Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[quietzone]

[deleted by user]

[russeault]

I'm pretty sure that WA Prods are the same people as pluginboutique

[russeault]

Regarding the "Samplitude Pro X4 Suite + Steinberg SpectraLayers Pro 6 for $149" deal posted in the "No Chat" thread, the company Magix looks fishy as hell.

My opinion is that Samplitude is abandonware being flogged by a marketing company.

[agharta]

My opinion is that Samplitude is abandonware being flogged by a marketing company.

They have very recently released a new version with plenty of new features so it's clearly not been abandoned.
Adding support for MPE and ARA2 alone is more than most DAWs manage.
https://www.magix.com/gb/music/samplitu ... /#c1199487

[Dirtgrain]

Well, SpectraLayers was what interested me--it's normally $299.00, but I think I'll wait to see if Steinberg does a sale this summer.

[yellowmix]

I'm pretty sure that WA Prods are the same people as pluginboutique

Do you have something to back that up? Plugin Boutique is a Loopmasters.com venture based out of England, W.A. Production is based in the Czech Republic. What do you mean by "the same people"?

[Ou_Tis]

I'm pretty sure that WA Prods are the same people as pluginboutique

Do you have something to back that up? Plugin Boutique is a Loopmasters.com venture based out of England

Hmm, wonder why the Plugin Boutique rewards points Loopmasters packs don't show up in my Loopcloud, whereas packs purchased from the Loopmasters website do. (It's especially annoying when I'm browsing sounds in the Loopcloud store and have to make sure I don't already have the pack through Plugin Boutique.)

[yellowmix]

Regarding the "Samplitude Pro X4 Suite + Steinberg SpectraLayers Pro 6 for $149" deal posted in the "No Chat" thread, the company Magix looks fishy as hell. It has a bunch of bad reviews here: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.magix.com

I would totally jump on this deal if I could trust the seller, but I don't.

Magix is a legit company. I don't disbelieve the reviews on that site, but understand they have a wide range of multimedia products ranging from bargain-bin commodity to expensive pro levels. I don't use the commodity stuff, they do have self-promotional ads in them which I find ridiculous on a paid desktop app but they are not alone in this.

They are the current owner of Sound Forge and they've welcomed and listened to user feedback and implemented many requests. They sold off SpectraLayers so I view that as responsible move if they either couldn't or lost the will to develop it further. I can't speak to Samplitude, I got it in a bundle but never installed it.

I've had two support interactions. One was about sales, I got one of the bargain-bin deals on Sound Forge Jr. from Humble Bundle and they gave me a good upgrade discount to go to Pro. The other was for technical support, some the (old) plugins from the Humble Bundle deal couldn't be authorized and they tried but ultimately I resolved it myself. Anecdata, I know, but this is a real company that responds to the extent they can.

It's easy to get into the ecosystem, the bundle deals are great, but the paid upgrade cycle is relatively frequent. They've actually on Samplitude Pro X5 now. I find it odd they promote and sell old versions concurrently. In light of the upgrade cycle it's hard not to ascribe a certain business model. But you're not forced to upgrade and you can skip versions, and you might be better off waiting for the next discount bundle deal which is what I do.

[yellowmix]

Hmm, wonder why the Plugin Boutique rewards points Loopmasters packs don't show up in my Loopcloud, whereas packs purchased from the Loopmasters website do. (It's especially annoying when I'm browsing sounds in the Loopcloud store and have to make sure I don't already have the pack through Plugin Boutique.)

Probably a lack of integration between the two sites' backends. Just because sites/brands are owned by the same entity doesn't mean the technical aspects are the same or interoperable. There's also the GDPR and data sharing laws that make it difficult to link your two accounts. It's also possible Loopmasters bought Plugin Boutique (I don't know and I don't feel like looking it up).

If I were you I'd be sending emails to both of them requesting they implement it but it may be logistically prohibitive. From a development standpoint, it is a major project and I can't see them prioritizing it for so little benefit (to them).

[yellowmix]

Hm Melda’s license transfer is a bit offputting to be honest.

https://www.meldaproduction.com/about/licencing/general

20% of full MSRP... so it's like the Waves model, except the Waves model is 5%. Though their $29 deals come down from, say $299 (J27 Tape) so the fee in that case would be ~$14.95 or 52% of the paid price (plus current WUP).

Looking at Melda's current sale, MSuperLooper at $21 has an MSRP of $109 so the transfer fee would be $21.80 or 104% of the paid price. Let's try something else, MSoundFactory at $219 has an MSRP of $328, the transfer fee is then $65.60 or 30% of the paid price. There's also the standard 50% off, so it doesn't matter what we choose so let's use nice numbers. 20% of an MSRP of $100 sold for $50 is $20, or 40%.

[Ploki]

Hm Melda’s license transfer is a bit offputting to be honest.

https://www.meldaproduction.com/about/licencing/general

20% of full MSRP... so it's like the Waves model, except the Waves model is 5%. Though their $29 deals come down from, say $299 (J27 Tape) so the fee in that case would be ~$14.95 or 52% of the paid price (plus current WUP).

Looking at Melda's current sale, MSuperLooper at $21 has an MSRP of $109 so the transfer fee would be $21.80 or 104% of the paid price. Let's try something else, MSoundFactory at $219 has an MSRP of $328, the transfer fee is then $65.60 or 30% of the paid price. There's also the standard 50% off, so it doesn't matter what we choose so let's use nice numbers. 20% of an MSRP of $100 sold for $50 is $20, or 40%.

ikr? and they have sales quite often + referral coupons. license transfers seem to be on the agressive side

[OneOfManyPauls]

I'm pretty sure that WA Prods are the same people as pluginboutique

are you confusing WA Production with Producertech?

[agharta]

Presumably if you get the $150 Magix deal with SpectraLayers 6 and wait to register it with Steinberg, you will benefit from the grace period and get version 7 for free?
I only mention this because the current Samplitude Suite comes with version 6 and states that version 7 will be a free update.
That seems to imply it is due soon maybe?

[goldenanalog]

Magix is an interesting company; although one gets the impression that they’re more of a holdings company at this point.

Having said that: Samplitude is a big deal - always has been, but it seems that every new version starts out buggy - it eventually gets largely ironed out, tho.

They now own almost all the old Sony Professional content: Vegas, Acid, Sound Forge - the legacy Sonic Foundry stuff. And they’ve been recently updating it: 64 bit; etc.

They also own Sequoia - that’s Samplitude’s big brother; the way Nuendo is to Cubase.

Speaking of which:

There seems to a connection between Magix and Steinberg: Steinberg now owns Spectralayers; but Spectralayers is also associated with Magix - you’re going to get the next version of SL when it drops if you buy the X5 Suite - seems very unusual if Steinberg owns the ip, unless there’s a relationship there.

[goldenanalog]

Magix is legit. Weird, different - are probably suitable adjectives to describe. Complicated could be one.

Here’s Sequoia, btw:

https://www.magix.com/us/music/sequoia/

- the above link resolves to Samplitude X5 on my phone for some reason. Here’s another link that helps to identify the differences:

https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/magix-seq ... _variant=a