Brian Walton

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)

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

Yes, but you need the latest version of Tonex installed. search for "JS" Then right click on his picture:

You might be aware but grab these on ToneNet for free to see if the character works for you:

Have both the DI Carr pack and the "cab baked in" one for the core tones. It is one of the only amps where the clean, mid, and higher gain feel like they are on equal footing. Other amps might be better at one particular area, but quite rare to find an amp that does all 3 as well.

Yes, depends on the amp type and style you are looking for. Amalgam Audio is consistently excellent. Not many others are going to offer one of the grail Marshall JTM50s for example, and they are the only place so far that has a Komet, and the Bartel Roseland is quite responsive. Has some different Two-Rocks, Marshall standards with the SuperBass and SuperLead. The real key is he gets good amps and really knows how to make a high quality capture and I swear he is getting even better at it. Matt Fig has the best Gilmour clean HiWatt platform I've heard ToneJunkie - get on the mailing list ot get the Free vintage AC30 and 65 Deluxe Reverb for free, and then if you time his sales right - it is cheapest place to pickup packs (the Bad Cat 30R, Marshal Astra are my two faves there, but they also have the only commercially available Trainwreck option - though it isn't a Ken Fischer one, and honestly isn't in the same playing field as others I've tried) Jason Sadites makes good captures (his Two-Rock capture is a nice platform as an example) The Studio Rats - I like some of the captures though I wish they offered more "without pedals" in the packs and I like to get the full range of the amp. The Chandler GAC19T is a bit unique - but also one I really wish they dialed in a bunch of AMP only tones instead of adding some "cheap" pedals to the chain. Choptones makes some good captures but I'm not really a fan of how they are organized and they tend not to do the full range of one amp. Worship Tutorials - sometimes the packs are smaller (and darker sounding) than one might expect, but with EQ some can be rather good and surprising. I'm not usually a Bogner fan, but the Goldfinger Superlead is pretty cool. (Gab the AC30 which is free). They run periodic 30% or even 50% off sales, so I wait for that. Some of the packs only have 4 captures in there. Going direct to these retailers frequently has more packs than though the market place. My method is #1 - see if Amalgam has a capture of an amp I want, #2 Look at others to fill in gaps All of these have free tone models (many times from the bigger pack) on ToneNet, so I suggest downloading those - see which ones work for your style and then buy the larger pack that give you a better range of that amp.

While I have been known to also criticize some IKM practices (they listened and no longer have the added DL later charges). $299 for this pedal and software package is 100% worth it no matter how you want to look at it. The thing is also made in Italy unlike what seems like every other digital pedal. If you could use JamPoints that would put the pedal at $210 ish and that is well under what they sell for used.

It is a code for people that already own one. If you have purchased before you can grab a 2nd for $300. Won't work for those that don't have one already.

Own two of them. Worth it (as long as you invest in some 3rd party packs or have a setup where you can capture your own rig.

I tired the neural EQ when it was released for free. It was the most CPU hungry nonsense I'd ever tried. I heard they may have made it more efficient but for me the ship sailed. Haven't seen anything interesting enough for me to try something else yet.

The price depends on what you have in some cases here. For me they show up as $30 and $50.

No reason to get Peak if you have Pro on Masterdesk (unless you like less option interface I think) If you don't have either of the Shadow Hills, "A" is the more premium option with additional features and a resizable UI. They do sound different. Overall Class A can tend to be more tube warmth ish, which also means it can sound muddy on some sections. I tend to use it when I want a little flavor, and pick a different family if I want transparent. I use IRON which is also the same price more than Green.

I know more people that use Adobe than use a DAW with adon effects as a hobby and I live in both worlds. Both are worlds of a sea of hobbiests vs a small pool of people making a sustainable living wage at it, and ironically it takes most more than a decade to make pro level results in music and plenty of people can get good enough for a small gig in photography/editing in less than two years without prior experience with some practice and youtube instruction. Much harder to overcome the investment costs in music than it is in the digital art world.

Best opportunity was when they had the send in guitar playing recording offer. If I had waited until I racked up all my recording during the period and that final sale they had which overlapped honestly could have gotten MComplete from ground zero. It was a sweet deal for any guitar player that know how to record. And I imagine we will never see something like that again.

At least rent to own. The price point seems about right for the market now. While I never do subs (and have MComplete outright), I can't imagine the previous $50/month was something a lot of people could justify.

Also consider just grabbing MODO Drum the free version: https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/mdstudio/?pkey=modo-drum-kit-studio I have a few drum programs, AD2, EZ Drummer, Session Drummer (the previous version), Drum Core 4 - not discontinued, JamStix, MODO Drum, Melda's MDrummer, etc I'd suggest getting a few for a program or two to find out what you find valuable and difficult to work with before making a hefty purchase in this area. (JamStix,Slate, and AD2 also have stripped down but function free versions)