PavlovsCat

Here's a walkthough of some of the presets:

This is very tempting. I own M-Tron Pro (and a bunch of expansions) and Minimonsta and have dealt with Gforce from their early days and found their customer support to be exemplary. Plus I have seen a ton of praise for this synth from Imposcar owners. For those considering it and never bought anything from Gforce, they're a really good company to deal with. I'm a fan.

Hahaha! Seriously though. For an example of a sample developer who really "gets it" when it comes to free taster libraries, I'd point to Impact Soundworks. Their free version of their electric guitar library gives the user a good taste of the sample quality and scripting they're going to get in the full library. Yes, I think Orange Tree Samples makes superior guitar libraries, but when it comes to giving users a free taste of a sample library, Impact Soundworks nails it whereas Sonixinema gets this completely wrong and blows the opportunity to impress sample buyers. IMO. And yes, I'm writing this as both a sample user and a marketing strategist.

Thanks! I didn't put anything on the list I didn't spend time using and I've been a big user of sample libraries for decades and have even consulted to a number of commercial sample and plugin developers over the years. I've been really impressed by how good some free libraries are. But I'd guesstimate that only 10% or less of what I've tried is good enough to make my list (for example, Pianobook has a ton of libraries, but most aren't at a level that would make my list; I just wanted to have the best of the best). While freebies often aren't super detailed, there are definitely sample libraries in that list that are superior to some paid libraries I've bought. And if you compare the quality of those freebies to the freebies available a decade ago, things have gotten a lot better. To those just starting out, as long as you have a powerful enough computer, with the free Cakewalk by Bandlab DAW and all the great free synths, samplers, sample libraries and effects plugins (check Starship Krupa's thread mentioned earler, he really knows is stuff and is a super helpful community member), you can sound really good and use inspiring sounds and effects without spending any money.

If I'm going to be completely candid -- and just about every time I am someone comes around to try to censor it (folks, when people state their opinions, there's nothing to fear or react strongly negative to; we can have different opinions and get along just fine, try it) -- I found this freebie, and just about all of the freebie libraries I've tried from Sonixinema to be the kind of freebies I immediately delete. None compelled me to want to buy the full sample libraries they came from. They didn't convey compelling, great sounding sample libraries -- even though the full libraries might indeed be that. They were just novelties of no value to me as a user of sample libraries or as a decision making tool to decide if I wanted to purchase the ful library. I would strongly recommend that developers that spend the 10 cents each or whatever deal they work out with NI to license the KONTAKT Player to not waste their money and opportunity to impress sample buyers by creating freebies like this. There's too little to what Sonixema puts in these freebies to assess the library it comes from, so it's completely useless to me, and I'm sure many others. I think they're better off doing say 2 octaves of a significant articulation of a sample library, say a sustain patch -- or maybe only include notes in one octave or two octaves in the key of C for two octaves, but give it the full scripting of the complete library to give the user an opportunity to assess the actual library it comes from. Because I found that this freebie -- and most of Sonixinema's other freebies -- to have no utility for me whatsoever. It's more or less, a novelty articulation that I wouldn't use and doesn't convey me how playable or realistic the main articulations of the full sample library is. It didn't help me to assess the full library and it's not useful on its own. Consequently, I have no use for it and it didn't help me make a decision on whether or not I want to purchase the full library. <DELETE.> It seems that Sonixenima makes some very nice libraries. But I think I'm going to skip bothering with their freebies. They have zero value for me.

Yep. That was my point in my post earlier in the thread. Both the PA and NI vouchers are not of much value to me. I already own everything that interests me that is included on the PA list -- and, as you wrote -- you can get a better deal on that stuff during sales anyhow and the NI voucher is only good for items when they're not on sale, so if you you can find something that is $50 USD or less and not on sale, it's equivalent to a 50% or better sale. But right now, when NI is having big sales, everything that interests me is already on sale and the e-voucher isn't usable on sale items. So, like many have said in the past, there's really not much value to either voucher for me and many others.

I'm biased, of course, but I think I put together a pretty extensive list of high quality free sample libraries that play in free players. I organized it by instrument type -- piano, electric piano, percussion, organ, synth, etc. My inspiration was seeing so many lists of free sample libraries and plugins where there was no way to discern the good from the bad. The reality is, a very high percentage of freebies are not great quality. Sifting through the bad ones to find the good ones is incredibly time consuming. So the value of my list is that it only contains sample libraries and soft synths that I've spent time with and found to be good quality and others add their recommendations to the list too. My motivation was to help those who are short on funds but love making music.

Yay, @cclarry!!! Bring on the SSD deals! All of those KOMPLETE updates and upgrades so many of us are doing need somewhere to go! Thanks, my friend!

Wow, that's very considerate of you. Thanks, Patrick!

Thanks for the share. I actually don't have that one (or at least I don't think I do; I'll have to check my IK account to be sure), but I have a few others. Is the IK one good?

Same here. I bought KOMPLETE Standard and was hoping the PA voucher would let me get Kirchoff EQ for $29 (I've seen a lot of folks that seem to know their stuff praising it). Unfortunately not. I don't think there was anything in the list I didn't have that I wanted. Although I'm always open to suggestions. Same with my NI voucher. If I could use it on sale items, there's a bunch of libraries I'd be interested in, but otherwise, it's of little interest to me.

It goes on sale fairly regularly. Maybe it won't be 5 bucks for a while, but it will be cheap. Still, I just bought the SPL De-Verb and the Waves De-Verb plugin still has my attention, because it may do a better job on vocals. I'm eager to see Bapu or others make a comparison between the two plugins. This might be a case where I'd still buy a Waves plugin. I mean, if it works as advertised for a couple of years for $30, I'd consider that a very good deal.

With your helpful and kind nature, Erik, you're the type of person that is a valuable part of any community, whether online or offline. I hope you find somewhere where you're fully appreciated.

Haha! I only clicked on this thread because I thought NI actually posted here. I also don't love the new logo, but it's not that big of a deal, IMO.

But didn't SPL create the category long before that? If they created the category of products we call de-reverbs, which is a variation of their trademark name, they have something they can defend. However, if the term fell into wide use and was never defended by a trademark owner, it's going to be hard to defend and I would find that anyone using De-Reverb is going to have a hard time defending it as a trademark. That is, if de-reverb was a descriptive term in use before a product name was used, it really isn't an easily defended trademark (its not worth registering). This gets a bit technical. For example, the 7Up company has a trademark "The Uncola" they used in advertising and packaging for decades. The name, while close to the generic term cola is still a good, easily defended trademark, because there's no history of carbonated non-cola sodas generically being called uncolas. Whereas, if the term existed prior to 7Up using it as a generic term for that type of soda, it would be difficult to defend the trademark.

As you probably figured out, I thought that SPL's De-Verb created the category with their product and created the term with their De-Verb. So, you're saying that Izotope actually had their product out first? Again, apologies to those bored to death by this stuff, but most of us enjoy tangents here, me included! And I accidentally ended up learning more about the history of this category.

People or companies using a slight variation of the term descriptively wouldn't preclude it from being infringement. However, if de-reverb as a descriptive term pre-dates the De-Verb product name (a sub-brand, if we're being technical), then it wouldn't be infringement. I knew that people often use the term, but didn't realize that other brands were using it in product naming. So I'm guessing the term de-reverb could predate De-Verb or SPL simply never bothered to defend their trademark and, unchallenged, it became very commonly used. Oh well, sorry for the trademark discussion, I realize it's uninteresting to 99% of our group. I'll try to post something helpful or funny to make up for it in the near future!

I actually know a good deal about global trademark law to the point Interpol quotes me in their documentation. To infringe on a trademark you don't have to use identical words. It just has to be close. De-Reverb is very much in the realm of trademark infringement for De-Verb; infringement is not merely about the exact term, but when a party uses something close enough to cause marketplace confusion. And trademark laws, in this regard, are fairly similar in most developed nations including Israel, most of Europe and NA). My guess is that Waves didn't consult a trademark attorney before naming the product or they didn't listen to the advice of attorney when choosing the name (they are technically a small business, so my guess is that they didn't consult a trademark attorney before finalizing the product name). My guess is that (erroneously) thought de-reverb is a generic description and hence makes SPL's trademark less easy to defend in courts. However, if SPL's attorneys send them a cease and desist letter, which I would do in this case, they'd be wise to change the name.

The demos sound really good. But I tend to only pick up Toontrack libraries on flash sales; their regular prices and even their standard sales prices are a bit high for me. So it may be a year before I pick this one up. But it's definitely on my list.

It's a pretty bold move by Waves to get into the realm of trademark infringement with SPL (De-Verb). That aside, I wonder if the AI technology leads to the Waves plugin doing a more thorough job? It would be interesting to see a head to head comparison.

I'm still on the fence about Bassment. It definitely has some nice presets I like, but I have a couple of alternatives. Another thing worth sharing, I found that a bunch of United Plugins are cheaper at Loot Audio's site. For example: Electrum is $20 USD at United Plugin's site and is $16.60 USD at Loot Audio. Bassment is $20 at UP and $17.28 at LA. Pluralis is $20 at UP and $16.25 LA. Of course, if you have credits at United Audio or are a first time customer, you can get it for less (20% off and $10 credit after your first purchase), but otherwise, if you've already purchased at the UP site, your best deal may be at Loot Audio: https://www.lootaudio.com/category/plugins/united-plugins

Plugin Alliance, and most of all, your first born, thank you for your choice.

I was downloading demos of Plugin Alliance plugins and comparing them against my existing plugins over the weekend, which I find the ideal way to decide on whether or not to purchase a plugin -- and even then, I only tend to download ones that friends or forum members have praised (I only wish we could do the same kind of demos with sample libraries -- I can only imagine how much money I could have saved from buying sample libraries that didn't meet expectations). One big finding, I was comparing the Acme Opticom Compressor -- which I absolutely loved on electric bass in the Youtube video I shared on a previous page; when I compared all of my compressors to it -- and I I have around two dozen (I realize that's a bit overboard, but I think most of us are in that category and I bet some of you have a lot more than that!) -- on drums, there was one I never tried, Melda's free MCompressor, that sounded great to my ears. And seeing @Starship Krupa posts in this thread made me want to again give the man credit, as he's been recommending Medla stuff for a long time. Candidly, I really am only starting to finally figure out the basics of mixing and some of Medla's interfaces can be, let's say, less than user friendly for the less expert mixers among us (AKA me), so while I greatly value Starship Krupa's opinions, I've largely skipped checking out Melda stuff after trying a couple of plugins in the past and finding the user interfaces overly complicated. But that's not the case for this one. I'm still not sure about whether I'm going to buy the Acme Compressor. I just used what I think is the last $20 code PA is giving out to buy the SPL Transient Designer. But finding that I had a free compressor plugin that I love on drums was the best deal of all. I'm definitely no expert on mixing plugins, so all I can say is that if you haven't tried MCompressor, you really should try it out.

I picked up the SPL Transient Designer Plus for $5. I already have several transient designers, but this had some extra features that seemed worthwhile. For 5 bucks, if I even find one song where it makes a nice difference, it was a great value.

Actually, Starship Krupa is the one who deserves the thanks. (I'd link to the thread, but I'm on my mobile right now and came across it on my desktop computer.) Unrelated, after you shared a video of you playing (I forgot what it was, some soft synth), I checked out some of your videos and really enjoyed your playing! I just thought I'd pass that feedback to you. I love it when people share how they actually use all this stuff we buy and you're very talented.