Are we seeing the decline of the plug-in industry?

[nexusdawn]

Look at how far we've come in terms of quality, in terms of virtual instruments, effects, and sample libraries.

Not to say there isn't room for improvement, there always will be. But over the past 10-15 years we've seen quite a revolution of quality and pricing for audio software.

10 or so years ago, it was difficult to find high-quality eq (the kind that didnt generate all sorts undesirable artifacts at e.g. high boosts with narrow q's) for under $1000, where thin metallic reverbs were the norm, with barely an alternative. Where developers (hello Arturia & co) where flooding the market with "emulations" of renowned subtractive synths that sounded nothing like the originals.

Now we have circuit modeled synthesizers, compressors, eq's, silky lush algorythmic reverbs (Hosts of free IR response libraries, finally some decent phasers, flangers, that capture some of the mojo of high-end production tools and in some cases even surpass it, and all for a fraction of the price.

The "dream" of the bed room producer has not only become real, in fact we see more and more studios and established musicians use the exact same software tools we do. (Although some high-end hardware and analog gear still have their advantages, for those that appreciate details )

Computer piracy has been around since "Space Wars" was programmed in the 60's.

It's an all too easy target, and gets blamed for everything from Lars Ulrich's clinical depression for not adding a few more "multis" to his multi-millionaire status, tom cruises weird outbursts, and bin laden's staged execution.

Blame Piracy!


Or simply consider 101 market economics.

Supply and Demand.

That's where I'd place my bet.

Cheers and Yo Ho me Hearties!

[robotmonkey]

I don't get how this copy protection thing is so troublesome for people. I have C/R plugins, 60-70 iLok licences, eLicencer stuff... I've used a dongle since 1993 (a black metal thing for my copy of Steinberg Pro24 on the Amiga500)... Seriously: What's the problem? What's all this "hassle" people keep talking about? Like, please point out to me what the exact problem is.

Your iLok has to brake only once. Then you'll see how much you like it. You will get a pretty good overview about the problems from this thread:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... ht=dongles

But just one recent example I witnessed. People come together from different cities for a week-end for some editing and overdubbing. But guy whose daw they suppose to be using at his place decides to try out some trial stuff in the morning. And suddenly all the eLicenser plugs go into demo mode. Weekend fail for everyone follows. It took over a week to get it all sorted out. As you can imagine by now all the plugs have been replaced with versions that are not crippled by CP.

The main problems with stupid CP are that it is a non-essential part of the software (and additional expense for users in the case of iLok), but most often the cause of problems. It is also ineffective, meaning that people who do not pay for their software get a better experience than those who use legal versions.

[fluffy_little_something]

I don't get how this copy protection thing is so troublesome for people. ... Seriously: What's the problem? What's all this "hassle" people keep talking about? Like, please point out to me what the exact problem is. Not some "well, what if they go out of business" hypothetical scenario, but rather, what the real problem is in day to day use.

Well the last dongled product I ever used was Hypersonic. I loved it as a virtual instrument, it was my favourite softsynth at the time. But the syncrosoft dongle drivers were hopeless. Barely a week went by without me having to upgrade to the new version of drivers, or roll back to an old version, just to get it to load. I'd come home from work looking forward to an evening of recording and instead I got an evening of crashes, reboots and reinstalls.

As for C/R, a while ago I wanted to put some percussion on a track. No problem, I have EZDrummer percussion expansion. Except that it decided it needed re-authorising. No problem, except that my four "slots" have all been used up due to previous computer upgrades (I only use it on one computer). So I had to email Toontrack support to ask for a slot to be freed up again. They did get back to me the next day, but that pretty much killed my momentum for recording that night.

Those are two examples of real day to day "hassles" that badly implemented copy protection can cause. For the record, I'm not saying that it can't be done right. The products I have that come with a license file have caused me no problems whatsoever (REAPER, Kjaerhus, Valhalla). And the C/R / authorization step that Native Instruments, Cakewalk, Line 6 use hasn't inconvenienced me at all (yet). But it is very frustrating to be denied access to products you have legitimately paid for.

That sure is annoying.

I guess the best solution is a fair price combined with a CP-free dll or exe file. When the price and what you get for it is right, people won't feel the need to do something illegal. I like it when one has to use a key only to unzip the full version. Once you have done that, you can copy and install the file as you please. But I never felt the urge to illegally spread such a file anywhere.

I even pay for donationware. Some people seem to confuse the terms donationware and freeware. I read an interesting article written by a developer offering his stuff as donationware. He said he hardly gets any donations although a whole lot of people download his plugins. I find that sad. Is that how people thank developers for using a more human and generous business model?

I avoid freeware these days, I want to pay for something that is good. If it ain't good, I don't use it anyway. Offering freeware is a bit like dumping in my view, unfair towards developers that can't afford to offer their stuff for free.

One thing I know for sure is that I will never buy anything from NI, no matter if it is good or not. I don't want to feed companies that are rather big and dominant already. For the same reason I don't use any of the big DAWs. Money is not the problem, I just don't want to feed Cakewalk, Steinberg, etc.

[Gamma-UT]

Your iLok has to brake only once.

I never let mine get behind the wheel. It doesn't have a licence for it.

[Nokenoku]

Edit: OTOH it's maybe quite good for us if people still believe in the myth of the genius cracker

I'd say it's like everywhere else:
There sometimes are some geniuses ... but they are rare. The big "crowd" is always just "average".

I mean, it's the same for plugin developers. Some of them are even releasing totally obsolete plugins. Only a few ones do great or even "genius" stuff.

Hahaha, I imagine some of your senile grey bearded crackers with a cheap bottle of wine (they use stolen credit cards, hence have no money for the good stuff) sitting there, waiting for it to finally happen

Lol Urs ... you really WANT them to try, aren't you?

[Richard_Synapse]

Every software can probably be cracked, if enough time and money is put into doing that.

But do "crackers" have those kind of resources?

Realistically, no. For big games, there's people or teams who're willing to invest months of fulltime work to break a protection, because of the "fame" they get in case of success. But you don't earn that kind of fame by breaking plugins by small developers - you may even get the opposite, which would be extremely frustrating if you dedicated so much time to cracking a little plugin.

Richard

[standalone]

NO, this time you're wrong Mr.Heckmann!
You clearly have a wrong image of those crackers out there. They're not a bunch of bored teenagers or whatever - some are probably older than you and with more knowledge!

those who crack Audio Software - mostly Japanese groups and some individuals -

Know your enemy, Urs. That's how cracks are done.

[Nokenoku]

For big games, there's people or teams who're willing to invest months of fulltime work to break a protection, ...

You don't really believe that, do you?

Games are usually cracked within a few hours/days.
And even if it takes them some time to come up with a crack, you can be sure, those guys are not sitting months "full time".

[Delfinoverde]

Nightpolymath - Such a heavily protected Plug-In would probably be unusable as the checks would dramatically slow down its performance!

And you dreamy developers out there - continue to dream....
....or just wake up and give up your useless extra-protections.
There's NOTHING sure in this world!
_______________________________________________________________

You are entiteled to your beliefs, even if you think that us audio devs are somewhat "B grade" developers.

A good protection needs to check only once in a while. Some of ours do only once in 3 years. No performance hit here

Hahaha, I imagine some of your senile grey bearded crackers with a cheap bottle of wine (they use stolen credit cards, hence have no money for the good stuff) sitting there, waiting for it to finally happen

He-He Urs, i must admit that you have a some power of imagination....but you could be wrong. Imagine them instead as wild, furious scientists (maybe somewhere in Japan) using the best digital tools, connections & knowledge, drinking the most expensive stuff available on Earth and eating caviar!

"A good protection needs to check only once in a while. Some of ours do only once in 3 years. No performance hit here"

This sounds honest. But it still could be blocked.

[digitalboytn]

Your iLok has to brake only once.

My iLok braked the other day and caused a fatal accident

[Tricky-Loops]

Sometimes I want to meet Team AiR just to see how old they really are... But I dare to forecast that they're younger than 30 and they aren't from Japan...

[Urs]

He-He Urs, i must admit that you have a some power of imagination....but you could be wrong. Imagine them instead as wild, furious scientists (maybe somewhere in Japan) using the best digital tools, connections & knowledge, drinking the most expensive stuff available on Earth and eating caviar!

That sounds like a delusion right from an ancient alien theorist or followers of the Miracle Mineral potion.

It's probably secret military grade code analysers that gobble dsp algorithms in their spare time.

I can't compete with those levels of truth. I go back to my tiny world of code.

[digitalboytn]

I like Urs...

His comments and his attitudes displayed on these forums clearly indicate that he is a deep thinker and a very smart cookie..

One might even dare to say that he is a philosopher

When those sort of people turn their thoughts into actions,the results are generally very impressive

[schnapsglas]

Nightpolymath - Such a heavily protected Plug-In would probably be unusable as the checks would dramatically slow down its performance!

And you dreamy developers out there - continue to dream....
....or just wake up and give up your useless extra-protections.
There's NOTHING sure in this world!
_______________________________________________________________

You are entiteled to your beliefs, even if you think that us audio devs are somewhat "B grade" developers.

A good protection needs to check only once in a while. Some of ours do only once in 3 years. No performance hit here

Hahaha, I imagine some of your senile grey bearded crackers with a cheap bottle of wine (they use stolen credit cards, hence have no money for the good stuff) sitting there, waiting for it to finally happen

He-He Urs, i must admit that you have a some power of imagination....but you could be wrong. Imagine them instead as wild, furious scientists (maybe somewhere in Japan) using the best digital tools, connections & knowledge, drinking the most expensive stuff available on Earth and eating caviar!

"A good protection needs to check only once in a while. Some of ours do only once in 3 years. No performance hit here"

This sounds honest. But it still could be blocked.

Genius crackers are strange people, if they exist. Other than throwing their expertise and getting their challenge-quota by helping computational neuroscientsts with brain modelling, settle P/NP once and for all for god's sake, or even the RSA problem which they could have a lot of fun with.

You know why? Because there are no intelligent crackers anymore. Their only point is to crack things. Smart people I know work on saving people's lives by running trials, obscure geometry, or brilliant algorithms. You have to face it: now, reverse engineering has become dirtier than anything else. Because now it's a routine. There is no challenge. Yes, games get cracked within hours. Does that sound like a challenge to you?

Really smart people don't crack. They COULD, but they don't. Because it's not efficient. They work with things that actually teach us something.

One thing I learned in my short academic life: don't call something, especially someone, "genius." There is no word more dangerous than that, that sweeps everything under the rug.

[Frantz]

@Urs: I think that you are posting too much info about your copy protection methods in a public forum. While it is very generous for you to share techniques privately with other developers, I don't see the benefit of posting it here.