IK Multimedia Group Buy

[Richie Witch]

Can't believe no one has posted this yet, so I guess I will.

IK Multimedia is running a deal from Nov 4 to Dec 4. If you buy one of their T-RackS plugins, you get another one for free. BUT!!! If 500 people participate in the offer, everybody gets another plugin free. The number of free plugins increases as more people jump in.

How the Group Buy works

Buy 1 Get 1 Free*
Buy 1 Get 2 Free* when 500 registrations are reached
Buy 1 Get 3 Free* when 1,000 registrations are reached
Buy 1 Get 4 Free* when 2,000 registrations are reached

*Free product must be of equal or lesser value of the purchased item.

Link to the offer is here:

http://www.ikmultimedia.com/trgb/

They're up to 157 participants right now and it's only the second day of the offer, so seems to me like there's a good chance for a lot of free stuff.

[Richie Witch]

Less than 25 more buyers, and we all get 3 plugins for the price of 1. Just in case you were thinking about it.

[Airyck]

This happened a few years back and we ended up getting 5 free plugins

[Richie Witch]

Less than 35 more buyers and we all get **4** plugins for the price of 1. The whole deal ends on December 4th.

I've already picked up the three EQ plugins that got top reviews from Computer Music mag. Just waiting to pick up that Black 76 Limiting Amp compressor as my next freebie.

[Richie Witch]

The offer was set to expire today, but was extended to December 14th. Less than 300 more buyers and the deal goes up to buy 1, get 4 free.

Might just get that last compressor plugin I wanted after all!

[Stevejaz]

This caught my eye so I looked here for any info. I am interested in this but could use some help as to what to get. I have Live suite 9 (and Push) but that's it. Never bought a plug in in my life. Where do I start. De-easer and tape echo caught my eye. I mainly use Live for guitar based recording, mostly loop based. Would not mind trying recording some vocals. Have Rhodes NT1a, good guitars and RME babyface. At what price point should I buy in and what are the recommendations for the usage I have. Stylisticly speaking mostly Jazz/ambiant.
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Thankyou and Cheers Steve.

[fishmonkey]

i feel your pain deciphering the world of T-Racks...

essentially the T-Racks stuff is digitally modeled versions of classic analog studio gear, mostly compressors and EQs.

from the comments i've read by people who have experience with the real devices, the newer T-Racks plugins are very good.

where to buy in is tricky, as your freebies must be of equal or lesser value. also, it generally works out cheaper if you buy credit packs from the IK webstore. the thing is, they've designed it all so that the credit packs generally don't line up with single product values. since you are likely to get 4 freebies, it doesn't make much sense to buy a lower value plug like the tape echo or the de-esser, as it drastically limits what freebies you can get.

from what i've read, compared to the actual hardware, the best models are the Master EQ 432, the EQ 73, the EQ 81, the Precision Comp/Limiter, and the Bus Compressor. the Bus Compressor is modeled on the the same device as The Glue compressor though, so you already have something similar in Live.

the other thing about T-Racks stuff is that eventually the new things become not-new things and get included into a new bundle, which is why there is Classic, Deluxe, and Grand. each bundle includes everything in the previous bundle plus some of the newer plugins.

if you register with IK and install the Custom Shop you can try out all the plugins before you choose. since you are doing loop-based recording, extra latency will be an issue so it makes sense to try before you buy. some of the newer plugins have quite a big CPU hit as well...

[Stevejaz]

Thanks heaps for your words of wisdom fishmonkey. No pain. It just looked like a good opportunity to dip my toe in the water. The heads up on being able to try them through the shop is priceless and I will look into the models you suggested. I realise I would have to pay the most expensive priced plug in I got but was wondering if I actually need or want the most expensive. Seem to be a lot at a fraction of the price of the top priced ones. But what the hell. No one ever died from too high a quality did they.

[fishmonkey]

just a heads up that the group buy has now topped out at 5 for the price of 1...

[TomViolenz]

Thanks heaps for your words of wisdom fishmonkey. No pain. It just looked like a good opportunity to dip my toe in the water. The heads up on being able to try them through the shop is priceless and I will look into the models you suggested. I realise I would have to pay the most expensive priced plug in I got but was wondering if I actually need or want the most expensive. Seem to be a lot at a fraction of the price of the top priced ones. But what the hell. No one ever died from too high a quality did they.

I'm not sure that specifically modeled legacy gear is the best use of your money for buying your very first plug ins.

I'm not saying they are bad (I really wouldn't know), but things like 3 different EQs and compressors are usually something for people who already have it all and get bored, or already know they are after that one specific sound.

Just my 2ct

[fishmonkey]

fair enough, but if you have Live then you already have a whole suite of clean digital effects.

some non-linear analog-type vibe isn't necessarily a bad place to go after that...

[Stevejaz]

The tape echo is a blast with guitar and I am enjoying exploring the quad band limiter, compressor and imager. Any thoughts on the channel strips for use recording audio in Live? Still undecided as to the price point to buy in at but 80 Euros is looking about right for me. Includes the vintage EQ and compressor. I doubt I could get better bang for buck out of $120 Australian here in Australia atm than 5 plug ins.

[Stevejaz]

Just one more thing though. If I'm reading the IK web site right, which maybe I'm not, I can get the 4 Quad units for 60 Euro ( and maybe less if I buy and use credits) If that's the case I may be tempted to make two purchases.

[Stromkraft]

I have narrowed down to these after deciding not to get the reverbs as I frankly don't like them:

• T-RackS CS Black 76.vst
• T-RackS CS Bus Comp.vst
• T-RackS CS Classic MBand Lim.vst
• T-RackS CS DeEsser.vst
• T-RackS CS EQ 73.vst

But I just got Waves C4 and Waves C6 so I don't know about that multiband limiter. And I got Glue so do I need another Bus Compressor? Also got Scheps 73 EQ. I can do de-essing with C6 and C4, so that leaves the Black 76 compressor.

What use do you imagine for T-RackS Black 76? I guess I'll try it on vocals and drums.

What plug-in did I miss when I threw the lot out? What are your favorites and why?

[Richie Witch]

What plug-in did I miss when I threw the lot out? What are your favorites and why?

A lot of the plugins I have, besides the Ableton-native ones, are just freebies that I've downloaded over the last year and the sounds they produce just weren't satisfying me. I felt I was missing some basic pro-grade plugins for polishing my sound. Since I use mostly vintage hardware synths, the thought of running those sounds through emulations of classic outboard gear was pretty appealing.

And the potential of getting 5 for the price of 1 meant I was going to be able to cover a lot of my needs.

I used the following Music Radar reviews to guide my choices:

Master EQ 432
http://www.musicradar.com/us/reviews/te ... 432-599348

EQ 73/EQ 81
http://www.musicradar.com/us/reviews/te ... q73-603989

Black 76
http://www.musicradar.com/us/reviews/te ... -76-493446

The White 2A Leveling Amp I picked out on my own because I knew I wanted an optical compressor plugin and I assumed it would be of similar quality. I've already tried it on a couple tracks and I'm really happy with it.

I considered the bus compressor too, but from everything I've read and tried, nothing beats Glue. I've been using Ableton's native multi-band compressor lately and have been amazed by how great it sounds.

BTW, Groove3.com has a new video on the Black 76/White 2A. If you've got an account, that tut might help you decide if they would work for you.