"Pump" is back in the shop

[MrFigg]

Aha!!! Are they??
I’ve got a LA-2A license but becasue I don’t have an In-log for the Cakewalk legacy website I can’t activate it.

The LA-2A and (I think) 1176 emulations are now in the pro-channel strip in the free Cakewalk by Bandlab version. You can't use them outside of Cakewalk. There are several Cakewalk plugins bundled as VSTs that you can load into other DAWs (including Reason). There's a quite nice Vocal processor, for example.

RE-2A is actually the only compressor I ever use.

[crimsonwarlock]

RE-2A is actually the only compressor I ever use.

I'm a compressor junkie, but I have plenty available in RE format

I wouldn't mind having RE-2A (as I don't), but it's not like there's a big hole in my compressor toolbox

[bernardh]

RE-2A is actually the only compressor I ever use.

I'm a compressor junkie, but I have plenty available in RE format

I wouldn't mind having RE-2A (as I don't), but it's not like there's a big hole in my compressor toolbox

RE-2A is good but the compressor in the Softube CL-1B Tube-Tech Classic Channel is even better for Opto compression on vocals ITB; sounds different to the LA-2A sound but cleaner in many ways with a faster recovery and more control. Shame that this great compressor is also now not available in the shop as an RE but at least the VST is still available.

[bernardh]

Just need RE-2A to come back for free now!

Contact Bandlab and let them know you want to see it back in the shop.

I got a reply:

Hi Bernard,

Thanks for reaching out to us. We're certainly looking into re-releasing our legacy-supported plugins and extensions in the near future. Still, our priority would be legacy products such as Dimension Pro, Z3TA, Rapture Pro, etc. We'll keep your request in mind and will inform our developers.

Cheers,
Ashwin (Cakewalk)

[joeyluck]

Contact Bandlab and let them know you want to see it back in the shop.

I got a reply:

Hi Bernard,

Thanks for reaching out to us. We're certainly looking into re-releasing our legacy-supported plugins and extensions in the near future. Still, our priority would be legacy products such as Dimension Pro, Z3TA, Rapture Pro, etc. We'll keep your request in mind and will inform our developers.

Cheers,
Ashwin (Cakewalk)

The reply I got back in March was that there was "no news yet"...

I hope they understand the benefit of the RE format and that it might just be as simple as republishing the shop page. When they mention priority plugins, it sounds like they are thinking of maintenance updates required to get those plugins up to speed. But RE-2A being a RE is future-proof and should be ready to go. Or maybe they don't want to release it without releasing it side by side with the VST3?

It's funny, because communication with Cakewalk (before Bandlab) felt similar—back when RE-2A never seemed to go on sale along with the CA-2A VST sales. Nobody at Cakewalk thought they had the access to the RE shop or that it was theirs to manage. Eventually they figured it out and placed it on sale a couple times before it was removed.

[crimsonwarlock]

RE-2A is good but the compressor in the Softube CL-1B Tube-Tech Classic Channel is even better for Opto compression on vocals ITB; sounds different to the LA-2A sound but cleaner in many ways with a faster recovery and more control. Shame that this great compressor is also now not available in the shop as an RE but at least the VST is still available.

The SoftTube REs were much too expensive anyways

I'm using serial compression on vocals, using a slow and a fast compressor together to get extremely smooth compression. Different combinations give different results, lots to experiment with My current favorite combo is McDSP Moo Tube, followed by Synapse RE-160.

[bernardh]

The SoftTube REs were much too expensive anyways

They were but that CL-1B emulation of theirs is fantastic on vocals. If I was in a real studio and had the choice of hardware LA-2A or hardware CL-1B for vocals, I'd choose the latter.

[crimsonwarlock]

The SoftTube REs were much too expensive anyways

They were but that CL-1B emulation of theirs is fantastic on vocals. If I was in a real studio and had the choice of hardware LA-2A or hardware CL-1B for vocals, I'd choose the latter.

Still a moot point, as they are both not available anymore.... and that SoftTube stuff was much too expensive anyway

[bernardh]

They were but that CL-1B emulation of theirs is fantastic on vocals. If I was in a real studio and had the choice of hardware LA-2A or hardware CL-1B for vocals, I'd choose the latter.

Still a moot point, as they are both not available anymore.... and that SoftTube stuff was much too expensive anyway

The Waves CLA-2A is a good optical LA-2A emulator and is on sale a lot of the time. It's on at the moment for only $39 https://www.waves.com/plugins/cla-2a-compressor-limiter

[crimsonwarlock]

The Waves CLA-2A is a good optical LA-2A emulator and is on sale a lot of the time. It's on at the moment for only $39 https://www.waves.com/plugins/cla-2a-compressor-limiter

To get back on topic: it is not about what VST you can buy. There are several VST alternatives for Pump, Nikky Romero's Kickstart2 comes to mind, but some people (like me) like to use REs exclusively. Or as much as possible. That is why I bought Pump while Kickstart2 was much cheaper. It is great that it's available again, even if it wasn't free.

[dvdrtldg]

RE-2A is good but the compressor in the Softube CL-1B Tube-Tech Classic Channel is even better for Opto compression on vocals ITB; sounds different to the LA-2A sound but cleaner in many ways with a faster recovery and more control. Shame that this great compressor is also now not available in the shop as an RE but at least the VST is still available.

The SoftTube REs were much too expensive anyways

I'm using serial compression on vocals, using a slow and a fast compressor together to get extremely smooth compression. Different combinations give different results, lots to experiment with My current favorite combo is McDSP Moo Tube, followed by Synapse RE-160.

Moo Tube is very underrated. You can really push that thing and it stays smooth as butter

[crimsonwarlock]

Moo Tube is very underrated. You can really push that thing and it stays smooth as butter

Yep, definitely one of my favorite comps. The McDSP comps, together with RE-160 are at the top of my favorites list (literally, in Reason)

[ab459]

Thanks for Pump, was marked as "already trialled" for me, but not remember what intervened to bought it, looks useful. Did not even knew that it disappeared in shop.

[chimp_spanner]

I wonder if there's any hope of the 'bug' being fixed where the envelope runs continuously when the transport is stopped and the mode is set to note or gate trigger? It's not a huge thing but...it'd be nice haha. I'd pay for it lol

[Ottostrom]

Moo Tube is very underrated. You can really push that thing and it stays smooth as butter

I also wanna throw in some Moo Tube love!
It has become my go-to vocal comp because of how easy it is to setup.
Maybe I'm just not getting it but whenever I use the RE-2A it feels like I have to find a very specific sweet spot for it to work. And I'm also not a fan of the massive volume increase which is the default.

[selig]

Moo Tube is very underrated. You can really push that thing and it stays smooth as butter

I also wanna throw in some Moo Tube love!
It has become my go-to vocal comp because of how easy it is to setup.
Maybe I'm just not getting it but whenever I use the RE-2A it feels like I have to find a very specific sweet spot for it to work. And I'm also not a fan of the massive volume increase which is the default.

I’m feeling almost exactly the opposite, but I’m also a super long time user of LA-2a compressors. I now have UAD LA-2a emulations which I.love, but.got tons of use out of the RE-2a. And even as a long time McDSP users I was totally unimpressed with the Moo for some reason.

I’ve always considered the LA-2a compressor practically fool proof since it has so few controls and almost never sounds bad. It’s a great first compressor, not to learn about compression since it has few controls but rather to use when you’re NOT yet able to hear the small details of compression. So it’s only going to do one thing, but it does it well.

The one opto compressor I did find to be flexible, and the one that originally ‘taught’ me how to hear compression is the CL-1b Tube Tech. I also like the Softube version but over the years have appreciated the simplicity and ease of use of the LA-2a family of compression so have found myself back there - at least for vocals!