Softube Essentials Collection: Tape, Model 84 Polyphonic Synthesizer, British Class A, FET Compressor Mk II, and Wasted Space for $43.61

[audioschmaudio]

https://www.jrrshop.com/softube-essentials-collection

$43.61 at JRR Shop with coupon code FORUM

[Soundwise]

This or this? Can't afford both. Any recommendations?

[Larry Shelby]

8 minutes ago, Soundwise said:

This or this? Can't afford both. Any recommendations?

Personally I'd go with Softube.  British Class A alone is worth that price.
While I like the Arturia FX, I reach for Softube before I reach for Arturia,
but that's just a personal preference...YMMV

EDIT:  That being said...if your goal is to get to FX Collection 4 then FX 2 will
provide a good upgrade path for the next sale...

Edited May 17 by cclarry

[audioschmaudio]

28 minutes ago, Soundwise said:

This or this? Can't afford both. Any recommendations?

I got the Arturia FX Collection 3 for €49 on Black Friday 2022. Of course you can never know if they'll have that price again and if you'll get that offer too since it always depends on which products you already own from them. But still, there's a chance. Personally I only had Tape MELLO-FI at that point, which I got for free.

[circuitchip]

59 minutes ago, Soundwise said:

This or this? Can't afford both. Any recommendations?

I have both Arturia FX Collection 4 and this Softube bundle.

I bought Arturia FX Collection 4 €69 with their loyalty discount. If you own their other products you may check if you have a crossgrade price. Or if you plan to buy their other products I remember there is a best crossgrade path and with it you can save a lot of bucks. I believe you can find related discussion on the Internet. Arturia's FX collection 4 has a huge amount of plugin that covers many functions. I mean, huge (30 effects). It covers so many sound effects, delay, chorus, and many more, some are quite cool. Not very sure about their FX collection 2 though. I checked and found it contains 22 plugins which is also a great number, and the price in the link looks OK if buying this single product. 

Softube's bundle, I bought it a few days ago by upgrading my Tape licence (note that you need to "give back" you original Tape iLok licence if you use it to upgrade to the bundle). The thing is to me Tape and Model 84 are pretty good and worth the price already. 

Somehow Arturia's FX Collection and Softube's Essential Bundle are not really comparable to me. One is all FXs and the amount is huge, another one has Model 84 which is a good synth and also has Tape which I like quite a lot. But this Softube's bundle tends to do sale regularly. Like I said I bought it a few days ago, so I am a bit surprised that there is a sale again, although the current sale seems to be in 3rd party stores rather than their official store.

So, it is not easy to conclude. It depends on what you have and what you'd like to do. 

[antler]

8 hours ago, Soundwise said:

This or this? Can't afford both. Any recommendations?

If it helps you decide, Softube needs iLok (don't know if a dongle is required; I don't use it), whereas Arturia doesn't.

[pop_life]

This was $49 until some day ago directly on Softube, $39 for owner of tape.  Can't compare this with Fx collection, totally different things so it depends from your workflow but if you need some good effect to add in your arsenal, Fx collection is the go to.

Edited May 17 by pop_life

[CSistine]

10 hours ago, antler said:

If it helps you decide, Softube needs iLok (don't know if a dongle is required; I don't use it), whereas Arturia doesn't.

It would be easy for me! Nowadays I don't hesitate to choose iLok dongle over CR authorisation!

I have had so much hassle in the last years with all those "island" CR authorizations!

[audioschmaudio]

1 minute ago, CSistine said:

It would be easy for me! Nowadays I don't hesitate to choose iLok dongle over CR authorisation!

I have had so much hassle in the last years with all those "island" CR authorizations!

Is that why you're no longer CRistine and have moved a letter higher to CSistine? ?

[CSistine]

8 minutes ago, audioschmaudio said:

Is that why you're no longer CRistine and have moved a letter higher to CSistine? ?

I am even not PRistine!

But after all IMO iLok dongle auth is definitely less prone to failure or trouble than CR!

Sure, my preference authorization is real offline (none, file based or offline key) over iLok!

So this is my authorization order:

1. none
2. Real offline based (file or key)
3. iLok dongle
4. CR with offline variant
5. CR
6. Account login
7. Permanent online

I stopped purchasing products using 5-7 and even type 4 I use only with verdors that I know!

It is a real nightmare setting up a new system having many 4-7 types.

[mibby]

Softube Essentials is $39 upgrade price at Softube when logged in, but STILL no PayPal option??

[k sse]

I have BCA, but I don't like to use it.

[Fleer]

24 minutes ago, mibby said:

Softube Essentials is $39 upgrade price at Softube when logged in, but STILL no PayPal option??

There’s PayPal but not stateside. 

[Larry Shelby]

27 minutes ago, mibby said:

Softube Essentials is $39 upgrade price at Softube when logged in, but STILL no PayPal option??

No Paypal for US...but if you change your country it will appear....although that's not recommeded

[CSistine]

By the way, I purchased the Essentials Collection straight from Softube in april, it was the best price (410 SEK = ~$38.30)!

[Fleer]

Dang, I paid $40. 

[kitekrazy1]

or pass on both

[Fleer]

1 hour ago, kitekrazy said:

or pass on both

Nooooooooo

[Soundwise]

1 hour ago, kitekrazy said:

or pass on both

I'm inclined to acquiesce to this strategy. ?I still can't decide whether I want any of these and/or what do I need them for. Means, it's OK to postpone either purchase indefinitely.