Black Friday missed opportunities

[mhschmieder]

It's amazing how "secret" most Black Friday sales are.

It seems that a few on this forum visited websites of vendors they like, to see if any sales were in progress.

As I have registered products from so many vendors, it didn't occur to me to be proactive; I assumed I would get emails about sales.

Well, over at vi-control today, I just found out about the most important sale that I missed:

50% off on Sonnox effects bundles!

That one really ticks me off, because I've been holding off since August on buying them as other stuff kept taking budgetary priority. But I need them to finish some current productions!

I could TOTALLY have afforded them at 50% off. Now I'm stuck digging into savings or holding off yet again. And the psychological impact of missing a sale is devastating!

Anyone else have any Black Friday "missed opportunities" stories?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Yeah. I missed all the opportunities to "save" money by spending money.

The thing you might want to consider being mad about is how overpriced some of that stuff is and how arbitrary the pricing tends to be.

By the time the stuff hits retail, the reseller has paid twice (or more) of the actual production costs. The reseller then doubles (or more) his cost and you pay 300% or more of what the thing cost to produce in the first place.

I'm all for making a profit but let's be honest and reasonable about it. The black Friday and group sales are another way of sellers simply taking a smaller profit. Those sale prices more often reflect what, IMO, the items should have cost the end user in the first place.

As far as 'remorse' for 'missing' a sale, all that serves to do is make you angry. That's ok but that is best directed to the company in question by 1: a letter, and 2: not buying their stuff.

Just sayin'

[mhschmieder]

Yeah, but I tried all the demos in July/August and they made a HUGE difference when producing hard rock, along with the de-esser and trans-mod having characteristics quite different from the Eiosis plugs I already own. Not to mention the unique Inflator (great on the bass guitar buss) and the special qualities of the limiter (especially on classical material).

So, this is NOT a case of something where substitutes will do, unfortunately. OTOH, the recent Ozone update may negate some of what made Sonnox plugs appeal to me. Too bad my eval licenses expired in late September.

I will agree in general with the statements though -- and this is why I have resisted most of the Black Friday sales (including ALL of the in-store sales, save from a 10% discount on a Mogami cable that I already needed).

It would not surprise me if similar sales pop up near the end of the year.

Still, I do find it strange that vendors aren't sending emails to their highest volume registered users anymore. Maybe an error occurs in the mailing lists before it gets as far as "S".

[bdr]

KVR has a "bargains" thread that is useful to subscribe to...it also has a list Black Friday sales, some of which are still going. I think rekkord.org also has a posting of sales.

[mhschmieder]

Thanks -- good ref for the future.

I try to remember to check GS or vi-control for such news, and occasionally sonicstate. Sometimes an advance announcement is made, but not always. I took myself off the grid THU/FRI for the most part, to focus on a thorough housecleaning, so I guess it's a case of "You snooze, you lose".

[kgdrum]

+1 agree
2 places I look for specials,sales,group buys are:
vi-control. Commercial announcement section or portal
or kvr
GS actually frowns on users talking about sales,group buys etc.....delete posts and warnings!
They only want developers to do on an official section that is barely used.

[Shooshie]

I've bought two plugins from Waves. I guess their sale goes on for a few more days, though. I got the C6 multiband processor with side-chain, and the H-EQ, hybrid equalizer. Each was $99, but they have quite a few plugins for $49, and some for as low as $15.

If interested, go to The Waves Plugin Store and click on "Native Plugins" under the "Products" column on the left. You will get a list of all the plugins that are on sale, with their sale price and regular price shown by their icons. As MLC said, this is closer to what they really ought to be selling for. The list price is just outrageous profit. Takes a recession to bring those prices back under control, but I think Waves is starting to get the message.

Shooshie

[kgdrum]

I've bought two plugins from Waves. I guess their sale goes on for a few more days, though. I got the C6 multiband processor with side-chain, and the H-EQ, hybrid equalizer. Each was $99, but they have quite a few plugins for $49, and some for as low as $15.

If interested, go to The Waves Plugin Store and click on "Native Plugins" under the "Products" column on the left. You will get a list of all the plugins that are on sale, with their sale price and regular price shown by their icons. As MLC said, this is closer to what they really ought to be selling for. The list price is just outrageous profit. Takes a recession to bring those prices back under control, but I think Waves is starting to get the message.

Shooshie

I haven't used this site, but have been lurking

http://www.wavesuniverse.com/waves-universe-specials/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

all of a sudden they are mentioned on all sorts of Wave related threads on various forums(vi-control,kvr etc...),they seem to be an authorized Wave reseller that discounts everything Waves.
not an endorsement(I am checking them out)
ymmv
any users here of :
waves universe.com?
Thanks
KG

[Tobor]

I've bought two plugins from Waves. I guess their sale goes on for a few more days, though. I got the C6 multiband processor with side-chain, and the H-EQ, hybrid equalizer. Each was $99, but they have quite a few plugins for $49, and some for as low as $15.

If interested, go to The Waves Plugin Store and click on "Native Plugins" under the "Products" column on the left. You will get a list of all the plugins that are on sale, with their sale price and regular price shown by their icons. As MLC said, this is closer to what they really ought to be selling for. The list price is just outrageous profit. Takes a recession to bring those prices back under control, but I think Waves is starting to get the message.

Shooshie

Inspired by this thread, my birthday, and great prices I may have to dive into Waves at long last. With this sale going on, what would you recommend for initial purchases?

Looks like the L3 Multimaximizer, C6, Vocal Rider, CLA Comps are all on good sale prices and well recommended. Noticed that the Gold bundle is only 399 as well for a lot of the classics.

Don't have a lot of disposable bucks, but would like to get something or a couple things that would make a dramatic difference and/or be a 'go-to' processor.

Thanks!

Tobor

[Michael Canavan]

50% off on Sonnox effects bundles!

That one really ticks me off, because I've been holding off since August on buying them as other stuff kept taking budgetary priority. But I need them to finish some current productions!

I could TOTALLY have afforded them at 50% off. Now I'm stuck digging into savings or holding off yet again. And the psychological impact of missing a sale is devastating!

Anyone else have any Black Friday "missed opportunities" stories?

Email them, you might be pleasantly surprised that they allow you a one time purchase.
I've had companies do that for me. I even emailed a company that they always had their damn sale when it was my slow time of year and I had missed their sales three times, which was making it impossible for me to mentally get my head around paying full price, andy why do they always have the sale the same time every year etc.

They gave me a discount # to use when my financial situation changed.

[twistedtom]

My wife did not miss out on the sales but she got nothing for my studio.

[Shooshie]

Inspired by this thread, my birthday, and great prices I may have to dive into Waves at long last. With this sale going on, what would you recommend for initial purchases?

Looks like the L3 Multimaximizer, C6, Vocal Rider, CLA Comps are all on good sale prices and well recommended. Noticed that the Gold bundle is only 399 as well for a lot of the classics.

Don't have a lot of disposable bucks, but would like to get something or a couple things that would make a dramatic difference and/or be a 'go-to' processor.

Waves makes a lot of great plugins, so the bundles are really nice. BUT, the plugins I recommend the most are not in any but the most expensive bundles. The first bundle that carries most of them is the Diamond Bundle, and even then you'd have to buy the C6 and H-EQ separately, as far as I know. The Platinum Bundle does not have the L3 MultiMaximizer. It has the L3 UltraMaximizer, but that's not the same. Only the MULTImaximizer has the 5-band priority controls. So, whatever bundle you may get will probably leave you wanting two of the most desirable plugins that Waves makes.

So, what I'm going to suggest is that you make your own bundle of 5 plugins. At the reduced prices, you can do it pretty easily, and then if you want to add a bundle, you can get the less expensive ones, since you already will have the "go-to" plugins in each of the following categories:

• Equalization
• Compression/Expansion
• Limiting
• Stereo enhancement
• Noise Removal

First, Compression and Expansion:

Waves' C6 multiband processor with sidechaining is nothing short of amazing. I'm blown away by it, and I've been using its kind for over 10 years. (I regularly use the C4 and the Linear Phase Multiband Processor) The C6 is currently on sale for $99. (normally $250) This one has my strongest recommendation. If you don't need sidechaining, the Linear Phase Multiband Processor is actually a stronger plugin with more features. I have it, the C4 and the C6. Currently I'm loving the C6)

Limiting:

L3 Multimaximizer — (includes the L3-LL — low latency) You've heard me go on and on about this. It's worth it. $199 (normally $350) It includes the L3 Ultramaximizer and the L3-LL Multimaximizer (LL stands for Low Latency)
Shown is the L3-LL Multimaximizer which comes with the regular L3 Multimaximizer) Click picture to go there.

Equalization:

H-EQ, Hybrid Equalizer: Everyone has their favorite EQ. I have several, but this one simply has more features than any other of my favorites. Watch the Video and see if you agree that this is one interesting and amazing EQ. Normally $150, on sale for $99.

Stereo Enhancement:

S1 Stereo Imager — This is the best stereo enhancer I've heard. Allows you to reshape the stereo image as well as widen or narrow it. You can move parts of it around within itself while also widening it, for example. $49 (normally $150)

Noise Removal:

Z-Noise —dynamic noise reducer. Can learn a noise and follow it as it changes pitch and characteristics. Way better than X-Noise, or Bias's Soundsoap, both of which learn noise, but won't follow changing patterns. $199 (normally $500) If you ever need to remove noise from a track, this will do it. You might also consider X-Click and X-Crackle, both on sale for reasonable prices. (Good noise removal stuff is very expensive)

I've tried to lay out an efficient and intelligent approach to acquiring Waves plugins. Let's call this the "Bare Essentials Bundle." What we've got here would cost a little less than $650, and except for the S1 stereo imager, this entire set cannot be found in any bundle (other than Mercury). Were you to get another bundle on top of these, you could drop the S1 and add the Gold or Platinum Bundle with no duplications elsewhere on the list. What's interesting, though, is that if I had to choose between the Bare Essentials Bundle and the Platinum Bundle, even if someone were giving me my choice for free, I'd have to choose the Bare Essentials Bundle, because I use those far more than anything in the Platinum Bundle.

Other links:
All Waves Plugins
All Waves Bundles

What bundles would I add to the Bare Essentials? Renaissance Maxx, and Masters. Gold would be a strong contender, too, as it contains the Renaissance Maxx, but it doesn't have the Masters.

By the previous Waves Update Plan, keeping these up to date would have cost a fortune, but Waves has revised their WUP so that you will never have to pay more than $200. WUP cost for individual plugins can be as low as $15. You don't have to update them every year. As long as they are working, there is no need to upgrade. The plugins don't really change; it's just compatibility with the current OS, and I think we're set for that for a while. First year WUP is free.

Shoosh

[twistedtom]

We have a discount program at work and I can get any thing from the Apple store; I could get Logic Studio for $414.20. If I go into an Apple store or some one that sells Apple and show them my work ID I can get the discounts. It has saved me a bit of cash so far.

[Tobor]

Good morning Shoosh,

Thanks for the great info and thorough presentation!

Tobor

[twistedtom]

I find the L3 and Z noise very useful.