Nick Blanc

My previous synthwave jam didn't do so well on Youtube, so better try that again. The track is cool, there are a lot of synths playing but the "live" element was limited to some filter noodling. I didn't really see a thing I could add or do live without messing everything up. But I DID design about every synth patch, no presets (a synthline played by Diva as the exception), so I had a lot of fun sounddesigning. I'm learning a lot about sounddesign this way, so that's a cool bonus. Anyway, here it is:

Haha same here. UJAM scratching their head why there weren't more sales. "All they had to do was use the co.....damnit! I knew we forgot something".

Their Fastspring checkout is not working.

According to their email there are some hiddens eggs on their website (https://www.ujam.com) which will give you a change to get 50% off. You need te be logged in. The hunt is on until April 11th and the coupons are valid until April 30th.

Haha indeed they did. I am at work so I wanted to wait until I got home. A little voice said "just do it now, they will adjust it" and darn they did and I didn't buy. Ah well. Saved me €49. Maybe another time.

So if I understand this software, you buy the full version which includes the engine and a ton of factory MIDI. You choose a soundset to go with it. You can then 'upgrade' your package with other soundsets and other MIDI packs. You can also route EZ Keys to another track as a MIDI generator or drag & drop. How would this distinguish itself from, let's say Scaler?

Awesome! Will do that. €49 is a price I can do. And do they ever do sales? In case I ever wanted to stock up on MIDI packs...

I've never given his much attention, but it seems this is a quality product. Now I could buy into the ecosystem for 179, that's still a lot of money (too much right now, do they do sales?). But the upgrade is only 79. Is that from an instrument expansion? Or do you need the basic software, choose a soundpack to go with it, and that would be your package for 179? As they seem to have 17 versions? I'm confused.

I think $15 is still a lot of money for a notation tool. I can see it being useful when collaborating. Sort of. Nothing a quick phonecall couldn't handle.

But come on, who wouldn't use them? The Matriarch had some very pleasant surprises for me. The oscillator behaviour is absolutely great. I figured out what went wrong in the latest jam (some stereo issue) and that made me understand it more. The piano makes for some nice contrast and I keep coming back to the Roland SE-02. It's a great little machine. Sometimes the melody it a bit wonky, that's because I had A LOT of midi notes going on and I decided to make some changes to add a bit of contrast and interest. But when you play around 30 notes at once and are changing things on the fly, there is going to be some accidents. Ah well, part of the process.

Not to mention the updates they did (and do) on their hardware. The Microfreak is a gift that keeps on giving.

I like Spiff more than Soothe. It's a very underrated plugin in my opinion. Well, it gets overlooked because everyone talks about Soothe perhaps. Anyway, I mostly use it on my master. Works wonders.

They can't get back what they didn't have. Their perpetual sale tactics and their sprinkling of free plugins all over the place made me distrust their system. But for me, this whole thing was just a big 'meh'. I could see how other people were affected and that is shameful at least. But for me personally? Nothing. They have nothing I would really want (perhaps Clarity) and don't already have, I don't do WUP and my Windows machine pretty much ensures me I will never have to. So, come to think of it, I was already done with Waves haha. Nevermind. Carry on.

Haha yes got the same one. Made me chuckle 😊

I better get that Clarity plugin soon, before they turn subscription again. Sorry guys, I have a feeling this was Waves' plan all along. My bad.

He makes a good suggestion.

Now there's a name that brings back memories 😂

Yes there is great competition. And yes some do offer both business models. But that was not my point. Perhaps I didn't make it clear, I can be longwinded sometimes. My point is (and Carl Ewing in the post above me hints at something similar) that customers will take the subscription. I don't, but many others do. I notice this with the younger generations I work with. So I get your point that from the current consumers perspective (and perhaps not even a majority), it would be better to offer both subscription ánd purchase. But they have a huge catalog, a huge userbase and an upcoming userbase who is used to- and prefers subscriptions. They will have to compete, sure, but as long as there are 10x more mixing tutorials using Waves plugins on Youtube than let's say Soundwide or PA or Slate or UAD (well...), I think they are going to be ok. Heck, my first plugins were the One knob bundle plugins. Why? I didn't know anything about plugins, watched some tutorials, I remembered that Waves was/is a huge name, so let's buy Waves. Now translate that to a generation that subscribes instead of buys.

I don't like subscriptions for plugins, for all the usual reasons you could think of. I pay for Splice and I get to keep the samples after I cancel. I pay for Output Arcade which will continu to work after I cancel (whatever I made up to that point of course). These are fair deals in my mind. But I'm gonna play a little devils advocate here. What if this is a briliant move? Don't boo me just yet. 1) We are living in the age of subscribtions. Despite rampant inflation we still have money left for weekly food boxes, 4 different streaming services and a gym membership which we never use. 2) BUT, that's just US. I mean, I don't know the exact demographic here, but I'm closing in on 40. I work with a lot of younger people, age 19-25, and they have a spending pattern I wouldn't dream of doing when I was that age. They order all their food. Despite having very decent fresh bean coffee for free at work, they prefer going to the Starbucks across the street. They have ALL the streaming services. They never bought a single song in their life. Everything is a stream, even MP3 is alien to them. They are renting transportation (cars, scooters, bicycles) for a day. This new generation, at least the ones I see, when/if they start making music, could very well choose a Waves subscription over buying UA plugins. So what if Waves is setting themselves up to becoming a marketleader once again? It will just take 5 years and a lot of (righteous) anger from current users. But the next Rick Rubin, who is currently finishing school while listening to Spotify Premium and ordering Über eats, might as well take the Waves subscription as a starting point in their career. So when Granny Eilish needs mixing, guess how many plugins in that vocal chain are purchased vs. a subscription?

I got Unfiltrered Audio SpecOps, because why not. They make quality plugins.

I tried it out a bit this weekend and was pleasantly surprised by the piano.

Seems like they fixed the glitch, it doesn't work (for me). Edit: it does make every product $81.

As I've done before with the IK Multimedia Group buy thread, I'm going to risk closing one the more popular topics on this forum by getting political 😋. Well not really, just a bit of factchecking, but still risky. I'm sorry Larry, but someone lied to you. Opinions about WEF aside, this is not their goal and they did not say this. The line "you will own nothing and be happy" was a prediction (!) made by a Danish politician (Ida Auken) (!) in an opionion piece (!) on the WEF website in 2016. The title was something along the lines of "How life in my city can change in 2030". She desbribes a city without ownership where things like energy, communication and transport are free. She later added "Some people saw this article as an utopia or dream for the future. It isn't. It's a scenario about how things can change for better or for worse". It is not a goal and it is not mentioned in the Schwab book. What Schwab DID say was: "The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world to create a healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous future." It was a vague statement about how the pandemic could be used as a moment towards greater sustainability. He was not really clear about the specifics, which was also the main criticism about his book. Basically, anyone who claims to know the specifics and says some detail is 'all part of the plan', is making it up. Because even Schwab himself didn't go into the specifics. So, as I have come to know you as a man who doesn't bullshit, I say again, someone lied to you. As for Waves, I'm a bit sad I didn't get Clarity before this, but I'll manage. I never wupped, never will and I will never subscribe. I happened to have used one of my very first plugin purchases ever this weekend, One Knob Pumper for a quick sidechain effect. The sudden move is shady at best. It feels like a long 'pump and dump' scheme.

I saw I didn't have the Elysia museq yet. At this point it's just about collection them all.

A bit different than my last couple of jams. I was testing out layering some synths this week. What I like to do is use a random MIDI file of a nice melody. That way I don't get bored and I can focus on sounddesign. The weapon of choice was line from a Deadmau5 MIDI pack from Splice. I ended up liking it so much I decided to use it in a jam. So, no real original melody. Although, what is? Layered different parts and this is the result. No my pants are not way down, it's this weird sweater that is pretty short and my black undershirt sticks out.