Brian Walton

AT5 also has the dreaded white noise if you don't own something too though, right? How frequent and loud the white noise is maddening. Thankfully now that I have SE, I'd only get that noise if trying out IKM's own modeled gear - when trying out user created stuff there is no noise once you upgrade. I wasn't in the market for "more stuff" but as long as people keep modeling gear (and doing a good job of it) this will be worth it as it is nice to try some different tones that can be rather high quality on top of modeling your own gear to make future recording sessions easier. It seems a pretty rare occassion where I really crank up a real world rig these days. As an update to previous posts about the capture process. With a high end laptop running an Nvidia card in it, I can get a "default" quality capture in about 10 minutes. Which is crazy considering my other computers with older processors and intel graphics take 5 hours to do the same process.

Haven't tried it but Nembrini has their Bogner for less than half that right now.

But which character within Brichamber?? ?

I do have all of those. I also love MTurboReverbLE as it offers an awful lot of reverb styles and creative effects that the Exponential Audio stuff doesn't do. Of course if I could only have one reverb unit, I'd have to go with that for versatility. That said, the EA has a place because getting some basic reverb to really feel transparent in the mix is so much easier and straightforward with the EA options. The MTurbo is a fun playground, but for basic production where time is valuable, it is really hard to beat the EA stuff.

Exactly, PA needs a decent reverb(s). The one area they seriously lack a quality product. The newish unfiltered one is interesting but it is not a bread and butter verb.

I swear I posted about having over 1400 plugins (per a plugin scan who knows what the actual is) somewhere publicly and was ridiculed. I thought it was insane not to have at least 1000 if you have been at this for many years. The poll confirms my assumption that I'm in good company with way more than actually get used.

Considering they failed to release the beta, I'm guessing the likleyhood of that happening during the sale (both beta and the production version to purchase) dropping during a "Halloween" sale is right around zero.

My only issue with them is the authorization system. Windows updates can frequently require you to authorize your product again. This doesn't happen with any of my other plugins and I've got more than any sensible human needs. Otherwise I appreciate the fact they are just keeping the already good products stable. People say they want AD3....unless it is a free upgrade I have no need for it and that just means no more support for what I do have.

I don't expect the software to get new features unless that is the model and pricing expectation ala Melda. However there is a big difference in hardware vs strictly software based effects. Those hardware units continue to work for decades. Software running on someone else's changing hardware can break due to no fault of the consumer. It isn't that much work to keep them compatible with windows updates over the past 20 years for basic plugins. MAC perhaps not so much but they also tend to be consumers that buy into expected obsolescence. I get it for plugins that really show their age and need a total overhaul to remain relevant but outside of the UI complaints, which are well laid out just not exactly aesthetically pleasing the EA verbs are arguably among the best in the market currently from sound quality to CPU efficiency. I'm not concerned in the near future as a Windows user, but I expected support should changes happen down the road for many years. These were flagship types of products marketed to in the know types as until the last couple years were unobtanium Uber expensive tools. $300 for a single seat? You could buy excellent hardware for that kind of money. I've got NeoVerb but unless you are on an ultra powerful machine you won't be putting across all your tracks and frankly the AI function is really aimed at adding verb on a per track basis to get a clean sound by keeping the EQ and reverb in check. So it isn't really a replacement. If iZotope is saying they are keeping the two EA verbs that are compatible with R4 and Nimbus they honestly should just hand out those seats for current customers. I've got 3 seats for R4 and Nimbus. A couple for Phoenix and Excalibur. Other iZotope products I stopped using as they were too CPU hungry.

GC pick selection will be fairly minimal. But check if they have these in stock by you https://www.guitarcenter.com/Dunlop/JD-JazzTone-208-Guitar-Picks-6-Pack.gc Those are some of the best sounding picks you can get for fairly cheap prices.

R4 was released in 2017, hardly ancient in relevant reverb circles. The Lexicon 480L came out on the mid 80s. Over 35 years ago and is still sought after to use instead of modern reverb plugins despite also being digital. These EA plugins don't need any updates to stay relevant, they sound great and were already re-sizable to theoretically work on 4K monitor enviornments. I agree Izotope bought EA for the technology and beleive the algos are in NeoVerb - plus all the added overhead of NeoVerb.

It doesn't have to be from bluechip but one of these pick fobs should be standard issue if you buy a good pick. I own a number of Blue Chip picks and in the 10 years I've been using them never lost a single one of them. I'm not going to say they don't wear out, as that depends on your playing style but they are not remotely in the same class as your typical guitar pick when it comes to longevity, they are made of extremely expensive material that has some unique properties that allows it to keep the bevel and shape for a very long time. One pick played often will last me many years. https://shop.bluechippick.net/products/Bluechip-Pick-Pouch.html

Neoverb is basically their flagship reverb under the actual Izotope brand. I'd expect it to stick around, they basically bought the Exponential Audio brand to make this their product from what I can tell. Vocal Synth 2 isnt' that old either. All the ones they are getting rid of while still functional are pretty old. The exponential verbs are the only real loss here, IMO as I can't think of anything else at the pricepoint that both sounds as good, feature rich and is as CPU efficient.

The problem with your argument assumes that the published retail rates have any basis in reality and the cost or value of the product. PA releases a new product at $350 and this is the every day price. They also know no one is going to pay it and that the profitibility price is much closer to just give the thing away rates. We are not talking about physical goods or even goods that are expected to be sold at highly inflated retail rates. The stragegies of many of these companies it create as much percived value as the market will allow so that when it drops to the level someone can actually afford to buy it, they will sell quite a few copies and provide minimal support to the end user perhpas just enough that they will forget the prevoius terrbile experience and still by the next new things....ala WAVES. I would agree with your assessment if we were talking about physical goods, or even digital goods sold at a COGS + SG&A + some small markup = normal retail rate. But that isn't the plugin world. It is the wild west out there.

This is precisely my point. The purchase price of the plugin seems to have no guarantee on the future of the product or company staying in business, nor the quality of support while it is around.

I've fully aware of economics and marketing. The intention of sale prices doesn't have to do with my statement. If I pay $179 or $10 the plugin requires the same actual support. The break even on profitibility and ability to support has many factors. If done properly and on a basic plugin, the suport required for updates and compatilbiy can be minimal depending on what you are chosing to support. Speaking of these plugins mentioned here, there is little to believe they are super complex. Monitor tech usage is going to vary, many of these are not going to off-load to the GPU and host/daw compatiblity is usually tied to the standards of VST3 so the support is based on that spec not the DAW/Host itself, outside of rare instances where things like multi-outs and routing within the DAW is supported. I only remember about one update to the Exponential products since they went under the izotope umbrealla (perhpas there were more), which points to minimal updates required to keep them relevant outside of MACs breaking things. While a $20 may imply more people buying it and therefore needing more people to provide customer support, that also assumes problems with the product with installs, authorization and functionality, etc. Which also seems pretty problematic as it was the same plugin that used to cost $300. Little support needed if it was a solid product to begin with. I understnad that dollars get invested back into new products that then generate the initial influx of funds but that doesn't have anything to do with the risk you are implying. Any of these companies can go belly up regardless of how much they charge for the plugin. If it cost $179 few people will buy it = Drum Core 4 bankrupt, if they charge $20 it could also go belly up.

Very few plugins need major updates over the lifespan. They simply need a few bug fixes and compatiblity ( future format usage), and if was developed a while ago - it also needs resize abilities to stay relevant. This isn't a DAW that needs new features and massive updates to stay relevant. The number of people that pay the "normal sales for" price is the extreme minority in a $179 catergory. The vast majority pay $40 or less these days for any single plugin. Plain and simple except for a few special tools that are usually a package of things to command that price the new norm is what you are calling some sort of extreme discount. Even if a plugin sells for $179+ and it never gets any discounts, we run the exact same risk. Look at Drum Core 4 which got a major overhaul a few years ago for the v4 release and is now totally discontinued. The price the consumer pays has nothing to do with the support model, a lower price means it is more likley to have more people using and depending on the product for production. Izotope is saying they won't even support you if you are unable to install the product on future machines. This is poor customer service. I personally own all of those plugins that were listed (in most instaces , I actually have multiple copies of each), and I can think of one of them that did have install and authorization issues on a machine even during the supported life....so this news is relevant for the future even though we think "they should last for the forseeable future"

This is lame. Period. Exponential audio plugins they want us to buy $300 or $400 to keep up-to-date? They talked about keeping these products relevant for years. Neo is cool but it is a massive CPU hog by comparison. Trash I never thought was very useful and have but never used BeatTweaker. Iris is farily surprising as while it is old, it is still very processor intensive. I'm not concerned with updating for more features, but with both Windows and MAC making major changes that does have concerns for future compatiblity. We have already seen VST2 and 32bit be retired in what wasn't really that long of a term.

It took a few hundred bucks and a number of years. Tortoise shell is the best material out there, but basically illegal to aquire at this point. Used to be legal decades ago. What I've lanted on myself Blue Chip Model https://shop.bluechippick.net/tad80-1r/ I also like this one for feel but can be dark sounding....love the added thickness though https://shop.bluechippick.net/tad100-1r/ Vpick but adding a custom "ghost rim" edge https://v-picks.com/shop/ols/products/b-sharp The Blue Chip when I'm doing more clean work, V-Pick for some dirty electric and want more pronounced attack. Can't stand thin picks like the afformentioned .73 Tortex, it isn't just the feel, but the tonal qualities and dynamic range control.

Yikes, I think $31 was already a bit high. They haven't said how long the delay will be. They noticed bugs before the beta and seems delayed until they sort that out. I think we are already 7 days out and no ETA.

Yep, which I think is fairly terrible because now that they cancelled the ability to sign up for it, either you are paying crazy amounts of money to keep it going or you get a few vouchers that expire in a single year knowing they won't release that many jems you don't have or couldn't have gotten cheaper. I signed up really to get the EQ and may get another voucher or two as the gamble on something great that is to be released.

Anyone else a little annoyed the Kirchhoff EQ release is delayed?

Suposed to be a low freq saturator, so I'd put it in the mojo box catergory. This adds a few more bells and knobs but that is the gist of it.

I'm wondering where they are going to put the retail on this one. I'm not really interested in buying it but curious since it is modeling some pretty affordable gear in the scheme of things. You can get a real one for like $600 if you look around enough.

I also don't buy into the but it will replace the over verbs I have mentality. Yeah, are you going to sell the other software verbs and actually get a franction of what you paid back? I've got quite a few but if I sold them I'd probabably get like $40 total for what have a "retail price" of well over $1K. MTurboReverbLE, R4, Nimbus, Phoneix, IKM Sunset Sound, all the Lesser IK verbs, Abbey Roads (can't sell becuase I didn't WUP), EOS2, Arturia Plate, PSP Plate, XenoVerb, to name a few. If these were actual pedals zero problem using this replace mentality as those have actual monetary value on the used market.