I buy what I can afford to buy. Using cracked plugins has never changed my buying habits. I've always purchased stuff that I liked and could afford. That's why I don't feel at all guilty about using cracked stuff. Because I know that in my case, they're not losing a customer with my download. Usually, its just easier to buy software and have easy access to updates and access to developer support, so to me, if you like a software, it just makes sense to buy it. I say usually because ReFX and Tone2 exist...

Also, I know for a fact that some software is so expensive that I would never have purchased it without having an extensive amount of playtime with it first. So the cracked stuff will actually gain Spectrasonics, for instance, a customer....as soon as I can afford it.

 

I spent $1100 in the last 3 months. And it would have been almost twice that if there wasn't christmas deals.
Last Christmas (2014) it was around $800. I always ask for cash for Bday's and Christmas.
Almost have everything I want legit.

 

I own several softsynths, Live studio + Push 2, Studio One (didn't opt for v3 upgrade). No large amount of things as its just this dad's hobby.

 

You're asking for honesty? Well, in recent years, since I've put a little more "maturity" on my butt, I only buy what I actually need and use. I've learned (over these years) that simply 'collecting' stuff because there is a "patch" available, does not justify hoarding shit that does not serve my purposes. It has taken me a while to reach this point in my life, but that's where I am at this juncture; and, that's the "honest" truth. Plus, I've freed up a ton of hard drive space. <lol>

 

Cubase 5, Sibelius 7.5, Finale 2011, Logic Pro X, Reaper 5, Microsoft Win 7 Ultimate, HFS+, Sandvox, SSD4, some plugins .. mostly edu price hehehe ..

Books : Ted Ross, Elaine Gould, Gardner Read, Steven Powell, Kurt Stone, mostly for music engraving

 

i basically buy Daws! protools to be exact. but recently ive purchased a couple of wave plugins .

 

I agree. I Purchased Cubase after a nice long ,long trial. If I did not get the long, long trial I would have never spent the money on it.
So to be honest the dongle thing is really killing them I would have purchased it sooner had I got to play with it more than 30 days and really try it out. Cubase is not a 30 day program to even get a good feel for. I am almost ready to purchase reaper although it is not cracked demo mode 5 sec delay no need to really crack it. If I get some real cash from my music I would really purchase a lot more.

 

I prefer buying hardware. No monthly subscription plans, and great resale value compared to software. Cracks for hobbyists using it in a non commercial way and legit for professionals who charge for their work, imo.

 

Very few stuff, actually. Music production is just a hobby for me. I'd definetely buy legit stuff If I made money out of it, though. I'll probably buy Scuffham's S-Gear when I can afford it because it's just awesome.

But... I wouldn't mind having it thanks to Pixie, y'know...

 

I recently bought my license after trying this software for years.. what with the very reasonable price.. the great functionality

I thought it was about time... feels good man

 

As of right now music is just a hobby and i'm not a pro. However, i must admit that I have invested quite a bit of my money (all I could afford to anyway) into a few hardware pieces as I'm trying to build MY idea of a dream studio. I have an average job so my funds are limited. I will admit I am a plugin collector and have a lot cracked plugs installed. However, i noticed I only really use a few go-to''s. The others are just cool at times to fool with or see different sonic characters, but mostly go unused.

Soon and i mean as soon as I can build up my setup more to a satisfactory level, I will turn to investing in all those companies whose plugins I find myself continuously using. Fabfilter and spectrasonics come to mind. I have bought a few things from NI. I've been thinking hard about buying my DAW (Studio One 3) and have a strong feeling/desire to buy it in the few coming months. Little by little, I'll buy the stuff I use. Not sure if I'll keep or delete the rest yet (as I don't use them, but do at times enjoy to play with). Lately, however, I do find myself wanting to download less and less. Guess I'm maturing a bit.

 

Last edited: Jan 22, 2016

The only music software I ever paid for was Studio One after a long trial thanks to you know who, even paid for v3.0 upgrade. It wasn't out of some moral epiphany or anything, I just decided that's my DAW and like the ease of the upgrades and the full support. For me making music is only my hobby. It will never be anything else, I'll never earn money from it, and no developer ever got hurt from me using cracks because I was never a potential customer in the first place. In fact it turned out to be quite the opposite for Presonus, if not for k'd software I would never have been interested in buying Studio One.

The truth is, out of all the free stuff I've downloaded and tried (ok..hoarded) over the years, very little ever got used for anything!! As strictly a hobbyist, I don't feel bad at all for using cracked shit and don't think anyone else who only dabbles in music production as a hobby should either...that's just my opinion!

 

Last edited: Jan 22, 2016

Music is just a hobby.

If the software wasn't cracked, I would just do without.

 

Hobby or not, it feels fucking nice to support he guys and girls who develop the things we love!

First years of learning production I used *only* cracks (I had no money to spend, living at my parents house). I have no moral issues with that. I would never ever have learned Cubase if it wasn't available as a crack. So in the end, the cracks of Cubase made me buy it several years later.

I got better in production, after ~5 years of hard work, I got contacted by some labels. Started releasing a few tracks. I then started to mature and realize that all people needs money to survive. If you are a real hobbyist and spend hours and hours, you should also pay for what you use if you have an income from a day job or whatever. It is not an argument by itself not to pay for anything just because it's a hobby. If that was the case, who would buy ANY books, movies,

It is still my hobby, I've earned about 20-30 euros selling my music (hah). Playing live is the only thing that pays today. Still my hobby though. I have to work dayjob to support my family.

I've spent about 30000-40000 euros on hardware and software during the last ~15 years. That is not much if you divide it by the number of years spent as a hobbyist. I will never earn that from selling music or playing live (I dont like partying/travelling too much anymore).

Using warez made me collect too much stuff (everything released!), although I have tried pretty much every audiowarez/plugins released from 1998 and forward... So I know which ones are bad and which ones are good.

 

I would never ever buy any Tone2 products because installation of legit software can't run besides warez versions. Not even the demos!
Also, I have bought NO iLok hardware products, only iLok software. Syncrosoft dongle works much better than iLok dongles.

 

I can totaly relate to your post.
If you're hobyist you might think from the perspective that you maybe don't need the pro ultimate version of the daw you're using. And most daws are pretty affordable on an entry level.

 

I can afford to buy from time to time. I like to support reasonable companies with fixed low prices (klanghelm or Valhalla for example). Big brands with crazy priced pligins that people mostly buy only when they are on 70% sales (such as waves or izotope) put me off. Also I only use what I buy and don't use any cracked software anymore as it helps workflow only having a limited selection of plugins to choose from.

(Always support the little companies!)

 

Oh if you want to make a list of discontinued plugins it will be very loooong..
I have a USB disc with old plugins from late 90:s to early 2000 with lots of plugins that dont exist anymore Cycling47 Pluggo Eiosis i.e
And some dev:s leaved win (cause it was so easy to crack) Prosoniq Triton to name just two and those plugins was very rarely updated for mac so why stop develop for Win?
Prosoniq Morph is now Zynaptiq Morph

Its nothing new that companys ends stop develop their plugins like Camle-Audio and other comapnys bought their "code".
Remember Tascam Gigastudio?
I read that it was sold to some big dev but they never re-released.

So every time i see something like LIFETIME support i always laugh as i know it is not true.

 

I always reinvest 15% of my revenues in software, 15% in hardware.

 

Good post, I'm much the same as this. I buy what I can afford and the things I use most. I own my DAW, plus various stuff from fairly-priced companies like Valhalla, Atom Hub, Klanghelm, Sound Dust etc. I'm never going splash out on a Waves bundle or anything like that, I couldn't justify the expense for the amount I'd use it.