UAD still worth it?

[aMUSEd]

Hey all,
Those dealer offers were mistakenly put online this AM. Anyone that used them will either have it go through (if it was done early enough) or have the deal cancelled/refunded.

We are now working on an email to all eligible previous bundle owners (minus those that have already received the coupon and upgraded) with a direct offer.

We're talking about Creative/Mix/Diamond bundle purchasers. Essentials is not part of this, not is Ultimate or Complete.

I got this email an hour ago:

You get this special bundle discount!
You may have noticed we changed up our native plug-in bundles.

And because you owned one of the older bundles, we are giving you exclusive upgrade pricing.

Don’t wait. Your upgrade price expires at the end of the year – just go to your cart to find your coupon code!

And in my cart is a $50 coupon for Producer Edition.

That sure as hell better not be what they’re talking about!

I literally own everything in the UAD Producer Edition except for Electra 88. So I can buy that for $50 off of $200? WTF UAD!

I got this same but it's not $50 off, it's $50 for the bundle in total

Still for me I didn't like the Elektra and have everything I really wanted so won't bite

[db3]

I received $100 offer for Studio even though I have Diamond and more. No offer for Signature.

[jamcat]

I suspect that the $150 Signature Bundle crossgrade for all that was mistakenly put up on several audio plugin dealers is something UA is planning for next Friday and it just accidentally went out a week early.

[J Veronica]

Every comment by their rep seems to get contradicted the next day, lol.

You can't tell people on the same day new customers grabbed the bundle for $150 that the deal is not for them, and to buy a shittier bundle for more money

What kind of Mickey Mouse operation and they running over there.

[jamcat]

Maybe there is a saboteur amongst UA’s ranks.

[martinjuenke]

Never seen such a marketing desaster...

[SLiC]

I got the deal before they took it down so I think they are great

[Digivolt]

I got this same but it's not $50 off, it's $50 for the bundle in total

Still for me I didn't like the Elektra and have everything I really wanted so won't bite

I thought it was $50 off too, I guess $50 isn't bad for what I don't own, 6 plugs, but I don't need or want them

I suspect that the $150 Signature Bundle crossgrade for all that was mistakenly put up on several audio plugin dealers is something UA is planning for next Friday and it just accidentally went out a week early.

So now they can doubley piss off everyone ?

[VitaminD]

Maybe there is a saboteur amongst UA’s ranks.

More likely is a lack of communication. Left hand doesn't know what the Right hand is doing.

[VitaminD]

I suspect that the $150 Signature Bundle crossgrade for all that was mistakenly put up on several audio plugin dealers is something UA is planning for next Friday and it just accidentally went out a week early.

I wondered that too, but I really still think that was meant for people with one of the other bundles registered on their account. And UA just weren't checking to see if that was true before registering the Sig bundle to an account.

But either way it doesn't make me want to spend money there right now, wondering if a better deal is only days away. This sale period seems to end on the 24th but that is official Black Friday. Which then makes me wonder is it ending at 11:59pm on the 24th or midnight starting the day of the 24th? (and there is a better deal coming.. or?)

That is the issue when marketeers aren't deliberate and methodical about their sales period. It backfires as consumers are unsure and/or upset over shifting ground beneath them.

It doesn't matter a lot to me but curiosity is having it's way with me right now...

[DaniZzz79]

Yeah, feels stupid to have wasted so much money in the last few months when you can buy the Signature Bundle for just $150 today, which is less than $5 per plugin.

I am yet to buy the Signature Bundle using the $150 coupon UA support gave me last week as well, but if I do, for the amount I have spent so far, the cost per plugin will turn out to be about $16, which is more than thrice what people are getting in just a matter of two months or so. Ridiculous!

The problem and frustration here is mainly because of the very short period of time in which the prices dropped to an unbelievable extent. Simply unfair to put it softly.

well, we may have wasted some money but I feel awkwardly relieved that I managed to get the 140$ signature bundle in time (although I'm quite sure it'll pop up soon again) without having EVER received an answer from them after asking them a crossgrade offer. Plus the 300$ I spent in the last months it makes about 450$ which was way less that the price of all those 44 plugins, even under sale.
I thank this forum.
I thank UAD for the quality of their plugins.
I curse their useless marketing sale manager.

[jamcat]

This sale period seems to end on the 24th but that is official Black Friday. Which then makes me wonder is it ending at 11:59pm on the 24th or midnight starting the day of the 24th? (and there is a better deal coming.. or?)

According to the email they sent out at midnight, today is day 5 of 12. That would make the 24th the 12th and final day of the “12 Days of UAD” promotion.

I notice they’re not calling it a Black Friday deal, unlike the Spark Subscription deal that is running until the 30th.

So it’s still my suspicion that they are planning this $150 Signature upgrade from any bundle for the last week of November.

[beely]

I wonder that DSP plugin sales, and the Spark subscription, simply wasn't generating enough revenue, so at some point earlier in the year they've decided that native sales are the clear way forward. However, their port rate to native has been slow, so instead of keeping prices up and relying on a large catalog of native plugins to generate revenue to the usual type of UAD customer, they've decided to drastically reduce prices to bring in a much wider amount of new users - basically, selling a smaller catalog at lower prices to a wider group.

And then perhaps since the summer this has worked much better than they hoped (that's the impression I got, anyway), and the marketing team have consequently gone a bit crazy chasing more revenue from that same reduced catalog by ever more hard-to-resist sales and way too many bundle offers, while they buy time to continue to port their larger catalog, and benefit from the larger customer base they now have.

But it will be hard to put the prices back up and watch sales fall of a cliff as everyone waits for sales, and sales will, like PA etc before, become the new normal, and the new expected selling price.

[SLiC]

There are a lot of people (like me) who didn’t really need a bunch of new compressors etc and only bought the bundle as it was so cheap…I’m sure I am not alone and UA made a bunch of money they may not otherwise of made. Like many I have all the Arturia fx and NI fx, all bundled at super cheap prices…there is simply saturation…I must have 50 virtusl compressors now, life was simpler when I just had one hardware unit! As for the synths, there are pretty good…but again, I have legend, Arturia moog and Softube moog…not sure I needed another! Polysynth pretty vanilla (have better) and the WT one is good but I have better….so was it really a bargain at 140? That will depend what I I actually use!

[jamcat]

But it will be hard to put the prices back up and watch sales fall of a cliff as everyone waits for sales, and sales will, like PA etc before, become the new normal, and the new expected selling price.

PA sales have actually been curtailed quite a bit. They're not nearly as often, there's not nearly as many eligible plugins per sale, and they're not nearly as deeply discounted as they used to be.

I think Universal Audio will eventually find their stride as well. But they may well run out of customers by then, as half of them will have bought everything for a few dollars, leaving the other half feeling screwed and alienated.