Brian Walton

It is also nonsense to charge $300 for a DAW these days when Cakewalk is Free.

They seem to have gotten better about it as of late, but they have historically had Waves Central updates that can "break" plugins that previously did work (v9 to v 10 was the worst offender that I recall), and without WUP they won't lift a finger to help you. This is relevant as you add plugins over the years. If you literally never run a Waves Central update - once they are working they should continue working. But if you add plugins or run multiple versions - from experience and from seeing other posts there are instances where you should have a working plugin but don't. I have machines that have v9 plugins that won't work and also even have a v12 plugin that won't work on one machine (but will work on the older machine). Waves isn't all rainbows and unicorns despite being one of the leading sellers of these things.

If your Taylor has the fishman matrix, you might try to test drive one of the fishman aura pedals with it. If you match it up with the same model and pu used for the capture - it can transform the piezo into something closer to a micd guitar. It isn't perfect of course, but quite a bit different than your typical acoustic preamp toys. If your guitar doest match the pickup used for an image, it won't sound great though.

What is the DRM like on this through epic games, do you know? Obvious GOG is paid at this time, but is DRM-Free.

Right and you can also run a pre-amp pedal like the Ethos (and bypass the cab simulation output) to get the cab sim from this new pedal. But my point being honeslty not anywhere near the value that putting an amp sim plus optional cab and mix sim would have been. My thought wasn't that it was totally worthless, just isn't anywhere close to what it could have been and really only provides potential benefit to a very small seletion of users. Most amps DI out do not sound great even though really good IRs.

Unless I missed something the obvious lust worthy pedal (Amplitube AMP/Cab simulation) in a pedal is missing from the line up. Honestly we have plenty of options for reverb, delay, modulation, distortion....what we are missing that is generally unique to IKM would have been the AMPs in a box instead of being tied to a computer (which makes you run your computer if far lower latency than most of us can do once a number of tracks are down) which would have been an actual value add to the recording process - not to mention the live application which is what most of us buy pedals for. It also says included 5 cab impulses so you can go direct to PA. Uh...without amps included what is the point?

Haven't tried this one, but I have yet to try any de-esser that actually gets rid of everything I want it to and leaves in tact everything I want it to keep.....leaving me disappointed and waiting for the fun to show up. Note I haven't tried Melodyne 5s new features.

I'm not sure I would have made any purchase without them. They usually bring something into the range of "ok I'll buy it" Im betting the criticisms come from the idea of just give the extra discount without them. I realize it is a loyalty program but from the negativity I've seen, seems like the customer base that is loyal wants better upgrade, crossgrade offers and feel like the new buy in prices are typically really close to the same. If almost every purchase uses jam points just get rid of the program and lower rates by 30% across the board including when sales hit.

Certainly the best I've seen in the last year assuming you have a $25 voucher. If you don't have a voucher I'd imagine it hitting $29 instead of $39 at some point.

Exactly, my point being this is what IK should have as a new product. Perhpas not the amp, but a pedal board looking device that can go into a Full Range speaker or recording console. The "irig" line looks more like beginner stuff that is also going to get outdated practically instanlty with the use of devices that are built for obsolescene.

The Scheps Omni is great, too bad WAVES is the one that makes it.

Back to my concept of get out of the computer interface. Want to break free from using a computer for guitar tones.

Good EQ but was available for $10 last week...

Tested briefly last night. The interface could use a better design as the layout isn't ideal from a human factors perspective. Interesting pushing a gain knob way up and not getting a volume increase....that can be pretty cool once you mentally get your head around it. Can't say I was getting sounds I prefered out of it quickly compared to some of the PA channel strip options though. EQs didn't seem as musical as some of the alternatives on quick adjustments but I'd reserve opinions until I'd actually grasp the interface and do more testing. a nice freebie, but the real question is will it replace something I've paid for? Not convinced yet, but will absolutly install it on computers where I haven't authorized/don't have enough authorizations for a paid product.

They sure are. I know lots of them that I've told to go download and test out the amp sims, etc and it is almost always a "oh that looks cool" then never gets downloaded or used. I'm both a guitarist and a recording engineer and frankly the tone and feel of in the box has come a LONG way but the interface is garbage compared to my boutique pedal board when you want to jam and change tones on the fly. I really do get it from the guitarist perspective.

Depends on how much the product costs and how much it gets used. I bought Session Drummer 2 and not once have i used it on a project. That isn't cheap software, you can buy a used drum set for the cost of it...which can be resold at zero loss. The idea that a purchase of a few hundred bucks that has not material worth is only valid for a few years of use is equaly absurd in my book. I only fail to resell software becuase it seems worthless on the used market. If the plugin was $5, then yeah that is a you bought it either use it or put it in the trash, but when you are talking about software that has no real resale value where you could have gotten close to somekind of hardware counterpart - that is where the resale thing is a sticking point....which also has an additional cost of ownership with upgrade costs, etc.

This was my thought as well. Since the boutique tones are sparse - I figure an expansion is a long time coming. If they are smart honeslty they should be looking at a hardware unique that utalizes some of the tech. Most guitar players don't like a computer as the interface, they want pedals/things to step on to change tones while they play.

I think the IK comps are top shelf, but if you need something that doesn't have analog flavor I could see wanting something to supplement them. For free MCompressor seems like something to try in that case.

If they are going to remove from Aquarius that seems to indicate no authorizations in the future if you switch machines......not sure if it is worth the time if that is the case.

unnecessary...... as anyone can play guitar, there is even a song title that states this well known fact.

I got it for free as well. I never use it, but it is authorized both to a PC and a physical ilok. Not sure if they had different standards during different give aways, but can confirm mine is not strictly tied to the ilok clould version, which I think is a terrible practice.

There is a hack somewhere to make the SoundForge one stop. I know I found out about it in a thread here somewhere. Edit: this the post above is the solution..

Correct but you can buy more than one seat, which is what I did last year with both R4 and Phoenix. Just shows up as a separate 1/1 in the account. If PB doesn't let you get it if you purchased from them previous that would be odd, since many people want more than one seat.

Those two are very different, I own both. Train II has a massive gain range especially if you use the input gain control.

I own both and suggest doing a demo. I'm more on the classic rock spectrum and wasn't interested in the 100, but found it pretty versatile and the feel is good to play. It is noisy though. Lower the input gain to get lower gain tones, and an external Eq can give it warmth in the mid range and top end. The 40 is more muddy in general and it is fantastic in the sweet spot but I think that spot is a pretty narrow scope. Also Demo the Train II and Chandler for classic rock tones.