What's on your Black Friday radar?

[Sackbut]

Fabfilter Pro R2 update.

I've downsized a lot, so more pizza and beer for me, less software.

Pizza goes better with cider. Beer's overrated, kind of like a Bud Lite thing I guess...

But, ya, given that I've developed a bad case of GAS, I'm going to sit this out. Besides, from what I've caught through the grapevine, 'Black Friday' may not be all that great for deals... oh, sure, maybe deals for the sellers... kind of like showing up to a job fair I guess...

Wife and I have gone “lazy keto” and pizza + beer is off the radar. She prefers wine, but that is off the radar as well; too many carbs. We are going to suspend it for US Thanksgiving, though, and buy a couple of bottles. We were never big drinkers and the adult offspring will consume it as well.

I agree that cider (apple or pear hard) or rootbeer or birch beer goes better with pizza. Sweet + salty.

Not a big drinker here either but birch beer sounds nice-- unsure I've ever had it or even if it's sold here. Is it hard? I periodically brew my own ciders, so maybe I can try if it makes sense to. I actually tried making spruce-tip cider but, althought it kind of worked, it was hardly drinkable because the spruce makes the liquid quite thick and almost gooey. It's still hard, fizzy and tastes nice, but I'm unsure how to get rid of the goo.
I think I'm about to go on some kind of lazy keto myself. How's it working for you? Alas, convincing myself that all my excercises can burn off all the calories consumed has passed its best-before date. As for wine, I'll generally only consume it as an addition to a cooking recipe; with crusty French bread and pate/creton/cheese; or with a good splash of cranberry drink if thirsty enough.

[IvyBirds]

I just checked their website, these are the MPE-capable instruments......DX7 is not listed

What exactly would you do with the DX7 engine with MPE?

[enCiphered]

I just checked their website, these are the MPE-capable instruments......DX7 is not listed

What exactly would you do with the DX7 engine with MPE?

My friend, If you’d tried the OPS7 from Plogue, you'd already have your answer. Every instrument truly benefits from MPE support.

[himalaya]

I just checked their website, these are the MPE-capable instruments......DX7 is not listed

What exactly would you do with the DX7 engine with MPE?

Play beautifully expressive FM sounds.

Twist that operator and mangle the algorithm, slide the ratio, wiggle the op feedback…

[foosnark]

Pizza goes better with cider. Beer's overrated, kind of like a Bud Lite thing I guess...

There are only a few beers I like, and not really with pizza. For me with pizza it's got to be Coke (Zero) or a hard lemonade.

On our vacation a couple weeks ago we did a cider tasting at a place in Gatlinburg and came home with a few bottles. We've been sick so we haven't gotten into them yet, but I'll think about having some with pizza.

As for wine, I have intensely disliked every red I've tried, and many of the whites too. I like a Riesling or Gewürztraminer though.

[Monsieur_FyP]

Coke and lemonade with pizza!
The Anglo-Saxon relationship with gastronomy summed up in a single sentence

[billinder33]

I was looking at the new HG-2MS, but I tested it last night and was underwhelmed. Running 2 instances of True Iron split in L/R or M/S sounded better to me in every test.

Was hoping for a better workflow than setting up 2 separate plugin instances through Bitwig's splitters, but I just don't like the sound of these PA Black Box plugins. Tried the original a few years ago and was underwhelmed, was hoping it was just a matter of my personal tastes at the time but sadly that's not the case. These HG2s just sound grainy, gritty, and bad compared to True Iron. YMMV, of course.

Honestly not sure there's anything else out there of interest. Would like to find a good sounding, dedicated bit crusher / sample rate reducer without introducing another developer into the fold, but it's not an urgent need and Serum FX's still works pretty well for me when I want that bit-crushed sound. Tried Lo-Fi AF a while back and was pretty underwhelmed by that one.

Also maybe something that does spectral and a decent granular verb as well. All non-urgent, so I might just sit this Black Friday out unless there's some compelling new release that has yet to be announced.

[Gribs]

Fabfilter Pro R2 update.

I've downsized a lot, so more pizza and beer for me, less software.

Pizza goes better with cider. Beer's overrated, kind of like a Bud Lite thing I guess...

But, ya, given that I've developed a bad case of GAS, I'm going to sit this out. Besides, from what I've caught through the grapevine, 'Black Friday' may not be all that great for deals... oh, sure, maybe deals for the sellers... kind of like showing up to a job fair I guess...

Wife and I have gone “lazy keto” and pizza + beer is off the radar. She prefers wine, but that is off the radar as well; too many carbs. We are going to suspend it for US Thanksgiving, though, and buy a couple of bottles. We were never big drinkers and the adult offspring will consume it as well.

I agree that cider (apple or pear hard) or rootbeer or birch beer goes better with pizza. Sweet + salty.

Not a big drinker here either but birch beer sounds nice-- unsure I've ever had it or even if it's sold here. Is it hard? I periodically brew my own ciders, so maybe I can try if it makes sense to. I actually tried making spruce-tip cider but, althought it kind of worked, it was hardly drinkable because the spruce makes the liquid quite thick and almost gooey. It's still hard, fizzy and tastes nice, but I'm unsure how to get rid of the goo.
I think I'm about to go on some kind of lazy keto myself. How's it working for you? Alas, convincing myself that all my excercises can burn off all the calories consumed has passed its best-before date. As for wine, I'll generally only consume it as an addition to a cooking recipe; with crusty French bread and pate/creton/cheese; or with a good splash of cranberry drink if thirsty enough.

Nice. We cook with wine, but stopped drinking the rest of the bottle most times.

Birch beer is just another sort of root beer and non-alcoholic. Some very rare places have it on tap. There is a place my family likes near us that has some sort of root beer on tap that is really good. They also have an amazing list of local and non-local craft beers and usually at least one cider on tap.

[BBFG#]

Is Crusher-X still a thing?

[aMUSEd]

Is Crusher-X still a thing?

Very much so

[IvyBirds]

I just checked their website, these are the MPE-capable instruments......DX7 is not listed

What exactly would you do with the DX7 engine with MPE?

Play beautifully expressive FM sounds.

Twist that operator and mangle the algorithm, slide the ratio, wiggle the op feedback…

But you don't need MPE to do any of that with the DX7 engine as is

[carrieres]

I have a question regarding Arturia V Collection. I’m still on version 6 and don’t necessarily need any new instruments, but I would be interested if there have been any major improvements or feature upgrades since then. Does Arturia frequently update and enhance their instruments, or do they mostly focus on adding new ones?

V Collection X : 2023
Mini V4, Wurli V3
V Collection 9 : 2022
CS-80 V4, Prophet-5 V, Prophet-VS V, Piano V3
V Collection 8 : 2020
Analog Lab V5, Jup-8 V4, Stage-73 V2
V Collection 7 : 2019
Analog Lab V4, B-3 V2

[N 4 LIFE]

Korg just announced their black friday stuff. any recommendations?

[himalaya]

I just checked their website, these are the MPE-capable instruments......DX7 is not listed

What exactly would you do with the DX7 engine with MPE?

Play beautifully expressive FM sounds.

Twist that operator and mangle the algorithm, slide the ratio, wiggle the op feedback…

But you don't need MPE to do any of that with the DX7 engine as is

I'm afraid that is incorrect.
You can not do what MPE allows you to, with the DX7 engine 'as is'.
The whole point of MPE is to have individual expression per note as you play with your hands, and the DX7, nor any other non-MPE synth, does not allow you to do that. Using a mod-wheel, or a foot pedal, triggers 'monophonic' modulation, but MPE, in simple terms, is about 'polyphonic' modulation. Moreover, in order to use a mod-wheel requires you to stop playing with one of your hands and lift it to access the mod-wheel, with MPE, you have the mod-wheel under your fingertips as it were, so your performance is more fluid, continuous, more expressive in the moment - if that's your thing.

[IvyBirds]

I'm afraid that is incorrect.
You can not do what MPE allows you to, with the DX7 engine 'as is'.

When I asked you what you wanted to do with MPE you said

Play beautifully expressive FM sounds.

Twist that operator and mangle the algorithm, slide the ratio, wiggle the op feedback…

Again all of those things can be done as is with the DX7 engine

You made no mention of wanting to do those per note

I know what MPE is, and I know how it works with FM if you choose. In fact I have it in my Montage M, and in HALion7 inside if Cubase using FM-X, it available inside of F-em which I also own but don't use much in favor of FM-X inside of Yamaha/Steinberg products

My specific question was with regards to the DX7 engine.

The DX7 engine is actually a poor choice for MPE hence why I asked what you wanted to do with it, and your response was doing things the DX7 can already do

For MPE in FM, HALion7 and F-em are vastly superior options over DX7, the problem is that in the DX7, the modulation destinations that you would trigger with MPE are pretty blunt instruments and would be hard to play with finesse and expressiveness

For example you mentioned changing and tweaking algorithms, with FM-X and F-em you are not locked into predefined algorithms like in the DX7. You could create two different algos with different feedback parameters on different operators and switch back and forth between them as you play. This is made even more powerful by having 8 operators available to do this as opposed to 6