MusicMan

I already owned them all, apart from Shadow Hills. I only paid for HG-2 and Oberhausen though and at least have had them to use for ages, so I don't mind too much. Shadow Hills I didn't really think much of, but this time around I like it. But that's because I think I just really don't like the Opto compressor in it at all.. with that turned off, it does have an OK sound! Crazy generous offer really ??

I'd just been giving the Weiss MM-1 a trial over the last few days and I had thought I'd pick them up next time it came on sale, as I know it seems quite well regarded. But when I A->B tested it against some of my other limiters including Pro-L2, PSP Xenon and some others, I was generally able to get the same sort of results with the others and often better. The only thing that's a bit different is the wide profile, which I do like but there's other ways to get similar width and the other limiters are much more feature rich and configurable. So I'm thinking I might even give it a miss now. I've also been considering UrsaDSP boost and think I might look at that instead. It's a little more unique to the other standard ones.

In frequency they are, although I'd love them to hit the regular Waves $29 mark for some of their expensive ones ? They do have some very cheap ones occasionally, but those are often the ones that are given away with hardware, so can be picked up for next to nothing for buying unregistered serials. If they even knocked another $10 or $20 off some of their "sale" prices, then I'd probably own a heap more.

Yeah Softube has the least exciting and most predictable sales ever! Half the time I don't bother as I already know what they will be ?

Sure was... They got me then! ?

That helps bridge that gap for sure. Can you import a backing track, or stems to play along with so you can record down just the guitar part?

Hey Brian that makes sense. I can see how that would also be a useful alternative. Agreed that it's a little unfortunate that you can't use as VST as some of those chains could become quite elaborate and end up being some signature sounds. Maybe in some of the future updates they will look at that. Rewire was somewhat handy for similar external situations, but I see that support for that looks to be getting dropped by a number of companies lately. I might skip this for now, but keep an eye on how it develops. Thanks for explaining.

I looked at Gig Performer and almost picked it up when Plugin Alliance forgot to exclude it in one of their sales ? But I kept on thinking that I can just do the same in Cubase. You seem to know GP well, so it would be great to hear your perspective on some of the benefits over a regular DAW to host Sims/IRs/etc as you could be able to point out some benefits I might have missed ?

I'm the same normally.. there have been a few plugins that I could've easily gotten for $15 if I waited a bit longer, but I just felt like grabbing them! Thinking the 9000J and Amek 200.. I paid $25 for them. But I do really enjoy both of them, so I don't mind too much ?

Yes and no.. you get at least 6 or 7 free when you first register. All the sub $19 range most people that have been around for a while have picked up for free, which is quite a few plugins. You also get some more expensive ones free with certain audio hardware. Some PA plugs also come with an additional plugin when you buy them. I tend to only buy from about $10 to max $25. Average is probably $15 for me, although I've had some ridiculously cheap scores with bundles and voucher stacking ? I was adding some of the costs to my plugins sheet the other day and I have a tonne of PA plugs as well and looks like it might end up around the same as 2 years of the subscription. But they're all owned and I have all I really wanted. Now I'll just pick up a couple of nice to haves occasionally and I have no annual ongoing costs ? I'm not saying their subscription is bad and I think it's probably the best I've seen, but in the long run the subscription option isn't always the best way in my opinion.

I like his plugins ? Given he's just updating to x64, I'm not holding much hope for VST3 versions anytime soon though..

Diezel VH4 is great and has a really nice sounding clean channel as well.

Agreed. I own the Rule Tec Heritage Pro from NoiseAsh which also includes this module along with the EQ5M and F3C. The EQ1A from them holds it's own very nicely against the other Pultec emulations I've tried. If I didn't own Heritage I'd snap this one up.

I didn't realise that. I had thought they released them all at the same time.. I quite surprised they're early in that case! ?

Gee.. they certainly took their time!! ? Glad you get there in the end. Hope you enjoy 12 Lars?

I think Masterdesk has a place for people who don't want to get too involved in the mastering process, but still don't want it left at just the mix stage. Some of the elements in it can actually be used separately quite nicely on tracks and busses as well. Bass-Mint is good. I tried it ages ago and really didn't think much of it.. they had reset the trial statuses since then (I love and hate them doing that! Hate because there's more chance of me demoing something again and buying.. like I did ?) and I gave it another shot and I get it now, so that's what I went with.. so far ?

Nothing wrong with subs in my opinion.. but only ever as an option. I don't go for them personally, but they work well for many people, so why not ? I am against the aggressive sales tactics of some companies that limit certain features, or new features only to the subs version when there's a perpetual equivalent of that product. If they only have subs and no perpetual, I'd either not start using them, or stop using them too.

Oh they're not working on it .. Cubase 12, including 12 Artist and 12 Pro are dongle free ? I hate wasting USB ports on stupid copy protection devices personally and had not upgraded to Pro for that reason as well. So no dongle for me and C12Pro is miles in front of any DAW I've ever used for my tastes/requirements. Agreed on learning another DAW though.. Cubase was too slow to move when all the competition didn't have a requirement for a dongle and I think it hurt them and people like you may never either go back, or consider them now as they have a DAW they like. Will be interesting seeing a wave of new users that can now demo them without having to buy a dongle.. that was the crazy part.. who wants to buy a dongle to even demo something?! So glad they're gone ?

To this day, I still think Cubase has the strongest MIDI offering. That was also a huge reason why I never bothered with Protools when it was holding a huge market share. Cubase just covered both Audio and MIDI so well. I think that most of the DAWs have some very cool unique features, but when I think about what is most complete for what I do, Cubase sits on top and Cubase 12 in particular I think they've just got so many things right. N.B.. not the grace period license conversion process... But the DAW ?

I really don't need this, but I am a bit intrigued about the analogue emulation as he does alright with that side sometimes and the constant volume I do like too. I also like his reasonable pricing and he tries to be helpful, so I don't mind supporting him by buying his products and at that price, it's barely a cup of coffee ?

If I was looking for a new DAW I'd definitely be considering Studio One as an option. But after upgrading to Cubase 12 Pro.. I'm really loving it, so there's 0% chance of me jumping to it right now!

For mastering, Alpha is quite possibly my favourite compressor ? I thought the same about PQ, but then it's likely another 9 to 12 months for a reasonable price. So I might still pickup Passeq. I do already have Acustica Audio's: Coral which is the SPL PQ in the interim. I was all set to get Passeq, but picked up UA Bass-Mint instead for $14.99. I didn't like it the first time I tested it, but I tested it again after watching a video on it and understanding it a bit more and it added a more unique offering than another EQ for right now. Tried it on some kicks, synth bass and 808s to get a feel for it and it was really nice. It can change the sound a lot if pushed and sometime I liked that more and sometimes I didn't. But the times I didn't, I backed off the intensity and even tried some other algorithms and it generally enhanced/sweetened the sound ? Bass tools are always handy as sometimes one EQ and saturation might work for one instrument, but not another, so having options doesn't hurt ?

TE100 is very good ?

Very good call. Love that one ?

Hard to say, but all I can be sure of, is that I needed one more than I had yesterday it seems ?