NI / Izotope partnership. A good thing for musicians?

[noiseboyuk]

Option to buy plugins is only temporary and it's just one last step before going full subscription.

People do seem to keep typing this stuff.

I asked this question in another thread - can anyone point to a single developer who has gone from permanent license only to full subscription only via a half way house of both? There may be one out there, I just can't think of one.

[Unaspected]

Best be optimistic though. Maybe this only heralds a sharing of tech that might well result in some interesting products.

Izotope seem to have absorbed a few companies, like exponential audio. They do seem to have some very useable good new products as a result e.g. neovern

They also pump out quite a few really good older products at really low prices.

You can also still buy their products as well as get a subscription.

Not sure what's wrong with any of that.

Only thing that caught my ear is RX but I make do without - though I have been an NI customer for over 15 years now so I've invested a fair amount there. Uniting all products under Native Access makes sense and if there could be a rent to own for RX Advanced then iZotope might win my custom. I know some people don't like NA but it's been painless to me so far.

No expectations - though I really wouldn't like to see a sub only for Komplete as I don't update at every version. I think I went from 7 to 11 and then 12 - holding off on the current version but I'll likely always want to update Reaktor and Kontakt.

Maybe... And maybe my optimism can be a little sickening but maybe we'll see iZotope helping the development of Reaktor and other products. I would love to see a solid convolution engine at the primary level - maybe ported from Kontakt somehow. If both companies are able to share resources this really could mean significant positive change. Think about the cross pollination of the algorithms that both companies have developed, the sharing of minds and workload...

And I'm sounding like the marketing nonsense now. I'm a sentence away from using the word "synergy". I'm out.

As long as Kontakt and Reaktor don't go subscription only. I would find it extremely difficult to replace them.

Best be optimistic though. Maybe this only heralds a sharing of tech that might well result in some interesting products.

They will delete Reaktor User Library and every month they will release a 'new' ensemble taken from there Enough to fill hundreds of years of subscription.

Time to download the whole library!

[fairlyclose]

Because of all the libraries it would be more than expensive for me to ditch Kontakt. But I did ditch Adobe and I could keep Kontakt for as long as possible.
On the other hand maybe a subscription would be worth it - have to be like $99 a year or so, as I can always move my practise away from Kontakt anyway, might be exciting to do so.
Certainly this uncertainty makes buying new libraries unlikely for a while.

[concon]

I don't see the point of this merger. Does sound like corporate BS--merge, probably cut duplicated staff to save on expenses, and get more conservative.
Izotope has never caught my interest apart from its repair shop.

But hey, now, if the merger leads to software that fixes what you create before you have any idea what's wrong with it, well OK.

[CrystalWizard]

Sounds like bullshit to me.
Two big fat entities past their prime under a purely financial umbrella not giving sh_t about what makes music special to humans.

Just increases my urge to use something else in the future.

The wording alone is pure corporate marketing vomit we've all read a million times before, completely free of any real meaning.

Subscription already is there with izopope, NI next probably.
Then five million more preset packs to create the impression of people getting something of value.

Boring, dull, but because of size will maybe kinda work for a while.

Cheers,

Tom

Indeed, two vulture capital driven sell out corporations devising new ways to maximize profit, which is all either of them are interested in. Extremely pathetic and a great loss IMO. i was a big fan of both these companies when they cared about innovation and quality. i still use a lot of NI and Rx. i guess i will just be using older versions on old machines ( heck i haven't bought anything from either of them in 5 or 6 years).
How anyone could see that as a "good thing" for anyone except the bean counters and their corporate overlords is beyond me.

[noiseboyuk]

People do seem to keep typing this stuff.

I asked this question in another thread - can anyone point to a single developer who has gone from permanent license only to full subscription only via a half way house of both? There may be one out there, I just can't think of one.

*crickets*

KVR is sort of a mass misery therapy, isn't it? Assume the worst of everything all the time, even if there's nothing to actually be miserable about.

[digitalboytn]

The wording alone is pure corporate marketing vomit we've all read a million times before, completely free of any real meaning.

[loungepanda]

Native Instruments and iZotope will continue to exist independently, with our own leadership, teams, brands, and product lines. But when it comes to defining our shared future and vision, the two of us will work side-by-side as co-presidents of the new group, supported by our talented and passionate teams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartel

Cartels have many structures and functions. Typologies have emerged to distinguish distinct forms of cartels:[9]:
Technology and patent cartels share knowledge about technology or science within themselves while they limit the information from outside individuals.

[pixel85]

Option to buy plugins is only temporary and it's just one last step before going full subscription.

People do seem to keep typing this stuff.

I asked this question in another thread - can anyone point to a single developer who has gone from permanent license only to full subscription only via a half way house of both? There may be one out there, I just can't think of one.

The audio software industry needs time to catch up with other industries. Do you really think that big corporations will forever care about old dinosaurs who prefer the old-school way of buying software? What about all those youngsters including thousands of bedroom producers who can't buy expensive software but can subscribe to one company or two for $19,99 per month? It's a very attractive offer for them. With time which part of the sales target will be growing up? Old dinosaurs or youngsters who are growing up in a world where subscriptions for digital goods are already normalized (Netflix, Disney+, Spotify etc.)? How long do you think big corporations will support the decreasing number of people buying software? At some point profit from subscriptions will exceed normal sales to the point where they will simply close that segment which is not profitable enough.
iZotope's ideology of bringing updates firstly to the subscription version of plugins and then later to full license plugins is just the first step.
Don't be short sight. Just because something is not happening now it does not mean that it will not happen in the future.

[noiseboyuk]

The audio software industry needs time to catch up with other industries. Do you really think that big corporations will forever care about old dinosaurs who prefer the old-school way of buying software? What about all those youngsters including thousands of bedroom producers who can't buy expensive software but can subscribe to one company or two for $19,99 per month? It's a very attractive offer for them. With time which part of the sales target will be growing up? Old dinosaurs or youngsters who are growing up in a world where subscriptions for digital goods are already normalized (Netflix, Disney+, Spotify etc.)? How long do you think big corporations will support the decreasing number of people buying software? At some point profit from subscriptions will exceed normal sales to the point where they will simply close that segment which is not profitable enough.
iZotope's ideology of bringing updates firstly to the subscription version of plugins and then later to full license plugins is just the first step.
Don't be short sight. Just because something is not happening now it does not mean that it will not happen in the future.

Hunches are fine, but that's all they are. Anything can change with any developer at any time - nobody saw the Camel acquisition coming at all, it was a sideswipe from one of the "good guys". I also don't see the whole industry revolving around one paradigm either - that's bad for the marketplace overall.

In short, I just work with what's there in front of me. If things change in the future, so be it, but it seems daft to second guess unknowable things that may or may not happen.

[pixel85]

The audio software industry needs time to catch up with other industries. Do you really think that big corporations will forever care about old dinosaurs who prefer the old-school way of buying software? What about all those youngsters including thousands of bedroom producers who can't buy expensive software but can subscribe to one company or two for $19,99 per month? It's a very attractive offer for them. With time which part of the sales target will be growing up? Old dinosaurs or youngsters who are growing up in a world where subscriptions for digital goods are already normalized (Netflix, Disney+, Spotify etc.)? How long do you think big corporations will support the decreasing number of people buying software? At some point profit from subscriptions will exceed normal sales to the point where they will simply close that segment which is not profitable enough.
iZotope's ideology of bringing updates firstly to the subscription version of plugins and then later to full license plugins is just the first step.
Don't be short sight. Just because something is not happening now it does not mean that it will not happen in the future.

Hunches are fine, but that's all they are. Anything can change with any developer at any time - nobody saw the Camel acquisition coming at all, it was a sideswipe from one of the "good guys". I also don't see the whole industry revolving around one paradigm either - that's bad for the marketplace overall.

In short, I just work with what's there in front of me. If things change in the future, so be it, but it seems daft to second guess unknowable things that may or may not happen.

Obviously, it's all speculations. Not much different than calling info from Steinberg that they're dropping eLicenser as "good news" before getting any information what we will get instead
This is why I'm talking about big companies. I'm not even sure if indies and smaller companies could afford a subscription. After all, it requires an entire infrastructure (software + hardware + human resources) to manage it.
There's also Cakewalk by Bandlab thing - full DAW for free which is constantly updated - but this is a very exceptional situation

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

The audio software industry needs time to catch up with other industries. Do you really think that big corporations will forever care about old dinosaurs who prefer the old-school way of buying software? What about all those youngsters including thousands of bedroom producers who can't buy expensive software but can subscribe to one company or two for $19,99 per month? It's a very attractive offer for them. With time which part of the sales target will be growing up? Old dinosaurs or youngsters who are growing up in a world where subscriptions for digital goods are already normalized (Netflix, Disney+, Spotify etc.)? How long do you think big corporations will support the decreasing number of people buying software? At some point profit from subscriptions will exceed normal sales to the point where they will simply close that segment which is not profitable enough.
iZotope's ideology of bringing updates firstly to the subscription version of plugins and then later to full license plugins is just the first step.
Don't be short sight. Just because something is not happening now it does not mean that it will not happen in the future.

That may be the case.

But at the same time, do you think those bedroom producers who are already subscribing to Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, a live TV platform, Photoshop, etc. while paying rent and/or student loans are going to be looking to add more to their monthly bills versus the occasional software purchase?

I could very well be wrong, but I don't know that the plugin market is large enough and/or viewed as essential enough for people to add multiple subscriptions to their monthly expenses. I personally think a bunch of private equity guys are looking at Adobe and thinking "who can be the next version of that" not realizing that Adobe has close to monopoly status and audio users are buying products from a wide multitude of companies, not just one or two brands.

I think subs will be fine as an option but I think a lot of people will lose a lot of money if they think they're going to get hella rich by investing in audio software companies and then pushing a sub-only model.

[Cancel Culture Club]

Option to buy plugins is only temporary and it's just one last step before going full subscription.
All big companies will eventually go this route. Same like Hollywood had to gave up battle against Netflix and other subscription based services, same like music shops lost fight against Spotify and other music subscription services.

Subscription is an inevitable future.*

Just add to your monthly bills:
Electricity, gas, water, internet, phone, netflix, disney+, amazon prime, Credit card, rent/house credit, car/gas, spotify, izotope sub, NI sub, avid sub, reason sub, dev x sub, dev y sub, dev z sub, uncle with mustache and mullet sub...
Nothing wrong. Everybody knows that the key to success is to pay a lot and own nothing

* of course small devs will stay out of subscription. Most of them anyway.

If that's the gamble you guys are willing to take, with the over saturated industry and the undercutting of low priced subscription models. It's going to be interesting to see how long all these new customers stay with their currently chosen subscription model, until enticed by the new Black Friday subscription deal. With zero brand loyalty and zero financial incentive to stay with any particular company. And so on and so on...

I think people in the future will just smarten up and buy a version of a DAW and just stick with it. Because there's nothing stopping them from just breaking the upgrade chain and making music.

[andypryce]

my take on it. it means more software geared towards the easy to use beginner user market. they are catering to the quick spin together a beat to get something on a platform to get clicks and likes. it might all start to become sort of like tiktok or triller -- tools to make content for casual consumers .. quickly and snappy..

Music production as we know it ( By we I mean people like me who produced in 90s and 2000s who admired Trevor Horn etc is long gone) This is where the money is for companies and where the music is for the mass consumer. Nothing to complain. Everything evolves in to something. You either retire or keep up.

[Effectsworks]

Good if you like subscriptions... Not so good otherwise.