Craig Fowler

Am a little bummed this doesn't have one of the Lonestar variants!

Blimey, I like a lot of NI stuff, but if they're offering a subscription that doesn't actually include Kontakt full...well, it seems pretty pointless.

I thought about doing that too, but held off. It seems like a good 'deal' for $50, but that same $50 would get you Simple Sam's Signature Grand (also a Steinway D) if you don't have it, and the presets on that are really, really good. Plus, it only takes a fraction of the drive space. I know Fleer is a big fan of the Walker, but I've never bonded with the lite version - and it doesn't even run well on my machine (which handles VSL/Garritan/Bechstein libraries etc without a hitch).

We're now a million miles from Larry's feelings about snow, but I always made a point of hitting the Intelligentsia coffee roasters when I was in Chicago. I'd look forward to it for months (and they have the best mugs in the world. Perfect heft!).

I can vouch for New Zealand ? Best thing we ever did was move here, and I can't think of anywhere better to raise kids (said as someone with a decent job...child poverty rates here are awful). But I'm sorry to hear all this about Chicago (and, obviously, about your sister which is unimaginably awful). I always loved going to conferences in the city and was amazed at how safe I felt downtown (though I guess the Magnificent Mile is heavily policed, and I was going there from Fresno!)

Would be great if somebody told me this wasn't anywhere near as good as Sunset Sound...

Synthogy are gonna have to go harder than that... *Yells into the wind* Why won't they sell the Hume upright separately!!!? I want the uprights, but the last thing I need is a honky tonk and a tack.

These are excellent, excellent plugs! If you don't have them, I imagine this'll be the best $20 you'll ever spend on dynamics/EQ!

Woo hoo - have been wanting GoldPlate for ages!

Does anyone have the SY85 set? I have a dusty old original in my daughter's room, but the convenience of samples would be nice!

Damnit e-cue, you got me all excited

I remember reading the SOS review on this and seeing them in shops...I thought they looked the coolest synth ever!

But this one's "pristine"!

It kinda depends on what else you've got by way of acoustic pianos. It's not bad, and if it was an 'onboard' sound of a stage piano, I'd be pretty happy with it. With that said, I've got the full set of VSL pianos, Garritan, Ravenscroft etc, and in hindsight it was probably silly of me to 'waste' a freebie on the Alan Parsons instrument. If you don't already have at least a couple of piano VIs that you like, it's probably worth picking up!

Is this a 5150 emulation? I remember trying to lift the old 2x12 combo up a flight of stairs and getting stuck halfway!

If you've got the Fuchss, (plural of Fuchs?) you've got the ones I like best already. The Ampeg sims are v good, though not massively different from the IK SVXs.

Geez, why don't companies understand that they just have to own their balls-ups and not make it seem like they're doing you a favour by fixing their mistakes?

Seriously...if you're eligible for the Hammond as a freebie, don't skip it!

Entirely fair. With that said, I think their Hammond and Sunset Studio are top of the tree. Those are so good that for me it would be worth enduring the installer hassle...although it's only with this group buy that I've had any issues. I preferred the old authorization manager.

Couple of things. The full Sampletank download is upwards of 90GB IIRC, and it seemed that even when I thought I had plenty of hard disk space available (e.g., 150GB+) I'd run out, the download would essentially crash, and I'd have to start over. Unlike a lot of libraries, the installer doesn't delete the zip files, so it took me a fair amount of trial and error to get it running, even after I'd done what I thought were sensible things (e.g., downloading to an external drive but installing to a separate location). Also, some--most, actually--libraries seemed to install just fine, whereas others won't load and give me some sort of 'things are bad/you are bad' error message. I still haven't got the core Yamaha grand library to work - and because I deleted all the zips after the installer gave me the all clear, I don't have that individual file to reinstall. Honestly, I don't know how much of this is just user error and how much comes from a wonky installer, but it's certainly frustrating not to be able to just download specific Sampletank libraries. Maybe there's a way to do this (it would make sense - Syntronik lets you download the whole kaboodle or individual synths - so I could have just missed something), but I couldn't find that option.

I guess it depends on your tolerance:tightwad ratio. Mine skews towards tightwad! I've had a really irritating time installing the main Sampletank library and was getting kinda pissy. Then I thought, 'you know what? I didn't pay for this. I'll deal.' But I don't blame others for giving up if they've already got what they need. I was going to update to Amplitube 5 at some point anyway and figured I might as well do it when I get oodles of freebies.

I've used Movavi for a long time. It's basic but easy...and rendering is an awful lot faster than Magix! For what I need - preparing materials for online lectures - it's perfect.

The 'standard' preset sounds really good...the others are a little heavy handed for my taste, but I'm sure you make 'em sound marvellous!

All good points! I've had the same kind of visceral reactions to other amp sims that I've heard sound good in others' hands. E.g., from the second I opened Guitar Rig I hated it, though I've been impressed with what others can do with it! I think what I like with both Kuassa and Nembrini is their shift towards self-contained packages. The Nembrini one seems a bit finnicky to me, but I really like Kuassa's 360. It's not unlike Amplitube, but operates more smoothly IMO.

I've got all the Amplitube stuff, and most of the Nembrini/PA models. I really like the PA Fuchs Train II, but the Kuassa offerings are my favourites. The Matchlock is really outstanding for Fender styles. I have the Lancaster (AC30) and Clarrent (Orange) models as well, but haven't tried them yet.