Brian Walton

6 hours ago, kitekrazy1 said:

Both are bloated software though.

Tonex runs more efficiency than most amp modelers and sounds better than all of them.

Amplitude in the other hand...

1 hour ago, hsmusic said:

Michael retired so no updates to his codes.

 

 

We don't need updates to the algos, anyone on the dev team can keep it updated for os changes.  See the note above about the two EA plugins that are the same thing that are getting updates.  They chose not to and charge absurd upgrade fees for features we don't need.

6 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

They didn't abandon them, they consolidated them. Except for that multi-fx one whose name I can't even remember. Stratus and Symphony and their 3D counterparts have been updated to run on Apple's new processors and are still being sold.

Phoenix, Nimbus and Stratus could have been called Phoenix, Phoenix 2, and Phoenix 3. Or even 1.1 and 1.2, the newer features really weren't all that. The presets from each previous one work in the later ones.

Same with R1, R2 and Symphony.

That was the Exponential guy's doing, for whatever reason he decided that each revision should have a whole new product name. He did seem to be into wringing as much money as possible out of the products, Stratus and Symphony are STILL single-seat licenses. iZotope at least put them in the iLok Cloud so you can use them on multiple systems, just not at the same time.

iZotope probably decided that there was no reason other than price to maintain 12 products instead of 4.

There was some outcry about old project compatibility for Phoenix and the rest, but If Phoenix and R1 stop working for whatever reason and people still have unfinished projects that include them, they can export presets and use them in the newer versions. Sux for Mac users, but if anyone's used to forced upgrades, it's Mac users.🙄

Well I own at least 3 seats each of R4 and Nimbus (and also have at least two seats for Excalibur - which don't have a new home).   They will no longer make any updates to keep these operational with future OS updates (hopefully not an issue on Windows, but who knows)

The cost to upgrade 6 seats to a different product that is "compatible/updated moving forward" is an absurd amount of money and therefore I'd call them abandoned.  

NeoVerb is a resource hog, would need some real world tests to know if this is close to Exponential audio efficiency (and sound).....and a lower price point given they abandoned the EA plugins.

1 hour ago, Syphus said:

Perhaps it the integration of Tonex (with this version).  I noticed that Tonex (standalone) takes it time loading . . .   Just a thought.

 

Syphus

I just ran back to back to back tests on my machine opening stand alone version of each app

TONEX loaded in less than 2 seconds

Amplitude 5 took an entire minute

This is on a very high spec machine.  

6 hours ago, Carl Ewing said:

But it's not doing anything innovative enough to wait around. There have been DAWs like Ableton that were game changers for certain types of music genres - practically inspiring entirely new genres of music just because of how the program was designed or how that design / feature set evolved over time.

But waiting around 10 years for a new DAW - that isn't really attempting to do anything new - to just incorporate features that other DAWs have had for decades, when those other DAWs are quickly evolving on their own, I just don't see the point.

It seems the marketing for LUNA revolves almost entirely around "the sound of a million dollar analog recording studio. Experience a mix as if you were seated at a vintage console, complete with analog tape machines, built-in summering, and flexible mixing options".

These aren't things I really care about in 2024 when I need Nuendo features like direct Wwise integration for game audio post, or Cubase's logical editor / expression maps and advanced MIDI for scoring, or Bitwig / Ableton's absurdly robust features for modern EDM.

Now - I get LUNAs appeal to people producing / mixing / engineering certain genres like rock / pop, where it may compete directly with Pro Tools. Perhaps over time it will be a big threat in this area, developing a superior console-style DAW with a more traditional mindset.

But it would take a decade+ (or an 180 degree switch in development approach) for it to compete with DAWs like Cubase / Nuendo / Logic  or Bitwig / Ableton Live in areas that matter most in 2024, let alone 2034 where these DAWs will continue to be miles ahead.

Sorry, the product is in the FREE category and therefore it doesn't need to be an end all be all for everyone.  It just needs to be stable and have some solid core features.  Most people need it to support 3rd party effects and instruments.  Record, Route audio, Input and Edit MIDI, Edit, Mix, Export and that is about it.  

UAD has long been for the traditional producer that wants analog gear but is working in the box.

If you are doing advanced things like Wwise and expression maps you can expect to be in a esoteric paid platform.  There is plenty of room for a rock solid Free DAW now that bandlab left the field.

44 minutes ago, joeletters said:

I think I wouldn't mind at all if Total Studio Max 5 came out in time for BF, including Sampletank 5, Amplitube 6, Tonex 2, Pianoverse and T-Racks 6... $199 upgrade and you can use jampoints.  

 

Make it happen Santa

 

 

edit: in hindsight maybe a Total Studio MAX 4.5 is more likely, and Amplitube 6 / Tonex 2 are next year.  

Tonex is tied to hardware it would be a massive mistake to abandon the current ecosystem that quickly.  Tonex one just hit the market a few months ago.

Amplitude offers the Tonex plus effects playground.  It feels like they are a ways off to get Tonex plus better than X series effects in one package for all effects.

Tonex2 is going to need to be full blown fluid capture tech were it grabs every knob tweak and interaction.  Given tonex1 takes an hour for one static capture of an advanced setting on a supercomputer we should be looking at years away.

Tonex is hardware and needs to have a long "pedal life" and not be driven like a next version of software to make the old obsolete.

Already had Sampletank 4, but got the $1 deal and added it to my account because it was too good of a deal to pass up.    (no it didn't add any jam points though)

4 hours ago, Hose Gef said:

I'm okay with the pricing. What upsets me (and I really, really mean it) is how IK keeps piling more convoluted rules on top of already convoluted rules and how every year there's more rules to be aware of.

There's a group of people who have seemingly disappeared into the extended IK universe where everything revolves around gamified discount rules. I just want to buy stuff. I don't care for discount lore. I don't care for discount rule books the size of early D&D editions. 

Make it simpler - please!

I don't want trawl through receipts from 2018. I don't want to whip up a calculator. I don't want to count processors - at all, ever - just show me the number in my account profile or at checkout?

This one seemed fairly simple, you login put it in your cart and at checkout there is either a discount code you can apply or not that seems to factor in how many plugins you have.

I've got ~45 T-Racks things and it only gives $50 off Max.  No sure how they came up with the you need 50+ of them to get the $99 price as that seems fairly outrageous given how many plugins 45 is, as at that point it isn't like you need more and you have already acquired the vast majority of what makes up the "$200" full in price.

I would agree most retailers these days seem to just apply the discount code for you at checkout though.

2 hours ago, Rezerekted said:

I do

You created them, purchased them, got for free somewhere?  

5 hours ago, Rezerekted said:

I'm a huge TONEX fan and I don't like to say it, but there have been times when I have been playing the Sabbath, Tony Iommi's amp and I have forgotten I was in TH-U and got a little confused thinking I was in TONEX, concerning seeing how much I have spent on  3rd party capture packs I have (250+) for TONEX. As you have said the Floyd/Gilmour amp is awesome, and it can have FX that aren't just EQ or Drive, well they both can of course, chorus, flange, delay, pitch shift, whatever you want.

If the last few OVERLOUD releases is a sign of things to came . . . well lets just say it will be interesting, I have more testing and comparing to do to make sure I'm not just freakin', I have a set of captures for TONEX of a Gilmour amp that will be interesting, and I have some of Iommi's amps, and some that are just the same model, that will be interesting as well. But one thing for sure is these 2 releases from OVERLOUD surely R.O.C.K

Who has Iommi Laney model ToneX captures?

(I have some good HiWatt ones from Matt Figg)

3 hours ago, DamienF said:

I wish IK didn't add two important features that are missing in T-racks : external sidechain and external fx inserts

I'm more excited by the new Toneboosters EQ

That said, 200€ for all of these plugins is still a good price

Thanks for mentioning the new TB EQ, didn't know it came out but very interested in it as EQ 4 has my favorite UI

9 hours ago, Rezerekted said:

I'm surprised not to see any mention of the release of the Boutique Overdrives Signature Collection, (at least I looked and looked and couldn't find) awesome set, great tones, Keep it up IK.

Haven't used it, but frankly I have way more boutique and sought after pedals myself - they might sound good, but not exactly what I think of for a "Boutique Signature Collection"

Most of these are Guitar Center specials you can buy on discount.

Honesty I expect something like a lineup of Pete Cornish or similar.

17 minutes ago, Esteban Villanova said:

I really hope they translated their Tonex tech to T-Racks. It would be so cool to have low CPU, low latency AI/ML captures of classic hardware. Acústica Audio is great, but tracking with them is a no no.

Problem is ToneX tech (as it stands) is static, it needs the next gen to capture the static instances and then the ML to interpret knob movements to make the plugin "dynamic" and fairly accurate.  Some T-Racks pieces are actually super low CPU already (others of course are not).  It also takes an absurd amount of time to capture images in the advanced setting, so replacing a ton of knob positions across a large portion of hardware units would seem like they need to refine what is needed to make the capture tech more practical.  This is bearable for a guitar Amp as the capture can be within a certain middle ground range and post EQ is acceptable instead of emulating the EQ tone stack of the amp - which is what you would need for mixing gear.

I like the idea, but also expect they are a ways away from doing it right and I don't want to buy a stop gap solution.  

31 minutes ago, Release said:

Well, they've been running deals on everything for months now at super low prices.  

Kinda wish they would just drop the new stuff instead of milking every last drop of the current lineup.  We all know it's coming.

Dropping the price is a good thing for the consumers.

I actually prefer them offering low prices and actually supporting the products for years instead of dropping some new version that costs a premium price for stuff we probably don't need.

7 hours ago, GTsongwriter said:

Anyone know when Melodyne 6 will come out?

As much as I don't like it, Id expect this year or next year.  We are at the 4 year mark now for 5 and there was a 4 year span on 4-5.  

Given how costly this software is, Id prefer more development within the same version.

28 minutes ago, ralfrobert said:

You have a month to decide. Better grab something you actually need.

My 2c. 

Lots of options at $5 for the throw away, looking to see if there is something cheaper.

Honestly don't "need" a single thing.  Been looking at FireSpacer but not sure it is worth it.  Primary addition it adds above VoxDucker which I have is the ability adjust the low and high freq ranges.  

The plugin collection is well past the need range, and they don't offer ToneX profile packs which can occasionally spark my interest.   

Wanted Pyros for a while, but never justified it even at half off.  Now the question is what is the cheapest thing at PB at the moment to grab it?  

4 hours ago, MrFigg said:

What do ADSR have for under $1? I don’t want to give them a penny more. 

Agreed, but sadly this isn't Plugin Boutique - usually difficult to find anything for less than $5.

2 hours ago, GTsongwriter said:

The problem is all the versions up to v16 passed the Virus Total test.  Why would it now flag v17?  Sounds fishy to me.

 

Is there a way to install without using the new installer?

It is a brand new installer system that isn't like the previous ones.  Lots of reasons why some random scanner might flag a new installer.

No installs are possible for the new versions without this new installer.

I personally wouldn't be worried at all about it, but everyone has a different risk tolerance.  Mine is fairly low, but I also don't consider this one all that risky all factors considered.

I understand Thriller being #2, but I really don't understand how the Eagles Greatest Hits has sold that many copies in the US.

Finally a scalable UI!

Hope more of these are in the works.

However, adding data tacking is lame.

4 hours ago, MusicMan said:

Great callout  I didn't notice that.. I do think this particular voucher is more suited to those that might just want one plugin though, otherwise the previous delas might be better. I'm getting closer to thinking I'll just grab silver bullet anyway, even though I know it's likely to be cheaper before the end of the year. Just because I kind of want it! Haha.. 

I haven't been tracking this stuff closely but seems like $20 is as good as it has been for quite a while.  The sub $15 plugins at PA for the decent ones are a thing of the past.

Unless you have been overpaying for plugins and get vouchers that combine with other things - I'd image it won't get better than $20 by the end of the year.

43 minutes ago, jesse g said:

Dang it, why do they always hold out on Three Body Technology!!!

Because those two are worth far more than $20

41 minutes ago, The Dispossessed Orangutan said:

Are you saying that SyncroArts has finally realized how expensive the Pace and iLok extortion fees are?

Or are you saying that iLok hardware dongles will no longer work, but iLok Software will still be required?

This may finally be my go-ahead to buy some SyncroArts software.