fitzroy

3 minutes ago, cclarry said:

Sad part for me is that there's nothing left.  I had to take a duplicate as my 9th freebie.
Only 2 things left I don't have - SampleTron II and The Resonator...and they're not in the GB.
If there were things left to get, I'd jump in again...but not worth it at this point.  But I got the 8
products I was after and then some for $22!

Sampletron is in the GB, I picked it as a freebie. Maybe not in your tier? 

2 hours ago, Fleer said:

I’ve got ST4Max, Craig, and it’s not all that shines in there. Of course, the 4 pianos, 4 drum packs and a few more are pretty good, but you can get them in the GB. 

Do you use the drum packs? I mean, for more than sketching or jamming along a nice beat? I picked London Grooves as one of my freebies to see how it works. It sounds great; as recordings, they're top notch. But I also find it quite limiting in use; I would have preferred fewer 'songs' but with more variation/grooves per song, With its limited flexibility, it's noticeably more difficult to use it for your song, rather than theirs. 

We are all different. I personally don't find the installation process difficult. I like some of their plugins while I find others just so-so. And contrary to Larry, I'm not fond of IK's marketing and some of the reactions I've seen from their reps, here and elsewhere. 

But why on earth open a topic on this, in the Deals section, no less, when most of us are interested in this group buy moving on? 

It's funny how you can optimize the tiers you buy into differently, depending on what you believe will happen - the group buy being extended or not. I'm in on 3  different tiers, and I've picked them on the belief that an extension is coming, and we'll be well past 15 freebies at the end of September. 

IK... 

44 minutes ago, Fleer said:

I foresee 20 freebies by the end of September. 

I think that's reasonable. As with previous group buys, most of those interested and familiar with what's on offer will have joined on one or multiple tiers by the end of this month. Then IK can ride the wave of attention it's getting right now for an entire month, to entice new customers. It's a win-win. 

1 hour ago, Peter - IK Multimedia said:

Other people have been around our group buys for years and know not to worry.  

Many of us have been discussing various strategies of participation. Some work better than others. It's a fun topic. No worries here.   
Still - some people joined at high tiers, hoping for 15-20 freebies, as a cheaper alternative to TS3 Max. They'll be pleased to know they don't have to worry ✌️
                                                                                                                                                                       

1 hour ago, Peter - IK Multimedia said:

 As more freebies pile up, more people are interested.  

That is a factor, but just one of them. I'm a data guy. Professional habit: I've looked at, and commented about, the participation rate before (in light of previous years). Fact is, you can't truly know how these things will go, and if you are working with a data scientist worth his salt, he'll tell you the same thing. Data segmentation based on your customer (behavior) database will provide some insight (which we obviously don't have access to), but just the confounding variables alone (e.g. different offer/tiers/goal/year/circumstances) introduce significant bias and uncertainty. So when you, as an IK rep, respond to people doubting/wondering about the outcome/goals (and I wasn't one of them) somewhat dismissively, what they might get out of it is that, despite all that unpredictability, as long as they participate, you/IK "will take care of them". And that is awesome!

Except... 

1 hour ago, Peter - IK Multimedia said:

...any extension is going to have to be earned... More info coming soon.

...now they're probably worried 😉    

12 minutes ago, Jacques Boileau said:

Anybody remember the other times the group buy was extended, was a day, an hour, a minute before the end? How much advance notice do they usually give?

It's probably not worth thinking about that. Even if you could work out some sort of 'advance notice' in the system, they could easily extend for a short time first, to draw you out, then extend again. I think they've done that before. Smart 🙂

38 minutes ago, cclarry said:

Most likely another free product tomorrow...and maybe one more by the
time the 6 remaining days are over...

"Our biggest group buy ever", "goal of 25,000 participants", people who were wondering whether this would even make it to the halfway point being sneered at (here and on kvr). Hard to see, after all that, how they wouldn't extend the group buy after 7-10 freebies. Not that it's a bad deal, far from it, but given all the hype, it would be self-defeating and a bit silly.

Besides, it's not like we haven't done our part🤕🙂

10 minutes ago, GroverKen said:

The 2019 Group Buy made it to 10 - don’t think there’s much chance of equalling that one!

The tiers were different though, with fewer participants required to reach them. By the end of the month, this group buy will definitely pass the 2019 one, in terms of participation. And that's with the 2019 group buy having been extended by a month. 

Looking at the evolution of previous group buys, it's easy to see why IK were extending them, as they might well do with this one. By the first deadline, the bulk of their active customer base has already joined. So sales don't really ramp up during an extension, but it helps with trying to get new customers on board. This edition is no different. I will probably enter a second and third time (on lower tiers) and was doing the math on how the final number of freebies might affect this. As it turns out - not that much, unless we end up with 20, 20+ freebies at the end (maybe a tall order but certainly not because of the quality of the deal). And even then, my 'loss', compared to the best scenario, would hardly be upsetting. 

28 minutes ago, Piotr said:

Interesting is it increasing or decreasing... 🧐

The rate is definitely not increasing at this point. There might be an increase towards the end, as the math becomes clearer for more people (including those waiting to decide on a second/third entry).  Then IK could decide to extend - to get closer to their participation goal and, more importantly, to give potential new customers, who are unfamiliar/unaware of the sale/IK, more time to jump on board. 

On 8/5/2021 at 2:45 PM, cclarry said:

The only one's that I don't have are the Electromagnetik and Cinekinetic Series new ones...which I really don't care about...
...which tells me that I can just wait for the next iteration of Total Studio Max and get them.

9 minutes ago, cclarry said:

Well, the first four have knocked out the Cinekinetic Collection!
Now I need 4 more to knock out the Electromagnetic Collection!

Just noticed the Cinekinetik collection among the (new?) qualifying items  

... but it's not available in the Custom Shop

   Mastering version for $15 next? 

1 hour ago, Eusebio Rufian-Zilbermann said:

(b) is $97 & $42 Jam Points more than option (a), a pretty nice deal for the axe i/o solo (if you have the extra cash and the need/want for a great guitar-to-usb  interface)

Definitely a good deal. As I was writing above, I might get a Solo later on for traveling (and consistency with my Axe I/0).

But your post did remind me of the nice, permanent 15% discount U.S. customers get in comparison to us Europeans, due to IK's lovely 1:1 exchange rate. 

European company to Europeans:

da price is da price 

European company to U.S. buyers: 

So if you're in the U.S., you better start going crazy on this group buy. You owe us at least one freebie! 😄 

3 hours ago, Barrie said:

Would buying the AXE I/O SOLO + AmpliTube 5 Bundle qualify based on the AmpliTube 5 part of the bundle?

I doubt it. IK likely considers your Amplitube 5 bundleware/free software that comes with the product you're "really" buying - the Axe I/O. 

There's definitely a problem with some of that. I bought the Axe I/O + Amplitube 5 Max. That bundle (still) is $/EUR 50 more expensive than buying just the Axe I/O, the same as for your Axe I/O Solo and Amplitube 5. Which means it's definitely not free bundled software. So the fact that it doesn't even make one eligible for a Max upgrade is just petty, there's no other way to put it. One could argue that for most group buy participants, the freebies are implicitly paid software (i.e. they wouldn't buy the qualifying software at the retail price, so they divide its cost over the total number of items picked up, qualifying + freebies). But in the case of the Axe I/O bundles, we're talking about explicitly paid software. The fact that it's heavily discounted shouldn't matter - just as it doesn't matter when you buy software from them at an "80% off" sale (which you can resell and does count for crossgrades and upgrades). 

Don't let this discourage you from joining the group buy. For a lot of people it will end up being the sale/bargain of the year. It's just the (call it weird, or unpleasant) stuff one needs to be aware of. 

11 hours ago, TheSteven said:

Lol - so I ordered ARC 3 w mic, friggin GAS addiction kicking in.
I figured $105 w mic was a good enough deal that even if it scored me 0 on the group buy that it was worth it.
My order is received but no notification of code, etc. - I guessing that once i actually receive it that the package will have a reg code so I can register it,  then it'll add to the group buy count, etc.

So I wait...
Anyone have any idea how fast IKM ships to California?

Let us know how that goes. I'm pretty sure ARC 3 with the mic is a popular choice (I'm also considering it for my second purchase). It would help if IK clarified the issues arising from shipping (the only) hardware as part of the group buy (as well the extra promo running on it - free T-Racks Deluxe), so anyone interested would know if/how shipping might impact on eligibility for freebies. 

I'm guessing that the order date would/should be the defining factor? So if you order, say the Arc 3 + mic on August 30th, you'd still get T-Racks Deluxe once you register the hardware, even if it's after August 31st (the end of the free T-Racks promo). As for the group buy, maybe the time allocated to choosing your freebies (30 days), should start from the delivery date of the hardware. This might be especially important if a lot of people order the Arc 3 bundle towards the end of the group buy, which might, in turn, slow down (?) processing/shipping. 

1 minute ago, cclarry said:

I asked IK if I could trade them for something I didn't have....the answer was NO

Hard to blame them with the value they provide, especially during their sales. 

I mean I'm not fond of their marketing approach, but who cares? I've already picked up in this group buy, for not a lot of money:

MODO Bass - very nice

MODO Drums - won't replace my beloved Toontrack collection, but nice, like the interface, sounds good enough, and an awesome sketching tool at 10Gb

Hammond - awesome

Sampletron - awesome 

In the queue: Sunset Sound (demo-ed it when it came out, liked it), Mixbox (don't 'need' it, but I suspect it will be very practical to use), Space Delay and a couple of tape machines, Clavitube. 

I might also get in on a lower tier for the new Cinekinetik stuff. And maybe some synths (though I wish one could control the Syntronik synths from Sampletank, a la Analog Lab). 

Can't really complain about anything after this, can I?  But I do hope it picks up a bit towards the end and we get to 10, 10+ freebies. 

5 minutes ago, TheSteven said:

No talking price but credit given at Group Buy - a $149 credit doesn't get you much more (if any more) than a $99.
If I can buy ARC w / mic for $149 and get a $199 credit in GB, for me, that may make it worth purchasing.

Why would you expect to get $199 credit for it? $149 is the crossgrade price you see when logged in. So you can get anything that's $149 or below (also when logged in). 

3 minutes ago, ALC said:

I'm thinking that the first purchase unlocks the crossgrade pricing for the freebies as well, but this would need to be verified.

Then you're still spending $99.99 + $199.99 ... though getting 2x freebies.  If the first $199.99 qualifies one for the crossgrade freebies, then no need for the first $99.99.  So, some brave soul can try it, or the IK rep can weigh in.

Just now, cclarry said:

Yes...the $199.99 would qualify you for crossgrade pricing...so you are correct that there is no need for the $99.99 purchase.

I don't think it works that way, though I may be wrong. If you're buying, say, the Arc 3 software for $199, Amplitube 5, for example, will not be available as a freebie, as it was $299 at the moment of your purchase of Arc 3. So a FIRST purchase of $199 would only get you freebies that are $199 or less at full, retail price. 

Just now, ALC said:

You can get Syntronik Deluxe as an upgrade from Syntronik, but of course, it would use up a freebie.  You can get Miroslav Philharmonik 2 CE.  If you're serious about orchestral instruments, I think there are better options out there.

We're talking purchasing strategies here, taste doesn't matter (I don't care about Miroslav either). 

For Syntronik Deluxe, I'm not sure you'd get the upgrade price from Syntronik if the latter was picked up as a freebie. But then again, the difference is only a few synths, which  you could pick up cheap with a third group buy purchase at the $50 tier. And yes, this path probably ends with 'but what about buying 500 gear credits, and waiting for a Total Studio 3 Max sale where I'm allowed to use them'. 

Just now, ALC said:

Yes, that's what I was getting at ... except, wouldn't the first purchase unlock the $199.99 tier?  So, my thought is for the first timers to jump in directly with $199.99 (which I can see could be ARC System 3 - software only).

 

You have to make one purchase to unlock crossgrades, that's the point of a crossgrade. So you have to own something that unlocks the crossgrades first. As I was pointing out above though, you'd have to make sure that the system allows for this (i.e. that the crossgrade pricing is immediately available after that purchase), and also check with their upgrade/crossgrade checker for the qualifying items. 

2 minutes ago, cclarry said:

PLUS....DOUBLE THE FREEBIES!

15 minutes ago, fitzroy said:

 In the context of the group buy, you'd gain a $99 item (plus however many freebies will come with it) by going $99 + $199 instead of $299. 

Looks like the $299 tier items that you can't get this way are: Syntronik Deluxe, T-Racks 5 Deluxe and Miroslav. Everything else should be available. 

And yes, with gear credits it's even better. 

1 minute ago, cclarry said:

Still wrong.  It's based on what you've PAID, not the retail price of the product.

Buying a $99.99 product gets you in the Group Buy at $99.99 tier.  If you THEN buy a $199.99 crossgrade, that gets you in
the Group Buy AGAIN at the $199.99 tier....NOT the $299.99 tier

That $299 tier would become the $199 tier for many items (not all, for example not T-Racks 5 Deluxe) , once you make a qualifying purchase at $99. The MODO's, Sampletron, Syntronik, Amplitube, would all be in that tier. So you'd have access to them with that second $199 crossgrade purchase. 

27 minutes ago, cclarry said:

IK Crossgrades are from products $99 or more...but the Crossgrade for $199 still only gets you products for $199...not $299

I think what he/she means is that if you don't have anything from IK and want to get in on the $299 tier, you're better off buying something for $99 first, which would unlock the crossgrade price at $199  for most (all?) items. Then you can make a second purchase for $199 to get you the higher tier (crossgrade) freebies. In the context of the group buy, you'd gain a $99 item (plus however many freebies will come with it) by going $99 + $199 instead of $299. Provided that the crossgrade prices become available immediately after that $99 purchase, even during a group buy (I have no idea), it does make sense to do it this way. 

3 hours ago, fpoir said:

Any recommendations from among these? All the demos sound great, but any of them stand out as even better (more versatile, more extensive) than the rest?

Many of us, having long been victimized by IK's pop-ups alerting us about the stuff we don't own, have all of them. Not to play them, just to keep our sanity. 

Past that, there's good bits in everything on your list. If you like Fender amps, the Fender collections are a must. Not necessarily better than the competition (e.g. I prefer PA's, and especially Fuse's, bassman; S-Gear's amps are at least on par, etc.) but solid throughout.