Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[rockhopper]

You need to buy a full EZKEYS and you get a free expansion.

[Fleer]

Yep, these are the current offers:
EZKeys + one free Sound Expansion of your choice € 129
Any EZKeys, choose your Sound Expansion when registering
until end of January 2017

25% OFF EZKeys Soundexpansions each only € 44
until end of December 2016

[ghettosynth]

please don't waste your time asking about X, as I said, I know of NO exceptions, NONE!

And i know a lot of synths which don't eat much of your CPU, and still sound great.

You don't know of any VA synths that use low CPU that "I" will think sound good. Your standards are lower than mine. You clearly like filters that are not as accurate, fine, but your projection of dogma is all in your head. I don't like VA synths that use a lot of CPU, I like VA synths that have accurate filters. Current technology dictates that such filters will use a lot of CPU. That doesn't preclude shit implementations from also using a lot of CPU, but, it does preclude accurate implementations from being light on CPU.

Sylenth isn't accurate, it's just popular. I would even argue that it's popular precisely because it has an inaccurate filter and so, to my ears, sounds like shit, but, as I say, for people who have grown up with that sound, it may be preferable. The thing is, you don't have to pay even $100 to get that sound, pretty much any mediocre VA will get you there.

Now, give it a rest, I simply disagree with you that it's a no-brainer for $100. I'm not really posting for you, I'm posting for other people who might want a different point of view in this thread.

[Rational]

Thanks guys. I understand and see both points of view. Both valid.

I don't know much about the quality of filters and how to evaluate them honestly. Maybe that can be explained to me for my knowledge. I'm always interested in learning. I do know what I like though and I mostly prefer dirtier, moving sounds.

But perhaps I can agree with and relate to what you're sharing ghettosynth if in that for example Spire sounds very clean but 'real' over many other soft synths to my ear. Is that because of it's filters being higher quality? (That's the only thing I can relate it to if that's what you're explaining. Most predecessors to it sound clean but sterile, flat, dead or boring in a synthetic way to my ear. But Spire has more of a realness to it for some reason. No idea why. I'm curious to hear insights though.)

Also, I can see you're a man of the mind and clearly defining ones terms. Always a good thing. It matters. Just don't get too caught up in the cerebral side of life as it tends to feedback on itself as I've found. In those times I've found it best to get out and get some physical activity so as to rebalance myself and not get so caught up in overthinking.

Peace to both of you on this Christmas holiday.

[Rational]

You need to buy a full EZKEYS and you get a free expansion.

I already own EZKeys main program though.

So am I still misunderstanding? You're saying just buying an extension pak doesn't give me an additional one for free?

The deal is to buy the main program w/ one expansion included and get an extra extention free?

Not the same deal on just buying expansion paks?

If so, that's less interesting to me...

[Fleer]

See my post, o ye rational one.

[Rational]

See my post, rational one.

Thanks Fleer. I did see it. Thank you.
Apologies. I'd meant to quote your reply as well. It was explicit, but not quite positively confirming enough, so I asked just to be sure. Or should I say it wasn't explicitly confirming the negative. I guess I was hoping what I'd read left room for my wishes for the deal to be otherwise to be true.

I guess not though... Ah well.. It would have been a sweet deal.

Thanks for the clarification and follow up. I guess I'll pass on this one until I can get them for about $20 something each.

I know... I'm a tightwad.

I have the same opinion on their drum packs. Even at $40 each they're twice what I think they're worth.

[Fleer]

Would have loved it too. Still, $39 or so for an EZKeys sound expansion is pretty low, compared to $79 list.

[ghettosynth]

Thanks guys. I understand and see both points of view. Both valid.

I don't know much about the quality of filters and how to evaluate them honestly. Maybe that can be explained to me for my knowledge. I'm always interested in learning. I do know what I like though and I mostly prefer dirtier, moving sounds.

But perhaps I can agree with and relate to what you're sharing ghettosynth if in that for example Spire sounds very clean but 'real' over many other soft synths to my ear. Is that because of it's filters being higher quality? (That's the only thing I can relate it to if that's what you're explaining. Most predecessors to it sound clean but sterile, flat, dead or boring in a synthetic way to my ear. But Spire has more of a realness to it for some reason. No idea why. I'm curious to hear insights though.)

Probably not, but, it's really hard to say because such terms get tossed around like candy. There could be any number of other reasons for your perception relating to everything from oscillator implementation to built in FX to patch choices to visual bias owing to the light colored U/I.

That's not to minimize your experience in any way. All of these things are real and have real effects on our perception. I've had to go out of my way to design little blind experiments to make sure that what I think that I'm hearing is actually there and not an aspect of visual bias.

To me, Sylenth isn't really interesting as a classic VA synth. It's a modern VA like Hybrid 3, Hive, Dune, etc. So if you're looking for that type of synth, then compare their features and ability to create "modern" sounds. If you want to create classic analog sounds then I think that all of those synths are the wrong choice at any price.

In general then, I don't see interesting technology in most modern VA synths so I really don't think that they're worth a lot of money. This is true across the board. I love Uhe synths but I didn't buy Hive and it sounds better than most. Hive doesn't get a pass because it's a Uhe product. If you've comprised filter quality for CPU usage beneath what is practical on a reasonably modern CPU then I think that your synth isn't worth very much. You automatically put yourself in the same league as hundreds of competing products.

Peace to both of you on this Christmas holiday.

Merry Christmas

[ghettosynth]

Would have loved it too. Still, $39 or so for an EZKeys sound expansion is pretty low, compared to $79 list.

It is, but, I'm with Rational on this one, not quite low enough. The most that I have paid for each of my four expansions is $25. For that though, you have to wait for the right deal and as you get more, the chances of taking advantage of the next deal lowers. I passed on the full copy of Vintage Upright for $29, for example, because I already have it.

[Numanoid]

It is has been a really good season for free gifts, thanks to all devs who have chipped in

I have on my list:

-Sonicouture Reed Organ
-Sonokinetic Ostinato Strings
-Sonokinetic EMP
-Native Instruments Kinetic Treats
-AAS free expansion (for those owning AAS products)
-reFX free expansion (for those owning Nexus)
-Arturia MiniFilter V
-Kilohearts Reverser
-Soundspot MSW1
-Air Xpand!2

Any other good ones I may have missed?

[ghettosynth]

It is has been a really good season for free gifts, thanks to all devs who have chipped in

I have on my list:

-Sonicouture Reed Organ
-Sonokinetic Ostinato Strings
-Sonokinetic EMP
-Native Instruments Kinetic Treats
-AAS free expansion (for those owning AAS products)
-reFX free expansion (for those owning Nexus)
-Arturia MiniFilter V
-Kilohearts Reverser
-Soundspot MSW1
-Air Xpand!2

Any other good ones I may have missed?

Are you not counting the BlackFriday stuff, because SoundToys!

Also, if you didn't already have them, all four plugins from Focusrite and partners.

[Numanoid]

Are you not counting the BlackFriday stuff, because SoundToys!

Also, if you didn't already have them, all four plugins from Focusrite and partners.

Making that list I was thinking x-mas freebies.

BF free stuff needs a list of its own, there's also 4 free plugimons to include on that

[ghettosynth]

BTW: If anyone knows of any discount/coupon codes that work for Sonicoture, that would be awesome.

[JonSolo]

BTW: If anyone knows of any discount/coupon codes that work for Sonicoture, that would be awesome.

Tons of markdowns with no coupon needed...

http://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/

Jon