real problem with iLok is people will try to steal those.  

I've been working in the DAW world for a couple decades now, and as someone who didn't adopt WAVES early on, honestly I don't ever remember my tools being stuck to one authorization.  The only ones I've had that do this are somewhat recent (Exponential audio- which is also ilok).  

And honestly when I started, one authorization at a time wouldn't have been a total deal breaker, as most people didn't own multiple machines.  

27 minutes ago, antler said:

Good point, but also don't forget that an iLok licence can also go the same way if you need a reset and in the process:

I'm not bashing iLok though; like others have said, it (like other methods) has it's pros and cons.

I'll add that I have Drum Core 4, not a cheap VSTi by any stretch.  Got the ilok authorizations but there is no longer any way to install it, so it becomes worthless once you upgrade a computer.

2 hours ago, CSistine said:

I really cannot understand the iLok haters! I prefer it a 1000 times over online only installations or exotic authorization models!

I would have paid even more than $15 (although I own too many compressors, also a real dbx166 from the 80s)! 

I have a couple iloks, but there are plenty of reasons why I sympathize with the haters.   

Honestly the only system I like is the one that treats the user as a law abiding citizen and doesn't have some sort of authorization method.  But 100% off line with license files and no limited authorizations is also acceptable.  Ilok doesn't meet those specifications.  I'm sure you have heard the anti ilok rants, you either get it or you don't.  

It is helpful for reinstalls compared to other similar limited authorization methods.

1 hour ago, Soundwise said:

I think, new generations - Millennials and especially Zoomers - are not very keen on creating music in old fashion, like it used to be common for old-timers such as ourselves. IMO, that's the main reason why both hardware and software manufacturers face a decline in sales. We are still here, and we still buy their stuff and keep them afloat, but let's face it - the music part of show business is not about innovative records or talent anymore, it's just a craft with a niche demand. Music is just content crafted with little to no passion, soulful expression or extraordinary skills. We already see symptoms of the MI market collapse, so the crumbling down of leading MI software and hardware companies is inevitable.

We also are in a post pandemic world where we all bought far more than we needed and the companies were overvalued because of it.  And when you sell to PE, they want more profit and growth and anyone actually in the industry should have known the down hill decline was coming.

1 hour ago, CSistine said:

Thanks for the post, too!

I don't understand Softube! They could have made a lot of money if they gave it for say $10 - $15. And I think the marketing effect would have been about the same!

They will certainly try to upsell us on something that costs more than $10, like the bundle.  

If you are not in the ecosystem yet, even a $10-15 isn't a no brainer for everyone as it is iLok based and they use a ecosystem installer.

Compressors are a dime a dozen.   And while this one might be pretty good, I won't pretend like it is a $150 value.  Even at $10 I would have passed.  At free I'll at least grab it.

3 hours ago, aidan o driscoll said:

I have Corel painter 2020 ( and also earlier versions ) over at my account on Humble Bundle. There I have the downloader installer that still works, tested.  Also note its Lifetime Perpetual License for 2 devices. The INSTALL Size for this version is 1.45GB.

I also have the product IDs / Serials registered over at my Corel account

The install size for the version is that large but I think we need to be clear that the Installer itself that you download - is not the entire installer:

Thus to the point - NO, they do not give us a full off-line installer type of situation, but they do give you a program to run that then goes out to the internet to install from a server that may or may not exist in 10 years.  (just like the authorization server might not either)

24 minutes ago, The Dispossessed Orangutan said:

I guess today is the last day for this bundle, and I wold like to buy Painter for use on a computer I have not even built yet.

The discussion about installers piqued my interest.

Am I going to be able to download free-standing installers that I may archive for future use?

Thank you.

Well the installers in the humble bundle are the kind that are small and then go grab the actually install info from servers from what I recall.  

I haven't run into issues yet with them (started buying ~2019) but who knows if they will eventually break the process even with your "off-line" installer that isn't really off-line.  

I personally would not be at all worried about a future build (assuming you do it in a year or so), but if you are thinking 10 years down the road, might be a pause for thought.

43 minutes ago, ralfrobert said:

U-he or D16 when on sale have excellent resale value. There are others, too. 

U-He even on sale isn't exactly in this inexpensive category.  I've never bought anything from D16 but have a couple of them, while I'm not a used plugin shopper - this one is new to me that there is actually a market for them.

On 2/28/2024 at 8:37 AM, ralfrobert said:

It always gives me a bad feeling to be unable to transfer plugins at all. This is the case with Klevgrand.  So I will sit this one out.  

I can't think of any plugin that actually has resale value that is affordable.  

All the usual suspects have transfer fees, or big enough sales that someone else isn't going to pay real money for them.  Anything in this price range is basically a sunk cost, in my experience.  

I'm avoiding because I certainly don't need another plugin.  

4 hours ago, JT3Jon said:

Anyone know how to search by maker in ToneNET? For example. I'm trying to find all the free presets by Jason Sadites. I found his profile on tone.net https://www.tone.net/tonex/users/Jason.Sadites so now how do I see his presets in Tonex? I can browse his presets at the link but cannot see how to download them, and I tried searching inside Tonex for "Jason Sadites" and nothing shows up! So I'm individually copy/pasting preset names from the tonenet website to the app, lol! I must be missing something simple, right?

Yes, but you need the latest version of Tonex installed. 

search for "JS"

Then right click on his picture: