Fake Effects Plugin Deals

[jamcat]

But Melda is a shitshow. I've always avoided those "free" plugins.

What don't you like about them?

Crippled nagware. Dishonest and more trouble than they're worth.

[egbert101]

Welcome to modern consumerism and the digital age.

[LunarKitten]

But Melda is a shitshow. I've always avoided those "free" plugins.

What don't you like about them?

Crippled nagware. Dishonest and more trouble than they're worth.

Yeah, they open your browser when you hit the cursed lower bar.

Welcome to modern consumerism and the digital age.

Bienvenue red hat cat!

[mcnelson]

https://musicsoftwaredeals.com/
Always worth checking here to see if plugins are on sale and where; also lists history of deals as well, so you can get an idea of previous sale prices.

[Scotty]

Deleted - not helpful to the thread

[jens]

Lol... nice approach - that'll work out great for you, I'm sure of it.

How do you mean?

I meant that your approach seems entirely absurd to me. If quality is not important to you as you say because you're a beginner, then why bother with payware in the first place? There's enough freeware around. That's the first bit I don't get at all.

Then: if I didn't misunderstand you you consider expensive plugins that are on sale with a heavily reduced price often "fake deal" and you are not interested in them because of this. So what you look for is expensive plugins that are on sale only rarely but then also with a deep discount. So the perfect plugin for you would be - regardless of any other measure - one that is the most expensive of all (let's say a thousand bucks), but costs only fifty dollars every ten years. And you would prefer that one over something else that's always 50bucks and everyone raves about.

[jamcat]

Scotty, I’m sure all of that is true and they are a fine developer for paying customers.

But we’re talking about free plugins, and on that count, Melda stands apart from most other developers in that they don’t just give you some nice free plugins. Unlike free plugins from other developers, everything in Melda’s “free” plugins are designed to drive you to purchasing something from them, and it’s not even entirely clear what you would be purchasing if you do.

That said, I may have been slightly too harsh in my initial words. Perhaps I’m wrong, but it seems like the latest version of free the free plugins is slightly less draconian than previous versions, and they can be more useful than I initially gave them credit for if you are willing to put up with the annoying nag bar that makes them feel like they’re on loan at all times.

My recollection from last time was that the plugins were crippled versions of more fully featured pay plugins that you are constantly being pressured to upgrade to. But admittedly, it was a long time since I last tried them and I uninstalled them pretty quickly.

[ralfrobert]

I would like to share my approach here as it works just fine, at least for me.

1. After five years of very active buying (and selling again), I consolidated my plugin folders based on what I am actually using. Expensive solutions like Fabfilter and Melodyne stayed, many things in the 30 bucks range went away. This may be different depending on your personal preferences or needs, but it seems there are a handful of "standard" solutions that both have a good reputation and are in use by many. Examples are: Fabfilter EQ, Compressor, Saturation; Melodyne, Valhalla Reverbs; XLN RC-20, NI Noire, Algonaut Atlas, just to mention a few. I see these as long-term investments into infrastructure I will be using on a daily basis.

2. In case there is no money available for plugins or an expensive DAW, this does not have to stop you from anything. Here is a strategy: Get an inexpensive DAW in the entry level version and check it for basic feature completeness. The best example in my opinion is Studio One Artist. It contains everything you need for 80% of the "job" and can be extended with plugins. Now, you can look for third party stuff for free that has very high quality. Examples are: Melda Free bundle (costs you 25 bucks when on discount to unlock all features), Toneboosters legacy (very good, completely free), Chowdhury plugins, Blue Cat free package (very good), Pianobook libraries (enough instruments for a lifetime), Project Sam Free Orchestra (good an entirely free), Audiodamage legacy plugins (totally free, but no support, sound design stuff for half a lifetime).

Bottom line: You perhaps have to spend a little money, between 50 and 100 bucks (look for second-hand DAW!), but what you've got after that can make you happy and well-equipped. I always find it ridiculous and a pain to take part in the marketing battle out there and then complain about the money that has been spend or things everyone "needs" to deliver something good.

One thing to consider though: In professional audio engineering, "time is money". Many plugins deliver convenience and time saving, and this can be crucial if you are working with a deadline or have to be competitive. However, 90% of what is discussed here does not seem to fall into this category.

[agharta]

As a beginner, it's worth knowing which plugins can be sold and whether the developer charges a fee.
Also worth knowing which plugins have been given away recently via Plugin Boutique etc, as they might be still available very cheaply here or on Knobcloud.
That site and this forum help define the real world base price for software.

[Alexander137]

Melda are one of the best developers. Their free package is the fattest of them all. I have no idea why anyone wouldn't like it.

[Halma]

Just my 2 cts:

1) Selling stuff on sale way lower than the initial/standard price is not called fake but a discount. No one forces you to buy software on full price. Consumers shouldn't blame other people and companies over their low impulse buy control behaviour. So the title of this post should be corrected.

2) Regarding Melda: they don't force anybody constantly to upgrade their plugins and the freestuff is way beyond "crippled nagware". It's quite the contrary. They are fully functional with a few limitations. Once you bought them and remove the limitations you are getting free lifetime updates and iirc you can even authorize them with a serial key file if you don't like the call and response check. That's more than most of the other companies are doing. No WUP like waves or renewal plan other companies are offering.

And hopefully some people will finally realize that they don't own the stuff they bought but were granted a license to use them in their production.

[DCrown]

TDR has awesome free plugins, you can buy GE versions.
Melda, I just don't Iike their plugins, they could offer 1000 more free plugins, but I wouldn't use them, I prefer way more Reaper stock plugins. I am not sure how much gui affects whether I like something or not, but Melda is pain to my eyes.
Never had to pay for Waves wup, they have an awesome customer support, one of my fav devs.
I dislike devs where you have to install all their plugins, although you just want to demo one plugin.
Afaik it's the case with IK Multimedia, Slate digital and Melda (?). Or devs without a customer support like TC electronics.
Another general fake dev for me is Acustica Audio, they mainly focus on creating analog like guis, but tgey mainly slow down work flow and there's is no analog mojo or magic, there are way better plugins imo.
I stay away from Native Instruments and Plugin Alliance, don't care what they do or release any more.

[Gavincoolguy]

40 year old me would tell 18 year old me to throw $700 at a computer and midi controller. Pull the plug on the network on the box and steal everything you can get your hands on. It cost me 10 grand to get in to music and assemble a home studio from scratch, you could do it for free but you would be making a lot of free sounding stuff. Almost everything in this niche is priced like it's mining equipment so you just wait for the price of gold to fall or someone to go bust and fire sale. The pricing around everything music is so gamed that it makes it quite the ethical quandary. I do know that money literally stopped me as a young person from exploring music because not dying took precedence and the most ethical alternative is a subscription or two to sound generators and mix tools.

[agharta]

I dislike devs where you have to install all their plugins, although you just want to demo one plugin.
Afaik it's the case with IK Multimedia, Slate digital and Melda (?).

Melda don't do that, you select what you want to install.

[ChanceB]

Check out Toneboosters good stuff,never goes on sale but it’s affordable. Otherwise just watch and wait and try Demos, eventually you’ll know what you need or want and what is a good price