[MagicRuss]

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

[MagicRuss]

And don’t forget Ben Folds.

1

[MagicRuss]

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 is just her singing over “Genius of Love”.  Not exactly my idea of great songwriting.

I agree with most of what Beato said, but I really dislike Ryan Tedder.  He’s definitely part of the Axis of Axis Progression Abusers.  The other thing I disagree with him on is I don’t think all the bands he mentioned were great songwriting bands.  For example I would have listed Styx as a great songwriting band before AIC or GNR.  The same could be said for Grand Funk.

Bob Seger wrote more than a few great songs, as did Henley/Frey.  Jack Antonoff is no stranger to today’s pop charts, neither is Dan Wilson.  Jeff Tweedy wrote songs that created a subgenre.  Paul Westerberg wrote some great songs and was also hugely influential.

Finally any list of great American songwriters that includes Lana Del Rey but leaves out John Fogerty just sucks.

 

 

 

[MagicRuss]

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 releasing a product.  Nobody does that because that generates a lot of ill will and disincentivizes customers from purchasing at release.

The SOS sale will most likely have discounts on upgrades to individual programs and content, as well as potential mini-bundles (Abbey Roads Drums, Scenes series, etc).

1

[MagicRuss]

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.

[MagicRuss]

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, but got left behind when I moved to a new machine last fall.

The Attic by Soniccouture is probably the most disappointing library for me.  There are a few cool things but overall does not get a lot of use.

I remember how people hyped the Ultrafunk Sonitus plugins to the heavens before Cakewalk bought them.  When they were included in Sonar I was less than impressed with most of them.

A lot of people seem to like IK’s Tape simulations.  I think they use a lot of CPU for an effect which is hard to hear.

Then there was that Cakewalk plugin which was supposed to be the ultimate drum thing which turned out to just be a refill player.

For the most part OG Massive.  People raved about it but I just thought it sounded buzzy and required a lot of work to sound good.  However, Michael Adle (Leap into the Void) put out some unexpectedly good presets for it which surprisingly sounded almost more like Absynth.

Overperformers:

The library that has overperformed for me is the Wizoo Sound Platinum drums.  I got it 25 years ago and paid $25 for it in LM-4 format.  It’s not as well detailed as more modern libraries are but it sits well in places I might want relatively dry drums.

Arturia’s Pure Lo-Fi doesn’t seem to be particularly popular, but I have been having a bit of fun with it lately.

I don’t hear a lot of people talking about MTurboDelay, but it covers an awful lot of ground.

Likewise, I don’t hear a lot of love for Echoes, but I use the Oil Can mode a lot.

People don’t rave about NI’s Dirt.  For the most part it’s just another saturation plugin.  However, I managed to tweak one of the presets to get a pretty good Black Keys type fuzz.

Also in Guitar Rig, they added a new Fuzz called Red Fuzz.  Mode III has a certain raspiness that I like that doesn’t seem to be commonly found in guitar modelers.

2

[MagicRuss]

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 synth-pop impact.
Oasis: The Britpop band makes it in, noted by headlines.
Sade: Known for soul-jazz, the band is inducted.
Luther Vandross: The soul singer is inducted.
Wu-Tang Clan: The hip-hop collective, celebrated for their 1993 debut.

Additional Honorees

Musical Excellence Award: Queen Latifah, Rick Rubin, and Celia Cruz.
Ahmet Ertegun Award: Linda Creed, Fela Kuti, and Jimmy Miller.

I have to admit that I wasn’t familiar with Linda Creed or Jimmy Miller, but after looking them up, can’t argue that they deserve some recognition.

 

[MagicRuss]

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

 

1

[MagicRuss]

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.

1

[MagicRuss]

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.

 

[MagicRuss]

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 wouldn’t complain about a Jason Bonham powered Led Zeppelin reunion.

I’m sad I missed the AWR tour because from the clips I’ve seen they work well together.

This probably doesn’t count, but I’d like to see a 7 Worlds Collides tour.  For those who don’t know that was a charity project hosted by Neil Finn which also included his brother and son, various members of Wilco and Radiohead, Johnny Marr, KT Tunstall, Dan Wilson, Bic Runga, and a few others I can’t remember.  It would be fun to see them all on stage doing an All Starr Band thing.

 

 

1

[MagicRuss]

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.  The original by LaRoux sounds like a teenage girl screaming over a video game in comparison.

 

As far as their mashups, there’s the Jamiroquai/Bee Gees one, and “Pumped Up Kicks/Everything in its Right Place”, and of course “Lovely Day/Good as Hell” makes me smile

[MagicRuss]

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 mediocre list.

Third, the hall itself has some of its own biases and motives which don’t necessarily align with nominating the best.

Fourth, it’s the Hall of Fame, and not the Hall of Greatness.

Fifth, the voting is open to the public.  When you have Pat Benatar on the ballot and a huge number of people don’t even know who she is, that’s a problem.

As far as quality of nominations, I’m largely in line with Peter.  I’ll add the following:

Luther Vandross and Sade both have well produced music with exceptional vocals, but both are really just background music.

New Edition is pretty much the HOF trolling us.  They are a boy band from 40 years ago and even looking at their wiki page I can only remember one song and it’s not that great.

I don’t think Melissa Etheridge was groundbreaking but you could argue that she was influential or opened the door for a number of female acts that followed.

Pink on the other hand has no reason to be there.  The best 20 seconds of singing in her catalog are on a bridge in “True Love” where Lily Allen is singing unaccompanied.

Here are two people that I think need to be inducted:

Hank Marvin/The Shadows.  They mostly only had a few singles and mostly in England.  However, there are easily a dozen guitar players who are in the hall of fame who claim him as an influence.  Even Bela Fleck and Jean Michele Jarre cite him as influences, and without JMJ a whole slew of electronic artists don’t happen.

Glen Snoddy.  The invention of the fuzz pedal had a whole lot more influence on music than the last 10 or 20 years of HOF inductees combined.

 

 

1

[MagicRuss]

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.

[MagicRuss]

On 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 was $69 for me as well.

2

[MagicRuss]

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

2

[MagicRuss]

I was holding out for the next Komplete as well.

2

[MagicRuss]

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.  My account there is inactive so I can’t repost.

[MagicRuss]

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.

Also surprised nobody put Gibson on the no no list either.

I also am against UAD because I don’t want to use iLok.

[MagicRuss]

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.

2

[MagicRuss]

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.

 

[MagicRuss]

On Peter DeLegge 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.  The Twin, Princeton, JC, and Orange sound fine but I haven’t heard anything yet that would really be a goto.

I will say that the reverbs sound nice and the 2290 delay was a welcome surprise.

[MagicRuss]

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 the factory presets for other Arturia synths.

I remember a lot of the Analog Lab presets having the same balance of bread and butter vs unique sounds as the factory presets that come with your average plugin, but I never really used it that much prior to getting the V Collection.  I was impressed that they gave you a fair amount of control of the patches through the macros.  I also think that owning this put me in the tier that got me a lower priced upgrade to the whole collection.

I also own Pigments, which I should point out is not part of the V Collection.  I’ve spent a fair amount of time programming patches for it.  There’s a lot you can do with it and it just keeps getting better (updates have been free).  You may have noticed that a good percentage of the expansion packs are solely for Pigments – this is because it is relatively easy to get a good variety of useful sounds out of it.

Regard the preset packs,  I tend to like the tribute packs of artists I am not familiar with more than those that I know well.   It’s too easy to criticize a patch for not sounding enough like “1999” or whatever, but if I see a patch called “Bay of Figs” I tend to judge it on its own merits, regardless of whether I like the song it was taken from or not.  That being said, I probably will get the Thom Yorke tribute pack.

I think for the same $39, you might not get as many sounds by buying the packs but you will probably get a lot more of the sounds that you want.

 

 

 

1

[MagicRuss]

On 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 with the Mustang Native.

3

[MagicRuss]

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.

 

EDIT: OK, I guess I missed it, it’s installing now.

 

2

[MagicRuss]

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 they recorded pianos in a variety of venues in an abandoned village in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.  Again, not a bread and butter library but it is an interesting concept.

2

[MagicRuss]

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.

 

1

[MagicRuss]

Note that this is part of the MCreativeFX bundle.

1

[MagicRuss]

Still waiting on my S/N.

Update:  It took three hours to receive my key and now I get an “unknown error” trying to register it.

Looks like Friday is going to include a call to support.

[MagicRuss]

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 John

Does Ray Charles count?

Ben Folds

My 13 year old self would probably nominate Jon Lord, Don Airey, and whoever else was in that sphere.

I saw Christine McVie on her last tour, and thought she was a lot better than I remembered her being.

Michael MacDonald

 

2

[MagicRuss]

On 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?

1

[MagicRuss]

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

1

[MagicRuss]

It’s now showing $9.99 for me.

[MagicRuss]

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

[MagicRuss]

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

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[Author]

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