Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[dzilizzi]

Acustica Audio Aquamarine 4 €53 until 11 October.
https://www.acustica-audio.com/store/pr ... aquamarine
Whatever next with 73% OFF, N4?

I picked this up because I get a 35% additional off. But it is really the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor of which I have PA's version. Well, I have both of PA's versions. Anyone compare them?

I know, I probably should. I'm just not sure I trust my ears.

How about this for comparison:
I haven't actually watched it myself so can't say if it's useful or not.

Couldn't watch this. Too much noise for me - not the compressors, the music. Thanks anyway.

[escalona]

Acustica Audio Aquamarine 4 €53 until 11 October.
https://www.acustica-audio.com/store/pr ... aquamarine
Whatever next with 73% OFF, N4?

I picked this up because I get a 35% additional off. But it is really the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor of which I have PA's version. Well, I have both of PA's versions. Anyone compare them?

I know, I probably should. I'm just not sure I trust my ears.

Here's the thing: Acustica plugins are resource hogs and buggy and laggy too, so if you dont trust your ears for the marginal difference then dont bother buying Aquamarine. In fact, unless you specifically use Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor you really dont need it, I think a lot of people think they 'should' need it but in reality its not a very flexible compressor duo, it can color the sound too much comparatively and its attack and release action are nowhere near as exciting as alternatives in my opinion. Basically, your money may be spent on better bargains, what with Black Friday around 5 weeks away....

On one hand, I respectfully disagree with the above opinion, though I understand where it's coming from. True, Acustica plugins will use way more CPU than other plugins. If you are using many plugins on every channel/track, go somewhere else, Acustica is not your thing.
On the other hand, sound wise, the Acustica one sounds (to my ears, of course this is all subjective) more round and true, by far, than the PA equivalent (which I find flat and uninteresting: once again, my subjective perspective).
And on the "third" hand, to be uber-honest, I care very little to none for the shadow hills compressor. I haven't found one single instance (including the hardware) in which it did something extraordinary that any other compressor could do.
If it was up to me, I'd save my money on both ends and buy a very nice dinner for my dog.

[Insanelysane]

Acustica Audio Aquamarine 4 €53 until 11 October.
https://www.acustica-audio.com/store/pr ... aquamarine
Whatever next with 73% OFF, N4?

I picked this up because I get a 35% additional off. But it is really the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor of which I have PA's version. Well, I have both of PA's versions. Anyone compare them?

I know, I probably should. I'm just not sure I trust my ears.

Here's the thing: Acustica plugins are resource hogs and buggy and laggy too, so if you dont trust your ears for the marginal difference then dont bother buying Aquamarine. In fact, unless you specifically use Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor you really dont need it, I think a lot of people think they 'should' need it but in reality its not a very flexible compressor duo, it can color the sound too much comparatively and its attack and release action are nowhere near as exciting as alternatives in my opinion. Basically, your money may be spent on better bargains, what with Black Friday around 5 weeks away....

On one hand, I respectfully disagree with the above opinion, though I understand where it's coming from. True, Acustica plugins will use way more CPU than other plugins. If you are using many plugins on every channel/track, go somewhere else, Acustica is not your thing.
On the other hand, sound wise, the Acustica one sounds (to my ears, of course this is all subjective) more round and true, by far, than the PA equivalent (which I find flat and uninteresting: once again, my subjective perspective).
And on the "third" hand, to be uber-honest, I care very little to none for the shadow hills compressor. I haven't found one single instance (including the hardware) in which it did something extraordinary that any other compressor could do.
If it was up to me, I'd save my money on both ends and buy a very nice dinner for my dog.

Haha I agree with everything except the dinner though that did crack me up

Shadow Hills does have a sound, does have some magic to it, in some unexpected places - the attack not just triggers the compressor but actually affects the image, open at 30ms and quite 'mono' tight at fastest setting. At least to my ears on my UAD Shadow Hills version. Also, the Steel setting has such nice low end but its really too much on a mastering job, I use Shadow Hills as first insert on something Im mixing just for colour, say on a kick or bass or keys. Ive stacked a few Shadow Hills on synths which really adds to them, and the cpu is so low (UAD DSP is one of lowest with this plugin) you can pepper them liberally throughout your mix. But yeah why would anyone use it for compression?

Aquamarine may be better for a 2bus, I dont know. As some have said, there are better choices for that role so why settle on Shadow Hills? Too subtle for most to want to use.

[Insanelysane]

With Black Friday not too far off, what are you guys saving up for or planning to buy this year? It has seemed to me that due to Covid everyone is willing to do sales and lower prices to get our hard earned cash spent on them - Black Rooster and Kazrog were two companies I didnt expect to start doing proper bargain sales, TDR now regularly offer their plugins at 40% off, Im hoping to see the likes of Leapwing Audio do proper sales or DMG (they never do sales I know) turn around to offer something enticing. I'll also have my fingers crossed on more Toontrack bargains like previous BF and Xmas sales.

I just know there's going to be bargain overload and Im not sure Im budgeted accordingly, I mean how much is enough? One has to budget for what one has on their shopping list and then another $500+ for all the ridiculous bargains I simply cant in good conscience resist :/

[Ceej]

With Black Friday not too far off, what are you guys saving up for or planning to buy this year?

I'm focusing primarily on upgrades - I'm waiting for the best prices to upgrade to Studio One 5, Melodyne 5, and The Orchestra Complete 2. Also hoping maybe for some discounts on Pianoteq expansions or maaaaybe upgrading to Pianoteq Pro. Between all of those I'm looking at a minimum of $400 so I don't have any other specific plans.

[BeeDog]

With Black Friday not too far off, what are you guys saving up for or planning to buy this year? It has seemed to me that due to Covid everyone is willing to do sales and lower prices to get our hard earned cash spent on them - Black Rooster and Kazrog were two companies I didnt expect to start doing proper bargain sales, TDR now regularly offer their plugins at 40% off, Im hoping to see the likes of Leapwing Audio do proper sales or DMG (they never do sales I know) turn around to offer something enticing. I'll also have my fingers crossed on more Toontrack bargains like previous BF and Xmas sales.

I just know there's going to be bargain overload and Im not sure Im budgeted accordingly, I mean how much is enough? One has to budget for what one has on their shopping list and then another $500+ for all the ridiculous bargains I simply cant in good conscience resist :/

Right now I've only been on the lookout for UVI Drum Designer. Missed the intro sales and have missed pretty much all sales in the Sales forum

I also want to move to K13, soonish, I think. Other than that, nothing special.

[gondii]

The only one that I will definitely buy when it goes on sale is Soothe2 by Oeksound.

[v1o]

All the Shadow Hills mastering comps compressors are over rated honestly. It's definitely not a style of compressor I would use on a master bus. Uncle E said he had the real hardware at one point, he didn't think much of it.

[.jon]

Perhaps all those preset packs and other similar content should have their own bargain thread?

[martinjuenke]

Yes, but nobody cares to introduce such a thread and all preset pack sellers would ignore it. Some of them are real bad spammers.

[Ploki]

Perhaps all those preset packs and other similar content should have their own bargain thread?

Are you being funny?
Didn't we just go through the whole ordeal regarding this literally two weeks ago

[chrisstiles]

With Black Friday not too far off, what are you guys saving up for or planning to buy this year? It has seemed to me that due to Covid everyone is willing to do sales and lower prices to get our hard earned cash spent on them

For me; some jamstix packs, upgrades for Padshop and Fabfilter, and some sequencer-styled glitchy fx (hoping for a decent Sugarbytes sale)

[monomox]

Perhaps all those preset packs and other similar content should have their own bargain thread?

Are you being funny?
Didn't we just go through the whole ordeal regarding this literally two weeks ago

I've meant to make .jon's comment sarcastically for a while, so it made me LOL

[pekadan]

Harrison celebrates 45 years of business by offering Mixbus for only $19. Sounds incredibly cheap for a DAW! I first ignored this anyway thinking not for me since I'm a Cubase user and I don't plan on switching DAWs anytime soon. But then I had a second thought that Mixbus could perhaps be a useful DAW for a secondary computer, and/or maybe the plugins for Mixbus can be used in Cubase, and/or maybe Harrison gives Mixbus owners special discounts on VSTs (if they make them)?

What are your experiences and thoughts? Can it be smart to get Mixbus now even if not for primary DAW use?

[paulo72]

What are your experiences and thoughts? Can it be smart to get Mixbus now even if not for primary DAW use?

If you want a straight-up emulation of a great sounding mix console it is cool.

Personally, I found it a bit fiddly, hard to read and inflexible but otherwise great. I wanted to like it, but in the end, I sold it.