How do you feel about subscription based plugins?

[Ploki]

Fair - but the point still is that “constant innovation” for “keeping customers” just doesn’t seem to be true for any sub vendors.
Its more “we locked you into our system and we’ll update when we please”

[WatchTheGuitar]

Think about it another way. I don’t own an M1 mac though I may consider getting a Mac Mini Pro if one comes along in a few months, but for sake of argument assume I’m only ever on Windows. If I subscribe to a plugin company and the next year’s additions are half what they normally were because the dev team has prioritised native M1 support then why does that make me want to pay for more subscription? To get a sub in the first place presupposes you have compatible O/S and gear so it’s basically a decision the customers make to move to an unsupported platform or wait.

[Ploki]

And on the flip side, if i'm on Mac only and dev has to deal with a heap of VST3 bullshit that's been going on for years, or with RTAS to AAX switch move, or any other architecture change that's not for your particular plugin fomrat?

OR the dev has to deal with ludicrous copy-protection schemes and protection updates because of way more prominent piracy on windows platform?

Native M1 support was not a big deal to anyone with a healthy code base.
Even Melda, who literally made a post about switching to windows, was one of the first to support M1 natively.

You're missing my point entirely. I can use ALL of the subs via rosetta (thank to apple, not vendors.)
But an argument FOR subscription is -steady cash flow- so in theory devs can stay on top of things, but the fact is that in practice, they don't.

[WatchTheGuitar]

No, I got your point, but don’t feel it’s as important as you do also you are being very disingenuous when you know full well Mac O/S changes always mean extra work for companies, long before this new processor came along, Apple loves to introduce breaking changes. Windows has been fairly stable for a decade.

[Ploki]

Yeah, but how much revenues is lost on Windows because piracy is more prominent and much more software is available cracked than on Mac?

[WatchTheGuitar]

Yeah, but how much revenues is lost on Windows because piracy is more prominent and much more software is available cracked than on Mac?

We’ll never know so it’s a pointless question and merely a reflex go to pushback argument for Mac users who have run out of legs to stand on

[fedexnman]

Do NOT like it . I think it's great for the plugin or DAW companies though . It SLOWS the used and license transfer market down , I believe . I'm just waiting for when you won't be able to out right purchase and are forced to subscribe or not get the product at all .

[Ploki]

We’ll never know so it’s a pointless question and merely a reflex go to pushback argument for Mac users who have run out of legs to stand on

We'll never know how much extra work is it either unless you ask every single dev that went M1.
I can only judge by the forum-goer devs and sans Tone2's Markus, most of them were impressed by Apple Silicon performance and relatively unproblematic switch to it...

So your "how much extra work goes into apple blah blah" is just as pointless. You know how much extra work goes into apple architecture? As much more as there's loss on windows side due to piracy.

The reflex go to pushback is "but every OS BREAKS OSMETHING". Since my drumspillage has been working flawlessly since 2014, clearly if the plugin is decently coded nothing gets broken.

[WatchTheGuitar]

So what you are saying then is that none of us really know how plugin devs work and thus speculation about ‘corruption’ is equally pointless? I concur.

[Ploki]

except alexey who initially commented that is an audio plugin dev and knows how at least one plugin dev works

[WatchTheGuitar]

Yes he knows how his own plugin works so not really something that could be extrapolated to prove 'corruption' amongst the subscription based plugin developers

[Ploki]

So your conclusion to this debate is nobody knows anything?
Okay i'll rollback 10 pointless comments and leave it at that:

subscription based vendors with M1 native compatibility: 0
non-subscription based vendors with M1 native compatibility: >10

[crickey13]

The pro-sub argument is that developers with a stable source of income can focus their efforts on updating and maintaining their products in terms of stability and compatibility. If a sub developer doesn't even bother to update their products for M1 Macs despite having extra resources funneled to them, then it makes the argument rather shaky and one could definitely call this demeanor corrupt. Developers are obligated to do compatibility updates, especially within a subscription model.

Whether the Mac platform is 'viable' or 'cool' is irrelevant. A great deal of people do think it's cool. If a vendor offers a Mac version from the get-go, then it is their duty to provide compatibility updates. The fact that a lot of non-sub vendors have already updated their products with M1 Macs in mind and NONE of the sub devs have even bothered to do so says it all. I would assume the sub-based developers would be the first to update their products for M1 Macs given their in-the-moment nature. The fact that it's not the case is kind of rich. I mean I'm assuming you're paying for something on a monthly basis and it's not for cafe lattes at the Izotope office.

I'm sure there is some way of creating a fair subscription model, but the fact of the matter is that it is not the case most of the time.

[WatchTheGuitar]

So your conclusion to this debate is nobody knows anything?
Okay i'll rollback 10 pointless comments and leave it at that:

subscription based vendors with M1 native compatibility: 0
non-subscription based vendors with M1 native compatibility: >10

Well you're demonstrably wrong with that. Melda Production offer a subscription and have native M1 support.

[Ploki]

Its not a sub, its a rent to own or a lease. After you paid in sub the value of plugs, you get perma license for them.
Basically you’re paying for total bundle in installments.

You do realise how that is inherently different?