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Your BF Strategy


Magic Russ

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Just wondering what everyone's BF strategy is.  Are you looking for any savings on big ticket items or just going to pick up a few small things?

For my part, I am probably going to go light this year.  I haven't had my eye on anything in particular.  I will probably pick up one of the discounted AAS packs, and potentially whichever EZKeys stuff Toontrack throws in the basement this year.

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Pick up a few small things. I try to be selective and buy things I'll really use.

I have two things in particular on my radar one of which I got today - AD2 Fairfax Vol2 ADPak - $44 and change.

Next I'm waiting in my hunting blind for bluecat patchwork 3.x to go on sale.

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I pretty much executed my plan a couple hours ago, which was to anticipate a good Nembrini sale which he delivered w/ another 80% off, so I scored the PSA1000, The Boss and the Soldano amp. I guess that was $245 worth of stuff that I got for $49. Like bitman I don't buy stuff I don't have immediate use for. I also scored Audiority's HM2 cuz it's dope and was the first distortion pedal I had as a kid. Scored that for little over $8 (usually $20) from Plugin Boutique. The only other thing I'm after is Kuassa's Matchlock and a steak dinner. 

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I've been away from the forums for some time; it's been rather fun to be back watching this and see Larry still kicking @%% for everyone! (Edit: Wow this is my first post on the new forums...)

It's been a spendy year in the studio - mostly around some big hardware upgrades and a trip to CA to spend two days with Alan Parsons. :)

I am looking for Sonnicouture' Grand Marimba and Eventide's H910 on sale. I did just pick up an upgrade to Studio One that I hadn't planned on, but overall I'm pretty solid in the software department. 

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I have a list of stuff that I want that I have saved money to buy during Black Friday:   Forest Kingdom II, Picked Acoustic, Mallet Flux, Silk, and Spaces II.

But I always know there will be surprises that will tempt me and I'll end up spending a lot more than I planned.  Last year it was the NI Orchestral Tools sale, where I picked up the Inspires.   This year it's probably going to be Zebra 2 and Jaeger:Vocals.  I've wanted those badly for a long time. 🤑

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23 minutes ago, Reid Rosefelt said:

I have a list of stuff that I want that I have saved money to buy during Black Friday:   Forest Kingdom II, Picked Acoustic, Mallet Flux, Silk, and Spaces II.

But I always know there will be surprises that will tempt me and I'll end up spending a lot more than I planned.  Last year it was the NI Orchestral Tools sale, where I picked up the Inspires.   This year it's probably going to be Zebra 2 and Jaeger:Vocals.  I've wanted those badly for a long time. 🤑

I gotta say Mallet Flux is tempting. I thought about that over the sonnicouture Grand Marimba. But I watched the Danny Elfman Masterclass and he has piqued my interest in the Marimba. I'm guessing it might go for about $85 and I could upgrade to Komplete Ultimate 12 for $199. However, there are almost no sound samples of the Percussion Marimba instrument. :/ I'm afraid I'd pay double to upgrade Komplete to have an inferior Marimba and a bunch of shtuff I wouldn't use...

 

Now if Mallet Flux was in Komplete Ultimate...

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3 hours ago, Reid Rosefelt said:

But I always know there will be surprises that will tempt me and I'll end up spending a lot more than I planned.  Last year it was the NI Orchestral Tools sale, where I picked up the Inspires.   

This   ^^^^

I keep a running spreadsheet of what I want, with the normal sales price.  I try to stick with a plan and get my purchases done around BF.  But without fail, some really great deal comes along in December that I can't resist.  Last year for me it was the NI Orchestral Tools as well (picked up the Metropolis Series for a great price).

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My plan it to grab some PA plugins on BF/holidays I like and desire anyway to reach next threshold for better voucher as in long term it seems to be beneficial(assuming they will not change their approach again what is not sure).

Also waiting for Wave offer for nice upgrades to move with Gold to Gold+Ren what is the most efficient way to get WUP with new licenses. If there would also nice offer for WUP convert my last v9 plugs to have less shells and mess on my systems.

Maybe there will be good deals from 2Notes to add some Celestion packs to WoS they have created lately.

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I do the spreadsheet tracking on things I'm interested in.  Lots of early sales this year has made things interesting.  One thing I think is true is that the magical 50% off mark isn't being hit as often as I'd had hoped.  As a rule my resistance to buying something is pretty much based on how close to 50% off I can get it.  I try to get one large item every Christmas season.  Though I may have already covered that this year (with BBCSO).  I usually try to get a deal on a large/complete bundle, but I think I've got most of those over the last 15 years or so.   A deal on a bundle usually works out to a crazy good price though, but isn't always that easy to find.  Lots of vendors see the bundle as a deal and don't want to further discount it.

I almost never buy NI single instruments though, because they will be added to the Ultimate bundle soon enough and then require re-selling.  A few of the recent additions are tempting (Straylight, Noire, Mallet Flux) but I know long term they will be part of the Ultimate bundle and are best left until then.

Be sure to check any credits you have at the various marketplaces.  Musician Friend often has coupons too plus a points program.  Can be helpful getting things like Omnisphere, FL Studio, etc.  Things that don't normally go on sale anywhere.

Several UK stores will sell download codes without VAT to US customers.  Depending on the exchange rate that can help make a deal reasonable.  They also often have point/discount programs that can be used as well.

I suspect there will be a few flash sales, the spreadsheet tracking prices can help with that.

I try really hard to evaluate what I get by focusing on things that will get me some place (musical growth is a journey).  Another fancy EQ or compressor won't change my world all that much, but a year subscription to something like Groove 3, might.  The same is true for hardware.  Sometimes the best thing you can buy is more RAM/SSD/etc.  I add hard drive space at a pretty fast clip since every storage device I have also has to have something to back it up on.  Lots of Christmas discounts in those areas.

I'm very disappointed in the audio interfaces on offer this season.  It doesn't look like Thunderbolt 3 is going to take off, everyone must be waiting for USB 4.  I held off on a Thunderbolt interface since my new computer has Thunderbolt 3 built in and I didn't want a converter to Thunderbolt 2.  But it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon.

MIDI controllers this year seem kind of weak as well or the ones that are interesting aren't getting discounts.  Some of the new hardware synths seem more interesting this year but I try to avoid too much of that if I can.

Figure out what's in your way and focus on getting things that help there.  Don't be afraid to challenge your long held beliefs either.  With software we tend to defend our choices a bit too hard sometimes, especially early choices of DAWs and samplers, etc.  Sometimes that is just unproductive.  Yes full Kontakt may be expensive, but getting it can open doors.  Yes the full version of Cubase isn't cheap, but it may make you much more productive.  Even subscription only services may make a lot more sense if you really break it down.  It's your music, you need to figure out your own way to making it.  That may also include not buying or getting anything.  Limiting choices and alternatives can be crazy productive as well.  Too much choice can be bad also.

Remember have fun with it, no matter what.  If it's stressing you out, stop and do something else.

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18 hours ago, Magic Russ said:

Just wondering what everyone's BF strategy is.  Are you looking for any savings on big ticket items or just going to pick up a few small things?

For my part, I am probably going to go light this year.  I haven't had my eye on anything in particular.  I will probably pick up one of the discounted AAS packs, and potentially whichever EZKeys stuff Toontrack throws in the basement this year.

That's pretty close to my strategy.Some really low Toontrack, maybe a AAS. I'll look at the best sales and sell if they offer anything I want There will be some surprise thing for cheap I'm sure. I may have to go for that steak dinner Christian mentioned.

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