Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[oneshotdeal]

(...)

All customers who purchase Total Studio 2 MAX on or after October 15, 2020 will receive AmpliTube 5 SE, which will load all other AmpliTube gear included in Total Studio 2 MAX, for free.

Great, so I own TSM2 but because I got it earlier this year I don't get it. My mistake was thinking the TSM2 was like Komplete with nearly all products from the company but boi was I wrong. I had expected a decent upgrade price but the upgrades are ridiculous.

You're kidding me. I got it on October 13th.

That's an especially bitter pill to swallow because it seemed like such a great deal at the time but it turns out virtually all the SampleTank and Syntronik stuff is unusably bad and Amplitube and a couple of the TR5 compressors is all I'm actually using of the entire package.

Oh well. Wish I had listened to the IK hate on here.

[Vleker]

I don't hate IK but I think they can do a lot better. From TSM2 I mostly use Modo Bass and Amplitube and Modo Bass has been quite buggy from the start. Had contact with customer support and they acknowledged the bug, passed it on and told me that it could take a while before they fixed it. That was months ago.

Most of the TSM2 is quite filler content anyway and I don't know a lot of people who use a lot of it. But given that I own Amplitube 4 in it, it would've been nice to at least get 5 SE. They have some good stuff but can improve on their customer service.

[simmo75]

Hi guys! Happy New Year!

I'm considering buying Sonarworks Reference 4 Headphones edition, do you know if they do sales or if there's any coupon for retailes like JRR Shop?

You should demo Realphones, very impressive.
https://www.dsoniq.com/

[squibs]

Great, so I own TSM2 but because I got it earlier this year I don't get it. My mistake was thinking the TSM2 was like Komplete with nearly all products from the company but boi was I wrong. I had expected a decent upgrade price but the upgrades are ridiculous.

Preach. I'm in the same boat, and really expected an affordable upgrade path. Combined with the outlandish prices to downlioad your own software/soundsets again, I'm starting to regret my choices.

[The Noodlist]

You should demo Realphones, very impressive.
https://www.dsoniq.com/

Interesting. It appears to have a limited selectoin of headphone profiles.

[Vleker]

You should demo Realphones, very impressive.
https://www.dsoniq.com/

Interesting. It appears to have a limited selectoin of headphone profiles.

How does it compare to Sonarworks though? From what I see this is similar to Abbey Road by Waves? Simulating a control room in headphones?

[Insanelysane]

You should demo Realphones, very impressive.
https://www.dsoniq.com/

Interesting. It appears to have a limited selectoin of headphone profiles.

How does it compare to Sonarworks though? From what I see this is similar to Abbey Road by Waves? Simulating a control room in headphones?

I found my life got more complicated having Realphones and Sonarworks both running together (I had Sonarworks first and it def improved my Sennheiser HD650 curve and definition in low end especially) the problem was on Windows, both drivers were competing for autonomy of some standalone vsts, some would work and some wouldn't. Sometimes Realphones would default to Windows Audio driver on startups, just wasnt reliable.

Having said that, the monitoring on Realphones was excellent for bass response especially. You could hear a lot better what the lower frequencies would sound like and translate to a room. The tweaking options on it were very good too, you could shape your listening curve experience from a sort of eq curve to stereo imaging. The problem to me again became over complication and procrastination over which settings were 'best' for monitoring and mixing. Realphones definitely was great for listening to music, but it was also different and I started to feel like it was training me to listen in one way but I wasn't sure by the end it was 'better' than what I had before just using Sonarworks and my trusty headphones I was used to.

So in the end I decided to remove Realphones to take away complication and I have no regrets. Sonarworks is rock solid. Most people on the forums appear to prefer Realphones to Sonarworks for its headphone correction profiles but I didnt find it was better. YMMV of course.

Just dont buy both, that'll introduce more headache than its worth!

[telecode]

Oh well. Wish I had listened to the IK hate on here.

I think IKM make decent stuff. Its their marketing model that entices regret syndrome in existing customers. There is a very very good chance what you paid for one particular product will wind up costing much less in the very near future and you will regret the price you paid. So it becomes this stupid psychological waiting game of sitting and waiting for the right time and the right deal. You can wait forever or you have dive in and regret it later.

FWIW... the way to buy IKM stuff is research what you really want and buy druing a Group buy -- if wait for a Total or Max deal and get everything.

[JonSolo]

Another clue is to see the value that YOU receive from the product, and don't look back at the money. That always is a dead end.

Another term is New Car Buyer Regret...the minute it is off the lot it depreciates at least 25%.

[imrae]

FWIW... the way to buy IKM stuff is research what you really want and buy druing a Group buy -- if wait for a Total or Max deal and get everything.

If going for a Total or Max deal, check closely that they include the stuff you actually want. e.g. the current "Total" product doesn't come with the proper version of Amplitube 5.

[telecharge]

Yeah, the Total Studio MAX 2 offer is potentially a good deal, depending on your use. For me, it comes up short for something called "MAX".

I would likely bite if it included MODO Drums or SampleTank 4 (not SE) or the Tape Machine Collection or even Syntronik Deluxe.

It would be nice if they grandfathered everyone who took advantage of the offer (going back to October now) with a license for AmpliTube 5 SE. But as is often the case with the big names, it's more about attracting new customers than rewarding loyalty.

[mr_sailor]

IK group buys are nice.
I bought three pieces of hardware (ARC2, AxeIO, iRig Keys IO) from them and got almost all of their software thrown in during the group buy. The normal offers apart from free stuff... meh.
The iRig Keys IO is an awful toy but hey, together with free stuff, nothing to complain about.

[Uncle E]

f**k, I bought it from you for full price. Ah well, cheaper than paying in euros. Will remember for next time.

I'll PM you about it.

[Uncle E]

I'm considering buying Sonarworks Reference 4 Headphones edition, do you know if they do sales or if there's any coupon for retailes like JRR Shop?

There was a sale during Black Friday. They rarely had sales in 2020 and 2019, it might be a while before they have another sale. The best coupon code for it is "Forum".

[Uncle E]

(...)

All customers who purchase Total Studio 2 MAX on or after October 15, 2020 will receive AmpliTube 5 SE, which will load all other AmpliTube gear included in Total Studio 2 MAX, for free.

Great, so I own TSM2 but because I got it earlier this year I don't get it. My mistake was thinking the TSM2 was like Komplete with nearly all products from the company but boi was I wrong. I had expected a decent upgrade price but the upgrades are ridiculous.

You're kidding me. I got it on October 13th.

That's an especially bitter pill to swallow because it seemed like such a great deal at the time but it turns out virtually all the SampleTank and Syntronik stuff is unusably bad and Amplitube and a couple of the TR5 compressors is all I'm actually using of the entire package.

Oh well. Wish I had listened to the IK hate on here.

Try messaging their support about it:

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/contact-support/sw/