solema

It's just classic consumerism. You've got constant sales in your face with "BUY NOW!" rhetoric and people, or out-of-nowhere experts, recommending you get things (like 9 out of 10 dentists recommending our toothpaste). "Buy 2, get 1 for free," "$9.99," "$29.99," "$99.99!" Then you get a free* gift. Seems familiar, doesn't it? It's like going to a supermarket and grabbing things you never planned to get at all. But because it's on sale, your shopping cart is full. That's it. I like innovations, trying new stuff, and always get excited seeing new releases, but over the years, there's been one conclusion: my purchases have been fueled by a "this could be useful" or "this would be nice to have" mindset. "Would"- that's the word to keep in mind. A 20GB orchestral Kontakt library? It might be cool to have, but in practice, how will I use it? Do I even like it at all? Why the hell do I need an entire choir of altar boys? Then we reach the upgrade territory: getting the latest version because it's the latest. You get a plugin, then one or two years later, they drop a new version (I won't mention names, but those who know, you know), and for a simple fee (to them), you can get it too. Meanwhile, the first version hasn't been used in forever. In conclusion, it's fine to hunt for deals and all that, but for my own sake and when advising others, be more specific and very selective with your purchases. The variety is huge, with people telling you that you need this and that, and YouTubers shilling that "this is a game-changer." At least demo the products. See how you can implement them into your projects, templates, and general workflow. Having options is great, but having too many options keeps you on this update/upgrade loop when you don't even know what you want in the end and you live in this "would-be-nice-to-have" universe. Try to avoid it. Seriously.

I've reached this point where I've started to consider selling some licenses for things I don't even use. And these aren't bad plugins at all; they're from very respectable brands and developers. I think this is a great indicator that you've hit that threshold where enough is enough. $9.99 here, $29.99 there... a bundle is obviously a better deal, right? It all just stacks up in the end. There are some plugins I couldn't live without, but there are three or four times that many that I can live without. The biggest issue isn't the quality, but just having too many duplicates that are aimed at emulating or performing in a similar fashion. Think compressor emulations or EQs doing... EQ things. Workflow really matters the most here. If you intuitively launch some plugins and get the results you want, they're really made for you. But if you're deep in a session then stop and think, "Hmm, I haven't used that one in four years, what is that?" why do you even have it installed then? I could use something that is arguably better and newer (because people and reviewers are telling me this, especially some Grammy-award-winning producer I've never heard about), but if it requires me ten clicks to achieve something I want when I could've done it with three clicks in some VST or stock plugin that comes with my DAW, what's the point then? My piece of advice: stick to a few favorite ecosystems, and that's it. I know it's a meme that every company has installers/downloaders/activators, and this problem really occurs when you're a customer of every single one of them. So, selectively cut those branches.

Also, check crossgrade prices because they might vary from one account to another. I have the H9 collection and a few limited-time freebies, and Physion was $28 for me. This purchase is now reducing the price of the SplitEQ crossgrade to $39 (it was $44 before I purchased Physion). So, it seems every purchase offers a crossgrade with another plugin from that category and you get a very fair discount.

They seem to have disabled the code rather quickly, so I doubt that many orders were completed anyway. Most of the developers would just write it off as "yup, it happened but it's fixed now." Not the first and not the last time when some secret code appears and people jump in without even researching what they're getting, because you need to act fast and create a new account which kinda sounds like a win for the website's traffic. Unless someone hoarded 100 keys and is about to sell those in the second-hand market, then it's a problem for sure. But a few individuals acquiring something they never even considered to get? I may or may not have checked the rest of their catalogue. I know I did with a few developers that had a price glitch, and I ended up getting extra because I discovered some great stuff just like that. But it's their decision. However, I think it's healthy to sometimes let it slip and see a flock of new users exploring your catalogue. Kontakt libraries are something you can't even demo unless it's some separate demo version, which hardly anyone provides.

You're talking about legit Plugin Boutique site which has a good reputation. Read more carefully, this one seems to use their name with a slight domain alteration to mislead people. 100% of the time they're selling cracked software so stay away and don't even bother to click on any of those. It's not the first and not the last fake "vendor" that does that.

I recently got Falcon and it came with $50 voucher so not too bad because I can claim like 2 discounted FXs with an extra $12. Thinking of UVI Plate and UVI Relayer.

If it's too good to be true then very likely they're just selling cracked software. Whole site looks very template which was made very quick. Try to put anything in cart, you will notice the lack of payment options like PayPal, only credit card is available. No information about them in "About us" section, just some generic text. Don't bother. Read their refund policy, it's straight from online clothes shop lol https://www.pluginfx.shop/refund_returns/

I really like these. Similar price is on Plugin Boutique so I'll wait for this month freebie first to see if there's anything good.

Don't forget those different installers: Steinberg Download Assistant, Steinberg Activation Manager, Steinberg Library Assistant (or was it Manager?) There are probably some few hidden ones but I never went further because enough is enough.

I don't see any release notes, new manual is very vague too and repeats v2 version features (claims that v3 has presets menu meanwhile v2 already had that). From what I've gathered it's just UI overhaul (different preset browser and overall looks), then already mentioned M1 native support. Nothing about performance and any extra features. I love Transgressor 2 but this is a very questionable upgrade which lacks of information why it's even v3.

But when a price error happens, where is that “think of the devs” moment? I feel it’s right to discuss past prices and see how they shifted because that’s a strong deciding factor when considering whether to buy a particular plugin at that specific moment. Sure, they don’t owe us anything, but the bargain mindset will always aim for the best bang for the buck, aren't we on this forum for that reason? Logically, If a developer and seller de-value the product to such a low price, it makes sense to aim for that price again in the future. Anyways, a bit off-topic. Long live PA! ?

I'm glad I got everything I wanted from PA some years ago when monthly vouchers were global and they had no-minimum ones that they kept resetting on some holidays. Their price model lately is such a switch over considering the biggest amount I've spent was $29 to get Kirchhoff EQ via Forever 29 plan. All the other stuff was $15 each and some were 0, and I always applied some sort of voucher because it was a part of the whole process which they promoted.

Freezr was free with a purchase on Audiomodern. Got it back then with some random sample pack for $3.

New user, but also interested!