PavlovsCat

Probably because I am in love Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" album, the demos of Piano in Blue are AMAZING to my ears because it really captures that sound which I find pure magic. and I've thought of buying that library for a long time but have been limiting my purchases lately. But one of the things that always gave me pause is that I primarily have been recording rock songs and I was wondering if you could speak to how Piano in Blue sounds in a rock context. If my budget allowed for it and my playing wasn't so poor, this library would be an instant buy. There's no other piano library I want more than this one, it has such an epic tone! Note the demo from Greg Schlaepfer (Orange Tree Samples) on the landing page for Piano in Blue. Greg is a superb pianist and bassist. https://store.cinesamples.com/products/piano-in-blue

Wow, thanks! This is extremely helpful and was very kind of you, it helps A LOT. I really appreciate it. From listening to the dry patches, that does sound completely usable for my tastes. So this was really useful for me. If you could help me understand the differences between Tina Guo 1 and 2. I am looking for a dry solo cello and would like to have a legato sustain patch AND a sustain patch I could play polyphonically. What would I be missing out on if I only bought Vol 2? Clearly, Vol 2 has a lot of additional articulations. When I listen to the demos at the dev's site, it also seems to have a nice legato sustain patch that is used on a very slow part that is what I would expect would be Vol 1's forte. Maybe it's just me, but Cinesamples doesn't really make comparing these two as easy as it could be and phrases like "more agile" might be meaningful if you're using the library, but to someone just researching, it's a bit of an imprecise term. Thanks much, Peter

Another KONTAKT (full) library of synthwave patches that I just picked up that is on sale for only $5USD (reg. $49 USD) that I would recommend is Karanyi's Wavesynth Glow. I thought I'd add it here because I thought, if anyone is looking for these kind of 80-ish synth sounds, this is another good one that is on sale for cheap right now. https://karanyisounds.com/product/wavesynth-glow/

The Tina Guo Cello sounds great, but it sounds like it has a lot of reverb baked in, which isn''t what I'm after. I'd love to hear from anyone who has me if this is correct. I would want to use it in rock and acoustic rock (kind of folk rock-ish) productions and I'm not sure if it would fit well in those situations. But I'd be very interested in hearing from those who have it and what they think.

I have this library. If you're looking for synthwave type sounds, it's pretty good, especially for only $1.95 USD. Not that it matters much if you're only getting this $1.95 USD library, but if you use the code "GIVEME10," you'll receive 10% off on your purchases at Rigid Audio.

I listened to the linked demos and didn't think it sounded bad at all, espcially considering that it's only $19 USD. I would suggest that anyone interested checks out the demos and makes their own call. It doesn't fit with rock and acoustic music that I do, but I think for what it is, and especially at such a low price, it's actually a very good value if you're looking for this kind of sound and on a tight budget.

I think you'd be pretty interesting as a YouTuber influencer doing reviews of sample libraries. Seriously. Of course, developers would never want to give you NFRs after seeing how brutally honest you are; some go berserk over the smallest criticism. But one thing for sure, we sample users could be pretty confident that you wouldn't be shilling for any developers.

Despite the uncertainty of everything, and the fact that I have largely crossed Waves off of my buy list, I still ended up buying the Abbey Road Saturator yesterday from EveryPlugin It was only $25.99 USD and it just seemed to (and does) have a sound to it that I love (yes, I am in love with all things Beatles, George Martin and Abbey Road sound-wise ). I did PM a fellow forum member / friend who owns it who told me is very good for getting that sound. After using it (yes, I completely forgot to do a trial and skipped right to the purchase after the recommendation), I'm very happy with the plugin and do find that my Abbey Road plugins are probably the only Waves plugins I would absolutely be willing to pay WUP for if they ever stop working. Otherwise, like everyone else here who is wondering and/or speculating about what's going on with Waves, I 'm very curious too and don't think it's an ideal time to buy their plugins -- but who knows? That said, I consider my risk was pretty small at $25.99 USD and after playing around with AR Saturator, I'm very happy with it. Thanks for the insights, @cclarry.

Everything I have from Sonible is superb. I recently picked up the Focusrite Fast Plugin Bundle which Sonible made for Focusrite -- I believe Larry was the person who shared the deal here several weeks ago -- and I love it. It seems like these plugins are pretty similar to the Fast plugins. If anyone knows for certain, I'd be interested in learning the difference. I was using Izotope plugins most of the time prior to trying Sonible -- and Izotope is also excellent-- but candidly, I find the Sonible plugins much easier to use. They really know how to design great, easy to understand/use user interfaces. I often try both my Sonible and Izotope plugins on the same audio, using their AI to analyze, and then choose the one with the results I like best. But I'm a perpetual newbie when it comes to mixing and mastering -- the vast majority of the regulars here know a lot more than I do and I've learned a lot from this group. But for others who, like me, aren't very knowledgeable on mixing, I'd especially recommend checking out Sonible and the Focusrite Fast Bundle plugins they made.

I've purchased several KONTAKT libraries and I believe some synth patches for Massive X and Iris 2 from this developer and love their work. Highly recommended.

I have the Royal Compressor and really like it a lot, especially on drums. There's a free demo of it at United Plugins website and it turns into a limited free version after the trial. EDIT: Here's the link for the demo / free version: https://unitedplugins.com/RoyalCompressor/

This will actually cut down on Larry's workload, as there's pretty much been a Waves sale every other day -- at least it seems that way.

SoundIron, three bucks? No-brainer, IMO. I have NEVER bought a Sound Iron library that has disappointed me yet (and I probably own a dozen of them); every library I have of theirs has been excellent. If anything, I wish they did more libraries. I'd love to see them make a solo cello library.

Hilariously, even though I've bought several SoundPaint libraries, as I visit the site and see the words "NEVER ON SALE' a popup comes up announcing 15% off for new customers. I called it. I think it would be impossible for Troels to ever start a business and not have a sale. I think it's time to delete that "NEVER ON SALE' copy. Most of us have no problems on sales. I think where some customers feel remorse is when products go on sale within a short time frame after they purchased the product -- and I would suggest a better solution for that situation is over customers an 30/60/90 day price guarantee where, if the price goes on sale for less than they purchased for within a specified period of time, they'll get a refund for the difference. Problem solved.

@Fwrend if you need a fresh install, email Kirk at support@kirkhunterstudios.com and I'm certain he'll provide a download link for you.

Are the Waves Maker Access subscriptions new or has this been around for a while? [EDIT: I can see that it's at least been around since 2020.] https://www.waves.com/subscriptions

Ah, so that announcement better explains the whole strange Waves announcement about serials from resellers no longer being accepted by Waves later this month. My guess is, if Waves moves exclusively to a subscription-only model that it likely won't do as well as they need it to do and will end up going back to offering a mixed model (subscription and perpetual licenses for individual plugins). However, the above announcement is another reason I don't feel very comfortable purchasing more Waves plugins. Especially when there are so many excellent developers that make similar plugins who have been selling them for similarly low prices to Waves always on sale prices. Except for the Abbey Road plugins, I really don't have Waves in my consideration set anymore and this announcement has stopped my desire to pick up more Abbey Road plugins. I was contemplating picking up the Abbey Road saturation plugin on the current sale, but not after this news. I empathize with developers desiring the kind of reliable recurring revenue that the subscription model provides. I think Waves WUP was already their twist on the subscription model -- trying to rope existing customers into paying recurring fees -- and for this hobbyist musician, it's just not for me. With Plugin Alliance, Softube, Izotope, Sonnible/Focusrite, AudioThing and a bunch of other high quality developers who have sales where their plugins are very affordable, there's really no need for me to turn to a subscription model. Thanks Waves, we had a nice run, but I've moved on.

I have the cello and viola. There's a ton of articulations but the scripting is bare bones and, for me, I want to play everything in real-time, I'm not into getting into the midi to edit. I'd strongly recommend listening to the walkthough of the patches carefully to make sure you like the tone. But there's a lot there, it just doesn't come with clever scripting that makes it sound great in real time like some competitors. But they'll cost a lot more. I would suggest checking out Sonixinema, as I think their two solo cello libraries are much better -- with less articulations, but I like the sound, and from the free versions (download the free versions) , I think the scripting is superior. I think I paid twice as much as the sale price and at this price, I would strongly consider it and I'm contemplating getting the violin. There's really nothing else close for that price range. If you've never bought from 8Dio before, you can PM me for a link to get $15USD off on your first purchase.

Touché

@Starship Krupa As I realize that a ton of people here are IT pros and consequently, know a lot more than me about software development (I'm a business guy from the tech world, but not an actual IT pro), so I was a little hesitant posting anything about software knowing so people here do IT for a living! As always, I often learn from your posts and greatly appreciate your helpful nature. Thanks, Erik.

Getting @cclarry 's thanks on your deal post is like getting Mr. Miyagi's approval on your execution of a Karate move.

I already have it installed on my system and it works perfectly in Cakewalk for me (I'm using Windows 10 and the latest version of Cakewalk by Bandlab). A LOT of plugin developers don't list Cakewalk by Bandlab. It doesn't mean it won't work with that host, it usually means that they don't formally offer support.

Magix is offering the coreFX VolumeFormer audio effect plugin for Mac & Win as a free download until April 2nd (reg. $24.99). Magix describes the plugin as follows: "A pump effect without complicated sidechain routing that is created by rhythmically reducing and increasing the volume. The shape of the envelope, i.e., decrease and increase, as well as the modulation frequency, e.g., to match the beat, can be freely adjusted. This creates a gate or sidechain effect, which is frequently found in house and EDM as well as in rock and pop." Users of coreFX VolumeFormer can upgrade to the full suite for $59.99 USD instead of reg. $199 (70% off). Plug-in formats include AAX (64-bit), AU, VST2 and VST3. https://www.magix.com/us/music-editing/audio-plugin-union/corefx-volumeformer/

Good add, @TheSteven. Thanks. I totally agree with you that it is recommendation worthy and I'll add it to my original post along with Crystal, another golden oldie I thought of after thinking about Synth 1 (and there's a bunch more I'll add as I go through my DAW this week). Edit: I added some older free soft synths I love but didn't think about until TheSteven made his post about the legendary Synth1.

I just added some instruments to the original post, including some pianos, organ, drums and tuned percussion. If anyone has any additional freebies that play in free players, please post them here to share with others. If I agree with your suggestions, I'll also add them to my list in the original post too. I just want this to be helpful, particularly to those on a tight budget, so they can quickly build up a collection of quality sampled instruments. I also invite those looking for free libraries to post what they're looking for in this thread and I -- and I'm sure others -- will help you find what you're looking for if it exists. I know many of us here have tried a lot of free libraries looking for those really magic finds that inspire us, and I want the list to help others find those libraries with ease.