MusicMan

I've been tempted a few times by this one.. must.. stay... strong ?

I don't think so Frank. They're slowly working their way through their plugins and adding VST3 and the new preset browser etc (much needed for some of them!) but normally release a new paid update. To get VST3 you would likely need to buy the new version as an update on top of this.

Oh that could get interesting.. I think I bought through Plugin Boutique and my understanding was that they took over the activation side. I don't know if SoundSpot sold everything to Plugin Boutique, or just gave them the assets, i.e. code / IP for the plugins, but might be worth contacting PiB if you ever need to activate again and see what they say and if they can help.

I thought the exact same thing Craig and knew it was a teaser for a paid upgrade! I've got to say though, even just out of the couple of patches I've tried this thing sounds warm and lush and I love it.. I'm highly likely to upgrade ? Downsides of this one, no VST3, UI is a bit cramped and clunky to navigate. Will definitely look at that scale option you mentioned. Glad I held off buying it in all the recent sales after getting it for free.

Actually according to their blog it might be perpetual, so they're a little conflicting depending where you read. https://audient.com/2023/10/17/imposcar2/

I was excited at first until I saw this: Thank you for registering your Audient product! We've partnered with GForce to offer you an exclusive free trial of impOSCar2, their award-winning UK 80s classic OSCar emulation. Discover new sonic heights with innovative features and over 1000 iconic sounds. I almost fell of my chair the other day seeing Strymon BigSky reverb in there too, but that was only a 120 day trial.

I thought SoundSpot went bust.. haven't looked into it much though.

This thing is so cool. Definitely a favorite.

I thought the exact same thing at first too!

Yeah price isn't enticing for me. Interesting hardware it's emulating though, as it's a bit more unique. I assume it's one of the revisions of this: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/adr-compex-f760x-rs

These aren't too surprising (apart from the RME one!) however NS10 and often higher end Sennheisers etc aren't designed to sound "nice" as such, they're more designed to sound true and accurate without coloring the sound as much, so that it's easier to translate mixes to all different systems. The Sony's you mentioned are more for listening enjoyment. There's nothing wrong with that and everyone that produces will normally need/want a set of both types, it's just they have two completely different purposes and neither will work well for both use cases.

Thanks Peter, two very useful replies! It seems like I'm almost the only member on here that doesn't have SD3, which seems well regarded and therefore probably not a bad benchmark, albeit of course lots of people have different preferences and tastes, but it's good to get some other opinions on kits. I'm also not a drummer, so other's expertise is good there too ? The NI Drum libraries aren't often mentioned, which is why I have tended to assume they likely weren't too good (and some Komplete stuff is a bit average / filler). I didn't mind some of the tones in the video and I like that they're raw sounding. It's more practice understanding how to get them right for me and also when everything is baked in, you can't get as much variation in sound and use as you can't take that treatment away from them. I gave the video a watch and downloaded the presets. His channel does seem like it has some useful things on there so I might subscribe to that one. Will start downloading some of the NI Drums to check them out and thanks for all the info ?

SongKey is a bit of an anomaly really and not as reflective of the majority of his plugins. I haven't bought it for that reason. It could be a lot more complicated to develop and it hasn't been as well received. I think it's great he's branching out and expanding, but this plugin isn't his wheelhouse.

Semi off topic to the original post, but still related; are any of the drums in Komplete Ultimate decent and if so which ones? I haven't installed them yet as I've been been installing and checking out some of the other libraries first (and there's a lot!) but getting to these soon.

Gullfoss by Sound Theory (40% Off - Flash Sale) Use code: FLASH23 Gullfoss is an easy-to-use tool for everyone from the amateur musician to the professional mastering engineer. Its clean user interface offers a set of basic parameters that can be adjusted to improve the clarity, detail, spatiality, and balance of a mix or recording in a matter of seconds. https://www.soundtheory.com/

I hadn't seen that one, but that is pretty much what I got from Patrick at TAL too. This is one of the few pricing mistakes I don't feel as great about. Often it's more giant companies with overinflated prices, whereas TAL isn't that and their prices are reasonable. I am really enjoying the synth though.

That is also somewhat right, but not the full story from my understanding. TAL never meant the price to be 13% of the original, more so 13% off as a discount. It was indeed a pricing mistake, but on TAL's side, not AD's.

It was a pricing mistake unfortunately, so not what they expected at all.. hopefully lots of good exposure for them though from people that may not have been familiar with them otherwise though ?

I wonder if/hope they'll get minimal sales and do a backflip like Waves...

Unfortunately I would say not and the deal isn't coming back...

For me it often comes down to how much of a good/rare discount it is and over time you get better at spotting those prices that look exceptionally cheap for quality developers and you haven't seen them that low before. Those ones I try and strike fast! Even then I've missed out on quite a few just in that window in the buying process. The TAL-J-8 was an instabuy so I snatched that one and started giving TAL-Drum a demo. I've got plenty of drum machines and heaps of samples, so I thought I'd check it out just in case it blew me away and make a second order. It didn't, so I slept on it, but had thought I might grab it anyway, but then I saw they were gone. There's no right or wrong.. sometimes you might jump fast and not demo and end up with a great price for something you don't like. Other times you'll give it a quick demo and miss out. But realistically most of us aren't going to miss any of these things hugely in years to come. We probably more miss getting them at a steal of a price and have plenty of alternatives to use anyway, so I wouldn't too much ?

Sometimes it really does pay to jump quickly! The Native Instruments one was a genuine pricing mistake, so that was never coming back once they realised. This one seems like lack of preparation and not anticipating the volumes and then compounded by them not being able to resolve it quickly, but there is still a slight chance they may add it back ?

It's basically that it seems from what I read.. Just a bit of an distributor insight (we distribute TAL to our reseller network), Patrick didn't give us a heads up about this deal so we were sorely understocked with digital codes. So our resellers have people buying this but are unable to fulfil them because they themselves don't have enough digital codes. Since Patrick is is another timezone, we've been trying to contact him but he's a bit elusive since he only answers via email and doesn't list his phone. Eventually the whole thing will be resolved and everyone will get their digital codes but its left a bitter taste in a few resellers and they've decided to remove TAL from their store entirely to avoid messes like this again.

I got the serial for TAL-J-8 within minutes, but I jumped on that order so damn fast, just in case the changed it! They've pulled them from the store now entirely.. hopefully they're just sorting out more serials and they put them back at the same price again.

Oohh.. the website is probably getting smashed due to the freebie..