PavlovsCat

Yep. I only learned that last night. Clearly, I need to learn more about Cakewalk's Pro Channel. Do you think it's any good?

Dead serious, this is the second recent post you made that resulted in me researching (AKA googling) what you wrote to find out more and I found a Sound on Sound article praising those ancient Sonitus plugins in Cakewalk I've never used -- and probably many others haven't tried either. Then I came across another article, this one by Craig Anderton comparing the Sonitus EQ to Cakewalk QuadCurve -- something I never even heard of before. Anyhow, all of that is the result of your post, so thanks, @Bruno de Souza Lino.

If you have KONTAKT, there are a few developers that have Singing Bowl sample libraries with demos that sound really good to my ears. A relatively new developer, Fracture Sounds, has a Singing Bowl library out for $19USD that I've contemplated picking up that may interest you and I know Sample Science has freebie one, although it's a lot less detailed. https://fracturesounds.com/product/singing-bowl/

I think you're right. It's probably a typo. I can't imagine a SoundPaint library being so tiny. I'm just going to assume that they meant 651.5 GB instead of MB. Yep, a 651.5 GB windchime library sounds more in line with SoundPaint's typical library sizes.

Thanks for those insights, @MusicMan. Weighing what both you and Antler are saying, I can still see value in using the Metering Bundle during the mixing phase. And it's going for $41 USD at Best Service, which seems like a phenomenal deal for these tools to me. I also have levels from Mastering The Mix, which Starship Krupa had praised, so I'm going to read up and watch some videos on how to use that. I'm really slow at this stuff, as I mostly just want to play and record some music to let my family and friends hear, but I want the mix to sound decent.

That's mind-blowingly small for SoundPaint!

Thanks a lot, @antler. That was the kind of insight I was hoping to get and I really appreciate your explaining it so clearly. As you know from our PMs, I don't know much about mixing or mastering (although, I'm slowly starting to learn!) and when the guy in the video made that point, it really struck me as being a fundamental problem with the approach of the way these tools are marketed, but it didn't occur to me until he said it and I didn't think of it with the depth that you just articulated.

Oops, I mistakenly wrote Insight instead of Audiolens, which I was comparing to Sonible's True: Balance. If you watch the video, the guy who makes the point explains it much better than I did. These tools enable the user to compare their mix (unmastered) to the tool's included reference by genre or the user's chosen tracks. It's not sold with the idea the user is going to duplicate the reference track identically. Of course, as you point out, that wouldn't make sense. It's just meant to be a comparison used as reference enabling the user to get his track in the same ranges where desired. What intrigued me was that the second reviewer in the video made, what seemed to me, a profoundly good point: that the user is comparing unmastered tracks to mastered tracks and that's not ideal. I suppose a user could go through the effort of mastering before using this tool, but that's pretty laborious. Anyhow, so considering that, what do you think about the usefulness of comparing your unmastered song to a mastered reference track? I mean, it's obviously not as useful as comparing your mastered track to a mastered track, but would you still find the comparison very helpful when you haven't reached the mastering stage? I suppose, I could always put my tracks through Ozone first to use the AI mastering before going through this analysis. What do you think?

Absolutely. I've used them for years, buying KONTAKT libraries from small developers -- under their previous name/website, KONTAKT Hub -- and since they launched under the Loot Audio name. They've recently been bringing more and more plugin developers to the site, so I haven't bought many plugins there, but they've always been very reliable and I've never had any problems with them in all of the time I've been a customer. I'd happily recommend them. They often have great deals.

I was reading and watching reviews of the metering bundle yesterday -- and it also applies to Izotope's tools -- and the reviewer made what seemed to me (who I want to be clear, I'm not very knowledgeable on mixing and mastering. while I worked as a musician many years, including recording in studios, I was never involved in mixing things beyond my own personal, very poorly mixed demos), an excellent point --- and it's this: tools like Sonible's true: balance (and, it would follow that Izotope Audiolens has the same problem) are comparing your unmastered master bus mix tracks to reference tracks that are actually mastered tracks, which is not an ideal comparison. I'd love to get thoughts on this. The second reviewer, not Warren, but Paul, makes the note about the reference tracks being masters and the considerable differences of comparing unmastered mixes to mastered tracks:

I'm not going to bite, but seeing UAD going for this cheap is pretty cool. Prices on great plugins have dramatically fallen in the past few years -- well, at least when you consider sale prices. It's the one really positive result of Waves always on $29/39 USD sales. It's had a dramatic impact on the industry. But I never thought I'd see UAD going for less than 50 bucks. Even though I'm not going to buy anything in this sale, I think it's great news for DAW users to see a heavy hitter with historically pricey product doing sales in this price range, it's especially good news for those on tight budgets.

I read through a couple of reviews on SSL VocalStrip 2, and they were both very favorable. It seems that it does its job well and doesn't add much much color (of course, some of us were hoping it did add color, others prefer it doesn't). @El Diablo Although this review doesn't compare Vocalstrip 2 to Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain, I think it indirectly gives us an answer in its assessment that VocalStrip 2 doesn't color your sound. For fifteen bucks, that's a great deal. I'm waiting on the DrumStrip's next sale. I have a friend who has it who loves it. https://producelikeapro.com/blog/ssl-vocalstrip-2-review/

Yeah, cclarry has truly made this forum what it is. He deserves lots of THANKS for his efforts. Of course, there's going to be some plugins and libraries that don't appeal to us. But if you check out his other threads, chances are that Larry has posted a deal on something that will appeal to you. He's the Michael Jordan of the Deals subforum. The ?. No one's even a close second. First ballot Cakewalk Forum HOFer.

One of the customers giving a testimonial on that landing page said, "I'll take this over a live horn section anyday!"(He did add, "Unless it's that horn section" as an afterthought.) Seriously though? Talk about exaggeration. Even 8Dio videos don't go that far (okay, I could be wrong on that one). Anyone with a real love and appreciation for music could never make such a statement. Sample libraries can be fantastic tools that allow composers/musicians to easily attempt arrangements and do what may otherwise be beyond budget or inconvenient. But to say you'd prefer a sample library of horns over skilled horn players -- players who each bring something unique to a performance to a keyboardist playing horn samples? That's pretty ridiculous and demeans real artistry. I love sample libraries, but a sample library of anyone playing an instrument that they can't play fluently in real life will never be as great as an excellent musician playing that instrument. Tell me what sax library could replace Coltrane, what trumpet library could replace Miles Davis, what guitar library can replace Joe Pass, what bass library can replace Jaco or what drum library could replace Max Roach? Talented musicians who've mastered their instruments are always going to be the optimal choice if you have that option available to you, saying you'd prefer playing those parts on midi controller speaks volumes for one's ego and lack of appreciation for the art and craftsmanship of music. Personally, I would never have put that testimonial up even though the guy who said those words probably saw it a little harmless hyperbole to promote the library, it destroyed his credibility when he said that. Rant over. ?

Funny, I'm always really curious about everyone's musical background and interests here (please share your interests, folks! We're all here out of our passion for music). I mean, a lot of us have been coming here for many years and only a small amount of us share music we've made or even, more generally, the kinds of music we play/have played. So it's very cool to find out that some of you (jngnz and Fleer) are into jazz! While I worked primarily as a rock drummer for more than a decade back in the day until an injury took me out, I did play a couple of jazz gigs and LOVE jazz. Also, on a side note (AKA a tangent). I got to meet and hang out with two jazz drumming greats back in the day, Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson. I even had the chance to sit in with Buddy's band (I wisely declined -- while I was a very good rock drummer, I was never a legit jazz drummer; I studied a short time with a jazz drumming teacher, but still sounded like a rock drummer attempting to play jazz). So while my physical limitations make it impossible for me to pull of even a marginally competent jazz performance on any instrument these days (I can play drums at a mid tempo for around a minute before I'm in pain and have learned to get through slow tempo songs for recordings), I still check out these kinds of sample libraries and want to press the buy button. Between the libraries from this developer and Cinesamples Piano in Blue, I can't adequately convey how much I love those sounds.

These dev seems to do a great job of capturing the perfect sound for small jazz groups. I love all of the demos I've heard from them.

I have the Softube Transient Shaper and think it's excellent. I also agree with ralfrobert's and Fleer's recommendations for Kioheartz Transient Shaper. It's really good and you can't beat the price (free).

I discovered that there is a small, free version of the cello. It's completely in the realm of sound design. So, for those looking for that, it seems worth consideration. For me, I'm interested in realistic sounding solo cello sample libraries. When there's a good enough sale, I'll eventually pick up Sonixinema's solo cello libraries, because, IMO, based upon the demos, I have yet to hear any other dry solo cello sample library that sounds as good to my ears. Here's a link Inlet Audio's free Lite Cello Isobelle Foundation. Be aware that it's only a single patch (made with two different sounds that you can separate, so I suppose one might consider it to be two patches that are combined): https://www.inletaudio.com/products/p/lite-cello-foundation

I think you've made some excellent points. I was primarily thinking about the organ, piano, electric piano and Structure sampler AIR plugins -- and AIR / InMusic's history of technical issues with these plugins that went unresolved for a very long period of time which, IMO, can make them more of a hassle than what they're worth. I agree that while Hybrid 3 and Vacuum Pro don't sound very current, they might appeal to people looking for certain vintage sounds. However, I was considering how the included AIR synths are often available as free giveaways from magazines like Computer Music and online retailers or sold at prices as low as $1 USD - $5 USD. I'd suggest that anyone who's starting out their plugin instrument collection is far better off waiting for one of those deals and instead picking up better sounding free plugins in the meantime than spending $59 USD on this bundle. For example, instead of Structure and the sampled instruments in the AIR bundle, KOMPLETE Start, HALion Sonic SE (and free libraries for it), SoundPaint (and included free libraries), Labs and Sforzando (and free libraries for it), Sampletank 4 CS, Steven Slate Drums Free and add the free organ plugin Collab 3 and various freebies for more organ sounds (and I have a thread with tons of great quality piano and other sample libraries). For free synths, Vital, Surge, Helm, Dexed, DiscoDSP OB-X, Zebralette and Zampler. I think if someone picked up all of those freebies, they'd have far superior alternatives to what's included in this AIR bundle without spending any money and they could then pick up any of the AIR synths they liked when they're available as free giveaways or super cheap. Just my opinion, of course.

I just found that Pulse Audio has the Isobelle Austin Cello by Inlet Audio for $26.70 USD, that's nearly $13 cheaper than VST Buzz's sale price of $39.51. @Fleer You praised this library in the VST Buzz thread. I can't tell from the demos if it's primarily a sound design library or not. I don't hear a lot of straightforward articulations in the demos but more sound design patches, (I'm primarily interested in straightforward, realistic sounding cello with a dry sound). I could really use your insights on this one. https://pulse.audio/product/isobelle-austin-cello-by-inlet-audio/

These titles are really, really, really old (decades in some cases), and IMO, don't sound great compared to more recent plugins. I have most of them, but rarely use any of them except Loom II, which I use occasionally. In the past decade, a bunch of them have been free, part of retailer and magazine giveaways, or for sale for under $10 USD -- and even $1 USD in a couple of cases. After all the problems with, at least, some of them, after InMusic bought AIR, I don't know if they're even worth installing. I don't think the organ plugin, DB-33 sounds very good in comparison to modern organ plugins; it's the same for Velvet. It's like comparing Soundfonts from 20+ years ago to modern KONTAKT libraries. Even if you're going after retro sounds, the old stuff just doesn't hold up very well by comparison. To those who aren't familiar with the history of these titles, I'd strongly recommend hitting the pause button instead of jumping on this sale, and doing some serious research. There are many, many better alternatives.

No, I have the Tonal Balance Control package and not the most recent version, but the one before the most recent version. So I don't own Insight 1 or 2 and Izotope lists a price for it of $199 USD, which is 4x as much as Sonible's current sale price. Beyond the price difference, while Izotope's tools may be a lot deeper than Sonible's, I do end up using Sonible's plugins a lot more because it's so easy to grasp and get good results quickly.

The same purpose as Audiolens, to analyze the mix and find and fix any issues and make refinements to improve the quality of the mix. Also, to compare my mixes to similar genre reference tracks. Beyond my mixing inexperience, on a side note, I have some pretty serious hearing issues that make me an absolutely terrible choice as a mix engineer, so having AI tools and looking at reference tracks give me a little more confidence that I can pull off an acceptable mix.

@Fleer I have thought about the cello in past sales. The demos sound meh to my ears, not great. But it might work for my uses. Do you own it? If so, do you find that it's intuitively scripted? I find that's really important for me for stringed instruments.

So, @Starship Krupa I have been strongly considering buying Sonible's Metering Bundle after really enjoying using their plugins -- and the FAST plugins they make for Focusrite. Have you checked the Sonible stuff out? If so, I'd love the get your thoughts. I really like the idea of having software that's super user friendly (AKA dumbed down!). While I was using Izotope and still use it for mastering, for mixing, I like Sonible's tools best (although I go back and forth between Sonible's and Izotope's reverbs and think I prefer Neoverb in that contest). I do have Melda's freebies installed and tried their demos in the past, but frankly, I have not found them very enjoyable to use (I get why you like them -- you actually know what you're doing when it comes to mixing and matering; I don't!). Love to get your -- or anyone else's thoughts. https://www.mixonline.com/technology/reviews/plug-ins/sonible-metering-bundle-a-real-world-review