Carl Ewing

Interesting - I strongly prefer SpecCraft to handle these tasks. Although Pro Q 4 can sometimes handle special cases too. Compared to Track Spacer or Fuser, SpecCraft has way more helpful feature set for these unmasking tasks - like mid/side, multi-band eq for the sidechain, stereo channel unlinking, etc. And it's a vastly superior resonance suppressor than Reso. I'd put it way above even Soothe2. And it's on sale for $69 right now. That thing would replace a bunch of different plugins when it comes to any kind of masking, sidechaining, resonance suppression. In my opinion of course.

Really minimal purchases this year, and I have quite a large budget. I think most stuff is absurdly overpriced, even on sale. 15-20 years ago I'd spend $300 on a plugin (UAD), or $1500 on an orchestral library (LASS, Symphobia, EWQL orchestra, etc.). There was minimal competition, and you had to pay a lot for the best. Now I will hesitate on a plugin over $50, or a library over $250. Some of the prices I saw this year are just comical considering the level of competition. I get an email offering a Composer Cloud renewal for $100 - so the entire East West catalog for a year for $100, and Spitfire is still trying to charge $300-$500 for solitary (and old) libraries. So I can have 5 years of Composer Cloud for the cost of Albion ONE - which I own, but is hugely dated sounding now. Oeksound is still trying to charge $200 for Soothe2. Kalifornia Dynamic charging $200 for Alkane. Fab Filter still trying to charge $170 for Pro-G gate. Tone Projects charging $250 for Michelangelo EQ. Like what? I'm grandfathered into the highest PA subscription for $150 a year, get 200 plugins to use, and get to pick 10 of them to own in that year. Many of which directly compete with these "premium" plugins. Who on earth would spend $200 on Soothe2 in 2025 considering the superior, and cheaper competition? Who would spend $300 on Pro Q 4 / Pro C 2, when for less you could get a PA subscription and get to 10 to own, like, Kirchhoff EQ & Cenozoix compressor, which are arguably superior to FF, and have another 200 plugins to demo for a year. The only company I occasionally bite the bullet on is Orchestral Tools, because the quality is often unmatched. But this year, I just decided to not buy almost anything. Had about $4000 in products in my "want" list. Spent $500, mostly on updating a few things. I suspect 2026 is going to a bloodbath in this industry leading to some sales. Not that I want to benefit of other people misery! Blah.

Ah yes - totally agree. Surprisingly, the only one that is always visibly running on my system is UA Connect. I guess iLok, but I only use the USB key (easier swapping between multiple systems). And there's probably background services running for Waves, NI, etc. that I don't notice. Luckily, there are very few companies trying to force always-on processes / tray icons. However - I've never tried to run offline - curious how much stuff would break.

These are (I think) identical apps. uJam are co-founders of Crow Hill along with Henson. Perhaps in the future they'll just have one app for both.

I used to 100% agree with you. However, I do appreciate these installers more lately, since I have a large collections from many of these companies (Arturia, NI, iZotope, Plugin Alliance, Waves, IK, Spitfire, uJam, East West, Orchestral Tools, etc.) and it massively helps simplify installation, updates, removals, inventory, etc. I actually do not miss the days of downloading a gazillion .exe files, having to manually set installation paths (plugin & data) for 100s of programs, manually keep track of updates, having to go a website to check on what I do / don't own, etc., and having to manually authorize everything. I recently did an OS reinstall on one system - it is sooooo much easier than it used to be. Other than a few outlier companies (eg. Fab Filter), I just install a company's app, set up install preferences, and let it install everything while I move on the next install. For many of them it also automatically syncs external drive data across a dozen + products within a couple clicks, allows me to only install VST3 (or whatever format I need), and once everything is installed I will only need to open the app again to check on updates, or install a new product. I'm actually now annoyed with companies that want me to download a new file for every plugin, and don't give me a plugin manager to just do it all inside one app. I forget which company it is (D16 maybe?), where I had to download like 11 different .exes, manually set VST2 32/64 11 times, auto installed CLAP, AAX, VST2, VST3, in multiple bit formats, and then had to download 11 different authorization files and then manually authorize each one by opening them in the DAW. Remember.....this is how it used to be for almost everything! New OS installs would take many many days because of this. And you'd constantly be dealing with a dozen different authorization formats - some requiring downloadable authorization files, some had challenge / response, copy / pasting serial numbers, logging in for every install, having to open every single plugin in the DAW to authorize manually, and on and on. Then, a couple months later you'd realizing most of your plugins were out of data, and you'd have to manually download everything again to update one by one. F that. Those days are not missed. I actually can't believe Spectrasonics is still on challenge / response authorization. I fully appreciate that I can now download, say, Plugin Alliance's manager, select ALL, select VST3, and it installs and authorizes the entire subscription catalog in a couple minutes running in the background. Same goes for Native Instruments - holy hell, is it way better to do installs and library relinking in Native Access than it was before. These apps save literally hours and hours or time. Anyway - that's my defense. I do get annoyed when I have to install a whole app when I only own 1 product from a company. That's a PITA. I will agree there. But not when it's dozens or hundreds of plugins from a company to manage. Once a month I'll open Native Access or Ujam app or whatever, and just hit "update all" and it's done. This is so much better than the past.

It's at absurdity levels. Jamming 1,040 microphone positions - with full 27:2 surround atmos support (extra sub in the *****?) ) - into a flute library is just a giving the middle finger to customers at this point lol. Their orchestra is bad enough - I ain't occupying 1TB for an orchestra that sounds like the underscore for Law & Order SVU. At least Orchestral Tools justifies their drive footprint and gives option to self-select mic positions.

Oh - I didn't even notice they added this! Thanks for the heads up. Grabbing that immediately. That's one of the better mixing / mastering Youtube channels imo. I think his Expendables-cast-member appearance is already the clickbait, so he's usually just down to business, and uses some great music to explain concepts, review products. Although he reviews a lot of expensive hardware - but will also compare to the plugin version if it's available.

Amazingly, you can use both. It's not an all or nothing thing. There are certain EQs I like the sound of - and i go to those EQs for specific curves in a simple interface. I don't want to be pulling Pro Q or Kirchoff for doing simple air band or low end control. What usually happens with these plugins is I spend 20 minutes ****ing around with dynamics or complex curves, when I already know a 1081 or Maag4 or Manley can get me amazing results in 10 seconds. Some would say we like these emulations because we've been listening to music for decades that uses these specific EQ curves & saturation in mixing / mastering. That's probably true. But they wouldn't be used if they sounded terrible. Ha. An unusual and excellent take on why unlimited band parametric EQs shouldn't be your first choice. Timestamp 1:17. (helps that I really like this guys' mixes, and I've heard this philosophy from other mixers I really like): I tend to agree here. Also - it's likely most of your favorite sounding albums were made using fixed band / fixed Q EQs & channel strips. With more complex EQs being used sparingly for problematic areas. I actually started overly relying on Pro-Q the last few years, and it's led to so many overcomplicated mixes, with infinitely more complex curves than I actually needed, and when I started switching back to channel strips - or fixed band EQs like the 1081, things got much easier, and imo started sounding better and more glued together. Although - I would add - don't give up on EQs like the Curve Bender, if you bought it and mess around with for a week. I think a lot of people buy an analog EQ, then buy another one, then another one, and then you have 50 channel strip EQs and stand alone EQs, and have no idea what any of them actually sound like. These are incredible EQs that could easily be used to master (or mix in some cases) entire albums. But it takes a LONG time to learn what they sound like and what they're good for. (EDIT: Was going to recommend - if you're starting out, and want a blend of a mastering EQ like the Curve Bender, with switchable freq / q) but also with a spectrum analyzer and visual curve like Pro Q, check a demo of the Lindell EQ825. It sounds a lot different than the Chandler, but having the EQ graph / spectrum analyzer (which is optional in the U) in an analog EQ is a fantastic learning tool...and it shows you how versatile / complex you can get even with limited bands.)

This does not sound great, sorry. Those strings, choir, brass, percussion, piano sound dreadful. Brass is great, because it's ported from Cinebrass - one of the greatest brass libraries ever made. That guys track relies heavily on the brass...unsurprisingly. Let me clarify again - if you need something - anything - and have limited budget Musio is probably great. Cheap, perpetual, very large mid-tier libraries that cover tons of categories. But there is MUCH better stuff around, including free libraries that are excellent (Project Sam, Spitfire, etc.). In capable hands of course. 🤣And something like Composer Cloud is like $10 a month and blows Musio away. I know people here can afford this, because their post history is filled with buying cheap crap hand over fist, month after month after month. Ha.

Odd man out - have had Musio sub since it fall 2023. Never use it. Decided not to resubscribe for a 3rd time. Not interest in buying what is essentially a back catalog of mid-tier libraries. Musio is awful software. Quality of the Musio ports are terrible. Outside of Brass, there are way better libraries on the market. Most of the libraries are old or uninspired. And with terrible porting, even high quality instruments like CineBrass don't even come close to the quality of the Kontakt versions. World instruments aren't good. Vocal libraries aren't good. All the wind stuff is decent, but you could get Composer Cloud for a year for $100 and have access to better voices, better world instruments, better wind instruments, better percussion, much better orchestral libraries, better pianos, and gazillion other excellent instruments. I will argue CineBrass is the exception, but it sounds awful in the Musio engine anyway, so still pointless. It's just a bad product all around imo. Sure, it might be worth $120 just to have a giant library of mid-quality stuff lying around, but I think money is better spent elsewhere. Sometimes having a lot of mid-tier stuff is worse than just spending $120 on one excellent library. I don't know what Cinesamples was thinking with this terrible product. Likely just getting on the subscription / proprietary engine train, but with an engine so bad it crippled already not so great libraries. I am actually shocked by how bad some of the world instrument and vocal libraries are compared to the competition. It's wild to see.

Not comparable to Omnisphere. Not comparable to Omnisphere. I really want to sit down with some people and hear what kind of music they create with these products. I often see comments on forums and think "this person doesn't actually make music with these products". Also - Falcon's synth engine is lifeless and cold af. At no point am I reaching for Falcon (or Halion) for anything to do with analog synthesis. Not in a million years. There are literally free synths on the market (Surge XT) I would reach for first lol. (Edit: This is unfair - Surge XT is incredible considering it's free - it shouldn't be mocked for it's price. It could easily compete with synths costing $200. Although learning curve is steeeeeeeeep. Created by the guy behind Bitwig.)

The system is a complete mess. It's not just you. It should be a complaint - lots of people are likely using up slots on stuff they already own. I doubt IK cares much - it's been like this through multiple group buys. I'm guessing the UX / database guy gets hired off Fiverr once or twice a year to make some minimal improvements to their backend. There's no way this will eventually result in a collossal e-commerce / database screwup later on down the road that costs them a ton of money. Most companies don't think this far in advance.

Having mixed a ton of stuff on headphones over the years, I don't think tools like this help much. Flat doesn't mean better in headphones. And I think trying to emulate room acoustics, cross talk / speakers on headphones is just asking for trouble. Andrew Scheps has famously mixed very successful albums on completely unaltered $100 Sony MDR 7506s. I have personally mixed for some very big projects on HD600s without issue - and often without an a speaker reference while on the road. It's about learning your headphones, not trying to make them sound like something they aren't. And if you can't create a great mix on HD600s, no amount of hardware / software is going to help. And HD600s are the same cost as this IK product. My 0.02 cents anyway. Also - I've tried using Sonarwork frequency "correction" for 6 sets of different headphones. Mixes always translated terribly - for worse than without the "correction". I think these products are mostly selling people the idea of "solving a problem" that doesn't actually exist, and is more down to people using headphones they either don't know, or for people using headphones that don't match the kind of music they're making.

I think this is more about utter confusion from consumers about what things are worth when it comes to the Group Buy. So Amplitube 5 Max v2 is $299 on IK site. Tonex Max is $299 on IK site. But on another site you can get both for $129 - a bundle that is not offered on the IK site as far as I can tell. A customer would be reasonably expecting that getting both of these bundled together would put them in the $199 tier. This should be a no-brainer from IK to just honor that bundle at $199. Considering I qualified and bought Tonex for $30 at Plugin Boutique and qualified for that price tier. This whole audio industry is just begging for consumer protection agencies to step in and enforce pricing laws. Nobody has a clue what any of this stuff is worth anymore. And this is from an anarchist lol.

It counts as one product, same as Modo Bass 2 and Modo Drum 1.5. You get everything in T-Racks Pro with the one slot selection. Pro includes the following 40 plugins (again, using one GB slot): Classic T-RackS Equalizer Classic T-RackS Compressor Master Match Black 76 Limiting Amplifier British Channel Bus Compressor Channel Strip X Classic T-RackS Clipper Classic T-RackS Multi-band Limiter CSR Hall Reverb CSR Plate Reverb EQ PA EQP-1A Vintage Tube Program Equalizer EQual Full Metering One Opto Compressor Saturator X Space Delay Brickwall Limiter De-esser Delay Lab Dyna-Mu EQ 81 EQ PB FAME Studio Reverb Filter Fusion Linear Phase Equalizer LO-FI Punch Master EQ 432 Mic Room Precision Comp/Limiter Quad Comp Quad Lim Stealth Limiter T-RackS Leslie Tape Echo Tape Machine 99 The Farm Stone Room Studio Reverb White 2A Leveling Amplifier ---------------------------------------------------------- *** It DOES NOT include the following 22 plugins - which are included in MAX version (62 total) - and would have to use 1 GroupBuy slot each to get these if you don't have some already: *** Bass ONE Comprexxor CSR Inverse Reverb CSR Room Reverb Dual Spring EQ 73 EQ PG Joe Chiccarelli Vocal Strip Prism Reverb Quad Image Quad Saturator Sunset Sound Studio Reverb Tape Machine 24 Tape Machine 80 Tape Machine 440 Tascam 388 Tascam Porta One TEACD A-33340S Teac A-6100 MKII Triad Chorus Vintage Tube Compressore / Limiter Model 670 White Channel Lurssen Mastering EQ ------------------------------------------------------- I already had T-Racks 5 MAX and Total Studio 3.5, so only had to grab a few missing ones. I luckily got the Tonex PluginBoutique sale for $29.99 earlier today, which qualified for anything under $199. Also - getting Modo Drum 1.5 or Modo Bass 2.0 gives you all the modules / kits / basses with 1 slot. At least, it did for me. The Tonex Signature collections all go individually through one slot each. Same as PianoVerse. Same as the Amplitube collections. But at the $199 level (which any new registration of Tonex MAX or Amplitube MAX would put you at), T-Racks Pro should be an option and will include all 40 plugins in that specific tier.