The thing is, there are no empty promises. They released a bunch of stuff. They will continue to release stuff. The only ego here is from the entitled people who seem to think they are owed something.

 

It’s about false expectations that many members seem to have. R2R never said the Gong would be UAD or Pro Tools — they just said Monster. They never claimed it would be Diablo himself, or the Lord of all Lords… it was simply a Monster with many of its little Pokemons.

And honestly, I’m genuinely grateful for all those smaller, niche apps waiting there for me in case I ever need them. R2R is doing a lot. I’m not saying that I’m doing much — I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate the work of the witches. Thank you.

 

R2R promised to crack a monster game and release it to users for Halloween.
What did you expect? It's obvious that some users of this forum would express wishes, hopes, and wait for a surprise.
Now we know exactly what the users wanted: UAD, Pro Tools, Parawave - Rapid, and much more.

 

Some users have gotten a bit delusional as if a handful of people actually tied R2R’s hands and are torturing him by leaving comments.

Except for one user (who I think got limited), the rest are mostly posting neutral remarks. Still, a few folks see those neutral comments and go full conspiracy mode: they picture us cornering R2R, ten people beating him up, or even better chaining him to a desk and squeezing work out of him like he’s a productivity piñata. It’s wild how some imaginations go from “meh” to “medieval jail scene” in two seconds.

Based on my personal understanding of R2R, the "monster" he promised to release during Halloween wasn’t really what was expected. The reality is, R2R’s level of expertise is far too high to simply present a piano or a few plugins as a "monster." In fact, users are actually raising the value of R2R’s work. His level of skill and creativity is on a whole different level.

But then again, some users, after reading these comments, suddenly feel like their body temperature is rising. They start thinking we’re insulting R2R or something. It's almost like they believe the "tension" in the room is real when in fact, it’s just a few words in the comment section

I still maintain that what was released wasn’t a "monster." This statement is not meant to be disrespectful in any way. I’ve always been grateful for what they’ve shared. In reality, I’m just working to maintain the high level of R2R’s standards and reputation.

And in the end, the name says it all Official 2025 Gong Thread. One person says maybe it’s UAD, another suggests Pro Tools, someone else wonders if it could be VSL,Someone like me comes in and says, "How long will orchestral , UAD is good and so on. Everyone’s sharing their thoughts, but in the end, everything is still just a Gong.

 

Last edited: Nov 9, 2025

I think we have gotten so many things already and we will get even more before New Year. The season starts with Halloween and ends with New Year.

As a Mac user, R2R is not really for us, though we still got a lot of things which I appreciate. If I think about it honestly, I'd like to have UAD but I don't really need it. Most important this year, we have gotten Omnisphere 3. I wish we would have Pianoteq as well on Mac though already there are so many Piano libraries that are good enough it is not a must.

What are we really missing? For everything that is not cracked there is an alternative, for everything else there is black friday. You save a bit more you spend a bit more.

 

R2R's golden period is between Halloween and Black Friday. So many users know that if one of their long-dreamed-of software isn't released, they'll have to wait at least another year (Christmas/NYE has been irrelevant for years). That's why they had/have so many expectations. And I think we might see something interesting. UA/PT is probably too good to be true, but maybe Relab? SSL? Who knows. R2R hasn't released any new Metafortress iLok since 2020-2021, so this could be the year

 

Yes, it's true. In fact, the first new big metafortress gem from R2R in years was Ivory last week. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to get another metafortress gem from R2R? That would be nice, priceless. Maybe this is "the year". Maybe.

 

Y'all complaining and disappointed about this Halloween not all of you i'm just kidding, but i personally am happy downloading only three plugins: Omnisphere 3 and Soundtheory updates by Witches and Pianoteq 9 despite everything being said about the gong this Halloween was big.

 

I'm just gonna stumble in here and state some numbers about just three releases of R2R's in the last few months, as well as all the rest this year and also going back further before maybe some members here were even born.So approximately speaking...all in bucks...in which each and every person can choose to support the developers or these tools until your computer blows up or the electricity runs out.

Omnisphere: 365
Modart:Pianoteq: Full probably over 1000...(edit) not R2R but vkDanilov!!!
Boris Sequoia: (Perpetual) 1500 (Monthly for a year) 43 (Monthly) 84

Say thank you, Uncle R2R

 

Last edited: Nov 11, 2025

I actually bought a lot of stuff after trials or R2R releases or during sales, in fact i bought Soothe2 and Spiff (99$ + 79$) during a black Friday back in 2021 i believe but i still use R2R's cause they run smoother even though i have the licenses, i intend to support devs that i like whenever it is possible, last year i bought two Soundtoys plugins (49$ + 29$) that i rarely use today but as you said we must give back if we want to see improvements.

 

Ok, but they did not really promise anything specific at all. Most people seem to expect another holidays "Big Wave", but there was a real reason for them to do that release how they did. They were basically announcing that iLok was done in quite big fashion.

And ever since, every holiday now, people just start expecting another "big wave" but you will probably not see something of that magnitude for a long time. Instead, people build up this subject in their heads; and it seems like each year R2R mostly just keep doing what they normally do.
Which is whatever they want.

 

I've too bought plugins in which (witch) I use R2R versions because the install rigmarole needs me to be online to register and/or install. Other developers like TDR make it easy with great price/quality ratio.

 

Wow, 68 pages of people who don't know sh*t about what is coming out, and the arguments and back and forths therein....myself now included.

 

This is vkDanilov's release. Give him some respect

 

You're right, I'm wrong, me bad!

RESPECT TO vkDanilov!!!

 

yeah you right, i mentioned him early when this discussion begun and then people were somehow waiting for R2R to release Pianoteq 9 yeah but i should've mentioned him now, what a great release btw

 

Is vkDanilov a new guy on the scene? I don't think I've ever seen his releases before.

 

No.

 

You either use Bob dule's Kontakt or vkDanilov's. vkDanilov is very good cracker.