Plug-in Sales and Special Deals Sticky Topic

[mhschmieder]

In response to vagueness, for those who are newer to the forum and don't know me or my position in the industry (and previous association with standards committees), there are two main reasons why I am DELIBERATELY vague sometimes:

1. I want to make sure I don't indirectly slight our main sponsor, Sweetwater, by over-eagerly providing links and info for prices and sales by other vendors who may overlap their catalogue

2. It is often hard for me to ascertain how much of what I know about certain manufacturers, products, technologies, etc. is "insider information" or remember what was under NDA, so I err on the side of caution -- especially if what I have to say might hurt sales (even if I have ethical reasons why I WANT a certain manufacturer to lose sales)

Considering the hours that I work, and my gigging schedule, I DO take a LOT of personal time to try to follow up in such situations later on, after doing an adequate amount of research to make sure I'm not breaking confidentiality or posing an awkward situation for someone's business relationships.

[terrybritton]

I just picked up the Lexicon PCM Native Reverbs bundle during their sale. I got it from Sweetwater, who has partnered with Lexicon on this. I cannot believe this used to cost like $1700!! (Well, yes I can... it IS several years old, but is still a fantastic bundle!)

All the Lexicon bundles are on sale right now:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/search. ... ins-50-off

Here is the PCM Native Reverb Plugin Bundle page at Lexicon:

http://lexiconpro.com/en-US/products/pc ... s_and_docs

Always wanted this - finally got!

Terry

[mhschmieder]

Wow, those are incredible prices! I waited until they had come down a bit, maybe two years ago, but these new prices (even if temporary) are at least half again the markdown I bought at during a sale at the time. No-brainer for sure at those prices.

Even though the middle-priced one is effectively redundant with the higher-priced Lexicon effects (whereas the lowest-price one is a different emulation), I bought anyway just because I found the completely different set of presets, starting points, and simplified workflow worked to my advantage during early album mix phases.

[monkey man]

Dang. Had to halt my pop-asia mv downloads for this one!

OK, so I've been holding out, as many of you would know, on the whole plugin thing. I've always planned to purchase wisely and minimally. Stability, ongoing compatibility and avoidance of choice-overload are my priorities. I'll be grabbing the Slate VMS and everything-rental thingy for EQ, comps, preamps, tape emulation and limiting. The 480 'verb (included in the latter deal), I've read, is a little darker and not quite as modern or sophisticated-sounding as the true Lex ones, so my thinking is that, in a perfect world, the 480, along with the Lex PCM bundle and the el-cheapo algorithms (LXP and MPX) should constant-titty-tutorial a 'verb arsenal pretty well. I've got ProVerb too of course, but those 16GBs of IRs are starting to look like a headache and a case of f-arounditis in the making... IMHO.

The obvious questions for me are:

1) Is there likely to be another deal equalling or bettering this one in the next six months? I'm thinking of Black Friday of course.

2) How do the bundles play with DP, and can we be confident that we won't be purchasing vapourware at this point? I know there haven't been any updates for a few years, but that could simply be put down to there being no need for them.

I was going to start a thread just to ask these questions of my beloved, ever-trustworthy and reliable fellow 'Cornies, so I couldn't resist putting this to you guys here.

Thank you in advance, and love to all!
Nicky

PS: The pricing on the Lex website is exactly the same as Sweetwater's across all bundles. Would it make sense to purchase directly from them instead, if indeed I'm directed to go for it by you guys?

EDIT: Anyone got any idea how long I've got to make this happen if I'm directed to, as Picard would say, "Make it so"?

[terrybritton]

Nicky,

My sales rep at Sweetwater told me it was until the end of the month of June. Sweetwater is a great company to work with, and they really support their customers! I would guess you would have their support PLUS Lexicon's, but I doubt you will need any support anyhow. This stuff all just works!

I was tempted a little to go with the "Total" collection,but I have an LXP-5 here that has most of those effects, so it didn't seem worth the extra $300 for that reason. (I'd like the "Stringbox" though!)

I would not be surprised if they repeat this sale for Black Friday, but who knows?

Terry

[monkey man]

Yeah, that's the thing - who knows indeed. Thank you Terry!

Now, when you said, "This stuff all just works!", did you mean in DP9 in the latest OS or whatever? Still on DP8 here and Mavericks, but believe in checking how far forward compatibility and performance of what I'm buying goes.

I take it then that operation is glitch-free, and project recall and preset handling are working 100%?

Can you tell I'm nervous? LOL This would be a huge investment for me - many months of savings blown in one hit.

Thank you for your understanding and the info, Terry.

[terrybritton]

Nicky,

I am using the Windows version of DP 9.02, but this bundle has been around since 2009 or something, and is a rock-solid set across every DAW in all operating systems. (This IS Lexicon, after all!) I would be very surprised if you could break it!

The greatest thing about it is that these are algorithmic reverbs, not CPU killing impulse-based ones. All number crunching! So, you can run numerous instances without it hitting your machine too hard, and they've separated the types into separate plugins as well, so you can layer without having to load instances of all the stuff wrapped into a single huge DLL. Very nice!

Terry

[monkey man]

Fantastic, Terry! Thank you mate; I very much appreciate that.

I just received an Email stating that SparkVerb is $99 (50% off) 'til the 20th. This raises an obvious question: Can you see any value in acquiring this too, or would the Lex stuff and ProVerb cover me just fine in your opinion?

Please, anyone else who has thoughts on this, do share. I'd like to think, especially as I'm trying to prevent f-arounditis, that I won't need it. I aim to do some EDM along with the usual pop / rock / funk-based stuff, so please consider this too as far as SparkVerb is concerned.

Thank you all in advance, and you too, Terry.

[kgdrum]

Hey Monkey-
While it's never on sale, have you ever checked out VVV from Valhalla?
It's a great sounding reverb,frequently updated and a real bargain as it's only $50


https://valhalladsp.com/shop/reverb/val ... tage-verb/

[monkey man]

Hey, thanks KG.

I've seen a lot of love for it on various forums over the years. However, and I can't remember the specifics now 'cause I wiped it from my radar a while back, it was viewed as inferior-sounding when compared to, for instance, the Lex PCM plugs. Something about lack of definition, too much coloration, graininess or what have you.

I must keep my options to a minimum, as I've said, so unless you think it'll offer something I won't be able to get near using the Lex PCM, MPX and LXP options (and MOTU's Plate, ProVerb and the Slate-included Relab(?) 480), I won't be tempted. I asked about SparkVerb 'cause it looked (visually only!) as if it might offer something completely different and unachievable with the set I'm considering, if for nothing else than EDM use or other-worldy stuff.

Tell me more, brother. Please.

[kgdrum]

You might be thinking about Valhalla Room,Vintage Verb is newer(it hasn't been around several years) and it's aimed more towards the realm of Lexicon.
For what you want to do I urge you t check it out a bit more.........
There's a demo available if you use the link I posted.

[monkey man]

Ah... yes, you're right, KG. That's the one I was thinking of.

Thank you matey! I'll check it out, but... what would be the point if it's aiming at Lex? I mean, wouldn't it be better to get the original?

[Robert Randolph]

Ah... yes, you're right, KG. That's the one I was thinking of.

Thank you matey! I'll check it out, but... what would be the point if it's aiming at Lex? I mean, wouldn't it be better to get the original?

VintageVerb has more 'stuff', while being able to reproduce the original Lex stuff quite well.

On the topic of the deal though, SparkVerb for $99 is an amazing deal. It's a very quick to use plugin where you can get good results from minimal effort. If you wish to delve in then you can.

I suggest watching this ~9minute video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC0-3rZWbMY to get a feel of how efficient the workflow is with Sparkverb.

[terrybritton]

Wow! That Sparkverb has some pretty sweet sounds alright! I loved the really airy examples at the end of that video.



I may end up picking it up if only for that!

Here is their soundcloud list. https://soundcloud.com/uvi-official/sparkverb-padsynth

The Lexicon bundle is 7 classic reverb plugins, covering concert halls, two plate styles, halls and rooms, etc. and all are very manipulable. They are the sound you hear on so many recordings, and one cannot go wrong, really.

At this price it is a real opportunity, I felt, and I would have been kicking myself if I missed it. I will likely get Redline, the UVI Sparkverb and perhaps Valhalla one day, but their prices are not likely to double at the end of the month!

Terry

[stubbsonic]

This begs the obvious question:

Would you say it "RAISES the obvious question"? "Begs the question" is one of those phrases that enough people have used incorrectly that its meaning has changed. So there's no point in being pissy about it (yet, here I am).

My only piece of advice is to download a demo. Reverb is such a personal choice. One monkey's floor is another monkey's poo target. Those videos with a vocal or cello won't reveal the weaknesses of a reverb the way a percussive track will.

I've always had such nice luck with my lexicon mpx-1s reverb. (I'm regretting selling it). It's one of those reverbs that once I dialed it a little, I didn't feel like hiding it as much as other reverbs which I almost felt ashamed of.