I want to narrow my choices down of what i use and download from sister site, by being more conscious of only using/downloading what i’d buy later when possible.

what are some issues/things to consider/reasons to stay away from a developer when legitimaly buying plugins? I ask because the only thing i pay attention to right now, is if it is a one time purchase/not a subscription model, and the price itself. i wouldn’t want to rely on a plugin that is just too much out of my price range, or i’d have to commit forever, even when i’ll be able to buy plugins.

So is there something to keep in mind? i think ilok is something many legitimate users dislike, although i never understood why. i think many people dislike waves only for having to deal with them as a company? but i also don’t know what that is about
anything i’m not aware of right now?

 

Hello, if you are unlucky, the company goes bankrupt and there is no more support, so no further developments. Otherwise life is too short and too precious to do without software that is fun for reasons of logic. If you switch to a 4K monitor, remember that not all manufacturers switch their plugins to 4K. Real 4K digital audio workstations (DAW) are PreSonus- Studio One and Moto - Digital Performer, which means it is really sharp, all other DAWs only enlarge it. You should also keep in mind that I don't buy any cloud plugins, so if you don't have an internet connection or reception is blocked for a few days, you cannot use these plugins.

Not to forget to invest money in your equipment, even a mouse and a keyboard and a midi keyboard break down. There will be no shortage of software. Maybe you should save some money for whatever. It is always good to support people who have programmed a software synthesizer for years, for example. If you have downloaded too much, ask yourself how often you have played this or that, just delete these plugins, you can always reinstall. Can you also tell you I have enough software now, I only download plugins that I would buy too, you then save the money ... for whatever ... Nobody can see into the future - something can improve or something can get worse. Economic crisis - company bankruptcies Power failure. Let's hope for the best ... and let's expect the worst ...

 

• min sys req (software and hardware)
• iLok (as you already said)
• online <-> offline activation
• cloud version (as @BEAT16 alreay mentionend)
• some plugins require to be permanetly online or need an online access every week or month
• VST2 <-> VST3
• number of licenses (on how many machines can you use it)
• resalable? (transfer fee)

 

Re: Waves.. I like their plugins. My only beef with them is that they also use a wrapper around their plugins, and need to use Wave Central to install (which turns many people off.. people don't want to have to install anything extra). So you basically have one dll for your 64bit Waves plugins.

The downside to that? Well, someone can tell me if I'm doing something wrong.. but here's my biggest complaint... if say you have a bunch of Waves plugins, and you purchase 1 single plugin, when you add that plugin, your DAW now thinks that all the Waves plugins changed, so it now has to scan through every plugin. It isn't a huge deal because you likely won't do it a lot though, but it is a minor inconvenience that when if you have a bunch of Waves plugins, and buy some more, it will take a couple mins (potentially) for your DAW to load up, as it re-scans all the old Waves plugins it already scanned. This is my experience with Reaper, anyways. I assume all DAWs are like that with Waves though.

BTW, I stress this is a minor inconvenience, IMO. But maybe something that irks other people more.

 

thank you all, exactly what i was wanting to hear!

 

thank you for the input! based on the what you describe, it sounds more like a small inconvenience, rather than a real issue. i still think people in a professional environment would see this differently also

 

This is why most people will use a ripped plugin that they already paid for themselves. These types of things only punish the user who bought it so it leaves no choice for the buyer but to use the warez alongside a legitimately bought product.

It's actually frustrating because paying customers that otherwise wouldn't use warez are suddenly using warez because of iLok and other protections that hinder musicians from just writing some damn music.

 

I wouldn't go that far. I mean, if you really need a plugin with a unique effect and this plugin needs an online connection and your computer isn't online, well, then. But otherwise I wouldn't speak of 'no choice'.
But no doubt, the 'no iLok needed, loads faster and uses less RAM' versions are way more convenient.

 

Well that's what I mean. Using warez to go around such protections. No problem with those that don't have these extra pesky things that shouldn't come with a simple dll. Some people have their working PC offline perpetually.

I buy everything I use even if I don't even expect to make any money from it. I like it so I get it. Simple as that but I hate extra steps for some thing that's never going to prevent anyone from going around it anyways. Feels like extra steps for literally nothing at all.

 

I own almost all of my regularly used plugins and software instruments, but I draw the line at sample libraries. I understand that it costs the developer a significant sum to bring me a Steinway piano. But if I bought that Steinway piano library all of my music would be nothing but Steinway piano. There would be no money for any other instrument. And I'm not really that good at piano playing.

 

Well, you could still go for a triangle VSTi, right?

 

Yeah, thinking on it a bit more, I think a number of people have run into issues with their DAW not detecting the plugins at all (I have yet to have this issue though, with legit Waves, and with sister-site Waves plugins). Perhaps they were even working one day, then stopped working the next. Reasons? I'm not sure.. maybe updates to the plugins, or a corrupted install, or something. There is a repair feature in Waves Central that I think has a good chance on fixing those issues.

On top of that, I'm kinda new to legit Waves plugins, but it seems you are eligible for updates to the plugins for only a year or something, and then you need to purchase an "update plan" or your plugins will not update (but you can still use the un-updated ones). This is a pricey thing. For example, for my gold bundle, it says it would cost me another $72 to renew for a year. This can really add up. So I'd imagine that's another thing that irks people. Personally, I'm OK with the plugins staying a bit out of date.

Anyways, despite these complaints, I actually am pretty happy with the Waves plugins, and have considered getting even more.

 

interesting topic

I would say buy from company's you know and trust
the issue of Bankruptcy is a concern but in most cases it's the Warez Scene that creates this problem
So try to avoid stuff that everybody gets from those places but doesn't sell to well enough to be sustainable

Company's like Native Instruments and iZotope are once that come to mind since they have been around for some time and despite there plugins being on the Warez Scene they still seem to sell pretty well

I would not worry to much about iLok or elicencer they might sometimes have a little hiccup but there is nothing to concerning in my opinion (Also the concept of the licences is very simple to understand)
The only issue I have seen so far is people breaking them but if you are concerned about this I would recommend using an Internal USB hub to connect them to ... and if its an iLok 3 you should be more concerned about your USB port breaking (Because this one is has a very strong housing)

as for Waves ... They are a bit of a scummy company
I actually lost my licences Because the boxes with the keys in them were in a storage that burned down
However I still had a copy of the invoice and the licences on my iLok ... Waves moved away from iLok some time ago and there response to me ... Lets just say there is a reason I downsized on them ...
Than they started asking money as if I had a subscription based product and I did not like that ether
They are in my opinion "A Wolf in sheep's clothing" and I would recommend staying away from them

There is actually one company that I like to point out that actually started the hole Lifetime free update thing and most people are very familiar with there DAW and that would be Image-Line
I don't know what it is that keeps this company going but its just an amazing thing to see a company do this for over 2 decades and still be here
and there licencing is so damn simple because the only limitation it has is that you are the end user of the system its installed on (No wonder it's the most popular in the Warez Scene)

When I was still in the Scene I see people getting pissed off about a company going Bankrupt while they never even bought a plugin from that company and that pisses me off
So I told them to shut up about it ... and lets say that I had some privileges back than that if that person did not shut up I would just ensure that he doesn't bother anybody with it for some time :P

At the end of the day all company's invest money and time into making the products you like to use
and in my opinion it's only a good thing to support there work

 

UVI use ilok and I could not be happier with their products, their support, and update frequency. if it was a physical dongle I would probably not buy them.

 

Here's a timeline of how plugins can adversely affect your life..

- Buy Plugins
- Write a hit song
- Join the Illuminati
- Develop a bad adrenochrome and drug habit
- lose everything to shady record label and lawyers
- have to sell plugins to pay for drug habit.
- end up on skid row