mibby Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 (edited) (begin rant) I bought Softube's FET last September for a great sale price and really like it, especially since I got such a great "deal". Since then, they've been marketing their NEW Mark II FET compressor (which looks great, BTW) Then today, I just got an email from them titled "Important information regarding your product". The gist of the email is that these "supported legacy products" will no longer be updated after 3 years. WHY would I continue to use a plugin in new projects that is no longer going to be supported?? They do offer a "discount" for the new Mark II version which is still over 2x what I paid for my current version. So heads up! Don't buy these plugins below because they are no longer going to be supported... Quote The supported legacy products are: Bass Amp Room Metal Amp Room Vintage Amp Room FET Compressor Mk I I remember almost picking up Bass Amp Room too which was recently on sale and I'm very glad I didn't. I don't know if I'm just particularly cranky this morning or what, but this seems very disingenuous and a shameless money grab to me. It also makes me appreciate the customer-centric devs like Melda who update your current version of the plugin without charging you again, makes sure they are backwards compatible when new versions come out so you old projects still work (and offer the old installers), AND continually add NEW plugins for FREE to bundles you own. This almost makes me want to start a Dev appreciation thread for those companies who really take care of their customers. To be fair, I've had no beef with Softube before this other than the price of their plugins. I'm going to email support after venting here to see what sort of response I get from them. I'll let you know. (rant over) sigh. Edited June 10, 2023 by mibby 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e-cue Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 I don’t use these too often, but own all of them. I did not expect this from a company like Softube. I’d be flipping tables if they announced this for Atlantis, the Chandler Germanium, or the CL1b. Should we thank them for the head’s up, or.... dust off the Waves Subscription pitchforks? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawajava Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 I have the original Softube FET (including the ProChannel version) and the MK II version. The original has a killer sound, easy to use, and is light on the CPU. The new one I think has an even better sound. Or at least it’s different and I appreciate I have both. The MK II version for me though is a big hit on the CPU. I have to freeze tracks, which is fine, if I’m using it much. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeringAmps Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 3 minutes ago, lawajava said: I have the original Softube FET (including the ProChannel version) Ditto, but pretty much use the PC-1176. When is a “deal” not a “deal”? Shame on Softube for not disclosing that the MKI would sunset in three years. t 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mibby Posted June 10, 2023 Author Share Posted June 10, 2023 21 minutes ago, e-cue said: ... Should we thank them for the head’s up, or.... dust off the Waves Subscription pitchforks? LOL! I thanks them for the heads up AND mentioned that in the support email I just sent. Waves, not the pitchforks, that is... They should offer a FREE upgrade to existing customers of the old versions. I realize development takes resources, but if you want customers to keep spending money with you, throw them a bone. A little brand loyalty goes a long way. @lawajava "The original has a killer sound, easy to use, and is light on the CPU." 100% agree. I'm a little sad not be able to keep using it to be honest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeringAmps Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 27 minutes ago, mibby said: a little sad not be able to keep using it to be honest. Pretty sure it will continue to work. Just no further support or updates. May work a “treat” for years to come. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 1 hour ago, mibby said: Don't buy these plugins below because they are no longer going to be supported... What's the big deal? That software compressor is a model of a piece of hardware designed 70 years ago that hasn't had substantial revisions since. And the emulation is pretty good. It's not going to stop working. There was an update earlier this year to my longtime go-to FET-style compressor (PSP FetPressor). Cool, I thought. Maybe they're adding some modern features such as a dry/wet mix knob. Nope. The "update" was that they were making it dependent on Pace. Big Nope. I backrevved to the previous version. If they never update it again it won't bother me at all. It's great as-is. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitekrazy Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 17 minutes ago, bitflipper said: What's the big deal? That software compressor is a model of a piece of hardware designed 70 years ago that hasn't had substantial revisions since. And the emulation is pretty good. It's not going to stop working. There was an update earlier this year to my longtime go-to FET-style compressor (PSP FetPressor). Cool, I thought. Maybe they're adding some modern features such as a dry/wet mix knob. Nope. The "update" was that they were making it dependent on Pace. Big Nope. I backrevved to the previous version. If they never update it again it won't bother me at all. It's great as-is. Maybe not for Mac users. BTW does Softube use iLok and how many machines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFigg Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 15 minutes ago, kitekrazy said: Maybe not for Mac users. BTW does Softube use iLok and how many machines? Yeah. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 37 minutes ago, bitflipper said: What's the big deal? Hopefully, the final release of the FET for ProChannel won't crash the DAW. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PavlovsCat Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 (edited) 5 hours ago, mibby said: I bought Softube's FET last September... I don't remember when I picked my copy up, but sometime last year. I think you've made some fair points, mibby. I think one solution is that a developer offers a grace period, where those who bought a license during a certain period prior to the release of the new version, say 6 months to a year prior, they update them to the new version at no additional charge or at a very reduced fee. However, I really do appreciate that Softube is supporting the plugin for 3 years. Hopefully, they'll offer us an even better deal on the new version at some point. I really do like their plugins a lot. Edited June 10, 2023 by PavlovsCat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeringAmps Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 19 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said: Hopefully, they'll offer us an even better deal on the new version at some point You can bet on that. Definitely never pay retail at Softube. IKM is probably the only vendor that discounts more aggressively. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhonoBrainer Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 1 hour ago, DeeringAmps said: You can bet on that. Definitely never pay retail at Softube. IKM is probably the only vendor that discounts more dysfunctionally. Fixed. 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mibby Posted June 10, 2023 Author Share Posted June 10, 2023 1 hour ago, bitflipper said: What's the big deal? That software compressor is a model of a piece of hardware designed 70 years ago that hasn't had substantial revisions since. And the emulation is pretty good. It's not going to stop working. Good points all and I've simmered down a bit. But I still stand by this statement. Why would you sell software that is being sunset? As was pointed out, OS updates will eventually kill an unsupported piece of software. And yes, I should be able to use this for years to come. But it rubbed me the wrong way on a much smaller scale than Waves: give us more money and by the way we are no longer supporting the software you just purchased... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 I agree that it's underhanded when a company slyly sells a product that's about to be discontinued or deprecated, but only if they're being deliberately deceptive. Even then, I've gotten some good deals that way. Sometimes, an unexpectedly good deal, e.g. finding out later that I qualified for a cheap upgrade because I already owned the retired product. For example, I bought Kontakt 2 a month before it was superseded by Kontakt 3 and was briefly miffed about it. But it turned out that I'd bought K2 at a discount that was nearly equal to the upgrade price to K3. Native Instruments was more customer oriented back then, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Fowler Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 2 hours ago, bitflipper said: I agree that it's underhanded when a company slyly sells a product that's about to be discontinued or deprecated, but only if they're being deliberately deceptive. Even then, I've gotten some good deals that way. Sometimes, an unexpectedly good deal, e.g. finding out later that I qualified for a cheap upgrade because I already owned the retired product. For example, I bought Kontakt 2 a month before it was superseded by Kontakt 3 and was briefly miffed about it. But it turned out that I'd bought K2 at a discount that was nearly equal to the upgrade price to K3. Native Instruments was more customer oriented back then, I think. Bit, I've wanted to ask this for a while. What does your sig mean? 🙂 What is this truth? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul P Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 1 hour ago, Craig Fowler said: Bit, I've wanted to ask this for a while. What does your sig mean? 🙂 What is this truth? Having nothing to do, I tried to find it. This is pretty close : But not quite. Still, must be something related to signal processing. But I'm also interested in the Truth. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeringAmps Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 1 hour ago, Craig Fowler said: What is this truth? It’s the Fourier Transform Equation 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Fowler Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 40 minutes ago, DeeringAmps said: It’s the Fourier Transform Equation Thanks Tom! And now comes lots of reading and beating my head against a wall to try and understand it 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 Don't tell anyone.,,,there is clue in the image name It may help refine your search 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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