# Who knows this company - Sonex - strange pricing



## Tastenclown (Feb 23, 2019)

Hi, I came to Sonex Kontakt libraries, found it through a link on KVR:

https://www.sonex.store/en/index.php?route=common/home

This seems to be a really stange low pricing and I do not know how the quality 
of the libraries is. At the moment they offer a free version of a Yamaha Grand to download, so I will try this one.
Does anyone have experience with this?


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## CGR (Feb 23, 2019)

I'm reminded of the saying "If something seems too good to be true, it probably is".


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## keepitsimple (Feb 23, 2019)

_- Acoustic Pianos: Yamaha C3, Yamaha C5, Yamaha C7, Fazioli F308, Bosendorfer 290, Steinway D, Steinway B, Baldwin and Upright Piano.

- 4 separate mic positions: close (stereo and mono), middle, far, and ambience (room)

- 12 velocity layers

- Sustain Pedal Off / Sustain Pedal On / Release samples

- Nearly 800GB of uncompressed sample content (compressed to 144 GB)

- 76.072 Samples (Kontakt Lossless Sample Compression format)


_
Am i reading this right? All those for $19.99?


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## JPRmusic (Feb 23, 2019)

I saw this on KVR as well. They have an Suite bundle that has everything they offer for 69.99. I downloaded the free C7. It was very bright and thin sounding to my ears. I compared it to Keyscape's C7. I've never heard of them before but with that pricing its tempting. Thinking surely there's something in this collection I can find useful.


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## gregh (Feb 23, 2019)

incorporated in the british virgin islands - no pesky taxes, might be avoiding other things as well. I would be cautious


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## Dominik Raab (Feb 23, 2019)

No YouTube presence as of yet - neither reviewers nor official video demos. Very few reviews on the site itself, and all of them apparently one sentence praising them to heaven and back.

Yeah, I'm gonna pass. If someone would like to take the plunge "for science," please report back here. :D


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## Jdiggity1 (Feb 23, 2019)

Do not send them money. They are as dodgy as they can get.
Unfortunately there are people around the web that will re-sample or repackage existing libraries, and sell as their own. This is one of those cases.


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## d.healey (Feb 23, 2019)

> Nearly *130GB* of uncompressed sample content (compressed to *25.11 GB*)
> 
> *Instruments (Zip Archives)* - 17 GB (43 GB Disk space required during install)



Well that makes no sense


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## Dominik Raab (Feb 23, 2019)

Jdiggity1 said:


> Do not send them money. They are as dodgy as they can get.
> Unfortunately there are people around the web that will re-sample or repackage existing libraries, and sell as their own. This is one of those cases.



Where can I get shirts that HZ likes? Asking for a friend.


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## d.healey (Feb 23, 2019)

Well I tried to buy their brass library, I have no use for it but it's a cheap thrill. Unfortunately their website won't let me pay :(


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## d.healey (Feb 23, 2019)

Scratch that, I reloaded and I got past the payment stage :D

It's a 9GB download...


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## Jdiggity1 (Feb 23, 2019)

d.healey said:


> Scratch that, I reloaded and I got passed the payment stage :D
> 
> It's a 9GB download...


Oh no!
I should have mentioned, you can get their _other _brass samples (or the same ones?) for much cheaper on their sister site: https://www.qataz.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=25&product_id=204 (https://www.qataz.com/)


Dominik Raab said:


> Where can I get shirts that HZ likes? Asking for a friend.


Well, in my case, it was a limited run of shirts printed for a fundraising campaign Hans was involved in.


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## d.healey (Feb 23, 2019)

Jdiggity1 said:


> Oh no!
> I should have mentioned, you can get their _other _brass samples (or the same ones?) for much cheaper on their sister site: https://www.qataz.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=25&product_id=204 (https://www.qataz.com/).


That's ok, I paid more so it must be better


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## Ben H (Feb 23, 2019)

Reminds me of that "company" years ago that were selling resampled VSL instruments rebranded as their own. I can't remember their name anymore though.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 23, 2019)

Regular piracy is just straightforward theft, but I don't understand why someone would bother resampling a library.

If you're going to that much trouble, may as well do your own and make a lot more money.


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## 667 (Feb 23, 2019)

Demos sound so bad they would need to pay me for the bandwidth and hard disk space.


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## evilantal (Feb 24, 2019)

Now I'm intrigued. I love a little drama...


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## brynolf (Feb 24, 2019)

Sounds awful.


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## KarlHeinz (Feb 24, 2019)

I think I get it now. If I remember well I had a struggle with the quataz site last year (not 100 % sure cause they always change the outfit of the site but there is not so much around like this) cause they first offered evrything as free, I downloaded something and instally deleted cause it sounds awful. Then some month after it there was the quataz site now offering it VERY cheap. I bought something then afterwards realized that it is the SAME then the free stuff. I must say I wrote a very angry email and got my money back but I would really stay away from this stuff. They had just hidden the free stuff (which was still there, the old links worked) and sold it. Think with the new site they are trying out how far they can go to sell free stuff (wherever that has come from, thats another question)...

EDIT: YES, it was, found the emails I sent, was quataz. Seems they now have deleted the free stuff (even if they announced it with "will be free forever"). But what I have to say: I got an answer from the support and money back (but my email was very "strict" (paypal complaint, other legal steps to follow  ).

The only thing that makes me wonder back then that after completing order they sent me a link to the same free site from which I have downloaded before....so not really clever


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## JEPA (Feb 24, 2019)

stay away from cheap stuff, buy only over $500...  (i had the same issue as @KarlHeinz last year)


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## Lode_Runner (Feb 24, 2019)

keepitsimple said:


> _- Acoustic Pianos: Yamaha C3, Yamaha C5, Yamaha C7, Fazioli F308, Bosendorfer 290, Steinway D, Steinway B, Baldwin and Upright Piano.
> 
> - 4 separate mic positions: close (stereo and mono), middle, far, and ambience (room)
> 
> ...


I know, ridiculously overpriced. Think I'll wait for the VST Buzz Deal on this one.


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## KarlHeinz (Feb 24, 2019)

?????? problem is not the price but the business practices as described. Dont understand this comment ?


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## robgb (Feb 24, 2019)

So are they shit or are they using someone else's samples? Or... If they're using someone else's samples, are they shit? And if it's someone else samples, which developer? And if we can't tell, can the developer? And if the developer can't, what does that say? How do you file an infringement suit if you can't prove you've been infringed? Pretty scary, IMHO.


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## Lode_Runner (Feb 24, 2019)

(Ignore this emoji - It was in an earlier post I was quoting, and won't delete)



KarlHeinz said:


> ?????? problem is not the price but the business practices as described. Dont understand this comment ?


Hi Karl, I'm not sure if you were refering to my comment or Jepa's. If mine, I was being sarcastic regarding the $20 pricing of Sonex for the specs they are claiming ($20 being ridiculously underpriced, not overpriced). At any rate, I get that the issue is business practices, not the pricing itself. The pricing is simply the red flag that tells you something doesn't add up and that business practices may be suspect.


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## d.healey (Feb 24, 2019)

robgb said:


> How do you file an infringement suit if you can't prove you've been infringed?


The "developer" is in Russia so that's not really an option anyway


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## d.healey (Feb 24, 2019)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> Regular piracy is just straightforward theft.


Sharing is not theft (either morally or legally). It can be copyright infringement though.


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## KarlHeinz (Feb 24, 2019)

Hi Lode Runner, o.k., get it now . Was not sure how its ment, sarcastic sometimes not so easy to see if its not your native language .

And as there are good hearted and absolutely correct devellopers have to make the "as cheap as possible" tour too (not to name some examples) just to make a living but offering valuable stuff for under 5 euro (which is "supposed" to cost 50 but never offered for and never will be - even if content and skripting is worth it - of course not in the real instruments samples section but in the "greyzone" of "Cinematic" or whatever)....

But this is REALLY suspect, only good thing (as said before) that they have reacted and kind of support.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 24, 2019)

d.healey said:


> Sharing is not theft (either morally or legally) please don't perpetuate that propaganda. It is copyright infringement though which is usually a civil matter but sometimes it's criminal.



Qué¿

(^ Manuel from Fawlty Towers)


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## alanb (Apr 3, 2019)

There's a free downloadable upright bass here:

https://www.sonex.store/en/index.php?route=product/product&path=18&product_id=75

_[the link is about 3/4 down the page]_

Anybody looking for an even cheaper thrill than @*d.healey* 's brass misadventure can download it (checking it thoroughly for malware before installing, 'natch), and see whether it sounds awful or, worse, sounds familiar.............


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## Tastenclown (Apr 4, 2019)

Regarding the upright bass:
Don't download it, a waste of time and space.
The Library consists of one articulation - Pizzicato. That's not the worst thing...
the size is 2,5 gb, but the samples (the ones I looked at) are about 40 seconds long, for one piz tone.
That means, the library is probably ten times bigger in size than needed.
Quantity over quality...


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## EgM (Apr 5, 2019)

Tastenclown said:


> Regarding the upright bass:
> Don't download it, a waste of time and space.
> The Library consists of one articulation - Pizzicato. That's not the worst thing...
> the size is 2,5 gb, but the samples (the ones I looked at) are about 40 seconds long, for one piz tone.
> ...



Most likely they autosampled (ripped) another library and used a fixed length recording without doing any trimming.


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## marclawsonmusic (Apr 5, 2019)

The violins have Power Locrian Legato. That's gotta count for something, right?


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## Fleer (May 8, 2019)

Any follow up on this? Tests? Reviews?


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## Circe (May 8, 2019)

I like this post! !!! . ..


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## Fleer (May 9, 2019)

Guess we’d better stay away


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## chocobitz825 (May 17, 2019)

Fleer said:


> Guess we’d better stay away


lol stay away. it sounds like an old hardware synth's library just ripped and ported to kontakt. None of those demos contain instruments from the library. lol for $40, i mean..it could be worse but i doubt anyone here has any use for this. Maybe some Trap music producers might like this...i dunno.


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## robgb (Aug 4, 2019)

@d.healey How did that brass library turn out to be?


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## d.healey (Aug 4, 2019)

robgb said:


> @d.healey How did that brass library turn out to be?


I couldn't open it, my version of Kontakt was too old


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## robgb (Aug 4, 2019)

d.healey said:


> I couldn't open it, my version of Kontakt was too old


LOL!


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## KarlHeinz (Jan 12, 2020)

Seems these kind of fakes just wont die.....there back as "Muze" know, so if you dont want to clutter your disk with this rubbish stay away from the huge demo downloads


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## Fleer (Mar 22, 2020)

As for “Muze”, I see they have a cheap Hybrid Violins library based on cello recordings, but I’m still holding off as I dread low quality. Same goes for the Effects offering. Best to stay away, I guess.


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## rrichard63 (Apr 16, 2020)

KarlHeinz said:


> ... they're back as "Muze" now ...


Is this the same Muze that is currently being offered by Kontakt Hub (Aquamarine and Bass Elements) and Audio Plugin Deals (Aquamarine)?






Muze | Virtual Instruments for music production.


Buy & Download virtual instruments for electronic music production.




www.muze.shop





If so, I would ask both retailers to investigate more carefully.


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## newman (Apr 16, 2020)

Muze on Audio Plugin Deals Aquamarine for $40









Elkatwin Retro Synth Sample Library by Xtant Audio - Audio Plugin Deals


The Elkatwin 61 is an Italian analogue synthesizer, considered a great string machine amongst enthusiasts and now available as an easy to use Kontakt 5 instrument.




audioplugin.deals





Muze Yamaha piano offering seems a bit odd






Muze Acoustic Pianos







www.muze.shop


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## brynolf (Apr 16, 2020)

KarlHeinz said:


> Seems these kind of fakes just wont die.....there back as "Muze" know, so if you dont want to clutter your disk with this rubbish stay away from the huge demo downloads


Really? I'm bombarded by Muze ads on Instagram. Is it the same people behind it?


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## KarlHeinz (Apr 16, 2020)

Yes, it seems so. They seem to have updated their engine/gui but I really doubt that the concept behind it has changed even if some serious resellers (like kontakthub for example) have them in their offer now. After lots of attempts (around 20 I think) I managed to download the 10 GB !!!!! free demo version of their pad library Aquamarine just out of curiosity, it sounds not that bad as the earlier attempts but it instantly killed my CPU like no other library I have while there is nothing I dont already have much better in other libs. I still wont never buy anything from them (apart from a 100 GB download for the full version....) but if anyone needs a 100 GB download with pads he already has (at least in the kontakt factory library if not in all the free stuff floating around) with a shiny cpu-hog gui....


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## Erick - BVA (Sep 5, 2022)

Tastenclown said:


> Regarding the upright bass:
> Don't download it, a waste of time and space.
> The Library consists of one articulation - Pizzicato. That's not the worst thing...
> the size is 2,5 gb, but the samples (the ones I looked at) are about 40 seconds long, for one piz tone.
> ...


To me this makes it pretty obvious that it's resambled material from another library. They just didn't care about the decay. Just have some kind of template or something to resample a bunch of sounds without caring about editing. Because if you were doing the sampling yourself, you'd never have that much dead space - unless you manually put the silence in the mixdown process. Not sure why you'd do that in a pizzicato sample. 
So yeah, I'm gonna have to agree that they're a pirating company. And they're still going, having sales left and right.


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## KarlHeinz (Sep 5, 2022)

Erick - BVA said:


> having sales left and right.


Thats the sad thing about it I cant really get. On lootaudio, which is a long running honest company, just as one of many examples, and even if something like audioplugindeals of course makes money with all kind of deals, but the guy who runs it makes as samplelogic high prize/high quality libraries, for me this is 

Maybe it is the market but for me it simply does not make any sense to let something like this into it and let it occupy space that seems to be badly needed for the honest devellopers. But I have no insight as simply being a "customer"......(who is annoyed by something like this nevertheless).


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## Erick - BVA (Sep 5, 2022)

KarlHeinz said:


> Thats the sad thing about it I cant really get. On lootaudio, which is a long running honest company, just as one of many examples, and even if something like audioplugindeals of course makes money with all kind of deals, but the guy who runs it makes as samplelogic high prize/high quality libraries, for me this is
> 
> Maybe it is the market but for me it simply does not make any sense to let something like this into it and let it occupy space that seems to be badly needed for the honest devellopers. But I have no insight as simply being a "customer"......(who is annoyed by something like this nevertheless).


Lots of companies are starting to do identity verification for vendors and developers (and least in the Royalty Free Market places for music, vectors, images, etc). Seems like it may be a good thing to do in this case. We never see who is behind this company. Pretty much all companies need to be public right? If they earn money? So why is the info about who is actually behind this company so secretive? 
I've said it in a FB post, but we even know who Sep from Unison is. He puts his face out there.
If you're so proud of something, would you not want to have a face to your company? Idk....just something doesn't seem right. I'm not just speaking as a "jealous" sound designer myself.


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## Paj (Sep 5, 2022)

FWIW: The bass and the fx libraries are cheap enough and a cut above the type of stuff you might find from Modern Producers (or at least compete with the same at a lower price point). I'd say most of the stuff would serve for pop tracks in a kind of WT-Fi way. Aquamarine is bloated way beyond it's 3000 or so presets and probably has a sound/sample selection feature that is even more inconvenient than it is well-intentioned. They apparently were going after the Sample Logic 4-core libraries but stopped at the gastrula. There is one library that I found it to be the diamond in the rough: Mello. You also probably have a mellotron-this and a mellotron-that but, as far as mellotrons go, this one sticks in my mind (excepting the patches "+ PAD"). Just something about it and it's only $7.





Muze Mello







www.muze.shop





As for the Sonex--->Muze propositions: About a year ago I started looking at and comparing sample sets but my life returned before I went nuts on every library involved. If you suspected something like this . . .




. . . recycled as . . .




. . . you weren't wrong. However, I did find a case for value added by Muze. Using Mello as an example: A different GUI with retained and different features, retained and added samples, and retained and added patches (retained patches sounded definitely similar, if not identical, to the Sonex sounds). In the case of Mello, an additional 215 nki files were added to the original Sonex 23 nki files (which are clearly labeled with "Old" in the names in Mello) and 3078 samples have been added to the original 805 Sonex samples. It looks like the library bloat in the case of Mello is because each key has been sampled over a three-octave range. If they're jobbers they're not just jobbers. Maybe value-added recyclers---that end up lowering the price? 

Paj
8^)


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## ZeroZero (Sep 7, 2022)

These sites are down here tonight


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