PavlovsCat

+1 Even for the impact BFD would have on Toontrack, I would love to see it be a serious competitor. That's good for all drum plugin buyers, bringing down prices, more competitive features, etc. I hope someday it becomes reality, but InMotion almost seems like a parody of their brand name, they move at a snail's pace when it comes to revolving software issues and I'm not aware of them truly innovating in the plugin space. That's not to say that will always be the case, but it sure seems to be the case in the present day.

That's cool! I love it. I've had an interest in ambient and told that one improvised piano focused piece of music I wrote seemed to fit the category. I know how to write rock/pop/R&B and even studied songwriting in my youth. But how would you recommend getting started with ambient songwriting? Beyond listening to ambient songs? More specifically, to understand the general frameworks of the genre. For example, how rock songs tend to be structured with an intro, verse, chorus and bridge/middle eight in various order..

Awesome. Would anyone be interested in a poll on what main genres of music everyone here does? If so, what would the main categories be? Rock, hip hop, EDM, jazz, funk, country, blues...?

That's where it's from! I couldn't put my finger on it. I loved my kids young years (they're now teens) and I love every year with them, but some/most of the kids music was just awful. I remember picking up a DVD of kids doing pop songs of the day called Kidz Bop or something close to that thinking my preschool age son would like it and my son said, "Dad, please turn that off. Those kids are ruining the music!" And I was so happy and told my son that he had very good taste in music. I still love this kid's song (preschool era). Seriously.

That's awesome! I love that story! Viva la rueda!

Wait, I missed this until Nick commented on it. Congrats! What did you win? Please tell us! We were losing hope in the wheel, but you turned that around, Niky.

Oh no, not fairies. That's just a silly myth. The Tinkerbell rereference was an analogy where the deals forum is Tinkerbell. Just like Tinkerbell, it dies if people don't believe they need sample libraries and plugins. And then cclarry, Fleer, even PavlovsCat and the Deals forum cast of characters, they all go away. The deals forum needs you to believe that you need more sample libraries and to never say that "I am covered." That's heresy at the Deals forum.

Saying that you can consider yourself covered for sample libraries in this forum is like telling Tinkerbell that you don't believe. [Okay, that only works if you're familiar with the book or Disney movie. "Whenever a child says 'I don't believe in fairies' there's a little fairy somewhere that falls right down dead." J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan]

I forgot about this. I just spun the wheel again. I propose they rename it:. The Wheel of Disappointment

I can't give an answer on the TVBO off hand from memory, but as far as I know all the MKII versions are the latest versions. I upgraded all of my libraries in last year's sale to the MKII versions and I own most of their piano libraries except the experimental ones. If anyone has any feedback on the experimental pianos, I'd love to get your thoughts.

marled, you're totally right. I was mainly just thinking about this little group of fellow Wurli fans and not really thinking about other people reading it who might think that they were going to hear a more scientific comparison. I'll edit it and make it clear. I really do enjoy both of the libraries I used (and bought them both this month) and I'm not just writing that because I prefer not to have angry sample developers attacking me after posting something critical -- although that's also true -- I sincerely mean it. I thought my original shootout, which I had made for myself a while ago and updated with each additional Wurli library I bought, was more scientific than this second one, which really was just for my own fun, but I thought I'd share it here with my fellow Wurli fans. I'm asking this with humility not as someone who thinks he knows things with any kind of proficiency, but I just played each library for what you heard, I didn't use a MIDI file. I started by recording me playing the the W all the way through which was the verse/chorus pattern repeated once. Then I later went back and re-recorded my playing the first verse/chorus you hear with the W then the second one with 145B. But yeah, as far as the time consuming part I'm only a hobbyist who physically can only play for very short periods due to an illness and I don't even think I would have the patience to do everything technically right if I knew! I just wanted to have a little fun. But I have watched Wurli comparison videos and would love to see an updated one with some of the more recent libraries on the market. If anyone reading this is qualified or knows of such a video or audio, please post it!

But the name sounds so cute...

Thanks, I mixed it with the Wurlis up way louder than I would have otherwise done to let people hear them and as you can tell, I don't have any mixing skills. The first Wurli is the e-instruments Session Keys Electric W and the second one is the Skybox Hammers +Waves EP 145B. IMO, the W is a bit edgier with a clunck to it that I love -- in the patch I'm using (which is my tweaked version of a preset) and the 145B has a tube amp kind of coolness to it that I love and more of a smoothness to its tone. I really am glad that I own both, which was primarily because of you and Bad Penguin. I already know just when I want to reach for one of the other and I kind of feel set for Wurlis for the first time. Until I picked up these two libraries this month, I was experiencing Wurli envy, especially when Fleer started sharing his Wurli collection. It's also always nice to know that no matter how bad I am with my sample hoarding, there's someone even worse than me. Thanks, Fleer! MY SONG RELATED WURLI STORY The song has a very deep sentimental significance to me. My childhood family band played this song, I'm pretty sure on our debut, with my youngest sister on the Wurli at Wurlitzer Music Studios' annual music recital in Chicago where my mother was a piano/organ/guitar teacher and my eldest sister later taught piano and organ. It was my first piano recital, at 4 1/2 yrs old and when all the students were done with their solo performance my family band came on and also my debut as a drummer. I would have preferred to play the Wurli, but my siblings decided that having only 1 yr experience on piano, the band needed a drummer, so it would be me. It turned out, I loved being a drummer. The manager of the large shopping mall saw us and was impressed and later booked us to play on the center stage of the shopping mall where one hit wonder bands used to play leading to more gigs and our band playing at the end of the annual recital became a regular thing . So this is total Wurli and personal music history nostalgia for me.

Many of their libraries are pretty old, going back 15 years or more. But they remain good quality piano libraries; they just dont have a bunch of patches, controls or flashy GUIs. I like the ones that TVBO that Fleer mentioned, the White Grand Craig recommended and think the Black Grand and Rain Piano, a character upright piano, are also nice. They have a baby grand library I really like, but I've found one note has an issue. I think it's called Blue Piano? The current sale prices allow you to pick up really nice, high quality libraries for less than $10 USD , I really don't think you can go wrong. They're a very good developer and Per is great to deal with. I would guess that I've been a customer for 20 years and have always found him to be nothing but friendly and good natured. I'd recommend you start by checking the demos for all those libraries and buy what appeals to you, knowing this is a quality dev.

That sounds good Larry and only 2 bucks! I'm going to have to buy that -- right after I check to see if I've already bought that.* kitekrazy, you're right that it's 50% more expensive at Loot Audio ($3 USD instead $2 direct from SoundIron), but if you like the freebies, it's only a buck more. Although I checked and the latest freebies don't appeal to me. *This is actually not a joke -- it's the truth -- but I thought it sounded amusing.

I own it. I ❤️ harmoniums . I own several XPERIMENTAPROJECT libraries and love them all. I've been thinking about picking up their harpsichord but I have a few and don't do a lot of rock songs that call for a harpsichord. #SampleHoardingIsReal

That is the fundamental problem that occurs with every software brand that InMotion purchases and then makes unusable for much of their user base. They do tend to prioritize anti-piracy efforts over a great user experience. They need to spend more time getting things right. The problems I had with AIR plugins went on for around a year when they knew about it but never resolved the problems. InMotion is like Midas -- but in reverse.

Just an observation. If you're easily bored, that's your sign to skip this! I can understand. It's merely my overly analytical nature sharing an observation that I think is worth sharing. It was inspired by Jan's sharing and the pleasant way people here reacted to it, even people who've had a different, more positive experience with the software he discussed. When I look at Jan sharing his user experience -- which is obviously not a happy user experience, but it's an honest user experience --his doing that is invaluable to folks like me who are considering purchasing the same drum plugin. Sharing positive user experiences are easy, because users who love a brand appreciate it and developers appreciate it. Sharing a negative experience is much more difficult because it can result in a negative reaction. It takes more nerve to do. But the truth is, sharing that negative experience is AT LEAST as valuable -- and sometimes even more valuable -- than users sharing a good user experience. The value of Jan sharing that negative experience is really important to prospective buyers. It's a BFD (sorry, I couldn't resist) and that what makes this forum and community a BFD, differentiating it from communities like VI-Control, KVR and others that are not user-centric but developer-driven. That is, their revenue model relies on developers ad spending and that means the balance of power ends up very much on the ad spenders' side. Advertisers become prioritized over users in those environments. There's an old saying, 'If you're not paying for the product, you're the product." In these smaller online communities, there really isn't a strong focus on creating a healthy user experience and community. The focus is often also subject to the philosophy, interest and quirks of the forum owner. So toxic elements may flourish and and a healthy user community is sacrificed. Polices and policy enforcement is the key here. At the Cakewalk forum, they prioritize user/consumer experience, so we can freely share our positive and negative experiences without concerns of retribution from a developer with a low threshold for criticism (unless someone was actually naïve enough to give an angry developer a link to a critical thread; but that's not even realistic; few people are actually that stupid..). Anyhow, this is probably a dry read and of little interest to most folks, but it is my overly analytical way of saying I really appreciate this community and how Bandlab and @Wookiee ensure this is a really healthy place where people get along very well. Even when people are grumpy to one another, they usually bounce back and find a way to get along again. So, even though we're past Thanksgiving here in the US, I wanted to give thanks to people here, like Jan, and a ton of others who have the guts to share their honest experiences good and bad. The folks at Bandlab (I know, it makes me look like a total schmoozer to write that, but look at the job they do keeping out of our way and keeping developers from having power over users) and our forum moderator, Wokiee deserve our gratitude -- both keep this forum thriving without our compensation or ads. Everyone here can see that Larry is really the basis of what powers the Deals forum. IMO, there's no way we'd all be here after the original Cakewalk company went out of business if not for @cclarry Larry's hard work. But it takes a combination of all them PLUS a community of really nice, well meaning and encouraging people to make this community what it is. That's why it's my favorite online music making community united by a common love of music making -- and sample and plugin hoarding. But let's pretend I just wrote music making, because that sounds much better, right?

I love THE Jellyfish. Oh wait....

Thanks!

I never upgraded from the Concert D Lite, which is now on sale for $10USD. It's one of the best sample library bargains I've ever picked up and it is among one of my favorite piano sample libraries. The problem is that it's so good, I never upgraded to the full version. @Fleer Did you ever own the LIte version? Do you think there's a compelling reason for me to upgrade when I love the Lite version (such as additional features or additional presets). I seem to recall that you own the Embertone Blakus Cello (I could be wrong, so sorry if I'm off on that). and I think you like it. And it seems you own some others too. How do you find it compares? I've seen a lot of people saying they don't love the tone, that it's too nasally. It sounds good in the demos, but I admit to not loving it. But I actually love Pocket Blakus, the freebie that led to the paid library. I'd love to get your thoughts -- if I've remembered correctly. If not, I don't think I've mentioned this, but I am a huge fan of Vox amps (your avatar) -- but by now, you've probably already guessed that from my love of The Beatles. https://www.embertone.com/instruments/concertD.php

I'm with you on an interest in Alt-Rock. It says it works with SD2, which is good news for me, I just want to know if there's a corresponding SDX before buying it. But it sounds good! The 90s where when I stopped playing drums, and I love that era of rock (alt-rock). From Nirvana to The Posies to Soundgarden to The Smashing Pumpkins to Alice in Chains.

Steve, someone should do a thread on things we've successfully told ourselves that were effective to stop us from buy anything more. It should be stuck to the top of the deals subforum. I bet even Larry would find it useful as he sees more deals than any of us. I know I would!

It is users like Jan sharing experiences that has kept me from buying BFD3, and I own BFD Eco, so the upgrade pricing has been $49USD for a long time for me. I can hear that drum libraries sound very good -- without a doubt -- but my concern is about the software itself. InMotion has a history of buying long neglected software brands and making their software a lot worse (i,e, AIR), I have experienced installing their software and doing rollbacks on two machines, I'm extremely hesitant to try them again even though the price for the software is very very low for the sample library quality.

I have Loom II and enjoy it. I have Hybrid 2020 and it's okay.