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Regarding Arturia's emulations, I think that was the general opinion back when they were all on v1. But the Jup-8 is up to v4 now. IMO, Arturia synths are now decently comparable to the best virtual analogs available. Very nice, in fact!

The Arturia Jup-8 V is a great Jupiter emulation. If you want a Jupiter that you can fully control, a sampled version will not compare. But then there is the price difference...

Well I have crossed over to the full Kontakt 6 this year, so I'm halfway over the fence, LOL!!! ? Added some instruments from Indiginus to Kontakt and they are sweet! The Resonator, The Steel, and The Fiddle. Plus Luftrum Bioscape for atmospheres. And in addition, I have the entire IK Multimedia collection, Arturia V Collection 8, and the Korg Collection 3. Also u-he Repro, AAS Chromaphone with all the add-on banks, Spitfire BBCSO Core, a nice Cherry Audio collection, including Voltage Modular Core, and the SynthMaster Everything bundle. Plus too many others to mention!

This was posted on KVR 10 years ago >>> Cakewalk Z3ta+ v1 free with Computer Music Mag CM Nov 2011 https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=331159

IMHO since they haven't released it by now, I seriously doubt they ever will. But if you really are interested in Z3TA, drop a thread in the Feedback Loop and see if you get a response.

Yep! The only thing that really worries me about Unify is that it may nudge me closer to splurging on Omnisphere. ? So far my investment in Unify has been minimal, even with the cost of the core Unify program and a few additional PluginGuru libraries for it. They have provided many free "Unified" patch libraries for synths that I already owned. So it has been a very fruitful adventure with Skippy! I have held out for years by resisteing an Omnisphere purchase, mostly on principle that I don't want to spend $500 on a virtual instrument that I cannot test drive first! So in the meantime, I have spent over $500 on some other very fine virtual instruments. No regrets! Don't really feel like I'm missing out on anything. But the available Omnisphere libraries for Unify keep expanding, dang-it!

For a very old virtual synth, z3ta+ has had remarkable staying power! For example, z3ta+ v1.0 was released in 2002 by RGC Audio. https://www.kvraudio.com/news/rgc_audio_z3taand_v1_0_released_684 Cakewalk bought RGC in 2005, rebranded it, then released v1.5 in 2007. http://www.cakewalk.com/Press/Release/1092/03-28-07-Z3TA15 Cakewalk later released Z3TA+ 2 about 10 years ago in 2011. Mostly just a facelift. https://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/cakewalk-announces-z3ta-2-synth-469287 The other Xenos Soundworks 80's presets (Synthwave, Retrowave, Cyberpunk, Analog Dreams, RetroScapes, Pure 80's) for the virtual analog emulations from u-he [Repro 1/5], Cherry Audio [MemoryMode, PolyMode, EightVoice, and CA2600], and Arturia [CS-80V - killer Blade Runner lead!] are worth checking out as well! Especially the Repros (Prophet 1/5), PolyMode (Poly Moog), and EightVoice (Oberheim). Very, very nice!

Some DAWs allow you to automatically hide VST2 plugins if both versions are available. I continue to use VST2 if that's all there is from a developer. Otherwise, it's VST3 all the way!

I have ST4 MAX fully installed on my DAW desktop PC, and thought about trying a partial ST4 MAX install onto my laptop due to its limited internal drive space. As far as I can tell, IK has never addressed that question with a selective installer. The ST4 main instruments installer places presets for all instruments in your ST4 edition, by default. So even if you choose not to install some sample libraries in your account, you will end up with some presets in the browser that don't have samples available [resulting in error if you try to load them]. The only workaround that I think may work is that you would have to hack the ST4 preset folders to delete the instrument presets that you do not desire. But in the end I decided it would be too much work to slice and dice, and ended up putting everything on an external USB drive for my laptop. Just copied the entire ST4 sample library path from my DAW onto a spare USB drive, and hooked that up to my laptop. My laptop is actually just a mobile office, and the music software on there is really just a toy that I like to mess with when I travel.

Spitfire Audio LABS Unified with 4 NEW LIBRARIES Added: Siren Songs, Synth Strings, Ondes Musicales, Electric Guitars https://www.dropbox.com/s/rx6xbi8cvxk4aw8/Spitfire LABS Unified_10_29.zip?dl=0&mc_cid=5b4a55bb05&mc_eid=b768373adc

No need to download them all. You can just download a few that interest you, one at a time. In the Spitfire Audio app, under the LABS tab, it will show all of the available libraries. They are initially shown in the "Not Installed" list. As you install them, the ones on your computer will show in the "Installed" list.

I understand. To a hardcore "collector" this is a clever scheme by Spitfire to frustrate! ?

Well actually, LABS download is ala carte. The free LABS products are available as you are ready for them. No need to be added to a specific user account, as there is no account required, other than "installed" or"not downloaded" under the LABS tab in your Spitfire Audio app.

Yep, I grabbed that one, as well as a those for a few Cherry Audio synths, such as CA2600, Eight Voice, Polymode, & Memorymode.

There are currently 43 free libraries in the LABS collection. It is a collection of unique samples that you may find useful if you are into sound design. I have about 19GB installed in my LABS sample folder. https://www.spitfireaudio.com/labs/getting-started/ It uses its own player, that opens as a plugin, which is very minimalist. You have control over expression (volume), modulation, and reverb. Everything else is baked into the preset. But there are some interesting and unique sounds in here!

Figured out that the corrupted download was going into "My Documents" folder, which remained after the unpacking error. And that was why the downloader would not restart. So SoundPaint Downloader assumed that the Piano was already installed on the PC. Blowing that folder away allowed me to restart the download. Still getting a corrupt download every time I try for some reason... finally sent an email to support.

Nope. Windows 10 PC only. Every time the download completes OK, but during unpacking I get this:

What Ed said ^^^ ?

I wouldn't know. The download is still hosed up in my account. Deleted the first attempt due to corruption, now the download will not restart. Got the app and plugin installed, but no piano! Will try again tomorrow, if no luck then, will try support.

Not like the Bass Guitar, which actually has 2 presets labeled as DI. But you can turn the reverb effect down all the way, and get them as dry as was recorded. They probably ran some through a basic amp.

Um, nothing to purchase? Install free, or not.

Nice lead and plucks! Toss in your favorite AmpliTube 5 preset and have fun! ?

$99.95 at Amazon, in stock, free shipping eligible in 5-8 days. 2 days for Prime members. https://www.amazon.com/PreSonus-Eris-E5-Active-Monitor/dp/B00CP4IJH0 Same deal at Sweetwater, free shipping. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ErisE5--presonus-eris-e5-5-inch-powered-studio-monitor

2.2 GB. Might take a minute!