Software Deals

[Stokely]

Fabfilter has their somewhat modest and typical 25% off going.  If you buy from JRR shop you can use code GROUP to get an additional discount apparently.

Also, I read that the loyalty discounts are way up during the sale (instead of 10% off for owning one, it's quite a bit higher and goes up with each additional one).  Not sure if you have to buy directly from Fabfilter to get that though.  Those loyalty things are insidious, Liquidsonics has a similar deal (sucks you back in like Micheal Corleone trying to go legit....)

Interested in Saturn the most out of all the Fabfilter stuff.

[Tusker]

16 minutes ago, Stokely said:

Interested in Saturn the most out of all the Fabfilter stuff.

 

Me too.

 

<anti-gas on> I've been limping along (if you can call it that) on Izotope's Exciter, which as it turns out is a very capable multi-band saturator also. Just well hidden. Saturn 2 offers ADSR's and LFO's which Exciter doesn't, but Logic's modulator is quite capable of moving Exciter's parameters around.  <anti-gas off>

[KeyMoe]

11 hours ago, obxa said:

Me too.   I've owned and regretfully sold many synths over the years- a lot of Korg stuff.  So for me it's great being able to get sounds back.  Still have Triton, Wavestation and M1 hardware.   I got the Korg Collection back when it was just 3 synths.  -  I think it's a great collection. 

 

They've never really given any great loyalty discounts and the prices are never hugely discounted. So grab it while you can.   I've gotten better upgrade paths using the coupons they include with some of the M-Audio or  Novation stuff, so see if you have any of those.      If you want some of the Digi- 90's stuff it's superb.    The Arp Odyssey  is very good,  still has some UI issues on my set up with the FX pages.  But great presets.     I constantly use Wavestation  and Triton  live (Mainstage) and  in the studio most, and confirm they  actually sound better than the real thing.   The UI on the Poly-Six is still too small.  I've been surprised how much I've ended using the Mono-Poly.   The Prophecy is pretty cool, wasn't a synth actually played before.   Mini-korg was my very first synth (also stupidly sold...) it's fun, perfect for  Greg Hawkes early Cars sounds.  MS20 is good too. 

 

As to Full-Bucket-  I like most of their synths.  They really do much better with some of the early Korg string stuff and drum machines.  But he also did a great job with one of Korg's sleeper Fm/Hybrid synths: the DW8000.  Used one of those to death in the old days, and always regretted selling it.  I got misty hearing some of those sounds again., like an seeing an old friend.   Played Deltas and Tridents many times with backline long ago, and he really nailed those  too.  

 

He's too kind to offer them free.    I've donated to the guy, he's doing wonderful stuff. - and out of left field,  he just came out with an Arp Omni -   The string synth always  lusted for but couldn't afford back in the day.  I wore out the Evatone demo soundsheet record  that came in Keyboard mag- remember those???

 

Historically, they've often offer just the add-ons at discount only.  That's the only time I've ever bought them, otherwise a little pricey otherwise. . Sweetwater will usually have them for instant  download, and  sometimes cheaper than on Modartt's site. . Modartt will also do some discounted upgrade paths between the standard- pro etc.  Been with them since V1- and upgrades between versions have always been very reasonable. 

 

Thanks! Gonna wait and see on Black Friday.
 

Although I am going to get the Korg collection today. Looks like a great deal. 

[Stokely]

39 minutes ago, Tusker said:

 

Me too.

 

<anti-gas on> I've been limping along (if you can call it that) on Izotope's Exciter, which as it turns out is a very capable multi-band saturator also. Just well hidden. Saturn 2 offers ADSR's and LFO's which Exciter doesn't, but Logic's modulator is quite capable of moving Exciter's parameters around.  <anti-gas off>

Speaking of Logic, I really should check into what PhatFX and StepFX can do before buying any kind of filter or distortion.   I also realized yesterday after logging into Izotope's site that I have Trash 2...who knew?       I also have various things in Komplete, though most of their fx are older than the hills (with some exceptions like Raum).   Also have Triad which I got on some insane sale, and Shaperbox 2 (though only one module).   I'm mostly over the bargain binge buying but it's pretty bad when you have to remind yourself what all you have.  Hopefully I've never bought anything twice....

I also kind of wonder what has been done with Reaktor, or if people still develop for it.   When I first bought Komplete I thought that would open a whole world of stuff but I rarely have even used it.

Think I just talked myself out of Saturn    

[Tusker]

2 hours ago, Stokely said:

Speaking of Logic, I really should check into what PhatFX and StepFX can do before buying any kind of filter or distortion.   I also realized yesterday after logging into Izotope's site that I have Trash 2...who knew?       I also have various things in Komplete, though most of their fx are older than the hills (with some exceptions like Raum).

I also kind of wonder what has been done with Reactor, or if people still develop for it.   When I first bought Komplete I thought that would open a whole world of stuff but I rarely have even used it.

 

Trash 2 is great. Some of the Trash 2 algorithms were updated with higher fidelity for Izotope Exciter.

 

Reaktor is a great effects device. You'll enjoy Blinksonic's Processorz. It's like a galactic super hero version of StepFX. You can enter the Reaktor as an effect wormhole here. 😅

 

(Also Reaktor as a Logic arpeggiator /midi modulator here.)

 

 

[johnchop]

Most u-he stuff is half off right now, if that’s your bag.

 

Sonic Academy has a steep discount on ANA 2. Demo available. A little shy on presets but enough to give you a sense of sonic possibilities. I like it for modern sounds.

 

D16 Group’s Lush 2 is also discounted for the lowest I’ve seen it. Demo available. Roland-esque programming model.


 

 

[Tusker]

12 minutes ago, johnchop said:

Most u-he stuff is half off right now, if that’s your bag.

 

They rarely offer such steep discounts. 😮 High quality stuff. Thanks!

[Stokely]

The two I'm kind of waiting on are Liquidsonics and Spitfire.  I doubt I'll get anything from the latter, but The Ton has been interesting in the past and I regret not getting it one of the years.  The ton is 3 of their plugins for $100 if I'm remembering rightly, and that one year I liked all 3 of the ones included.

The main thing keeping me from getting any "cinematic" library no matter how great the sale is the thought that I might get Musio 1.  

As a preset tweaker and not much of a from-scratch programmer, I really appreciate the tons of presets you get with the u-he synths.  Not a main reason to buy perhaps, but definitely of value to someone like me!  

[obxa]

3 hours ago, Stokely said:

Think I just talked myself out of Saturn

Phat and Step are great,  also check out Arturia's MS20 or Moog Filter when they give them away.   I passed on Saturn.  However,  If you already own any FabFilter stuff- I  heartily recommend Micro-Filter.  It's a simple 1 band filter that can be configured as LP/HP/BP plus resonance that sounds awesome.  With loyalty I think it was $25.00.   I use it constantly on everything- synth channels, audio, etc.   Lives on all my synth and Kontakt channels in Logic &  Mainstage as easy way to shape sounds when the host synth's tone/timbre is not  easy to edit (e.g. Wavestation, Kontakt stuff,, FM stuff). 

[Stokely]

Not a software deal, but Black Friday--Massdrop has lowered the price on the 58x (Sennheiser hd600) and 6XX (Senn hd650).  I've seen this sale before but these are very good prices.  Lowered to $139 and $179 respectively.  I already have the 58X and have used and abused them, think I'll pick up the 6XX for a bit of a change.  I use headphones a lot in my (for now) untreated space.

[RABid]

Last year my upgrade price for IK Multimedia Total Max was $100 but I would not buy it because of their storage and download policy. Now that they changed the policy I went to check the upgrade price for this Black Friday and this year it is $350. 😛

[Stokely]

The IK best deal I've ever seen was their big group buy.  Unfortunately there wasn't one particular thing that I needed--hardware or software--to get that ball rolling!  I think now they have some hardware I'd really like (the guitar thingie) so if that deal came back I'd probably go for it.

I don't know how IK is on paying for maintenance (not major feature addition) upgrades, but I'm careful to check that out before "buying in" to a big suite.  Waves being a prominent example.   

[Jose EB5AGV]

8 hours ago, Stokely said:

The IK best deal I've ever seen was their big group buy

 

I had just a couple things from IK back then and decided to buy an iRig Keys 49 I/O at that moment. It allowed me to select 26 (? not sure of the number) similar priced goodies... I got a bunch of things, some of them still waiting to be used. And the best thing is that I had a new compact controller also, not just software

[Reezekeys]

Bear with me for a second here. I recently had an issue with my old MOTU Fastlane midi interface losing its connection when waking my Macbook Air from sleep. To open a ticket with MOTU I had to register my Fastlane at their website. Next thing I know I get an email saying that as an owner of MOTU hardware I can download Digital Performer "Lite" for free! This is a surprisingly full-featured DAW - much more capable than Garage Band, imo (it does have its quirks which don't need to be detailed in this thread). Anyway, yesterday I get another email from MOTU - this time saying I can upgrade from "Lite" to the full Digital Performer app for $195! This is normally a $500 program. For any of you folks out there with MOTU hardware – even a lowly (and discontinued) 2x2 midi interface like the Fastlane – who for some reason haven't registered it and might want to score this DAW, this could be a good opportunity. The email said this offer was in effect until Nov. 30.

 

[Stokely]

Wow, Digital Performer.  I think I used Performer back in the late 80s?  Sometime around then anyway!  Always liked it.  It was that, or Opcode's Vision if I recall correctly that were the two big dogs in sequencing.

I bought a Motu M4 a while back (and also have the annoying behavior of it losing connection when the Mac sleeps, which I figured was due to being usb-powered.)  Guess it wouldn't hurt to register and get the Lite version, though I'm pretty happy with Logic and don't see myself upgrading to the big Digital Performer.

[Reezekeys]

I used an earlier version of DP for a while. Many of my musician friends use it too. I stopped doing DAW stuff for a long time but recently got Logic when I bought my new Mac. It’s very cool but the learning curve has been steep. I’m probably gonna get back into the DP world, that’s a hard to refuse offer. Looks like MOTU may have some issues with their drivers and sleeping computers!

[Stokely]

it's annoying but not a show stopper.  I've occasionally had to unplug usb to get it talking again, but that's only if the computer had been asleep (and that's only going to be overnight most likely).

Logic like any DAW definitely has a learning curve.  There are a ton of good youtube vids, it's one advantage of using a DAW that so many people use.  My big issue is accidentally hitting some key shortcut and not knowing what I did     The thing I'd miss most if I moved on to another DAW would be Drummer, it's a very cool and kind of unique type of drum software compared to the EZ drummer loop-based apps.

[ElmerJFudd]

2 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

Bear with me for a second here. I recently had an issue with my old MOTU Fastlane midi interface losing its connection when waking my Macbook Air from sleep. To open a ticket with MOTU I had to register my Fastlane at their website. Next thing I know I get an email saying that as an owner of MOTU hardware I can download Digital Performer "Lite" for free! This is a surprisingly full-featured DAW - much more capable than Garage Band, imo (it does have its quirks which don't need to be detailed in this thread). Anyway, yesterday I get another email from MOTU - this time saying I can upgrade from "Lite" to the full Digital Performer app for $195! This is normally a $500 program. For any of you folks out there with MOTU hardware – even a lowly (and discontinued) 2x2 midi interface like the Fastlane – who for some reason haven't registered it and might want to score this DAW, this could be a good opportunity. The email said this offer was in effect until Nov. 30.

 

DP is an amazing piece of software with a long history.  The DAW world has since gotten very crowded with offerings at all tiers from free to freemium to $500.   But if I were a DP user I’d stick with it.  And if I weren’t well versed in another and doing it for the first time $195 is a fair price for its capabilities.  Like most DP users will tell you, especially if you are doing sound for video/film.  

[Dave Bryce]

Been using DP since early 80s, since it was just Performer.  Never seen a reason to change.  Tried several of the other suspects, but didn’t see anything that motivated me to adopt and learn a new platform.

 

dB

[Reezekeys]

It is interesting that DP doesn’t seem to get the love & attention the other big dogs do, despite its lineage as one of the first sequencers. I remember using Performer on my friends original (1984!) Mac. Back then I was way too poor to afford a Mac so went with Dr T’s KCS/Omega system on my Atari ST.

 

Logic really impresses with the sound library that comes with it, along with the many virtual instruments like Alchemy. It seems many of the features are aimed  towards younger musicians, producers and, dare I say, “beat makers.”

 

In keeping with the thread title, I’ll mention that I got Logic at a very fair price! When I bought my MacBook Air I got the edu discount (my kid is a student). That also got me a $150 gift card, along with a chance to buy the Apple “edu bundle” - Logic, Mainstage, Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Compressor, all for $200. I handed in my gift card and $50 and that’s how I got Logic (along with the other apps). I’m not sure they’re still doing the gift card promo, but if anyone here has an Intel Mac and thinking about  getting into the Apple Silicon world - and has a need for any of those apps - this seems like a nice way to get there. BTW I asked the salesman at the Apple Store if he needed to see my child’s student ID, he said no - he’d take my word for it! Just sayin…

[Dave Bryce]

3 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

I remember using Performer on my friends original (1984!) Mac.

 

Me, too.  SE 30, if memory serves.

 

3 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

 

 

Back then I was way too poor to afford a Mac so went with Dr T’s KCS/Omega system on my Atari ST.

 

That was my first software sequencer as well. 😎

 

dB

[Reezekeys]

20 minutes ago, Dave Bryce said:

4 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

Back then I was way too poor to afford a Mac so went with Dr T’s KCS/Omega system on my Atari ST.

 

That was my first software sequencer as well. 😎

 

This will be a topic for another post - I've resurrected KCS and have it running on my new MacBook Air, in the Hatari emulator. Previous attempts on my older (Intel) MacBook pro were unsuccessful but now it's working. Everything - Tiger 2.0, Song Editor, PVG, Master Editor. It was quite the rush seeing my old Atari software (including a few apps I wrote in GFA Basic) for the first time in almost 35 years! I guess I really am old... 🙂 

[Melving]

Ivory products are now on sale

 

https://synthogy.com/

 

Looking at ACD...

[analogika]

Ah, Performer on my trusty Mac SE. Cross-graded to Logic Platinum in the late 1990s. 
 

Still missing the Chunks feature. 

[obxa]

Autotune Access  10  is $24.99.  (perpetual) but also includes 1 year of the essentials sub which includes their mic modelling and key finder plugs.

 

Don't track singing vocals that often,  often use  it on soprano sax, or  monophonic loops that need a couple of notes pulled in.   The times needed for singing worked great without any fuss.  Does NOT have to sound like T-pain /Cher if set to humanize.

 

https://www.antarestech.com/products/auto-tune/access?irclickid=xF7wBSUvzxyPRhPUFDXXR3DBUkFXmyXBr1CZ2s0&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=IMPACT_AFFILIATE_PGM&utm_source=reidstefan&irgwc=1

 

 

 

[Stokely]

On a similar note (pun intended), Melodyne has various sales going on.  I've been using Logic's Flex Pitch and really don't do that much vocal tracking, but from what I gather Melodyne would be an upgrade.  From my reading, I'd go for the "Assistant" level which is above "Essential" (the lowest).  The other two above that are for polyphonic pitch and other more advanced stuff, I mainly would want it for individual vocal tracks.

[Konnector]

Soothe2 on sale now until the 27th for $139.00 US.

[Synthaholic]

Cubasis 3 is 50% off, at $24.99 for iPad until December 11.

 

It really is a nice piece of software.

 

 

[ElmerJFudd]

All the Samples From Mars - Samples From Mars

https://samplesfrommars.com/products/all-products-from-mars

[AnotherScott]

For iOS -

 

Keystage add-ons (in-app purchases) have all been free since black friday... I don't know for how much longer.

 

GSI has some of their stuff on sale, including Genuine Sounds Vol 1 ($20 instead of $35), the Model D6 clav ($15 instead of $20), and Solo Trumpet (ditto).