KVR Audio

Spring Goose · Post by **Spring Goose** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:29 pm

I think i need to up my game with my music artwork. Looking at Adobe but it's £50 a month on subscription. Are there any cheaper alternatives to Adobe?

Scotty · Post by **Scotty** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:41 pm

I bought a full video and paint and painterly package from humble bundle. It is legit... Pinnacle , Corel and others including brush packs etc. I was subscribing to Adobe and just abandoned outright last year. Usually the versions are one year old. Most of the money goes to charity but you decide how to portion it out if you don't like the defaults. You are likely more advanced than I am but look into it. This is not cripple-ware these are full version. Humble Bundle runs the paint/video promotion a couple of times a year. I've picked up some audio editing tools through the site as well. Great value. Cheap too ... under $40 USD usually.

Spring Goose · Post by **Spring Goose** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:43 pm

Thanks Scotty, i'll have a look at that.

telecharge · Post by **telecharge** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:54 pm

Serif's Affinity apps are quite popular alternatives. They're still having their 50% off sale, too - https://affinity.serif.com

Effectsworks · Post by **Effectsworks** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:00 am

Affinity all the way.

Spring Goose · Post by **Spring Goose** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:28 am

Thanks telecharge and Effectworks.

I just thought: I'm lacking in imagination. When i looked at Adobe i felt inspired and i wasn't worried about my lack of imagination. When i look at Affinity i worry that i could end up spending more money than Adobe subscription, for the add-on packs. Do you think that could be the case?
I just want to make better pictures for my Soundcloud page, but i think i'm lacking in imagination. Does for example Affinity Publisher come with a lot of fonts? I don't have a camera. I want to see what i can make without using a camera.

telecharge · Post by **telecharge** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:55 am

I only have Affinity Designer, and I'm just a casual user. It doesn't look like Publisher comes with any fonts by default, but it should be able to use what you already have. There are a lot of free fonts available to download on the web. See this thread - https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index. ... t-download

synthgeek · Post by **synthgeek** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:09 am

Here's some free stuff:

GIMP - you'll also want G'MIC

Paint.net

Inkscape

Krita

Spring Goose · Post by **Spring Goose** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:12 am

synthgeek wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:09 am Here's some free stuff:

GIMP - you'll also want G'MIC

Paint.net

Inkscape

Krita

Wow brilliant, thank you very much.

dayjob · Post by **dayjob** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:15 am

affinity all the way. ridiculous deal. great apps. no cloud. no BS.

Spring Goose · Post by **Spring Goose** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:47 am

Actually it looks like neither Adobe or Affinity would work with my computer. I think i would need a graphics card. I'll try the freebies tomorrow.

Spring Goose · Post by **Spring Goose** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 2:29 am

telecharge wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:55 am I only have Affinity Designer, and I'm just a casual user. It doesn't look like Publisher comes with any fonts by default, but it should be able to use what you already have. There are a lot of free fonts available to download on the web. See this thread - https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index. ... t-download

sorry, my manners, thx!

telecharge · Post by **telecharge** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 2:32 am

No worries.

Here's more free stuff to check out:

https://www.techradar.com/best/online-photo-editors

https://www.shopify.com/blog/14263381-1 ... hotography

planetearth · Post by **planetearth** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 3:17 am

Spring Goose wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:47 am Actually it looks like neither Adobe or Affinity would work with my computer. I think i would need a graphics card. I'll try the freebies tomorrow.

Not trying to change your mind, but Affinity doesn't actually require a "Direct3D level 12.0-capable card"; that's only for hardware-based acceleration. They also list a "DirectX 10-compatible Graphics Cards and above" in the same "Tech Specs" list. While they probably should have broken these out into "Recommended" and "Required" columns for clarity, it doesn't appear you actually need a beefy video card.

And I haven't checked Adobe's requirements in a year or so, but last I checked, Photoshop would run on an integrated graphics "card" -- you may just want to allocate more RAM to it in your BIOS, if you have that option. (The same would go for Affinity, obviously.)

Humble Bundle's Corel options are pretty good, too -- though you don't necessarily get updates. Even when I had CorelPAINT! (as part of the Corel suite), I still used Photoshop because I found it considerably easier. But CorelPAINT! is a fairly robust image manipulation app, and it's been around for many years.

Of course, hardware-based acceleration is very helpful, but it's rarely "required", unless you're using high-end image manipulation apps...or you have no patience for rendering.

Steve

elxsound · Post by **elxsound** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 4:02 am

Spring Goose, check this out: https://www.canva.com

I have not used it before, but it looks pretty flexible with lots of templates to customize.

I think you should be able to sign up for 30 days free which might get you what you need to stand out. Many of the social medial templates are squared and decent for manipulation to use on Soundcloud. You can freely change fonts, photo backgrounds, and lots of inspiration too.

Otherwise, I'm a big fan of Affinity, having just moved away from Adobe last month.

Making music artwork. Alternatives to Adobe?