Avoid Analog Obsession at all costs!

[jochicago]

But it seemed recently people where quite satisfied with his products. So what sparked the latest controversy?

I don't follow AO closely but I've heard it mentioned several times. Specifically to answer your questions, there was a public meltdown about the business being shut down, and then all the plugins were being made available for free, and it just so happened that all these new free versions of the plugins were carrying malware.

If you ask AO, it was a nasty bit of coincidence that everything happened to get hacked and all his plugins were infected at the same time he decided to end his business and make the plugins free. A cynical person might look at this developer's long history of troublesome choices and wonder how that malware made it into every single free plugin.

The title of this thread echoes the experience of many users on this forum. I haven't used these plugins more than testing a few of the free ones over the years, but I've read plenty of negative experiences from users. If you are considering these plugins you might want to look closer at the latest controversy. You might also want to look closer at the previous controversy, and the one after that, and so on. I'd bet that if you use AO plugins long enough, you too will get to experience a controversy at some point.

[MogwaiBoy]

I'm willing to give AO another shot based on the generosity of the Patreon (pay what you want, nor not) and the quality of some of these new plugins. I don't think any of the EQs cramp at Nyquist anymore? Will have to check. Seems like somehow he's managed to ramp up quality and output at the same time - oversampling is everywhere now (although minimal phase by the looks of it).

I would suggest he slows down a bit and does solid updates and releases, rather than a continual shotgun approach. I lost count of which Buster we're upto now... V6 or 7? And they all look, sound and behave differently... I just couldn't keep up with the chaotic updates.

[MogwaiBoy]

But it seemed recently people where quite satisfied with his products. So what sparked the latest controversy?

and it just so happened that all these new free versions of the plugins were carrying malware.

I didn't know about that. Do you have more details (which versions / which malware / best way to detect)?

[plexuss]

But it seemed recently people where quite satisfied with his products. So what sparked the latest controversy?

and it just so happened that all these new free versions of the plugins were carrying malware.

I didn't know about that. Do you have more details (which versions / which malware / best way to detect)?

Not all. Some of the 32 bit versions before everything was moved to Patreon were apparently infected as a result of a website attack.

I think this thread should be locked. People cant be bothered to state the facts and this may have a negative impact on the devs livelihood because of incorrect or missing info by posters.

[kidslow]

But it seemed recently people where quite satisfied with his products. So what sparked the latest controversy?

and it just so happened that all these new free versions of the plugins were carrying malware.

I didn't know about that. Do you have more details (which versions / which malware / best way to detect)?

Not all. Some of the 32 bit versions before everything was moved to Patreon were apparently infected as a result of a website attack.

I think this thread should be locked. People cant be bothered to state the facts and this may have a negative impact on the devs livelihood because of incorrect or missing info by posters.

I agree.

If you ask AO, it was a nasty bit of coincidence that everything happened to get hacked and all his plugins were infected at the same time he decided to end his business and make the plugins free. A cynical person might look at this developer’s long history of troublesome choices and wonder how that malware made it into every single free plugin.

This is both smear by insinuation and factually incorrect. It was not every plugin, and I'm a cynical mofo but not nearly as cynical as you @jochicago. Must be tough to go through life in your shoes bro.

[jochicago]

[...] were apparently infected as a result of a website attack.

How do you know that to be true? I understand your point that accusing him without evidence would hurt his business and would be a bad move if he is innocent, but are you doing the opposite by assuming innocence with no proof of it?

In short, on the evidence an nothing more, if you are an AO user your experience is:
- buggy plugins, and developer slow to respond, then inconsistent with version releases
- several controversies
- shady business model, change of name, pricing, fake forum accounts
- business closure, change of model, your plugins became devalued to $0
- some of the plugins you downloaded infected your computer with malware

I don't need to claim he did any of that on purpose. All I'm presenting is that this would be the experience of an AO user as I've seen it here.

In my experience in life, people deserve the reputation they have built over the years. What's the saying: when someone shows you who they are, believe them.

[jochicago]

This is both smear by insinuation and factually incorrect. It was not every plugin, and I'm a cynical mofo but not nearly as cynical as you @jochicago. Must be tough to go through life in your shoes bro.

Calling out the events as they unfolded is not a smear.

Also, anyone that is responsible for the health of computer systems needs to be cynical about the potential sources of infection.

> Must be tough to go through life in your shoes bro.
Actually the opposite. I tend to only do business with people that have earned the trust, so my relationships are very amicable and short on doubt. Just because that's a nicer way of being, that doesn't mean trust is to be given freely to those that have not earned it.

[jochicago]

But it seemed recently people where quite satisfied with his products. So what sparked the latest controversy?

and it just so happened that all these new free versions of the plugins were carrying malware.

I didn't know about that. Do you have more details (which versions / which malware / best way to detect)?

There's a long thread on that
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=540139&start=45

[thecontrolcentre]

Not all. Some of the 32 bit versions before everything was moved to Patreon were apparently infected as a result of a website attack.

No. I downloaded only the 64 bit plugins and got malware warnings as soon as I unzipped them. I didn't download any of the 32 bit plugins but still had to spend the next 24 hours cleaning malware from my system.

[kidslow]

There was no malware in the Mac downloads, so to say that all the plugins were infected is factually untrue. But you do you jo. The way you wrote that was an insinuation. I'm not going to unravel the nuance of why. You call it events as they unfolded or I call it spin. You're holding some sort of grudge. That's my interpretation.

There was nothing in Tunca's offline messages to me, when I offered to help at the time this unfolded, that led me to believe he was anything other than victim. As someone who is responsible for securing computer systems, I know a small bit about threat modeling and incident response. I see things very differently than you, in fact giving Tunca a bit of money on Patreon monthly, because my experience is not the same as yours.

I've seen a developer who was terrible at business, struggle to figure that out, and then got kicked in the nuts by a hacked website while he was down. The site was probably hacked well before, and the trigger for discovery of the infected downloads was his opening up the files hosted there for free. Having studied a bit about this in my career, there is nothing far fetched that a WordPress self-hosted site was hacked, nor that the files hosted there would be used as a vector for malware. Happens every day. You want to be cynical about sources of infection, Content Management Systems (e.g. WordPress) are buggy and insecure, madly so if you don't keep them updated.

I have also seen that from a very public bottom, AO picked himself up and busted ass to find an alternate model and share his work, updating everything at a mad pace, clearly taking into mind the reputational damage that was done. That's my perspective on things. Everyone here can form their own opinion of the his plugins by downloading and using them, but this thread is no longer about that.

[bmanic]

> Must be tough to go through life in your shoes bro.
Actually the opposite. I tend to only do business with people that have earned the trust, so my relationships are very amicable and short on doubt. Just because that's a nicer way of being, that doesn't mean trust is to be given freely to those that have not earned it.

The older I've gotten, the more I have come to respect and agree with your kind of reasoning. However, there must always be a way to forgiveness too or you will absolutely 100% corrupt yourself and end up a bitter bastard to the end. I've seen this happen, unfortunately, several times with some people. It is very sad and very destructive.

[jochicago]

> I call it spin
Seems to me that's what you are doing. I shorthand said all the plugin were infected, you say only all of the Windows plugins were infected but not the Mac plugins, so what, the intention of my post was wrong?

I'm not spinning anything to thread a narrative. I'm answering a question for people who see a bunch of free plugins and are wondering what's the catch. You however seem to be very interested in spinning. You point out a factual error in a line while dismissing the key points. Has the business model not been shaky? Did we not have users exposed to malware? Have this guy not been creating fake accounts on this forum? Did the plugin purchases not get devalued to $0?

That's all I have to say on the subject. Enough has been said on all sides. This thread looks to have been resurrected by a fake account, so it was only fitting to tell the story here one more time and share the links. People that want to download the plugins can know the story and have all the links.

[jochicago]

there must always be a way to forgiveness too

I agree of course. But just like trust and a good name, redemption is earned not given.

And the last incident wasn't the only incident. If the hack thing was all to complaint about we would not be having this conversation. There's a cascade of issues that started years ago, which add up to how we interpret what's going on and what to expect from this company/developer.

While we are sharing lessons here is one I've learned: I don't rush to help people that don't want any help, and I don't rush to forgive people that haven't asked forgiveness.

[bmanic]

Good points and I wholeheartedly agree.

[dr zeus]

Save the drama for your momma.

We're talking about free plugins here people, a lot different then the picture you're painting from the past.

Seems pretty generous to me.