[jude77]

I’m particularly glad to see Peter from IK posting here.  On another music forum he regularly took a lot of abuse, but to me he always seemed like a good guy who was genuinely trying to help.  Anyway, Peter-IK, glad you’re here and thanks for posting.

21

[jude77]

This was huge surprise, but totally understandable.  I don’t know anything about managing websites, but I would think that a presence on reddit would offer a huge boost in participation.  I’m on board the move.

In the meanwhile, Peter, you’re amazing for having gotten us this far.

12

[jude77]

What do I like most?  Well, two things, actually.  It’s great to be part of a community where there isn’t constant bickering.  It’s gets kind of old, you know.  People here are able to be adult and have rational discussions without devolving into flames. Heck, even Peter-IK can post here without fear of being burning to the ground.  It”s all quite refreshing, actually.

The #2 things I like is Peter’s extraordinary insight into the business aspects behind the music/hardware industry.  He ought to write a book!  His insights always fascinate me.

What forum other than “Deals” do I enjoy?  “All things music”.  There’s always something interesting happening there.

And one last thing I like is that the people who actually build all these plugins/instruments will occasionally post here!

• This reply was modified 6 months, 1 week ago by jude77.

21

[jude77]

On swijaya said

This is a link (posted by @Kirean on another deal forum) to a (don’t-buy-)review:

https://happycomposer.com/aria-lss-review/

That review has some audio samples.  If you’re on the fence they’re worth a listen.

[jude77]

On Xandre said

Are any of these new freebies, or just a collection of previous freebies?

I’m not positive, but it seems like Polymax Synth and Analog machines might be new.

[jude77]

I took your advice and downloaded this.  it’s excellent!  Not only does it have great sounds, but includes a bunch of presets.

1

[jude77]

I took a look and my first impression is that this looks pretty good.  The guy seems to know what he’s talking about.  It certainly beats my theory of compression which is “slap a preset on that thang and move on”.

2

[jude77]

I think you were being extremely kind when you said, “It’s challenging to be optimistic about investment firms acquiring music companies after what happened to NI.”  It just doesn’t bode well, does it?  A friend of mine works in the finance business and if anyone mentions the words “private equity” to him he just grinds his teeth.

2

[jude77]

On mibby said

I knew this sounded familiar!  For those who have upgraded to Fender Studio Pro 8, login to < https://my.fender.com > and check under “My Gear”.  There are a bunch of VERY good freebies in there, including 54th Street Studio 1.

Apollo Twin Duo USB | ARC Studio | Fender Studio Pro 8 | Windows

Thanks for that.  It looks like I may have to take a serious look at bagging Studio Pro 8.

1

[jude77]

I’m glad to see you give this guy a shout-out.  He has a ton of plugins that really do sound good.  If you want to support him, but don’t want to go the full patreon route, you can also just make a donation of any amount you choose.

1

[jude77]

On MrFigg said

This for me was one of those “it’s only $5 what can go wrong?” purchases.

That sentence has gotten me into trouble more than once.  My problem is I keep raising the baseline.  “It’s only $10, it’s only $14.99, Oh look, I can get one for the price of two”.  I’ve got say, I really like the “it’s better than a free plugin” line.

Keep us posted if you get a response.

[jude77]

What’s up with IK these days?  With all the fire-sale prices and discontinuation of some of their major software players (Sampletank, Mellotron to name two) I get the feeling they’re leaving the software world behind and moving towards a Tonex/hardware type future.

[jude77]

Musio user here so I’m especially glad to have you here.  Pop in whenever you get a chance.

1

[jude77]

I didn’t know about the Music Gear Review search, but I checked it out and it’s great!

1

[jude77]

Now that I’ve recovered from the shock of Th Announcement I’m looking at libraries again.  I’m convinced that NI may not survive but Kontakt will.  My only real concern is who it ends up with, but that’s a problem for another day.

1

[jude77]

I know I say this a lot, but it’s amazing what we are able to get for free.  For someone who is on a tight budget these are great days to be making music!

2

[jude77]

On fretman said

Blind Faith

America

Crosby, Stills, and Nash

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

I saw America way back in 1974 (I think “Tin man” was their hit at the moment).  I wasn’t expecting much, but I was impressed by how good they were as musicians, they were very tight and well-rehearsed.  Quite a few songs were stretched out with jams where each of them took a turn soloing.  All in all an excellent show.  Good choice on your part.

1

[jude77]

Definitely click on the Youtube link!  This guy has a TON of freebie plugins, and quite a few appear to be modeled on famous gear.  If you’re into free, then this is the place to be.

Here’s a link to see all his plugins:

 

https://www.youtube.com/@%D0%AE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%91%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2-%D0%B21%D0%B5/videos

2

[jude77]

I’m surprised that they are just now making this available for desktop.  I’m also a bit surprised that they aren’t making it a plugin, though that may be because of some programming issues that are beyond me.  I wonder how it will do at $396 retail, since they have some pretty stiff competition from TONEX, Overloud and others.

1

[jude77]

On LinkedMusicians said

@jude77, I would love doing a Zoom group. We can even do a special forum dedicated to it if we can find enough people interested. I’m so tied up from working on the site, I would love it if someone else could take the lead. But I can do things to help promote it on the site. Consider this OUR community. We can use it as we like. If you want to do a Zoom group — and I would love that — I will do everything I can to help make that a success.

I’d love to see us get more into discussing and sharing about the music we love, what we’re working on musically — and even sharing little snippets of what we’re working on. This place is about celebrating our shared love of making music and encouraging one another. While we spend a lot of time buying stuff, that’s only a means to an end — making music. We can at least talk about it!

@bluescat, @joegyork, @thesteven, @mustakatu — any interest in leading up a Zoom (or other platform) group?

The official LinkedMusicians account

I was pretty much joking about the zoom thing, but now that you say it, it does seem like an interesting idea.  maybe it might be something that met monthly or some easy schedule that no one felt tied to.  I don’t really have experience pulling a zoom together, or in leading one, but it might be fun to participate in.

[jude77]

On February 3, 2026 LinkedMusicians said

Upload your audio file and Waves Voice ReGen will give you 5 minutes free every day.

Of course, this is Waves, so I delved into the details, because, well, it’s Waves and you really need to check the details very carefully for anything from Waves.

It’s says a lot when you have to add all sorts of disclaimers and qualifiers when listing a deal.  But like you say, “This is Waves”.  A few years back (after the great subscription debacle) I actually bought a plugin from them.  The added bonus was I got a second license free!  Oh, boy!  Well, a year later I got a message from Waves saying my year of free license was up and I needed to pay to keep using it.  Like you say, “this is Waves”.

[jude77]

Plugin Doctor’s all seeing eye is quite revelatory!  It worth every penny of $17.  Now you can finally see exactly what all these plugins are doing to your audio.

1

[jude77]

I think we need our friend @jude77 — a retired psychologist — to give us all some coaching on how to curb our plugin and sample library hoarding, but then again, I’m pretty sure that he’s as bad as the rest of us! 😉

The official LinkedMusicians account

I figure we could do a zoom group.  The difficult part is that I would the facilitator AND a participant.  Some days I think I needs meds for this plugin thing I’ve got going on.

2

[jude77]

Those really are some great prices.  I’ve watching their reverb for a while and this is the time to take the plunge.

Like you, I wish that UA could take the Abbey Road stuff from Waves.  First, because UA does an amazing job with everything they touch, and secondly, I’m still peeved about that Waves subscription thing.  I find I can’t quite manage to trust them.  Fool me once  . . . .

1

[jude77]

These guys were brand new to me so I took a look.  It’s quite impressive.  I just hope the intro price holds for a while.

 

1

[jude77]

On fretman said

If the price is good, I’ll still buy Kontakt instruments. If OT has a new instrument, I’ll buy that at its introductory price sight unseen.

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

Ditto.  In my world OTS=high quality.  And like Peter says in his post above yours, I feel confident that if Kontakt were to tank (which I don’t think it will) people such as OTS are still sitting on a strong source of income in the libraries they already have developed.  It just makes sense that they could continue in business by porting to another system.

2

[jude77]

I guess it depends.  If someone like OTS had a big sale I would be all over that.  Likewise if it was an obscure instrument I had always been looking for I’d be in (“Oh wow! Look here’s a model of a 1966 Farfisa organ with a dead middle C note just like John Lennon once kicked over”).  Otherwise I’ll hold off.  One the other hand I’ll probably still keep trawling places like Pianobook for free instruments.

As for Izotope and Brainworx, I’ll probably lay low until the smoke clears.

2

[jude77]

I popped in the web-site and the compressor looks very interesting, especially for a freebie.  I always hope people like this will be able to continue what they’re doing because it gives little guys a chance to get into music production without breaking the bank.

2

[jude77]

Peter, your insight into issues like these are invaluable to the rest of us. I had assumed that most of the major players (NI, VSL, OTS etc) were fairly large stable businesses.  More and more I’m starting to see that many are small and maybe only one person, or a small group of people.

As to the whole Kontakt news, I wish NI would put out a public statement.  Does their silence say anything to you one way or the other?

2

[jude77]

Peter, thanks for that.  I think my blood pressure just dropped 10 points.  I’s liking the idea that Kontakt is too valuable to just vanish.  I was hoping that was the case as I read Satya’s article.  I’d love to know what developers, such as OTS, who are heavily invested in Kontakt are thinking.

1

[jude77]

Yow!  Just got a bit of a knot in my stomach.  Needless to say, I, like a lot of other folks, are pretty heavily invested in Kontakt.  I read the article that Satya posted and it looks to me like Kontakt will be sold.  Hopefully that will be to someone who wants to invest in and continue its existence.

3

[jude77]

Fab Four as a freebie is nice, but it’s getting a bit long in the tooth.  I wish it had more keyboards and less guitars, but the Beatles were basically a guitar band, so there’s that.

1

[jude77]

I’m still looking for the mythological “Gooderizer” that will somehow make all mixes/music sound even better than what a pro can do.  I know that it, a unicorn, and a close parking space at Target are all out there.  Probably near the Fountain of Youth.

These days I just watch deals in general and see if anything interesting pops up.  I’m really intrigued by the AI things that are beginning to appear.  In particular I think Sonible is doing creative stuff.  I’ll be watching to see what they do next.

As an aside, I really enjoy this site.  It’s my first stop every morning.

2

[jude77]

I’ve heard some truly harrowing stories about this guy and his emails.  I’m surprised he does it, because I would assume it would create some pretty poor customer relations.  But I guess he must think it does something good.  Or maybe he just enjoys annoying people.

[jude77]

If anybody has done this, let us know what you got.

3

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