MusicMan

That's hilarious.. I didn't even know I owned it, but sure enough I got that free bundle too and the serial worked in the voucher section on the PA website! I would've totally missed this one. Thanks

Install yes.. activate no.. they took the activation server offline

I think that philosophy is completely fine and I get it. For me, I'll often use a really set of nice open back headphones and the sound can be really immersive and in some ways, a quality you can't actually get from the real instruments. Especially when it comes to some of the reverbs and other modulation effects combined with higher quality VIs. So the fun is from a really nice lush sound, as well as playing the instrument (on MIDI controller), so you don't get that tactile feel and maybe the true to life quality and sound of the real instrument, but you get something amazing in it's own right. Often layered sounds that can't even be created by physical instruments.

I totally get that and it's pretty valid. Some stuff I buy purely just for enjoyment and playing. I don't always care about it outside of the the DAW and sometimes that extra quality just has a better feel to it and it makes it more enjoyable, so sometimes it's worth it for that alone for me. I do also pass on some stuff due to taking up too much disk space as well though.

That's the thing though .. they already have it. If they did nothing but simply improved the installer and just simple QA / minor tweaks, they could sell ST for years to come, with little to no development. It's already a known product, so advertising needs would be minor and even just the odd marketing campaign would keep sales ticking over. I have wondered if it's due to bandwidth requirements for downloads, but even those new pianos are large! Come to think of it... Don't think I'll buy them now as they might disctinue them for the same reason if that was the case 😂 And if it's not they might discontinue them anyway, so I'll probably given them a pass now and not buy them even though the one I've got I like!

You're not making it any easier Lars.. my money may not be safe with this deal! haha..

Easy pass for me on this one. It doesn't really add enough to make it worthwhile from a cost perspective, but even more so, there's no backwards compatibility maintained so you need to keep every version installed on your computer to open old projects. It's easy just sticking with what you have and skipping multiple years, or forever! No additional redundancy and clutter in the plugins list and plugin scans. Unless there's a pricing glitch somewhere, my money is safe on this one.

You already shared this one back in August, but not a bad reminder anyway as it's a pretty good freebie

I realized I needed to watch a tutorial or two when I first tried to modulate a filter by velocity and it didn't work as I expected! I'm still learning it really, but I'm the same as you. This thing is probably the most deep and powerful there is, but on top of that, it sounds great and their effects in it are really good quality and better than a lot of the competition. I'd almost go as far to say better than just about all the flagship synths, apart from maybe u-he. Some of their included effects are really nice. Not Hive though.. don't really like the effects much on that one from u-he at all! Still a great and fun synth and I'm glad I own it, but definitely mainly use external effects for it. This was a good little primer to get started: I'm also planning on going through these at some point: https://support.uvi.net/hc/en-us/sections/360000313357-Learning-Falcon-100-Synthesis

What's worse is they were some of the better ones. SampleTron in particular I really like. While there is a lot of filler in Syntronik, it actually has some great sounds too. This would weaken the value proposition of future Total Studio bundles for me personally. It often makes me more cautious of buying from companies when they discontinue products like this as well, as I get less faith in their products being viable for long term. With pulling MixBox too it seems there is a lot of instability in future direction when buying IK at the moment. It probably makes sense to them, their roadmap and future direction, but as a customer I'm not inclined to jump onto products that might become sinking ships when there are alternatives that have a lower risk in that regard.

If you want to edit the presets, I'd probably still recommend watching a tutorial, or two on this one. Because it's so modular, there are a couple of concepts that are simple once you grasp them, but can take it little bit to understand if you're just winging it.

That doesn't help Fleer.... It is the correct answer though As for Falcon, it's is often misunderstood and described as a sampler. It's really way more than that and really deep and for sound design it's one of the most powerful options out there. It reminds me of Phaseplant in someways as you have almost infinite control over architecture and layers of the patches. It has some peculiarities and isn't perfect, but there's probably no end to what sounds you can create with it.

EastWest Fantasy Orchestra $159.31 @ JRRShop With Code: FORUM https://www.jrrshop.com/eastwest-hollywood-fantasy-orchestra-bundle.html

I think it's because it's not purely their product. Same as OD Deedger, which has always been more expensive. And lots of developers in this space are probably thinking that Soothe got away with it, so they can. (Spoiler alert for them.. they won't with me 🤣) "Ohlhorst Digital is a brand by Jan Ohlhorst. Initially developed exclusively for his work as a mastering engineer, these well refined products are now being made publicly accessible"

With no proper upgrade, such an easy pass. I love these easy decisions. They don't even take up a fraction of a thought. Pretty sure it would be cheaper for me to buy the plugins from the bundle that I don't own when on sale. Softube = Fail on this one. Even with the loyalty voucher I haven't used from them it's still an easy no