Quality plugins at very cheap price - good or not?

[Svalinn85 (Luca Leonardi)]

So, These days I’ve been looking at free plugins to use inside Reaper as it comes with almost no instruments at all.

I went and downloaded the “usual” BBC orchestra, Labs,Layers etc etc… BUT i felt like I should have had at least 1 synth in my library and I also would have liked some “epic” or “cinematic” percussions (mainly to follow Mike courses as it seems like he uses these in a lot of them).

Just at that time I got an email from PlugIn Boutique with “heavy” discounts in it, of course before deciding to “buy” something I made some online research to see opinions.

Anyway this is what I managed to find that seemed to be good (considering google research, I hope I made good choices).

Synths:

iZotopy Iris 2: usually at 150 bucks It’s as of now, discounted at 10 bucks: https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/1303-Iris-2

Percussion Companion from SoniVox: contains 4 different percussion plugins and has, well, what I was looking for. Cinematic / epic big percussions. I guess it’ll not be as good as Damage 2 but at least I’ll be able to follow Mike courses with it I hope. On their website each one of these plugins usually costs between 150 and 200 bucks… I could get all of them for 18 bucks: https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/2711-Percussion-Companion

For me this cinematic percussion pack was an almost instant getter because no matter how much I searched for something similar that was either free or cheap… I couldn’t find a single one that was below 200 euros.

Also… Since I was at it I found this Voltage Modular Nucleus 2 synth that is usually 50 bucks that was 100% discunted and got it for free: https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/5594-Voltage-Modular-Nucleus-2

I didn’t take this… but I also noted that there is a Film Scoring Companion Package, again from SoniVox, containing brasses, strings, woodwinds and piano… this one is at 18 bucks also: https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/1856-Film-Score-Companion

I tought I’d share so you guys can give your opinion on these and, in case it’s found out these are good deals, perhaps you (or someone as poor as I am that always needs to find the good bargain for stuff xD) can jump into it xD

Anyway… do anyone knows these and can give an Opinion?

[Mikael (Mikael Baggström)]

As long as it can get you started that is a good thing. In the long run I recommend investing in high end plugins and sample libraries, at least if you want to become a professional composer…which means creating music for commercial productions in any medium.

For example: the first high end library I bought was in 2008. Symphobia 1. It cost 860 Euros. I still use it to this day, because it was made so well. Now, in those days I was poor and could not afford this. But still I saved money for it for many months. I also invested in Omnisphere, Trilian and Stylus RMX in 2009. And so on…keep on focusing on investing in the best tools that will work in the long run for professional music composition and production.

[Geoffers (Geoffrey Evans)]

Take a look at the U-He free synths. They’re really good and intuitive. Plus there’s lots on YouTube about them.

[Svalinn85 (Luca Leonardi)]

Well… yeah of course in time I plan on getting better things… I know I’m very interested in Omnisphere (from stuff I’ve seen on your videos, youtube and reviews) and some others I’ve seen in your and other courses

But at my skill level I think it’s more important to learn how to do something than to do it high level and high level plugins really do cost a lot.

I made my calculation and I think I’d have to spend something like 3000 if not more euros to make a good high quality library that, at this point in time, I wouldn’t even know how to correctly use… Can’t efford that price and I’m very well aware that it would be useless to me to do so.

So I think that the BBC orchestra, Labs, Layers etc, as free plugins, will do fine to learn orchestral composition, some free piano plugins like keyzone will be good for sketching… I just wanted a decent percussion to follow your courses and at least 1 or 2 synths for a complete “Basic” learning library… I think there’ll be time to make money and update everything when I’ll be able to actually get the value out of the products I but ^^

@Geoffers thanks! I’ll definitly give it a look

[Mikael (Mikael Baggström)]

I understand of course, we all start somewhere.
Check out this one too, a light version of Palette: https://redroomaudio.com/product/palette-primary-colors/

[Svalinn85 (Luca Leonardi)]

That would be awesome to try… if not for one very tiny little detail that, unluckily, prevents the use of a lot of free plugins to a lot of people

[Mikael (Mikael Baggström)]

Ah, I am just so used to using Kontakt from getting Komplete Ultimate many years back. I always forget this free vs full Kontakt aspect

[Miktay (MikeR)]

Hi Luca:

If u want to invest in plugins and u can wait check out the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales where the prices are usually 50% off.

I think u can get the full version of Kontakt for USD 100.

Also East West has a subscription to their cloud for a lower monthly fee. I have not used this service yet but may do so in the future.

Has anyone on the forum used the East West Composer cloud service?

Regards,
Mike

[Svalinn85 (Luca Leonardi)]

That’s good to hear… I’ll have to save up for kontakt then

[Geoffers (Geoffrey Evans)]

Hey Luca,

Kontakt full is so worth getting. Not only because content creators like me create very affordable libraries that are just as good as the big brands, but also because you yourself can learn to make your very own instruments with a little practice

[Miktay (MikeR)]

Kontakt just upgraded their bundled product line from 12 to 13. The Ultimate bundle includes a few new instruments such as a new grand piano, violin, synths, electric and acoustic guitars, and expansion packs.

This is good but it also kind of sucks since I bought the 12 version a few months ago.