Black Friday temptations. What has your attention?

[Tusker]

4 hours ago, Jose EB5AGV said:

 

I have been thinking on buying Diva for years... Has it been refined over the years or is it a so brilliant design that didn't need any further development?

 

U-He founder Urs  Heckmann said that he raised the bar from Diva when he made Repro (a Prophet Five  / Pro One emulation):  More drain on resources allows more accurate component modeling.  Also unlike with Diva he nailed particular Prophets and Pro Ones and their components. However there are features in Diva (per oscillator voice detuning for example) which make it uniquely able to render big, warm sounds that remain unmatched to my ears today. To my ears Repro is colder and more precise.

 

There are other companies like Synapse Audio who are also continually raising the bar. With the new Filterscape, Urs went back to an older product to update it with new code. Zebra 3 is expected to have improved code from (the current) Zebra 2 and Zebra HZ. U-He may well update the Diva code someday, but history suggests that won't happen for a dozen or more years?

[GovernorSilver]

My friend the UA Apollo owner kinda tempted me with talk about the Sound City Studios plugin, which is 14% off.  Even mentioned it runs on native, so I wouldn't have to buy a UA audio interface

https://www.uaudio.com/uad-plugins/reverbs/uad-sound-city-studios-plug-in.html

 

 

 

[mcgoo]

4 hours ago, ksoper said:

A refrigerator. Mine is 24 years old and getting louder. Makes me nervous. I'd rather get a new one than get caught needing one. 

 

We replaced ours 2 years ago. We put the old one in the garage so I could have a "beer fridge". Twas a beautiful thing, always fully shocked with a smorgasbord of options. Fast forward to a few months ago and I realized I was having 3-4 beers a night and putting the pounds on fast. So I had to cut myself off from having beer in the house (before I hit the point where I couldn't stop!). Moral of the story- It might be a blessing in disguise if your current fridge indeed dies on you! 

[yannis D]

Too many options out there, but at the end of the day I chose to buy a ticket to Paris with my daughter for next July at a very tempting price! 

[HammondDave]

5 hours ago, ksoper said:

A refrigerator. Mine is 24 years old and getting louder. Makes me nervous. I'd rather get a new one than get caught needing one. An LG 29 cu ft is on sale for $1500. Almost no frills. They appear to have worked out the legendary compressor issues and are at the top of everyone's list. 

 

Any LG fridge owners out there? 

Bought a new LG refrigerator three years ago. Had the ice maker replaced three times. Extended warranties are a must with modern appliances.  

[LarsHarner2]

On 11/24/2023 at 2:09 AM, zephonic said:

I bought the Triton $99.

By any chance could you let me know if this has combination sounds on it? My LE had a sound called Trance Euphoria which I should have kept the keyboard for

[RABid]

9 hours ago, HammondDave said:

Spent my entire xmas budget on a new 16” Macbook Pro M3. Awesome upgrade from my 13” intel Macbook Pro. 

I felt the same way when I went from a 13" Air to a 16" Pro. Mine is a poor lowly M1. Doesn't seem like I have had it that long.

[Canoehead]

I found Arturia’s V collection 9 deal too good to pass up!

[drawback]

Another iPad 9G, this time at an irresitable $90 off.

[zephonic]

2 hours ago, LarsHarner2 said:

By any chance could you let me know if this has combination sounds on it? My LE had a sound called Trance Euphoria which I should have kept the keyboard for

 

It does have the Combis, yes. Not the particular one you mention, though. That must have been LE specific. It's not on the Triton nor on the Extreme.

[zephonic]

3 hours ago, HammondDave said:

Bought a new LG refrigerator three years ago. Had the ice maker replaced three times. Extended warranties are a must with modern appliances.  

 

I have had great experience with all our LG products, EXCEPT the fridge. Like yours, the ice maker would occasionally go haywire and we'd wake up to find melted ice all over the kitchen floor. It is better these days, but I would not buy another one.

 

[Synthaholic]

3 hours ago, HammondDave said:

Bought a new LG refrigerator three years ago. Had the ice maker replaced three times. Extended warranties are a must with modern appliances.  

My Whirlpool dryer, ladies and gentlemen! 

 

(Volume alert!)

 

 

 

[timwat]

With regard to appliances, I've dug into the interwebz to find the reset / recalibrate code sequence for my washing machine.  Youtube has been my friend once again.

 

It's over 10 years old, and has a bunch of features (auto water level detection, etc.) that occasionally cause the machine to not enter the cycle correctly.

 

I found mention of the basic diagnostic that a technician will use on the machine - which I suppose is analogous to unplugging / replugging our old blue Linksys routers. 

 

Anyway, so far running that sequence of dial rotations, button presses, etc. has allowed me to nudge the washer back into normal operating shape without having to replace any parts, sensors, harnesses, etc. 

 

 

[RABid]

3 hours ago, HammondDave said:

Bought a new LG refrigerator three years ago. Had the ice maker replaced three times. Extended warranties are a must with modern appliances.

Same for me except mine is a Maytag. Worst design ever. The water line to the ice maker freezes, but not the waterline to the chilled water. They have to replace the entire freezer door to address problems with the ice maker. It is out yet again. I bought an extended warranty the last day of eligibility. Good thing. New refrigerator was not the only thing I bought. When my house hit 10 years old every appliance in the kitchen had to be replaced, along with the water heater, washer and dryer, and the HVAC. The people at the appliance store tell me the time of appliances lasting 20 to 30 years is over. 10 years is now the expected life.

[zxcvbnm098]

5 hours ago, HammondDave said:

Bought a new LG refrigerator three years ago. Had the ice maker replaced three times. Extended warranties are a must with modern appliances.  

The new ones will NOT last 24 years like your last. The new ones are incredibly energy efficient, but because the compressor is constantly turning on and off, you'll only get about 8 years if you're lucky. And yes, extended warranty is the way to go. 

[Mighty Motif Max]

Nothing too crazy this year...lots of things I'd like, but they're lots of things that my wallet isn't fat enough for this time around. Might be the first Black Friday in years that I haven't spent a minimum of $600 or so. Pre-paid for several digital music releases for my band through CDbaby since they're having a 50% off sale - 4 singles and an album. Otherwise, just some band merch (a cape!) from Nightwish for stage use, and Korg Collection 4.

[stoken6]

Apple pencil 28% off - present for my daughter. Fitbit discounted about 30% - present for my wife. Heading out this afternoon to buy bouldering ("indoor rock climbing") shoes - present for my son. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

 

[Legatoboy]

Temptations     

 

I was looking at a used Mojo Desktop and a YC88.... I really don't need either  ... but maybe time for a rigs revamp if I start to do some light gigging again! 😁

[felis]

20 hours ago, Tusker said:

 

U-He founder Urs  Heckmann said that he raised the bar from Diva when he made Repro (a Prophet Five  / Pro One emulation):  More drain on resources allows more accurate component modeling. ....

 

I would think that getting better sound while using less resources would be raising the bar.

But maybe that's just because I don't know anything about programming.

[Stokely]

Neither Diva nor Repro put that much strain on my older 2016 computer.  I can do a bunch of tracks with either or both--though to be fair, the default quality setting is one down from the top (which on Diva is "Divine", can't recall what it is on the two Repros).   I have been able to notice a difference on some tracks so If highest quality causes a problem I'll just freeze the track or render it as audio.  I normally wouldn't switch to highest quality anyway until the writing is done and mixing is starting.

Alchemy also has this feature, it is not set to highest quality out of the box.

Diva and both Repros still sound incredible to me.  Other than bx_oberhausen which I got on some silly $20 sale, I haven't bought another analog-style subtractive synth since I got them.  

[RABid]

(sigh) I'm so week. Just grabbed the Reason 12 upgrade. I had not upgraded since 10, but I did do the Reason+ thing for a year. Was tempted by Reason+ again since Sweetwater has it for $99, but Reason Studios (formerly Propellerhead) had the upgrade for $99 so I went that direction. Wondering if I am missing anything important from Reason+.

[AnotherScott]

On 11/25/2023 at 11:49 AM, ksoper said:

Any LG fridge owners out there? 

 

19 hours ago, HammondDave said:

Bought a new LG refrigerator three years ago. Had the ice maker replaced three times. Extended warranties are a must with modern appliances.  

 

I got a LG fridge, and shortly after purchase, it was leaking water. Service guy came out, said it was the icemaker. Couldn't get it fixed under warranty because there was a tiny dent in the freezer door that I hadn't noticed upon delivery, and they said that that voided warranty of the icemaker which is located in the freezer door. 

 

So no, I am not a fan of LG.

[Synthaholic]

Along with my faulty Whirlpool dryer, my Whirlpool refrigerator sometimes freezes food in one section. My Whirlpool dishwasher (bought as a combo with the fridge) broke its top shelf arms. The repair guy said that it's plastic, as is everything, but he replaces it with a metal arm, and it has a lifetime guarantee. So that seems to be the new business model: cheap plastic parts, and if they break, replace them with the parts that should have been used in the first place.

 

It's weird for me, since the refrigerator I replaced was a still-working 26-year-old Whirlpool freezer-on-the-bottom. That's why I was loyal to them for these purchases.

[BluesB3]

LG sucks. Whenever my oven was put into the cleaning mode, it would melt the "metallic like object" stove knobs. If my 1986 Maytag (pre Whirlpool) washer dryer pair ever dies, I'm going with Speed Queen. I hate buying appliances.

 

NOW... to swerve this thread back on track.... I keep looking for a "deal" on a Yamaha CP73 but alas, so far none are forthcoming.  There's clean used one on the Sweetwater customer classifieds but he asking $1775.  I'm thinking that's not enough of a price delta to justify taking a chance on a warranty problem. If I pay retail from SW, I know they'll make it good.

[LarsHarner2]

22 hours ago, Canoehead said:

I found Arturia’s V collection 9 deal too good to pass up!

I had never heard of Arturia until they included Analog Lab with my Presonus Studio One purchase- since then I got the Arturia MKII 61 key controller and later added collection 9- in particular I love the DX7 and Casio CZ sounds

[JoJoB3]

New laundry room appliances 😵.  Boring. Had to, perfect storm of sale meets laundry room repair.
NOT fun but they do make sounds.

[octa]

Ordered a couple of pedals utilizing BF discounts: Uafx dream (‘65 blackface deluxe reverb sim) and also an Eventide H90. 

 

Alto Music has a pretty cool 15% off "BF15" code going, and also received an additional 5% off when re-activating account via email. Also, every item I've ordered from Alto has been tax free. 

I do publicly declare, these are the last big purchases I shall make for awhile! 🤞

 

[BluMunk]

Kraft is selling the Numa X for $999.95 (through 11/27). Timing isn't right for me for that kind of purchase, but that seems like a no-brainer purchase if anyone's been on the fence about the board because of cost.

[Montunoman 2]

I thought about a subscription to Open Studio , Piano Groove, or Piano with Johnny, but I’m pretty happy with my current live, in person jazz piano teacher. In a few years I hope retire to a rural area of Mexico, probably not much in the way of  jazz piano teachers there, so when we make the move to Mexico, I’ll consider studying jazz piano on line…. 

[Tripp323]

I did not see Numa x 73 for $999 - that would be surprising….maybe a demo model?  They are usually $1300+

The Vox Continental for $999 at Sweetwater seems a good price….but not a weighted keybed tho