Is Melda Productions the only company with Free-for-Life plugins and updates?

[enCiphered]

You pay once for their complete plugin bundle and all effects, instruments and updates released in the future will be free? This sounds really insane and I wonder if there are more audio plugin companies offering the same.

[RobinWood]

Of course melda is not alone. See YouLean or xfer for example. Imageline even has a whole DAW with lifetime free updates.

Furthermore I've not seen many companies that charge for updates, though they don't explicitely state it either. Like as a long time customer of BlueCatAudio, Toneboosters or FabFilter I've never paid anything after initial purchase (unless it was a real upgrade to a whole new plugin).

[enCiphered]

Well, free updates for existing plugins is one thing. Offering every future plugin for free is something different and very unique. I don´t know of any other dev doing that, this is why I´m asking.

[noiseresearch]

/* whitenoise */

[yellowmix]

Kind of rare, as few have such a large portfolio and frequent new release schedule or a "complete bundle" offering. The way the Melda framework is built on recycling existing parts, they can churn out products like no one else. Others build GUIs expressly for an elegant workflow, where Melda absolutely fails.

So it's kind of unfair to make such a unique comparison. Not to mention the pricepoint (> $2000), which is well out of reach for an overwhelming majority of the world. Compared to ImageLine's FLStudio which starts an order of magnitude below that ($99). You really need to love all of Melda's plugins to commit to that, and that is a rare person.

However, Puremagnetik comes to mind, as their Century bundle initially included all future samples/sample instruments. When they launched their monthly plugin series, it became part of the Century bundle, and existing customers automatically got it. They can do this since the plugin scope is generally very focused and they have their own framework that only requires a new background graphic and knobs.

u-He is very good about this, there's an Uhbik upgrade coming for free and it's functionally a brand-new product for one of the few low-cost surround-sound ready FX bundles out there. The rare upgrade prices are nominal to me, and I'm getting Zebra 3 for free. Also, if I recall correctly, when they launched RePro, they gave it to existing owners of all u-He products for free. Then RePro-5 landed and they got that too (as well as anyone who got RePro). I'd take their UIs over Melda any day.

Voxengo has a "Premium Membership" which gets you all their plugins and future upgrades. New products may be free or paid at their discretion, and if paid, such users get a discount. Very reasonable.

Of course, you can't beat Airwindows. You get everything for free, source code too. And before you say it doesn't count, the Patreon makes it clear it is a business model.

[enCiphered]

Good points, thanks.
I have to say, I like the GUI concept of Melda in terms of workflow. You know exactly where to find everything because all plugins share the same interface. This is very clever and time saving. It might not win any beauty awards but the concept is intuitive.

I´ve never heard of Purmagnetik and Airwindows, will check them out.

[MirkoVanHauten]

Indeed there's hardly any dev that sh*ts out generic plugins once a month to release 10 eqs, 5 compressors and 5 reverbs that would justify the need for 10 different plugin bundles (to be fair melda has only half the plugins because they're split into non-/multiband versions). Usually devs take their time to create the right sound, user experience, workflow, featureset and innovation. And that leads to another point: economics. It's just a stupid idea to work for long on a plugin and then release it for "free" (even though it is just for existing customers which hopefully get more over time). Of course that's different with melda as he doesn't spent that long on a new release and rather plays with his generic costruction kit. Still I remember him saying it was a bad idea from the beginning whenever he released something and one of his cutsomers was happy to get it for free in a bundle. At least you can see him mumble often Another thing to consider is having devs releasing modular or hosting plugins: like blue cat audio patchwork or mb7. Those have build in effects too and those get updated and added over time as regular free updates though they're not considered individual plugins in the classic sense. I thought similar to some UVI, sugarbytes or soundtoys toolboxes, maybe even Slate stuff.

[Winstontaneous]

I have to say, I like the GUI concept of Melda in terms of workflow.
You know exactly where to find everything because all 478967543209 plugins share the same interface.

FTFY...

[yellowmix]

I have to say, I like the GUI concept of Melda in terms of workflow. You know exactly where to find everything because all plugins share the same interface. This is very clever and time saving. It might not win any beauty awards but the concept is intuitive.\

I don't care about pretty graphics if something sounds great but it's always a plus, and the configurable skins and colors is pretty nice IMO. What really slows things down is how it keeps nesting pop-up windows. It can get very extreme when you're five or six popup windows deep in plugins that host other Melda plugins. I find myself gravitating toward one-page plugins but find Omnisphere's magnifying glass thing tolerable, that's two levels deep max. Melda takes it to a level no other developer does.

[Gamma-UT]

Indeed there's hardly any dev that sh*ts out generic plugins once a month to release 10 eqs, 5 compressors and 5 reverbs that would justify the need for 10 different plugin bundles (to be fair melda has only half the plugins because they're split into non-/multiband versions). Usually devs take their time to create the right sound, user experience, workflow, featureset and innovation. And that leads to another point: economics. It's just a stupid idea to work for long on a plugin and then release it for "free" (even though it is just for existing customers which hopefully get more over time). Of course that's different with melda as he doesn't spent that long on a new release and rather plays with his generic costruction kit. Still I remember him saying it was a bad idea from the beginning whenever he released something and one of his cutsomers was happy to get it for free in a bundle. At least you can see him mumble often Another thing to consider is having devs releasing modular or hosting plugins: like blue cat audio patchwork or mb7. Those have build in effects too and those get updated and added over time as regular free updates though they're not considered individual plugins in the classic sense. I thought similar to some UVI, sugarbytes or soundtoys toolboxes, maybe even Slate stuff.

Those are...words.

[jochicago]

$2k is pretty pricey. It makes sense at that level you are getting the premium treatment.

Personally I'd spend that money into the things I need from multiple developers. I wouldn't see myself paying that premium lifetime fee for any developer. My DAW plugin report says I have 1000+ plugins, and I don't think I've invested $2k total (also no subscriptions).

[WasteLand]

$2K is over the top, melda has its bundles for sale, every year, at summer, black friday, etc. for half. and if you buy plugins, the price goes down.
the full bundle i can get for something less than $500, when there is a sale, i won't do it, i do not need it. o well perhaps some day....

and if you understand the GUI, every new plugin you add (buy..), the learning curve is very fast. the same framework has also its advantages in cpu usage.

and yes there are overlaps, the multiband versions, but you have also MXXX (and MXXXcore). a modular effect, for melda effects.

[AKJ]

the updates are also free if you just buy one plugin (and if you do so on discount), so no need to spend on expensive bundles to get free updates. however, I am very much satisfied with my bundles. I really got al lot of great free plugins in the past, and I believe Melda is among the most innovative and customer friendly companies around.

[GusGranite]

$2K is over the top, melda has its bundles for sale, every year, at summer, black friday, etc. for half. and if you buy plugins, the price goes down.
the full bundle i can get for something less than $500, when there is a sale, i won't do it, i do not need it. o well perhaps some day....

and if you understand the GUI, every new plugin you add (buy..), the learning curve is very fast. the same framework has also its advantages in cpu usage.

and yes there are overlaps, the multiband versions, but you have also MXXX (and MXXXcore). a modular effect, for melda effects.

Yes. If you take your time then you can pick up Melda plugins at a significant discount. 50% off is the constant standard but you can also get 70% off through resellers. They sometimes give away new plugins (I think MSpectral Delay was free?, what an amazing delay). And MSoundFactory was only $99 during beta. All plugins significantly reduce the price of the bundles as well regardless what you paid for them.

I appreciate all styles of plugins but IMO Melda Production are incredible and rightly deserve praise for their upgrade policy as well as the plugins themselves.

[frizzbee]

...and rightly deserve praise for their upgrade policy as well as the plugins themselves.

yes let's praise blatant copycats, trashtalking devs and the fact you can buy the free bundle or the fact that "unloyal" customers who bought via resellers don't get these fair bundle upgrade prices like shown in a current melda thread...

to answer ops question: no not unique as pointed out. and a matter of perspective too.