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Your 2020 best purchase ?


Zo

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Precision , not the best bang for the buck , but the most enjoyable / ilpacting /satisfaying ...

Notice that while we have hell of softwre deals around , i see that HW purchase , not only common but this seems to give a certain satifaction factor tha software might not be able to ?! 

Great guyz , keep it going , very intersting .. 

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Hardware has several psychological advantages:

1.  It's "tangible" - it's something you see, feel, and USE
2.  It has RESALE value - software has become GARBAGE for resale
3.  Much hardware now has "Flash Upgrades" which makes it updateable, and increases it's life


Much of our software is NOT tangible, we forget that we have a LOT of it, and it's resale value has
PLUMMETED due to "too many dirt cheap sales"!  Add to that the fact that more and more Software
CANNOT be resold  (that should NEVER happen!  It's an INVESTMENT, and should be "recoverable" (at least PARTIALLY!!!))

So, all things considered, ACTUAL HARDWARE is STILL the better investment

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Got to be upgrade to Bias FX 2 Professional and upgraded Bias Amp 2 LE to standard from the PositiveGrid guys.  Programs integrate. Had both as an LE limited edition from some fleeting purchases or time limited giveaways but never put in the time to learn.

I know how subjective the thing about amp sims and suites is.  Bias is ahead of the pack as far as realism and gradient touch response. Leaves the likes of Guitar Rig, Amplitube, Scuffham, etc in the dust as good as these respected programs are. Led me to retire about everything else except for the P&M stomps and a couple compressors...one weak point of the Bias stuff IMHO.

That said, if you got something that outperforms the Bias, please share and educate.

John

 

 

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Which "one"??? LOL!!!

Best bang, probably the Syntronik crossgrade for $79.99 that got me into the IK Group Buy at the $199 level! Ended up with MODO Bass, MODO Drums, and the Hammond B-3!

2nd best bang was probably the IK Total Studio 2 MAX Maxgrade for $139. Maxed out my T-RackS 5 and Amplitube 4 collection!

Most fun? Not sure where to start! But I'll be staying busy for the foreseeable future! 🤪

Added (all at sale prices, 20-50% off) EZKeys, EZDrummer, Chromaphone 3, Ultra-Analog VA-3, Pigments 2, Scaler 2, Analog Lab, IK Mixbox, IK Sunset Studio Reverb, Eventide Shimmerverb, Waves IR1 reverb, upgraded to Waves Abbey Road Studio collection, upgraded to Band in a box 2021 Ultrapak, upgraded to Studio One 5 Pro...

Favorite free? Probably Arturia Analog Lab 5 (for AL4 users) and IK Amplitube 5 CS (with my AT4 Max collection).

Favorite hardware? My new Focusrite 2i2 3rd gen.

And a full hardware refresh for my PC! 9th Gen Intel Core i5 9600k, running at 4.6GHz.

Thanks, 2020! 🙂

It's really amazing how much money you can save when the bars and restaurants in your area are in lockdown for over 9 months!

New Years Resolution: Not buying anything else until I learn to use everything I already have! 🙄

Edited by abacab
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Excluding all the amazing free stuff this year.....

I'm still working my way through Total Studio Max that I got at very competitive JRR upgrade pricing as I already had an IK compressor that I have never used which was free with Computer Music

At the other end of the scale it is either Rob Papen Go2, that I got for £6.60 with T&S loyalty points, which seems a very capable synth or Zero G's World Collection for £10 - I haven't had the time to start looking through that yet!

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Forgot about that IK Group Buy. Got another Syntronik (full) for $66 from ProAudioStar which got me in at the $299 level with SampleTank 4 Max, Modo Bass, Modo Drums and that sweet Hammond B-3. Also loved Arturia’s free Analog Lab 5 upgrade. Their latest update even brought all AL4 presets back for a total of over 7K. 

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Cheating a little - it was in 2019 - but an Essex Acoustic Grand. It's been a bit of a long-time dream come true. If it still has that "new piano smell", does it still count? Our old acoustic upright was falling apart, and it was time for an upgrade. My wife and I walked into a showroom that was a virtual sea of grands, and we converged on the very same piano, so it was meant to be. Now I have to decide for 2021 whether to get fancy piano mics or just get Pianoteq!

Oh, and if we expand the category a bit, this year we got a cute little puppy. We got turned on to a great breeder in the area, and picked her up just before the first lockdown, so she helped us weather the insanity.

Worst purchase was a carry-on fold-up piano. Great concept - a "full-size" 88-key controller that you could stuff into a backpack or carry-on bag - I'd been looking for something like this for my mobile musicality. Three major flaws:

  1. The hinges at the folds don't lock (not a show stopper - still could have been a fun hardware project)
  2. The action is terrible - the black keys are excessively cut down in both the vertical and horizontal directions, and
  3. No touch sensitivity - a total deal-breaker - came as a surprise, since much cheaper keyboards have it - even from the last millennium. So, it was basically just a toy after all. 

Cheers!

 

Edited by Tone Ranger
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13 minutes ago, Fleer said:

Great first post, TR, welcome to our forum. 

Hey Fleer, thanks for the warm welcome. I used to be known as losguy on the old forum. I posted a lot back there. Maybe you knew of me?

P.S. I adopted the new name in the switch-over to the CbB account. If someone knows how to keep my old post count and stats, let me know!!  

Edited by Tone Ranger
added a little info
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24 minutes ago, Tone Ranger said:

Hey Fleer, thanks for the warm welcome. I used to be known as losguy on the old forum. I posted a lot back there. Maybe you knew of me?

P.S. I adopted the new name in the switch-over to the CbB account. If someone knows how to keep my old post count and stats, let me know!!  

Only Bapu  got to keep his post count. Perk for having the most posts😆

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11 hours ago, cclarry said:

Hardware has several psychological advantages:

1.  It's "tangible" - it's something you see, feel, and USE
2.  It has RESALE value - software has become GARBAGE for resale
3.  Much hardware now has "Flash Upgrades" which makes it updateable, and increases it's life


Much of our software is NOT tangible, we forget that we have a LOT of it, and it's resale value has
PLUMMETED due to "too many dirt cheap sales"!  Add to that the fact that more and more Software
CANNOT be resold  (that should NEVER happen!  It's an INVESTMENT, and should be "recoverable" (at least PARTIALLY!!!))

So, all things considered, ACTUAL HARDWARE is STILL the better investment

I really don't think it's as clear cut as that.

With a decent master keyboard and controller it's entirely possible to have  a tangible relationship with software too.  (I highly recommend the faderfox ec4 for that - it's my favourite bit of non-synth hardware).

Software resale pain is lessened thanks to forums like this one - research sales patterns and buy cheap with no expectation of reselling, or at least know the resale policies for what you're buying to see if there is built in "resale hurt".  

Hardware can go faulty, and most manufacturers don't allow the transfer of warranties.  Repairs can be expensive to the point of being uneconomic.  The depreciation seen on hardware can buy a lot of software.

Software can deliver crazy bang for the buck compared to hardware - especially in sales. 

There is a reliance on manufacturers to get improvements on hardware over time, and many have been guilty of quick abandonment.  This can be a real pain if important aspects of the hardware are tied to software (eg access virus total integration breaking with recent macos releases and no sign of an update). 

Software can "improve" if the hardware it's being run on is improved - obviously it can also stop working entirely with new OS's and server disconnections etc.

Boils down to the individual hardware/software - the utility we get from it, the potential for it breaking, the resale value vs the price paid etc

Edited by Paul_in_wales
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20 hours ago, Salvatore Monella said:

You can always set it up and scream, I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore, or yell at people that are not 6 ft apart or anounce to the world that you just ate a fried bologna sandwich! The possibilities are endless.

I have actually used a PA for a similar purpose before, back in the 80's.

I had a neighbor who insisted on playing his boombox in the backyard, every f*kin' day through the summer. Until late into the night and accompanied by the maddening boing-boing-boing of his kids' trampoline.

The only sensible response was cannon fire, right? So I set up my PA - even dragged out the 18" subs - in my own backyard and drowned out his lame hair metal with the 1812 Overture.

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9 hours ago, Tone Ranger said:

Hey Fleer, thanks for the warm welcome. I used to be known as losguy on the old forum. I posted a lot back there. Maybe you knew of me?

P.S. I adopted the new name in the switch-over to the CbB account. If someone knows how to keep my old post count and stats, let me know!!  

I remember you - one of the people who'd post serious replies to even the goofiest of queries. Good to have you back.

The moniker change was a good idea. "losguy" just sounds like bad Spanish grammar. Should be either "losguys" or "elguy".  Tone Ranger, much better.  

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