LittleStudios

10 minutes ago, HOOK said:

The last person I want bragging about a product is the marketing manager...lol.  I'm pretty surprised he didn't push harder.

LOL, so true.  I'm just very suspicious about how they're able to manufacture and sell a 3-way monitor for as cheap as they do.  It would have been nice to read something like, "Sure we use less expensive materials, but our build quality, reliability and manufacturing process are really top notch."

16 minutes ago, HOOK said:

Near 20 years ago, when I was searching for my perfect set of near-field monitors, I started on the lowest end of my budget with that I though might get the job done and got a demo pair from Vintage King.  Sending back a couple sets of demo monitors is a lot less hassle than ending up with monitors that you don't love.  And honestly, even if you can hear them in a local store, it's not the same as spending a couple weeks with them in your own space.

 

I added the part about returning it being a hassle as my feeble attempt at inciting Kali to really brag about how good their product is.  Trust me, I will be listening to the monitors in my studio.  If they are not a good fit, they go back.

I contacted Kali Audio to see how confident and honest about their product they would be.  Below you'll find my email to them, followed by their response.

My email:

Quote

Hello,

I'm currently in the market for new studio monitors.  I've been using my current pair of Event TR-8 for over twenty years.  Not only is sound quality important to me, component quality, build quality and reliability are just as important to me.  I've been looking at the Kali Audio IN-8 V2 (second wave) and have read good things.  The surprisingly low price for a 3-way monitor raises some concerns as to how Kali Audio has managed to keep the cost down.  I've also been looking at the Focal Alpha 80 EVO.  Both, the IN-8 V2 and Focal Alpha 80 EVO are within my budget.  I don't live near a music store that carries either brand.  I would have to order the monitors and possibly return them if I'm not pleased, which is a hassle.

Why should I choose the Kali Audio IN-8 V2 over the Focal Alpha 80 EVO, remembering that budget is NOT an issue?

Regards,

Chris

Their response (Nate Baglyos was assigned my email request, his position at Kali Audio is Director of Sales and Marketing:

Quote

Hi Chris,

Good questions!

So, the Focal definitely has higher quality components. And this isn't just the acoustic stuff, the materials they use for panels and finishes are NICE. They spend a lot of money on all that, and it is well reflected in the look and feel of the speaker. We've used decidedly less expensive materials to keep the pricepoint lower.

I would argue that the sound of the IN-8 is better. They are more accurate overall, display better directivity characteristics, and don't suffer from some of the issues that an undamped metal dome present.

If your was purely acoustic performance, I would say the IN-8s is the clear choice. Given that you're emphasizing component and build quality and budget is no concern, it's a bit muddier. I would suggest asking for opinions from people who have used both. 

I'm not sure what I want to take from this response.  I pretty much figured that less expensive materials was one way they cut cost.  I guess I was hoping for them to really hammer home that the build quality of the Kali's was top notch.

I've read multiple reviews of the Kali's and they've all had really nice things to say about the sound quality.  I only remember one review where they commented on the build quality, like the molded plastic face wasn't aligned to the MDF box well and that your expectations should reflect the price point.

Thoughts?

Just curious if anyone has had any experience with either of these monitors.  I hear great things about the Kali monitors, but I have my doubts / suspicions.  How are they able to deliver a 3-way monitor at such a low cost?  They must be cutting corners somewhere.  Where I stand, the $200 difference when spending this amount isn't a consideration.  I'm more interested in sound quality, build quality and component quality.

***UPDATE - SEE BELOW***

4 hours ago, Doug Rintoul said:

What demo?

My bad, I forgot to mention I was demoing Hornet Tape MK2.

The code is still working and it still works on all the plugins, has anyone heard whether or not this is a mistake or intentional?  Tested the demo, ran like hot trash in Cubase Pro 12.

Just to be clear, we're talking about Version: 2023.09 (Build 062, 64 bit) being the final version?

They got back to me, here's their reply.

Quote

Hello Christopher,

Thanks for your patience while we got back to you.

Thank you for reaching out. Our team is aware of this behavior and working on getting the promotion working online. Please check online tomorrow as the issue may be fixed by then.

We hope this response has sufficiently answered your questions. If you still have any question, interests, or concerns, please reply to this email and an agent will get back to you as soon as possible. Please make sure to reply to this email and do not open another support ticket.

IK Multimedia Tech Support Team

I don't have this one and it's still not popping for me.  Disabled all blockers and crap like that.  I've contacted their customer support, so I'll let you know if they tell me anything.

I need to learn to be a bit more patient.  It just needed a few minutes to populate in my account.

I can't seem to get it to activate.  I have an ilok account if that's needed but the only activation key I have is this  "W495 (Free)".

Installed!

Something Stupid is one of my clients that I mix and master for.  I forgot to post a link to their Spotify page.  They've uploaded 3 songs that I mixed and mastered. 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2hDAG0jjFrw1JUKnlFF2SZ?si=LWzBskvLRiaVyLwoDxA4DA

Let me know whatcha think.

Do we think Waves will realize it's 2023 and up the sample rate limits and add user controlled oversampling to their plugins?  For the Omni Channel I was hoping they would have addressed this in V2, but nope.  The saturation module of this plugin aliases like a mofo.  A lot of times aliasing can go unnoticed, unfortunately not in this case.  Good thing they are letting us load third party plugins in this plugin.  I'm not trying to open a whole aliasing discussion, just wanted to mention that Waves seems out of touch with current trends in plugins and wanted to know how others felt.

The creepy little corner...

Just now, El Diablo said:

With Reaper, you can force over sampling on any plugin!

If you oversample it past 96kHz the equalizer frequencies get all out of whack.

13 minutes ago, ralfrobert said:

Please talk me out of it.

There's no oversampling and it's supported sample rate tops out at 96kHz.

All kidding aside. it's pretty good.

Here's an update.  Below is the conversation:

Me: Will updating my system BIOS affect my licenses?

PA: Thanks for reaching out. This may change your machine ID 

Me: Due to the time it took for this customer support email, I had to go ahead and update my BIOS.  My computer ID did change, but all my Plugin Alliance plugins are still active even though the ID doesn't match.  I'm aware that I have 7 deactivations as a limit, but I have no idea how many times or if I have deactivated before.  The website doesn't show me this information.  Everything is currently running fine even though my machine ID doesn't match what is stored on the website.

PA: I have reset your deactivations. 

Me: Should I deactivate and reactivate my new computer ID?

PA: If everything is running fine, I would leave it alone.

So there you have it.  And they lived happily ever after.

My Omni Channel was V10.... so for $12, I WUP'ed.  I actually enjoy the plugin, so yeah.  I'm not proud that I WUP'ed. 

Get that WUP from Koby (everyplugin) for like $12

Just tried to install the demo, doesn't seem to want to install correctly.  I wanted to compare it to my Scheps Omni Channel (original).  Just based on what I read, doesn't seem worth it.

23 minutes ago, jesse g said:

To manage you license with PA,  log  into your PA account and click on YOUR ACCOUNT.    Next go to  "Licenses & Plugins" and click on  either Manage Devices or Manage  Your Licenses .  These two areas  will allow you to manage the  activations of all the plugins you own and  the state of computer activations as well.

Yes, I'm aware of this.  As I stated before, I wanted clarification on their policy directly from their customer support, but unfortunately they had not responded and it was taking a longer time than usual.  I was just curious if others had the same experience with PA/Izotope/NI customer support.  I'm not confused on how to manage my licenses or devices.

Update time, so I did receive a response from NI Product Support (iZotope), this is how the email was identified.  So this is clear indication that their customer, their as in Plugin Alliance, Izotope and Native Instruments is officially under the Native Instruments umbrella now.  I digress.  Here's the response:

Quote

Due to the high amount of incoming requests, we currently cannot achieve our desired response times. We think it is important to let you know about the current situation. We apologize for the delayed response to your request and for any inconvenience this may have caused.

I'm sure I'll get the same response in regard to my Plugin Alliance and Native Instruments customer support request.

This is a screen grab from their site.  You need to go to the manage devices section of your account.

Like I mentioned before, I wanted to make sure I was understanding things correctly and I tried contacting Tech Support/Customer Support.  The intent of my original post was to find out if their new customer support ticket system was working correctly because I had not heard from them yet.  It wasn't to bitch and moan about their licensing policy, just kind of ended up there.

Well, I still haven't heard from Plugin Alliance, Izotope or Native Instruments.  I submitted IT Tickets to all three.  They all have the same interface.  So, yeah. 

I moved forward with the BIOS update and so far all is good.  All my plugins still work, yet the machine ID is now different and doesn't match what is on PA's website/my account. 

Funny, IK Multimedia told me to deactivate before I flashed my BIOS and reactivate after the fact.  Well I didn't do that and just like PA, everything is fine and no extra authorizations were used.  What the hell's the point of the licensing system and threats of limits on activations if they don't even work?