Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[Ou_Tis]

Thought I spotted a good deal on the Bitwig upgrade plan but it's actually for their new "Bitwig Producer" version with even more limited features than Bitwig itself. Not sure if existing full version owners can use the producer upgrade plan or if a producer license has to be purchased first.

Though since I don't care about the grid and the only Bitwig devices I ever use are XY FX, FX Layer, and Tool so Producer would probably be better for me... but the lack of midi comping has been driving me so crazy I've started memorizing all the arbitrary nonsense necessary to use Cubase efficiently.

Bitwig support said full version owners would have to buy Bitwig Producer before using the Bitwig Producer upgrade plan. And there's no discount on Bitwig Producer for full version owners.

Looks like Ableton will probably go on sale in August... hmm.

[Gribs]

A giant “deal” that pops up regularly but I have shied away from every time is the Rigid Audio bundle thing. It just seems too big for the price to be any good, even though I have read that some people like it. I bought a new high-power laptop (no more building towers) and have been looking at what I have and what is on sale, what old stuff I have, and what might be inspirational.

I decided I don’t care about the 30-year license thing with IK Multimedia since I will most likely be dead then and my offspring won’t care about an ancient sample library (will they?).

[kitekrazy]

Audio Plugin Deals has IKM Syntronik 2 on sale for $39.99 (and sent a code for another $5 off). Is this behemoth worth owning? It seems a lot of people like it, but I am just not sure. It is 80 GB, but I have plenty of TB on my drives.

Sometime I just look at a thing like this and ask myself whether I want to even spend the time going through the presents. The size is daunting. It seems like UVI things like Vintage Vault (I am still at V2), but at least with UVI stuff I can load the presets into Falcon... Sorta just thinking out loud. It seems cool, bright, and shiny, but will it just sit in the garage under a cover as a collector item?

Also, what is this with IKM having a time limit for downloads? I just emailed several smaller Kontakt devs for downloads for products I ordered circa 8 years+ ago and all of them were very responsive and helpful (kudos to Impact Soundworks, Soundiron, Zero-G, Rhythmicrobot, and Wavealchemy for help recovering old stuff).

I have to disagree with what others have said here, I own Syntronik 2 and use it a lot. The sounds are great IMHO, especially the leads. But again my opinion so I would check out some preset vidoes if you are still considering it. And IK's installation and download policy sucks so there's that.

agreed, Syntronik sounds REALLY good. It's not like hard drive space is expensive anymore either.

It is when you have to buy it. I start to realize synth romplers like this are so bloated that do I want to use up valuable SSD space when you have pianos, orchestra libraries. other romplers. BTW most Sampletank stuff seems fine on a HDD.

[agharta]

agreed, Syntronik sounds REALLY good. It's not like hard drive space is expensive anymore either.

Try telling that to Apple as they are charging £200 for 256GB.
So if you want to use internal storage, which is useful for a laptop, the cost of Syntronik suddenly gets a lot more expensive.

Note: I don't use Apple computers or Syntronik.
I was given it but I didn't download it.

[Gavincoolguy]

Just beware it's not even the full version of Syntronik. They call it that because they think their customers are idiots or something and can't handle truly descriptive naming or think it's easier to force an upsell after the fact. Saying this as someone that likes some of their products.

[Kurdish Mayfield]

I just bought a 14TB drive 2 months ago for $220 dollars. Arguing the oppressive cost of storage is outdated.

[Gribs]

I just bought a 14TB drive 2 months ago for $220 dollars. Arguing the oppressive cost of storage is outdated.

That must be for magnetic media. I just put a second 4 TB drive in my Dell XPS-17 and it was closer to $280 (WD Black). I also hung a second 4 TB drive off one of the USB-C slots to use for back up and also transferring what I have from old laptops. I have an older WD external magnetic drive that is for long-term backups and was attached to my old laptop and it was not too pricey. The thing that bugs me with large spinning drives is that if they sit without being accessed for a while, it will spin down and then you have to experience a delay when they spin back up. I am old; I worked for 3M for 24 years (+2 more including my post-doc). My first project there was related to data cartridges (mag tape backup). I remember everyone talking about the future of 1 TB storage and thinking it was nuts. The "massive" hard drive on my SGI workstation was 4 GB :p

[Gribs]

Just beware it's not even the full version of Syntronik. They call it that because they think their customers are idiots or something and can't handle truly descriptive naming or think it's easier to force an upsell after the fact. Saying this as someone that likes some of their products.

It is the "standard" 80 GB version and not the giant, 223 GB version. It is pretty easy to see the versions on the IKM website and look at what sampled synths are included. I think of it like buying Komplete instead of Komplete Ultimate.

I ended up buying it then using my accumulated points from the past to get something else for a low price. There is also a 20 percent off additional coupon (JULY4) that applies after you apply your points.

[vstdls]

Just beware it's not even the full version of Syntronik. They call it that because they think their customers are idiots or something and can't handle truly descriptive naming or think it's easier to force an upsell after the fact. Saying this as someone that likes some of their products.

Agreed, if it's not the Max version, it is certainly NOT a fantastic deal at that price. I was able to get the whole thing (all "synths") for $29ish during the last group buy, as well as a part of TSM3.5. When that went low, like it usually does.

Cost of storage -> would be dismissive, except IK offers limited time downloads of your purchased content.... so you have to store it (and migrate it) FOREVER, or pay another fee. In any other situation, im on the side of "storage is cheap, deal with it" team. Thier installer suuucks... and (again) the sounds are not that fantastic against the competition.

[igorius]

From the "No chat, no pictures, no videos" thread:

Just got this email: Unsure of their quality but price is nice.


4G Fusion Synth
Regular price $99.00 4th of July sale $4.00

4G is not your typical multi-unit plugin; it represents "four generators." Rather than merely combining different sounds, 4G melds them together into a cohesive whole, resulting in extraordinary, innovative, and captivating sounds.

Get this fun and Inspiring VST/AU Plugin for $4.00 This 4th of July Weekend Only!
https://www.producernb.com/4gplugin/

Also this:
The Works! 4th July Weekend. Over 2,500 R&B MIDI's, Samples and Presets
Includes 48 Packs of R&B Chord Progressions, Samples. Guitar, Presets for Chordz, Cthulhu, Scaler CEG 2.0 and more$1,449.88 $7.00
https://produce-rnb.com/products/bap-04 ... ba256ae814

Does anyone know that synth? I've never heard of it. I've checked the website with archive.org to see if the regular price of $99 was just a fictitious price but in the snapshots that the wayback machine has it really sold for that price, except for the first snapshot which showed it for an introduction price of $69. I'm usually skeptical when there's such a big discount.
If anyone has that synth or has tried it, please let me know what you think of it.

I had not heard of it either. Seems I had subscribed to their newsletter at some point though and they dropped those two emails in my inbox this week. So perhaps they are having a firesale? Not sure. I did buy both offers though and was able to download everything. It's quite a bit of stuff actually.

As for their credibility, I'm not familiar with them. But they are listed on KVR's news releases page here: https://www.kvraudio.com/news/produce-r ... sion-57040

I bought it too now. It's a good deal for $4 but $99 or even $69 would be way too expensive. It feels like a typical rompler even though it has four oscillators. The wavetable engine is a gimmick with just three wavetables. The effects sound good. What freaks me out is that Windows warns me about installing it because it has no verified publisher certificate. I ran a virus scan on it and it couldn't detect anything but still I have a bad feeling when I click on "install anyway" or whatever that button said.

[Lairyboy]

I wouldn't worry about the windows warnings too much if you re buying from a legitimate source. I get them all the time when installing music stuff from some of the smaller companies and even brand new upgrades from some of the larger ones.

[igorius]

I wouldn't worry about the windows warnings too much if you re buying from a legitimate source. I get them all the time when installing music stuff from some of the smaller companies and even brand new upgrades from some of the larger ones.

Well, how are you going to tell when it's a false alarm and when it's not? Personally I can't remember having had such a warning before for audio software and I've got a ton of plugins. It's never good and doesn't make a professional impression.
Another bad sign is the fact that the developers of that plugin (4G) have requested KVR to be excluded from the review process: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/4g-by- ... nb/reviews

[ATS]

I wouldn't worry about the windows warnings too much if you re buying from a legitimate source. I get them all the time when installing music stuff from some of the smaller companies and even brand new upgrades from some of the larger ones.

Well, how are you going to tell when it's a false alarm and when it's not? Personally I can't remember having had such a warning before for audio software and I've got a ton of plugins. It's never good and doesn't make a professional impression.
Another bad sign is the fact that the developers of that plugin (4G) have requested KVR to be excluded from the review process: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/4g-by- ... nb/reviews

I have a ton of software too, I get the warnings a lot on different things.

[milesdeem]

I've gotten warnings in Windows from tons of legit sources of excellent, high quality plugins. Those warnings are generally meaningless

[MogwaiBoy]

I've gotten warnings in Windows from tons of legit sources of excellent, high quality plugins. Those warnings are generally meaningless

Agreed, happens all the time - with reputable plugin companies too (I just can't think off the top of my head which ones). I am ignorant on what it actually means - is it a gatekeep/pay-to-play kinda thing for Microsoft and/or is it a legit signed exe robustness testing service for devs, or perhaps all of the above.