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What is the best investment you've ever made in audio?

This:

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For close to a decade I had been dealing with ground loop noise issues. It would manifest primarily as noise from my computer. The issue became a lot worse with my current studio PC build, and I would get loud CPU noise coming through my monitors.

I tried umpteen things to deal with it and managed to reduce it, but there was still some residual noise always present.

This box eliminated it. And while it seemed pricey for what it does, it was oh so worth it.
 
1. Finale notation, definitely, since 1999. It’s literally changed my life and helped me reach my goals not only in music but also life.

2. Cubase, that darn thing keeps paying for itself.
 
What a great great thread! I want to like every post lol.

1. Mainstage. I do mostly live stuff these days (well, before the pandemic) and it absolutely crushes everything I throw at it. Super complicated splits and layers and routings and modulation it’s insane. Makes my MBP sound like a hair dryer on complex setups though lol.

2. VSL first edition. Got this to replace PS Advanced Orchestra, which was great for its day, but this really set the bar. Ran it on a G4 with 2 gig ram. Filled with 7200 rpm 500 meg drives the thing weighed almost 50 pounds.

Runner up would be Project Sam horns on CDR which were a blast to play and sounded great and those groove control libraries from Spectrasonics on my Akai s2000.

Of course Logic is awesome and such a great deal. Got it when studio vision folded. Damn I loved that sequencer but logic had the first sampler so time marches on.

There’s lots of great new stuff on Kontakt that I love and use a lot but anything besides acoustic samples I tend to gravitate back toward the logic synths or Omnisphere.
 
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1. A 1991 Ibenez RG770 I bought new in the same year, and still have and use.

2. The full Kontakt. I know, I know, we all have a love hate relationship with it, but it completely opens up another level of samples to try and test.

3.Studio One. I had been keeping an eye on it for a while, and when 5 was released it had progressed enough for me to give it a whirl...and I love it.

4.Spitfire Chamber Strings. I really purchased it as a way to create Divisi for Symphonic Strings, but have found I use it on its own and not for its intended purpose. Its Spitfire, its not perfect, but its good.
 
Maschine&Komplete
Paid for itself within three weeks, just skyrocketed overall productivity

Staffpad Sample Libraries
Made me get back into writing down music and doing orchestral work. Instant enjoyable playback just by writing for sections and notating dynamics and tempo changes. It's like something from Hogwarts, singing paper. Boosted that part of my musical identity after it lay dormant for a long time and I finally got to both writing down and then hear an orchestral piece I had been carrying around in my head for 20 years. Got offered to do music for a stage show within one and a half months after purchase, but then covid came along and now it might turn out to be just a bunch of short videos. But you get the idea
 
RME Babyface Pro FS

But I need to mention my StudioLogic SL88 Grand

OK, HD650s to complete the set

None of these are give-upable.
 
Talking about RME: As far as I remember, I bought my MultiFace and my DigiFace around 2001 (?), and they are both still running strong (the latter more often than the former, though).
Now _that's_ what I call sustainability in the digital world. :emoji_thumbsup:
 
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ABout those RME interfaces: I have been told to get one, just because of their sustainability which is down to excellent software updates. I haven't gotten around to buying one, but I really like to hear about this, which is the polar opposite of my tascam16x08 which is totally fine hardware-wise, but has been basically left to rot on the side of the road by the maker so it became downright unusable.
 
A lifetime subscription to Roon. I took an early gamble and it's really paid off - Roon has massively improved the way I enjoy music. :2thumbs:

But a really good set of speakers and monitors is a close second.
 
I don’t know if it is the best investment I ever made, but it is certainly the one I love the most. Meet Monarchy Majesty:

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But the thing really shines with the Axe FX III combo... now that I have mentioned it I think that Fractal FXIII is probably my best investment so far... the thing is an absolute beast!!!

Other worthy investments were:
- scoreclub & Evenant courses
- EW CC plus subscription
- Slate Digital VSX headphones
 
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