Lol, me too hahahaha
Nothing against waves, but it doesn't look that much like UAD honestly

 

They can absolutely end up putting out better results if the underlying framework like JUCE has been improved along the way; even with just a "simple compressor". They can also sound identical because they contain nearly all the same dsp code with a nice shiny new GUI stuck on top. The important question is really, will they sound worse? Some people may tell you they can, and name a few specific examples. But that shouldn't be expected. Unless some very talented genius-type programmer leaves a company, it really shouldn't happen.

One old 2015-2016 era plugin a lot of people kept around nearly as long on Mac as the 32bit McDSP everything bundle, was the 32bit version of Inflator. If you demo the 64 bit compared with the 32 bit version, you wouldn't voluntarily go back to the 2015 version. Someone stuck with the 2015 version would probably tell you how there was no change. ;)

It would certainly be nice to see Altiverb 8 show up. Old, monster, expensive, not done in ten years from the same timeframe as McDSP releases.

 

Thank you for share, but which ones specifically replace UAD? that have similar sound and response, etc? I ask because there are many options that I agree are alternatives, but few are better in this list.

 

Altiverb 8 would definitely be cool too, although it's not the "huge legendary monster which never showed up before".

 

haha. Saying every grammy winner used Protools or McDSP is definitely a stretch. But i do somewhat agree that most UAD plugins have alternatives, well, sure, all of them have some form of alternative, but i agree that some alternatives are better.

I always figured that there must be some patching involved on top of the keygen. Like the keygen won't work if something isn't blocked within the plugin.

ehhhh.. Sure, to some degree. I started my audio journey 20 something years ago by just messaging a studio on myspace. I had no experience other than recording my friends bands with a portastudio and ADAT. They had me start the next day, and within a week i was comping drums together for them. Ended up spending 5+ years with them where i learned the foundation of what i know now. Of course, things were different back then, there were not as many people trying to get in to the industry. Even in LA where i was / am. It was nothing like it is today.

But even more recently, ive seen plenty of examples. I worked as an assistant at a scoring stage for a few years, and part of my role there was managing interns. The owner didn't really care what they knew or what experience etc, as long as they could put in long hours and learn.

Another time i was in a lockout at Ocean Way for a few months, and spending so much time there got to know most of the people around, including the interns. The ones i spoke with for the most part had similar stories. Little experience, if any.

An even more recent example just a month or two ago.... A friend of mine is a massive producer / songwriter, she put out an open casting on social media for interns. Requirements : open schedule and willing to work late, a car and license, polite and a desire to learn, experience was a plus but not required.

In my experience managing interns, i would rather have someone who is NICE, or chill to be around with zero experience than a prick know-it-all who took a year long program in college and thinks they know better than you. The newb can be shaped, and usually has more drive and hunger. Mr Has Experience thinks he is Dr Luke because his college had a digidesign "console".

 

i hope it is photoshop 3 for MacOS 6 from 1988 and you wasted all those 24 pages for nothing.

 

My point was not about learning Pro Tools, but working with it. On the quite rare occasion you need to use Pro Tools for industry work without a facility providing a license for you, and not even letting you borrow an iLok, you will often need a legit license because of Avid Cloud shenanigans.

And about learning Pro Tools, well there is a free version, and of course, past releases on the sister site. An updated crack is not the thing preventing you access to the industry.

But don't get me wrong. I'd love to see an updated release, not because it will be useful, but because fuck iLok.

 

i've never needed to supply any software at anywhere I have ever worked. I've also never seen a cracked version of anything being used anywhere either. So i am not really sure how the comment about it "A crack won't get you very far in professional facilities." would even apply.
The furthest it may get you is fired for installing software of any kind.

Nor do I see the purpose of mentioning why cracked Protools would be useful in such a professional, commercial environment; when the Team doing the cracking do not support using their work for Businesswarez.

Really, I'm kind of at a loss seeing anything valid in the statement you had to include about such scenarios.

 

I just tried a McDSP trial, and it wants me to go through an ilok login screen for each individual plugin at DAW startup. It would take an hour to get through them all. Trash protection.

 

Reason is underrated honestly. Although I don't use the DAW itself anymore, I find that the rack plugin is still very worthwhile for creating effects and other processing chains.

 

The patching is usually the easier part. This is why you see others share things which state witches' keygen is required and not included, because they do not want people repacking their work with anything else. Rightfully so. There was a period of time where that was happening frequently. But it is not what I was referring to. You will see Teams who release for both platforms do it, and it is not any specific one. Someone will share example: 5 plugins all from the same dev and 3 will be Win+MacOS, and 2 will be only Windows. It can seem totally random, nothing more than that. Some, such as Performer; need 0 additional anything. There are a good number of other examples which for obvious reasons are better to just not share for no reason. The actual releaser could do that if they wanted.

To your other point, when you have been doing this all for a very long time; you do not need to see someone's resume to know when they are blowing some smoke. When someone wants to "prove their point" with their resume, and the thing they are trying to bs anyone about actually defies physics; there is really no need for further information. For someone scheduling interviews with people they have never met, all they have is the information in an email. Many of them are never even read before being circular filed now, they are just scanned by an AI.
For someone just getting started, and learning Protools such as we were discussing; not being on even footing with all the other intern hopefuls trying to get a foot in the door; no-one has so much time free they get even a second look on paper. And as usual, the only people who ever seem to care about it, are those who are filtered out by some interview gatekeeper. Prootols is overrated =don't know it. UA overrated = never used them. Someone may not tell you, but it does not go unnoticed.

Comments like that "Protools for free from Witches isn't good enough for me", really just means you should really just be happy about whatever you get, or even for people who they are good enough for. The entitlement these days is unreal. "Not good enough for commercial use" absolutely takes the cake.

 

Yah its pretty ridiculous lol. agree 100%

 

I wish it could be Pro Tools. According to the description of the witches, the thing that is coming could only be UAD or those huge libraries like Spitfire or VSL which personally I'm not interested in. PT is from 2016 (huge release by AudioUtopia) and I think it deserves now to be properly cracked.

 

That was my whole point. That a Pro Tools crack isn't the most useful thing as independent artists and engineers are better off with other DAWs, and that a crack will be of no use in professional facilities.

 

Guys, a crack is forbidden in every professional facility

 

It isn't if you just don't tell people about it lol but realistically those professional facilities already have all the AVID HD boxes, protools hardware mixer controllers etc... so being able to afford a PT license is nothing for them and it would make no sense to have cracked PT but also have all the other PT gear apart from that. I think the main thing is once you start having bought all your stuff, it doesn't make sense to start cracking things. You already have bought everything you use from the start to why change now? I that's how I think most semi pro people think about it anyway. But those people who don't have endorsements and sponsorships from plugin companies and other audio gear companies can easily crack things if they want, it just comes down to whether or not they feel its "ethical" or not. Some people seem to get VERY upset if you tell them you crack plugins, which never made sense to me seeing as they usually aren't seasoned pros themselves

 

Last edited: Oct 29, 2025

Massenburg plugins would be very nice!

 

Remind me how anyone would know the difference.

 

That's true, but it's not an obstacle for everyone. There have been many questions here in the forum like, "I'm taking a course, what happens if the instructor discovers my illegal plugins?" Many instructors know this and turn a blind eye. As "Team Air" once put it: "Because we're not millionaires."

In my opinion, it has a lot to do with people's income. In poorer segments of the population, cracks are probably used despite the bans in order to participate in technological progress at all.

Pack the cracks with WinRAR and a password, and rename the folder beforehand.