Zolton

If you're shopping for items in addition to Audiothing's, Bubbles also appears to be free with any purchase (along with Cloudy Samples Cinematic Timelapse, Vicious Antelope Arctic Pigments 3 presets and UJAM Usynth Drive) at Loot Audio (should be automagically added to the basket):

https://www.lootaudio.com/

Loot swings through these freebies pretty rapid-fire, so I'm not sure how long Bubbles will be among the swag.

Edited to add: r/APD says the current batch of Loot Audio freebies should be active through the 30th.

I have the full version and like it, though I can't say I've used it too many times in projects yet. 

I think of it as sort of a poor man's (insert your favorite fancy layered modulatable gizmo here, like Spitfire eDNA, Luftrum Bioscape, maybe Output has one, etc. -- some of which I also like a lot!). For what it is, there are quite a few options for mangling the layered sound, and including your own samples is a simple drag-and-drop affair, which I appreciate. I haven't tinkered extensively, but I also haven't found anything that I wanted to automate or CC-assign that I couldn't. 

It probably depends on how many similar doodads you have already in your arsenal, and whether the layered/evolving sound is something you use/need often, but if so, it ticks several of those boxes, despite not being the sexiest solution in the shop.

6 hours ago, pseudopop said:

Hmm... I wonder if there has been some kind of glitch with my subscription? I seem to attract those.

My order confirmation says "1x Beat - E-Paper Abonnement", but they actually sent me a paper letter (with my name misspelled...) to confirm the subscription and on Falkemedia's website the delivery method is "Deutsche Post". I never received any account info to access my digital subscriptions and my email/password for falkemedia-shop.de doesn't work at falkemedia-abo.de.

I haven't received the physical magazines but I do get emails from Marco when a new issue is out, and on those emails there is a link that takes me to Plugins-Samples. The letter they sent me had my subscription number and I used that to access all the content on Plugins-Samples.

In your shoes I'd contact Falke Media or Marco and ask for the subscription number or if they can allow you to access Plugins-Samples. The last time I subscribed to the digital version of Beat it included access to Plugins-Samples, but I can't remember if I had to jump through any hoops for it.

Interesting -- thanks, I appreciate the info!

My situation is similar in some ways -- I also got a paper letter (in German, and although my country defaulted to Germany in the order form, the letter found me at my US postal address) to confirm. But my email granting access to issues pointed me to https://webkiosk.falkemedia.de or https://webkiosk.beat.de -- maybe because my address for the order was in Germany?

(There was no option for US, though I didn't think much about it when I went through the process. I did get the impression at every step along the way that my order was handled as a "special case", but Marco mentioned early on it was some initial issue with my email address, so I'm not sure.)

I pinged Marco several times to herd things along, so I'll give him a break for a little while. (I started with the Falkemedia / Beat support emails, but never got a response.) It's really useful to know what I specifically might want to ask for/about when the next issue arrives, though. Thanks!

4 hours ago, MusicMan said:

Timing and luck counts for a lot with this stuff, doesn't it?!

Sometimes it pays to jump quickly. That's not always the case and sometimes there's a better deal, but when it gets to some of these prices, that gets less and less likely. But the other big plus... I get to use it now 😃

Speaking of timing, mine was... not good enough in this case. I got distracted, and that PREBLACK10 code expired when the clock hit midnight (somewhere) on the 20th, so I missed it.

On the bright side, that gives me another week or so to trawl current and upcoming deals before any product discount I'm tracking expires. And probably leads to better decisions overall. But I'll miss that ten percent!

27 minutes ago, MusicMan said:

It does indeed. The biggest standout for me was Phase Plant and Spire, but even Mastermind was a touch cheaper. I did wonder about holding off, but I've missed out a few times when sellers end up excluding certain products, or they expire the code, so I just jumped!

Sometimes the listed price is supposed to be the price after the discount and I've waited for a while with Phase Plant so I wasn't taking any chances 🤣

Agreed, timing (and a little bit of luck) is everything.

In case others are interested, I tracked down the expiration date for the Loot Audio code on reddit/APD (I'd post the link here, but it expands into a huge widget that I don't know how to tame):

"10% off anything site wide until 20 November with code PREBLACK10"

Looks like I'm in for a couple of quick decisions!

By the way, that PREBLACK10 code mentioned in the first post works for 10% of many things (any things?) at Loot Audio right now.

Does anyone happen to know when it expires? I'm trying not to pull any triggers until more sales bloom next week, but an extra 10% is worth considering. The code itself suggests it'll be gone before Friday, at the latest.

36 minutes ago, abacab said:

It's been 3 years since LM 1.7.0 was released. I would probably jump on an LR 1.4.5 to LM upgrade if they release a new version. Understand the delay, of course. Will be waiting...

I wonder whether WaveDNA thought they might be near the end for a while, and caught a second wind?

I really liked Liquid Rhythm, too, and kept an eye out for deals on Liquid Music. Last Black Friday, I snagged the combined LM/updated LR package at Best Service for $34. I don't recall for certain, but I don't think the price was contingent on owning an earlier Liquid Rhythm version.

Maybe that was just a very special deal (or a glitch), but I'm hoping the higher price this year means they're actively working and supporting and building new things, as the email above suggests.

1 hour ago, pseudopop said:

Actually, I did this and I can download the PDF version of both German and English version of the magazine via Plugins-Samples.

Ah, that would be great. I've been able to translate articles that I'm interested in, but it's a bit of a slog. (The samples and software archive work wonders, though.)

At Plugins-Samples, it asks for a "Subscription Number", but I don't see that in the email Falkemedia sent to confirm the subscription, only an order # (which doesn't seem to work in the form). When I click on the (translated) "Manage digital subscriptions" link under "Magazine subscriptions" on falkemedia-shop.de, the page I get on falkemedia-abo.de lists my "subscription name" as "beat e-paper", which doesn't seem very specific.

Do you happen to remember where you found the info for Plugin-Samples, or did it just work/show up when you made the order? For me, the "Orders" section there says "No order has been made yet.", so it's possible (quite possible; I had to enlist help from Marco a couple of times to usher my order through the system) that something for me isn't connected quite right.

For anyone interested who's not getting the lower price listed -- particularly those in Europe -- an alternative way to get Phase Plant for ~€72 is via a Beat magazine e-paper subscription:

https://www.falkemedia-shop.de/sound/beat/dauerbezug/digitalbezug?#premiums

(You can also get Impact Shreddage 3 Hydra or Acoustic Samples Pianos or other bonuses instead, if you prefer.)

I went this route a few weeks ago. It takes a bit longer (there's a two-week period before getting the bonus serial, possibly to make sure people don't cancel right away just for the freebie?), but you also get a year of Beat (in German), access to back issues and associated samples/software. 

Possibly not worth the extra hoops versus $73. But against $99, it could be an option to consider. 

1 hour ago, Reid Rosefelt said:

I have to be honest and say that I bought the bundle last year for around a hundred bucks, but haven't gotten deep into anything but Playbeat.  I did the usual thing of watching the videos so I would understand Riffer and Chordjam, but then when I got the bundle I just didn't spend much time with them. The real reason for this is that I have been focusing on making videos.

I bet a few of you have done something similar.  Buy a bundle and don't use everything.  Perhaps in retrospect, I just should have only bought Playbeat. 

Anyway, there is no real break for owning the bundle and getting Loopmix.   If I want it, I'm going to have to pay around $40.  I think the best deal is JRRShop.   I'm going to watch the videos some more.

Playbeat is great for popping out a quick cue that nobody else has (important for YouTube).   And I think Loopmix will be the same.  Another thing is that these are the only ones Audiomodern supports with Expansions (although Loopmix currently only has one that isn't in the factory library.)

So maybe think about what you really want. 

That's sound advice. And one reason why I'd written off the bundle at $149 -- I'm definitely interested in Playbeat and Loopmix, which at JRRshop or LootAudio would be a shade over $80 together. For a little more, Riffer's been on my "maybe" list, but I feel I'm covered for what ChordJam offers, and I have (and use) the freebies already.

It definitely helps to break any bundle down into individual titles and ask what each one is worth to you specifically. Sites like musicsoftwaredeals help tremendously to see what's historically a good deal/value for each plugin, and how likely the current opportunity is to come around again. 

On 11/5/2022 at 6:15 AM, Reid Rosefelt said:

It's weird, considering it is €149 ($148) at the Audiomodern site now.

https://audiomodern.com/products/

I have a feeling that the price for the suite will get better in stores.  There's an Audiomodern store-wide 35% off now, and maybe when the third-party stores catch up to that, the price for the suite will go below $148. 

Reid's prediction about a price drop may have come to pass -- though honestly, it's pretty confusing.

On the Audiomodern page, the "Complete Suite" remains €149. That definitely includes: Riffer, ChordJam, Playbeat 3, Loopmix and the three free effects. Other sites, including ADSR and PluginFox, offer the same package with the same "Complete Suite" name and a similar price.

Plugin Boutique and JRRshop offer the same 7 plugins as a $149 package, but call it the "Random Generators Bundle", which seems to be an older name. A few other shops, Sweetwater and Thomann among them, have had links to the same bundle, but those are no longer available. On the Sweetwater site, at least, the "old" version of this bundle is specified -- it includes only Chordjam, Playbeat 3 and Riffer. So far as I know, in the first iteration of the bundle called "Random Generators", Loopmix didn't exist yet.

However, a few shops, including Musician's Friend and Guitar Center, are selling a "Random Generators Bundle" for ~$97. My guess would be that was the price for the older bundle with that name, but both sites have an identical summary of the product that describes Riffer and Playbeat 3, then ends with:

Also included
PanflowGatelabFilterstepLoopmix

The big question is whether this is the "old" bundle, not yet removed but updated with a new description, or the "new" bundle, including Loopmix, at a pretty fantastic price? ChordJam isn't mentioned at all in the MF/GC bundles, so it's possible it's excluded, but unlikely. Even if, Riffer, Playbeat and Loopmix for less than $100 would beat any of the Black Friday deals I've seen on those combined. 

I'm considering Loopmix and Playbeat myself, and intrigued by Riffer, so it's tempting. But if Loopmix isn't included, it's not so great a deal. And despite the mention, Loopmix is nowhere to be seen in the product images on the MF and GC product pages. Has anyone happened to have taken a flyer on these?

It seemed like a bit of an odd-duck deal when I saw it (on KVR, possibly), which is one reason I didn't start a new thread.

(No shade to PC, though -- assuming the deal still worked, that's the way to grab folks' attention.)

Anyway, I never saw any official word from Karanyi or aggregator sites about the deal, just a post in a forum with the code and "maybe it's for a limited time?"

Given the brouhaha they brewed by giving out -- even autofilling -- discount codes for unregisterable plugins, it seems safe to assume this was a real and actual glitch that leaked out somehow. (As opposed to the iZotope "glitch" or various 8Dio "glitches", etc.) Maybe if they hear enough barking, they'll decide the best PR would be to honor the serials that squeaked through. 

On the other hand, it's a $9 synth. Maybe they just take the L and win people back with tasty Black Friday deals.

In case no one has mentioned it elsewhere (or above, if I missed it myself):

Minipol (original, not Pro) is now free, possibly for a limited time, with the code: blackminipol

For me, the code was auto-added when I put Minipol in the cart, 

This one's my favorite:

If I'm loyal, I can have the Everything Bundle for $999. But if I'm *reeeeeally* loyal, I can get it for $499.

I guess I'm off to have a first-born child, so I can offer it up to iZotope to sweeten the pot.

For anyone interested, I just gave this another try and the stock has evidently returned. 

Fire (up your browsers) at will.

Since we're in a gaming thread...

If you have Amazon Prime, don't sleep on the games available for free on Prime Gaming. While there's some chaff to sort through (from my perspective, including games on the Legacy Games platform and those only free for the month on Luna), the freebies available to download and play forever (DRM-free for the most part) are a solid mix of genres, indies and AAAs, etc. Nothing brand new, but generally solid.

The set for November just dropped and includes:

Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition (redeems on GOG)
Last Day of June
WRC9
Etherborn
Whispering Willows
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

6 hours ago, Brian D'Oliveira said:

@Zolton Sorry to hear that you are having issues and that you had not heard from the team within a reasonable amount of time! Though not an excuse the team has been beyond crunched with the massive influx of new users and still getting the updates out as promised. I have also revamped our support system massively so now its way more efficient than the system we had running where we could not even live chat ( yes its 2022! ) . So please feel free to send a chat via the widget on our site mentioning my name and I will be more than happy to personally help you with whatever help or questions you may have.

Hi Brian --

Thank you for pinging me; I meant to update my post over the weekend, in case the info is helpful for others:

I did hear back from support later on Wednesday, and over the course of the next couple of days, the support team sorted things out. (I'm not sure what state my account was in, but the solution was to wipe out the existing v2 licenses and register new ones from scratch. But that worked!)

I was very pleased with the help from support, and happy to be able to use the v2 instruments now. I imagine for some of us the situation with licenses and versions may be a little jumbled during the transition to Mndala v2, but support was diligent in my case in sorting things out. Thanks very much!

1 hour ago, PavlovsCat said:

I think a good follow-up poll, two questions actually, would be to ask how many plugins you regularly use and find out the number range and that number as a percentage of the overall owned plugins a user has. My expectation is that -- unless a person is truly a plugin hoarder -- that they may purchase several plugins that serve the same function, but after trying each one, they eventually settle on one or two that provide them with what they feel is the best combination of results and workflow. 

I've given in to plugin collecting as a separate hobby (thanks, mild OCD), so I happen to have a mortifyingly embarrassing spreadsheet with just these numbers.

I'm a new producer, with 45 pieces "completed" (based on whatever skill I had at the time) in the past two years or so. In those, I've used:

70 VSTis of 162 "active"
100 effects VSTs of 458 "active"

I'm pretty okay with that ratio. (The Kontakt libs used vs. owned looks a lot worse, but what do you do?)

I say "active" plugins, because I keep anything I've used, paid for or "other" (like wanting it available in Unify) in Cakewalk's scanned VST folders. I make one or two custom subsets to actually use day to day, based on what I like and want to like, etc. I keep at least one "working" instrument and effects plugin set small by just adding "containers" -- Snap Heap but not the individual plugs, etc. -- which keeps things pretty clean.

But I also shamefully keep shadow "inactive" VST directories with freebies and oddballs and ancient 32-bit monsters scoured from various corners of the internet. I've at least pulled each one up and tried it out, but that's as far as it's gone for most. Between effects and instruments / synths, there are 4479 of those. So much for that ratio, I guess.

I think both the LE and CE versions are new, and meant to work in Mndala 2. The original UDW, with no extension, was for v1, and seems to be fully separate.

I'm still having issues with v2 personally -- different than the ones I described in the linked thread above, now that I've updated to Mndala 2.05, but still blocking in terms of installation / functionality.

I opened a ticket with support to get advice about Rasa and UDW (LE) working in v2, but haven't heard back yet since the auto-response saying they usually respond within 24 hours and with a link to their ticket system online. It'll be 48 hours since that email soon, at which point I may reply to let them know my Mntra login info doesn't work to access their ticket system and trying to register there as a new user just reloads a blank reg page with no error message or instructions.

It's a journey.

On 10/25/2022 at 3:55 AM, kevin H said:

I upgraded for $29 while I wait to sell my kidney to afford buying Melda MXXX  😂 

Just as an aside -- I decided my Melda strategy would be to buy MXXX Core for fifty bucks on sale, and gradually add bits on deep discount to the core functionality. 

The upside is, I get to use and learn it for certain functions in the meantime, even though half the exciting fancy options are greyed (or redded, to be precise) out.

In the end, you still sell your kidney for it. But instead of yanking it out all at once, every couple of weeks you slice a little bit off with a cheese grater. I'll leave it to the reader whether that sounds more or less enjoyable as a customer experience.

18 minutes ago, Brian D'Oliveira said:

@Zolton Brian here from MNTRA,  we had a temporary hiccup with our server service last night as you tried to do this which was resolved steadfastly and you should have received an updated order and the ability to download. As for your other issues, are you using MNDALA 2.0.5 ? If not I highly suggest that you install, and it should be a simple matter of de-installing Rasa and Huracan and then re-download them. And just sharing some insights, hosting your own hosting services that all work to allow for dead simple downloads and installs within a plugin is definitely not for the faint of heart, especially for such a small team as ours, but the unpredictable surprises have been dealt with and other than this small hiccup the feature has been working very smoothly with this latest update.

Hi Brian -- 

Thanks very much for letting me/us know! It's quite possible I don't have the latest point release of Mndala installed, so I'll grab that, uninstall and start from scratch. It sounds like things may go much more smoothly now.

As I mentioned in a later post, I'm a big fan of the engine and the sound, so best of luck with getting all of the pieces in place. It's a little tricky for both users and developers when the roadmap is somewhat unpredictable, so I really appreciate the info and communication here and elsewhere. I've put a couple of recent v1 library purchases "on hold" for the moment, but it'll be fantastic to try everything out together in v2 when available. Cheers.

Well, that's encouraging (Rasa and UDW-LE working in v2 for abacab and others), in that it suggests my issues are likely account- and/or installation-related.

When I have a chance, I'll uninstall v2, reinstall both versions, try my luck at installations and ping support about any persistent issues. It's a bit of a chore, but I do like the engine and the libs, so it feels worth another shot to get things sorted.

I wish it wasn't quite such a tangle, though. 

I've gone down the road of trying to be patient and wait for the v2 kinks to sort out, though it's been a little while. The link that abacab mentioned above went up in late August / early September, with no library conversions yet that I'm aware of, so the progress to date has been fairly slow.

(The page apparently hasn't been updated lately, either, as it indicates only Huracan is v2, but Caprakan is their latest lib and specifically for v2, according to the main site.)

I got a little burned in upgrading to 1.8 a while back, which turned out to be unstable and was eventually mothballed. Maybe I'll sort out with support how to get Rasa working in v2, or bite the bullet and fiddle around with v1.7 and the v1 libs for a while.

I happened to stumble on this while browsing APD, but haven't seen the freebie listed anywhere that I recall:

https://audioplugin.deals/ultrasonic-death-whistle-by-mntra-instruments/

On the one hand, a nice pickup if you're collecting Mndala instruments, like the Huracan free-with-purchase from PB last month.

On the other hand, the Mntra ecosystem seems to still be a tangled mess right now. I've gone through the password reset that lets owners of Mndala v1 libs log into the site (and eventually get the libs ported over to v2, I'm told).

But loading Mndala v2 in Cakewalk, I can install Huracan but not the free Rasa library that comes with it (error connecting to server, even in the same session where Huracan installed). In the plugin, Huracan perpetually says an update is available, even if just updated, and the UDW above comes from APD with instructions for installing in v2 which say:

Quote

If you purchased them through a separate retailer (ie: Plugin Boutique) you will have to enter your License Key via the ‘ADD FROM SERIAL’ button within the Library Tab into MNDALA 2 manually, which will automatically link the purchase of the instrument with your MNTRA account.

 Trying to enter the license key in-app gives a "server might be down" message and no other progress, though three seemingly-failed attempts have created three records in the "Orders" section of my Mntra account on the website -- each with a license key containing the string "UDW", but no product listed in the record. Basically, it's all higgledy-piggledy, so far as I can see.

Still, I'd had my eye on UDW, and perhaps at some point everything will be sorted and usable in Mndala v2. Maybe UDW is currently only compatible with v1, which means it's APD's install info that's wonky in this instance. At any rate, if interested, I'd advise to pick this up and stash it until the dust settles. Hopefully soon-ish.

1 minute ago, Sander Verstraten said:

Is this a reworked version of a Reaktor Synth? That's the only thing that comes up when I searched for videos on the VST

It is, though it's technically a MIDI generator as opposed to a traditional synth. There was a short blurb about it (the original Reaktor ensemble) on NI's site a while back:

https://blog.native-instruments.com/create-unconventional-melodies-and-harmonies-with-hexcel-for-reaktor/