MusicMan

Check this post: They mention it having a free tier and the table with the differences. They should really have updated the website to reflect that too. Not sure why it's not.

I removed the whole VST2 folder from the config and it still failed on just VST3 🤣 I periodically clean out my 32 bit folders as lazy developers keep installing stuff to them over time instead of updating their installer, or giving us choice in formats to install. I have now just deleted any other folders in the config and only left the VST3 path for 64. Will see how that goes.

Reaper is a little different in that they do say it's not free and only for evaluation. But of course half the world treats it as free 🤣 I do think that works in their favour though. I reckon a bunch of people eventually buy it as they use it more and become more familiar with it. I was surprised with this one that it presents as a demo. Given they said free, I didn't expect it to have the popup and banner. It doesn't really matter I guess, but I wasn't expecting that.

Yeah it can be a little heavy. But in general, some of IK's plugins are, like tapes. So stacking them together I guess it adds up. Very true re Mac.. that alone is enough to stop me considering using them for my primary DAW.

I thought the free offer was pretty generous. The free versions that some companies offer are so crippled that I don't even spend enough time using them to really consider buying their full product. I'd already installed this, but unfortunately it's having problems completing plugin scans. I haven't checked the log files yet and I do have a lot of plugins (a lot! 🤣), but it doesn't seem to get far. The worst part is it was failing in VST2 plugins that I don't even use. That's why I hate companies forcing you to install other formats. Softube and Arturia are prime examples. The scan was failing on Arturia on the last pass. Not a great intro to this version and needing to troubleshoot right from the get-go.

That's a shame about Mixbox really. I thought it was pretty decent and very convenient and it seemed like a good way for IK to get people into the ecosystem and spark interest in their more expensive suites and bundles. It still works so I can keep using it, but I am always a little hesitant to keep using stuff where I know the developer themselves have made a decision to discontinue it.

Definitely not alone there 🤣 There's zero chance I'll subscribe for any DAW (or any audio plugins and instruments really). There's a lot of great alternatives that are perpetual at least, so they're easy to avoid. Even outside of audio I'm not a fan. I ditched Adobe because of that and won't use them again. I've found alternatives that are perpetual licenses and pretty good anyway, or free in some cases. The only time I personally think they can make sense, is for business use and if they're tax deductible. Otherwise they're just a financial trap and you're at the mercy of them being able to increase the price to whatever once you've got all your eggs in their basket. Your only option is to stop paying, but then you lose access to the software and as a result your projects etc.

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Great call out. I hadn't actually thought of that. Glad to see it did.

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Glad you got it sorted Xoo 🙂

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I wouldn't worry at all at this stage about that aspect 🙂 This was their exact wording: "In addition, we would like to add that your Best Service User Accounts and associated licenses have not been impacted by this technical incident. Thanks again for your patience." They have said email should be up and running soon and that will be posted on their website when it is, so maybe just keep an eye out.

That's really interesting (but not ideal...). I wonder how common that is. Possibly it could be due to how they obtain the keys for each product, or whether they're holding them. I don't know. They have said there's no need to worry about that side from my understanding, so you should just need to wait a bit longer for them to get back online, but not great if you want to redeem them now.

You will normally have any redemption keys in your emailed invoice from Best Service when you made your purchase, so you should be fine.

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Worth noting on this one it's a 6GB install. Not really a fan of the developer either, but it is cheap.

Agreed. I've ended up buying a bunch of products from companies that I only found out about during a glitch that I otherwise wouldn't have bought from. But they're only ones that took it in their stride and never threatened to pull 3rd party products for their oversight. The best approach would have been to simply treat it as advertising, or a loss leader. They had amazing exposure, probably much more than they could've gotten from any paid advertising in that time window, but they managed to tarnish it by being so hostile and aggressive. It doesn't inspire me to want to buy more products from them which is a shame as I had been curious, as some of the things I'd heard sounded quite nice. For contrast, on the exact same day, Heavyocity had a glitch for Vocalise 3 for free. No threatening emails. No disabling codes. I spent time going through their catalogue afterwards as a result and seeing what they had and might even buy something during their sale. If I hadn't just bought EastWest, then I already would have! Great exposure for them and it makes me want to do more business with them.

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