Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[JonSolo]

MOOG did a BF sale only in the US... so I and millions of Asians and Europeans and and and were discriminated!? Interesting idea!

Yes, unless there was some law in this or your country preventing it. Absolutely wrong if they sell products to your country on a regular basis. I hate discrimination.

[Psyclapse]

Quick reminder that the Jan 2018 issue of Computer Music magazine (out now) comes with the full version of Air's Vacuum Pro.

Isn't it weird that AIR plugins, several of which these days are either given away or cost a dollar (xpand!2 last year, hybrid3 and vacuum pro this year), have iLok protection? At that price point why bother?

I actually bought Hybrid3 a couple years back for a normal price, about $50, pre-iLok. Last year they added iLok to it and this year they reduced its price to $1.

Got me thinking - have iLok thrown some money at AIR? Are these crazy price AIR deals a means to getting lots of musos to take on iLok? It would certainly be a crafty way to get iLok into wider circulation and overcome some people's reluctance. Then iLok's higher value clients don't have that potential barrier.

OTH maybe I just look for too many conspiracies...

[Chapelle]

---

[mgw38]

MOOG did a BF sale only in the US... so I and millions of Asians and Europeans and and and were discriminated!? Interesting idea!

Yes, unless there was some law in this or your country preventing it. Absolutely wrong if they sell products to your country on a regular basis. I hate discrimination.

It appears that it is now accessible for everybody. My guess is they region blocked the merchandise giveaway and that it took some time until that was flushed out of the network. Strange choice to temporarily region block the website. It would have been better to just ignore entries from outside the eligible region.

[ghettosynth]

I think we (old) plugin buyers dropped the ball when we accepted downloads instead of physical boxes and I believe subscriptions are the next logical step.
So, no physical boxes, no physical ownership.
But I’ll say it again. As my next car will not be electric because I love the sound of a “real” engine, my next plugin will be purchased, not subscribed to.
Then why did I ever accept non-physical (downloaded) delivery in the first place?
Convenience, for sure.
I’m a slut.

One potential problem down the line with subscription is if the developer stop offering the sub (either voluntarily or going out of business/being bought out etc) - not sure what happens at that point.

It's no different for any "owned" plugin that you have to activate online. If they go under you think you'll be able to install it on a new machine?

No, it's clearly different and is completely a function of what kind of copy protection is used. It's only the same in the sense that OS evolution will eventually make the product unusable.

Case in point Slate, if the company goes out of business your subscription is foobar, but your purchased licenses on iLok are not.

This is why end users prefer serial number and license file style copyright protection. There's obviously some threat if iLok goes out of business. However, it's not the same even then as a risk with a sub. The existing iLok software will continue to work with dongles and existing plugins for some time.

If a company goes out of business and you are on a sub or rental plan, you're just hosed. Go look at the Cakewalk threads for some first hand examples of people who just got the hose.

[SolarAxix]

I was getting $50 coupons but this month it's down to $35 for me? I really don't get their system. It's still nice though. Been interested in Subsynth so might jump on that for $14, otherwise wait and see what else they offer (plus the full reveal close to Xmas). Plugin Alliance make great stuff.

same for me, was getting $50 vouchers, now down to $35.
I emailed them but she just explained it in just a confusing enough way that i couldn't be bothered to mail them again.

@sqigls: Could you post their email response? (Just the response, no need to post their name/contact info) I'm sure a lot of us would like to understand how the vouchers work better between the tiers.

While I got my usual voucher, my sons who usually get $25 did not get any this month.

I did get a response earlier this year from them that said that the vouchers are based on total lifetime spent (not the value of the plugins):

....our customer loyalty vouchers are based on lifetime spend...

[Rational]

t's only the same in the sense that OS evolution will eventually make the product unusable.

Yep. Planned obsolescense. A form of evil/theft in my opinion. And wasting our worlds limited resources.

I understand companies need to make a profit. No question. But innovate and draw us into giving into your future income stream with actual benefits that lure us in over the use of force via artificial roadblocks. It's a form of planned theft actually.

Which is why I won't ever give another penny to Tascam. They screwed me over with two interfaces that no longer function on newer OSs. Kiss off Tascam. You're shortsighted. So you lost me for the long term. Why? Because I can't trust you. Dropping driver support is teaching me not to trust you. Simple stuff. Figure it out. I probably would have upgraded a generation or two later, but now I'll never do so with your offerings. Dumb. Trying to force profitability only builds resentment. Just look at some of the vendors posting cheezy offers here so constantly and obtrusively that we all despise them now.

[Rational]

Solaraxis. I can share the responses I've gotten from my trouble tickets with PA for you:

This is from my ticket with them on Nov 13th, 2017:
"Hi R,
Currently you're in the $50 loyalty voucher bracket. Because you entered this bracket within the month of October, you'll begin receiving this voucher amount starting next month in November.

Let me know if you have any further questions.
Best,
S.
The Plugin Alliance Support Team

You wrote:
Hi,
Yes. How much has to be spent with you to start receiving $75 coupons?
Thanks,
R

Support wrote:
Hi R,
Once you spend over $1000 with us, you'll move up to the $75 voucher bracket.
Best,
S."

I had another ticket from earlier in the year giving me the 'total lifetime spend' (meaning the actual dollar amount we've given them over time) in order to get $50 coupons. It's dropped off my ticket listing with the PA site, but I'll try to find it within my old emails for you to confirm for eveyrone. It's a good thing to know.

[Rational]

Hi R,
I checked your lifetime spend and you are only about $50 away from jumping up to the $50 coupon/month. I am unable to manually update your newsletter subscription, but you can do that by logging into your account and updating your preferences.

Please let me know if I can answer any additional questions for you.

Cheers
C
The Plugin Alliance Support Team


From: R
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2017 8:55 AM
To: CW
Subject: Re: $50 coupons [#xxxxx]

Thanks again C. That's really great news!

How much have I spent so far with you guys? I can go through all my old emails and add it up, but it'd save me a ton of time if you can provide that number.

And I'll update my subscription options.

Thank you so much for the top notch service! I wished all companies did as well as you do on it. It matters a lot to me.

Thank you for being awesome.
R

On Thu, 15 Jun at 2:12 AM , R wrote:
Hi C,
Thanks again for the great help each time I have a question. I really appreciate it!

How much have I spent so far with you guys in total?

Thank you again.
R


Fri 6/16/2017, 6:55 AM
You;
Hi R,

Your total spent with us so far is $551.48.

Cheers,
L
Plugin Alliance Support Team
____________

Hope that helps answer this question once and for all for everyone. It's a good thing to know.

[dandezebra]

-in response to rational-

The opposite of PA, u-he, TAL, FabFilter... I actually feel bad about leaving some other good ones out but it's late!

[Tappistry]

Looks like I have about a month left to decide on something to grab with my u-he survey coupon.

Figure I should get something that can only be purchased through u-he directly ... maybe one of their commercial synth soundsets? Which ones are some favorites around here?

[Harry_HH]

Quick reminder that the Jan 2018 issue of Computer Music magazine (out now) comes with the full version of Air's Vacuum Pro.

Isn't it weird that AIR plugins, several of which these days are either given away or cost a dollar (xpand!2 last year, hybrid3 and vacuum pro this year), have iLok protection? At that price point why bother?

I actually bought Hybrid3 a couple years back for a normal price, about $50, pre-iLok. Last year they added iLok to it and this year they reduced its price to $1.

Got me thinking - have iLok thrown some money at AIR? Are these crazy price AIR deals a means to getting lots of musos to take on iLok? It would certainly be a crafty way to get iLok into wider circulation and overcome some people's reluctance. Then iLok's higher value clients don't have that potential barrier.

OTH maybe I just look for too many conspiracies...

I don't know where do you get those prices. The site says e.g. the Hybrid3 $ 149,99
www.airmusictech.com/product/hybrid-3#.WiNuwdY8LqA

[JonSolo]

Nope...no access on Steinberg for US customers.

[mgw38]

Nope...no access on Steinberg for US customers.

Yup, gone again. It is as if they wanted to annoy us on purpose.

[Philip_P]

Quick reminder that the Jan 2018 issue of Computer Music magazine (out now) comes with the full version of Air's Vacuum Pro.

Isn't it weird that AIR plugins, several of which these days are either given away or cost a dollar (xpand!2 last year, hybrid3 and vacuum pro this year), have iLok protection? At that price point why bother?

I actually bought Hybrid3 a couple years back for a normal price, about $50, pre-iLok. Last year they added iLok to it and this year they reduced its price to $1.

Got me thinking - have iLok thrown some money at AIR? Are these crazy price AIR deals a means to getting lots of musos to take on iLok? It would certainly be a crafty way to get iLok into wider circulation and overcome some people's reluctance. Then iLok's higher value clients don't have that potential barrier.

OTH maybe I just look for too many conspiracies...

I don't know where do you get those prices. The site says e.g. the Hybrid3 $ 149,99
http://www.airmusictech.com/product/hyb ... iNuwdY8LqA

Here at PluginBoutique (not sure how much longer this price will last): https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/ ... 5-Hybrid-3