I wanted to pass on some key products that will hopefully make your life better as well:
First and foremost: BACKBLAZE. This is my referral link for off-line backup at just $5/month. Hard drives fail. But even having duplicates at home isn’t enough protection, as a fire, water, or a break-in could separate you from you data. The solution is off-site backup. Backblaze does just this, for every drive you plug into your machine, at one low rate. We use one instance on my professional music machine, and another instance for our family photos. It’s already saved my daughters photos once. Also great as a gift for your parents machine.
ZOJIRUSHI Stainless Steel Mug. Sometimes we get up early, and don’t get to finish up our morning cup until much later in the morning. This mug will keep your coffee drinkably hot well into the afternoon. I didn’t think this was a big deal until my wife got me one. Such a simple purchase, but: it’ll change your life. Get one for you and your S/O.
Valhalla DSP. Sean Costello‘s work is the highest bang-for-buck of any audio product I know. Our PRO product employs three of his plugins (VintageVerb, Delay, and SuperMassive – which is actually free). These two sentences from his Manifesto should give you insight as to what to expect: “I approach algorithms from a psychoacoustics perspective: The most elegant math in the world doesn’t matter to me if it doesn’t sound good. Replicating physical reality is not nearly as important to me as creating the impression of sounds that are bigger and better than the physical world.” I find that level of passion to be inspiring.
Native Instruments makes pianos that have a lot of character and personality to them. My favorites include, The Giant (for it’s bottom end and sustain – I hear it as a warm piano though, not a bright piano as many others do), The Grandeur (this to me is the quintessential perfect piano – ideal for say, EDM), and The Maverick (a hidden gem nd perfect in it’s imperfections).
Noire is a new piano from NI that kind of elevates the piano beyond the normal boundaries of how piano is typically encountered. e.g. I first came across felt pianos from Chad Lawson’s Chopin Variations. If you’re ready to experiment, and push boundaries, then this might be for you.
Ravenscroft 275 is an absolutely incredible piano, in a class of it’s own.
I actually resisted getting Omnisphere for years because, literally everyone was using it, and I wanted to try to chart a different path. Turns out the reason everyone was using it, is because it’s the best virtual synth there is. It also has the best collection of quality presets I’ve ever encountered. Hundreds and even thousands of incredibly well-cared-for sounds are at your disposal with this thing. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Yes. In related news, Eric Persing is the man.
Output is actually one of the main reasons I resisted going with Omnisphere. e.g. when I played “Oceans” I used a reverse piano from Output, vice the one Peter James used from Omnisphere. Output’s stuff, along with Alchemy from before Apple bought them and included them in MainStage, provided plenty of inspiration and capability for me. If you’re looking for the road-less-traveled, yet rife with inspiration, Output might be for you. I absolutely love them.