This just landed in my inbox:

Right in time for the holiday season, u-he proudly announces the release of More Feedback Machine V2.0:

http://www.u-he.com/mfm/

And because it’s the appropriate time, the pre-order offer of 59$ will remain valid for another week from now! - Don’t miss out on it and check out the new features and factory patches!

So it’s going up to a reasonable $79, but hey, 20 bucks is 20 bucks. And while at the moment this is way more DSP than I need, I will happily endorse any U-he creation whether I buy it or not.

And the thing is obviously a beast:
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Here’s a new product, and one I don’t have a license for, but it is definitely moving to the top of my software want-list, the FabFilter Pro-C.

While I’m trying to stay clear of demos, and pare my software down to my essentials, I’ve been looking for a high-quality compressor, versatile and free of overkill copy protection. But I have also been having a hard time justifying purchasing a tool when I already more or less have this ground covered. I have a collection of compressor plugins that have a good reputation: digitalfishphones, Cakewalk Sonitus:Compressor & VintageChannel64, the db-audioware mixing plugins, Jeroen Breebaart’s plugs. Nevertheless, I find myself reading about some of these top-tier compressor plugins and wondering what I am missing.

A couple of things to note: Since I’ve never spent any significant time in hardware-centric studios, I’m not a hugely experienced compressor user. Nor do I have golden ears. So a lot of the subtle nuances between brands are frankly lost on me. I’m trying to educate myself, and I’m trying hear what I’m doing with a compressor rather than just dialing in what I think it should be set to. But as you can see my frame of reference is limited.

I read the glowing review of the Pro-C in the current/last issue of Computer Music and was curious - not sold, mind you, as CM can be, god love ‘em, a little enthusiastic. It’s got all the bells and whistles, and a lot of cool tricks most standard compressors don’t have, and according to them it sounds great. So, I thought I’d give it a whirl.

And, my god, is this thing slick. First of all, the GUI is really, really well done. On-screen contextual help, really cool visual feedback, and a clean, ergonomic interface. It’s modern and easy to read without being so, erm, creative it’s useless. And it sounds, at least to my tin ears, just amazing. Throw it on your two-bus in Mid/Side compression mode - nice.

And, indeed, there’s a holiday sale currently on, so, yes the getting is good: 35% off for a whopping $159. So, I’m hoping I’ll get a little financial leeway before the end of the month and I’ll be able to add this to my “rack.”

Elaborating on my last thread:

Whatever your denomination or beliefs, there’s no avoiding it: since we’re apparently a Christian nation whether we damn well like it or not we’re in “holiday” mode. So the thought of buying audio software is a little dicey. I mean, I guess you can get a partner/friend/relative to log on, download, and transfer a license to your name, but short of getting them to tithe to Guitar Center or order boxed product through, say, amazon.com, it’s a little much to expect Grandma to download a softsynth for you. “No, Nana, that’s Albino. A-l-b-i-n-o. Yes, like the little Johnson boy.”

So naturally, a lot of online companies are having holiday (read: end-of-the-year) sales. Hey, cool. Just that most dudes (yes, dudes, boys, men), especially those with families, don’t have a lot of discretionary funds to splash around. And in these uncertain economic times…

Me, I’ve managed to buffer myself pretty successfully from Christmas. No kids, an understanding family, and a very patient girlfriend. But even when I did/do participate in Christmas, I like to buy myself one or two small gifts as reward with putting up with the whole thing. That said, I’m a freelancer and I have to be somewhat frugal for long stretches of time. And since my birthday is coming up, so, I’m in the same boat, more or less.

Nevertheless, if you do have a chance to stock-up on your music software now is a good time. So over the next few days I may point out a few things I use or that look interesting to me.

Second on a list with no particularly order:

Rayzoon Jamstix2.

Marked down from an already low $99 to $49.

I’ve been using this a bunch lately, and while some of the control is a little obscure, and even with the plain skin it’s not the slickest interface, but it is a really smart piece of drum-sample programming. It’s brain, once you start getting used to how it works, is incredibly sophisticated. For just banging out ideas it’s really hard to beat. (Pun not intended but acknowledged.) And moreover, while you can use it to host other drum VSTis (BFD, DFHS) its stock kit is really usable. The drum styles can be tweaked - they tend towards the busy out of the box - and the jam with feature is really frickin’ cool.

If you don’t use another drum-sample playback system (hee hee), I suggest if you can a couple of the add on packs. These have some really nicely sampled drums in them.

Further my posts concerning of the fine soniccouture sample libraries, I’d be remiss if I didn’t post something about their current yuletide offering. And quite a sale it is: but a cool 40% off their entire download line. Of course, Abstrakt Bass and Hang Drum are there, but they have a pretty deep library of cool instruments so go wild. Ends Midnight, Christmas Eve, 24th December. (GMT)

Of course, it’s the holidays and such and you still need to get your, erm, significant other, mother, what have you, whatever it is you agreed to get them, but why not buy yourself a couple of great new songs as well.

So, there you go, the Digital LoFi Holiday Gift Guide for the Disenfranchised. Download a a couple fun and useful toys for under $200.