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Bargain Center (<$200 gear): 8/20


zircon
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I'll cut right to the chase. There are some amazing deals going on right now in the world of audio that you NEED to check out, whether you've already got a ton of stuff or you're just starting off.

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Line 6 Toneport UX1 USB Recording Interface - $104.95

http://www.scitscat.com/catalog/line-toneport-recording-interface-p-1502.html

Any guitarists here? This is an all-in-one, kickass external USB interface designed for guitar, bass, and vocal recording, which includes high quality Line 6 plugins for guitar/amp modeling and effects. These are the same models used in the hardware Pod that is highly acclaimed.

Native Instruments Battery 3 - $89

http://www.novamusik.com/search.aspx?type=Model&keyword=2909

Want drums? Battery 3 provides some awesome kits of all kinds, from rock, to brushed jazz, pop, hip-hop, electronic, etc. VST format though you can just use the WAVs as oneshots in your sequencer. At $89, there are no comparable, quality plugins in this range. It's also a fully-featured sampler that you can load your own samples into for playback/mangling.

M-Audio Audiophile 2496 PCI Soundcard - $65

http://www.scitscat.com/catalog/maudio-audiophile-2496-system-p-584.html

While not the best soundcard, the audiophile is an excellent choice for home musicians. If you're just starting out and all you have is onboard sound or a basic Soundblaster card, this will be a nice upgrade. Unbeatable price.

Sennheiser HD-280 Headphones - $69.96

http://www.scitscat.com/catalog/sennheiser-black-professional-headphones-p-256.html

Want good headphones? You should be paying way more for these.

Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Silver + Silver Pro XP - $195

http://www.soundsonline.com/EWQLSO-Silver-Bundle-pr-EW-161PROB1.html

An amazing collection of orchestral sounds, plus piano + choir. If you like the tone of remixes such as Shnabubula's latest "Mario Likes Thorazine", Jared Hudson's "The Frontier", Vampire Hunter Dan's "Twilight of the Millienium", Star Salzman's "Advance With Caution", or many other orchestral remixes, then you'll want the library that helped create quite a few of them.

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You'd get way better than 7ms with that card, I'm sure.

It should also be noted that Vienna Symphonic Library is closing out its entire Horizion series of libraries, many which hit below $200

VSL is some of the highest of the high quality libs, so take that into account when you look at their tag--it might not seem like a bargain, but relatively speaking, it is (listen to the demos--they'z pro quality), and all posted under $200:

Vienna Harps:

http://vsl.co.at/en-us/211/215/159.vsl

Might be a bit too specific for most low-end, project studios but you never know.

French Oboe:

http://vsl.co.at/en-us/211/215/161.vsl

Sometimes a realistic performance is a decent background with a really solid solo instrument, often times if you've got that solid solo instrument you don't need to go all out for the background. A good, solid solo oboe is the unfortunate staple of orchestral video game remixery.

Saxophones I:

http://vsl.co.at/en-us/211/215/118.vsl

Actually, there are some sexy saxes here, not too many good sax libraries around, this is one of the old ones.

Mallets:

http://vsl.co.at/en-us/211/215/109.vsl

Concert Guitar:

http://vsl.co.at/en-us/211/215/117.vsl

Overdrive:

http://vsl.co.at/en-us/211/215/110.vsl

I wouldn't touch the guitar libs if you've got some skill at the strings.

Also, if you like funk music, Scarbee has some crazy specials every once in a while:

http://www.scarbee-shop.com/index.php

(They also just released probably the best electric fingered bass library slash script I've ever heard which they're retailing at $99)

This is a great thread! Everyone should post deals on gear and software that are dropping under $200!

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I'd say the HD 280s are very nearly on par with the AKG K171, with the HD 280 having the advantage of being much more comfortable (and a sleek cable management thing).

Keep in mind that all closed cans like the HD 280 and K271 (AKG's high end studio product) tend to suffer from some "boomy-ness;" your lower frequency sounds won't sound the same on a pair of these cans as they would on open or half-open cans, such as Sennheiser's PX 100 or the K171.

Though Sennheiser lists the HD 280 in the Monitoring section of their website, I don't think they are aimed at home studio monitoring. It's my opinion that studio monitoring should be done using open cans if possible, leaving the closed type for musicians to wear while recording to prevent feedback. Open type will give you the most accurate representation of your tracks (flattest response).

All that said, grab those 280s if you have the money. They're fantastic for their price at $100, and anything less than that is a steal.

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  • 1 month later...

Had to throw this down here:

Scarbee is having a 33% off sale on all their products until the 19th of October--I just ordered a copy of Black Bass. They also have a new Bass vi based on their Slap 'n' Fingered bass library with the sick BB nils k2 scripting called Red Bass--a little out of my price range for a sampled bass library, but pretty impressive for the price:

http://www.scarbee-shop.com/

Seriously, some of the best legato electric bass programming around!

Cheers,

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As far as the HD280s go; I have a pair myself and they are definitely worth the $80 bucks. The bass is a wee bit loud and as far as the HD line go, a lil bit distorted. However, otherwise they have an amazingly flat and well-tuned response and are almost as good as my HD600s (which, if you have the money are more than worth it!)

But what about Battery 3? Is it as amazing as say, StormDrum? I produce mostly breakbeats and film-score-esque soundbeds, so would it be up to the task? I just need some more drum sounds that aren't drenched in reverb.

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If you want film score stuff, get bustatunez' "Impact Steel" (http://www.rogetmusic.com/ImpactSteel/) or wait for Stormdrum 2... Battery 3 has some stuff in that category, but in general it is more of an all-purpose sampler. Some acoustic kits, some rock kits, some electronic. There are some gems here and there; I prefer to simply use the oneshot WAVs. Overall, it doesn't have a consistent level of quality, but for $90-100 it's worth it.

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As far as the HD280s go; I have a pair myself and they are definitely worth the $80 bucks. The bass is a wee bit loud and as far as the HD line go, a lil bit distorted. However, otherwise they have an amazingly flat and well-tuned response and are almost as good as my HD600s (which, if you have the money are more than worth it!)

Yeah, the HD280s definitely aren't bad, though my pair of AKG K240 Studios just recently came in and I'm definitely preferring those. Btw, are the HD600s fully enclosed like the HD280s?

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If you want film score stuff, get bustatunez' "Impact Steel" (http://www.rogetmusic.com/ImpactSteel/) or wait for Stormdrum 2... Battery 3 has some stuff in that category, but in general it is more of an all-purpose sampler. Some acoustic kits, some rock kits, some electronic. There are some gems here and there; I prefer to simply use the oneshot WAVs. Overall, it doesn't have a consistent level of quality, but for $90-100 it's worth it.

Yeah, Will's library seems really nice--though I'm saving up for Flying Hand Percussion as I've already got SD 1 and I'm really intrigued by SD 2's promise of an 80ft bridge.

If you're looking for Taiko drums, though, I know that Sean Beeson's Tsaiko Drums is going to go on sale soon with the promise of some expansion stuff--and it's probably the best Taiko drum library I've ever used. It has the range of the big hollywood drums and the nuance of the more organic real taiko drum. Really solid stuff!

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Yeah, the HD280s definitely aren't bad, though my pair of AKG K240 Studios just recently came in and I'm definitely preferring those. Btw, are the HD600s fully enclosed like the HD280s?

No, they're open. I tend to like those kind MUCH more when using them in studio atmosphere. You can listen to them for hours and not feel fatigued or ear sweated.

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Good find, Hy Bound--just keep in mind that EW doesn't allow License Transfers on their products. But hopefully you won't run into any trouble.

As I suspected, Tsaiko Drums is now on sale through Halloween and anyone who buys it before the end of the sale (and subsequently the end of the introductory pricing) will get their Tsaiko Expander for free which will include all sorts of cool taiko related stuff:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2779508

For anyone who doesn't know, I did a demo for them because I was one of the first to get their library and I am just a flippin' nut for taiko drums:

http://www.seanbeeson.com/Tsaiko/Demos/tsaiko_demo_6.mp3

It's in the style of Joji Hirota

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I like RA, I find that I tend to use it in a lot of stuff to throw some spice into the mix. The duduks and shakuhachi are definitely worth the price.

Their stringed instruments take more work. Their plucked and wind instruments are definitely good. Their drums are okay. Their taiko isn't worth it. I defer to my previous post for the taiko.

http://www.dannthr.com/samples/sketches/shakuhachi_sketch.mp3

This is a piece I did with the shakuhachi keyswitch, improvised in real-time, the piano is from EWQL SO Gold XP's Steinway B.

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Thanks for the insight; yeah, what I've heard from RA I really like. I have StormDrum, so the Taikos are pretty well taken care of. But yeah; I just wish i had the extra $350 to spend (I can use the academic versions, yay!).

EDIT: BTW, I have always wondered what IS a keyswitch? I have tried using it and playing around with it, but I can't tell what it does... It's a super noob question, but meh.

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No worries, man.

A KeySwitch or a KS (as it's sometimes termed on a file name) is a patch that contains multiple articulations that can be switched to and from by using keys on the piano--often times they're keys which are outside of the range of the instrument. This way the articulation switching can occur in real time and it allows live performance of more complex instruments on the keyboard.

So the shakuhachi flute patch might have a few different breath types or effects--or say a violin patch might contain pizz, stac, legato, portamento, etc articulations all in one--then you can use key presses outside the range of the violin to change from one articulation to the next.

I usually don't like Keyswitches because it muddles up my notation--but that's just me being nitpicky. :)

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