I use Soothe 2 on everything
I have both and use Soothe more. Most often heavy on leads and light on master. And on drums.
Haven’t done a proper a b yet though.
Trackspacer and pro q are also very useful depending on the job
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be careful, you can lose a lot of dynamics.
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Thank you. 
You’re right, especially on the Hard setting you can shred away the impact and depth from a sound if you’re not careful.
Here’s a thread to rant or rave about Soothe2, ask questions, and talk about production tips.
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Are there ususally discounts for Ableton Live upgrades around Black Friday? Thinking about upgrading from Lite to Standard.
I can’t recall if they specifically do “Black Friday” but they tend to do 20-25% off 2 or 3 times a year and I don’t think they’ve had one since the summer.
Worth mentioning that there are normally plenty of second-hand licenses available on KVR and Knobcloud, although it seems to be mostly Lite or Suite versions and rarely Standard. I think Ableton’s “get absolutely everything with Suite” pricing tactic seems to work as the vast majority of people who ever discuss Live or post videos online seem to be using Suite.
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Ableton did a sale last Black Friday. I checked the invoice and it was $277 to upgrade to standard from lite.
Thanks, then I’ll wait a few more days. When logged in my current price is € 209 for the upgrade.
Yep they do 2-3x sales. Now last year was only 20%, but then again they haven’t really done much of this 50% off stuff like they did this summer so who knows. If I were to bet, I’d say 20% for BF but not more, but 20-25% would be a pretty safe bet at this point for sure. It’s also been a while since they’ve done a sale, so we’re knocking on the door. Deffo worth waiting @2ndlayer
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Rhodes V8 currently half price
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Never even knew this existed. Is it a leap above the other Rhodes plugs? I still just use Lounge lizard. I love the Rhodes sound so much though.
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I have no idea, but I’m looking for a decent Rhodes vet, perhaps this is it? I’m currently demoing the Arturia Stage 73 , which sounds pretty good to my ears, but I can’t help but wonder about this and the UA version. Keyscape sounds pretty nice too, but I’m not really after any of the emulations that come with it.
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The Rhodes v8 is definitely the best I used when I demoed a bunch of them. But it kept me from buying any Rhodes vst because it was too expensive and it made the rest of them sound bad lol.
50% off is tempting, but I have a LOT of plugins I’ve been waiting to buy… don’t ever make a list of plugins you want throughout the year and plan to buy them all on Black Friday.
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which one did you demo, the V8 or V8 pro? Trying to understand the differences, if it’s just the effects that are missing on the basic version then I’m not fussed.
I demoed the pro… they don’t make the differences very clear but I found this on their website about the difference between pro and regular:
The V8 Pro allows total access to the acclaimed FX section from the MK8-FX, which includes Compression, Chorus, Phaser and Delay.
In addition, V8 users can explore the Setup page, where there is per-note control over Timbre, Fine Tune, Level and Damper response. A selection of microphones and amplifiers can also be found, paying homage to classic studio and stage Rhodes setups.
Lastly, the V8 Pro offers enhanced use of the Preamp section, allowing users to unleash the Vari-Pan circuit into audio rate modulation.
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Output is going for 50% off everything on the website, and they’ve also quietly introduced a subscription for their effects bundles in with Arcade.
You can get Arcade at 3 levels now, a basic (samples only) a premium (samples & playable instruments) and a pro (samples, instruments and the Output FX - Portal, Thermal etc.)
Signature Bundle of UAD Native plugins on Plugin Boutique for $299.
44 plugins, that’s $6.80 a plugin…
I own more than half of them already and it’s still a bargain… 
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any of the plugs any good?
I love their sidecar but it’s never in stock
The one knock I have with them is they are fairly pricey and you can’t trial the plugs, nor can you sell them. It’s a good job Portal is great, but I don’t think I’d buy from a company with a no-resale policy again. (They argue this back by saying you can get your money back after 14 days if you don’t like the plugin, but still…)
Caveats out of the way, Portal is the original granular plugin that probably started off a chain reaction of copycat plugins. It has this magic random factor with the giant X-Y graphic and it’s one of those plugins I personally always get something out of. I’d argue that EFX Fragments is slightly easier to do rhythmic stuff with (Portal tends to drift even tho it has a tempo sync feature.)
A lot of people rate Thermal, though again Arturia has come up with their own flavour of that with Dist Coldfire. Arcade is a lot of fun when you just need a little extra something in your project (it’s essentially sample packs, but the difference is they are playable and customiseable via a VST.) I tend to switch the sub on/off as and when I need it.
If I were looking at their stuff, I’d be tempted to use the sub to trial their plugins. A bit frustrating they don’t offer free trials, but this way at least you can use them for a low cost before deciding if you’d rather own any of them. That way you won’t get burned dropping a bunch of £$€ on something you can’t resell.
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