I'm a "try before you buy" kind of person as well; and depending on the demo limitations I'll either use the official demo or a pirated copy.

For instance, it's irritating when a company advertizes the quality of thei plugin, but their demo is less or a demo and more a way of shoehorning you into buying their plugin as soon as possible (e.g. by playing white noise too often at ear piercing volumes that can also damage your monitors). I'll use a pirated copy to demo it then, and I've ended up buying some of the plugins (but usually that's not what ends up happening).

Also, I dislike any form of copy protection, especially when it interferes with the performance of a product.

 

Pirated software has always been there and will always be available. Let's go deeper into the topic:

• Are you an audio pro? Do you use warez for commercial productions?

Your answer is to understand how interested you are in customer support and updates (lack of), it is also important to understand if you are aware of the legal problems you may have in your company using warez

• If you didn't have the warez available would you be willing to buy the original software?

In order to understand if you are an audio tools collector or if you really use what you download for free

• Would you have legally downloaded even just the demo version of the apps & plugins you use if they had never been published on AZ?

The importance of warez as product advertising, I read an interview with the CEO of Ableton Live about how piracy helped his daw succeed. In addition, it is estimated that 57% of counterfeit Windows copies are inside PCs around the world

• Do you believe that cracking teams become millionaires?

The answer to this question makes it clearer how much you know about piracy

• Do you use cracked apps as a challenge to capitalism? Did you know that for every paid app there is a free alternative?

Imagine that there are free apps, free plugins and even free operating systems

• Would you be okay if your audio production was shared on illegal audio download sites? Rutracker, Newalbumreleases, etc.

Just to test your concept of "everything must be free for everyone"



Answer to these questions can make you see more clearly what piracy is and why you use pirated software

 

No, but if my music gets published, I wouldn't feel guilty about using warez in it.
But as of now I've earned precisely 0 euros (or dollars, or clams, or bones) with my music.

Really depends on the software. I've paid for some software I couldn't pirate, and wasn't too expensive.
But there's no way I'm spending ~$2500 for MCompleteBundle, even if Vojtech himself promises a creamy handjob.

Sure, last time I did that was with Neural DSP, and when the 15 days were over I was left with a massive boner.
A year later R2R finally relieved me of that painful experience.

No, but I do believe they deserve 10 times the money that slimy cocksucker Elon Musk hoards away.

As much as stealing beer from the supermarket challenges the status quo.

That would make me happy. It would show that someone actually cared about my shit.
Unfortunately, I can't make people listen to my shit, even if I pay them.

 

I own licenses of Kush Audio plugins, but I use R2R & RET version because they load faster

 

if i was some millionaire i'd buy U-He ,Vegeance ,Nomad abd RPE and whatnon plugins x10 juzz to suppoort their struggle , life is a bitch and one day you die, young or old dun matter ,programming aint no easy job nor easy to learn , im almost certain cpu motherboards are alien tech but then gain dont give a fack, if i got mooney i purhcase what i use if i not i keep usin it cracked , nuff said

 

Legit customers/users - some of them have paid a fortune - are always wronged!

 

Do you need all of these plugins, really? even if you'll become millionaire.

I have some commercial plugins (legally), but for "specifics" I dont hesitate to look in free world, they're excellent plugs for free (or very fair prices - lastest was OpZilla FM Synth, pay-as-you-want model, min. $10 - I gave $20 instead). I avoid VST3 only (in particular for virtual instruments), and iLok/e-Licenser/CodeMeter sh1ts (I buy some, but using R2R variants, don't want to pollute my operating system with these craps).

 

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got my eyes on a Vengeance Producer Suite Multiband Sidechain3 https://vengeance-sound.com/plugins.php?sub=Vengeance Producer Suite Multiband Sidechain3 its gonna be a great addition to my rythm , juzz found some handpan samplez too, a hundred $ is juzz too much for the poor producer ? seen ? ill wait for some blackfriday or tuesday

 

Vengeance Sound for me is finished, dead and burried, as bad experience (CodeMeter crap, a pleonasm) against legally bought VPS Avenger... I've explained why in this topic (middle of page 1).

 

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My two cents: I can't afford them most of the time. If I could I'd happily buy them since there's real people wasting time of their life into making these plugins. But I can't, my currency is shit and I wish plugin companies would start developing a regional pricing of sorts (much like steam). When I have the money and need anything I buy it. Most of the times I don't so I download cracked, no regrets.

 

We all make choices in this life.

For me and only as my own choice, it is to try them out and I own a fair bit of legitimate software.
A recent example - I own Arturia Lab. I have replaced a legit version with R2R's. Why would I do that?
The legit version takes up to 3 minutes to load. R2R's in under 20 seconds. When you are working and writing or on a deadline, you do not want to sit around twiddling your thumbs waiting for everything to load. There are a few other things I have done the same for the exact same Reason.

As for using something all the time and it is only my choice, this being that if I use it all of the time I buy it. Some things like a DAW I believe you should buy it if nothing else, for the support, but that again, is my choice only. If I do not use it all of the time, if I remember which does not always happen when I am busy, I uninstall it.
We each have to do what works with our own consciences, or lack thereof.
That said - In these times, anyone saying they cannot afford it with the Global retrenchment and job losses, I find completely understandable.

 

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I use cracked plugins 'cos it saves me a hell of a lotta time trying to figger out how to crack 'm meself


{EDIT}: Not meaning to imply I've got the faintest hunch how those wonderful krax are even done (because I haven't). Just happy to go on Sis Site for a daily shark-around.

 

Last edited: Sep 12, 2021

Sister site is a good source for information. You can see what kind of stuff people are interested in, and what kind of stuff is a trash. As example: every second comment under "Reason" is something like: "I will not use it but thanks for share." - That's a priceless information. A product that wasn't available for such a long time is finally here... and no one cares. People are happy with defeated protection, not the product itself. Maybe there is something wrong with me, but this is so funny.

 

There are expensive hobbies and the free ones. I've had both, but in the end, when you retire, you have only the latter option.

 

I disagree with some of that, and I say that as a person who has enough money to buy plugins and gear and does.

but a lot of things like DAW’s are expensive and don’t really change price from country to country. It’s ok saying these things are affordable if you manage budget, but that’s largely dependant on your location. Sure, if you work a 9-5 job with average pay in the USA or somewhere, then I’ve no doubt you could manage to prioritise and budget for a DAW or some plugins if you really wanted to.

But in some places, the price could be a full months earnings or more because the prices are pretty set in stone. So, it’s not that simple.

 

I use cracked plugins... well, because:

 

I agree with some of your answers. others, on the other hand, hide hypocrisy
This list of questions is the same as I ask myself, my answers change over time

 

same. i should have said this in my reply as well. I own Kush, PA, Softube, Slate and several other plugins & use the krack versions since my system handles them better

 

Which ones hide hypocrisy, and what kind of hypocrisy, if you don't mind me asking?

 

If you publish music, you definitely do it for financial feedback (earning money). When your music is made with pirated software, you don't want to give a percentage of what you earn to whoever has provided you with the tools to do it. You are doing business, we are no longer talking about "romantic rhetoric of piracy", this becomes a theft.
Also, the high pricetag of a plugin does not automatically give you the right to use it cracked, you cannot be the one to determine how much a developer can earn on it and stay in the right.
You say it would make you happy to find your music on pirated download sites like rutracker: why not upload it directly there, bypassing Spotify, Beatport, etc?
Here is where I feel hypocrisy, where I believe that you adjust reality to your convenience