The "NEW" Plugin Alliance?

[0degree]

Sales pitch aside - what PA plugs are really worth getting?

You've prob gotten more replies than you want now lol. But we do love to talk about our plugins... so I'll add my input for any who give a shit

Haha, no worries - I don't mind many different opinions
I'm surpised about Bx Saturator - never liked the sound of it when demoing, but maybe it's just me. I already have Thorn - fanstastic synth indeed

[Razzia]

I'm surpised about Bx Saturator - never liked the sound of it when demoing, but maybe it's just me

I don't profess to have an exceptional ear or anything, so maybe many would agree with you. I just think bx Saturator2 is nice when used at subtle settings. Just to enhance things a bit so that you'd barely even know it's there. A little sizzle on the hats, spread the HF content a bit, maybe add a little harmonic content to the kick and collapse the lows to mono. etc etc. I feel sometimes it has a nice effect on transients too, but I could be wrong.

Basically the opposite of phil's cascade, which gets really destructive really quick and sounds good doing it.

[chk071]

I'm still seeing prices set by someone who is totally clueless about the concept of competition.

I'm not a big fan of such a scheme either, but... to be fair: Waves is very, very successful with it. I think the mistake many of us (me included) are making is to judge from their own perspective. If you're not part of the mass market, you tend to view things differently.

[Razzia]

I'm still seeing prices set by someone who is totally clueless about the concept of competition.

I'm not a big fan of such a scheme either, but... to be fair: Waves is very, very successful with it. I think the mistake many of us (me included) are making is to judge from their own perspective. If you're not part of the mass market, you tend to view things differently.

I used to really dislike PA because of their pricing, but the truth is they can keep pretending their plugins are all worth $300 if they want, as long as they keep sending me vouchers and having sales for $30. And I'll keep ignoring everything in their catalog that isn't 80-90% off.

I won't get what I want when I want it, but in the end you actually get it for much less than it's worth. I got Townhouse Compressor for $9 with a voucher. It's easily better than some compressors I've bought for, say 50-100 dollars. Just not worth 3-6x as much lol.

And if I impulsively spend an extra 20 or 30 bucks on a sale item now and then... meh. Worst case scenario, I'll barely use it but it'll probably influence me to spend a little extra time working on music or mixing and supply a bit of novelty. High pressure sales tactics are annoying but ultimately I'm responsible for being retarded with my money

edit - actually I think the license transfer policy is far more obnoxious in that they regulate that the $20 fee comes straight from the buyer. The cynic in me feels like that's a very subtle way to discourage resale by making it unattractive to the buyer. I know when I see people selling PA plugs on here, I'm always thinking about how I don't feel like paying PA a $20 fee that the seller would normally have included in the sale price.

[Mathematics]

Sales pitch aside - what PA plugs are really worth getting?

VSM-3, HG-2 Blackbox, ProAudioDSP DSM V2, Townhouse, bx_Opto, bx_Subsynth, bx_Saturator, bx_Control V2. If I had to do it all over again, I'd start with these, first.

I don't see the appeal of bx_control over VUMT Deluxe? bx_opto is great though.

Because PA doesn't make VUMT deluxe. 0degree asked what PA plugins specifically, were worth getting. VUMT deluxe looks good but I haven't used it.

[reggie1979]

actually I think the license transfer policy is far more obnoxious in that they regulate that the $20 fee comes straight from the buyer. The cynic in me feels like that's a very subtle way to discourage resale by making it unattractive to the buyer. I know when I see people selling PA plugs on here, I'm always thinking about how I don't feel like paying PA a $20 fee that the seller would normally have included in the sale price.

It's better than nothing though. Of course with all these sales, people are reluctant to pay fair market value which makes it kinda a waste of time.

[Mathematics]

@Razzia - I agree, that $20 transfer fee kills the sales for license transfers. In retrospect, the cost of the transfer is equal to or more than the cost of the plugin, in some cases. They need to change that if they plan on selling $300 plugins for $30.

[Razzia]

@Razzia - I agree, that $20 transfer fee kills the sales for license transfers. In retrospect, the cost of the transfer is equal to or more than the cost of the plugin, in some cases. They need to change that if they plan on selling $300 plugins for $30.

I think that's kind of the point is it not?

Basically, if you want to buy it used for cheap, you're still paying Plugin Alliance most of what you would have paid to buy it on sale. Either buy it from us, or pay us the price of buying from us basically. Don't want to get overly negative here because I'm really quite pleased with their plugs and their recent sale, but I think that's a little bit sketchy

It's better than nothing though.

That's very true. I saw someone on here recently who was giving VERY generous pricing for high demand plugins. Zebra 2 for $100, Hive 2 for $80, Omnisphere 2 for $200, etc. He edited his post to indicate that Spectrasonics declined his license transfer request because he'd owned it for less than a year. And should they have been so magnanimous as to grant his request, and IIRC their policy states it's a $50 fee and the license the buyer receives becomes NFR and ineligible for upgrade discounts. You pay close to $500 for a plugin and this is what you get. I doubt I'll ever sell my copy of Omnisphere 2 but I still find this absolutely appalling. Shame on them

[Mathematics]

Sales pitch aside - what PA plugs are really worth getting?

You've prob gotten more replies than you want now lol. But we do love to talk about our plugins... so I'll add my input for any who give a shit

Haha, no worries - I don't mind many different opinions
I'm surpised about Bx Saturator - never liked the sound of it when demoing, but maybe it's just me. I already have Thorn - fanstastic synth indeed

I agree, on a mix, it's terrible. I only use it on individual stems or instruments to accent either the high, mid, or low frequency band when something gets lost. It's a quick fix when I don't want to duck.

[Mathematics]

... IRC their policy states it's a $50 fee and the license the buyer receives becomes NFR and ineligible for upgrade discounts.

When did that happen for Spectrasonics? Is this a recent change?

PS. I guess you save now and pay later. In their documentation, you don't get the same discount but it appears you still get a break. Whatever. As long as the upgrade isn't the cost of buying it new, I'm ok with my second-hand copy.

[reggie1979]

... IRC their policy states it's a $50 fee and the license the buyer receives becomes NFR and ineligible for upgrade discounts.

When did that happen for Spectrasonics? Is this a recent change?

PS. I guess you save now and pay later. In their documentation, you don't get the same discount but it appears you still get a break. Whatever. As long as the upgrade isn't the cost of buying it new, I'm ok with my second-hand copy.

No, it's not recent. And good luck getting it done with any expediency ( my situation was a nightmare, just brutal)

[Mathematics]

I was lucky I guess. My license was transferred within 24 hours. I guess I'll just upgrade after every two versions. That's what I'm doing with Pro Tools. I renewed my Perpetual license for one last year, then I'll reinstate it every 3 to 5 years (or whatever maximum interval of time the reinstatement qualifies for that costs less than the sum of the yearly update renewals), until they get rid of that option. Besides, I'm migrating to Cubase soon.

[reggie1979]

24 hours????????????? Wow, just wow. Anyways, congrats.

[Mathematics]

24 hours????????????? Wow, just wow. Anyways, congrats.

Though, I know exactly what you're talking about. I read someone waited like weeks or months; something ridiculous like that. Yea...I bought my license a good time after that era, when they publicly announced internal changes to license transfers. But yea, I read about those "(g)olden-time" days.

[Burillo]

i don't think anyone can say that PA plugins suck - they're actually pretty good to great to truly exceptional, much more consistently great than Waves stuff (although i wish they didn't pretend they invented M/S processing). it's their pricing policy that's out of whack.