Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[Russell Grand]

Personally I would only go for a subscription model if I got, say, equivalent credit to spend on things to own. Or 50% credit or whatever. So if I subscribe for a year and pay $200, I got $200 or $100 or whatever to spend on plugins to keep. I’m not expecting any company to do this, there’s no entitlement here, it’s just a wish. If they did, they have my attention.

I did Slate subscription for a year because of a crazy cheap sale. I wasn’t keen on the hollow feeling after the subscription ended, the price went up and I was left with nothing that I owned. Going back into my sessions and seeing those plugins disabled was a pain, I ended up replacing them with stuff I owned and it was all the same(ish), so why bother?

I enjoyed having access to all those plugins but unless there was a way for me to keep something tangible after the subscription ended I wouldn’t do a subscription again.

+1

[0degree]

As the Legacy Rewards program seems to have disappeared, there is literally no incentive for me to consider this at all. Pure subscriptions with no perpetual license option isn't just a music software issue, it's a digital rights issue. I imagine there are a lot of people thinking along similar lines.

On one hand, it makes me think of all the songs I lost, back before the days of quality virtual instruments, because of no longer having the hardware instruments they were made with. On the other hand, we all ought to be bouncing stems of everything, anyway, just because it's now so easy and there are so many other things that can go wrong.

Sorry if I misunderstood, but is this a definite thing that Roland have changed the terms of their subs now and no longer offer a 'reward' vst each year? If that's the case I'll not be renewing. Can someone confirm one way or the other?
Don't want to derail the thread on this, but it's pretty important knowledge to anyone looking to renew their subscription in this current deal.
I have also sent Roland an email, but have no idea how quickly they respond to these things.

I found this topic which could confirm it's gone: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electro ... ogram.html

[WatchTheGuitar]

I found this topic which could confirm it's gone: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electro ... ogram.html

Just more hearsay though from reading that. If I get a definitive response from Roland I'll paste it up both here (as it affects their current deal) and obviously on the Roland Cloud thread in the Instruments forum.

[0degree]

I found this topic which could confirm it's gone: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electro ... ogram.html

Just more hearsay though from reading that. If I get a definitive response from Roland I'll paste it up both here (as it affects their current deal) and obviously on the Roland Cloud thread in the Instruments forum.

Cool, thanks - I'm quite interested in this too

[monomox]

I did Slate subscription for a year because of a crazy cheap sale. I wasn’t keen on the hollow feeling after the subscription ended, the price went up and I was left with nothing that I owned. Going back into my sessions and seeing those plugins disabled was a pain, I ended up replacing them with stuff I owned and it was all the same(ish), so why bother?

I think this should be required reading for anyone considering a subscription.

Everything looks great at the beginning because you can afford a lot of plugins, but after a couple of years you've spent as much as you would have buying a bundle and you still need to keep paying. At that moment you have a lot of tracks using these plugins and your alternative is to either pay more or buy a bundle AND spend a lot of time fixing at least your newest tracks that you're still editing.

[elxsound]

Just a heads-up... There's some good deals popping up and ending quickly on Amazon for Prime Day.

I just bought a couple of Roli Songmaker Kits for less than $100 each. They're back up to $599 listing on Amazon. I couldn't find anything else worth throwing money at yet, but the Roli stuff I couldn't pass up at that price.

[mgw38]

PA Mega Bundle Subscription system 249us/year (Mega deal of your lifetime) and you will never own anything...so what you guys think,,,,?

i liked previous model with coupons so i could own something.

I think the way they rolled it out is pretty smart. The new plugins are prohibitively expensive. If you want more than one of them, the subscription is a lot easier on your wallet.

Financially it does make sense if you think in terms of cash flow. I am in the $75 tier, which means that I spend more than $600 a year on their plugins. The personalized subscription offer they sent me is $150 a year. That would cut my annual expenses quite a bit provided that they keep adding plugins that peek my interest.

The value of a subscription depends a lot on how often the developer adds new and interesting stuff. I have an East West subscription which I am quite happy with. Since I subscribes last year they already added 3 new libraries whose value far exceeds what I paid during that time.

At the same time I had a Kush subscription which I cancelled because I kept paying 99$ for the same handful of plugins. If the content never changes there comes a moment where it makes more sense economically to just buy the stuff you actually use.

[Caine123]

I found this topic which could confirm it's gone: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electro ... ogram.html

Just more hearsay though from reading that. If I get a definitive response from Roland I'll paste it up both here (as it affects their current deal) and obviously on the Roland Cloud thread in the Instruments forum.

Cool, thanks - I'm quite interested in this too

This would be f**ked up! No mail nothing about it. They had to inform all subscribers in my opinion if thats the case thats why im still subscribed until i got my wanted vsts with loyalpoints and then see if they got something more or not. Sneaky f**king tactics if so. Definitely not legal in my opinion.

[masterhiggins]

They’re a shell of the company they used to be.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Sneaky f**king tactics if so. Definitely not legal in my opinion.

Legally they'd be in hot water if they reneged on an already agreed contract - which is why I (and presumably others subscribed to RC) still have a countdown to 2 months time when my next 'reward' is available. However, they could just change the terms and conditions of a new subscription extension to not include rewards going forwards. That's the situation I'm looking to clarify.

To be quite honest I'm starting to veer away from reupping now especially as I only just noticed this doozy of a clause in their support FAQ

What if one of my Loyalty Program reward instruments is removed from the Roland Cloud catalog--can I choose another one?

Yes.

https://www.rolandcloud.com/support

which is a really sneaky way of making it obvious they can pull any of these VSTs out of the cloud bundle - even ones you've got as 'yours forever' at any time. Obviously there's an element of cutting off their nose to spite their face to that, but who knows what the future holds?

[SirKen]

Just a heads-up... There's some good deals popping up and ending quickly on Amazon for Prime Day.

I just bought a couple of Roli Songmaker Kits for less than $100 each. They're back up to $599 listing on Amazon. I couldn't find anything else worth throwing money at yet, but the Roli stuff I couldn't pass up at that price.

What are the chances of that deal repeating on Amazon? Has that ever happened before?

[soundbylaura]

Thanks to everyone to gave me tips about saving money on Logic X. Amazon had an iTunes lightning deal and I picked up a $50 gift card for $40 (could only buy one). One step closer.

[ChamomileShark]

I found this topic which could confirm it's gone: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electro ... ogram.html

Just more hearsay though from reading that. If I get a definitive response from Roland I'll paste it up both here (as it affects their current deal) and obviously on the Roland Cloud thread in the Instruments forum.

Cool, thanks - I'm quite interested in this too

I am also interested.

[elxsound]

Just a heads-up... There's some good deals popping up and ending quickly on Amazon for Prime Day.

I just bought a couple of Roli Songmaker Kits for less than $100 each. They're back up to $599 listing on Amazon. I couldn't find anything else worth throwing money at yet, but the Roli stuff I couldn't pass up at that price.

What are the chances of that deal repeating on Amazon? Has that ever happened before?

I've never seen that before, but to be honest I wasn't really watching the prices before.

I was just typing in various brand names of companies in the search bar (under Prime Day) and under Roli, it showed that kit listed at full price with a blue "Prime Day Deal," but on the product page, in small print... it said the final check out price for members would be $94.98.

[dzilizzi]

Personally I would only go for a subscription model if I got, say, equivalent credit to spend on things to own. Or 50% credit or whatever. So if I subscribe for a year and pay $200, I got $200 or $100 or whatever to spend on plugins to keep. I’m not expecting any company to do this, there’s no entitlement here, it’s just a wish. If they did, they have my attention.

I did Slate subscription for a year because of a crazy cheap sale. I wasn’t keen on the hollow feeling after the subscription ended, the price went up and I was left with nothing that I owned. Going back into my sessions and seeing those plugins disabled was a pain, I ended up replacing them with stuff I owned and it was all the same(ish), so why bother?

I enjoyed having access to all those plugins but unless there was a way for me to keep something tangible after the subscription ended I wouldn’t do a subscription again.

+1

+2

And why I won't give up my ProTools perpetual license.