Page 24 of 29

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2019 5:42 pm
by grumpymike
I’m very tempted to get some of their other voice packages. I got Voices if Soul and love it. It’s basically the only thing out there for that kind of singing. Anyone used their phrase building in the chorus packages?

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:07 am
by jast
I think the audio demos are enough to judge how well the phrasing works - if not how complicated it is to build phrases with their software. :)

- Hollywood Choirs sound decent enough to get some basic choir-type sound in the background, but they sound kind of boring and too "uniform" if that makes any sense. The phrase transitions don't work for me at all, and if you put the choir in the foreground I think it's way too obvious.
- Symphonic Choirs has a better choir sound to my ears but the phrasing still sounds rather synthetic.
- The packages oriented more towards solo singing work better for me in terms of how the phrases sound.

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 1:10 am
by jast
Black friday deals at iZotope: Elements bundle $49 (Ozone, Neutron, Nectar, RX and others, 93% off!), Music Production Suite 3 $499 (~50% off) and others (but these are the most aggressively priced ones). Sale probably going until 6 Dec.

PS. Celemony is running a sale on Melodyne: "essential" 50% off, most upgrades 50% off (upgrade essential -> assistant 66% off). Valid until 3 Dec ("essential") / 31 Dec (upgrades).

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 12:14 pm
by owl
Crazy good deal on music-related books: "Making Music by Wiley" Humble Bundle--for $15, you get 21 e-books, mostly the "___ for Dummies" series, including books about guitar (multiple), piano/keyboard (multiple), drums, home recording, bass, banjo, songwriting, mandolin, singing, fiddle, guitar amps and effects, DJing, Pro Tools, Logic, ukulele, and harmonica...

I like physical books for stuff like this, but I also don't have room for all of these as physical copies, so it's just as well they're e-books, I guess!

I think I bought the Ukulele for Dummies book at some point before (written by the guy who does ukehunt.com) and have checked out the guitar one from the library and they were both quite good. Lots of basic info and fundamentals, which is what I'd definitely want for some of these I don't know anything about, like drums or mandolin, and they come with CDs (or in this case, downloadable audio files).

Plus you can designate a portion of the proceeds to go to charity (Musicians On Call).

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 2:03 am
by crumpart
owl wrote:
Tue Nov 26, 2019 12:14 pm
Crazy good deal on music-related books: "Making Music by Wiley" Humble Bundle--for $15, you get 21 e-books, mostly the "___ for Dummies" series, including books about guitar (multiple), piano/keyboard (multiple), drums, home recording, bass, banjo, songwriting, mandolin, singing, fiddle, guitar amps and effects, DJing, Pro Tools, Logic, ukulele, and harmonica...

I like physical books for stuff like this, but I also don't have room for all of these as physical copies, so it's just as well they're e-books, I guess!

I think I bought the Ukulele for Dummies book at some point before (written by the guy who does ukehunt.com) and have checked out the guitar one from the library and they were both quite good. Lots of basic info and fundamentals, which is what I'd definitely want for some of these I don't know anything about, like drums or mandolin, and they come with CDs (or in this case, downloadable audio files).

Plus you can designate a portion of the proceeds to go to charity (Musicians On Call).
And purchased. Thank you!

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:18 am
by grumpymike
FXPansion has 40% off
BFD3 is $209

IMO it’s the most realistic and best sounding drum VSTi

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 12:33 pm
by ujnhunter
Nembrini Audio has all their plugins at 70% off. Neural DSP has all of their Guitar/Bass Amp software at 30-50% off depending on how much you buy... i.e. buy more save more. Toontrack has some Black Week sales as well...

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2019 3:10 am
by jast
VST Buzz is doing a Black Friday sale (going for another 12 days as of now) on 26 plugins and bundles.
Particularly interesting IMO: Orchestral Bundle by Aria Sounds. For €67/£58.25/$75.99 excl. VAT (90% off)

This requires a full version of NI Kontakt 4 (5 for the harp)!
You get the following sampled instruments, ordered by interestingness according to me:
- solo strings bundle
- pipe organ with 5 pedal stops and 17 swell stops
- Hybrichord, an experimental piano where you can go to town altering the sound (including extreme changes)
- Celtic harp (3 dynamics levels sampled at 9 variations each)
- Bansuri and Xiao flute
- A bunch of percussion libraries
- Fazioli concert grand

EDIT: despite what it says on the page, I also got some of the other instruments from Aria Sounds as part of this bundle:
- Solo French horn
- Classical guitarist
- The pan pipes from the ethnic winds bundle

So I guess this bundle contains everything from Aria Sounds except the choir.

@grumpymike: thanks for letting me know about the BFD sale, I've been waiting for one...

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2019 12:49 pm
by thirdcatmusic
Jim of Seattle has me wanting to try the EastWest Composer Cloud which is on sale ($199/year) http://www.soundsonline.com/composercloud . I've never done the subscription model thing and I kind of hate the idea of not really owning whatever I buy but it's also a ridiculous amount of stuff to try out so it seems like a good deal. BUT I also already have like a million things (mostly Native Instruments). I'm mostly trying to convince myself not to buy it. Or maybe it's the other way around.

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:32 pm
by owl
If you've ever wanted the sound of radioactive pianos sampled directly from instruments found at Pripyat decades after Chernobyl, or the sound of pianos being burned and shot with crossbows, or the sound of a flute made from a human thighbone, you're in luck--all those VSTs are on sale till Jan 6.

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:35 pm
by fluffy
holy shit

I had no idea I did and now I absolutely do

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 5:37 pm
by grumpymike
FXpansion now has all the BFD3 expansions on sale for 50% off. Might be poor timing if you are being hit economically - might be great timing if you have a bunch of time at home.
https://www.fxpansion.com/products/bfdx/bfdexpansions/

I have Horsepower, Jazz&funk, Marching Drums, Sleishman, and Modern Retro. I know I will be getting 8Bit and some others once I have time to listen to samples.

I should note: I was excited for and tried IK ModoDRUM. Not very impressed by the sounds it makes. BFD is still the best.

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 9:17 am
by vowlvom
Cherry Audio have made their VST modular synth free:

https://cherryaudio.com/free

Just having a play with it now, some nice sounds and there looks to be enough there to get fully lost in!

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 1:16 pm
by ken
B&H has Alesis Elevate 3 Mk2 3" monitors on sale for $50 for the pair. If you just need something for hearing what you are working on, these are probably fine. I've been using something similar from Mackie that cost me a little more than that and have been satisfied so far in terms of using them for writing and casual listening. I've been finishing my mixes in very nice headphones. These are likely better than nothing for $50.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... _mkii.html

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2020 6:53 pm
by sleepysilverdoor
I'm just going to point out that Pulsar Smasher kicks ass. I've been using it a TON since downloading it. Best free compressor I've downloaded.

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Tue May 12, 2020 6:41 am
by jast
iZotope are currently selling an extremely discounted bundle of:
  • Ozone Elements (mastering, basic features like maximizer/limiter, imager, EQ)
  • RX Elements (audio editing/recovery, basic features like de-click, de-clip, de-hum, voice de-noise)
  • Neutron Elements (channel strip type plugin with stuff like track assistance and transient shaping, but Elements is missing the "multiple instances of Neutron communicate with each other" magic)
  • Nectar Elements (vocal polisher, with assist tool and basic things like EQ, basic automated pitch correction, compressor, reverb, de-esser)
  • Iris (wavetable synthesizer with a bunch of effects, e.g. distortion, and factory library of ~10 GB)
  • Trash (distorter)
  • Stutter Edit (rhythmic slicing effect)
  • BreakTweaker (drum synth with a ton of options)
... for $49 (the regular price is supposedly $895, but they run sales on part of their portfolio pretty much all the time). Part of the proceeds goes to some music-related charity.
I can't find any info on how long this deal will last, all they say is that it's limited, and it's been going on for a week or two already I think.
https://www.izotope.com/en/shop/deals.html

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Wed May 13, 2020 10:21 am
by sleepysilverdoor
...dadgum that's a deal.

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Tue May 19, 2020 9:50 am
by Lunkhead
There's a pretty rad deal on Sweetwater right now. You can get one of those Vox MV50 micro heads, the AC flavor, AND their 1x8" speaker cabinet bundled for only $150. Normally the head is $220 and the cab is $80, so this is a 50% discount over what you'd normally pay for the combo. I have the MV50 Rock and I've tried it using my Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue as a 1x12" cabinet and it sounds good, and if you factor in the cost/size/weight it sounds amazing. Of course with a 1x8" cabinet you won't get the same kind of sound but it'll probably be good enough for home practice and potentially home recording, at least for Song Fight. I was already thinking of getting the cabinet so I could record at home using an amp/cab/mic rather than recording direct. Now I may just get this bundle and get the other head too. A coworker says the AC flavor has a better clean tone than the Rock flavor, and while it doesn't get as overdriven as the Rock it still has a nice dirty sound and sounds like a Vox.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... ch-cabinet

This setup will probably sound better than a lot of other comparably priced/sized options plus you'll have a separate head with enough juice that you could use it with a bigger cabinet for things like practicing with a band or playing gigs.

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Tue May 19, 2020 10:59 am
by Pigfarmer Jr
I have the MV50 Rock version and converted an old amp into a 2x12 cabinet and it sounds pretty damn good. The cab might actually be more than "good enough" for songfight as I've found smaller speakers actually sound better recorded at decent volume.

(I think I want to dig mine out and maybe even actually use it to record something. It's been too long.)

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Tue May 19, 2020 11:10 am
by Lunkhead
I pulled the trigger on this deal ... and also on the upsell "only $10" Sweetwater t-shirt which I absolutely do NOT need haha.

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Tue May 19, 2020 5:22 pm
by ujnhunter
Because I needed another Amp/Cab like I needed another hole in my head... Thanks Lunkhead!

Actually I missed out on a deal like this for the same combo a few years (?) ago where Musician's Friend had it... but it may have been the Rock Amp instead of the AC Amp (which is the one I wanted anyway... so it all works out in the end...)

Re: Deals On Gear and Software

Posted: Tue May 19, 2020 6:49 pm
by Lunkhead
Ha, yeah, I heard of this via a #guitar-nerds Slack channel at work, which is a very dangerous channel. Unexpected upside for me, Sweetwater decided to give me the shirt for free. Yeah! Haha.