BF had historically been a 50% off discount on new things but like your financial advisor will tell you past performance is no guarantee….

And don’t forget Ben Folds.

Too many people whose songs I don’t know and a lot of people I disagree with.  But whether you agree or disagree with the songwriting choices, sometimes their choices of representative songs didn’t make the case.

They listed OutKast as a songwriter but their 5 best don’t include “Roses” or “Hey Ya”?

Mariah Carey – They listed “Fantasy”, which…Read More

I’d put the probability of a Summer of Sound sale at at least 75%.

I’d put the probability of Komplete being included at 0%.

The last time Komplete had a release outside of September/October was in 2013 and I recall that Komplete was not part of that sale.

There’s no way they are going to announce a half off sale one or two months after…Read More

Putting the full version of MX into their intro package might not have been the best idea.

They don’t typically backtrack, though.  For example they have removed various products from the Komplete Standard lineup and haven’t removed them from anyone’s machines.

I think Massive X manages to check both boxes for me.  A lot of people hate it but I have been able to generate a fair amount of decent sounds quickly.  On the other hand, they still need to fix the preset management.

Underperformers:

For plugins, iZotope Trash is one of the most disappointing for me.

Bias got a lot of hype in the early days, b…Read More

Final list of inductees

2026 Performers Inductees

Phil Collins: Inducted for his solo career (previously inducted with Genesis).
Billy Idol: Recognized for his pioneering punk rock and pop-rock career.
Iron Maiden: The influential heavy metal band enters the Hall.
Joy Division/New Order: The combined acts are honored for their post-punk and…

Read More

Thanks Pete, it’s great to see something like this.

It seems that the previous version was either a steal or outright given away during most of its existence.  I wonder how long it will be until this one hits the bargain basement.

I also have to say that the demos sound good but they don’t sound like that much of an improvement on what the original can do.

That’s a cool story about Neil Finn.

I’ve actually seen most of the 7WC artists, but I still think it would be cool to see them as a collective.

I did actually see Page and Plant at Red Rocks in 1998 and it was amazing.

In terms of dead artists, obviously Beatles, Zep, Brian Jones era Stones, Bon Scott era AC/DC,  The Who, and a host of others.  Crowded House with the Woodface lineup.

But if we exclude necromancy and medical miracles (ie the health issues keeping artists such as Phil Collins and Linda Ronstadt out of the game aren’t going away), then who?

I w…Read More

I could list so many Pomplamoose covers…

Harder, Better Faster, Stronger is one to check out, and their cover of Don’t Start Now leaves Dua Lipa in the dust.

My favorite though is Bulletproof.  I had never heard the LaRoux original and when I did, I was just like “this is a song?”

As far as their mashups,…Read More

There are a few problems with the RRHOF.

First is that it ceased being Rock and Roll and has made itself about popular music.

Second, and more importantly, they induct seven artists a year.   Because even if you do expand the categories to include all of popular music, you are going to run out of legends to induct and end up with a pretty m…Read More

Also, concurrent with the FX 6 release, they have updated all of their other FX.

The main thing is a new preset browsing system along with new presets, along with some fixes for Logic and Reaper.

On February 19, 2026 at 2:34 pm ttpenguins said
Upgrade from collection 5 to pro 6 while owning none of the newer FX products is showing as $69 for me (I have the V collection 11 but do not think that matters…)

I think it does as I’ve seen others with FX 5 but nothing else saying their update is $99.

I have FX 5 and V 11 and Pigments, and it w…Read More

$299 seems a bit stiff for just the Fender amps.

I was holding out for the next Komplete as well.

It seems that DJ who wears a mouse helmet on stage posted on Twitter that he was talking to the insolvency team to try to get control of Traktor and other assets.

The other one nobody has mentioned that I want to stay as far away from NI is Music Tribe, for the obvious reason that it is run by Uli Behringer.

A few novel delays are coming out.

Ibanez LD-303 Layer Delayer, good for patterned rhythmic delay

Beetronix Pollinator Hazee Delay

Mentha Monk Echo.  Good for atmospheric delays and can even do a Delay Lama imitation.

Boss just released the GX-1 for $225.  It’s the most budget pedal they have in the GX line with 8 usable effects at a time including modeling, etc.

40 years ago that money would have gotten you a Boss delay pedal and a Morley wah/volume pedal and a power supply.

On January 14, 2026 at 1:28 am peter said
This video covers the amp modeler included with Fender Studio Pro.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music.

I think this guy does a pretty good job of making this thing sound better than my results.

I’m not really in love with the amps here for the most part. …Read More

I don’t think you are going to get a lot of answers because there are probably not a lot of people who have Analog Pro and don’t have either Pigments or the full collection.  And for this you need someone who has just Analog Pro, because if you have any other Arturia product, there is no way of sorting the factory presets for those products vs…Read More

On January 13, 2026 at 6:17 pm psionx said
Did you guys check the 3rd party plugins they are giving this time? 🙂

That HitVerb could be nice.  A couple of Eventide plugins isn’t a bad thing.  A couple from Newfangled Audio and a couple from UJam.   I hear good things about the Safari Pedals effects, although it would be nice if they integrated wit…Read More

I’m a bit annoyed because I just registered my copy of v7 last week and I don’t see an update in my account.  Meanwhile some people on KVR report that they have received the upgrade despite their update periods having expired in November.

This library is not one for everyone.  The key point is that these are mostly children’s keyboards and not the classics like the Polivoks or Aelita.  Still, as the preset walkthrough shows, they managed to get some interesting sounds from the obviously limited source material.

The developer has another product called “Pripyat Pianos” in which t…Read More

If you want to purchase a bundle from Melda, they will credit you a portion of what you paid for any products contained in that bundle, which will bring down the prices.  If you time it right you can get the bundle price down to a bit lower.

Note that this is part of the MCreativeFX bundle.

Still waiting on my S/N.

I’m voting for Manfredd Mann, because anyone who can get away with playing Chopsticks while covering Bruce Springsteen must be a badass.  Although he did a pretty good job on “For You”.

Emerson and Wakeman are of course obvious choices.  Of course all the other Yes keyboard players were pretty damn good.

Nicky Hopkins

Billy Preston

Elton J…Read More

On December 19, 2025 at 7:31 am pseudopop said
There’s something funky about today’s offers:

Funkmasters EZX €29
Funk EZkeys MIDI €9
Modern Funk EZkeys MIDI €9
Modern Funk Grooves €9

Funk without Bass?

This is killing their servers right now.  I can’t even login.

It’s now showing $9.99 for me.

I’m surprised they are still selling SynthMaster One as SynthMaster 3 includes all of its functionality.

It looks like today they have added EZ Keys products including half-ish off on EZKeys2 and the upgrade.

libraries for $29

• Cinematic Pads
• Studio Grand
• Dream Machine
• String Machines

And the EZ Keys Midi

• Atmospheric
• Acoustic Songwriter 2
• AOR Ballads
• Melancholic Pop

They will both show up in your account but I expect like everywhere else you won’t be able to resell the version you bought initially.

So what are the riffs you typically use when trying out new gear?

For example, I can’t seem to audition bass libraries without playing that riff from “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac.  If I am auditioning a synth, I’ll probably play the riff from “The Final Conflict” at some point.

If I’m trying out an acoustic, I always like to do “From The…Read More

Despite saying I wouldn’t in the Black Friday thread, I picked up the upgrade (9 to 11 in my case).  I haven’t had time to do much more than create track templates for the synths and check out a handful of random patches, but here’s my initial thoughts.

Acid sounds pretty serious.  I typically don’t like most of the types of music the 303 was p…Read More

50% off all Reverb plugins and ReMatrix libraries

https://www.overloud.com/reverb-plugins

https://www.overloud.com/taxonomy/term/5

ReMatrix owners should remember to use the code they gave you for an additional 20% off.

V Collection upgrades are $99 for anyone with version 8 or higher.

Absynth Ocean Collective

Absynth Ocean Collective offers a wide range of high-quality Absynth 5 presets.

The collection spans across 7 unique banks featuring over 780 presets, each filled with a wide variety of melodies and effects.

From the cosmic sounds of “Part of a Star” to the funky melodic sequences of “El…

Read More

This is the one item that is 100% off:

https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/53-Multi-Effect-/7464-Finisher-RETRO

Drums:  Addictive Drums, mostly Fairfax.  Kontakt’s Abbey Road 60s sees a lot of use too.  Sometimes NI Drumbox for hybrid sounds.

Bass:  MODO Bass for sound, EZBass for ideas in generating bass lines.

Piano: EZ Keys.

Electric Piano: Lounge Lizard.

Guitar:  For electric sounds, my Nighthawk.  For acoustic sounds, one of the NI Session serie…Read More

I think the issue people have with NA is that NA has issues for them.  My only complaint is that it takes a while to load.

For companies that have a large suite of software, unified installers make sense, although I could see people thinking it is a waste if they only have one of the products installed.

On the other hand, it seems like every…Read More

Three weeks ago Paul McCartney for the first time.

On October 31, 2025 at 1:08 pm Ray MacNeil said
Trying to pay on the IK M site. I have honestly never seen a serious company with a website this bad before. Tried to pay twice with Pay Pal and once with CC. Not sure if I got charged or what, but nothin in my account. Geesh….

 

Ray

Their website is usually more responsive.  However this would no…Read More

Even after auto-tune I’m not sure you can use my voice.

More blasts from the past:

Superwave P8

https://www.superwavesynths.com/p8

A couple originally from Big Tick, updated by 2getherAudio:

Ticky Clav 2

https://www.2getheraudio.com/instruments/ticky_clav_2

Cheeze Machine 2

https://www.2getheraudio.com/instruments/cheeze-machine-2

Green Oak Crystal

https://www.greenoak.com/crystal/dnld2.html

Audio Nerdz Delay Lama

http://www.audionerdz.nl/index2.htm

There are a lot of bundles out there which provide excellent VFM.  Even so, even if something is a good buy (even a no brainer), not everything is awesome.  And there are a few things that might not sell the product but have been well worth it.

So let’s see your take on what is killer, what is filler, and what is a hidden gem.

I’ll start w…Read More