No one mentioned this, but companies like plugin alliance, UAD and waves no longer have any reviews, only ratings. One more step to dehumanize internet.

 

PA always used to only publish the good reviews with 4 or 5 stars anyway. They never published any of the bad ones...

Having said that, reviews are such a clusterfriend of gamification, bots, fake reviews and spam that it's a nightmare to admin and often just looks really bad on your product pages, so it's no surprise more and more companies are removing the feature... Reviews haven't been "human" on the internet for years now (depending on where you go, of course).

 

nobody believes them anyway. It turns out that "I've never used this before, but I can't wait!", and "I heard I need this compressor!" comments don't actually sell anything. Who knew?

 

UAD and Waves have buyer reviews on every product page, but you might need to adjust your cookies permissions to see them. I don't remember them on PA but then I'd ignore all this as marketing bs and like dkny said they moderate the most negative responses.

For any purchase in life it's probably best to seek reviews from third party sources. That's easy to do with plugins, as you can demo most yourself, watch a youtube vid, read a review from somewhere like SOS, or ask on a forum like this one.

I understand the sentiment, but maybe loosen the foil on that hat, it might be restricting blood flow.

 

I wouldn't even attempt to hazard a guess on the success of reviews.
The success of ratings I would not either.
Does anyone know with 100% success that products that have 5 stars haven't been doctored too?

Many people I know trust the opinions of co-workers in their industry. Even then, it is like the the phrase of the proof is in the pudding (testing yourself) that many rely on. There is so much hype on so many things, nobody can blame any person for not believing a lot of what they see, hear or read anymore.

 

I buy stuff typically on the manufacturers site, or Plugin Boutique. With the latter, I'd say they've been doing ratings without actual reviews for quite a while and their ratings are almost always 4.5-5 stars for things. So yah, it's practically useless and I don't rating matters too much when it comes to gauging if a plugin is good or not... I wish it was though.

It's funny cause I'm a gamer, and the one rating/review system I've trusted for forever is Steam. It isn't unaffected by review bombs, but generally I've found that system to be good (mainly because you have to buy the game on Steam to review it, and there's perhaps a little bit of a feeling of perceived reputation or something for reviewers). I wish there was such a reliable system for plugins where pretty much every plugin was well reviewed. I'm not even sure who to trust as far as YouTubers either, as so often nowadays reviews are paid for.

 

damnit don't give AP Mastering anymore ideas!

 

Most have some sort of trial, trust your own experience.

 

In fairness, these are reputable companies, one of which having outlived their biggest competitor.

Also, their plugins and products are well regarded. A bad faith review can cause a lot of damage - ask any Uber/Lyft/Grab/GoJek driver.

Conversely, on Yelp, Taco Bell gets as close to a 5 star rating consistently, whereas Michelin starred restaurants get a measly 2.5 or 3 stars at best (still on Yelp). So who do you trust? Anonymous Michelin Guide reviewers who travel all over the country or world, and have extensive experience, taste and judgment? Or the gym bro who gave Taco Bell a 5 star? So yeah, the same goes for audio.

Newsflash: the internet has long been dehumanized - David Bowie himself foresaw it, and forewarned us, 27 years ago.

 

[QUOTE="Balisani,
Newsflash: the internet has long been dehumanized - David Bowie himself foresaw it, and forewarned us, 27 years ago.[/QUOTE]
David's spot on there

 

On top of that, companies like UAD and Plugin Alliance display their prices without taxes, which are added at checkout, which is illegal in Europe.

 

Who has not tried a over-hyped plugin multiple times before deciding the reputation of some plugin is overblown? Delete the "Demo" and then come back to it, thinking you are just missing what other people mention over and over before trusting your own ears and deleting it for good?
Or gone through old releases and found something great that nobody ever mentions?

Hopefully everyone.

 

From real life.

Some users get a phone call: "This is company XY.
You've left a negative review for product XY. We'll give you €100 in your account if you remove the negative review."

As you can see, manufacturers in the cutthroat competition rely on positive reviews. On Amazon, for example, users can sometimes write genuine reviews of the product, which can be helpful. Of course, some manufacturers hire and pay people to write positive reviews.

Do some research for a day or two before buying; you're better off buying a pig in a poke.
Buy from companies you trust and where you can return or exchange items if necessary.

I recently ordered something; the promised delivery time was 2-3 days, but it ended up taking three weeks. You could track the ship from China all the way to Rotterdam. Bottom line: never again. I'd rather pay a few euros more.

 

I don't understand - maybe it's because I've not bought plugins for a while now (I'm pretty overstocked - 802 plugins - more than I need or use), but I've never once paid tax on plugins. Is this new or recent?

 

You always pay taxes included in the price; the breakdown varies from country to country.
In Germany, taxes are listed separately on invoices or receipts. In Germany, it's 19% tax.

In your example: If no tax is listed, the product is either not subject to tax or is billed differently.

Since 2015, Universal Audio has been required to comply with EU VAT regulations and therefore charges 19% VAT on plugin purchases for German customers (just like almost all other international plugin manufacturers).

Current status (as of January 2026):

Universal Audio officially collects sales tax in the following states (according to their support page):
Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

→ That's currently around 40 states (almost all large and populous).
In the remaining states (e.g., Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Alaska), there is no or almost no sales tax → UAD plugins are indeed tax-free there (or subject to minimal local taxes).

 

Last edited: Jan 13, 2026 at 11:20 AM

I’m sorry, but this is Omnisphere x 1000 for me.