Nick Blanc

I can really recommend this one for hiphop beat makers. 

Inspired by the King's topic on bullshit plugins:

How about a (name and shame?) bullshit marketing thread? Is it deals related? Maybe, it often is ("get it now, we can't maintain these prices for long"). What got me going was the absolutely unreadable text for the Relab Maselec MEA-2 Precision Stereo EQ plug-in. Then came the Quickmuse where I read the whole description and still had NO clue what is was, up until I was at around 75% of the entire text where it kinda dropped some hints it was an effect. I had to doublecheck the Plugin Boutique URL to see what this thing is.

But also the Waves sales prices definitely qualify for a bullshit award. Or Plugin Alliance. A Brainworx Clipper for $249?! You're not fooling anyone, except perhaps newcomers. But, to give PA credit, that particular product page is actually very informative almost without any buzzwords. I do have a feeling the testimonials are on the BS scale, but I'm not against all marketing, it's fine.

I know that writing a well structured marketing text with the right balance between promotion and product info is an art in of itself. This could be something a developer isn't particularly good at (and there's no shame in that). So I have the feeling a lot of these things are generated by ChatGPT, and it shows. 

For me, such practices put me off. If I can't read your text, have no clue what you are selling me, or if I get the feeling I'm being scammed with the price, I'm out. 

Any thoughts?

13 hours ago, RSMcGuitar said:

Oh cool! I thought this was the same as last year, but it's a newbie!

Oh good that you mention it. I was not going to get it because I too thought it was the same.

20 hours ago, satya said:

Grab the new dazzling Hyper3 single-stage saturation tool. With its intelligent EQ emphasis and deemphasis, you can enhance your tracks with lush harmonic tones, depth, and a brilliant top-end shimmer!

Oh god this ChatGPT marketing buzzword soup has to stop.

I have The Prince and it is...ok enough for the discounted price I got it for. So I'll demo these sounds, perhaps it's in the same ballpark.

It's getting predictable. But still lots of fun. Still practicing live arrangement. Went a bit too long, but I made it work. Anyway, as always, enjoy!

12 hours ago, reginaldStjohn said:

I want to get these sometime but they are out of my budget for now.

Same here, they seem like awesome and fun libraries. But I have no real use for them besides fun so that doesn't justifies the price, even discounted.

Also, a second instance seems to do very little to the CPU.

1 hour ago, David Inglesfield said:

I like this too. But how are you finding it in terms of CPU? I read on Bedroom Producers Blog some comments saying there was high CPU load. Some said that this only occurred when the GUI was open. I'm finding that it runs fine with the GUI closed, but I am experiencing some problems with late buffers on the one track I've used it on so far. Maybe this is the culprit, though it could be something else.

CPU load is quite insane for 1 synth. GUI open or not doesn't make a difference for me. It takes 12% of my CPU, that is Ozone 11 with 8 active modules territory.

I use this one all the time on the drum bus. Just a barely noticeable amount which makes the drums very cohesive.

On 10/25/2023 at 12:33 AM, Magic Russ said:

Android has terrible latency problems though.

I assume that won't really be an issue when you are noodling out ideas and transfering them to the 'real' Ableton where they then reside? Or would the app have those issues on the phone too? I used to have Korg Kaossilator and that worked fine.

I'm not gonna quote you and steal your thunder. You won the internet for today sir. 🤣

Still waiting for Dicksmasher to be released. Such a promising name.

4 minutes ago, MusicMan said:

They should definitely rewrite it, or stop using ChatGPT to write it for them 🤣

"Hey ChatGPT, could you write me a marketing description for an EQ VST, with a marketing to useful information ratio of 3:1. Use every superlative you know."

13 minutes ago, MusicMan said:

I laughed reading it all as well 😅

For lots of other companies based on that alone I wouldn't even post it!

But I do suspect this could be very good... Haha..

True, I could be very good. And I can stomach a few of those lines. But this is so ridiculously over the top I couldn't really read the description. In my mind I tried to skip all the marketing stuff, but that also cuts away most of the useful info. I hope for their sake they will consider rewriting it, because not being able to read the description might just deter people from buying it.

They have done some marketing research, learned a lot of phrases and decided they will use them ALL. Some gems:

Quote

First, with everything we’ve learned about the Maselec MEA-2, we KNOW the value of this EQ far exceeds this introductory price. So we can’t offer this deal forever.

Quote

While the Maselec MEA-2 is still a steal at $199, why pay more when you don’t have to?

Quote

Elevate Your Reputation: Deliver more than a mix; offer an unparalleled audio experience. Happy clients become loyal advocates.


Quote

With the MEA-2 plugin, you’re not just saving time, you’re optimizing it.

Quote

So the next time you’re faced with the choice between generic and genius, remember: Timeless music is more art than math.

And why describe a solo button in a boring way:

Quote

The precision of Solo Isolation ensures that your decision-making will always be on point.

https://www.landr.com/sessions/

This one flew under my radar but can be very useful. I believe the service is paid, but the plugin is free. And here's where that could be useful. You can put it on your master and then use the plugin as an audio input in OBS. This could be ideal for people who want to stream their DAW or want to make videos with in-DAW content.

Another option for that is using ReaStream which is also free. 

http://reaper.fm/reaplugs/

My go-to plugin when I use multiple kicks. I like to use the Drumbrute Impact alongside the TR-8S which almost always gives some phase cancelation. You can fix some with just changing the polarity, but this works great.

Hmmm, it says €25 for me. Guess I'm 501.

But to be serious, this looks amazing. My setup is a an RME Digiface + 4x Behringer ADA8200 and that would be the setup with about the most dedicated inputs possible. or so I thought. This one is on par with that + I imagine better preamps on at least the Arturia unit. Plus all the extra features like DC coupled outputs, zero-latency passthrough, USB, MIDI. Damn, this is a very serious piece of kit.

47 minutes ago, Sander Verstraten said:

Very happy with mine too, expanded it with ES ADAT interfaces for my eurorack and it's an amazing audio brain for my home studio.

I'm tempted by the 16 Rig, but it would just  make me buy even more gear to make sure I'd use every in- and output

This is an awesome techno tool.

49 minutes ago, satya said:

At least u got iPhone , I don't have that too 😞

I don't. I have Android. That's why it sucks this is iOS only. I would like to use it, but I can't.

It really sucks this is iOS only. I'm not a fan of fiddling on my phone, but the prospect of working out ideas quickly is great. A melody in your head or a drum pattern. You have no idea how many melody lines I have whistled and recorded on my phone. Also I have a 2x 25 minutes commute by train which are ideal for noodling stuff out. Right now I'm mindlessly scrolling Instagram or 9gag and listening to music. When I get home I fire up Ableton. But that could be so much more integrated.

2 minutes ago, Zo said:

At least you own a guitar lol 

Me ? No gtr and i grabbed plini , nolly , Cory , sold abasi ( was buggy and not fixed during one year) and the bass one 

stl tones putney and benson

ik , softube , nembrini and pa bass stuff ...waves and ni witch i don t use ...

something wrong in my head .... probably ..

I even have a physical amp from Fender and a bass amp from Ampeg. I also have a bass guitar and an acoustic. I was going to get a hollowbody too because it looks cool. But I talked myself out of it, seeing that I can't even play the ones I already have with any proficiency. 😅