PavlovsCat

Yep, IK's infamous charging of customers if they don't download sample libraries within several months of a purchase. I'd put it up there as bad -- although not as bad -- customer disloyalty practices as Toontrack forcing Superior Drummer 2.0 customers to upgrade within Toontrack's timeline or forever be excluded from receiving upgrade pricing again. Other than that really bad policy, I like IK. I love Toontrack products, but I find that past decision incredibly customer disloyal and after years, they still haven't changed course and you can find ToonTrack customers -- not just me -- still posting about it years later. I own the much less expensive ezDrummer and they never tried the same tactic for that as their flagship product.

I turned on my Windows 10 PC -- a recently custom built Windows PC with 32GB RAM made specifically for DAW use -- and my sustain pedal is no longer working/recognized. While a red light flashes in my system tray to indicate MIDI data is being received when I play my controller, nothing occurs when I press the sustain pedal. This problem occurred right after my C drive became nearly filled. I did make more space on my C drive, but that didn't result in the sustain pedal being recognized. FTR, the identical problem happened several months ago and I don't recall how I resolved it. I use a NEKTAR IMPACT LX61+ controller and NEKTAR sustain pedal and own 4 sustain pedals in total that I have tested and have another DAW PC in our house that I have tested the sustain pedals with and all are working fine with that MIDI controller and PC. -I have another DAW and MIDI controller and 4 sustain pedals and all have been tested with that controller/PC and are working. - I ran MIDI-OX but it doesn't show any MIDI data when I play my MIDI controller. So it appears to me that from my knowing the hardware isn't the problem and MIDI-OX not recognizing MIDI data that there is some Windows issue(s), but I don't know how to resolve it. I'm guessing it's memory related from when my C drive was nearly filled? - I googled and tried various solutions people offered in this forum for similar problems without success. Any ideas?

No. It's a collection of really nice quality free instruments for their free player.

Some of the positions specifically state that the company is expanding / the position is newly created. They also have pictures and names of all their employees on the linked page, so this looks very much like they're adding new staff.

IK Multimedia T-RackS Mic Room 80% off - $9.99 USD (reg. $49.99) - until February 15. (WAProduction Imprint transient shaper plugin is free with any purchase.) https://www.audiodeluxe.com/products/audio-plugins/ik-multimedia-t-racks-mic-room I could use some advice on this plugin, as I'm interested in buying. Does anyone reading this own in it and would you recommend it?

VSTBuzz: Up to 93% off Best Service, Karanyi Sounds, Rigid Audio & Goldbaby 50% off "The Orchestra Essentials" by Best Service / Sonuscore (€49) https://vstbuzz.com/deals/50-off-the-orchestra-essentials-by-best-service/ 93% off "Grainstates" by Rigid Audio (€4) https://vstbuzz.com/deals/93-off-grainstates-by-rigid-audio/ 82% off "The Urban Cookbook Vol 1" by Goldbaby (€9) https://vstbuzz.com/deals/82-off-the-urban-cookbook-vol-1-by-goldbaby/ 63% off "Space" by Karanyi Sounds (€11) https://vstbuzz.com/deals/63-off-space-by-karanyi-sounds/

Let February 2, 2023 be known as the day Fleer fell out of sweet, wonderful, blissful love with Waves. I knew it couldn't last! I pretty much stopped buying Waves last year after purchasing Cosmos/CR8 and using it once. I think the only way they could get me again is maybe for a few Abbey Road plugins (I love the ADT plugin, IMO, nothing I have comes close and I have 4 other double tracking plugins). What has made the Waves $29/39 always on sales less attractive to me is that competitors like Softube and Plugin Alliance also sell excellent plugins without an Update Plan and the Waves marketing that goes along with it. A bunch of you guys, including Abacab and Fleer, have posted praise of plugins from developers like Softube and the ones at Plugin Alliance that I've researched, purchased and am now a fan of (still waiting on Fab Filter to have a $29/39 sale -- kidding, I realize that's never going to happen). But I feel like I've moved on from Waves.

That's what I suspect is at least part of their logic, but this is a really poor tactic to address that problem, IMO. I'm in complete agreement with attempts to crack down on individuals who scam the system by use of multiple free email accounts to grab free serials during giveaways in order to sell them later. But they could address that problem a lot better without negatively impacting legit folks like someone who had Waves pluguns bundled with some hardware device or DAW. As this thread reveals, it doesn't send a great message to their customers. WUP has already led to me rarely buying Waves plugins anymore. On the upside, Waves has had a major impact on lowering effects pricing in the industry. So thanks for that Waves.

I have a connection to the Mario / Evil Dragon story. I'm pretty sure that I was asked for advice on behalf of Mario more than a decade ago after he posted a comparison between the library Mario worked on for Impact Soundworks and 8Dio's library that resulted in Troels' PMing him, very upset, to urge him to take it down because, as a competitor it was unethical, and as Troels allegedly told him, libel. But that recent 8Dio takedown thread was the most vicious, dishonest and unethical thing I've ever seen a forum owner participate in in more than 20 years managing digital and social media. It was started by a contractor who modified her/their 8Dio formerly 8Dio praising thread to trashing their libraries and attacking them after Troels/8Dio wouldn't pay her asking price of more $10,000 USD for her scripts for a long retired library currently selling for $8 USD. and instead proposed hiring her/them on an upcoming project (Sarah declined, feeling they didn't offer her what she's worth). Sarah has since, like Mario, gone on to work for 8Dio competitor Impact Soundworks, where there is a history of bad blood between the two companies as is now public knowledge. It wasn't just a vendetta thread for Mancuso, it was one for Mike Greene, VI Control's owner. Just weeks prior to the thread, 8Dio, (Tawnia) tired to urge Greene that he was wrong to censor discussion of the recent Christian Henson / Spitfire controversy (Henson made an anti-trans tweet spreading some false info) by LGBTQ forum members. The thread Greene censored was actually was very civil and intelligent. I am a strong free speech believer and believe that regardless of whether you agree or disagree with my opinion, we all deserve the right to be heart (if we can express ourselves in a civil manner as people were doing). Tawnia/8Dio let Mike know that 8Dio was pulling their advertising specifically due to Mike's censorship. But developers that advertise on VI Control all know that Greene protects advertisers there, and Spitfire has been a major advertiser there. Greene has a long history of censoring posts that are harsh against VI Control advertisers -- I've even had Mike privately tell me that his forum is the wrong place to share a negative experience with one of his advertising developers. It is ironic that Mike teamed up with a trans woman to take down a former VI Control advertiser who pulled their advertising specifically due to their censorship of the LGBTQ community on behalf of a major VI Control advertiser (Spitfire). If you understand that dynamic going on in the background, you will better understand why Greene so actively egged the angry mob on. 8Dio was part of a group of developer advertisers who feel that Greene's actions in censoring community members on behalf of an advertiser isn't right, it's unethical. The thread got to the point where anyone even mildly questioning the torches and pitchfork mentality where anyone making a negative accusation was presented as an impeachable witness stating incontrovertible fact was beaten down, bullied by an angry mob that ironically claimed was morally outraged over bullying. The only story I don't have any insights on is the former 8Dio contractor (DJ?), but once again, hearing a collection of one-sided stories doesn't give us facts. And by the time Troels' posted -- and it was not a wise post, but that doesn't justify the bullying and mockery that followed, again, egged on by the forum owner. The angry mob was going to attack anything Troels posted, and they did. The professed anti-bullying group bullied him and Greene egged it on. That thread was the last straw for me with VI Control. I actually unfriended Mike Greene on Facebook over it. Regardless of where anyone stands on the Henson/Spitfire situation -- and Greene professes to be pro LGBTQ and very liberal -- censoring community members only to protect an advertiser is not ethical. It's not a shock, but it's not ethical. But Mancuso's takedown vendetta thread -- which also served as Greene's takedown vendetta thread -- was a toxic mixture of dishonesty, exaggeration, bullying, a disregard for civility and truth, libel, hidden agendas and bad ethics that I'm not going to forget. I do music for enjoyment. That thread reflects the bad ethics of VI Control's owner more than anything and using his forum to attack enemies. It makes me grateful that the worst stuff we have here is pretty small by comparison.

The VSL freebies are really, really good. Thanks for the post, @Frank. To be candid, I actually forgot how to download and install VSL libraries at first. For anyone else in the same boat, fire up Vienna Assistant to find and download the new library.

KLANG FROZEN PAN - free KONTAKT instrument (requires the full version) from Cinematique Instruments "Handpans have magical overtones that enchanted us. Since we made one for CI, we kept wanting to find out what else is possible using this sound, and for the Frozen Pan, we found two new beautiful facets of the handpan. Give it a slow attack for a brushed and mellow feeling, enrich it with a sustained sound we made using a frozen handpan sample, or combine and tweak both to create your own enchanting sounds." DEMO: http://klang.cologne/_audio/audio_frozenpan.mp3 http://klang.cologne/sites_instr/instr_frozenpan.php

I bought, downloaded, installed it and played around with it for 5 minutes. I love the vibe of this piano. It's absolutely for ambient music. It has a ton of noise -- from tape -- in the samples, but it still works. It's as subjective as it gets, but I find the library inspiring to play. If you're interested, watch the Pete Calandra video I shared in the OP, because it does a good job of showing you exactly what you'll be getting. But I really like this. It's absolutely not going to be everyone's cup of tea. But if you watch the video in the OP and the sound of the piano in the demos appeals to you, I can't see any reason you wouldn't be happy with this library (again , as long as you realize there's no way to take out the noise in the samples -- tape hiss is a key part of the vibe of the library). https://halflightmusic.gumroad.com/l/dustbowl

I was watching some YouTube videos from musicians / influencers I follow, and one, educator and musician Pete Calandra, had a review of this really quirky character felt piano (it's a KONTAKT library that requires the full version) for only $5 USD. I didn't buy it yet, I am about to now, but I thought I'd share his review and a link to purchase the library. While Pete did this review 7 months ago, I searched the forum and didn't find a thread for this library, so I thought it would be new to many others, like it is to me. If you like the sound, for 5 bucks, I think it's a no-brainer. Here's a link to purchase the library; Pete's review video is below that. https://halflightmusic.gumroad.com/l/dustbowl?layout=profile

@abacab Thanks for that comparison and mini review. I find these kind of insights super useful, and without the bias (free product and/or cash) of influencer "reviews." I have a bunch of the Syntronik synths, including this one, and think they're very good, although I rarely reach for those sounds in my productions, even though they're a lot of fun to play around with.

The list was compiled by an NI employee, so, of course, they're aiming at KONTAKT customers first. The majority of freebies on the list are years old -- the second library on the list is a dead link. It misses a bunch of really good libraries and includes some that I would consider not in the same ballpark of what they missed (e.g., the Lobby Piano from Pianobook is okay, but it's not even close to being in the realm of the better piano libraries there; in contrast to what else is there, it's an odd choice). The freebies on the NI list that are compatible with the KONTAKT Player are all on my curated freebie list / thread, plus I have a lot more freebies with other , non-NI, players.

I own Sospiro Strings -- and other Ben Osterhouuse libraries -- and can also enthusiastically recommend it. This library is a great deal, even at its regular price. In fact, I'm almost certain I paid full price, and I have no regrets. But this sale price is a no brainer if you're interested in string libraries.

I totally agree with sharing the influencer's video, I just wanted to make sure that no one mistakenly gets the idea that influencers pay for freebies like this. An influencer doesn't pay for a promotion, the developer does. Developers use popular influencers to promote their brands, including using freebies, often by sponsorship of influencer's videos (giving the influencer payment in exchange for promoting their brand/products) or simply an outright payment (if the influencer has a big following), especially on promotions like this.

Unfortunately, that's true.

No, it's certainly not a surprise. Of course, it's pretty standard to do layoffs following mergers and acquisitions, but as A LOT of the threads in this forum are related to products owned by Soundwide -- e.g., KONTAKT libraries, Plugin Alliance plugins, etc. -- I thought the news is very relevant to forum users. A lot of us, including me -- have spent thousands of dollars on KONTAKT sample libraries, so we care a great deal about the future of NI and that product. From conversations I've had with KONTAKT developers I know, I've heard that there was a lot of investment in KONTAKT 7 under the new ownership, which is., of course, a good sign for KONTAKT developers and users. However, it hasn't been that long since NI was acquired, so anything is possible and I know of KONTAKT sample library developers who are mildly concerned about the future of KONTAKT and some who are concerned enough to be exploring other options, just in case (which I think is a smart thing to do). I just think it's worthy of discussion in a forum where a substantial portion of the threads are related to sample libraries.

A certain developer recently told me that his lack of confidence in the stability of NI and the future of KONTAKT played a significant role in his introducing his own sampler. It actually makes a lot of sense. I'm a long-time NI customer, since their early days, and use KONTAKT in nearly every project. Some are speculating that these layoffs are due to the typical cuts made following mergers and acquisitions and others are connecting it pandemic related spike in spending in this market receding. My guess is it's largely the former and a bit of the latter, but I'm not an industry insider, but part of the inspiration for most mergers and acquisitions is how to improve sales to the same customer base and the cost reductions and more efficient use of resources by eliminating redundant positions (or what are sometimes perceived as redundant positions).

Sorry to see this. Soundwide has laid off 8% of their staff. Considering how their holdings include a significant amount of software many of us use (NI, Izotope, Plugin Alliance...), I thought this news was very relevant. https://cdm.link/2023/01/soundwide-layoffs/

Quick guys, what are your rap names? Wrong answers only, please.

It would be great if someone wants to offer that to the person who made the library. You could always contact him on Reddit using the link in the OP. It would take an already really good freebie library and make it even better.

I was playing around with a high pass filter and EQ in KONTAKT and when I was holding down chords/notes for several seconds, I realized that these samples do have a fair amount of noise in them, which a pro developer would have cleaned up. Granted, unless you're holding down chords/notes for a very long time, I don't think it's a showstopper. I still like the library a lot and appreciate the the generous individual who created the library and gave it away free on Reddit, who goes by Karkille.

@abacab The link to Reddit and the link for Google Drive both worked when I checked it just now -- and it's clearly working for other people, so perhaps you can try again? Here's the direct link to the Wurli library without going to Reddit first. user4325874 posted a link to ALL the samplist's shared libraries above, so you can also check that out, if you're interested in other free libraries from this samplist. https://drive.google.com/file/d/15U99DL5BJdPAwj3SDOYvI2EPJ1_eaL8K