Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[brownerthanu]

Is it just me or are the Plugin Alliance Xmas calendar sale items underwhelming?

[ghettosynth]

Is it just me or are the Plugin Alliance Xmas calendar sale items underwhelming?

It's not just you. And vendors, please stop sending me your emails with "30%" off! Cmon, during the holidays if you don't have AT LEAST 50% off on virtual products you're not getting anyone's attention. Figure it out, mkay?

[ghettosynth]

Sonivox Companion Strings (9 GB) $1
http://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1 ... on-Strings
(thanks to mohak96)

And with my Virtual Cash, about 72 cents. Thanks Fleer & Mohak96!

I used my 66p Virtual Cash so 14p for me or just over 1p per Gig. I hope it's worth it!

I had 69p, but one outstanding review opportunity, woot! Totally worth free. I've found the sample based instruments are stable enough.

I'm passing on the big bundle though. I already did my evaluation of that when it was $110 and I passed then, but, since then I've picked up 88 and Big Bang Cinematic which were really the only sample based instruments that I wanted from them. I do like the woodwinds and brass, but not enough to actually pay for them since they are essentially the same samples that are in Ableton.

[soundbylaura]

Is it just me or are the Plugin Alliance Xmas calendar sale items underwhelming?

It's not just you. And vendors, please stop sending me your emails with "30%" off! Cmon, during the holidays if you don't have AT LEAST 50% off on virtual products you're not getting anyone's attention. Figure it out, mkay?

This is so true...

[JonSolo]

I'm passing on the big bundle though. I already did my evaluation of that when it was $110 and I passed then, but, since then I've picked up 88 and Big Bang Cinematic which were really the only sample based instruments that I wanted from them. I do like the woodwinds and brass, but not enough to actually pay for them since they are essentially the same samples that are in Ableton.

Are they? The Ableton packs sound so much better than the demos from Sonivox. I got the Strings for free. I have so many good libraries (Spitfire, EWQL, etc.) I have not brought myself to download these yet. Is there anything in the bundle that makes it worth it? The vocoder thing is the only thing that looked interesting from them and it is not in the bundle, ha ha.

[greenfly]

I'm passing on the big bundle though. I already did my evaluation of that when it was $110 and I passed then, but, since then I've picked up 88 and Big Bang Cinematic which were really the only sample based instruments that I wanted from them. I do like the woodwinds and brass, but not enough to actually pay for them since they are essentially the same samples that are in Ableton.

Are they? The Ableton packs sound so much better than the demos from Sonivox. I got the Strings for free. I have so many good libraries (Spitfire, EWQL, etc.) I have not brought myself to download these yet. Is there anything in the bundle that makes it worth it? The vocoder thing is the only thing that looked interesting from them and it is not in the bundle, ha ha.

I wonder if there is a more though in the Sonivox version. My Ableton library is around 4gb for strings but the Sonivox download is over 9gb. I asked the question one time from PluginBoutique but never got an answer.

[greenfly]

Is it just me or are the Plugin Alliance Xmas calendar sale items underwhelming?

It's not just you. And vendors, please stop sending me your emails with "30%" off! Cmon, during the holidays if you don't have AT LEAST 50% off on virtual products you're not getting anyone's attention. Figure it out, mkay?

I was thinking the same thing this morning. I reckon it's because in reality I already have all I want from Plugin Alliance so would probably only go for the other 'nice to haves' if they were being offered for something between $9-29.

[ghettosynth]

I'm passing on the big bundle though. I already did my evaluation of that when it was $110 and I passed then, but, since then I've picked up 88 and Big Bang Cinematic which were really the only sample based instruments that I wanted from them. I do like the woodwinds and brass, but not enough to actually pay for them since they are essentially the same samples that are in Ableton.

Are they? The Ableton packs sound so much better than the demos from Sonivox. I got the Strings for free. I have so many good libraries (Spitfire, EWQL, etc.) I have not brought myself to download these yet. Is there anything in the bundle that makes it worth it? The vocoder thing is the only thing that looked interesting from them and it is not in the bundle, ha ha.

Yes, based on what I've read. There's a lot written about the samples used because they've been around for awhile and they were recorded in an interesting room. Ok, but I could be wrong, I'm not really that into orchestral samples. Since they are on super sale, maybe someone else could verify my understanding.

So, as I said, I didn't buy the bundle and I'm not going to buy it now. Here's my quick assessment based on my demoing from a month or so ago.

Wobble and Twist: Unstable and stupid, not even worth the download.

Timewarp 2600: Probably makes the bundle worthwhile if you don't already have this and want this. I don't want it. It's an outdated synth with an average sounding filter. I just don't need another weak modular VA.

Big Bang Cinematic: Not really a huge variety, but sounds interesting enough. The only library that I enjoyed playing with their silly real time quantizer. I paid about $10 for it. It was worth that to me to be able to get these silly triplet quantized cinematic drum lines with little effort.

Big Bang Drums: Sounds ok, nothing that I really liked more than what I already have. If you use a lot of kits like this then it might be worth having. I prefer the kits that I have in Kontakt for acoustic stuff and Strike for "unrealistic" acoustic stuff mixed with electronic bits. I think that the Tony Coleman kit sounds better, but it's not in the bundle.

Eighty Eight: 16 layer piano. Not as tweakable as the NI pianos, but, it is 16 layer and I can feel that when I play it. Again, worth the $12 or so that I paid for it.


The orchestral three Strings, Woodwinds, Brass: AFAIK, these are based on a set of well rated, but dated samples that used to cost a lot of money and people still like. I liked them well enough that I thought that they were worth having, but, based on my brief research, the Ableton orchestral samples are also from that same library. They may not be exactly the same, there are multiple variations of the original samples. However, what people like about the samples is how the quality of the room has a glueing effect on them in a mix. So, it doesn't matter which subset you take, you are going to get the room sound. So even if the samples are a different subset than the Ableton samples, the overlap made them a redundant enough that I wasn't going to part with a C-note for them.

The singles: Ok, here you have to make your own evaluation to their value because they are all a bit specific. To me, only the Blue Jay drums stood out. The guitars just sounded bad to me, since I play Harmonica and Guitar, I don't need simple, and to my ears, not very well produced libraries. YMMV.

So, at the end I chose not to get it because I don't use orchestral samples much, although I have been using them a bit more lately, and I already have very similar libraries in the Ableton packs. What sealed the deal for me was another run of the 88 piano sale and the Cinematic drums sale. Since I now have the Strings as well, I'm not really feeling the rest of the bundle, even at $70. I'll wait for a $5 sale on Blue Jay drums and call it a day. Had I not purchased 88 and Cinematic, I would probably get the bundle at $70.

[Mikelo]

Desperately trying to save for Spitfire's Albion One and then Sonivox deal came along. I purchased the Companion strings for 1$ but haven't found any decent videos of the full companion suite to make me want to buy it. The few videos that I have seen, sound bloody awful!

[MFXxx]

IMHO and limited experience I cant see how Sonivox can come close to Spitfire. But that's just me.

[ghettosynth]

IMHO and limited experience I cant see how Sonivox can come close to Spitfire. But that's just me.

Yeah, as little as I know about Orchestral libraries, I agree. I think that the Sonivox stuff is really only appealing to casual users of Orchestral sounds. People like me who will stick an Oboe into a weird experimental piece, just cause. I don't think that they're competitive at all by modern standards. Again, AFAIK, these libraries are on the order of 15 years old.

[bigcat1969]

The strings included in Sampletank 3 were 25 years old and IKM sold that without flinching... At least these and other oldies are selling for about what they are worth, a buck. Remember the tech they were aimed at, anyone really remember what computers were like in the 1990s?
I'm obviously biased but the Sonatina and VSCO2 freebies sound better than what I'm hearing on the demos for some of this really old recycled stuff.

[murnau]

Desperately trying to save for Spitfire's Albion One and then Sonivox deal came along.!

Are you serious?

[xx JPRacer xx]

ne1 know about 2 for 1 at Bestservice for Tone2 synths like last 2 years?

[incubus]

Is it just me or are the Plugin Alliance Xmas calendar sale items underwhelming?

They are trolling me on purpose. I asked them about a couple that I wanted and they responded with "can't tell you" but I find it suspicious that the ones I wanted didn't come up yet

Anyways, there were some good ones. But the thing that upsets me is that I anticipated some BF stuff and all they did was say "oh here is all the stuff leading up to it"



Still waiting for the screamer.