Possibly the Biggest No-brainer Ever

  • Slate is in the process of adding a bunch of new stuff - D16 Repeater Delay, VerbSuite Classics & FG-Stress - to its Everything bundle. Great news, but then....


    The monthly fee for the yearly subscription has been reduced from $25 to $15.


    Slate Digital


    It was a no-brainer before, so now it's far beyond that IMHO. Figured my fellow Kemperites would want to know about this.


    IMHO, if you haven't yet bought any 3rd-party plugs, or even only a few, there's never been a higher-quality, cheaper option to cover all your processing bases in one fell swoop. Incredible.


    Everything Bundle


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    FG-Stress: An Official Plugin Recreation of The Distressor


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    The D16 Repeater Delay


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    VerbSuite Classics - Not Just A Reverb, Every Reverb!


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  • It is a great deal for sure - his plugins are very good and if you don't own any then it's a no-brainer.


    Thing is, I already actually bought the virtual mix rack, virtual bus compressors, the consoles, the tape emulation and FG-X back in the day before they went to the subscription model.


    For us guys that bought a bunch of stuff back in the old days, it'd be nice if they did a similar thing to Soundtoys whereby you can buy additional plugins at a reduced rate. There are a couple of the new ones he's added that I'd like but, because of those I own already, I'd prefer to just buy those..... The subscription is a bargain for sure but I'd be subscribing to something where I already own 75% of what I'd be renting! Unfortunately, buying a couple of plugins is just as expensive as subscribing for two complete years.


    Not ragging on the company at all - just my rambling thoughts on it :)

  • I feel for you, Gary.


    Ironically, it's only my challenging financial situation which has seen my holding out for years to buy Slate plugins that's meant that this bundle will provide maximum bang for my measly buck. Even at $15, I'm gonna wait for Black Friday to see if I can nab it for even less. What a cheapskate I am.


    Steven and his team are extremely personable, approachable and reasonable, based on my dealings with them, so I wonder if it'd be worth your posing the question to them directly (privately). It wouldn't surprise me if, in their response to you, they either provided you with an option or revealed that they're working on an upgrade path as we speak.

  • I think they'll have to expand by quite a lot before I'd consider the Bundle.


    I have 80% of their plugins and they make a subscription now, so it doesn't make sense for me.


    Plus, of the stuff I do have, I maybe use a few. UAD has more/better. But Slate is much much cheaper and doesn't require the hardware dongle that could drown you.


    Plus, for potential UA owners, there is always something popping up that gets in the way of making music (try my recently bad Firewire cable so I can't mix on my laptop until I get the replacement cable)


    Slate just requires the iLok 2, and it's rather trouble free. So Slate wins on ease, pricing, and the Bundle is a great idea and makes sense if you just got into them.

  • Sorry to revive this but....


    I got an email from Slate Digital today explaining that they'd got an offer on for anyone who has actually bought their plugins in the past.


    Basically, if you're in this position (as I am) then you can get the bundle for 149 dollars for the year. That's pretty good but what is better is that you get to choose any one of the plugins as a permanent licence to keep irrespective of your renewal or not next year.


    This is really nice for me as the new reverb bundle they've brought out is 199. Even at the current horrible exchange rate this is £10 a month for some extra stuff plus I get a plugin for less than I would have paid for it anyway. Trigger pulled :)

  • Yeah, this is a no-brainer. IF you were gonna pull for a Slate plugin, you pay $150 and get a year of the everything bundle plus a permanent license for any plugin.


    I was thinking of the recent Reverb and was waiting, but this might tip me over into the bundle. If there are plugins I feel I need next year and its' only one, I'll buy the one. If its more than one, its worth just paying another year at that price ($15)

  • Well done, Gary! Gee, sounds like an even-better deal right now.


    I can't help but wonder what they'll do for Black Friday. Been saving my bananas for that one day all year, as I do every year; it's mah big day! Obviously I've been hoping they'll do something along the lines of what you've just taken advantage of. Either that, or offer the subscription for $10 US instead of the usual $15 or something like that.


    That said, I like the ability to nominate a permanent purchase, so it's great you took advantage of that.


    EDIT: You posted before I refreshed the page, db. Well done, mate!

  • The email that came from them was saying it was in the name of Black Friday..... it's weird - I'd never heard of this thing until a few years back and now it's expanded into Black Friday fortnight!!


    I hope you get what you want MM - I recon they'll do a cut price subscription without the permanent ownership but that's a guess :). And, as that was your 5000th post there's surely got to be some magic mojo in your wish :). For me, I like what they've done here as it taps into loyal customers who like to 'own something' whilst getting you to try their preferred business model for a year. That's good business sense as they're getting what they want and I'm feeling like I got a great deal. Only bad thing? It was time limited to 72 hours. I was fortunate enough to be able to go for it but I don't see why they limit it. Ultimately, they've now got $150 they wouldn't have plus a happy customer. From a business perspective, that ought to be a rolling thing but then again I'm working for someone else and this guy has a successful company so what do I know ;)


    For me, these plugins are well worth it. I'm purely a weekend warrior with all this music making stuff and write / record purely for fun so buying such things is a luxury for sure. They're pro plugins but most have presets that help the keen amateur like me start in the right place - I know that'll irritate the purists / guys who know what they're doing 100% but I have limited time to throw at my beloved hobby so I'll gladly take all the help I can get :)


    I had a very brief play last night; I tried a couple of presets on the new reverb and liked what I heard. I then used one of the new EQ's (new to me, not new out!) with a preset called 'mix bus' just did that Slate plugin thing where the mix just sounded that little bit better just for it being there. Annoying as the only one I intended to 'buy' with this deal is the verbs but I'll keep an open mind..... I'm still trailing the Fabfilter Pro-r and that thing is impressive too :)

  • 5000? Cripes! What'll they think of next? LOL Thanks for pointing that out to me, Gary. Makes me feel kinda weak in the knees! :D


    I don't laugh at anyone's preferring to start with presets and tweak from there. IMHO, it often makes good work-flow sense, and those who poo-poo this idea are often toffee-nosed audio engineering snobs... IMHO. I say that if it works for you (and it often does for me), then let's go for it man. Life's too short.


    As far as the Fabfilter plug is concerned, yes, the UI is mighty-impressive, but IMHO, and I'm only guessing from afar here, the 'verb you just scored should provide a much, much more-versatile palette tonally and spatially. The FF one, after all, doesn't sport the huge variety of tried-and-tested algos that the Slate one does. To be precise, the Slate one has employed IR technology to capture the souls, Kemper-style, of some classic 'verb units, so technically there aren't any 'verb algos in the true sense of the term, but the principle applies nevertheless IMHO.


    The FF one reminds me a little of UVI's SparkVerb. The UI of SV is hugely-impressive, but I was also very-disappointed to find that all the settings I tried had a sameness about them that I couldn't escape, no matter how extreme I got with the parameters on hand. That has turned out to be the single biggest waste of plugin money I've spent so far, and I don't anticipate ever using it. I've a suspicion that this paradigm will apply to the FF one too, although I expect a little less so. IOW, even if the baseline algo sounds terrific, it's still only one baseline algorithm (with its attendant size-appropriate tweaks of course for the various volumes of space).


    We'll see of course, but for versatility my money's on the one you've just acquired, so I reckon you're onto a winner there mate. IMHO, if that thing does indeed sound like all those classic units, in theory you shouldn't ever have to make another 'verb purchase. You should be able to cross that one off the list permanently now. To think, folks have spent thousands on the Lex PCM, LXP and MPX Native plugins and many others, and you've effectively(!) bypassed all of that. That, dear Gary, constitutes a smart move in my book! Wuddun, mate!

  • Slate plugins are really good.
    Previously I was under the impression that they are all about user interface aesthetics... but it turns out that they are some of the best plugins I have ever used. I really dig their low latency as well, so I'm able to jam alog with several of their plugins activated. Cool stuff.

  • I've been close to pulling on the subscription model for a while but just not sure I can justify it as someone who records only a little - I have very little spare time at the moment. However, I'm involved in an acoustic project at the moment where we want to record an rip in the next 6 months or so… hmmmm


    Thx for the tip on the Black Friday deal, I'm gonna check it out :thumbup:

  • MM - thanks for your thoughts on the Fabfilter. Makes sense. I've got another few weeks to evaluate so I'll keep playing. I think if you're into sound sculpting / creating spaces from scratch then it'd be superb. For my uses it might not be the easiest fit vs the Slate. Kind of unfair of me to compare them as they're coming at this from very different places - one is proud to be copying classics, the other is proud to do its own thing. Both great I'm sure and it's a case of finding which one fits the individual best. We're lucky these days to have such fabulous tools available to us for (comparatively) not much compared to the old days :)


    Netheravon - I don't actually know but keep in mind that they're iLok so whatever you do you need this taken into consideration too. You also now need software called (wait for it!)...... Gobbler. That's an additional thing on top of iLok which is needed for this new subscription model.

  • FWIW, with the addition of the Reverb and now Delay suite to the Everything Bundle this has evolved to a point that made be sell my UAD-2 satellite last week and finally get away from the (IMO) dreadful UAD business model.
    Steven Slate does it right.

    I've been toying with this. I have an Apollo Twin which is a great interface, but for my laptop I have to have that huge metal UAD-2 dongle which is always troublesome (the Firewire doesn't always work because the chord breaks easy in your backpack and the connections aren't very tight)


    UAD is kinda like Apple, good products, but not revolutionary on the market anymore and above all: GREEDY


    One day, I'll be away from such a, i agree "dreadful" business model.


    BTW, for those wanting this Bundle, it does NOT include the older Relab LX480 reverb plugin. It looks like the new VerbSuite will replace that plugin with similar, but not the same? I'm still trying to understand it.


    Point is, a plugin is being dropped unless you already have the $25 a month bundle in which case it stays.


    Every Bundle is Equal Except Some Bundles are More Equal than Others, haha. Anyway, just for info, which folks will see on checkout...


    That said: Long Live Slate!

  • BTW, for those wanting this Bundle, it does NOT include the older Relab LX480 reverb plugin. It looks like the new VerbSuite will replace that plugin with similar, but not the same? I'm still trying to understand it.

    I don't have any inside news, but I could imagine that the cooperation between Slate and Relab Development has ended somehow.
    I have used the Black Friday deal to get the Everything Bundle to the new improved conditions. My older subsription will be ending soon anyway.

  • As far as I know, guys, there are Lex models in there, so I'm guessing one wouldn't miss out on much by not having the 480.


    Ingolf, I think it's probably more a case of the new 'verb plug's negating the need for the Relab Development one, which has been around for years; Slate had nothing to do with its development. No doubt a business partnership from which RL would've achieved more exposure.


    I had been looking forward to getting my hands on the plug as part of the deal from the outset, and was disappointed to learn of its "redundancy", but I've little doubt the new offering from Slate will more than compensate for this. It's just not like Slate to deliver less; it (and Steven!) is after all a "more, more, more!" company.


    FWIW, with the addition of the Reverb and now Delay suite to the Everything Bundle this has evolved to a point that made be sell my UAD-2 satellite last week and finally get away from the (IMO) dreadful UAD business model.
    Steven Slate does it right.

    Indeed!


    Slate plugins are really good.
    Previously I was under the impression that they are all about user interface aesthetics... but it turns out that they are some of the best plugins I have ever used. I really dig their low latency as well, so I'm able to jam alog with several of their plugins activated. Cool stuff.

    Too right, Daniel.


    A question for you: can you have the plugins on an external hard drive if using pro logic x? I have a small ssd in my mac and don't want to fill it up.

    I've always thought that only sample libraries can be run from external drives or indeed any volumes other than the startup disk. AFAIK, all plugins (excluding their sound libraries) must be present on the boot drive or they simply won't be seen by DAW hosts.