Starship Krupa Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Good thread idea from @Eusebio Rufian-Zilbermann: we all snap up freebies from companies who put them out there to encourage people to check out their paid license products; sometimes these freebies are payware that is being given away for a short time as a promotion. Which ones have worked on you (this excludes trialware/demos)? For me, the most obvious would be the Meldaproduction FreeFX Bundle. Meldaproduction were relatively early in the "pro quality" loss leader plug-ins game, not the first to ever do it, but before the recent ongoing tidal wave of freebies. MCompressor is the plug-in I used when I had my "I know kung fu" breakthrough in understanding how compressors work. Once I paid to register that bundle, since there were more panels and things to open up and see I started digging more deeply into them and concluded that the guy was a crazy talented programmer, and that his normally-licensed stuff would likely be of top quality. Since then I've spent hundreds on Meldaproduction licenses (always during sales of some sort) and recommended them far and wide. After that, Unfiltered Audio G8 CM (a near-freebie, CM plug-ins are loss leaders) was my first taste of that company, since then I've acquired all but about 3 of their FX (the synth, the compressor and the bit crusher). A|A|S Swatches and freebie soundpacks got me to jump on a Humble Bundle of their stuff. Bark of Dog was my first Boz plug-in, I now have several more. Glitchmachines' Fracture and Hysteresis are so off the hook that I knew to buy everything they had when it went on sale for $5-10. I'm nowhere close to figuring out how to control them, but they make sounds that I like anyway. Definitely for people who are into "turn this knob and see what it does." 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Boileau Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Tokyo Dawn plugins. Loved the free versions and collected them on sale when I found them. Got a few of them for $9.99 each. That almost count as freebies at that price! 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magic Russ Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 SynthMaster CM 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleer Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Meldaproduction FreeFX Bundle. Definitely. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mibby Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Melda, Tokyo Dawn, SoundToys, Kilohearts... Kuassa. IK Multimedia. Izotope... Valhala and Klanghelm. Excellent freebies and giveaways over the years - I'm pretty much "all in" on these Devs too. HOFA and Blue Cat have great freebies, but their paid plugins have never really broken through my price-point to pain threshold enough to draw me in, so I've pretty much moved on. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pragi Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Phoenix ,Izotope,Voxengo,PA, BOZ ,N.I, Melda,Izotope 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesha Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Melodyne 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Ewing Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 I feel I shouldn't answer this, as I my adventures through LimeWire back in the day definitely introduced me to some companies I still use (legimately) today. But that's probably not what you meant. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted January 14, 2022 Author Share Posted January 14, 2022 21 minutes ago, Carl Ewing said: my adventures through LimeWire back in the day definitely introduced me to some companies I still use (legimately) today You're not the first I've heard this from. The ad hoc "educational discount." It could be that the recognition of this helped clue companies into the value of getting lite versions out there for nothing or next to it. I'm going to hazard a guess that Ableton's piracy dropped when they came out with Live! Lite. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Cormier Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Any Izotope Elements. Softube Time and Tone bundle; even though not “free” as it required a hardware purchase, it was added for free. Then I opened my wallet to them. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jude77 Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, mibby said: but their paid plugins have never really broken through my price-point to pain threshold enough to draw me in. "Price-point to pain threshold". That term will end up in psychology text books one day! Edited January 14, 2022 by jude77 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magic Russ Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 I guess if you go back far enough, having Triangle II primed me to buy a copy of Pentagon I (a few years before Cakewalk bought rgc:Audio and included it in Sonar) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Izotope nectar elements. I jumped on the upgrade offer. I now find myself using suite Sonar lite edition( forgot exact name). It was bundled with an emu interface long ago. Studio one prime. It was an easy choice to upgrade. MPC Beats- the free version is very usable, particularly for subgenres like Boombap and lo-fi. When I discovered how Akai seems to have the swing function mastered better than most drum programs (at least for making hip-hop) , it was an easy decision. Quiet Classical Guitar lite- the free one is quite usable and full version was only $8 during sale. Well worth it 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsinger Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 For near freebies, many lite versions that came with Cakewalk over the years. I bought the nomad factory plugins, I upgraded TH-2 and went to TH-3 and TH-U, I upgraded breverb and rematrix. I've upgraded melodyne. Some HW I bought came with ableton live lite and I upgraded that and it's current. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarine Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 The only case I recall is AAS. I believe I got the gimped versions of some of their instruments as a PluginBoutique freebie. I don't think I ever installed them, but it grabbed my attention and I ended up buying the full versions of String Studio VS-3, Strum GS-2 and eventually Ultra Analog VA-3. I put VS-3 and GS-2 up for sale at one point because I needed money for something else. Somebody bought VS-3 and it's one of the few things I regret selling and intend to re-acquire at some point. Strum GS-2 is so-so when I weigh it against some ancient SampleTank pack that just has that raw & dirty brilliance. I tend to choose the samples for the primary sound, whereas GS-2 currently sees most use as an enhancer for sampled instruments or other synths. Right now it's in the category of "I wish I could sell this, but probably shouldn't." Same goes for VA-3, really. I use it sparingly, but there are places where it seems irreplaceable. I wish I didn't need it, but apparently I do just enough that I can't toss it. I expect Chromaphone to be much like GS-2, i.e. it could potentially end up in my collection if my needs change, but currently I have a clear preference for sampled instruments over synthesized when it comes to the territory covered by Chromaphone. Then again, VS-3 taught me to love synthetic strings, and was freakin' satisfying on its own. Image-Line's Sakura is currently substituting it, but I will most certainly buy VS-3 again. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 I forgot i upgraded to vs-3 after getting lighter session version free Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anxiousmofo Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Pendulate. And Generate is now a favorite. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Lawler Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Melda and Klanghelm 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Shelby Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Spitfire BBC Discover! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PavlovsCat Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 One of Izotope's Elements libraries that they gave away for free or super cheap for a limited time led to me becoming a paying customer. A free Softube freebie plugin led to me being a customer of theirs. A Production Voices free piano library led to me being a paying customer. Xperimenta's freebie libraries led to me being a customer of theirs. Fluffy Audio's freebie libraries led to my being a paying customer. A Waverunner freebie library led to me being a paid customer of theirs. I'm sure there are dozens of other examples I can't recall at the moment. Giving sample and plugin users a free taste of their offerings can be a great way a sample/plugin developer can bring new customers aboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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