fitzroy

Last 2 minutes: Sampletekk is moving into orchestral stuff?! Wow, their website has a completely new look! Hey, where are all the pianos?

For me, in Reaper, 1-1.5% A4, 2-3% A5. Not a big deal. Awesome!! 😀 It goes to show how different we all are. I like the VIR stuff and I only scratched the surface with it, obviously. More to the inevitable differences between us, while I do find some (most?) amps in Amplitube 'meh', I really like a few, especially the Fenders. Then a few amps from the Orange and Leslie collections. With some nice IR's, they can sound great. In time, I'll compare *that* sound with the same presets tweaked in A5 with VIR, and if the latter option holds up, it would be great -> faster/simpler workflow. I guess if you start off by liking the old stuff, there's less room/opportunity for a big leap forward; that's why I'm ok with it and don't regret the purchase.

From my quick testing of a couple of hours, I agree. You have more flexibility because of the cabinet models, but since I was mostly using it with third party IR's anyway, there is no marked improvement sonically. I wasn't really expecting anything different though (based on what was already known about A5). Same here, my Amplitube 4 Fender presets definitely sound punchier in Amplitube 5. I tweaked the FX/amps, VIR and/or IR's, and I got closer to what they sounded before, which is to say I also preferred them in Amplitube 4. You can 'get them back', it just takes a bit of fiddling around. All in all, ***TO ME***, this is more evolutionary than a big step up. It's more tweakable, the cabinet section is definitely an improvement, the GUI is nice, but apart from that, sonically, it's Amplitube 4+, which is not exactly a bad thing. One of the biggest pluses for me is that having A5 Max means no more annoying encounters with stuff I don't own, presets that don't work 100%, all that cr*p. I feel the same way about the Axe I/0. It's solid, I like the guitar-centered features and the functional simplicity, but it's no improvement over my 12 year old Motu otherwise, with the latter also seeming to be better at dealing with electrical interference. But this one's USB, the Motu's firewire, so that's that. I bought the bundle for a fair price, no wow factor for me, but it's a solid package throughout so no regrets. Rather an indulgence than a necessity, but I think we're all too familiar with that conclusion.

Now THAT would've been some deal 😃 I meant... same price in $ as people in the EU pay in EUR.

That sounds like a win, if you got the same price in $.

Yeah, those might have been MIDIs. But the 3 EZKeys instruments I picked up over the past 2 winters were around $24.

Dear Toontrack, If you're desperately looking for another plugin to put on sale for the next 24 hours, don't. Leave this one on, just drop the price an additional 40% so that it more or less matches what you asked for other EZKeys instruments during previous winter sales. Your most faithful fan

As far as I know, IK's order status FAQ is not differentiated by country, and no EU country is THAT far from Italy, anyway 🙂

Best of luck with everything! I was curious as I thought maybe you changed your mind about Acustica. And I was VERY tempted to buy AA Gold from you, but after I picked up Sand, Pink, Lime, Amethyst, Amber and Taupe (most of them at bargain prices on KVR - thanks to the new transfer policy), I decided to stop before it was too late. I'm glad you found a buyer in the end - you were selling them cheap, I was surprised that it took several days.

I noticed that you sold your Acustica stuff on KVR. How come?

If the interface is solid, I'm fine. I'm with you on the policy changes, as I let you know before. Heck, I ordered the bundle and I suspect my A5 Max might become NFR and not upgradeable as well; and I find that quite dodgy, since we're not talking about software that's bundled with the hardware at no additional cost, but one that you actually do pay for, even at a greatly discounted price, as part of the bundle (which is more expensive than the hardware alone). Oh well 🙄

Where I ordered from is an academic point; the issue is the way they handle feedback and communication vs the way they say they do it. Anyway, are you happy with the Axe I/O?

As some of you might remember, I’m not exactly fond of IK, their reps, or their policies. But I think that part of maximizing your own satisfaction as a customer is understanding both the company you’re dealing with, and the business in general, with all its pros and cons. It keeps you from becoming too miserable 😊 I ordered the Axe I/O + Amplitube 5 Max bundle at the end of November. Primarily for the interface, with A5 Max being a nice bonus. Anyway, their order status FAQ states: Completed The order has been completed. If you have not yet received your order, give the item until the end of the day to arrive. If after 24 hours you have not received your item and your order states "Completed", please check the status of your tracking number in My Orders. My order’s been labeled completed for... two weeks now, with a shipping date of December 1st. In fact, they haven’t even shipped it yet, which they confirmed in a late reply to my inquiry. But the above status has not changed, nor is there a tracking number available. Somehow, I’m not that upset. The price was ok, and I hope that when I finally get the bundle, it will prove to be OK. That's it. With IK, I feel that’s the best I can hope for; anything more would be a welcome surprise. And that’s fine, I knew that when I put in the order. So tweak your expectations, it might help. I did chuckle a bit at the 15/16th explanation. Reminds me of the way they responded to some pertinent issues raised by users here and elsewhere. Hey, it's Christmas time! 😄

What happened with that 'group buy' idea? Dead in the water?

Follow up: haven't heard back from Arturia, but they seem to have worked out the problem, AL V is now active in ASC (alongside AL IV). So if you've had similar issues, give it another go.

Given that it showed as an update in ASC, and that others have activated it successfully, it's likely a glitch. I wrote to Arturia, will post here when I get some feedback.

Thanks! It's definitely a glitch. The latest version of ASC also doesn't work properly (I can only resize it down, so right-side content is truncated). And on top of that, it auto-updates (that's Arturia saying 'our releases are so good, you'll never have to revert'). Well... 😉

It might be a glitch in their system as they roll out new stuff. Otherwise the interface wouldn't be broken (reactivating should either fail or succeed). Does your AL 5 license show in your Arturia account (not ASC) under 'My Products'?

Yeah, tried that too. But thanks 🙂

Any of you encounter any problems activating AL V? I installed it along AL IV, ASC now shows the 2 installed Labs but also a "not all products are activated" label. Reactivating the license doesn't do anything, Reinstalling it doesn't help either. AL V works in demo-mode only. So my AL 4 now 'contains 2 products', but only the AL 4 license is active.

In the Arturia Software Center I see that Analog Lab 4 now contains "2 products", and I have an option to install Analog Lab V. Would installing this replace AL 4, or run in parallel with it?

I love my Analog Lab 4 (like others here, I also have Pigments but no real need for the collection). Is there a likely (free?) update coming to Analog Lab, with the presets of the added gear?

They probably figured out there's not much chance anyone who's waiting for the freebies would be putting in another order (including for the still ongoing sale).

Yup! everyplugin

My freebies came through a couple of hours ago, despite the promotion being active, so check your e-mail!