Brian Walton

Lots of factors there. If you play acoustic with a .50 mm pick, I would sugget experimenting with other picks. JazzTone 208s are a cheap alternative that sound good, but they wear down much faster. https://www.jimdunlop.com/search.do?query=JD-Jazztones&msg=custom The BluChip is expensive (the raw material is crazy expensive, they are not charging that becuase they think they are better than other companies, they do so to make any profit). It does have some unique properties, they matieral glides off the strings yet feels grippy to the touch, never found another material like it. It also wears far more slowly than normal material. It is perfectly cut with CNC machines, the bevel you won't find on cheap picks. I don't think it is worth it for every guitar player. But I truly expect it to last the rest of my life and it makes tens of thousands of dollars worth of guitars sound better than a $1 pick does and has a consistancy to it, since it doesn't wear, so it can "slighly" improve playing as well as you get used to the exact same thing every time you pick it up and use it. A pick can have a dramatic impact on tone, beginner and advanced player alike. Of course the $75 is not just about the tone itself, other things get in that ballpark for less.

https://shop.bluechippick.net/tad100-1r/ For my personal playing got it about 8-9 years ago, still looks brand new, and I don't lose guitar picks. I will say tonally I prefer the $50 TAD80. But I like the 2.5mm feel. (many tone seakers pay very high prices for Real Tortoise Shell on the "black market," this is a reasonable alternative that is legal and lasts longer)

It happens to be the opinon of an educated consumer. Feel free to disagree with the opinion itself. I know plenty of people agree that $30 is the new standard for basic plugin effects thanks to the current market.

A direct quote from you, so not arbitrary. Melodyne and Izotope (above the $30 sale price versions) are effectivly a suite of plugins not a single effect. Both have versions in the $30-60 range on sale. I have not used the Vertigo VSC-3 comp. But have not used a comp that is significanly better than other $30 on sale offerings. I agree with the poster above that FabFilter and UAD makes excellent stuff. Personally I think other less cost offering get results of a similar quality....and I use Evidence Audio cables and have a $75 guitar pick.

Since he checks the forum: My 200 projects number is a Cakewalk By Bandlab number. If you want to get into the "life I've worked with Cakewalk" figure that is in the thousands of projects. Started using Sonar in the late 1990s. As for the fabfilter losing presets, a quick google search suggests some other DAWs have seen somewhat similar reports or problems with the plugins: (they make great plugins) https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=182827 https://www.fabfilter.com/forum/3338/pro-q-3-bug-in-ableton-live-plugin-is-reset-when-copying-pasting-an-instance?replies=3 https://www.fabfilter.com/forum/2352/pro-q2-v202-loses-autogain-settings-from-previous-saves?replies=1 https://www.logicprohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=114904 https://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/fabfilter-proq-doesnt-save-settings-when-saving-maschine-project.183594/ He really thinks Fabfilter is bigger or more of a market leader than Cakewalk has been over the years? Software works for me and I'm thankful for it. I haven't belittled his problems as I'd be frustrated also. Though Cakewalk isn't the only variable here and there are plenty of users that have never seen these problems. As for the comments about the space bar stoppage issue being a show stopper. If it happens rarely then no, not a show stopper just a frustration. Had plenty of times when something would go wrong in an analog studio messing up a take here or there. Yes it was annoying, but albums were stil made. Real musicains suck it up and do it again. Funny coming from someone who specializes in the metal genre. He claims he has never had an issue with Waves plugins, yet he mentions Waves being one that had the reset settings issue. Hope it works out for him.

What effect plugins are worth more than $100 to you, that a comperable product does not exist for the $30 sale price from the likes of Waves or Izotope? I agree with relativity, but I'm hard pressed to think of an effect plugin that justifies a $100+ price point in this day and age. The ones that are relate to packages such as Izotope or extremly advanced capabilites like Melodyne Studio. The point has nothing do with the buying plugins that cost less that you might not need or ever use. It is about comperable products at the $30 or less price point which would serve the same purpose. I'd like an example of something worth $100+ for a typical effect. This isn't they year 2000 any longer and the market has changed. I just can't think of any. Many of us own multiple machines and DRM can be a real pain.

In this day and age, $100 for a single normal effect plug-in is way over priced. (Melodyne doesn't count). $50 is reasonable because of the lack of DRM and great sound. If it was locked to one authorization, $50 is $20 above $30, which is the benchmark these days.

I wondered the same thing. Take 10 minutes to watch the new video demo and I think you will find the tweaking features for the three modules to be different. You will have to determine if the changes are good or bad. I opened a project that I was trying to get Satch1 to fix a real kick I didn't love. Satch1 wasn't getting me there. No clue why but Satch 2 tweaking got me where I wanted to be quickly. Hopefully that holds up for other projects. I recorded the kick with a favorite kick mic but the bare recording was not good. New kick drum I had not worked with before. Also v2 requires a Serial Number. v1 did not. So that is the only step back for me.

A little more on the "ozone" type of plugin set. Very good tools from when I tested them. However, Izotope has machine learning built in that can really help get to a great starting point much faster than I can, so I end up using Izotope instead.

Ordered the upgrade through Plugin Boutique to get the "free" Regroover Essentials plugin (retail of $99).

I would understand the plugin resetting issue, though I've never experienced it with over 200 projects. So I wonder if this is truly isolated to the CBL program, if this was happening to a ton of people, the forum would be filled with complaints. The other issues are anything but show stoppers. They video author says things like "maybe all those complaints were right," really? He claims to be a long time user and never had isssues before this. I've had way more problems with Waves plugins which are market leaders. Yet I still use them. Instead of abandoing the software and learing a whole new system, why not try to look at the variables. There have been multiple reports on other platforms of FabFilter losing settings for example.

I have, but rarely see anything really low on the stuff they offer for $1 or less. Realistically are the majority of people going to give one or two stars for something they got practically for free? Doubtful. It is actually more likely on an expensive product. And should they get scores that low, chances are they won't carry it long.

Wonder why they don't have a plugin with Restore Assistant (have to use the stand alone app), kind of an annoying workflow. The other Elements series have the Assistant function in the VST3 version.

Confirmed (as did others). I already had 6, bought this one and put the serial number in my Account and it enabled RX7 elements automatically.

This. iZotope Ozone Elements is the easy answer here. Basically no real knowledge needed and instant very good results thanks to AI learning

They had this as a giveaway a few years ago for Black Friday I believe. Got it then and don't think I used it on a single mix. Not that it is junk or anything. Just seemed like another clutter up the plug-in folder tool.

It sounds like you are saying JRR sold the same serial number twice. If so, shame on them. Once sold it was yours and should not have been sold to someone else, the passage of time is irrelevant.

It is still the best looking interface on the market. Not sure what this nonsense about being obsolete about.

For me, this is the path. AI for drums driving good sounding samples. AD samples are good enough. I use JamStix to drive it. JamStix the only issue is the complexity to get it to do what I want. However, when it is working, it sounds far more realistic than these other platforms and "static" patterns.

I think I got my pair of 402s for $150 (without the control module). Not sure I'd pay that much for the added feature. I prefer my 502s. FWIW. (Also have to be careful some have noise issues. I kept 4 502s, but bought 6-7 to get the keepers.

Sounds even worse to me: This feature requires that the computer is continuously connected to the internet during use.

Never used the built in sounds. It is a unique tool to create interesting drum parts though. No clue how to get it to actually play an idea I have in my head, but have been able to get a number of parts I've used.

Had interest until I saw this: Plugins require an iLok3, or iLok cloud for authorization

Sweetwater isn't exaclty a low cost leader and the actual customer support will depend on the rep. As for your original question, yes the Audio device and driver should be front and center in the conversation. If you haven't upgraded in a while you might not have the best connection and stability with the computer.

As long as it isn't in the program, no problem with the tiny ads here.