aidan o driscoll

In a nutshell @PavlovsCat .. the music industry in general got repeatedly destroyed from late 90s on once the MP3 ( Napster etc ) came to the fore. The concept of FREE Music was born. The rot set in further as the years passed and Music as a product lost its value completely. The expectation of Music being FREE is now well and truely embedded. Why should I spend my cash on Music i can get it FREE at xxxxxxxxxx ... I dont think there is any way to turn this around now

Got this email this morning from https://www.wusik.com The email content is at that link above, front page. the gist is: "The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented challenges for people around the world, and the music industry has not been immune to its effects. Sales of virtual plugin instruments and synthesizers on Wusik.com have seen a significant decline since the pandemic began. This decline has had a profound impact on my ability to sustain and grow the business .. .. I need your support. My goal is to raise at least $1,000 per month on Patreon. This financial support will not only help me maintain the existing projects and plugins but also enable me to invest in the growth of Wusik.com." It is interesting and def seeing it here in Ireland ( major center for all the biggest tech companies in the world - Dublin Silicon Docks etc ) .. all these tech companies are aggressively downsizing staff wise. So much empty office space in Dublin now, there are moves to convert it to private use converted to appartments etc. Recently saw that EPIC announced a good few 100 layoffs. One thing covid period did is see a certain irrational exuberence in the tech industry who for some reason went off on huge recruitment spree's and now, having employed too many, are cutting just as fast. I imagine Wusik and other plugin developers at the smaller end of the market are suffering with this cost of living squeeze going on globally where discretionary cash is what gets hit first, especially in the hobbiest end of things I have a feeling WUSIK is not the only biz of its kind finding it tough now ( I can put my hands up and say I am finding the going tough particularly since early 2023 ), I imagine more will surface in 2024

More UJAM stuff for sale at PLUGIN BOUTIQUE - eg VICE €19 https://www.pluginboutique.com/manufacturers/188-ujam

I get you @Carl Ewing .. And from what you describe most of your subs are for software that is used to make money from clients so they pay for themselves via charge built into client fees? Where it becomes a drain to speak is things like ( optional I know ) Spotify, Netflix, Prime, SKY TV and the like + all other ESSENTIAL monthly bills. I was more flagging that already some of these subs are increasing and thats an issue .. they are almost stealth increases year on year OR every few years and I would be afraid once we are all on the sub hook for everything we could theeen see a pattern of endless year on year monthly sub hikes. Many people BTW do not ( and they should ) look at there monthly bank statements and query same on a regular basis. I have had clients who discover a sub for say an antivirus they stopped using years back and they are still "unknowingly" paying monthly/annually for it. Where I really noticed this sub creep was in biz accounts online. I started paying Quickbooks €14.99 a month a few years back now we are at €25 for same thing. I will be looking at that shortly to see if I can step down to lower sub. https://thehustle.co/11052019-free-trial-subscription-creep/ https://innotechtoday.com/subscription-price-creep-is-real-heres-how-to-push-back/ I suppose I am also seeing this alongside the high cost of living last year or 2 ( inc food ) in Ireland and the off the scale Energy / Motor fuel costs now + rent and house prices and the like. It does all add up esp if much of it cannot be clawed back from a client fee In music terms I am not a music biz .. just a personal muso/amateur

I hope to see decent progress on the MATRIX VIEW which is close to Abletons Session View.

Got my full LOOPCLOUD Refund - €109 and cancelled. As predicted got an offer email afterwards for 30% off .. nope

So we can uninstall BANDLAB ASSISTANT? "BandLab Assistant has been deprecated and is no longer compatible with CbB or other Cakewalk products. " From - https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk/whats-new

yeah @MusicMan, maybe. But year on year more and more software is going sub. The netflixisation of the software industry. I have no doubt Cakewalk next versions will be sub. In my small biz my MICROSOFT 365 ( Office ) is now sub. My biz accounts software is cloud/sub. My mileage software is cloud/sub. Even my accountant is pushing another cloud/sub thing to do with accounts on me. Yes its conventient but boy do these subs of all sorts add up. Just add your phone "sub", your Netflix, prime etc, your broadband, your sat tv maybe .. All this on top of Energy monthly bills, car costs etc, its becoming endless and very costly Re Loopcloud sub .. Im just not using it anymore so cannot justify it at any price .. one less sub to worry about

Yip @MarcL .. here its also the huge cost hikes in energy - Electricity, Gas, Fuel for cars - we are nearly back at €2 per litre of petrol / diesel here in Ireland now ( went to this at start of war in Ukraine in feb 2022 ). Electricity, Gas has not really fallen yet here, its beginning - slowly. All this is driving food costs etc up through roof. House prices and rents are just gone crazy all together. So knock on is discretionary extra cash that was around is now diverted to above. Having impact on small biz also, especially if not in a essential biz Another side cost is the big push to EVs .. the new mortgage at the price of them. Money monthly being channeled into these also via likes of PCP ( Personal contract Plans ) .. 56k EV on PCP near €1000pm over 3 years with 5k deposit

Yes I have been a Loopcloud evangelist. I really like the concept and its integration into DAWs like cakewalk. I have been paying annual sub for it last few years, many of those years getting a reduced sub offer. However this year I got no email reminder my sub was up and it got renewed. I have sent a cancel sub / refund request. they are usually good with this stuff. No doubt they will offer a reduced sub BUT this time I wont be renewing at any price. Especially in the last year I have just not been using it at all and for the next year I cannot justify paying any amount for it for this reason. So another cull victim, but makes sense. Another reason is cost of living here in Ireland - generally getting very expensive here. I am noting even via biz that people have less disposable and are cutting things out and choosing what to spend on and what not to spend on. As an aside it is getting rather eye watering when you look at your DDs every month, the number of subs for various things going out across your software, TV, motor cars, comms etc really does add up to a large amount these days. Psychologically all relatively "small" amounts - but the €15 here, €30 there, €50 etc etc all does add up

8 days left for this offer

May 2023 - THIS YEAR: Humble Bundle had Moho Pro 12.5 bundle for about €25 - Deal Expired end of June 2023. So maybe Pro 13.5 will turn up in a bundle in next year or so. At that point you could upgrade to Pro 14 at the upgrade price rather than full price what ever that may be then

I reckon if DABBLING is what you may do initially then try the trial of Moho Debut .. if you like, buy for $59. Down the line I think you can upgrade to pro at a lesser price if you get more serious. https://moho.lostmarble.com/products/moho-debut-14

As far as 2D animation software I THINK, its the best out there and easiest to use. @Lionel You can start with a very cheap entry point of $59.99 for MOHO Debut 14. No SUBs, one off payments https://moho.lostmarble.com/products/moho-debut-14 There are Trial demos for both Pro and Debut also. Lots and lots of tutes

Been a fan of this software for yeeeeeeerrrsss .. currently have V13.5 I had MOHO when it was originally started by LOST MARBLE. Its now owned by the amazing IRISH animation Studio called CARTOON SALOON who took it over from smith micro. They use it themselves Discounted UPGRADE prices https://moho.lostmarble.com

Though I have GR6 I still mainly use GR5 simply because it loads way faster and TBH has whats needed Nicer GUI and all that but functionality and speed trumps that for me. I am finding this in alot of NI stuff now. Sod the fancy wallpaper & decoration i say

Ah K @BTP .. that be the issue. Might be worth editing the title @cclarry .. USA Only?

This is what I get @cclarry ( Ireland )

That link aint working right

@MarcL A Q .. do you have a mobile phone with DATA that you can tmp share as a hotspot down near your music puter? If so you dont need a cable or whatever from your system to net. Only extra bit needed is a USB Wifi dongle if the music system doesnt have one on board already to connect to your mobile data hotspot for a few seconds to authenticate. These usb wifi sticks are cheap. There is always a way

As mentioned above no Vegas this time. Anything else if im being honest with myself, I will not use. I had a go at acid pro 8 or 9 I think in previous bundle, did not stay on my system long

It really tells you something about a piece of software when you go google "Acid pro 10 review" and there are really NO 3rd party reviews whatsoever

My reading of this @MarcL is you will need to be online JUST to activate it, after activation it will work offline. Of course it may need to be online activated once a year or something similar

Might be worth it as a free fallback for CbB when it soons goes paid/sub

Ill just let this here