Reid Rosefelt

They have discounts on  Ample Sound guitars, but I haven't been able to get on the Ample Sound site to see what the original prices are.  ☹️

EDIT: It's back up!

$69  Tina Guo Legato  (was $99)
$69 Tina Guo Legato Vol 2  ($99)
$129 for both ($179)

$209 Tina Guo Sound Design ($299)
$279 Complete Cello Collection  ($369)

These prices are at Cinesamples . There may be better prices. 

@synkrotron

@Canopus

@arlen2133

@Ron Stranghoener

See my revised post at the top that explains the pricing. 

19 hours ago, synkrotron said:

Following that link, Key Suite is currently listed at €149

I wrote UVI.  I've edited my first post to give the information about the pricing. 

20 Pianos - $149 until 4/1  on the UVI site HERE 

If you own either Acoustic Grand Piano, Grand Piano Collection, Baby Grand Piano. F Grand Piano 278, Upright Grand Piano, Grand Piano Model D, or Arturia GPMD, you are eligible for a crossgrade price of $99 until 4/10 If you log in to the site, it will be visible on your screen. 

GRAND PIANOS
- Model D
- Italian F278 (Fazioli)
- Japanese C7 (Yamaha)
- Hybrid Custom (Yamaha/Steinway/Bosendorfer)
- Baby Grand  (Erard)

UPRIGHT PIANOS
- Grand Upright  (Steinway)
- German Upright (Seiler)
- Tender Upright  (Bluthner)
- Tack Upright
- Honky-Tonk Upright
- The Compact (Ostlind - PrecisionSound samples)

PLUCKED STRINGS
- Harpsichord  (Made by AcousticSamples)
- Clavichord
- Spinet
- Blanchet Cembalo (PrecisionSound samples)

METALLOPHONE
- Celesta
- Keyboard Glockenspiel
- Papageno Bells
- J-Celeste (PrecisionSound Samples)
- Dulcitone

The samples in The Model D, Italian F278, Yamaha C7, Seiler Upright, and Erard Baby Grand were previously released in UVI's Grand Piano Collection, but they have been reworked and improved for this new library.
 

32 minutes ago, Michael A.D. said:

In the last year or two, someone had a very similar sale (VSTbuzz?) with three of these guitars for $99.   I bought them, fooled with them a bit, and have hardly touched them since.   

I use Ample guitars all the time (and I also like AAS Strum GS-2), but I just found these guitars to be awkward to use.  Sound is nice, but if you have some good guitars already, these may not be anything to get excited about.  Like someone mentioned, a demo is sorely needed to see if these fit your workflow.

Sadly, I agree with this.  People raved about Sunbird as the best guitar for finger-picking, so I bought one of the bundles. The interface allows you to do a zillion things. The only thing you can't do with it is to play it simply, like you can with AAS Strum GS-2 in five minutes.   Amplesound and Orange Tree Samples guitars sound a lot better, and if you want fingerpicking, Realitone's Fingerpick is the best.   The less said about Telematic the better, but the fact that they don't even sell it anymore tells you a lot. 

In terms of UVI Workstation, nothing plays on it that isn't registered with iLok. You don't need a dongle, you can do it on your computer.  I've never had a problem with it and it has a lot of great features that Kontakt doesn't have, like a powerful arpeggiator which modulates velocity, pitch and any MIDI CC. It  has tons of effects, and you can quickly create great multis with it.  In the last free update, they added the feature everybody wants from Kontakt, but haven't gotten so far: a resizeable UI.

The biggest difference is that you can play any UVI or third party instrument on the free player, unlike Kontakt, where you need to buy full kontakt to get access to most of them.  And if you ever want to spring for its big brother Falcon, you get a ton more features, which increases the value of all the UVI instruments you own. 

Anybody who is having a problem with the new version of UVI Workstation should write their customer service. They are really nice and I'm sure they would send you an older version.  They want people to be using their instruments.  

But I think it's great that UVI adds new features to the free workstation now and then. I'm sure they will continue doing that.  

Damn!  And I just paid $209 for this deal!   

Although it's possible this deal will turn up at JRRShop and AudioDeluxe soon for a lot less.

SYNTHS DX is a collection of inspiring sounds for creating subtle cinematic atmospheres, deep, wide sci-fi pads for film, videogame, ambient and synthwave music production. With its 60+ instrument presets you get a palette of colors for your next track.

All samples are recorded key-to-key in 24 bit 48kHz. We captured these sounds with analog gear and by applying the minimum software post-production process to keep these patches rich and fresh.

This boutique library contains 9 analog and pcm synth gears such as DAVE SMITH OB6, MOOG MINITAUR, MOOG SUB 37, NOVATION X STATION, NORD LEAD 2, OBERHEIM MATRIX 6, OBERHEIM MATRIX 1000, ROLAND SUPER JV & YAMAHA DX7.

Get SYNTHS DX HERE

34 minutes ago, kitekrazy said:

 No. Play 5 will work just fine.

So, the libraries come with a copy of Play 5? 

I don't own any Play libraries.  When I buy my first one, do I need to buy Play 6 to run it?  

Thanks! 

32 minutes ago, Monomox said:

I have the steel string version and find it hard to make sound good. The solo section doesn't have round robin, legato or any other articulation (sounds robotic except in slow finger picking patterns) and the rhythms in the strum section are limited in number and style 

I understand what you're saying.  I don't think the Steel String is a realistic guitar either. But I find it very beautiful, if you use the presets and play it slowly and dreamily. 

It has a delicacy in some of the presets. You can play really quietly on it.   What Malmsjo is to pianos, this is to guitars, if you use the more reverby and hybrid presets. Not for everyone, and not a go-to instrument by any measure, but beautiful.   Works better as an ambient, or even hybrid instrument IMO.  I am a guitar player for over 40 years and own many guitars and guitar VIs, but I find I play this a lot.  I guess it comes down to the kind of music you want to make.  For me, it does something my other stuff doesn't.   Sonic Zest's Ambient Cinematic Guitar series is another example of something that isn't "realistic," but I love.  Omnisphere's "Glorious Guitars" patch and PluginGuru's MegaMagic guitars are others.  

To talk myself out of buying this, I loaded up my Orange Tree Samples nylon guitar and loaded it up with effects.  But it just won't play like the steel string does or sound like the demos of the presets on this.  Hmmmmm....   Maybe that's because OTS is more of a realistic guitar?  

I think I'm probably going to end up getting this, and if they ever put a sale on their 12-string, I'll probably get that too.  

I don't use the strummer at all.  I prefer guitar instruments I can play rather than picking chords off of a menu.  

On 2/23/2019 at 5:32 PM, kitekrazy said:

Rumor has it Kontrol will eventually work with all controllers.

Yes it does right now.  There is a new MIDI tab at the top in the latest version of Komplete Kontrol that lets you set it up.  

I have a NI Keyboard but I was curious.  I used a Nanokontrol and was able to set it up to control the 8 knobs and change patches.  Not everything I can do with my NI controller, but a lot of new things. 

I had some issues changing instruments, but other people haven't.  It works fine for me if I load it up with a different instance for each instrument.  

Auditioning patches in KK is still better with the arrow keys on a computer keyboard.  And or course, you have never needed a NI controller to make use of the arps and scales in KK.  

You're right.

That page also says Crossgrade from Alloy, BreakTweaker, Creative Bundle, Insight, Iris, Nectar, Neutron, Ozone, RX, RX Final Mix, RX Loudness Control, RX Plug-in Pack, Stutter Edit, Trash, or VocalSynth. 

33 minutes ago, cclarry said:

$209.16 at JRR with code GROUP

https://www.jrrshop.com/izotope-ozone-advanced-neutron-advanced-bundle-crossgrade-from-standard

But this is a crossgrade  from Alloy.  I don't see the Crossgrade from Standard Instrument on JRR. Maybe they will add it. 

https://www.audiodeluxe.com/products/audio-plug-ins/izotope-o8n2-bundle-crossgrade-any-standard-product

This $249 Crossgrade to O8N2 from a Standard Product is $223.99 in the cart at Audio Deluxe, and as Larry points out below, $209 at JRR.

I was surprised to see it in my Upgrade Page on the iZotope website as I don't own Ozone Standard, Neutron Standard, RX7 Standard, or any product labeled "Standard," so I wrote to iZotope support.

Alix from iZotope Customer Care wrote back: 

Any license that doesn’t have ‘Advanced’ or ‘Elements’ in the title that wasn’t redeemed as a free product is considered a standard product. Your Iris 2 license does count as a standard license and should qualify you for the O8N2 crossgrade pricing either through our site or another retailer.

This is the best price in many months for this crossgrade, but 08N2 did go on sale for $200  in early 2018, which presumably was discounted further in other retailers.  

I can't believe that I have been able to pick up the Claire Piccolo, Alto Flute, and English Horn for so little money.  Thank you 8Dio!  IMHO the Claire series is among the best instruments that 8Dio sells.  I look forward to trying this out.
They even sold a non-Claire oboe for  $8 oboe during their Christmas sale.  

The clarinet went on sale last year for $38 but I passed because I have the Fluffy Clarinet.    

But this is an expensive set and they are really letting 'em go.  I wonder what will be next. 

1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

Tiger is correct about the almost total lack of support, but I will say that they did issue an update and after that they became

 

 

Is there an update to Big Bang?    

8 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

abacab is right, the decision is whether or not you already have Garritan or some other orchestral library. If you do, pass on them. 

1

I don't want to make a big deal about this, but there are a few professional composers on VI:Control who disagree  with this.  They all probably have thousands of dollars worth of orchestral libraries and they still find this worthwhile because they believe the sounds are of high quality.  Even without modwheel or legato.  If for nothing else, for layering. 

Also, there is a workaround that does compensate somewhat for not having the modwheel swell function.  

You can read their comments, find out about the workaround, and hear demos HERE  If you want to decide for yourself everything from SONiVOX downloads with a fully functional [EDIT: at least some of them make noises at regular intervals ] demo from their website. You need iLok, but not a dongle.

Personally, I bought the string library for a buck years ago to make myself eligible if I ever wanted to upgrade.  I never bothered downloading it, as  I have Cinematic Studio Strings as I couldn't see the point.  And so I ignored every deal on these libraries until I read the thread on VI:Control and listened to the demos there. 

I downloaded the woods and was impressed.  Not just $5 impressed.  While I have clarinets, flutes, etc on every library I own, not all have piccolos, english horns, contrabassoons, and ensembles.  Definitely will help fill in some blanks for me until Cinematic Studio Woodwinds come out, and maybe even after that.  So I bought the brass too after seeing the articulations in the VI:Control post.

Most orchestral composers have more than one developer's libraries in their templates, because some instruments work better for different musical phrases and articulations.  If you can add one for a few bucks, then why not?   

https://vstbuzz.com/indie-kontakt-developer-week/

Unlike other deals, this isn't a package, but a set of 17 separate deals.  There are two pages. 

I highly recommend Sound Aesthetics Sampling's Mountains, Sonic Zest's Ambient Cinematic Guitar 4 (check out 1-3 too) and Digital Audio Tools' Drums and Percussion Bundle.

I'm going to check out Headphase V2, made by Audio Reward, creators of Seurat, 

If you already have UVI's World Suite, I'm almost certain you already have the samples from Russian Balalaika (with 15 articulations). Many PrecisionSound samples are in WS, albeit with a different interface.

They are calling it a "week," but it has 13 days left.  

What are your favorites in this group?  

The woodwinds are 7.2 GB on my drive.   Maybe the others are bigger?

The flute ensemble and solo oboe have 2  glisses each, which surprised me.  I don't think I have anything like that in my existing woods, so that's worth $5 right there for me.  I could see using them. 

The advantage of their sonic and control limitations is that they load up instantly. This could be a great laptop orchestra for when you're away from your rig. 

https://www.jrrshop.com/sonivox?dir=desc&order=special_from_date

Okay, I know the string library was only $1 a few years ago, but this is still an amazing deal.  

People say the sounds are very good in these libraries even though they are old.  The main defect is that they lack modwheel dynamics.  You can only control volume with CC11

I'm going to pick up the woodwinds.  It's got multiple  key-switched articulations for Solo Piccolo, Flute, English Horn, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, and Contrabassoon.
Plus ensembles and sections

25 minutes ago, mibby said:

That's a pretty expansive looking bundle of synths.   It looks like I can get it down to $36 bucks with Jam Points.  Is this product any good?

I think it's great. Particularly the multis.   I think the synths sound great.  

Unlike the Arturia V collection, which lets you combine two synths, Syntronik lets you layer 4. 

It also has a lot of effects derived from T-RackS and Amplitude

Plus, IK has updated this a lot and offered free samples and patches.  

The Deluxe version is not really worth it IMHO.  It only adds a few synths, and one of them Memory V, has just been offered for free.  

6 synths and 9 instruments and 2 effects

Some of these things aren't new freebies.

A lot of them probably were in the free Kontakt Player and  Reaktor libraries.  Guitar Rig Player is one of the included effects.

Still, the LE versions of Analog Dreams, Ethereal Earth, and Hybrid Keys, plus Kinetic Treats are new freebies 

You also get Supercharger

Get it HERE

A good way to expand on this is to buy MIDI packs from Groove Monkee.  They work seamlessly with AD2.

You are all right, though.  They haven't brought anything to the table since the mallets.  I've put all my drum budget into  AD2 for the last few years, because I like the sound.   But lately I admit I've become more interested in Groove Agent 5.  

Get it HERE   $36 for Desktop.  Usual price is $60.    They also have a free demo if you want to try it out.