MusicMan

Some of these features are actually very good. I would caution to people using them if you ever intend to stop, or pause you subscriptions though. Loopcloud has been progressively been removing access and features unless you have an active subscription, even for samples that you already own. A good example is the latest Loopcloud app can't even be downloaded without an active subscription, so you can only use the web interface to browse and no integration with the DAW I believe. That goes with some of the plugins as well. Loopcloud Drum I really liked, but I was concerned that they may do a Waves and change the rules once I had heaps of projects using it, so I opted to not use that either. That's what they did, so I was lucky.. In short, if there's ever a chance you will cancel, or pause your subscription, I'd recommend using the samples and basic features only, or bounce every single track to audio and download the samples just in case. Personally I just used it, let them download to a folder and then pointed Atlas 2 from Algonaut at that folder and manage/use it that way instead as that's perpetual and no subscription to worry about

My thoughts exactly! It can absolutely be simple, but the rest is there when needed and a very nice price for something of that quality for sure

Welcome and I hope you have fun with it too!

I haven't given true:balance a demo yet and because I've got a few similar options in Ozone (which I don't use much for that), Reference2 and a few other matching style EQs, I hadn't planned on rushing, or if there was any need, but if I didn't have them, then I likely would've. Mix Monolith I've completely glossed over a number of times, but maybe I shouldn't have by the sounds and COS Pro looks interesting too.

I didn't pay much attention to it when it came out and didn't see a use either. I watched the Smart Bundle tutorial on Groove3 (which the EINSTRUMENTS30 should still work for 30 days free access) and after seeing some of the controls and features, it made me think twice. Potentially some of the same algorithms, but a lot less controls with the FAST series (which I bought too ). For the price it's probably still worth it! This one can be pretty easy to use as well, but it's good to understand some of the concepts and ways it works. If you check out the Groove3 course, most of the things are really straightforward. But if you want to dig deeper, that's all there too. The link to the Groove3 course is: https://www.groove3.com/tutorials/sonible-smartbundle-Explained And if you haven't already used it, the code EINSTRUMENTS30 should get you 30 days to all their courses for free: https://www.groove3.com/redeem

I've really been liking their stuff too. The smart:limit and smart:comp are both great! I'm giving the reverb a demo and I like it so far as well. It can definitely be subtle, but it's cool pushing some of the parameters and getting creative with it as well. Not a bad workflow with it.

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Enjoy Lars! ?

I have a spreadsheet for all of mine, including whether they're 32/64bit, VST3, Windows/Mac, activation type and some other stuff and I included a column for the price. I still have a few prices to enter, but it definitely adds up quick! In fairness I did expect it would, so I wasn't that surprised, but if you put it into perspective and how much you would spend on a guitar stack/amp and some effects, a hardware synth, or a drumkit, it's not unreasonable. And a bunch of guitar Sims, virtual synths or plugin effects, provide a huge amount of variety in comparison. But having the spreadsheet also helps me think a little more of whether I actually need to buy something, or not. I still buy things just because I want them! But it has helped curb my spending for sure.

I had to update most of my software, but now I've reached a cool place where I really have what I need in terms of plugins. There are still some things on my list that I'll pick up when on sale and I could be swayed by the odd crazy deal (or Lars finding a pricing error!), but I have more than enough to keep me happy now. Like you said, I'd rather prioritise jamming out and making tunes, at least until I find a need, or something missing. I'd also rather be spending the time learning what I've got inside out too and going really deep into each plugin, or instrument. I'll still be sharing some deals and hanging around in here though, as it's a cool place with a bunch of good people and there's always things to learn ?

This is me to a tee! I never set out to write/produce anything, I just really enjoying jamming and messing around with the music and audio stuff and learning all about it. I did end up releasing a track and have more in the pipeline to release, but that's almost like a secondary bonus. Music is a great escape and fun and I'm completely content spending hours playing guitar, jamming out a synth, or whatever, with nothing to show for it at the end apart from being blissed out and having a big smile on my face ?

Great post and songs can be to release for everyone, or just to enjoy making them ? People spend a lot on hobbies with no chance of any return on investment, so even looking at music and producing from that aspect and a great way to de-stress and unwind, it's pretty easy to justify. Besides, there's worse habits to have!

When you have a bunch of plugins like most of us do these days, sometimes it doesn't take much to make us not choose something, or use something else instead, so I totally get it. If you get around to it, duplicating a vocal track and then using Quadravox, or Octavox on one and then blending in, can be pretty cool. Presets are useful jumping off points, although some are pretty wild and out of control, but a good way to see what it can do.

This is almost still a compelling argument.. I havent ruled it out yet ?

I thought it was only the Quad, not the Octa version that had been free. I know that's the one I got free anyway and I've used it quite a few times. You can get some pretty creative results from it, so might be worth trying it every now and then.

That's exactly what I do as well for a lot of the IK stuff. The Product Manager has let me down a few too many times. Even if I use the Product Manager to install, I may still do a manual download off the site, then test extract and finally move to another disk to store them.

This would've been an instabuy, but it's one of the few they never really discounted and I ended up buying other alternatives instead which are pretty good, so now I'm not even sure I'll get it..

Are updates like this from PSP always paid, or is it just because it's a with Lexicon?

Maybe try unzipping all your installation files manually to see if it's possible that one of the files has been downloaded, but is corrupted. The Product Manager wasn't smart enough in th past to validate all files, by doing a simple checksum on them automatically first and it would simply download and then install an incomplete set... I doubt that's changed, but it is possible it's now checking I guess. I found this out the hard way and given IKs stingy download policy, anything that I download and want to keep from them, I do a test extraction before filing away.

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While I get their point about you obtaining it free, you still own 50% of the bundle and were going to spend money with them.. They also had a weird setup where you had to request a password to see your upgrade price to Expose2 of which the full version was regularly on sale. The upgrade price was probably only about $5 cheaper than new customers with none of their plugins would pay to get the full version and was never on sale. (I owned almost all of their plugins) There wasn't really much of a loyalty discount, so I didn't bother. I did explain that sentiment to them, but they didn't really care to do anything about it. So I didn't care to do anything about buying the upgrade ? Which turned out to be good, because I then got Expose2 free via another promo, so they will now never get a sale from it.. it seems a little short sighted and that they shoot themselves in the foot sometimes.. If they just said yes to you anyway, then they would've already made money that you potentially wouldn't have spent if it wasn't on sale. Each to their own I guess and how they choose to do business ?‍♂️

Bassroom is actually quite decent. It really shouldn't be as good as it is and should be easily replaceable with a standard EQ in theory, but it just is often faster and really tailored for fine tuning the lower frequencies and sounds great too. I'd recommend it. Mixroom I don't own, so I can't say there, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's good too.

I REALLY like the MK II version.. it was even sweeter that they gave it to owners of the original one for free, so I didn't have to pay any upgrade cost or anything. Another tick in my book for them. I still preferred the Waves CLA-3A than the BRA version which was a shame, but I ended up buying the Overloud Comp LA which includes the 3A and is way better than the Waves version, so between the two companies, I shouldn't need to use the Waves ones at all ?

I would've thought at least a few that aren't known to mankind as well ?

That glitch sale was epic.. I own a bunch of Nembrini plugins after that! I still just cherry picked the ones I really wanted, but insane pricing for them ?