Fake Effects Plugin Deals

[HAL76]

I have tried the zebralette 3 beta. That is the best sounding synth I have ever tried.

Recently I looked at different cab sims/IRs and amplitube 5 seemed to be the best. There are alot I haven't tried though.

https://musicsoftwaredeals.com/price-hi ... ultimedia/

They have sold it for 80 bucks, but maybe it is better to wait for the next version altogether.

never pay the full price and always expect a better deal

Sometimes keeping your money is a better way to success.

I didn´t think of keeping it, but of thinking twice and research before you do.

Just think of what we have experienced with UAD in the last months. They had several sales campaigns and became cheaper and cheaper. I suppose that not just a few people were not amused. I mean I bought the LEX224 for 79 EUR. That is more than the bundle price now

Most companys have a target price and just generate news with announcements of sales campaigns that sometimes occur several times a month #softube

[Kappa_Beta_Hi-Phi]

OP regarding IK Multimedia they have a poor reputation with the community for a reason. That is not to say their stuff is bad quality, it is high quality, however I would advise you hold on Amplitube. Tone X is the new hotness anyway - try the demo of that but don't buy anything from them (IK) right now. They do blowout sales every year and you will know when they are on. Trust me.

If you are looking for an amp sim then Neuaral DSP are the way to go:

https://neuraldsp.com/plugins

They go on sale for $50/$60 each regularly. Demo them. Pick ONE and only one (I recommend Tone King Imperial MKII) and buy it when it is on sale.

Avoid IK for now.

[DCrown]

Kvr "Sell&Buy" sometimes also has nice offers, bought here some plugins and also sold.

[Effectsworks]

Trick is, never to buy anything at full price from specific companies, like PA or Waves considering there will always be a deal just around the corner.

[LunarKitten]

I've put a lot of thought into what to keep and what to part with over the last 4...5 years. Optimizing the own setup can be a funny hobby of its own.

I see. Currently I'm looking to get into how I can optimize my setup to make sure I don't run into CPU issues, to be prepared when I actually get to work on a real mix. Maybe it is good to keep a list of lightweight alternatives.

1. Tokyo Dawn, all the mixing plugins, regularly on sale.
2. Everything Voxengo. These can be bought for around 30 bucks a pop when on sale (and you bundle at least two of them).
3. Acon Digital, single plugins, both mixing/mastering and restoration. Come with Acoustica and give you excellent value for money.
4. Klanghelm. Never on sale, always below 30. Great DSP quality.
5. Kuassa pedal effects. I went for the whole suite (360) some time ago. These are good plugins and excellent time savers.

If I need something in particular, I will look if these companies have something to offer.

Just think of what we have experienced with UAD in the last months. They had several sales campaigns and became cheaper and cheaper. I suppose that not just a few people were not amused. I mean I bought the LEX224 for 79 EUR. That is more than the bundle price now

Most companys have a target price and just generate news with announcements of sales campaigns that sometimes occur several times a month #softube

That is very good to know. The advise I am getting here is making way more substantial difference that any amount of plugins would. It is quite amazing how generous some people are with sharing their experience.

I have been binge-watching mixing with mikes' boot camp tips. That is just incredible. With these tips I think I can have hope to win a one synth challenge competition some time in the future.

Are there any recommendations for deals/offers for great educational material? I think with the right instructions I could even become one greenlit 5 star mixer on the top of the music buisness myself.

Kvr "Sell&Buy" sometimes also has nice offers, bought here some plugins and also sold.

I have to check it out as well.

Trick is, never to buy anything at full price from specific companies, like PA or Waves considering there will always be a deal just around the corner.

Yes, I wouldn't want to be in the situation to have paid full price for such a plugin.

OP regarding IK Multimedia they have a poor reputation with the community for a reason. That is not to say their stuff is bad quality, it is high quality,

Do they treat their customerbase badly?

however I would advise you hold on Amplitube. Tone X is the new hotness anyway - try the demo of that but don't buy anything from them (IK) right now. They do blowout sales every year and you will know when they are on. Trust me.

I am. Looking forward to it. I don't know about Tone X, I am just interested in cab sims. As far as I can tell Ampltiube has the best cab simulation.

If you are looking for an amp sim then Neuaral DSP are the way to go:

https://neuraldsp.com/plugins

They go on sale for $50/$60 each regularly. Demo them. Pick ONE and only one (I recommend Tone King Imperial MKII) and buy it when it is on sale.

Only one? I am going to look at the tone king imperial MKII.

[Kappa_Beta_Hi-Phi]

Only one? I am going to look at the tone king imperial MKII.

Yes one good amp sim will take you a long way.

Cory Wong for clean, Tone King for vintage. The have a boatload for High gain. Pick one.

[LunarKitten]

Only one? I am going to look at the tone king imperial MKII.

Yes one good amp sim will take you a long way.

Cory Wong for clean, Tone King for vintage. The have a boatload for High gain. Pick one.

I didn't know this Cory Wong with their red sunglasses. They must be someone to look out for.

I like that they come with different speaker and mic options. In terms of cabs I think I'd at least need one open back with a closed back 4x12 for more heavy stuff.

For now I will have to pass on the trial. I want to compare the best sim to micing a cab myself, to see how much of a difference it makes.

Haven't seen any 50 bucks offer on here:
https://musicsoftwaredeals.com/search/? ... g%3Aactive

I wish they had friedman or bogner cabs.

[Kappa_Beta_Hi-Phi]

They go for $50-60 range on sale. That's what I paid for all of mine. They will go on sale for that at least twice a year, so hold your horses.

[jamcat]

The free amps in TONEX CS will cover you better than most ampsims you could buy. There’s a variety of clean and overdriven setting on 10 amps from Marshall, Fender, Mesa, Orange, Peavey, ENGL, and Ampeg (bass).

And you can use TONEX CS inside of AmpliTube CS. You can’t beat that for free.

[DCrown]

Tonex is great indeed. Don't like Amplitube that much, though.
I also like cab IRs by Ownhammer, York audio and Celestion. There are some free IR loaders, I load them into guitar amp plugins.

[LunarKitten]

They go for $50-60 range on sale. That's what I paid for all of mine. They will go on sale for that at least twice a year, so hold your horses.

Thank you.

Tonex is great indeed. Don't like Amplitube that much, though.
I also like cab IRs by Ownhammer, York audio and Celestion. There are some free IR loaders, I load them into guitar amp plugins.

I don't know what they do, but to my ears the amplitube cab sim sounds better than standard IR. I understand that they are also based on IR, but maybe they are doing something with it?

[Kappa_Beta_Hi-Phi]

OP here is a classic video about Kotelnikov that just popped into my feed again thanks to you. You should watch it when you get a chance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tx6SRCwWug

[LunarKitten]

OP here is a classic video about Kotelnikov that just popped into my feed again thanks to you. You should watch it when you get a chance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tx6SRCwWug

Got to check it out.

[DCrown]

One reason I don't like Amplitube is that most presets sound awful, there, are way too many (bad) presets, less is more and also too loud peaking at over 0dB/clipping, so a lot of tweaking before you get a decent sound. I also prefer fx of some other dev a lot more and I think I also don't like gui too much and Amplitube is not suitable for my fast workflow. I prefer having most things on one window not having to switch too many menus.
But if you want to use cabs only, you could deactivate all the other stuff, save your own presets and it might be fine. The bass amps/cabs are good, there's not that much competition and most bass plugins sound mediocre or bad imo. I prefer Tonex, there's a free version.
There are many devs of guitar amp sims and cabs, you have to find out yourself what you prefer, sometimes also gui, presets, maybe a dev's logo, improvement or update frequency, pricing, policy and customer service matter.
Have you installed and tried Kotelnikov? The free version will be all you need first, it's a masterpiece.

Btw Waves Horizon is only 189,99 $ now.

[SNBeatz]

I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned ToneBoosters plugins yet. They offer a whole suite of “professional” grade plugins for 30-50 dollars a pop, with standouts being their EQ4 and mixbus limiter, Barricade4 (which runs light enough and has enough features to be used as a general track tone shaper). Very good stuff imo.

I see someone recently pointed out Tokyo Dawn fairly recently, another great company who makes standout FREE plugins, with optional upgrade versions of said freebies that add more use-case specific features when you need them. Standouts for me would be Kotelnikov, the mixbus compressor king (again, imo), and Nova, an EQ that ranges from general track EQ to full on mixbus dynamics if you need it to.

Lastly, and again this is just from what I saw or didn’t see from reading the first couple pages, I can fully recommend a smaller indie company called SixthSample. Fairly rare discounts, but the normal prices are not price gouging by any stretch. Standouts for me would be F(l)atter, and Deelay, a broadband/multiband saturation and distortion box with a unique take on transient/sustain distortion that is completely optional, and a delay unit with more features than you’d probably ever need, including Tape-esque character features and deep-dive diffusion effects. I seriously use these things in every song I work on.