KVR Audio

Echoes in the Attic · Post by **Echoes in the Attic** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:17 am

I can understand wanting to track a license as having been upgraded from a V1 transfer. That's pretty easy to track in the most basic of databases. But as cocoazenith says, this seems to equate a license upgrade bought new to a V2 that was transferred, which I can only assume will result in higher upgrade prices again in the future. For example, when I bought the upgrade to Omnisphere 2, I paid $250, even though I had the full suite of products from Spectrasonics, which would normally allow a VIP upgrade of $200:
-Trilian (new)
-Stylus RMX (new)
-Stylus RMS Expanded (new)
-Omnisphere (transfer)
-Moog Tribute Library (new).

So as you can see I have all three and their expansions, but the transfer license of Omnisphere prevented VIP. And now I've purchased the V2 upgrade new at full price and it's still viewed as a transfer! An upgrade to V2 is not cheap at 250, it should really be viewed as a full license at this point I think.

jamesbernard · Post by **jamesbernard** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:25 pm

So the question is if your Omnisphere was purchased as new, or if it was a previously owned and transferred license that you purchased used.

If it was new, then have a chat with the folks in our support dept.

If it was purchased from a previous owner and transferred, then the scenario I spoke of in my earlier reply is still applicable.

I can understand that you feel like you should be VIP status, but our policy is that is only if ALL our products you own were purchased as new/original owner.

Hope that clears it up.

Echoes in the Attic · Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:05 pm

jamesbernard wrote:So the question is if your Omnisphere was purchased as new, or if it was a previously owned and transferred license that you purchased used.

If it was new, then have a chat with the folks in our support dept.

If it was purchased from a previous owner and transferred, then the scenario I spoke of in my earlier reply is still applicable.

V1 was transferred, but the V2 was upgraded full price from the spectrasonics shop. So it seems weird that this is indicated as "V2 trasnfer". I did not buy Omnisphere V2 from someone. if I had I would have saved lots of money. I bought V2 new as an upgrade. If there is no difference, then it is never possible to upgrade to a non-transfer status of Omnisphere, regardless of version. I've never seen this before in other products. Usually when you purchase an new upgrade, you are moved to full license status.

beely · Post by **beely** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:34 pm

Still, you know Spectrasonics policy on this now, if you didn't before.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 12:18 am

Echoes in the Attic wrote: I've never seen this before in other products. Usually when you purchase an new upgrade, you are moved to full license status.

Which products are those which gain a non-transferred license status on an upgrade? Most stuff i know (actually all of that) still are NFR, if upgraded from a transferred NFR version e.g. Makes sense actually, otherwise you could buy version 1 for close to nothing, upgrade for a special price, and sell it for more than you paid for. And then the next person could possible do the same with the next version of the plugin.

Unless i don't get your point of course, not sure about that. Nevermind the NFR stuff btw, this should also be valid for plugins which don't become NFR, and especially in this case, as Spectrasonics seem to have a special policy for a discount for people who bought their stuff (firsthand).

jamesbernard · Post by **jamesbernard** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 3:21 am

Echoes in the Attic wrote: V1 was transferred, but the V2 was upgraded full price from the spectrasonics shop. So it seems weird that this is indicated as "V2 trasnfer". I did not buy Omnisphere V2 from someone. if I had I would have saved lots of money. I bought V2 new as an upgrade. If there is no difference, then it is never possible to upgrade to a non-transfer status of Omnisphere, regardless of version. I've never seen this before in other products. Usually when you purchase an new upgrade, you are moved to full license status.

You were not the original owner of the license which was used to get the upgrade, therefore.. it is a transfer.

There is no need to be upset or concerned about this affecting your future upgrade ability.

If you were purchasing a new copy of Omnisphere 2, it would have cost you the full price. I can imagine that you did not pay full price for the v1 license, so in the end you should have come out paying less and still getting Omnisphere 2.

And I can assure you that many other companies operate in this manner when it comes to license transfers and upgrades, I used to work for one of them

zvenx · Post by **zvenx** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 3:32 am

I seem to recall this:

Can a license-transferred Spectrasonics Virtual Instrument be upgraded and updated?
Yes, of course! All license-transferred Spectrasonics Instruments are eligible for both upgrades and updates, but not necessarily all the same special upgrade pricing offers for major new versions. Please note that purchasing an instrument new from an authorized Spectrasonics dealer is the only way to retain the complete access to all of our special upgrade offers.

being on their website for yearsssss.

rsp

cocoazenith · Post by **cocoazenith** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 2:53 pm

chk071 wrote:Makes sense actually, otherwise you could buy version 1 for close to nothing, upgrade for a special price, and sell it for more than you paid for

let's be honest though. who in this world would sell a $500 software, that's been recently updated (1.5.

for a price close to nothing.

Echoes in the Attic · Post by **Echoes in the Attic** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 4:29 pm

Yeah sorry don't mean to make a big issue about it. I was just surprised it was called a V2 transfer since I didn't buy V2 used.

chk071 wrote:Makes sense actually, otherwise you could buy version 1 for close to nothing, upgrade for a special price, and sell it for more than you paid for

This would never be possible. You would have had to buy Omni 1 for 250 dollars and then sell it for full price to even break even. Nobody would pay full price, especially for a transfer. So even assuming you could sell V2 for 400, you would have had to buy V1 for 150 to break even. Wouldn't even make money. So no this wouldn't happen.

Using myself as an example, I bought Omni 1 for 350, but there was also a 50 dollar transfer fee I had to pay, so 400. Now an extra 250 makes 650. So about the same as a VIP Omni user would have paid new for both versions.

Anyways enough about that. It was really a minor thing, just thought a 250 dollar upgrade would yield a full license. Never mind.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 4:41 pm

cocoazenith wrote:
chk071 wrote:Makes sense actually, otherwise you could buy version 1 for close to nothing, upgrade for a special price, and sell it for more than you paid for
let's be honest though. who in this world would sell a $500 software, that's been recently updated (1.5. for a price close to nothing.

I saw many version 1 synths which were sold close to nothing here in the market place, when version 2 of the synth was available. It's like that, people dig the new, and the old stuff isn't really that popular... unless you buy version 1 to upgrade to version 2, which was kind of my point. I saw Cubase 6.5 going here for $150 i think. Which is close to nothing really.

cocoazenith · Post by **cocoazenith** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:26 pm

chk071 wrote:
cocoazenith wrote:
chk071 wrote:Makes sense actually, otherwise you could buy version 1 for close to nothing, upgrade for a special price, and sell it for more than you paid for
let's be honest though. who in this world would sell a $500 software, that's been recently updated (1.5. for a price close to nothing.
I saw many version 1 synths which were sold close to nothing here in the market place, when version 2 of the synth was available. It's like that, people dig the new, and the old stuff isn't really that popular... unless you buy version 1 to upgrade to version 2, which was kind of my point. I saw Cubase 6.5 going here for $150 i think. Which is close to nothing really.

Let's not forget that Omnisphere has one of the biggest upgrade prices proportionally speaking. It's actually %50
of the product as new. Second hand prices for a software like Omnisphere 2 should range from %50 to %70 of the RRP in a normal market (it also becomes NFR unlike other software - thanks NI). So it's kind of impossible to actually make a profit by selling an upgraded V2 from a transferred V1, unless you get that transferred V1 for less than, well...0%-20% of its original price.

stikygum · Post by **stikygum** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:35 pm

Echoes in the Attic wrote:I can understand wanting to track a license as having been upgraded from a V1 transfer. That's pretty easy to track in the most basic of databases. But as cocoazenith says, this seems to equate a license upgrade bought new to a V2 that was transferred, which I can only assume will result in higher upgrade prices again in the future. For example, when I bought the upgrade to Omnisphere 2, I paid $250, even though I had the full suite of products from Spectrasonics, which would normally allow a VIP upgrade of $200:
-Trilian (new)
-Stylus RMX (new)
-Stylus RMS Expanded (new)
-Omnisphere (transfer)
-Moog Tribute Library (new).

So as you can see I have all three and their expansions, but the transfer license of Omnisphere prevented VIP. And now I've purchased the V2 upgrade new at full price and it's still viewed as a transfer! An upgrade to V2 is not cheap at 250, it should really be viewed as a full license at this point I think.

I agree with this. I think once you upgrade you should be given full license status making you eligible for VIP pricing. I mean, it makes sense as it would be more enticing to own more Spec. products.

And I do think you that by upgrading it should not be NFR at that point, if you wanted to sell your upgraded product. Though for me, I don't really care about selling second hand, because I'm positive I won't ever sell Omni 1/2. So whatever. I suppose that's the incentive to buy new. And I don't mind giving money to a company that really strives to bring off the wall ideas to the table. But I still want the VIP status discount to include upgraded transfers too.

lotus2035 · Post by **lotus2035** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:53 pm

stikygum wrote:I think once you upgrade you should be given full license status making you eligible for VIP pricing.

Wow, I have a second-hand license for StylusRMX, I always assumed that if v2 came out and I upgraded that I would then have a full license. Apparently not.

mutantdog · Post by **mutantdog** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:04 pm

So to clarify, if I buy a Spectrasonics product second-hand, not only will i be unable to sell the product but i will also be considered a lower class of customer with no way of potentially acquiring the so-called VIP privileges? Even if I then pay the hefty upgrade fee for the latest version my status will remain that of lower class, presumably I will still be unable to sell the product too?

Considering Omnisphere's high price this all sounds a little bit elitist for my liking.

Echoes in the Attic · Post by **Echoes in the Attic** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:11 pm

lotus2035 wrote:
stikygum wrote:I think once you upgrade you should be given full license status making you eligible for VIP pricing.
Wow, I have second-hand license for StylusRMX, I always assumed that if v2 came out and I upgraded that I would then have a full license. Apparently not.

Well I have Stylus RMX that I bought brand new and I can't even sell it! Why you ask? Oh because I bought an expansion pack to add to it (the xpanded set). There was a disclaimer about not being able to resell it, which is fine and I understand why (it doesn't have it's own copy protection). But what I didn't know, was that buying the expansion also prevents you from ever being able to sell the original Stylus RMX! Now that is flat out silly.

Hi from Spectrasonics!