Soundtoys Microshift is out with No ILOK Dongle required

[Monkberry]

It seems there is no demo version available?

Not even an audio demo.

I've got a better idea, I think I'll take out $89 in cash and throw it out of my car window.

Ha ha! I like your style! Have to agree though. My plugin addiction is out of control. I'm eating cardboard for breakfast, which is not bad with a little salt and pepper. A demo would be nice though. $89 could get me more cardboard if the Microshift wasn't something I need.

[HcDoom]

Using iLok2 here, not problem whatsoever...everything was smooth, from activation to running software. Gonna try this plug-in for sure.

[cowudders]

I'm a big Soundtoys fan and use they're stuff all the time, MS is really good, but if you need much much more flexibility and IMO even better sound, check out DMG Audio's Pitchfunk. Don't know why this is still kind of a underdog.

[Kaboom75]

Can Pitchfunk do the same thing I have tried it in the past but didn't know it did the widening and chorus effect.

[Breeze]

Does this mean the rest of the Soundtoys plugins can now be bought and used without a physical iLok?

Unlikley it might mean Soundtoys having to pay ilok a load of money to rearange it all.

For companies depending on a dongle for copy protection, going "dongle-less" must be a bit like swimming without your life-jacket. It's likely SoundToys is testing the waters with this plugin to see how it goes before committing the cash cows.

[Gamma-UT]

Has anyone done any audio demos of this? I've found some of Little Microshift but not for the full plug using, say, the focus knob.

It'd be interesting to see how well Discord3 or PitchFunk emulates it. I've found Discord3 in Vintage Mode does a pretty good job of the widening effect and I'm assuming that the focus knob on Microshift does a similar job to the bandpass on Discord3.

[robotmonkey]

Does this mean the rest of the Soundtoys plugins can now be bought and used without a physical iLok?

Unlikley it might mean Soundtoys having to pay ilok a load of money to rearange it all.

For companies depending on a dongle for copy protection, going "dongle-less" must be a bit like swimming without your life-jacket. It's likely SoundToys is testing the waters with this plugin to see how it goes before committing the cash cows.

But it does not make a lot of sense. There are so much quality stuff out there that using an dongle is a competitive disadvantage. The fact is that software that uses an dongle is just not as good investment as software that uses serial, for example. And there is a lot of choice these days.

For me these days dongle = immediate no-buy. Soundtoys makes great plugins but not that great that I can not do without them. First I do not need any new plugins at all. And second, even if I'm going to buy something new this year, I'm gonna get u-he Uhbik and maybe Waves MetaFilter. These are more or less directly competing products. Moreover if I get those products I'm even less likely to buy Soundtoys bundle down the line. In today's competitive landscape dongle is becoming more and more deterrent to sales.

[sonicpowa]

Soundtoys makes great plugins but not that great that I can not do without them.

I agree. Even though Microshift is good effect it is not sounding something I can´t clone with a few plugins. Because of the name ´Microshift´ I thought it´s something unique microshift algorithm I can´t do with my current plugins but it is only a slap-delay/chorus fx with feedback.
Good sound though and easy to dial in with just one plugin.

[whyterabbyt]

Does this mean the rest of the Soundtoys plugins can now be bought and used without a physical iLok?

Unlikley it might mean Soundtoys having to pay ilok a load of money to rearange it all.

For companies depending on a dongle for copy protection, going "dongle-less" must be a bit like swimming without your life-jacket. It's likely SoundToys is testing the waters with this plugin to see how it goes before committing the cash cows.

But it does not make a lot of sense. There are so much quality stuff out there that using an dongle is a competitive disadvantage. The fact is that software that uses an dongle is just not as good investment as software that uses serial, for example. And there is a lot of choice these days.

For me these days dongle = immediate no-buy. Soundtoys makes great plugins but not that great that I can not do without them. First I do not need any new plugins at all. And second, even if I'm going to buy something new this year, I'm gonna get u-he Uhbik and maybe Waves MetaFilter. These are more or less directly competing products. Moreover if I get those products I'm even less likely to buy Soundtoys bundle down the line. In today's competitive landscape dongle is becoming more and more deterrent to sales.

That's a massive projection of your own preference, rather than something you actually have any hard data on, right?

[3ee]

Find this offer (really) annoying actually...

So the Little MicroShift was free and... nope, I'm not going to repeat the text... I think it's pretty obvious what's annoying about such "cheeky" marketing moves!

I bet this would be controversial too... for those who have VS don't have ilok + the Little "free" MicroShift.

What's so hard to just give the offer of $49 to everybody, are they afraid that they will loose money?? ^&%#@

[Breeze]

In today's competitive landscape dongle is becoming more and more deterrent to sales.

That's a massive projection of your own preference, rather than something you actually have any hard data on, right?

But it definitely sounds like it's on the wishlist. Don't get me wrong, I hate dongles too. But I also respect developers' need to protect their IP. If you don't like it, don't use it.

[4damind]

Demo/Trial is now available... it's separately from the whole bundle so also for users already demoed the Soundtoys bundle.

[robotmonkey]

That's a massive projection of your own preference, rather than something you actually have any hard data on, right?

I think that is pretty obvious from my post, is it not? I no way did I pretend to universal generalization here from my own experience. I'm sure I'm not the only one reasoning this way though.

Also, all the poll's I have seen on this topic usually are divided about 3 - 1/3 does not buy any dongled software at all, 1/3 might consider it if it is cheap or completely unique and 1/3 does not mind dongles. That is about 2/3 predisposed towards not buying dongled software. If this is looked at the context of piracy then all that matters is how much can you sell. All these hypothetical "lost sales" or other bogus indicators that are often referred to are complete BS and mean nothing.

Also academic studies in other fields suggest that people tend to value non-drm restricted content more. The best example is of course iTunes that really took off only after Apple removed all the drm from its store. In gaming the same thing has happened to GOG.

It's pretty much simple logic. The more restricted the software is by external factors, the less valuable it is. Most of the app store model apps cost couple of bucks for a reason.

[whyterabbyt]

Find this offer (really) annoying actually...

So the Little MicroShift was free and... nope, I'm not going to repeat the text... I think it's pretty obvious what's annoying about such "cheeky" marketing moves!

I bet this would be controversial too... for those who have VS don't have ilok + the Little "free" MicroShift.

What's so hard to just give the offer of $49 to everybody, are they afraid that they will loose money?? ^&%#@

So the criticism is that they've been generous by giving something away for nothing, but arent being generous enough to people who didnt take them up on their earlier generosity?

Same thing as happens when people miss the boat on NI giveaways; makes me wonder why companies bother in the first place.

[cowudders]

Can Pitchfunk do the same thing I have tried it in the past but didn't know it did the widening and chorus effect.

well of course, it has two voices that can be detuned, independently modulated, filtered, has feedback, delays, many shifting topologies, etc .. it can do much more than just widening.

but people forget that Ken Bogdanowicz of soundtoys is a legend, he wrote all the classic Eventide stuff for the H3000. What you get for even $89 is a shifter from the man himself