I just noticed that U-he released a big update to their Uhbik effect suite. I bought it more than 10 years ago and I love some stuff, especially the grainshifter. Other developers charged for multiple upgrades during that time, sometimes nearly full price for owners of previous versions. I love that U-he made the upgrade completely free.
Apart from a new look, a new compressor plugin and modulation options that most people can already do in their DAW, I don’t see much new right now. But it’s great to finally get an update after all that time, and even for free despite current trends in terms of subscription models and yearly paid upgrades.
That’s actually pretty cool. Do you know offhand if they still allow really complex reskinning? I always hate their workflow initially until someone like Plugmon comes along and makes it better.
UVI and UHE can safely be added to the ‘nice’ list. That’s seriously good to know for future purchases!
Two of my fave companies - I have a lot of their stuff. U-he rarely have sales though, so it’s prevented me from buying a few more recent VSTs they have… Not that I need more VSTs, mind
Sorry, no idea about the reskinning, but I think the Uhbik plugins are small enough that it probably doesn’t matter so much compared to U-he synths. I worked a bit with a free Bazille version some years ago and I also would have been happy about a reskinned version…
There seems to be a spiritual successor to izotope Iris out there:
Looks like real fun! A bit different from Iris - I really like the painted spectral filtering in Iris, but this one has some similarities and some other tricks.
I hadn’t seen this yet, but I’ll definitely check it out. I still use Iris 2 as my primary sampler so that I can clean/manipulate samples right in the sampler.
Was just looking for something newer and was thinking about pulling the trigger on MAP audio PAM, but that seemed really overkill for me. This could be exactly what I’m looking for. Iris is starting to show it’s age and has a few compatibility issues with my modern file system. I could probably make it work, but I’d have to remap my sample library and I’m not too interested in that.
I don’t have Zebra 2, and not looking for new synths. God, I have so many I do not need more for quite a while. I haven’t even used Harmor in a couple years, Dune 3 I criminally under-use, Hive 2, the entire arturia V collection that I use like 5 things out of, Vital, Surge, the DSP 5600 emulation synths I need to fix my installations and get presets working (you know you can get a Microwave free in your DAW?)…
I don’t really need mixing/mastering tools either. Last few times I’ve picked something up to use in like 4 edge cases… I use it in 2 edge cases and wonder why I spent $100 on that.
But sampler, I was thinking I could use an update from Iris/Atlas (atlas is what I use for drums and combined with the FL piano roll I can get it to do some cool stuff, but then there’s some things I want do that are way too much work and/or I just can’t). And Iris has the afore-mentioned file issues and is just a really dated interface to use now.
I’m going through the Iota video guide on a second screen while I work and I think I like the way paths work. They just follow what you draw in the direction and order that you draw it, which is actually way more intuitive than Iris.
Yeah, I have more than enough GAS-based stuff I never use, but Iota seems to have some nice tricks and seems like it’s fun to play around with. I have to demo it when I find some rare music time but I think I’m probably gonna add it to my extensive collection of awesome synths I don’t have enough time to use
@morphic Zebra 3 looks really nice, too, but like White Noise, I don’t have Zebra 2 so I can’t get the nice upgrade price and I have way too much other synths I like…
Thinking about selling some of the less used stuff, but with the economic situation and all the new vibe-coded stuff around, the market for used softsynths doesn’t look that great for sellers…
I think I’ve never sold licenses to anything. Most of my stuff is so out of date I think I’d be hard pressed to get any value out of my collection too.
It’s fine, I’ve been going out of my way to re-explore some of my older plugins and trying new ideas with them. Has absolutely started a track or two, and has not cost me any money to get new plugins. Like, every time I see a Serum 2 video, I remember I have Vital, Phaseplant, Dune 3, Icarus 2, Hive 2 AND Kontrast (all of which have WT import). I have no excuse to buy another wavetable synth. And I go try some new ideas in one of those.
I’m similarly stacked for VA, FM, dedicated bass synths, live bass and drums, sampled drums, guitar tones. If I can’t get the sound I’m after I know it’s 100% a me issue.
I’d like something that browses files and lets me get to those drums a bit better. And now that I think about it I am rinsing BBC SO free from spitfire pretty hard, might be worth getting a real symphony library with more dynamics and articulations. It’s a real short list of things where I feel the tools are what is holding me back these days.
I was going to type a whole list about things I want in an updated drum machine, but apparently I haven’t been getting the free updates to Atlas 2, so I have about 24 months of improvements to catch up on there XD. That might fix my drums thing.
Yep, I hear you (and @White_Noise) - last thing I need is another synth. Considering I do have Zebra 2, getting Zebra 3 at that price is tempting. If it wasn’t for that, I would have skipped it without much of a second thought. Jury’s still out, we shall see.
I can’t even remember the last synth I bought; it’s probably been a couple years at least. Like everybody else, I have my favorites and adding more is rather pointless, unless something really unique comes along. But even that is becoming harder and harder, since some of the main synths are such beasts, they can do everything and then some.
I think I only ever resold one VST. It was a bit of a pain (dealing with license transfers).
I love to tweek old software synths to reveal what they’ve been hiding deeper inside.
Been having fun experimenting with Thorn by Dmitry Sches. It has something very unique whereby every single FX knob can be modulated back to something. Even serum can’t do this.
I did use Thorn quite a bit back in the day. Pretty much forgot about it along the way. I’ll have to check it out again!
If there’s one synth I would instantly buy if it was remade, it would be Cakewalk’s Rapture.
There’s something about this synth. The character and color of the sound, obviously, but also the interface and what it can do. It still works but you need a magnifying glass on a 4k monitor…
I still have Dimensions too. After years of using a cracked version, I bought both… 14 years ago already!!
Not sure where I’ve put the Dimensions one. Here’s my Rapture in all its glory:
I have some stuff from East West, also Swam (strings, sax and a flute), Ample (guitar, bass and chinese instruments) and Pianoteq for orchestral and other acoustic instruments. I bought most of it so I could use it for OSTs (for my games especially - that reminds me, I really have to find some time to make at least some public Early Access version of Pastapocalyptica, before all the software the games run on is completely outdated…) and I did use it a bit for it, but not nearly often enough…
It IS fun to play around with it these instruments for relaxation sometimes though, but something cheaper would have done, too… If I use any of it for my tracks, it’s usually extremely overprocessed in a way nobody could say if it was based on an expensive string instrument or a freeware synth string preset…
It would make more sense to buy some free time for music and other things than new tools
I resold Chromaphone before. That was really easy. The main reason was that it was the one synth among many I knew I could get a good price for and the license transfer wouldn’t be a problem… Kinda unfair decision
I think the last synth I bought was Equator for it’s nice MPE handling, was this year not that long ago because I got if for a nice price 2nd hand…
Not that I need it, but I discovered spectral reverb from a few different companies today. I might pick one up to play around with it, seems like an interesting way to control space. I don’t love the examples I’ve heard so far, but I think using it more subtly can let me do some of the things I want where reverb spectrum changes over time based on input levels.
Is that like the SpecOps’ smear function? I always liked the ‘gooey’ and ‘creaky’ qualities you can sort of extract from everyday sounds, although true spectral reverb might be a bit more advanced than this.
