Brian Walton

Kemper and Quad Cortex are entire signal chains that replace both an amp and a pedalboard. This is an amp simulator with some very limited reverbs added on. Not the same product catergory. This is actually the only pedal I think IKM should have made. The X-Series there are too many other (frankly better) options on the market at the price point. The AMP sim catergory is the one that needed something to fit in beyond the Line6, and all the other "one off" amp sims such as Ethos Overdrive, Blackbird. The other problem is being a digital product means it has a shelf life unlike the expecation of something like the Ethos or Blackbird. I just think this could have been a ~$300 pedal and dominate the market, if we are honest, we know could have been done based on the "X" series already. If I'm not mistaken, my understanding is ToneX can run on a 9+ year old iphone. So while current Iphones are fairly powerful. 9 years is a long time in the chip industry.

the X-Series pedals also had R&D and this has a far larger market between the desktop app/vst and pedal all using the same tech to recoup those costs. It is still just a pedal like the X-Series (which are also priced at the top of the market and they are brand new to the pedal world). This isn't a Kemper though, you can't capture with just the device and if you compare it to the floor unit the controls and switches do not feel like an all in one unit like a Kemper.

Hope the US release is cheaper. ? Basically the same hardware as the X-series pedals but $180 USD more. Can't convince me the chip that is needed to run this costs anywhere close to that much more, as we already know ToneX isn't a CPU hog and can run on an iphone.

This is a fairly new change of ownership as far as we know and a surprise to basically everyone this even happened.

Well Izotope took the EA verb algos and put them in NeoVerb. So I don't think it is earth shattering. Honestly I don't think they ever truly intended to make the EA plugins into a stright Izotope port even though that is what many of us would have wanted. Neoverb (while cool) is way to heavy on the CPU and the EA stuff is light as can be. Such a shame especially since they are discontinuing it.

Didn't care about IL acquiring UVI, but Melda is a real concern. Just when you thought one of the heroes in the industry was safe from selling out.....I also find it odd that Melda hasn't released a statement related to this impact. Short term, not expecting a whole lot of impact, but long term....not so sure.

Yeah, I've thought about a track template (FX Chain has its own problems). But that only works within Cakewalk. I frequently just start up ToneX by itself to play for a few mintues or test some amp captures since the last time I ran it. Agree that ~$35 it is a must have. I should have waited to get that kind of price that is for sure.

I understand presets (both within Cakewalk and within ToneX) but can't figure out how to actually switch the default to somethign other than Black Angus. While it isn't the worst model, it does have a high noise floor (who in the world wants that as a default)? And there are certainly better sounding amps available. I haven't figured out how to do this is Cakewalk with ToneX. Yes, I can save a preset and even call it default However, if I open a new project "Black Anugs" still remains the default and I have to use the drop down to change the amp. Therefore it isn't really the default. Am I missing a step in there?

Anyone found a way to even set the default amp to something of your choice? A high gain noisy amp as the default is absurd.

Agree. And even the side scroll is way too small and takes far too much precision to grab it. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Joining? They invented it. All IKM products require the full download of the product no matter which tier you buy. It makes it easier for them to let you "test" other gear and show you what you don't own on a regular basis. Even something as simple as T-Racks is an over 2 gig download if I'm not mistaken. I don't have an Iphone or Ipad, but I'd love to know how much the ToneX app takes up. I asked a friend to download it and his device didn't have enough room to download it.

I'm also curious on the backlash that is about to come. First of all ToneX is great - one of the best things IKM has ever done, IMO. That said running this sale I tend to expect will upset people that are also interested in what we expect to be a Pedal release that will be bundled with a copy the ToneX software (that also allows captures). Where they might buy the software today then turn around and buy hardware in a couple weeks that came with the same software. If you have no interest in the Hardware, this is a no-brainer sale. If hardware is of interest to you (and you expect the price to be reasonable), I expect this will end up being a redundant purchase. that is my prediction anyway. They just released this, so the idea they are dropping a whole new version would seem insane.

And the weekly deals are also in the website without the newsletter for those that want to avoid more emails. Plugin boutique always seems to feature the ones on sale each week on the deal page. Most of the other plugins here seems like I got free at some point and not a fan of the WA authorization (ie you run out of authorizations and can't disable and transfer to another machine yourself). So I've stopped installing them generally speaking. Loops I seem to download with good intentions and then never use them.

Except it costs $25 to get $15 off. That was the one thing in the bundle that interests me (I have MReverbMB so MReverb would be on the redundant side). So the math doesn't exactly add up

At $30 hard to imagine not going with something like ToneBoosters EQ4 instead. At ~$20 at least it costs less.

ToneX is great. Sale ends today. Curious how much the pedal is going to be. I'm expecting to complain about that. ?

I paid $50 for it which was a few months before it hit $30. Up until I got it for $50 they basically were not letting it go under $100. It was $125 and I had a $75 voucher. Now it has seen a few $30ish sales. And I even grabbed it for an extra set of seats for more computers.

Agreed. I have Superior Drummer 2 and didn't even bother to install in on new computer builds and complained that the upgrade pricing was not only limited time but multiple times more expensive than I paid for v2 in the first place. (I have ezDrummer 1 also) I like the IKM group buy but think the pricing is out of line with reality otherwise - they also need to work on CPU efficiency. Something like AT5, Mixbox, Tape, etc are massive resource hogs. That said, I have the vast majority of what they made and I like a good chunk of it. ToneX is a special product, sounds great and pretty good on the resources interface and searching could use quite a bit of work but the core of the product is unique.

I tried a free one and it didn't work, so I ended up doing the buy in just to have them. I'm pretty sure the download was nearly 300GB, which I certainly don't have room for - and haven't used any of them either. Sadly if you don't download them within the period stated you will have to pay to download them at some future state if you do choose to use them.

Don't know but lots of the rack units are quite old. If they do update the host platform that would be expected (and perhpas some gui tweaks to go along with it), but it seems to be the individual units have been consistant for a long time. New modules would certainly be above the $50 level unless we get lucky with a change of pace. More recently releases have been all above $100, so it isn't like you would pick up new tools. When Syntronic 2, old Synthronic 1 codes works for a buy in from what I remember. (they just couldn't be give away codes).

Yeah, but with a retail price of $50 you have to basically be new to the game otherwise there isn't much at that buy in tier. Would be different if it was a $100+ plugin

I thought the same about Omni but switched to Amek 9099 and haven't looked back. the one Waves plugin I'm keeping installed is Clarity Vx. I liked the Abbey Road verb but a bit to hungry and stuff like IKM Sunset Sound replaced that kind of need for me (though yes they sound different)

A little too close to home for some of us where that has happened to individual plugins.

Once you register it the WUP thing starts - they know there is a good percentage of people they will trap into a WUP payment once registered. It cuts down on resale of serial numbers - once registered there is basically no chance of you reselling that code as it becomes worthless between wup and transfer fees They may not be actually changing anything other than putting in that line in the sand on the back end with serials that were previously sent out.

See below (but the main thing is yes, you do need an IR loader option in the singal chain after MTurboAmp but doesn't need to be MCabinet specifically) This. MCabinet is cool and has some sophisticaed IR options. But the free MConvolutionEZ is great as long as you have a few nice Guitar Cab IRs. Built in on that front is a bit limited - but works great with free or paid ones.