# Black Friday 2019



## pfmusic (Oct 28, 2019)

This time next month, will be the evening before Black Friday.

What's on your list?


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## lgmcben (Oct 28, 2019)

Wotan, Freyja, Arva


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## AndyP (Oct 28, 2019)

Vacation!


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## dzilizzi (Oct 28, 2019)

AndyP said:


> Vacation!


+1


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## tomosane (Oct 28, 2019)

I was planning on buying nothing, but I'm now really tempted with Caspian -- a library I've always kinda been eyeing, and the current pre-BF price is certainly right.


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## Mike Fox (Oct 28, 2019)

I'll more than likely purchase Symphobia 4 on the 11th, but would also love to get...

Cinebrass
Arva (like i really need another children's choir)
Maybe Ark 2 & 4 (we'll see about that)


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## Mornats (Oct 28, 2019)

I've been loving Spitfire Studio Strings so I'd like to complete the orchestra with brass and woodwinds.


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## Manaberry (Oct 28, 2019)

New CPU, new screen, new AI. Maybe CSS.
Stuff that is usually not on sales...


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## AndyP (Oct 28, 2019)

Symphobia 4 could be interesting, but too little is known yet.

I have to listen to Elysium more standalone, but it seems to generate a lot of enthusiasm.

Otherwise I don't need anything, I have more than enough to do without new purchases for the next 5 years (pious wish).


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## Polkasound (Oct 28, 2019)

Posted by Audio Modeling on October 7: "...We are on track with SWAM Brass for both Desktop and iOS, so we should confirm the release in a couple of months."

That's my one and only anticipated Black Friday/Holiday purchase this year.


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## pfmusic (Oct 28, 2019)

Looks like Native Instruments are starting early by bringing back the Soniccouture offers.

I suspect the other recent NKS deals might follow over the next few weeks

Soniccouture NKS Deals


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## GtrString (Oct 28, 2019)

I have blacklisted that friday!


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## Dewdman42 (Oct 28, 2019)

I think for my own sanity I may turn off my internet for that week


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## dzilizzi (Oct 28, 2019)

pfmusic said:


> Looks like Native Instruments are starting early by bringing back the Soniccouture offers.
> 
> I suspect the other recent NKS deals might follow over the next few weeks
> 
> Soniccouture NKS Deals


I think I have most of those - Oh wait! maybe not. Hmmm how long is this sale on???


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## dzilizzi (Oct 28, 2019)

Dewdman42 said:


> I think for my own sanity I may turn off my internet for that week


I say I'm going to do that, but it never happens....

I really don't need anything. Unless it is more RAM. But then I would need a new computer because my current won't take enough more to make a difference. 

Do they sell artistic ability? I could use some of that.


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## Robert_G (Oct 28, 2019)

lgmcben said:


> Wotan, Freyja, Arva



Dont get your hopes up....i dont think there is a stingier company when it comes to sales.

20% off those 3 libs would be like winning the lotto


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## lgmcben (Oct 28, 2019)

Robert_G said:


> Dont get your hopes up....i dont think there is a stingier company when it comes to sales.
> 
> 20% off those 3 libs would be like winning the lotto


On BF 2018 these 3 libs were on sale for 15% T_T I hope Strezov show us some mercy this year.


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## Robert_G (Oct 28, 2019)

lgmcben said:


> On BF 2018 these 3 libs were on sale for 15% T_T I hope Strezov show us some mercy this year.



Let's hope.

As for me...I'm really hoping for 40% off Celtic Era. I've been eyeing it up all year.


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## chibear (Oct 28, 2019)

Cinesamples is already on sale now. Hoping for a continuation or steeper BF discount for 'Men of War'. Otherwise hoping to round off my Chris Hein Orchestra on the _big day_.


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## Crowe (Oct 28, 2019)

The recent NI Orchestral Tools sale used up most of my budget for this Black Friday, so I'm probably going to pass short of possibly a few smaller toys.

I've been eyeing some hardware synths anyway so I'm probably going to save up for those.


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## MartinH. (Oct 28, 2019)

PSA for all you shopaholics: before you buy anything just because it's on sale, listen to a couple of demo tracks for stuff that you already own, and realize how much untapped potential there still is slumbering on your hard drives.


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## Patrick.K (Oct 28, 2019)

Spitfire studio strings
Spitfire solo strings
OT inspire
And perhaps BBCSO or the strings or CSS


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## Sarah Mancuso (Oct 28, 2019)

Probably going to upgrade Spitfire Studio Orchestra to the Pro version (or at least the brass part, which sorely needs the close mics...) and possibly pick up Tundra. I'm considering the Christmas wishlist sale as basically part of the Black Friday sale season, though -- what's another month?


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## paularthur (Oct 28, 2019)

hangar 4, maybe upgrade my cinebrass...


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## pawelmorytko (Oct 28, 2019)

What I'd like to get:

Berlin Series (mainly woods, percussion and brass)
Wotan and Freyja choirs
Cineharp/OT Smyphonic Harp
CSSS
LAMP

What I can realistically afford this Black Friday:
Noire if it goes on 50% sale


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## Drundfunk (Oct 28, 2019)

Spitfire Chamber Strings, LCO Textures and Olafur Chamber Evos (probably buy this on Christmas. For some reason I think this is Spitfires biggest sale every year). Also Lexicon PCM Reverb if the price is good. Maybe OT announces Junkie XL before Black Friday (which would be a smart move), so I might buy nothing at all.


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## STec (Oct 28, 2019)

I'm tempted to get OT Berlin series even though I feel they are a bit overpriced. I'll probably get some UAD plugins as well.

And if the discount is right I'll get:
VEP 7
NI Noire
Kontakt 6

I'll wait for Christmas at least for BBC Orchestra, 'till they fix the bugs and their player otherwise, not getting BBC anytime soon.


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## wst3 (Oct 28, 2019)

been insanely fortunate this year, the libraries (and software) I purchased was for specific projects that paid for, or at least put a dent in those purchases. Didn't leave a lot left over, but I'm ok with that, I believe my capabilities have increased far beyond any increase in talent! Room for growth.

The new Project Sam Symphobia might be interesting, Orchestral Tools always has my interest, but really, I don't think I'll be buying any new libraries. Well, Vir2 Mojo2 remains on my list, but I just can't bring myself to spend that much on a specialized library - probably me being foolish?

I'd also be interested to see if Steinberg does anything interesting for Cubase, not sure why, but I'm in curious mode again.


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## constaneum (Oct 28, 2019)

LA Modern Percussion or Strikeforce Percussion
Kontakt 6 upgrade
OT's new shop with individual instrument releases.
CSW !!! (i know this isn't a BF sale but i really hope the release will be around that time)


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## pawelmorytko (Oct 28, 2019)

constaneum said:


> LA Modern Percussion or Strikeforce Percussion
> Kontakt 6 upgrade
> OT's new shop with individual instrument releases.
> CSW !!! (i know this isn't a BF sale but i really hope the release will be around that time)


pretty much same as me then 

Really hoping for woodwinds to come out soon, been dying for some nice woods samples, and I hope they are as great as the other products otherwise I'll have to look into Berlin WW
OT's new shop is exciting as well, I'd love to just buy the ensemble horns and trumpets from their Berlin Brass library for example


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## ManicMiner (Oct 28, 2019)

Drundfunk said:


> Spitfire Chamber Strings, LCO Textures and Olafur Chamber Evos (probably buy this on Christmas. For some reason I think this is Spitfires biggest sale every year). Also Lexicon PCM Reverb if the price is good. Maybe OT announces Junkie XL before Black Friday (which would be a smart move), so I might buy nothing at all.


When are Spitfire Evos the cheapest, BF or Wish List Christmas? I've seen them as low as -40%, anyone seen them -50% ?


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## jaketanner (Oct 28, 2019)

dzilizzi said:


> I really don't need anything. Unless it is more RAM


does RAM go on sale? I could use more


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## BlackDorito (Oct 28, 2019)

Black Friday? Like most of us, I'll be looking for patio furniture.

But in the VI realm, we all have _Those Libraries We've Bought Recently but Haven't Really Used thereby Raising Serious Doubts about Whether it is Prudent to Buy Even More Libraries_. In my case it is the recent purchases of OT Woodwind Expansions, Audiobro Genesis, OT Ark1+2, Spitfire Expansion packs for SSS and SCS, Cubase 10 (OK, not a library).

Can I transcend this sorry situation and buy yet more libraries?

Bring it on!


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## David Kudell (Oct 28, 2019)

My Black Friday wishlist (can't afford all of it)

OT Berlin Strings, Berlin Woodwinds, Berlin Percussion
OT Berlin expansions (if any are on sale) 
Embertone Joshua Bell Violin
Embertone Herring Clarinet
Shimmer Shake Strike (this is already on sale now)
Embertone Walker 1955 or else Heavyocity Ascend Modern Grand

These probably won't be out yet, but I want 'em:
Orchestral Tools Junkie XL Brass
Cinematic Studio Woodwinds
Orchestral Tools Richard Harvey collection


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## LudovicVDP (Oct 29, 2019)

List is too long... wallet is empty.... This is gonna be a very painful BlackFriday...


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## Ben H (Oct 29, 2019)

wst3 said:


> Vir2 Mojo2 remains on my list, but I just can't bring myself to spend that much on a specialized library - probably me being foolish?



Mojo 2 is currently $100 off for Vir2's "Birthday Bash" sale, until November 5. IDK if you will be able to get it cheaper in the BF sales though.

Also the KVR forum is giving away 3x copies here, if you want to try your luck out.  Entries close Nov 1 for that.


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## Heledir (Oct 29, 2019)

Nothing hopefully... I'm still in recovery from previous years.


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## Serge Pavkin (Oct 29, 2019)

OACE, BDT, The Unfinished Omnisphere Amara


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## zimm83 (Oct 29, 2019)

OT's Ark5 if kontakt....
Nucleus
Noire
Voice of War
8dio Roula .


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## Crowe (Oct 29, 2019)

I just remembered I was looking for a Fiddle vst. So that.


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## Ben H (Oct 29, 2019)

I'm planning to buy a laptop for live performance. Probably a Razer Blade 15.


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## dhlkid (Oct 29, 2019)

Fabfilter


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## TomislavEP (Oct 29, 2019)

Kontakt libraries are certainly my prime weakness at that time for years now, but this year I've had quite a few scheduled and unscheduled expenditures, including the recent building of a new DAW system, albeit with only half of the max. RAM amount so far and without new SSD for libraries storage with at least twice the capacity than the present one. So these two circumstances will (hopefully) lead me toward the abstinence this year. 

There is one major obstacle, though. Spitfire. If they cook up another "The Ton" offer priced about 99 EUR, I'll probably bite after all. Especially if it includes "British Drama Toolkit", "Glass and Steel" and some other Spitfire products I'm interested in and still don't have.


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## Drundfunk (Oct 29, 2019)

ManicMiner said:


> When are Spitfire Evos the cheapest, BF or Wish List Christmas? I've seen them as low as -40%, anyone seen them -50% ?


My bet is on Christmas. But we can't be 100% sure. I think 40% is quite good, not sure how often they do 50% discounts.


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## I like music (Oct 29, 2019)

Drundfunk said:


> My bet is on Christmas. But we can't be 100% sure. I think 40% is quite good, not sure how often they do 50% discounts.



60% of the time, 70% of the people will buy 20% of an orchestra and only be 18% happy :D


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## ScoreFace (Oct 29, 2019)

I'm looking for SAM Pandora - I just need a little more info about it, for example: what's in there?! :D


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## Shredoverdrive (Oct 29, 2019)

I was really looking forward to Project Sam Pandora but what they have clued so far is not very appealing to me.
Being broke as I am, I really hope the Tarilonte Eras I don't have will be on sale cause I will probably buy them anyway...


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## Loïc D (Oct 29, 2019)

Sarah Mancuso said:


> Probably going to upgrade Spitfire Studio Orchestra to the Pro version (or at least the brass part, which sorely needs the close mics...)


Sarah, I did this before.
While adding mics to SStB opens new possibilities, it doesn’t solve the shortcomings (volume inconsistencies across articulations, horns too soft, tuba a bit too thin, etc.).
Maybe someone can confirm this too, because I’m not a pro user.

For BF / Xmas, I’ll be looking for offers on :
CSB and maybe CSS
SF Solo Strings
A good piano library
Maybe one of those lovely Arturia mini hardware synth (Microfreak, etc)
And maybe a PA system for my band.

Not too much since I plan to invest on laptop + hub + audio interface in 2020.
And this will be a lot of money...


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## KallumS (Oct 29, 2019)

Only really looking at the Spitfire Studio Orchestra Pro upgrade. I've wanted Tundra for the longest time but I can wait another year for it.

Best to set some money aside for those no-brainer deals (such as Soundtoys 5 + Arturia V Collection 6 bundled together at 66% off last year)


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## Dementum (Oct 29, 2019)

-I will probably either get Joshua Bell or Bohemian Violine. 

-I am also looking into a keyswitchable string library with all 5 sections and a hall sound (8Dio Adagio, Spitfire Studio Strings and HW Strings do all only cover part of that and thats the aspects I mostly pick them from. So something covering all 3 points would be great. Spitfire Symphonic maybe?)

-Maybe another software synth (u-he Diva most likely)


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## shponglefan (Oct 29, 2019)

Hoping Best Service has a 2 for 1 deal so I can pick up the Celtic ERA and Ancient ERA Persia libraries.


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## richard kurek (Oct 29, 2019)

its Afflatus Strings and infinite brass, woodwinds for me


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## Audio Birdi (Oct 29, 2019)

Hoping Embertone's Intimate Strings Bundle goes for $200 again :D


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## AndyP (Oct 29, 2019)

jaketanner said:


> does RAM go on sale? I could use more


What did I tell you! Buy 64 GB! But no, you didn't want to listen!


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## cqd (Oct 29, 2019)

A certain Broadcasting network library cleaned me out pretty much, so hopefully nothing.. I'm waiting on CSWW.. although maybe dominus pro if there's a deal..


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## rudi (Oct 29, 2019)

*(Puts dream generator on...)*
*The John Williams One Bar MIDI Generator:

- input any triad 
- select what section(s) to arrange
- select style for each section: chord, arppegio, run 
- what function: harmony, transition, modulation, 
- complexity: smooth, surprising, complex, ultra complex... 
- click "Generate"

and repeat as needed...*
*(Takes dream generator off...) *

Failing the above, I'd love some Cinesample stuff. 
The BBCSO sounds tempting, but my funds are severely depleted.


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## jaketanner (Oct 29, 2019)

AndyP said:


> What did I tell you! Buy 64 GB! But no, you didn't want to listen!


I WILL get it...64 was literally triple the price, and was just waiting for it to drop a bit. LOL 32 so far is ok...but yes, 64 is definitely needed soon. 32 gigs was only $160 installed...


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## dzilizzi (Oct 29, 2019)

LowweeK said:


> For BF / Xmas, I’ll be looking for offers on :
> CSB and maybe CSS
> SF Solo Strings
> A good piano library
> ...


Two of Sampletek's pianos are on sale as a bundle for under $40 right now at APD. i missed the last time they were on sale. And, I think they were more than this each when I was looking at them. I'm still downloading, so I can't confirm how they sound. But others who are much better at piano than I am have recommended them as good pianos. Demos sound good. And? May want to double check these are the right pianos, as there seems to be a few versions. https://audioplugin.deals/deal-2/


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## Michael Stibor (Oct 29, 2019)

I initially was planning on buying BBCSO, but I think that ship as sailed.

Will get instead: Embertone Herring Clarinet
Joshua Bell Violin
more RAM

Still looking for: A good solo flute (recommendations are appreciated)


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## motomotomoto (Oct 29, 2019)

Haushka if Spitfire does a sale on it.
Arturia V collection
Devious Machines Texture
Zynpatiq Intensity
Slate and Ash new Instrument
Moonkits / Imogen Heap Toolbox
Waverunner Celestial Guitars
Shaper Box 2

OK gosh... I feel bad writing this.


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## purple (Oct 29, 2019)

I'm expecting an announcement of Cinematic Studio Woodwinds soon, and I'm also expecting it to cost me only $279 since I have the previous libraries. Other things I have my eyes on are Berlin Woodwinds/Brass/Strings, A couple spitfire things, some Eduardo Tarilonte stuff especially ERA II, and some other obscure libraries. What I choose to go with will probably be only one or two of the things on my list as I am a mere college student with not much in the way of lucrative work.


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## jneebz (Oct 29, 2019)

motomotomoto said:


> Zynpatiq Intensity


On sale now, until Thursday. In case you werent aware...not sure they will bring that price back for BF/Christmas...


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## Sears Poncho (Oct 29, 2019)

A bigger desk

SOme sort of Kontakt Player Percussion that will go with Spitfire Studio Orch Pro. 

Maybe CSS. Maybe not. Having a grand old time with CSSS so I might have to go the whole route.


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## AndyP (Oct 29, 2019)

In 2015 I spent the BF in New York (and bought things as if there were no tomorrow). When I think back, it's cheaper to stay here and buy another library.


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## Loïc D (Oct 29, 2019)

dzilizzi said:


> Two of Sampletek's pianos are on sale as a bundle for under $40 right now at APD.


Hmmm thanks to point this.
I’ll give a good listen.


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## Robert_G (Oct 29, 2019)

Sears Poncho said:


> Maybe CSS. Maybe not. Having a grand old time with CSSS so I might have to go the whole route.



Having CSSS but not CSS like having the gravy but no roast beef.


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## shireen (Oct 29, 2019)

Nucleus!


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## Montisquirrel (Oct 29, 2019)

- Infinite Woods + Brass
- Kilohearts Phase Plant
- Mastering the Mix "Bassroom"
- Polyverse Manipulator
- 1TB SSD
- Some more Mike Verta Tutorials


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Oct 29, 2019)

richard kurek said:


> its Afflatus Strings and infinite brass, woodwinds for me


I picked up those Infinite Woodwinds recently... man are they lovely :D


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## Ben H (Oct 29, 2019)

motomotomoto said:


> Zynpatiq Intensity



*Best Service* currently have 60% off Intensity until end of October, now € 149 (regular € 379)


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## vitocorleone123 (Oct 29, 2019)

Little stuff. Effects. Have barely scratched the surface of too many synths and libraries to buy more yet. Have to wait for NEXT Black Friday I suspect.

Recenter
Deverberate2
Shaper box 2 upgrade
D16 Godfazer crossgrqde

Maybe also more presets for things.


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## Tim_Wells (Oct 29, 2019)

shireen said:


> Nucleus!


Yeah, same here. Also, one of the Ample acoustic guitars. Maybe Ozone 9, if there's a really good deal.


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## shponglefan (Oct 29, 2019)

motomotomoto said:


> Moonkits / Imogen Heap Toolbox



Native Instruments currently has these on sale (30% and 50% off respectively).


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## rottoy (Oct 29, 2019)

Robert_G said:


> Having CSSS but not CSS like having the gravy but no roast beef.


I like my CSSS with some vegan bologna ala Cinestrings Core, thank you very much.


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## motomotomoto (Oct 29, 2019)

shponglefan said:


> Native Instruments currently has these on sale (30% and 50% off respectively).



Yes I’m going to take advantage!


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## Reid Rosefelt (Oct 29, 2019)

Cinematic Studio Woodwinds. Don't know if that counts as BF, but I have to budget for it.

If Best Service has a 40% off sale like last year, then I'll get Forest Kingdom 2. Don't know what I'll do if they have a BOGO sale. Either hold off for the next sale or get either Dark Era or The Accordions. I have all the other Tarilontes except for the vocal libraries.

I'm hoping that UVI has a 30% off sale like last year. If so, I will use my $100 credit and a few bucks to buy 4 Falcon expansions. 

I'm considering Mallet Flux and Picked Acoustic in the NI sale. 

Of course, there will be a lot of crazy discounts and I expected I will be tempted, as I always am.


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## Robo Rivard (Oct 29, 2019)

Unfortunately, I will be unemployed pretty soon, and I will have to keep quiet for a few months. All I want anyway is CSWW and it's not even out yet. And since I own all of their products, I will get a crossgrade price on the library. I will also have to wait to upgrade to Dominus Pro.


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## AEF (Oct 29, 2019)

Afflatus. Possibly Infinite WW. And JXL Brass if it comes out by then.


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## richard kurek (Oct 29, 2019)

Shad0wLandsUK said:


> I picked up those Infinite Woodwinds recently... man are they lovely :D


Infinite Brass going on sale around black friday and not sure about woodwinds i imagine also


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## vitocorleone123 (Oct 29, 2019)

Robo Rivard said:


> Unfortunately, I will be unemployed pretty soon, and I will have to keep quiet for a few months. All I want anyway is CSWW and it's not even out yet. And since I own all of their products, I will get a crossgrade price on the library. I will also have to wait to upgrade to Dominus Pro.



That's terrible. I've been in that spot very recently. Stay persistent and treat the job hunt as a full time job if you can. Best of luck to you.


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## Robo Rivard (Oct 29, 2019)

vitocorleone123 said:


> That's terrible. I've been in that spot very recently. Stay persistent and treat the job hunt as a full time job if you can. Best of luck to you.


Oh, it's nothing too dramatic. I'm a location designer for animated series, and I'm used to be laid off between productions. Music is just an expansive hobby. I'm actually quite happy that I could work non-stop from january since now. I might have a new contract just after Christmas. In the meantime, I will learn 2D animation software (ToonBoom Harmony).


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## Dex (Oct 29, 2019)

27-32” monitor
The Orchestra Complete 
A good electronic drum set
One of them fancy expressive midi input devices - main contenders right now are the seaboard rise 49 and the linnstrument.
More acoustic treatment
An interface better than my behringer umc204hd 

Realistically, probably just the first two of those.


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## Barbe Rouge (Oct 30, 2019)

Shiirai said:


> I just remembered I was looking for a Fiddle vst. So that.


Celtic Era maybe?

I'm praying for sales on Berlin Strings. If not, CSS.


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## kessel (Oct 30, 2019)

I think I'll go for Evolution Mandolin by Orange Tree Samples, it's an instrument I could use now but not really something I use every day so the regular price is way too expensive for my needs, I hope it gets a good price on Black Friday...

Another one I will be keeping an eye on is Orpheus by Audio Grocery


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## LudovicVDP (Oct 30, 2019)

Forzo will remain too expensive for me even with a good %.

I'll most probably go for Solos of the Sea right now. 
Apart from that: 
Detonator Rage looks nice.
LCO Texture has been on my list for a loong time already. 
Hangar 4 is tempting me soooo much but I'm afraid of the ratio price/usage.
Symphobia Animator looks like a lot of fun but same concern when it comes to above ratio.
I would buy some CSS and/or CSB if I could.
+ a lot of other things.

I think I mostly need to buy some money.


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## Sarah Mancuso (Oct 30, 2019)

kessel said:


> I think I'll go for Evolution Mandolin by Orange Tree Samples, it's an instrument I could use now but not really something I use every day so the regular price is way too expensive for my needs, I hope it gets a good price on Black Friday...


It's great, you won't regret it!


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## kessel (Oct 30, 2019)

Sarah Mancuso said:


> It's great, you won't regret it!



Nice, I guess you already have it and use it... I really like its sound and it looks pretty versatile when it comes to controls and articulations


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## Sarah Mancuso (Oct 30, 2019)

kessel said:


> Nice, I guess you already have it and use it... I really like its sound and it looks pretty versatile when it comes to controls and articulations


I've gotten some good use out of it. Definitely one of my favorites from Orange Tree.  It's such an appealing sound that it makes me want to just find any excuse to include it somewhere, haha.

Here are two examples featuring it (link 1 | link 2) alongside some other instruments.


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## rsampaio (Oct 30, 2019)

Just got myself Omnisphere for $385 on Monday using a coupon on Musician's Friend so I think I am all set for BF this year


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## kessel (Oct 30, 2019)

Sarah Mancuso said:


> I've gotten some good use out of it. Definitely one of my favorites from Orange Tree.  It's such an appealing sound that it makes me want to just find any excuse to include it somewhere, haha.
> 
> Here are two examples featuring it (link 1 | link 2) alongside some other instruments.



wow, nice demos... did you work with them mostly on the keyboard or rather with the mouse on the sequencer? The plugin seems to have a very nice set of articulations to even play it on the keyboard and letting it sound quite realistic.

I'm working on a song with a friend now and he's making some sounds that are very American folk like, and I occasionally found Evolution Mandolin and thought, I want this in the song, so I think it is going to be my next purchase.


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## Sarah Mancuso (Oct 30, 2019)

kessel said:


> wow, nice demos... did you work with them mostly on the keyboard or rather with the mouse on the sequencer? The plugin seems to have a very nice set of articulations to even play it on the keyboard and letting it sound quite realistic.
> 
> I'm working on a song with a friend now and he's making some sounds that are very American folk like, and I occasionally found Evolution Mandolin and thought, I want this in the song, so I think it is going to be my next purchase.


Thanks! I use the keyboard for sketching ideas, but I inevitably do a bunch of sequencer programming. Utilizing keyswitches and automation makes a world of difference with Orange Tree libraries.


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## pawelmorytko (Oct 30, 2019)

Sarah Mancuso said:


> I've gotten some good use out of it. Definitely one of my favorites from Orange Tree.  It's such an appealing sound that it makes me want to just find any excuse to include it somewhere, haha.
> 
> Here are two examples featuring it (link 1 | link 2) alongside some other instruments.


this is lovely, really enjoyed these and the style! Very calming, relaxing and atmospheric


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## richard kurek (Oct 30, 2019)

Shiirai said:


> I just remembered I was looking for a Fiddle vst. So that.











Traveler Series Bluegrass Fiddle - Red Room Audio


Deep-sampled Bluegrass fiddle library for Kontakt recorded in Kentucky with over 25 standard articulations and traditional ornaments, plus Phrases & FX! 4 performance modes, customizable double stops, adjustable bow attacks and rebowing options & more! Features TACT articulation control system...



redroomaudio.com








__





fiddle! V2 for Kontakt [Kontakt 5+] - $69.95 : Bolder Sounds, Creative Sampler Libraries Since 1990


Bolder Sounds fiddle! V2 for Kontakt [Kontakt 5+] - NI Kontakt 5+ Welcome to fiddle! V2 for NI Kontakt! This is a library we have been wanting to produce for quite some time now. We've immersed ourselves in the study of numerous styles of fiddle playing over the last year and realized that...



www.boldersounds.com


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## decredis (Oct 30, 2019)

Hoping to get Pianoteq Stage->Pro upgrade and Infinite Woodwinds, and probably a few cheaper odd instruments here and there: maybe the Cinesamples Viol da Gamba, maybe the RedRoom Celtic Fiddle, maybe Embertone’s Chapman Trumpet, maybe Indiginus’s Blue Street Brass.

Tempted by Modo Bass in its current sale, and by various other basses and guitars but I’m getting enough mileage out of the Scarbee basses and Orange Tree guitars that I have (via NI’s Guitar Rig) that I can’t justify prioritising more of that rather than something else.


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## Michel Simons (Oct 31, 2019)

I am not going to buy anything...absolutely nothing at all...


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## Mike Fox (Oct 31, 2019)

A Fleshlight!

Oops...wrong forum.


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## Land of Missing Parts (Oct 31, 2019)

Hoping for a BF sale on the elgato Stream Deck.


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## Lode_Runner (Oct 31, 2019)

kessel said:


> I think I'll go for Evolution Mandolin by Orange Tree Samples, it's an instrument I could use now but not really something I use every day so the regular price is way too expensive for my needs, I hope it gets a good price on Black Friday...


OTS tend to do BF sales in the 35% off range (give or take 5%). If you've bought other stuff from them in the past you'll also have Orange slices which you can use as well to further reduce the price.


----------



## David Kudell (Oct 31, 2019)

This is my first year Black Friday on VI-control. Does anyone create some sort of master thread with all the deals? I imagine the "DEALS, DEALS, DEALS" forum is going to be a little chaotic.


----------



## Lode_Runner (Oct 31, 2019)

If anyone wants to do some pre-BF estimating, here's @TigerTheFrog 's hard work from last year's sale: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/november-2018-sales-alphabetical-list.76877/

Edit: 


David Kudell said:


> This is my first year Black Friday on VI-control. Does anyone create some sort of master thread with all the deals? I imagine the "DEALS, DEALS, DEALS" forum is going to be a little chaotic.


Huh. Talk about coincidental timing!


----------



## MarcHedenberg (Oct 31, 2019)

I've been watching CSB for a while because I already own CSS and CSSS, but since I'm a student, I don't imagine they would offer a bigger discount than what I already have. 

In lieu of that, I'm reaaaally hoping ERA II Medieval Legends goes on sale. I think $259 is a bit more than I'm willing to spend for how niche that library is, but I'd be willing to pull the trigger for $50 off.


----------



## Reid Rosefelt (Oct 31, 2019)

I'm a lot busier this year than I was last year at this time, but I am planning to do my November sales post again. I should be starting soon.

I won't be able to keep it up-to-date all day long, but I will try to catch up in the evenings. Sales info will be flying on this forum, KVR, Rekkerd, the *Cakewalk Deals Forum,* etc., if you need the latest news. I'll just try to make it alphabetical. 

The only time it gets really crazy is the days around Thanksgiving. That's when you get the most deals that last only a few days. 



MarcHedenberg said:


> I'm reaaaally hoping ERA II Medieval Legends goes on sale. I think $259 is a bit more than I'm willing to spend for how niche that library is, but I'd be willing to pull the trigger for $50 off.


Last year all of Best Service was 40% off, so ERA II would be $156 if they do that again. Sometimes they do "Buy One Get One Free" sales, which are a better discount, but you obviously have to spend more to get it.


----------



## KallumS (Oct 31, 2019)

Think I've already blown my budget - found Sonarworks Studio for half price (limited quantity, they've run out now.)


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## Billy Palmer (Oct 31, 2019)

MarcHedenberg said:


> I've been watching CSB for a while because I already own CSS and CSSS, but since I'm a student, I don't imagine they would offer a bigger discount than what I already have.
> 
> In lieu of that, I'm reaaaally hoping ERA II Medieval Legends goes on sale. I think $259 is a bit more than I'm willing to spend for how niche that library is, but I'd be willing to pull the trigger for $50 off.



I have my eye on that same library. Really I'm just waiting to see if Orchestral Tool's new player/storefront and junkie XL brass turn out to be even more useful for me.


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## gjelul (Oct 31, 2019)

Waiting for Orchestral Tools. 

Interested in the Berlin Brass or Junkie XL Brass if out by then and if with separate instruments (Hn1, Hn2, etc.) Will also get the remaining expansions that I do not have.

Have decided to go all Berlin with my new template, with some small additions from here and there.


----------



## Owen Smith (Oct 31, 2019)

I've been looking at The Orchestra Complete upgrade and possibly Elysion. Anyone recommendations from owners of these libraries? I'm thinking that Elysion probably won't be on sale for BF, but hoping that the TO Complete upgrade is.


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## David Kudell (Oct 31, 2019)

gjelul said:


> Waiting for Orchestral Tools.
> 
> Interested in the Berlin Brass or Junkie XL Brass if out by then and if with separate instruments (Hn1, Hn2, etc.) Will also get the remaining expansions that I do not have.
> 
> Have decided to go all Berlin with my new template, with some small additions from here and there.



Ah yes, me too. I've already did the math on what all 4 Berlins will cost IF they go on sale again. I'm not sure I can swing it. I might have to get 2 of them such as strings and percussion and wait on the brass and woodwinds.


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## lgmcben (Nov 1, 2019)

According to @TigerTheFrog 's hard work from last year's sale: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/november-2018-sales-alphabetical-list.76877/

_"Up to 20% off"_

- Strezov Sampling
Black Friday 2018


----------



## Monkberry (Nov 1, 2019)

Black Friday or by the end of this year:

Audio Modeling SWAM Double Reeds and Flutes
Spitfire Chamber Strings Pro
Spitfire BHCT
Spitfire Albion III
Spitfire Solo Strings
Fluffy Audio Dominus Pro Upgrade
Ample Sound Upright Bass
Shure SM7bmic
Samsung EVO 860 4TB 

Also want Strezov Afflatus but all the above are contingent upon sales and holliday bonus.


----------



## RRBE Sound (Nov 1, 2019)

Perhaps Spitfire Audio BBC Orchestra!! :D I really loved Guy's video on it! :D


----------



## DerGeist (Nov 1, 2019)

I need some drums. Not sure what yet but I need something that lets me assign any midi note to any drum and that lets me set two different midi notes to the same drum? My BF challenge.


----------



## Dex (Nov 1, 2019)

DerGeist said:


> I need some drums. Not sure what yet but I need something that lets me assign any midi note to any drum and that lets me set two different midi notes to the same drum? My BF challenge.


Superior drummer allows for that.


----------



## DerGeist (Nov 1, 2019)

Dex said:


> Superior drummer allows for that.


On the list for sure. Unfortunately, based on past years, it looks like they only do BF deals on expansions.


----------



## NekujaK (Nov 1, 2019)

At the beginning of 2019, didn't Toontrack anounce the release of EZbass later in the year? I haven't heard anything since, but was hoping for a fall release. If it's anywhere near as flexible and usable as EZkeys, I'm all over it!

Meanwhile, for the rest of the BF wishlist:
- CSS
- OT Harpsichords
- Mallet Flux
- More Omnisphere goodness from The Unfinished

I kinda feel like it's been BF all year. There have been so many crazy good deals constantly popping up, that most of what was on my BF list earlier this year, is already sitting on my HDD, and my wallet feels like it went 10 rounds with Mike Tyson!


----------



## Sears Poncho (Nov 1, 2019)

NekujaK said:


> At the beginning of 2019, didn't Toontrack anounce the release of EZbass later in the year?


Sweetwater already has a page for it, says late 2019 but underneath it says 2020.









Toontrack EZbass (download)


Bass Virtual Instrument




www.sweetwater.com


----------



## Dex (Nov 1, 2019)

DerGeist said:


> On the list for sure. Unfortunately, based on past years, it looks like they only do BF deals on expansions.



Since SD3 was still fairly new last year I think they wanted to be "fair" to people who paid the debut upgrade price from SD2. 

This year? Who knows. I bet it will go on sale or have some kind of deal.


----------



## jtnyc (Nov 1, 2019)

I'm hoping Midissonance has a sale. His Omni stuff sounds great


----------



## gsilbers (Nov 1, 2019)

Hopefully reason 11 will release the audio units plugin version. 
also ableton live suite.
and that elusive 16inch MacBook Pro.


----------



## gsilbers (Nov 1, 2019)

And lowered ssd prices for larger capacity 4tb. Why is it taking this long to get those cheaper >:-/


----------



## jneebz (Nov 2, 2019)

jtnyc said:


> I'm hoping Midissonance has a sale. His Omni stuff sounds great


Shhhhhhhhhhh......


----------



## muk (Nov 3, 2019)

Nothing that I really need. There are a few things that I might pick up if there is a decent sale though: 

Cubase 10 upgrade 
Kontakt 6 upgrade 
NI Noire 
Hidden Path Audio Barrage (has been on sale for 49$ once. If it goes that low again I'll buy it)
Cinematic Studio Brass 
Maybe Spitfire Chamber Strings Pro upgrade


----------



## funnybear (Nov 3, 2019)

I am keeping an eye out for SA HZ Strings.

I love the sound and have been holding off from pulling the trigger waiting for the upgrade to be released soon in terms of content and plugin I hope.


----------



## Michael Antrum (Nov 3, 2019)

funnybear said:


> I am keeping an eye out for SA HZ Strings.
> 
> I love the sound and have been holding off from pulling the trigger waiting for the upgrade to be released soon in terms of content and plugin I hope.



They had a pretty good deal on HZ Strings last BF. It was part of a bundle but if you had the other libraries in the bundle it was the lowest I've ever seen it.


----------



## robgb (Nov 3, 2019)

Hasn't it pretty much been Black Friday all year long?


----------



## Geomir (Nov 3, 2019)

robgb said:


> Hasn't it pretty much been Black Friday all year long?


So true! Many amazing offers and sales all year long!


----------



## robgb (Nov 3, 2019)

LowweeK said:


> horns too soft, tuba a bit too thin, etc.


People shouldn't be shy about opening up the Kontakt instrument and fixing these problems. Tuba too thin? Add some EQ and saturation to thicken it up a bit. Horns too soft, select the offending samples and raise the volume, or put a bit of limiting on them. Add a velocity curve and play with it. Need more of that brassy sound at the louder dynamics? Play with the EQ, then add a CC1 controller to manage it. The tools are all there in Kontakt. Any library can be improved with a few tweaks. Don't wait for the developers to fix it. 

And if you don't have full Kontakt, then make some of these FX in the output mixer in Kontakt Player or do it on the track itself. There are a ton of things you can do to make instruments sound better.


----------



## Land of Missing Parts (Nov 3, 2019)

robgb said:


> Horns too soft, select the offending samples and raise the volume, or put a bit of limiting on them. Add a velocity curve and play with it.


Do you know of any good videos or instructions you could share for fixing on the per-sample level?  (Sorry this is off topic for BF shopping.)


----------



## robgb (Nov 3, 2019)

Land of Missing Parts said:


> Do you know of any good videos or instructions you could share for fixing on the per-sample level?  (Sorry this is off topic for BF shopping.)


Try ADSR Music Production Tutorials on Youtube. They have a lot of Kontakt stuff.


----------



## AndreBoulard (Nov 6, 2019)

freaking sales are killing me lol how many times did i put the product into the cart and backed out lol. i am OCD by now lol probably permanently because so many sales.Good to know i have somewhat selfcontrolled it up. lets see how this month and next month will be going. I need to upgrading my pc on top of it.


----------



## kitekrazy (Nov 6, 2019)

I'm going to try to hide under a rock these next 6 weeks. My IK inventory has grown and I added HWO Gold -my supposedly last library ever since I don't do orchestra as much. All of this stuff was on credit.


----------



## dzilizzi (Nov 6, 2019)

kitekrazy said:


> I'm going to try to hide under a rock these next 6 weeks. My IK inventory has grown and I added HWO Gold -my supposedly last library ever since I don't do orchestra as much. All of this stuff was on credit.


That can get you in trouble. (speaking from prior experience)


----------



## Mike Fox (Nov 7, 2019)

I'm so glad I'm saving for a house right now.


----------



## lgmcben (Nov 7, 2019)

I'm safe because my favorite developer just don't do sales.


----------



## Michael Antrum (Nov 7, 2019)

lgmcben said:


> I'm safe because my favorite developer just don't do sales.



Oooooh - who could that be...... seriously who’s is that ?


----------



## lgmcben (Nov 7, 2019)

Michael Antrum said:


> Oooooh - who could that be...... seriously who’s is that ?


Sir George Strezov


----------



## AndyP (Nov 7, 2019)

Mike Fox said:


> I'm so glad I'm saving for a house right now.


That is ... how many Arcs?


----------



## Michael Antrum (Nov 7, 2019)

Well he does do sales, but I do grant you that they are in the area of 15% or so.

Imagine how cheesed off people who bough OT Berline series only to find a 40% discount last year.... I do respect that.


----------



## AndyP (Nov 7, 2019)

Michael Antrum said:


> Oooooh - who could that be...... seriously who’s is that ?


Apple!


----------



## dogdad (Nov 7, 2019)

Already picked up 8DIO’s Century Solo Brass to compliment the Ensemble I picked up a few months ago.

Next up will be Olafur Arnold’s Chamber Evolutions.


----------



## Michael Antrum (Nov 7, 2019)

AndyP said:


> Apple!



I‘m just about to jump ship from Apple for my laptop. I’m shortly going to pull the trigger on a Razer Blade 15“ which I can upgrade to 64gb an stick in a 4tb SSD. It’s even got thunderbolt for my Apollo. The Macbook Pros are not a serious machine anymore. What’s the point of all that thinness when you have to carry around lots of things to plug into it.....

Still, my 2009 Mac Pro that I’ve kept upgrading is the best computer I’ve ever owned. Ten years on and its still serving me well.....


----------



## AndyP (Nov 7, 2019)

Michael Antrum said:


> Still, my 2009 Mac Pro that I’ve kept upgrading is the best computer I’ve ever owned. Ten years on and its still serving me well.....


Yep! My old cheese graters run like they did on the first day. I have a MacBook late 2013, that's my audio MacBook. I still have a newer model from 2018 and it annoys me that I need external adapters, the battery lasts only half as long and the fans start much earlier. 
I think when I buy another laptop for audio it won't be an Apple for the first time. However, I have to say that they are stable and I have never had any problems with drivers or the like. The support effort seems to be still better for apple than for windows if you don't know exactly how to keep the system clean.


----------



## dzilizzi (Nov 7, 2019)

Michael Antrum said:


> I‘m just about to jump ship from Apple for my laptop. I’m shortly going to pull the trigger on a Razer Blade 15“ which I can upgrade to 64gb an stick in a 4tb SSD. It’s even got thunderbolt for my Apollo. The Macbook Pros are not a serious machine anymore. What’s the point of all that thinness when you have to carry around lots of things to plug into it.....
> 
> Still, my 2009 Mac Pro that I’ve kept upgrading is the best computer I’ve ever owned. Ten years on and its still serving me well.....


I'm in the market for a new laptop as well. Dell makes one with 32 GB available at Costco for $1,850 at the end of the month. 9th gen i7 and 1 TB SSD. Mixed reviews on the current version. I like Costco because I have 90 days to return it if it doesn't work. And I believe it will take an m.2 and an SSD, but I could be wrong. However, the Razer sounds good also.


----------



## Michael Antrum (Nov 7, 2019)

The Razer is pricey for what it is, but the aesthetics are important to me. It’s miller out aluminiun like a Mac Pro, looks good and is nice and slim.

i really don’t want to leave Apple but they really have left me with no choice. they don’t make a laptop I want anymore.

It might sound odd, but if I don’t enjoy using it, it will end up not being used.


----------



## ScoreFace (Nov 7, 2019)

Owen Smith said:


> I've been looking at The Orchestra Complete upgrade and possibly Elysion. Anyone recommendations from owners of these libraries? I'm thinking that Elysion probably won't be on sale for BF, but hoping that the TO Complete upgrade is.



I have both products and I love them, using Elysion all the time since I bought it. 

I could imagine that TOC will be on sale, but Elysion is still fresh on the market and Wolfgang from Best Service wrote somwhere that it won't be on sale this year. Could be a nice idea to buy TOC on sale and then crossgrade to Elysion - doing this, you will get discount for Elysion, too.


----------



## Drundfunk (Nov 7, 2019)

Michael Antrum said:


> I‘m just about to jump ship from Apple for my laptop. I’m shortly going to pull the trigger on a Razer Blade 15“ which I can upgrade to 64gb an stick in a 4tb SSD. It’s even got thunderbolt for my Apollo. The Macbook Pros are not a serious machine anymore. What’s the point of all that thinness when you have to carry around lots of things to plug into it.....
> 
> Still, my 2009 Mac Pro that I’ve kept upgrading is the best computer I’ve ever owned. Ten years on and its still serving me well.....


I wish I could still use my Macbook Pro 2011. But the graphic chip was faulty and Apple couldn't replace it because "sorry, we don't sell them anymore" and not certified shops usually don't repair Macbooks because apparently it's hard for them to get the spare parts. Since then I'm not buying Apple anymore. I didn't use the machine to compose music but to do normal stuff and I MISS the damn touchpad....... . Best touchpad I've ever used. But yeah, I'm not supporting this throw-away-mentality just because one tiny chip is broken and they are too greedy to actually sell spare parts for older models.


----------



## Michael Antrum (Nov 7, 2019)

The trackpad on the Razer is one of the reasons I’m getting one. It is very Apple-like and I mean that in a good way.....


----------



## AdamKmusic (Nov 7, 2019)

I’m wanting to upgrade to Spitfire Studio Strings Pro 🙌


----------



## elpedro (Nov 7, 2019)

pfmusic said:


> This time next month, will be the evening before Black Friday.
> 
> What's on your list?


Restraint


----------



## Kery Michael (Nov 7, 2019)

I pretty much only have NI Komplete 12 and HWO Diamond, and a couple of other things, cheapies and freebies. Part of me wants to buy some newer, flashier tools, but another part of me knows that I haven't fully explored what I've got already.

The main piece that I'd like to add, that I don't think I've got right now, is some good, epic, thunderous percussion. Not sure what's best for that, but I'm confident there's a thread about that somewhere...


----------



## dzilizzi (Nov 7, 2019)

Kery Michael said:


> I pretty much only have NI Komplete 12 and HWO Diamond, and a couple of other things, cheapies and freebies. Part of me wants to buy some newer, flashier tools, but another part of me knows that I haven't fully explored what I've got already.
> 
> The main piece that I'd like to add, that I don't think I've got right now, is some good, epic, thunderous percussion. Not sure what's best for that, but I'm confident there's a thread about that somewhere...


Komplete comes with Damage. Isn't that epic percussion? I actually use the factory library & some good reverb. The timpani are great. Also the cymbals.


----------



## Peaky Blinder (Nov 7, 2019)

Kontakt 6 50% off please.


----------



## ToxicRecordings (Nov 7, 2019)

Hoping for a Strezov deal. I really want those afflatus strings.


----------



## Kery Michael (Nov 7, 2019)

dzilizzi said:


> Komplete comes with Damage. Isn't that epic percussion? I actually use the factory library & some good reverb. The timpani are great. Also the cymbals.


Unfortunately no, K12 doesn't have Damage. But K12 Ultimate does and comes with some otherHeavyocity libraries, that's one reason to possibly upgrade.

Yeah, and the factory library I've hardly even looked into. That's what I'm saying, there's a lot of nooks and crannies to these things. Worth digging into before buying the next hot and current library.


----------



## dzilizzi (Nov 7, 2019)

Kery Michael said:


> Unfortunately no, K12 doesn't have Damage. But K12 Ultimate does and comes with some otherHeavyocity libraries, that's one reason to possibly upgrade.
> 
> Yeah, and the factory library I've hardly even looked into. That's what I'm saying, there's a lot of nooks and crannies to these things. Worth digging into before buying the next hot and current library.


Okay. Problem is, I started with 9U and they discontinued some things and added others. Not always sure what is in each version. Sorry about that. The Factory library is old VSL. Not a lot of depth or RR but a decent library to fill in things.


----------



## newman (Nov 7, 2019)

dzilizzi said:


> I'm in the market for a new laptop as well. Dell makes one with 32 GB available at Costco for $1,850 at the end of the month. 9th gen i7 and 1 TB SSD. Mixed reviews on the current version. I like Costco because I have 90 days to return it if it doesn't work. And I believe it will take an m.2 and an SSD, but I could be wrong. However, the Razer sounds good also.


If you are looking at the newer Dell XPS laptops, there is a DPC latency issue that I don't remember being resolved. Frank Azor left Dell earlier this year so maybe that fix was scrapped.

I have an older XPS 9550 and once Dell sorted out the BIOS and Drivers (which took over a year), it is pretty good for virtual instruments. Not perfect but latencymon results are better than those I have seen of the newer XPS laptops.

The trackpad is excellent. The keyboard is decent. The screens are excellent. But this laptop is 4 generations old now so is long in the tooth as far as I am concerned. Plus the latency issues. Do your research.


----------



## zadillo (Nov 7, 2019)

As a heads up about Razer laptops - absolutely excellent build quality and hardware, but you should definitely hope you never ever have to deal with Razer customer/technical support. I spent about 6 months with a Razer Blade and the experience of trying to deal with Razer sent me right back to Apple - the MBP certainly has its problems (although my 2017 MBP has been relatively problem free, I know others have been plagued with issues), but I've got a lot more confidence taking my machine into an Apple Store or Apple certified technician than the nightmare that was dealing with Razer.

But yeah - if you can get something without encountering any hardware issues, the Razer laptops are top notch. I really miss that Microsoft stopped offering their Signature warranty program, as it used to be easy to recommend buying a Razer through the Microsoft Store so you could deal with them for support instead.


----------



## W Ackerman (Nov 7, 2019)

Only one thing on my Black Friday list: Arturia V Collection (upgrade from Analog Lab). I got a free copy of Analog Lab (a "lite" version of V Collection) and a few individual instruments, including the amazing Piano V, with my Arturia Keyboard. Otherwise, the V Collection would not have been on my radar. I probably don't need to upgrade to the V Collection since all of the instruments and presets are in Analog Lab. But everything about the models and presets and UI and integration with Analog Lab and customer support make me want to upgrade if the price is right.


----------



## losernam3 (Nov 8, 2019)

W Ackerman said:


> Only one thing on my Black Friday list: Arturia V Collection (upgrade from Analog Lab). I got a free copy of Analog Lab (a "lite" version of V Collection) and a few individual instruments, including the amazing Piano V, with my Arturia Keyboard. Otherwise, the V Collection would not have been on my radar. I probably don't need to upgrade to the V Collection since all of the instruments and presets are in Analog Lab. But everything about the models and presets and UI and integration with Analog Lab and customer support make me want to upgrade if the price is right.


I pm’ed you!


----------



## Audio Birdi (Nov 8, 2019)

Michael Antrum said:


> The trackpad on the Razer is one of the reasons I’m getting one. It is very Apple-like and I mean that in a good way.....


The Razer Pro 17 looks like what an updated 17" MBP would be like today. Still don't get why apple are rumoured / leaked to be making a 16" laptop instead of 17"!


----------



## AllanH (Nov 8, 2019)

I'm looking at PulseSetter sounds. They really have some fantastic sound design products. I have Epic Babies but some of the other products sounds even better.


----------



## ceemusic (Nov 8, 2019)

Louder Than Liftoff's Silver Bullet


----------



## Michael Antrum (Nov 9, 2019)

zadillo said:


> As a heads up about Razer laptops - absolutely excellent build quality and hardware, but you should definitely hope you never ever have to deal with Razer customer/technical support. I spent about 6 months with a Razer Blade and the experience of trying to deal with Razer sent me right back to Apple - the MBP certainly has its problems (although my 2017 MBP has been relatively problem free, I know others have been plagued with issues), but I've got a lot more confidence taking my machine into an Apple Store or Apple certified technician than the nightmare that was dealing with Razer.
> 
> But yeah - if you can get something without encountering any hardware issues, the Razer laptops are top notch. I really miss that Microsoft stopped offering their Signature warranty program, as it used to be easy to recommend buying a Razer through the Microsoft Store so you could deal with them for support instead.



Well I’ve blown the budget for this year. However I think I did rather well. I picked up a brand spanking new unopened Razer Blade advanced 2019 with RTX2070 Max Q from eBay for £1400. I’ve added a 2tb Nvme SSD for £ 187 on sale at Amazon, and 64 of ram for £ 300.

So for less than £2k I’ve got an i7 8750H, 64 Gb Ram, 2 Tb NVMe SS, Thunderbolt 3 for my Apollo Twin, and all the ports I need in a really nice aluminium enclosure that is both stylish and compact. I don’t need any hubs and the only adapter is the cable to the Apollo.

I’m even warming a little to Windows 10, though it still has its moments..... 

In some ways I do regret the move from Apple, but I’ve saved around £2k over what a similar Macbook Pro would have cost. 

And that there is the price of a pretty nice and much needed family holiday. Far more important in the scheme of things.


----------



## lp59burst (Nov 9, 2019)

pfmusic said:


> This time next month, will be the evening before Black Friday.
> 
> What's on your list?



2TB SSD's - hopefully less than $200 each... best I remember seeing for Samsung 2TB EVO's was $199

"_Fairly well set for everything else_"... he says to himself in a rather unconvincing tone...


----------



## motomotomoto (Nov 9, 2019)

lp59burst said:


> 2TB SSD's - hopefully less than $200 each... best I remember seeing for Samsung 2TB EVO's was $199
> 
> "_Fairly well set for everything else_"... he says to himself in a rather unconvincing tone...



are there any good externals that go on Black Friday sale?


----------



## dzilizzi (Nov 9, 2019)

lp59burst said:


> 2TB SSD's - hopefully less than $200 each... best I remember seeing for Samsung 2TB EVO's was $199
> 
> "_Fairly well set for everything else_"... he says to himself in a rather unconvincing tone...


You know, for sample library drives NAND is cheaper with similar read speeds. The write speed is slower but who cares on a sample drive. You just need to read.


----------



## dzilizzi (Nov 9, 2019)

motomotomoto said:


> are there any good externals that go on Black Friday sale?


Never buy an external drive. Buy an internal drive and an enclosure. All reasonably priced external drives are too slow for sample libraries. 7200 RPM or SSD are best.


----------



## Michael Antrum (Nov 9, 2019)

motomotomoto said:


> are there any good externals that go on Black Friday sale?



I bought 2 X Crucial 2Tb MX 500 SSDs for Amazon last BF. Normally about £200 they were £ £150, So I think you’ll make a saving....


----------



## motomotomoto (Nov 9, 2019)

dzilizzi said:


> Never buy an external drive. Buy an internal drive and an enclosure. All reasonably priced external drives are too slow for sample libraries. 7200 RPM or SSD are best.



Any tips on what to look for when doing that? I bought a 2TB Samsung T5 last time and it was pretty pricey!


----------



## dzilizzi (Nov 10, 2019)

motomotomoto said:


> Any tips on what to look for when doing that? I bought a 2TB Samsung T5 last time and it was pretty pricey!


I'm on Windows, which makes it a lot easier. Thunderbolt enclosures are harder to find. I normally just buy a USB 3.0 enclosure from Sabrent for less than $20. I get free shipping from Amazon, so I usually get it there. Then any sale SSD with a good rating will fit inside.


----------



## Drundfunk (Nov 10, 2019)

dzilizzi said:


> I'm on Windows, which makes it a lot easier. Thunderbolt enclosures are harder to find. I normally just buy a USB 3.0 enclosure from Sabrent for less than $20. I get free shipping from Amazon, so I usually get it there. Then any sale SSD with a good rating will fit inside.


Is there any difference about the speed of an external SSD compared to the speed of an internal SSD in an enclosure?


----------



## Michael Antrum (Nov 10, 2019)

Yes. An NVME drive in the correct enclosure USB 3.1 Gen 2 can hit much faster speeds that SATA SSD’s.


----------



## dzilizzi (Nov 10, 2019)

An internal SSD in an enclosure is the same as an external SSD, it's just cheaper to put it together yourself normally. And you have more options, like making an m.2 SSD in an enclosure. 

Really, I started doing this more when using HDD's because external don't normally come in 7200 RPMs.


----------



## Suntower (Nov 10, 2019)

Does anyone know if Orchestral Tools Glory Days will be on sale? (Or any other jazz band related libs?)

Sorry if I'm being lazy. I don't check in here often and the regular search came up only with NKS Berlin.

TIA.

---JC


----------



## premjj (Nov 11, 2019)

dzilizzi said:


> An internal SSD in an enclosure is the same as an external SSD, it's just cheaper to put it together yourself normally. And you have more options, like making an m.2 SSD in an enclosure.
> 
> Really, I started doing this more when using HDD's because external don't normally come in 7200 RPMs.



I have a HITACHI 1 TB 7200 external HDD (Model called Touro) which for some strange reasons doesn't work on all of my laptop's USB ports except one. It starts clicking on the incompatible ports and never gets recognized by windows. The only reason that I could attribute to this behaviour was that the 7200 RPM was probably drawing more current than the usual 5400 RPM external HDDs (all of which work just fine with all the ports). And maybe the USB ports on my laptop do not have the same power rating.

What has your experience been in this regard?


----------



## Qualex72 (Nov 11, 2019)

I am waiting for CUBASE 10.5 that should be out this month... I have also to decide if upgrade or not Dominus Choir...we will see...


----------



## kessel (Nov 11, 2019)

I have added Vocaloid stuff to my list, I hope bigfishaudio or crypton/sonicwire make some discount this year and also Yamaha as I plan to get the whole pack I need at once


----------



## dzilizzi (Nov 11, 2019)

premjj said:


> I have a HITACHI 1 TB 7200 external HDD (Model called Touro) which for some strange reasons doesn't work on all of my laptop's USB ports except one. It starts clicking on the incompatible ports and never gets recognized by windows. The only reason that I could attribute to this behaviour was that the 7200 RPM was probably drawing more current than the usual 5400 RPM external HDDs (all of which work just fine with all the ports). And maybe the USB ports on my laptop do not have the same power rating.
> 
> What has your experience been in this regard?


In a laptop, the USB hubs can be under powered, though it hasn't really been issue for me. I usually use a powered hub. But I also have 4 SSDs and one HDD I carry with me. On top of the dongles, interface, and mini keyboard. And my laptop is suddenly not letting me plug much more in without me getting a limited resources error. 

Though that could also be because all my drives are USB 3 now.


----------



## Pianolando (Nov 11, 2019)

I’m hoping to pick up some Embertone libraries...the clarinet, trumpet and maybe some more. Plus hopefully a Sandisk 2tb extreme ssd and a Louder than liftoff Silver bullet.


----------



## cqd (Nov 11, 2019)

I can't really think of anything I might want to get..waiting for CSWW..that's about it really..


----------



## jason.d (Nov 11, 2019)

I saw EastWest is having a “super sale” for November. Lots of products are 60% off. I’ve been thinking about pulling the trigger on SD3 but wondering if I should wait until Black Friday.


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## alpacaroom (Nov 12, 2019)

I'm looking to finally pull the trigger on a starter set of orchestral samples ... and debating between EastWest HO and BBCSO. There will be a $200 or so price difference between Diamond + solo and BBCSO, but I really do like the sound of the pricier BBCSO.


----------



## nolotrippen (Nov 12, 2019)

alpacaroom said:


> I'm looking to finally pull the trigger on a starter set of orchestral samples ... and debating between EastWest HO and BBCSO. There will be a $200 or so price difference between Diamond + solo and BBCSO, but I really do like the sound of the pricier BBCSO.



Don't forget this one: http://www.soundsonline.com/symphonic-orchestra


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## cqd (Nov 12, 2019)

Stay away from BBCSO if you're on Windows anyway..


----------



## nolotrippen (Nov 12, 2019)

cqd said:


> Stay away from BBCSO if you're on Windows anyway..


I'm on a Mac, but curious why you say that.


----------



## cqd (Nov 12, 2019)

Well, from bitter experience really to be honest with you..I asked on the other thread if anyone had it running reasonably well on Windows.. didn't get one positive reaction..


----------



## Victor Cajiao (Nov 14, 2019)

FYI I just picked up Omnisphere for $407 plus tax ( reg $479)at Musicians Friend. Really great price for software that’s never on sale.


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## premjj (Nov 14, 2019)

Victor Cajiao said:


> FYI I just picked up Omnisphere for $407 plus tax ( reg $479)at Musicians Friend. Really great price for software that’s never on sale.



Lucky you. I can see the price in the cart but it won't ship to a non-US address.


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## noises on (Nov 14, 2019)

Hoping Strezov will reward my resisting the temptation to buy BBC, and offer Afflatus Strings at markedly lower price this black Friday. The question remains,..will my hopes match their business plan?


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## ToxicRecordings (Nov 14, 2019)

noises on said:


> Hoping Strezov will reward my resisting the temptation to buy BBC, and offer Afflatus Strings at markedly lower price this black Friday. The question remains,..will my hopes match their business plan?



Honestly, i think you should be happy if they give these strings 20% off max..
I am still tempted as well, but the full price is a bit too steep for me.. let's hope for a bigger discount eh?


----------



## noises on (Nov 15, 2019)

ToxicRecordings said:


> Honestly, i think you should be happy if they give these strings 20% off max..
> I am still tempted as well, but the full price is a bit too steep for me.. let's hope for a bigger discount eh?


Twenty percent would probably be all the temptation I need. Hold thumbs!


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## tebling (Nov 15, 2019)

My BF list is pretty short:

CSS and possibly CS2
A good harp (OT Berlin Harps would be nice)
The next entry in the Time Macro and Time Micro series, just called Time. I could really use more of that.


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## Land of Missing Parts (Nov 15, 2019)

noises on said:


> Twenty percent would probably be all the temptation I need. Hold thumbs!


Or if Afflatus had an option to buy just individual sections. I'm guessing that would put it within reach of a lot more folks here.


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## noises on (Nov 15, 2019)

What if all developers embarked on 8dio style marketing once their products are a year or so old. I picked up Claire woods as well as Misfits collection for wonderfully low prices. No need to wait for black Friday!!!


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## Ryan Fultz (Nov 15, 2019)

alpacaroom said:


> I'm looking to finally pull the trigger on a starter set of orchestral samples ... and debating between EastWest HO and BBCSO. There will be a $200 or so price difference between Diamond + solo and BBCSO, but I really do like the sound of the pricier BBCSO.



Personally I would go for BBCSO of the two because I'm not a fan of the PLAY engine or how it works and in general the file organization of EW I find cumbersome, but the sound is still completely solid and not everyone minds it. Worth checking out a lot of companies right now though since they will all be having sales.



noises on said:


> What if all developers embarked on 8dio style marketing once their products are a year or so old. I picked up Claire woods as well as Misfits collection for wonderfully low prices. No need to wait for black Friday!!!



There is a reason I own so many of their libraries, aside from actually liking their products.


----------



## Billy Palmer (Nov 15, 2019)

Waiting to see what OT are offering in the way of brass. If not, I'm going to pull the trigger on CSB with my student discount.

Might pick up a bigger SSD, but honestly there's not much I need this black Friday.


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## J-M (Nov 15, 2019)

I'm relatively safe because at the moment I can't really afford anything. Does this mean I just have to get better at composing and using the stuff I already have...? How boring. :/


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## Living Fossil (Nov 15, 2019)

MrLinssi said:


> I'm relatively safe because at the moment I can't really afford anything. Does this mean I just have to get better at composing and using the stuff I already have...?



Not, it means that you have to search for libraries you can afford.


----------



## J-M (Nov 15, 2019)

Living Fossil said:


> Not, it means that you have to search for libraries you can afford.



How do you feel about plugins?


----------



## dhbp (Nov 18, 2019)

Thinking ASUS ROG 8750 or 9750 laptop. Decent performance at far less cost than a Razer.


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## josephspirits (Nov 18, 2019)

Will be curious to see what the Spitfire bundles shape up to be, but thinking of going deeper in with Soundtoys and Fabfilter this year, rather than more samples.

I would also recommend anyone who doesn't have Sonarworks yet to think about it. Doesn't seem like as fun of a purchase, but when you consider how it makes everything else you've ever invested in sound better, it's priceless.

Looking back at last year, I got mine around Christmas time, and while I don't think it was discounted, it did bundle the $80 tru-fi app with it for Christmas.


----------



## Lee Blaske (Nov 18, 2019)

I'm really surprised at how many notices I'm getting from software retailers announcing that their Black Friday sales are all ready on. Kind of takes the excitement out of things.

For those retailers who have already announced their BF sales, do you think that's the lowest they're planning to go, or will they be pulling out additional stops on actual BF? 

Black Friday is all about a buying frenzy. You can't have much of a frenzy when things start so far out.


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## Land of Missing Parts (Nov 18, 2019)

Lee Blaske said:


> I'm really surprised at how many notices I'm getting from software retailers announcing that their Black Friday sales are all ready on. Kind of takes the excitement out of things.
> 
> For those retailers who have already announced their BF sales, do you think that's the lowest they're planning to go, or will they be pulling out additional stops on actual BF?
> 
> Black Friday is all about a buying frenzy. You can't have much of a frenzy when things start so far out.


Maybe the devs are experiencing FOMO too; fear that buyers will deplete their budget on the early sales.


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## Daily Patcher (Nov 18, 2019)

The market has been moving this way for black friday the last few years.. one industry tries it, figures out a longer sales period means they net more profit & the rest follow (if only to compete). If it means peace of mind when the family gets together and no one is scrambling for some one off sale, more power to us.


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## kessel (Nov 19, 2019)

for me it would make more sense to make the sales last longer as I get my money at the end of the month and now I can't really afford much... but I guess other customers save money for this day and can already get the sale price, so I guess it makes sense for them too... I personally don't need the excitement at all, I need the plugins


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## Lee Blaske (Nov 19, 2019)

Land of Missing Parts said:


> Maybe the devs are experiencing FOMO too; fear that buyers will deplete their budget on the early sales.



I suppose there's also the factor of a lot of products having been in inventory for a long time. More sales are more sales. But, I think we're getting close to BF no longer being an exciting event.


----------



## ridgero (Nov 20, 2019)

Hoping for a good discount on the Ólafur Arnalds Collection.


----------



## fiction (Nov 20, 2019)

I really want the soundtoys bundle at 50% like last year. Still couldn't understand from their website if it's gonna happen or not.


----------



## josephspirits (Nov 20, 2019)

fiction said:


> I really want the soundtoys bundle at 50% like last year. Still couldn't understand from their website if it's gonna happen or not.



The 50% off upgrades is happening right now, do you mean if you don't own anything yet?


----------



## John R Wilson (Nov 20, 2019)

fiction said:


> I really want the soundtoys bundle at 50% like last year. Still couldn't understand from their website if it's gonna happen or not.



Apparently they have some very good black friday deals coming up.


----------



## vitocorleone123 (Nov 20, 2019)

Johnrwilsonmusic said:


> Apparently they have some very good black friday deals coming up.


I don't need the full package, but there's a few I'd consider for the right price. Little Plate for free was kinda insane, but $29 on some of the others might interest me.


----------



## fiction (Nov 20, 2019)

josephspirits said:


> The 50% off upgrades is happening right now, do you mean if you don't own anything yet?


Yes, I don't own anything from them. Will it be 50% for everyone later or just for existing users? I don't understand the current sale..


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## ManicMiner (Nov 20, 2019)

fiction said:


> Yes, I don't own anything from them. Will it be 50% for everyone later or just for existing users? I don't understand the current sale..


I think the best way to get Soundtoys at a good price (and this is the same route as Izotopes stuff) is to get one of their "little" range cheap (I've seen as low as $10) and then go the upgrade path to the full Soundtoys set.
They do offer a trial download of the full set of Soundtoys. I demoed them and wasn't entirely convinced to buy the whole set, although I am keeping my eye open for PanMan and Crystalizer on sale for $29 at some time.


----------



## Ryan Fultz (Nov 20, 2019)

fiction said:


> Yes, I don't own anything from them. Will it be 50% for everyone later or just for existing users? I don't understand the current sale..



The current sale is for existing users only, to upgrade to the full bundle. You sadly missed it about a month or two ago when they passed out one for free and one for I believe was $29.

Likely they will have many for very cheap and maybe even one or two for free, but the full bundle on sale is unknowable.

I'd recommend keeping an eye out, there will definitely be great buys, just maybe not the whole bundle.


----------



## josephspirits (Nov 21, 2019)

fiction said:


> Yes, I don't own anything from them. Will it be 50% for everyone later or just for existing users? I don't understand the current sale..



Sorry, unfortunately I don't know. I remember reading about their upgrades being cheaper if you own one or more products, so over the last two years I bought a few for cheap when they came up. I would just keep an eye out over the next month for sales on individual products to get your foot in the door, and then maybe hold out for another upgrade sale at a different time of the year (they had one last spring too I think).


----------



## emilio_n (Nov 21, 2019)

Hi there!
My first post here so I will introduce myself. I am an amateur musician that studied piano a long time ago and trying to compose some music with Logic.
I bought K12 Select and now I am not sure what to do to start to build my library. (I don't have anything except the Logic Pro sounds and the poor Komplete Select)
I thought to update to KU12 Collector's edition to get the full Symphony Series at 700$ during the Black Friday offers. Looks a good idea as I think is interesting the rest of the things Komplete have to do write another kind of music as well, but I discovered that this forum doesn't have a lot of love for the NI SS.

What is your opinion for a newbie that wants to start in the composing world mostly from zero?
Is worth it 700$ to have the most complete NI bundle?
Maybe is better get just the Ultimate version for 500$?
Another choice is going to Komplete 12 (200$) and invests the rest of my budget in other option like Nucleus or BBCSO (spending a little bit more and using an Educational discount of 30% off)

Any other BF deal to take in mind?


----------



## Reid Rosefelt (Nov 21, 2019)

If you want to make all kinds of music (rock, world, electronic, dance, etc) then getting Komplete or Komplete Ultimate is a good deal now and will keep you busy for a long time. I don't advise you to get the Collector's Edition. Also, they both include full Kontakt, which will allow you to pick up scores of quality instruments for free.

Everybody will have an opinion on what orchestral library you should get, but nobody knows what the sales will be next week and in December. Frankly, it's better to research for a few months before Black Friday, as you now are going to have to make some expensive choices very quickly. There are many libraries you could consider to get started: Nucleus, Orchestral Tools Inspire 1 and 2, Albion ONE, BBCSO, ProjectSAM's Symphobia series, VSL SE, Sonuscore's The Orchestra, Red Room Audio's Palette Series, Sonic Scores' Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra, etc. etc. You should read up as much as you can and watch as many demos as you can.

Good luck!


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## emilio_n (Nov 21, 2019)

TigerTheFrog said:


> If you want to make all kinds of music (rock, world, electronic, dance, etc) then getting Komplete or Komplete Ultimate is a good deal now and will keep you busy for a long time. I don't advise you to get the Collector's Edition. Also, they both include full Kontakt, which will allow you to pick up scores of quality instruments for free.
> 
> Everybody will have an opinion on what orchestral library you should get, but nobody knows what the sales will be next week and in December. Frankly, it's better to research for a few months before Black Friday, as you now are going to have to make some expensive choices very quickly. There are many libraries you could consider to get started: Nucleus, Orchestral Tools Inspire 1 and 2, Albion ONE, BBCSO, ProjectSAM's Symphobia series, VSL SE, Red Room Audio's Palette Series, Sonic Scores' Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra, etc. etc. You should read up as much as you can and watch as many demos as you can.
> 
> Good luck!



Thanks!
That's true. Too many options out there and looks fans and haters. I think I will not go to the Collector's edition as I am zero interested in the Extensions and looks there are a lot of better choices at similar prices. 
I think I will go to Ultimate for 500$ and think carefully the entry-level orchestra that sound nice, comes complete and can fit with my budget.


----------



## Ryan Fultz (Nov 21, 2019)

emilio_n said:


> Hi there!
> My first post here so I will introduce myself. I am an amateur musician that studied piano a long time ago and trying to compose some music with Logic.
> I bought K12 Select and now I am not sure what to do to start to build my library. (I don't have anything except the Logic Pro sounds and the poor Komplete Select)
> I thought to update to KU12 Collector's edition to get the full Symphony Series at 700$ during the Black Friday offers. Looks a good idea as I think is interesting the rest of the things Komplete have to do write another kind of music as well, but I discovered that this forum doesn't have a lot of love for the NI SS.
> ...





TigerTheFrog said:


> If you want to make all kinds of music (rock, world, electronic, dance, etc) then getting Komplete or Komplete Ultimate is a good deal now and will keep you busy for a long time. I don't advise you to get the Collector's Edition. Also, they both include full Kontakt, which will allow you to pick up scores of quality instruments for free.
> 
> Everybody will have an opinion on what orchestral library you should get, but nobody knows what the sales will be next week and in December. Frankly, it's better to research for a few months before Black Friday, as you now are going to have to make some expensive choices very quickly. There are many libraries you could consider to get started: Nucleus, Orchestral Tools Inspire 1 and 2, Albion ONE, BBCSO, ProjectSAM's Symphobia series, VSL SE, Red Room Audio's Palette Series, Sonic Scores' Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra, etc. etc. You should read up as much as you can and watch as many demos as you can.
> 
> Good luck!


 
Gonna second everything said by TTF and would even say the "Ultimate" version will be overkill vs. just getting the full regular version. Either with that or Ultimate that's a HUGE world of tools to understand how to use, you could spend an entire year just with those getting your writing, midi programing, and mixing chops built up and still have plenty of room to grow and figure out what samples would actually suit you well.


----------



## josephspirits (Nov 21, 2019)

emilio_n said:


> Hi there!
> My first post here so I will introduce myself. I am an amateur musician that studied piano a long time ago and trying to compose some music with Logic.
> I bought K12 Select and now I am not sure what to do to start to build my library. (I don't have anything except the Logic Pro sounds and the poor Komplete Select)
> I thought to update to KU12 Collector's edition to get the full Symphony Series at 700$ during the Black Friday offers. Looks a good idea as I think is interesting the rest of the things Komplete have to do write another kind of music as well, but I discovered that this forum doesn't have a lot of love for the NI SS.
> ...



Speaking from my own experience, I was excited about upgrading to Komplete 11, but honestly barely use anything from it, except Kontakt, and the pianos. I'm glad I didn't talk myself into Ultimate. I do think it's still good value for the amount of content, a good base for sure, but if you're mostly after orchestral stuff I think you may find yourself tempted in other directions rather quickly. Something about a lot of the Komplete sounds and experience didn't lock in for me, in the way that Spitfire did, but again, that's just my experience and what I spent the most amount of time learning.

Luckily this is a great time of year for sales, but there will also be a lot of temptation, so my advice would be to make a youtube playlist with the walkthroughs of all the libraries you are considering, get familiar with what different libraries are capable of, and then get a few quality libraries/tools that will be enough to get you excited and working right away. Treat yourself on some good deals, but don't go overboard spending too much right away, especially if you're in school. There will always be other sales, so think about what you will really need, and then spend more time, instead of money, really learning to love those tools, and how you can work with them in Logic. The things you learn while doing that will allow you to make smart decisions about what you really need to invest in next.

If I could go back I would have spent less money on more sample libraries right away, many of which are just sitting there waiting to be used, and instead jumped on things like Sonarworks and Fabfilter, products which I put off buying, but now use every day. Not that you need those to get started, but just something to consider.


----------



## Robo Rivard (Nov 21, 2019)

I'm so glad I'm out of job now! Demons will give me a break for the rest of the year!... But still, I made a dangerous move and upgraded to Dominus Pro and bought the 8DIO Century Ostinato Strings while I was still working (no regrets!!!)...

If you have a limited budget, I would suggest that you concentrate on what you NEED, rather than what is on sale... Wait for the fish to show up, instead of being the fish.

Do your homeworks and listen to all the demos, and read the specs before you commit.


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## dzilizzi (Nov 21, 2019)

I don't know. Most of the stuff I use in Komplete only come in Ultimate. Really depends on the type of music you want to do. Straight orchestral? Maybe not. But trailer or game music? Lots of great options that aren't in regular Komplete.


----------



## emilio_n (Nov 21, 2019)

Thank you very much for all very wise and valuable recommendations!
Komplete 12 to get the Kontakt full and the great pianos and a lot of homework watching orchestral youtube videos to find a good one for me. I am not at School. I am a teacher in the university but my budget is not bigger than a student.


----------



## emilio_n (Nov 21, 2019)

dzilizzi said:


> I don't know. Most of the stuff I use in Komplete only come in Ultimate. Really depends on the type of music you want to do. Straight orchestral? Maybe not. But trailer or game music? Lots of great options that aren't in regular Komplete.


Actually, I want even to write some pop/rock songs. but I want to play with the Orchestra. Maybe Ultimate...? what a difficult decision!!


----------



## M0rdechai (Nov 21, 2019)

hi @emilio_n
I've just started myself about a year and a half ago. I started with buying Komplete Select, upgraded it to KU11 summer 2018.
After that I bought Omnisphere.

Yesterday I purchased the upgrade to Komplete 12 U Collectors Edition, for 257 euro.
The upgrade to K12U is 199 euro, so I figured for 58 bucks I get at the very least a decend percussion library... even if i _might_ not use the rest much.

The symphony series may indeed not get much love here, but it is a cheap way to get a lot...
I'm looking to now expand on what I think sounds the worst/ has the hardest workflow.

I also use other stuff from Komplete Ultimate besides the orchestral, for live keyboard/synth stuff, so that's why I think going this 'route' makes sence for me.


----------



## Michael Antrum (Nov 21, 2019)

For 58 dollars you would be mad not to get the collectors edition. The Percussion is pretty good, and the strings ensemble has some very nice bits in it. The auto divisi in particular is fun. The woods and Bras are less spectacular, but you can still do a lot with them.

If someone offered the entire Symphony series for $ 58.00, it would be a royal bargain.

Guess what - they effectively just have.

Otherwise, the best advice for the Black Friday weekend is, however, to report you credit cards and debit cards as stolen - so by the time they get new ones to you, it will all be over.....


----------



## emilio_n (Nov 21, 2019)

M0rdechai said:


> hi @emilio_n
> I've just started myself about a year and a half ago. I started with buying Komplete Select, upgraded it to KU11 summer 2018.
> After that I bought Omnisphere.
> 
> ...



Yeah, this is the path I though in the first place. I am still with the Select version but I thought that go to Ultimate or maybe the collector's edition is a "cheap" way to get most everything I will need for the next few years. Then I started to read and I see that SS is not so great and for around 350$ I can get Nucleus that people say is much better and even comes with choirs and other things.

I think I will update to Ultimate and play around with all the things included. Is I like the Symphony Essentials I can upgrade to the CE in the summer sales. If I decided that is better the Nucleus or BBCSO I can wait for an offer too or buy with educational discount.
Actually I am so newbie that everything sounds fantastic to me. I just don't want to spend money on something I will not use. This is expensive stuff even on sale!


----------



## woafmann (Nov 22, 2019)

motomotomoto said:


> Any tips on what to look for when doing that? I bought a 2TB Samsung T5 last time and it was pretty pricey!



Earlier this year, I purchased a TEKQ Thunderbolt 3 external drive with a paltry 480GB NVMe SSD inside. It seems that the powers at be forbid manufacturers from selling just TB3 enclosures. So, I basically replaced the mediocre SSD with a kick-butt Samsung 2TB 970 EVO NVMe M.2 Internal SSD.

Kind of an expensive way of doing things, but I wanted the fastest external I could for my mobile studio set up. I could have paid even more and gotten the "Pro" Samsung version, but it wasn't really needed since the read speeds were pretty comparable if I recall although the write speeds were a tad faster.

It's INSANELY fast. Read up on it. It's really the way to go if you want instant zero latency on massive samples. IIRC, last time I tested it, I believe I was getting like 3200MB/s sustained read speeds. Yes, over 3GB/s!

Right now on Amazon, the TEKQ housing with the 490GB SSD is $190. Might as well get a USB-C external drive to house the 480GB after you do the swap. The one I got was the "ANYOYO NVMe Enclosure" ($40) on Amazon. On B&H, the Samsung 970 EVO 2TB is on sale currently at $399.

So, for $630, you get a screaming fast Thunderbolt 3 - 2TB SDD, and a decently fast USB-C 480GB SSD that will both fit in your pocket. 

Put your heavy hitting libraries on the 2TB and smaller libraries on the 480SSD. Breaking up the I/O's with multiple drives can also help to keep sustained bandwidth higher since different drives = different ports = potentially different busses.

Good luck!


----------



## bak3r (Nov 22, 2019)

Well I'll be looking at audiomodelling swam wood bundle 
Anybody got experience if they do BF Sales?


----------



## David Kudell (Nov 23, 2019)

woafmann said:


> Earlier this year, I purchased a TEKQ Thunderbolt 3 external drive with a paltry 480GB NVMe SSD inside. It seems that the powers at be forbid manufacturers from selling just TB3 enclosures. So, I basically replaced the mediocre SSD with a kick-butt Samsung 2TB 970 EVO NVMe M.2 Internal SSD.
> 
> Kind of an expensive way of doing things, but I wanted the fastest external I could for my mobile studio set up. I could have paid even more and gotten the "Pro" Samsung version, but it wasn't really needed since the read speeds were pretty comparable if I recall although the write speeds were a tad faster.
> 
> ...


Good tip. For less work, but more money, the Glyph Atom Pro is already configured this way. 2TB is $699.


----------



## Jack Weaver (Nov 23, 2019)

Have I missed a black Friday sale for Project Chaos?

.


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## C R C (Nov 23, 2019)

Howdy - I think I know the answer, but am just looking for some assurance. If you upgrade Komplete 11 to Komplete 12, it comes with the Kontakt 6 upgrade. That upgrade will not replace Kontakt 5, will it? It will leave Kontakt 5 alone and just ADD Kontakt 6....? Thank you.


----------



## Manuel Stumpf (Nov 23, 2019)

C R C said:


> Howdy - I think I know the answer, but am just looking for some assurance. If you upgrade Komplete 11 to Komplete 12, it comes with the Kontakt 6 upgrade. That upgrade will not replace Kontakt 5, will it? It will leave Kontakt 5 alone and just ADD Kontakt 6....? Thank you.


Yes you can have Kontakt 5 and 6 installed in parallel (Upgrade and installation to 6 will install 6 in parallel to an already existing Kontakt 5 installation).

But I see no way of downloading Kontakt version installers other than the latest version. In case you need to reinstall Kontakt 5 one day, you probably have to contact NI support to get the Kontakt 5 installer.


----------



## C R C (Nov 23, 2019)

Manuel Stumpf said:


> Yes you can have Kontakt 5 and 6 installed in parallel (Upgrade and installation to 6 will install 6 in parallel to an already existing Kontakt 5 installation).
> 
> But I see no way of downloading Kontakt version installers other than the latest version. In case you need to reinstall Kontakt 5 one day, you probably have to contact NI support to get the Kontakt 5 installer.


 Hopefully by the time a reinstall happens I won't care. I have some old Giga files and apparently K6 doesn't play nice with them, so I still want K5 available.Thank you for responding!


----------



## Mystic (Nov 24, 2019)

Land of Missing Parts said:


> Hoping for a BF sale on the elgato Stream Deck.



Let's see if I can post this without the forum turning it to a media link...

www.amazon.com/Elgato-Stream-Deck-Controller-customizable/dp/B06XKNZT1P/


----------



## Land of Missing Parts (Nov 24, 2019)

Mystic said:


> Let's see if I can post this without the forum turning it to a media link...
> 
> www.amazon.com/Elgato-Stream-Deck-Controller-customizable/dp/B06XKNZT1P/


 Purchased!


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## eschroder (Nov 24, 2019)

Land of Missing Parts said:


> Purchased!



interesting! How are you going to best utilize it? Trying to figureout how I’d use it in logic.


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## Michael Antrum (Nov 24, 2019)

eschroder said:


> interesting! How are you going to best utilize it? Trying to figureout how I’d use it in logic.



I use mine for Dorico.

This really makes Dorico productive for me. (Sibelius also supported)

https://www.nycmusicservices.com/notation-express/


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## Land of Missing Parts (Nov 24, 2019)

eschroder said:


> interesting! How are you going to best utilize it? Trying to figureout how I’d use it in logic.


Stream Deck + Keyboard Maestro (+ another secret tool for Logic TBA).

I'm not sure what shortcuts I'll do yet, but I'm thinking anything to reduce using mouse clicks while editing in the piano roll. Or ways to quickly audition different sound or articulation options. Or some shortcuts for hiding and soloing instruments/groups/stacks. Or nudge different amounts.

There's some ingenious uses that people have mentioned, if you search around the forum.




__





Stream Deck - killer REAL button controller


Hey Guys, Forgive the following rave, but I’m betting a lot of you will find this useful. I saw this little box a few weeks back and shrugged it off because I already have 2 iPads running TouchOSC and several heavily mapped hardware controllers (Behringer X-Touch & XT Compact, Contour Shuttle...




vi-control.net





One macro I've been using a lot lately with Keyboard Maestro will--simply by pressing f4--open the smart control window (cmd-3), align it to the bottom corner of my screen, resize the window, bring the window to the front, and select the piano display tab ("Keyswitches), where all of my keyboard shortcuts are mapped.

Like this:





Essentially with one click I can quickly see all of my available articulations and what key they're mapped to without having to look at the Kontakt instance or even use my mouse. Life is good!


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## eschroder (Nov 24, 2019)

Awesome! Thanks for enlightening me. Think I might just check one out


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## jonnybutter (Nov 25, 2019)

I am staying sane this year - I already bought a bunch of stuff and I just don't really need much. But I've had my eye on the Overloud Tapedesk. I can't seem to get enough saturation flavors these days, and I've always liked the sound of this one. It's normally €179 I believe, and on sale for €78.

BUT, I downloaded the demo first since it's fully functional for 15 days. SURE! 20 minutes later - love it. Buying it.


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## SBK (Nov 25, 2019)

hmmmm


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## SBK (Nov 25, 2019)

Smart Comp at $69 from $129 , was looking for this one you think its worth it?
https://pluginfox.co/collections/sonible/products/sonible-smart-comp


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## decredis (Nov 29, 2019)

Very happily bought the Pianoteq Pro upgrade; but otherwise my Black Friday list ended up being Infinite Woodwinds/Brass and SonicCouture Moonkits, and here I am refreshing pages hoping they’re going to be doing a sale any moment now, lol.  Perhaps I should think again


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## I like music (Nov 29, 2019)

decredis said:


> Very happily bought the Pianoteq Pro upgrade; but otherwise my Black Friday list ended up being Infinite Woodwinds/Brass and SonicCouture Moonkits, and here I am refreshing pages hoping they’re going to be doing a sale any moment now, lol.  Perhaps I should think again



Infinite series is great. Would love to know what you think of it if - once - you get it :D


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## decredis (Nov 29, 2019)

I like music said:


> Infinite series is great. Would love to know what you think of it if - once - you get it :D


Yeah, I considered so many options before settling on *wanting* Infinite. The only decent winds I have at the moment are SWAM flutes and Embertone Bassoon; obviously the latter is relatively inflexible (but lovely tone and fairly playable), and the former is gloriously flexible albeit with some tone issues. I understand Infinite’s flutes have similar concerns, but the enormous range of instruments with comparable flexibility to SWAM but greater ease of use, and the developer’s commitment to constant free improvement, is a powerful sell. 

Also I have only 16GB RAM and I prefer playability and cc-tweaking to programming and keyswitching; so that pushes me away from more traditional purely sampled libraries.


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## I like music (Nov 29, 2019)

decredis said:


> Yeah, I considered so many options before settling on *wanting* Infinite. The only decent winds I have at the moment are SWAM flutes and Embertone Bassoon; obviously the latter is relatively inflexible (but lovely tone and fairly playable), and the former is gloriously flexible albeit with some tone issues. I understand Infinite’s flutes have similar concerns, but the enormous range of instruments with comparable flexibility to SWAM but greater ease of use, and the developer’s commitment to constant free improvement, is a powerful sell.
> 
> Also I have only 16GB RAM and I prefer playability and cc-tweaking to programming and keyswitching; so that pushes me away from more traditional purely sampled libraries.



Perfect. He's going to be releasing instruments that'll only be 13mb each ... You'll be able to sell half your RAM then


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## Loïc D (Nov 29, 2019)

Grabbed StreamDeck at 99€


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## jason.d (Nov 29, 2019)

Finally pulled the trigger on StormDrum3.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Nov 29, 2019)

emilio_n said:


> Yeah, this is the path I though in the first place. I am still with the Select version but I thought that go to Ultimate or maybe the collector's edition is a "cheap" way to get most everything I will need for the next few years. Then I started to read and I see that SS is not so great and for around 350$ I can get Nucleus that people say is much better and even comes with choirs and other things.
> 
> I think I will update to Ultimate and play around with all the things included. Is I like the Symphony Essentials I can upgrade to the CE in the summer sales. If I decided that is better the Nucleus or BBCSO I can wait for an offer too or buy with educational discount.
> Actually I am so newbie that everything sounds fantastic to me. I just don't want to spend money on something I will not use. This is expensive stuff even on sale!


i don't know if I'm too late, but I would absolutely recommend that you buy the Symphony Series with Komplete Ultimate, if it is only $58 more. The percussion alone is worth more than that. The upgrade to the SS is $300, so you'll have to pay $150 then. And for $58, you can start making orchestral music.

That said, maybe by the summer you will have watched enough videos and saved the money to be able to choose another orchestra.


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## Michael Antrum (Nov 29, 2019)

emilio_n said:


> Actually, I want even to write some pop/rock songs. but I want to play with the Orchestra. Maybe Ultimate...? what a difficult decision!!



Steinberg have just announced a sale on Iconica Opus. It's their full orchestral package and it's half price at £ 430.00. Theres also a trial. Its pretty good.

www.steinberg.com


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## emilio_n (Nov 30, 2019)

TigerTheFrog said:


> i don't know if I'm too late, but I would absolutely recommend that you buy the Symphony Series with Komplete Ultimate, if it is only $58 more. The percussion alone is worth more than that. The upgrade to the SS is $300, so you'll have to pay $150 then. And for $58, you can start making orchestral music.
> 
> That said, maybe by the summer you will have watched enough videos and saved the money to be able to choose another orchestra.


I got it!
Now starting to learn how to do the best with this library!! Maybe not the best but the most affordable if I want the rest of the Ultimate package. SS will be my only library for the next year, so I think I will learn how to get the most of it.


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## lp59burst (Nov 30, 2019)

So far, in my opinion, this year's BF sales have been rather underwhelming...


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## lp59burst (Nov 30, 2019)

Mystic said:


> Let's see if I can post this without the forum turning it to a media link...
> 
> www.amazon.com/Elgato-Stream-Deck-Controller-customizable/dp/B06XKNZT1P/





Land of Missing Parts said:


> Purchased!



Me too... thanks @Mystic for the heads-up on that one...


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## jbuhler (Nov 30, 2019)

lp59burst said:


> So far, in my opinion, this year's BF sales have been rather underwhelming...


I think in part that's because there have been so many other sales this year. BF doesn't stand out as much in contrast.


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## sostenuto (Nov 30, 2019)

lp59burst said:


> So far, in my opinion, this year's BF sales have been rather underwhelming...



My Bank Account disagrees vehemently ...


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## PeterKorcek (Nov 30, 2019)

I would LIKE:

Cinesamples - Cineharp, Cinepiano - 250 USD + VAT
EW - Spaces II - 160 euros
Strezov sampling - Storm Choir ultimate - 300 euros + VAT
Spitfire - HZ Strings - 480 euros
Orchestral tools - JXL Brass - 500 euros + VAT

What I NEED:

more time to practise :-D


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## decredis (Dec 2, 2019)

decredis said:


> Very happily bought the Pianoteq Pro upgrade; but otherwise my Black Friday list ended up being Infinite Woodwinds/Brass and SonicCouture Moonkits, and here I am refreshing pages hoping they’re going to be doing a sale any moment now, lol.  Perhaps I should think again


I did end up having a sort of panicked Black Friday fever and bought a few things I hadn’t especially planned on getting: Embertone’s viola and crystal flute, Fluffy’s flute, and Red Room’s celtic fiddle. But these are all quite lovely in their own ways, and getting some sampled flute made sense as it’s an area that semi-modelled libraries struggle with. (But should I have waited for OT to start selling individual instruments?)

I’ll just have to dig a little deeper into my wallet when the Infinite sale begins; and hope for a SonicCouture sale some time in the future.


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## Synetos (Dec 2, 2019)

I bought a second copy of Waves Mercury Bundle for my live rig running SuperRack. No more key swapping from studio to live setup. I got a great deal on it since I upgraded Horizon to Mercury. It was so worth it...to me anyway. 

SoundToys 5 :( sadly, it isnt working on Cubase 10 or 10.5, so not super happy about that purchase...however, VEP7 see's it just fine.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 2, 2019)

Synetos said:


> I bought a second copy of Waves Mercury Bundle for my live rig running SuperRack. No more key swapping from studio to live setup. I got a great deal on it since I upgraded Horizon to Mercury. It was so worth it...to me anyway.
> 
> SoundToys 5 :( sadly, it isnt working on Cubase 10 or 10.5, so not super happy about that purchase...however, VEP7 see's it just fine.


Did you try to reactivate your Soundtoys plugins in the Plugin Manager? 

Cubase blacklists my stuff fairly often. It blacklisted Sonible's smart:comp the other day. I reactivated it and all was well.


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## jaketanner (Dec 2, 2019)

Synetos said:


> SoundToys 5 :( sadly, it isnt working on Cubase 10 or 10.5


Wow..I haven't tried it, and I have the complete V5 bundle. Why do you think? Is it just not showing up or does it crash?


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## KallumS (Dec 2, 2019)

Synetos said:


> SoundToys 5 :( sadly, it isnt working on Cubase 10 or 10.5



SoundToys 5 fully working on Cubase 10 over here, has been since 10 came out. Must be in issue with the installation.


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## Synetos (Dec 2, 2019)

jaketanner said:


> Wow..I haven't tried it, and I have the complete V5 bundle. Why do you think? Is it just not showing up or does it crash?



So, I did a complete uninstall,and scanned my whole computer to make sure no traces of it. Downloaded a new installation (it was same version as before), and did a clean install. Cubase 10.0.50 blacklisted them. By reactivating them, they now work for Cubase 10.0.50

However, Cubase 10.5.0 blacklisted them with a comment of "Crashed". When I tried to reactivate the plugs, it crashed Cubase.

EDIT: Turns out I wasnt running Cubase 10.5.0 as administrator. As soon as I relaunched as administrator in Windows 10, I was able to reactivate all the soundtoy 5 plugs, and run them. Whew!


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## jaketanner (Dec 2, 2019)

Synetos said:


> So, I did a complete uninstall,and scanned my whole computer to make sure no traces of it. Downloaded a new installation (it was same version as before), and did a clean install. Cubase 10.0.50 blacklisted them. By reactivating them, they now work for Cubase 10.0.50
> 
> However, Cubase 10.5.0 blacklisted them with a comment of "Crashed". When I tried to reactivate the plugs, it crashed Cubase.
> 
> EDIT: Turns out I wasnt running Cubase 10.5.0 as administrator. As soon as I relaunched as administrator in Windows 10, I was able to reactivate all the soundtoy 5 plugs, and run them. Whew!


Awesome. And sounds like it's a Windows issue? I'm on a Mac, so hopefully no problems. Thanks for sharing.


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## Paul Cardon (Dec 2, 2019)

jaketanner said:


> Awesome. And sounds like it's a Windows issue? I'm on a Mac, so hopefully no problems. Thanks for sharing.


I'm on Windows in Cubase 10.5 and not experiencing any issues with anything Soundtoys, so probably something else?


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## Synetos (Dec 2, 2019)

Paul Cardon said:


> I'm on Windows in Cubase 10.5 and not experiencing any issues with anything Soundtoys, so probably something else?


I wasnt running Cubase 10.5 as administrator. That was the problem.


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## Paul Cardon (Dec 2, 2019)

Synetos said:


> I wasnt running Cubase 10.5 as administrator. That was the problem.


I’ve never ran Cubase as admin and you shouldn’t ever have to. Running a program as admin in Windows tends to break cross-program functionality as well, such as file drag-and-drop from Explorer into Cubase.


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## 667 (Dec 2, 2019)

Yeah I use SoundToys on Cubase 10 all the time. Sounds like flatten-and-reinstall time :-(


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## Fever Phoenix (Dec 3, 2019)

well..

..again bought more than I planned to, also when I consider several intro sales and crossgrades the months before..

..the voices say I earned it..
..the other voices argue that ..

I don't know. I got the BF headache, I guess 🤷‍♂️


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## Technostica (Dec 3, 2019)

Paul Cardon said:


> Running a program as admin in Windows tends to break cross-program functionality as well, such as file drag-and-drop from Explorer into Cubase.


That's odd as Admin gives you more privileges not less so that makes no sense!


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## Paul Cardon (Dec 3, 2019)

Technostica said:


> That's odd as Admin gives you more privileges not less so that makes no sense!


Not quite. Programs should, during setup, establish all permissions needed to operate on their own, and running as an admin should never be a constant requirement. There's a lot of cross-program functions I use in Cubase that break when I run it in admin mode that makes it a non-issue for me to stay off of it, and if certain plugins require the entire host plugin to run in admin mode, then there's something wrong with the install or the devs took some lazy route. But again, I have loads of stuff and never run in admin mode and I don't run into issues myself.


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## Technostica (Dec 3, 2019)

Paul Cardon said:


> Not quite. Programs should, during setup, establish all permissions needed to operate on their own, and running as an admin should never be a constant requirement. There's a lot of cross-program functions I use in Cubase that break when I run it in admin mode that makes it a non-issue for me to stay off of it, and if certain plugins require the entire host plugin to run in admin mode, then there's something wrong with the install or the devs took some lazy route. But again, I have loads of stuff and never run in admin mode and I don't run into issues myself.


It should work generally either way I'd have thought so sounds like more of a Cubase issue than Admin issue.


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