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What Did You Buy on Black Friday That You Never Heard of Before?

TigerTheFrog said:
Of course. Many DAWs have this function. But once I make a preset in this, I can load it up in Komplete Kontrol, Sonar, Ableton, VE Pro, Acid, Cantabile, Vegas... anything I own now or will ever own that uses VSTs. Like maybe I will try Studio One or Reaper someday. And it won't matter if any of these hosts can work with VST3s, which a lot still don't. For example I can use Reason Rack in the old version of Ableton that I have. Otherwise I would have to pay $$$ to get the newest version.

But of course, there are reasons for using track presets and templates, particularly with the new features in 10.5. Every composer has to work out the systems that work best for their particular workflow. I believe this will be a useful addition to my toolbox. Maybe not for you.
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Ah, yeah, of course what I meant only works when you stick to your one DAW.
Being less dependent on one specific DAW is indeed interesting.
 
Prockamanisc said:
A few years back I made a gigantic list of everything that I would really use in my studio, and for years I've only been buying things that are on that list.
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Taking that literally, it means that you will never buy anything that was introduced after you made your list. Aren't there a few built-in assumptions here? (1) There's no need to learn about new products introduced after your list was finalized. (2) Your stylistic interests will not change. (3) You opinions about what matters in a VI or a plugin will not change. Perhaps I misunderstand you, though.
 
Prockamanisc said:
I've posted these thoughts in the past, but I want to share them again here. I'm not trying to start a fight, but just to lend some perspective: I think that the logic behind the title of this post is very, very dangerous. Things will always go on sale, and we can always justify purchasing something because of how good of a deal you're getting. But will you use it? Did you ever want it? A few years back I made a gigantic list of everything that I would really use in my studio, and for years I've only been buying things that are on that list. It's prevented thousands of dollars of impulse purchases, while at the same time guaranteeing I'll use and enjoy the products that I actually get. I highly recommend this method to anyone who is not independently wealthy.
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Siren Call.jpg
 
Prockamanisc said:
I've posted these thoughts in the past, but I want to share them again here. I'm not trying to start a fight, but just to lend some perspective: I think that the logic behind the title of this post is very, very dangerous. Things will always go on sale, and we can always justify purchasing something because of how good of a deal you're getting. But will you use it? Did you ever want it? A few years back I made a gigantic list of everything that I would really use in my studio, and for years I've only been buying things that are on that list. It's prevented thousands of dollars of impulse purchases, while at the same time guaranteeing I'll use and enjoy the products that I actually get. I highly recommend this method to anyone who is not independently wealthy.
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On one hand I agree. On the other hand, I spend about 10% of the money I make from music on new plugins and gear and it increases the enjoyment of my craft and sometimes I think helps me make better music!

I love your idea of a wish list of what you would really use in your studio, and I actually use a method that is a bit different but accomplishes a similar result. I make a list of what I ALREADY HAVE and organize it by catagory and use. For example:

Compressors:

Clean Compressors
Mix Bus Compressors
Character Compressors

Then when something new comes out that is a "no brainer, gamechanger" I can look and say, hmmm... I already have a natural reverb that I love that serves me well on my projects. Do I really need that? This method has saved me a LOT of purchases over time that I do not regret passing up on.
 
TigerTheFrog said:
Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I'm going to study it because I can immediately see it is a much better plugin. Sometimes there are silly sales where good things sell for very cheap. For the right price, I might get it.
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Yes, there are spots for pre plugins, main plugins and post plugins, which could be fun to experiment with. They rarely have sales on it though.
 
Prockamanisc said:
I've posted these thoughts in the past, but I want to share them again here. I'm not trying to start a fight, but just to lend some perspective: I think that the logic behind the title of this post is very, very dangerous. Things will always go on sale, and we can always justify purchasing something because of how good of a deal you're getting. But will you use it? Did you ever want it? A few years back I made a gigantic list of everything that I would really use in my studio, and for years I've only been buying things that are on that list. It's prevented thousands of dollars of impulse purchases, while at the same time guaranteeing I'll use and enjoy the products that I actually get. I highly recommend this method to anyone who is not independently wealthy.
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If I understand what you mean by "dangerous," you mean that it is reckless for me to encourage people to spend money on impulse--money that they don't have on things they don't really need.

That's solely from the perspective of musicians living on a limited budget, who need to be careful. But what about small developers? Should they all give up because many of us decided we have everything we needed a few years ago? Should they not strive to innovate? And if people have money, why shouldn't they spend it on anything that gives them joy, whether it's a sample library, a plugin, or anything else?

The sound quality of music made on computers has vastly improved since I started making it in 1985. I think that innovation is a good thing for every musician, and I hope it will continue. I'm happy to encourage that work by supporting developers.

That's why I spent a month on a post trying to get people to link to and check out developers they might not know about. And I'm happy I bought that plugin from DDMF, because I discovered that DDMF, a company I had never previously heard of, does a lot of unique and original work.
 
TigerTheFrog said:
If I understand what you mean by "dangerous," you mean that it is reckless for me to encourage people to spend money on impulse--money that they don't have on things they don't really need.

That's solely from the perspective of musicians living on a limited budget, who need to be careful. But what about small developers? Should they all give up because many of us decided we have everything we needed a few years ago? Should they not strive to innovate? And if people have money, why shouldn't they spend it on anything that gives them joy, whether it's a sample library, a plugin, or anything else?

The sound quality of music made on computers has vastly improved since I started making it in 1985. I think that innovation is a good thing for every musician, and I hope it will continue. I'm happy to encourage that work by supporting developers.

That's why I spent a month on a post trying to get people to link to and check out developers they might not know about. And I'm happy I bought that plugin from DDMF, because I discovered that DDMF, a company I had never previously heard of, does a lot of unique and original work.
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Great point, we need to support development if we want to keep seeing new and innovative tools.
 
motomotomoto said:
Great point, we need to support development if we want to keep seeing new and innovative tools.
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But you could also make the argument that everyone should buy only the things that are truly innovative, so that developers don't get tempted to do the same old same and call it "revolutionary" or a "game changer". The wouldn't do it if it didn't work.

But i'm not making that argument, I think things are going fine, generally.
 
motomotomoto said:
Clean Compressors
Mix Bus Compressors
Character Compressors
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Fast Compressors
Slow Transparent Compressors
Punchy Compressors
Mastering Compressors
Squishy Compressors
Glue Compressors
Hardware-Emulated Compressors...............
 
I bought Embertone’s Joshua Bell Violin thanks to this community. Love it. :)

Also bought Oeksound Soothe plugin for taming harsh frequencies.
 
  • Union by Soundspot. It's interesting. Bought on impulse. If not amazing, it's $7.99
  • Spectre by Wavefactory. Riskier at this price, but it's an EQ. It's a saturater. What is it really? I don't know, but it makes things sound nice.
  • Sample Logic MORPHESTRA 2. I have lots by SL, so the risk was minimal even though I hadn't a clue about it.
  • Waves Berzerk - FREE NINETY NINE PEOPLE! FREE.
I'm thinking about getting Vienna Symphonic Big Bang. That sale is still on.

I kind of regret not buying Sonokinetic Indie for $125. I wanted it and forgot to get it in time.

Spitfire almost got me on a few things. Their products and marketing prowess is upper echelon good.
 
I got an izotope bundle with ozone 9 , neutron 3 and nectar (all advanced versions mind you ) for 199
That’s alot of plugin for 200 bucks lol I can’t believe it was discounted that much
Some reverbs From Relab and LiquidSonics.
Output brass/winds and strings libs.
StrayIight
NI Noire
CSB
Wavelet senfine
Guess I did pretty good :)
Oh and PercX (man that thing is bad ass)
Holding out for the walkthrough for JXL Brass to see if that will be my Xmas gift to myself ;)
 
I picked up this handy tool to process dialog and audio for the cool content we're cooking: https://www.signumaudio.com/bute-loudness-normaliser (Bute Loudness Normaliser)

Without something like this, it would take a lot of time and guesswork to produce loudness compliant material for the various platforms. This is a fully automated processor, with a full compliment of industry standard presets and a high quality audio engine. So far I really like how it works and the normalized audio sounds very nice.

Paid $46 through PluginBoutique during the sales. :2thumbs:

BTW +1 for DDMF
 
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rrichard63 said:
Taking that literally, it means that you will never buy anything that was introduced after you made your list. Aren't there a few built-in assumptions here? (1) There's no need to learn about new products introduced after your list was finalized. (2) Your stylistic interests will not change. (3) You opinions about what matters in a VI or a plugin will not change. Perhaps I misunderstand you, though.
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1) I've certainly amended the list over the years, but it keeps me honest. I'm a VSL guy, and I can do what I need with VSL. 2) My taste and style evolves, sure, and that's when I would make amendments to the list...but there are also things that I've crossed off the list for the same reason. 3) Totally correct. I use instruments because they're playable and sound convincing. I use plugins for whatever thing they're made to do.

You're missing a pretty crucial could-be-assumption: I already had a shitload of plugins and instruments...too many to be using. This has forced me to focus on what works, and the results speak for themselves.

My list isn't dogma, it's just a guideline. A great guideline that's saved me thousands and kept me honest.
 
TigerTheFrog said:
If I understand what you mean by "dangerous," you mean that it is reckless for me to encourage people to spend money on impulse--money that they don't have on things they don't really need.

That's solely from the perspective of musicians living on a limited budget, who need to be careful. But what about small developers? Should they all give up because many of us decided we have everything we needed a few years ago? Should they not strive to innovate? And if people have money, why shouldn't they spend it on anything that gives them joy, whether it's a sample library, a plugin, or anything else?

The sound quality of music made on computers has vastly improved since I started making it in 1985. I think that innovation is a good thing for every musician, and I hope it will continue. I'm happy to encourage that work by supporting developers.

That's why I spent a month on a post trying to get people to link to and check out developers they might not know about. And I'm happy I bought that plugin from DDMF, because I discovered that DDMF, a company I had never previously heard of, does a lot of unique and original work.
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Yes, that's exactly what I mean by dangerous. At the end of my post I mentioned that impulse purchases are fine for people who are independently wealthy, but most musicians are probably closer to the poor end of the scale than the fabulously wealthy part of the scale.


I'll lay out the two extremes as I seem them:

Scenario One: The consumer picks out a finite number of libraries, and only purchases them. The biggest developers will get bigger and most new developers fail.

Scenario Two: The consumer purchases every great deal that they find just because it's a great deal. They go broke.

The middle path between these two, I believe, is making a list. Do your research as new libraries come out during the year, find developers that you like, and keep an eye out for good deals from them.


I guess what I'm realizing from your post is that there are two actions:

Action One: discovering and researching libraries throughout the year, finding what works for you in a cool state, when you can be as rational as possible.

Action Two: finding good deals on software.

The key is to keep these separate. You don't want to be researching new software while it's on sale, because of course you're going to convince yourself that you want it, need it, and are definitely going to use it.


Another thought: for every new library, every new plugin, you have to learn the terminology of the knobs, the layout of GUI, the actual sound of it, the playability of it, etc. It's a giant time-suck, and if our objective is to be getting music out, then we're better off spending 100 hours on 1 library and getting to know it intimately, rather than spending 1 hour on each of 100 libraries.


And yeah, I definitely checked out your list near-daily, and I am genuinely thankful that you made it. Thank you! I actually did make some purchases that I was not planning on making because I found them on your list. But they were parts of collections that I already had, not random departures from my norm. It may seem hypocritical of me, but I do allow myself impulse purchases, especially around Black Friday, but I save up a few hundred just for the occasion. I said this in a previous post, but my list is not dogmatic, it's just a guidepost.
 
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