[Fixed in 4.4] Weird bug: latest "Spectral Suite" update not included in upgrade plan

[spiritlev]

Really don't get why people are this upset about this.

Go back to page 1 and read the whole thread again

[tempsperdu]

Really don't get why people are this upset about this.

If you paid for something and then the vendor asked you to effectively pay for it again but also tried to disguise that fact would you say "cool, why not, go ahead and scam me, I really don't mind"?

[Firewyre]

On a positive note, to me it's encouraging that so many people have a need for Bitwig to be "good guys" when it comes to how they conduct business. I think it reflects positively on the music making community. I'd be worried if noone batted an eyelid over this.

[simmo75]

On a positive note, to me it's encouraging that so many people care about Bitwig being "good guys" when it comes to how they conduct business. I think it reflects positively on the music making community. I'd be worried if noone batted an eyelid over this.

Shame they're not being "good guys" though... Lol!

I mean, i'm sure they're fine humans, but they do appear to be lacking humanity.

[machinesworking]

I don't mind if they change the price of the annual upgrade plan as I'll only purchase one when I perceive sufficient value to me (this has been my current approach anyway).

I think in the end the Update Plan is the issue. NI tried this in 2005, I bought it because OS X versions were coming out, and NI was releasing some or most of them in upgrade, so Komplete Care 05 was purchase for a couple hundred if I recall. NI dropped the ball, development was too slow and pretty much NOTHING came out in 05. NI had to apologize and give away another year of upgrades as well as a copy of the new Massive plug in. They dropped their update plan after that and went back to bi annual upgrades.

Vaporware, selling what hasn't happened yet, failed miserably for NI in 2005, yet here we are with companies like Bitwig offering this as a model, then backpedaling and more or less (depending on how much of an ass you are about the EUlA) on that agreement, probably because they aren't seeing the return on the Update Plan they expected.

I didn't single you out to rant to you personally, but because I get the impression the loyal customers that bought the Update Plan at $160 are few and far between, a lot of us waited for a sale bought it at 135 or less, then waited until the very last gearlust urge to use that Plan was squeezed out.

So while the Update Plan if you were willing to just buy when your sub ran out regardless of whether the Plan was on sale or not, and activated it as soon as your sub ran out, is expensive, what most people have done could render a possible total of around $480 for three years (the average DAW cycle), down to 130 if gamed just right.

I think what we're seeing here is a bad reaction to the failure of the Update Plan to generate the kinds of income that Upgrades do for other DAWs. I didn't buy Boitwig for quite some time because the Update Plane was too close to NI's failed Komplete Care, and that failed miserably. I'm seeing a pattern here.

[Firewyre]

On a positive note, to me it's encouraging that so many people care about Bitwig being "good guys" when it comes to how they conduct business. I think it reflects positively on the music making community. I'd be worried if noone batted an eyelid over this.

Shame they're not being "good guys" though... Lol!

I mean, i'm sure they're fine humans, but they do appear to be lacking humanity.

I edited my post to make it clearer!

[dlandis]

On a positive note, to me it's encouraging that so many people care about Bitwig being "good guys" when it comes to how they conduct business. I think it reflects positively on the music making community. I'd be worried if noone batted an eyelid over this.

Good point. It seems also to have been one of the contributing factors as to why so many were broad-sided by this; previously, there was no inkling about this type of behavior coming from Bitwig. They were the quintessential "good-guys" and possibly one of the last companies one would suspect to try something that seems to be a breach of contract . This has in turn has added to speculation about motive (i.e., "they have must have hit an unforeseen rough patch financially" and such.)

At this point, I'm just hoping that they make it right.

[Be_Lebowski]

I don't mind if they change the price of the annual upgrade plan as I'll only purchase one when I perceive sufficient value to me (this has been my current approach anyway).

I think in the end the Update Plan is the issue.

I agree with you completely, it seems likely they aren't receiving sufficient regular revenue through their annual upgrade plan. Of course, this is conjecture as they've chosen to not provide insight into their need for a change. Obviously they aren't under any obligation to explain their finances as that could have drastic repercussions as well.

I always thought it was a surprising model they chose, the only chance it had of longer-term success was dependent on them maintaining a very high development cadence delivering regular and valuable updates to the community. Given the varied usage and desires of the community this seems very hard to achieve.

Maybe they need to consider adopting a more traditional paid major release upgrade model. However, I think at this point whatever they do now is going to have a very mixed reaction from their community.

[JsinOwl]

If their current revenue model isn't working, then they should come up with something better and announce that at some point in the future, this new pricing scheme will take effect. All current upgrade plans will be honored, and when people go to renew, it will either be under the new scheme or prorated to the start of the new scheme.

I think that's how most companies would handle similar situations regardless of the specifics or the industry. It's not difficult.

[mledu]

This is an open letter to Bitwig.

No doubt you are trying to figure out how to navigate the current situation you have found yourselves in. I will try to provide you with a roadmap to follow to help you manage this situation.

First of all, you’ve lost control of the narrative. Yes, I know you’re concerned with engaging with the user base. You’re afraid of a misstep and making thing worse. Right now the users are speculating on your financial situation. This is not a great place to be. Last thing you want is your user base worrying about the long term viability of Bitwig. Who wants to invest into a platform or ecosystem destined to go away?

I will not pretend to know your Specific situation, the concerns about your financial position may be spot on. If they are correct, you probably don’t want it to be public info in fear of employees looking to leave, creditors being concerned about being paid, etc. Either way you’ve lost control and you’re making people speculate by being silent. Hoping this will blow over isn’t a good play, hope isn’t a strategy.

You need to open a dialogue with your user base. They are very passionate and that could be very beneficial to your brand but it comes with the responsibility on your side to respect that passion.

You have changed the dynamic of the relationship with your community. I’m sure the law of unintended consequences is hitting you pretty hard right now. As others have said you have now motivated them to no just blindly pay the subscription fee for upgrades. Influencers and the community have less motivation to proselytize your software. This is going to hurt you over time.

So what to do? First tell the community that you didn’t expect or intend this response from them (which I assume is true). Explain that you value the community and their passion for your products.

If you do have cash flow or revenue issues, be honest about it. Explain why you made this miscalculation and that you need their support. You need the community on your side, right now they feel you are against them. You need to change this dynamic or it will only get worse the longer you remain silent.

Offer the community some sort of concession or consolidation if you cannot include the add-on in the base subscription. Tell them your short/medium term roadmap including new features they will get with their sub and any new paid add-ones you plan to release. You now need to do the hard work of winning the community’s trust back. You need to be transparent.

In the future you should pre-communicate any changes to your users. You should have been surveying the user base way before making this change to gauge their response. It’s easy to have the enthusiasm for a new product release and a new revenue stream blind you to how this will be perceived in the market. You need to start thinking outside your walls and start talking to your customers. Open this dialogue now before it’s too late.

[_leras]

Really don't get why people are this upset about this.

Although high in quantity, I actually think the takes have been pretty sober. I think it’s the people complaining about people complaining that are blowing it out of context and proportion

I dunno. One guys said he would piss on bitwigs office, another is trying to round up people to sell Bitiwg or boycott, lots of people speculating negatively on their finances, starting polls and threads hoping to show people wouldn't renew, posting Bitiwg staff names in threads and more.

All a bit childish and dehumanising tbh.

There quite a lot of

[Phil B]

Really don't get why people are this upset about this.

Although high in quantity, I actually think the takes have been pretty sober. I think it’s the people complaining about people complaining that are blowing it out of context and proportion

I dunno. One guys said he would piss on bitwigs office, another is trying to round up people to sell Bitiwg or boycott, lots of people speculating negatively on their finances, starting polls and threads hoping to show people wouldn't renew, posting Bitiwg staff names in threads and more.

All a bit childish and dehumanising tbh.

There quite a lot of

I’m glad you’ve let them know how childish and dehumanizing they are for criticizing people on message boards

At least they’re complaining about a company breaching a contract with them. You’re complaining about them complaining about a company breaching a contract with them

[h2ogun99]

I will try to provide you with a roadmap to follow to help you manage this situation.

Bitwig Corp Headquarters: "Hey everyone, stop what you are doing, a person on KVR that has zero knowledge of what is actually going on has created a roadmap for us to follow."

Good lord...

I'm now hoping that Bitwig stays quiet as a social experiment to see exactly what will really happen in the days/weeks/months to come. That will be far more interesting than all that amazing music that I'm sure will be created with the help of the spectral plugins.

[liquidsound]

Really don't get why people are this upset about this.

Although high in quantity, I actually think the takes have been pretty sober. I think it’s the people complaining about people complaining that are blowing it out of context and proportion

I dunno. One guys said he would piss on bitwigs office, another is trying to round up people to sell Bitiwg or boycott, lots of people speculating negatively on their finances, starting polls and threads hoping to show people wouldn't renew, posting Bitiwg staff names in threads and more.

All a bit childish and dehumanising tbh.

There quite a lot of

That’s a minority of the total reaction.
Trying bringing focused attention to those individuals it’s a tactic for labeling the rest of entire justified backlash community very similar to the one unsuccessful used by the 2+hours of Venus Theory, and the other one, by using the “lawyers” post out of 76 pages containing genuine resentments.

Really?

[perpetual3]

And you’re complaining about him complaining about them complaining….

Really don't get why people are this upset about this.

Although high in quantity, I actually think the takes have been pretty sober. I think it’s the people complaining about people complaining that are blowing it out of context and proportion

I dunno. One guys said he would piss on bitwigs office, another is trying to round up people to sell Bitiwg or boycott, lots of people speculating negatively on their finances, starting polls and threads hoping to show people wouldn't renew, posting Bitiwg staff names in threads and more.

All a bit childish and dehumanising tbh.

There quite a lot of

I’m glad you’ve let them know how childish and dehumanizing they are for criticizing people on message boards

At least they’re complaining about a company breaching a contract with them. You’re complaining about them complaining about a company breaching a contract with them