Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[martinjuenke]

Currently figuring what I need and looking to offload what I don't.

Problem is that you can't offload a lot of stuff due to NFR policies, ridiculous transfer fees, market price deterioration, over-saturation of similar offerings and so on...

You have just to delete to distracting items, let's face it...

[Kurdish Mayfield]

i've become fatigued by all the sales shit, it's overwhelming. there's a sale one something all the f**king time, it's impossible to track actual price/worth of plugins and everything just feels like someone is trying to scam me out of my money

I prefer devs that sell at a fair price and allow license transfers - like Valhalla. Or maybe do an introductory price and that's it. But as long as the initial price is fair and the license can be transferred I am happy. I hate the ruthless marketing and there are some companies I just wont buy from because of that - my past experience of disappointment with their products has taught me that

Agreed. I kinda like the approach that valhalla, xfer, oeksound, fabfilter or soundtoys take. They know their value and stick to it. I do appreciate sales, but they should only occur rarely (like black friday or something). Introduction sales I find strange because you basically say: here is our new product and it is overvalued, but if you buy it now you get 10% off.

Have to say I mainly dont agree with this. All of the tools that we buy, vsts or FX, should be purchased to make music . The business of making and selling music in the last few years has evolved with a rush to the bottom. Royalty free sites like Pond5 have cut into the music library business (in the past a good outlet for compositions) and now the former offers its customers "all you can eat" subscriptions for music, putting even more pressure on the composer. On the other hand, there are more outlets for music and money to be made. I'd rather spend my money with companies that price in a way that helps the end user ,and avoid those that stick to high prices with no acknowledgement of a changed landscape. My only exceptions would be for one of a kind innovation with the product. I'd wouldnt buy Fabfilter and pay $180 for an eq in 2021 but I did buy Serum. Also the Fabfilter sales (always 20% off ) are an insult in my view. I know their products are top notch but theres nothing one eq can do that stacking 2 or 3 cant and if you go down the wormhole of differences then you may have lost sight of the point; making music.

Bring on the sales..I can always tune out and focus on working.

[Ploki]

I'd rather spend my money with companies that price in a way that helps the end user ,and avoid those that stick to high prices with no acknowledgement of a changed landscape. My only exceptions would be for one of a kind innovation with the product. I'd wouldnt buy Fabfilter and pay $180 for an eq in 2021 but I did buy Serum. Also the Fabfilter sales (always 20% off ) are an insult in my view. I know their products are top notch but theres nothing one eq can do that stacking 2 or 3 cant and if you go down the wormhole of differences then you may have lost sight of the point; making music.

Bring on the sales..I can always tune out and focus on working.

The question is whether it helps the end user. When you get the 4th iteration of the same basic code for 29.99$ with barely any maintenance updates, what help are you really getting?

All the bargain bin plugins are still not M1 ready for example and are pretty much left unupdated - if they get an update, it’s a special “mastering” paid version or something.
Lots dont have GUI scaling either. Theyre not adapted to the new landscape in any way except ridiculous marketing.

On the other hand Fabfilter was M1 ready about two weeks after M1 was released- and it works absolutely flawlessly and fast, is scalable and unobtrusive. they adapt to change fast and smart.

Same goes for u-he, voxengo, …
I rather pay for something well maintained and have less plugins than have 400 different GUIs for same basic shit that sooner or later wont load, will have some GUi glitches or just be mediocre.
Frankly, most of bargain bin plugins are barely if even better than stock DAW stuff.

Re: FF - it’s just well thought out, fast, flexible, and doesnt get in the way at all. I can focus on making music because i dont have to deal with 20 different analogue bullshit “emulations” and a poorly working interface.

I’m also trying to cut down on stuff. Logic’s PhatFX replaced a lot of 3rd party stuff singlehandedly. I completely neglected it due to sale frenzies

[masterhiggins]

Only annoying thing about FF is that the new versions are unique plugins instantiation-wise. You can’t just use Pro-Q and expect it to open up in future versions of your daw. It’s pro-q2,3,4,5.

[Ploki]

Only annoying thing about FF is that the new versions are unique plugins instantiation-wise. You can’t just use Pro-Q and expect it to open up in future versions of your daw. It’s pro-q2,3,4,5.

That’s extremely annoying. I really hate it when companies do that.
But some people prefer that for some wierd ass reason

[Ceej]

Only annoying thing about FF is that the new versions are unique plugins instantiation-wise. You can’t just use Pro-Q and expect it to open up in future versions of your daw. It’s pro-q2,3,4,5.

That’s extremely annoying. I really hate it when companies do that.
But some people prefer that for some wierd ass reason

In most cases, it's because new major versions of a plugin could easily sound different with the same settings, due to improvements in the algorithms or whatever. If someone opened up an old session and it replaced Pro-Q2 with Pro-Q5 and suddenly the song sounds different, I can see them being pretty annoyed.

[masterhiggins]

I’m just saying, I have some sessions with Ultra Analog 1 that I can no longer open and sound remotely the same. I have to keep an old system just to migrate settings to a new version, go through every single instance (of which there are a ton), change the plugin, load the patch….it’s a massive pain in the ass.

[Kalamata Kid]

In Plugin Boutique what the lowest or best deal to get the MDynamicEq by MeldaProduction for free?

W.A. Production "Dodge Pro" for $4.90 is likely the cheapest thing you'll find, and it's not a half-bad little tool for what it does either.

The "best" deal is really going to depend on what you want. The iZotope $49 bundle is astonishing value if you don't already have most of the things in it. If you have any need for an arpeggiator, the Venomode Bestsellers Bundle is great for $33. Vintage synths, Cherry Audio's Polymode for $19 is totally worth it. Etc.

Thanks Ceej,
Got the W.A. Production "Dodge Pro" for $4.89 and the free MDynamicEq.

Edit: It was $5.13 USD in the final tally.

[Kurdish Mayfield]

I'd rather spend my money with companies that price in a way that helps the end user ,and avoid those that stick to high prices with no acknowledgement of a changed landscape. My only exceptions would be for one of a kind innovation with the product. I'd wouldnt buy Fabfilter and pay $180 for an eq in 2021 but I did buy Serum. Also the Fabfilter sales (always 20% off ) are an insult in my view. I know their products are top notch but theres nothing one eq can do that stacking 2 or 3 cant and if you go down the wormhole of differences then you may have lost sight of the point; making music.

Bring on the sales..I can always tune out and focus on working.

The question is whether it helps the end user. When you get the 4th iteration of the same basic code for 29.99$ with barely any maintenance updates, what help are you really getting?

All the bargain bin plugins are still not M1 ready for example and are pretty much left unupdated - if they get an update, it’s a special “mastering” paid version or something.
Lots dont have GUI scaling either. Theyre not adapted to the new landscape in any way except ridiculous marketing.

On the other hand Fabfilter was M1 ready about two weeks after M1 was released- and it works absolutely flawlessly and fast, is scalable and unobtrusive. they adapt to change fast and smart.

Same goes for u-he, voxengo, …
I rather pay for something well maintained and have less plugins than have 400 different GUIs for same basic shit that sooner or later wont load, will have some GUi glitches or just be mediocre.
Frankly, most of bargain bin plugins are barely if even better than stock DAW stuff.

Re: FF - it’s just well thought out, fast, flexible, and doesnt get in the way at all. I can focus on making music because i dont have to deal with 20 different analogue bullshit “emulations” and a poorly working interface.

I’m also trying to cut down on stuff. Logic’s PhatFX replaced a lot of 3rd party stuff single-handedly. I completely neglected it due to sale frenzies

For my part, I'll wrap this up here. We're in familiar territory, Mac vs PC and perpetual Waves hatred. As a PC user, the "29.95 bargain bin" plugins work great and allow me to accumulate an arsenal of FX that are distinctive and innovative (OVOX, CLA Reverb, Vocal Bender, F6, Mixhub and more) none of which are "bullshit emulations' ,just working plugins. With the help of this forum I got the Horizon bundle a few years ago (74 plugins) for the price of the Fab Filter EQ! alone. If someone has an argument on this I'd say just let it go and do some thinking. On a PC, updates are never needed so forget the Waves myths.

I can see where Mac users, who always seem to have to update when Apple gets a wild hare across its ass, can be testy , but why not be angry at every company that has to scramble to cover a new OS or chip for the Mac? Native Instruments, the biggest plugin and vst maker in the world still doesnt fully support the M1. Mac users should be used to being jerked around.

Anyway I'll still say a $180 eq in 2021 is waste. I completely dont comprehend anger at companies discounting or doing sales. However above and beyond all; making the music is what counts

[fairlyclose]

Anyway I'll still say a $180 eq in 2021 is waste. I completely dont comprehend anger at companies discounting or doing sales. However above and beyond all; making the music is what counts

my earlier point, which I think cascades down through the other posters, is wanting devs to charge a fair price and more or less leave it at that albeit with the occasional sale. Pressure marketing, false impressions of scarcity, inflated pricing that suddenly crashes to an equally fake discounted price, then hiking to an equally arbitrary ridiculously stratospheric price and so on is unethical, simple as that. And well known to be unethical and manipulative and illegal in some markets. Should be in software as well - one of the few industries that still allows such predatory practices

[MogwaiBoy]

I can see where Mac users, who always seem to have to update when Apple gets a wild hare across its ass, can be testy

Making music on Mac sounds like a nightmare. I would be terrified to place any 3rd party plugin on the track, thinking "will this be compatible with the next OS update?".

[Ploki]

For my part, I'll wrap this up here. We're in familiar territory, Mac vs PC and perpetual Waves hatred. As a PC user, the "29.95 bargain bin" plugins work great and allow me to accumulate an arsenal of FX that are distinctive and innovative (OVOX, CLA Reverb, Vocal Bender, F6, Mixhub and more) none of which are "bullshit emulations' ,just working plugins. With the help of this forum I got the Horizon bundle a few years ago (74 plugins) for the price of the Fab Filter EQ! alone. If someone has an argument on this I'd say just let it go and do some thinking. On a PC, updates are never needed so forget the Waves myths.

I can see where Mac users, who always seem to have to update when Apple gets a wild hare across its ass, can be testy , but why not be angry at every company that has to scramble to cover a new OS or chip for the Mac? Native Instruments, the biggest plugin and vst maker in the world still doesnt fully support the M1. Mac users should be used to being jerked around.

Anyway I'll still say a $180 eq in 2021 is waste. I completely dont comprehend anger at companies discounting or doing sales. However above and beyond all; making the music is what counts

Waves isnt my first company of choice to hate - but good point, waves is also pretty bad.
Because if you want an update to an existing product - oh lets say for resizing (i think not only mac users are using bigger screens, but if you’re still on a 15” CRT i apologise) - you’ll pay through the nose for it.

And i maintain - i.e what vocal bender does i can do with logic’s transformer since 2008 for free, i paid exactly 0€ for logic updates since 2011.
So 29$ well spent i guess?
Why is 25% sale a joke?
You can always sell FF plugin with about 30-40% loss.
What’s a joke is SALE ALL THE f**king TIME - 90% off.

Re: NI
I’ll be mad at companies that are still using 15y old frameworks for being too f**king lazy to do some actual work.
NI is still a blocky piece of garbage (beside not being M1 ready)

I do wonder how smaller companies manage to be m1 and hidpi ready - and without ridiculous sales to boot.

A plugin is worth 180€ if it saves you 180€ in a week.
I think fabfilter did that for me, and i have more time to complain about bad plugins on forums now, isnt that wonderful?


I wont go down the apple rabbit hole, but 40% improvement on Diva over even desktop intel chips is enough for me. I can do more with a laptop that doesn’t have a fan than a windows 9900k desktop can. Why would i be mad at that? I think its amazing.
“damn apple how dare they innovate, plugin companies can’t perpetually make money off 15y old code! Angry”

[masterhiggins]

I can see where Mac users, who always seem to have to update when Apple gets a wild hare across its ass, can be testy

Making music on Mac sounds like a nightmare. I would be terrified to place any 3rd party plugin on the track, thinking "will this be compatible with the next OS update?".

That’s why I only buy plugins from active, competent devs. U-he, fabfilter, and Voxengo seem to make it work.

[Ploki]

Those 3 are my fav as well, also my main

[AcrossTheSky]

Just a quick question,

Is there a link to the new ZEBRA CM - (somewhere)
I've logged in to filesilo.co.uk and downloaded the latest files but the zebra & bazille CM vst are not updated yet.

cheers