Absolute 4

Itā€™s got the bundled sound packs but yeah - mostly its GA5.

A cut down version of Iconica would have been nice. Or maybe the Ensemble version.

A cinematique instrument maybe.

yeah, that was a little lame ā€¦

Not so sure this should have been called Absolute 4, more Absolute 3.5,

Nothing there for me, I donā€™t use Groove Agentā€¦

Just checked the Steinberg download assistant so I could compare the two versions of Absolute.

Result is:
Updates are mainly for the GA5 - 299mb + 31.14gb content (A3 has 7.46gb total)
Halion sonic 3 (I believe this was in Cubase anyway?) 801mb
Prime Cuts - 142mb
Granular Guitars - 2.33gb
Rock Essentials (GA5) 77.77mb

All other plugins/content are identical and the same download size, so no changes at all. No updates for any other plugins.

imho this should really be marketed as a GA5 update NOT an Absolute update. If you look at the cost of Groove Agent 4 I donā€™t believe the Ā£85 upgrade cost for A4 is justified for existing Absolute users. Would have been better to upgrade the GA for a more reasonable cost.

If you want an accurate precise comparison, open download assistant and switch between A3 and A4

just my thoughts

Kinda of why should I?
Donā€™t much value in it to be honest.

Might wait for Absolute 5! :smiley:

Halion 7 by then hopefully.

I will wait and see if they do a sale some time in the future I was hoping there would be some new things besides ga5 but instead it feels like they were rushed to put it out

So, it looks like 4 is out and available now. I bought 3 a month ago anticipating the free upgrade to 4. I logged in to the shop to download 4 and I am being asked to pay a $99 upgrade fee. What gives?

I just spent way too long trying to work out what the difference between 3 and 4 is ā€¦ and itā€™s basically just Groove Agent 5.

Quite disappointing but hopefully a big update is coming next time and having the V4 upgrade will be worth it then.

And thatā€™s ALL it isā€¦ And guess what? Steinberg will probably come out with a new version of HALion within the next year or so and weā€™ll have to pay for that upgrade as well! Iā€™m tired of them nickel & diming us to death.

Over the years I bought most of the absolute plugins and expansion sets individually.
(Groove Agent 5, HALion 6, HALion Sonic 3, Padshop Pro 2, Retrologue 2, Prime Cuts, Neuro Mindset, Future Past Perfect, Colliding World, Metronomic Cinema, Granular Symphonies).

So I donā€™t have the following plugins and expansions packs.
The Grand 3, Rock essentials, Dark Planet, Hypnotic Dance, Triebwerk, Granular Guitars.

However, to upgrade from my collection to Absolute 4, I will have to pay a full blast of Ā£300. :open_mouth: So, Steinberg is considering just ONE of my plugins as an option to upgrade. Absolutely unfair to customers who already have more the one plugins and/or expansions packs.

Sort it out, Steinberg.

Hi,

Open eLicenser Control Centre - Actions (tab) - and hit - Maintenance .

you should have the Absolute 3 turning into ABS 4.

thats what I did.

cheers

Sadly - its true - yes - the poorest of upgrades of ABSOLUTE Collectionā€¦
Many will have by now the expansions that have been added to the collectionā€¦anywayā€¦

Padshop Pro 2 ā€¦??? really??? whats new???----nothing I can seeā€¦

Only GA5 has really been upgraded.

I really think Halion 6.5 or 7 ā€¦if it comes this year should be a free upgradeā€¦OR ā€¦to be honest ā€¦anything added to the ABS4 should be free this yearā€¦
I actually dont think many will be upgrading to 4 ā€¦anywayā€¦
If the sales will be poor ā€¦free upgrades will be rollingā€¦so to get more salesā€¦

I was hoping for some sort of drumā€¦stringā€¦modeling module to join Halion instrumentsā€¦
ā€¦ohh wellā€¦will have more time to spend with NI Reaktor 6 and have fun thereā€¦Komplete 12 ULT is Amazingā€¦

I agree with your view and comments, very poor cost model for users.

On the flip, I kind of like how UAD $offsets the plugins you already own, against bundles purchased that already contain your plugins.

Steinberg really messed up with this. The LEAST they could do is give all of us who have owned and upgraded throughout the years to the newest versions, the next updates to HALion for free. This is just really a mind boggling experience.
Why would they think that just throwing in a few expansions that have been out for at least a couple years or longer and adding only GA5 to the Absolute collection justifies even the $100 price upgrade if you own Absolute 3??
It seems like they donā€™t care about the long time customers who have consistently upgraded every year when they put out something new. The first time I didnā€™t upgrade to the newest version of Cubase was ver. 10 and it looks like I might have to continue that if they just keep giving incremental updates to everything - VSTā€™s included.

hi PinkSodaMusic,
where was the ā€œPadshop Pro 2ā€ reference ? I did not know there was a 2.x release ? Do you have a link for that?
thanks
/Stef

Just putting a matrix together re new products introduced, and release dates for the Absolute line.

Thanks for that matrix sheet StefK.

I am an absolute3 owner and the 99 to upgrade doesnā€™t seem too bad since you get groove agent 5, rock essentials, and beat butcha are up my alley. Iā€™m an Mpc and battery guy and having a full screen groove agent 5 is good for my bad eyes. If you spend all day chopping records and playing drums in groove agent then this is a good deal. For everyone else it might not be the case.

I also use groove agent 5 in ableton and itā€™s great to write random loops in there too.

Thanks mate that did the trick!

Cheers

It is a decent deal if you want and or need the new items. If you donā€™t really want or need them or if you just want stuff without paying for it, like so many these days, then it isnā€™t a good deal.
Remember, consumers are greedy too. They want stuff for free or often want to pay less than a fair price. Wanting to keep more of your money and get a good or great deal (rather than a fair deal) is just as greedy as the vendor wanting to get paid more for the same item.

Stop calling them greedy or abusive. It is just wrong. It is the price they have set for now. It you think it is too high, then wait for a sale. If too many think it is too high and donā€™t buy, then they will eventually lower the price. That is the way it works.