UVI go subscription!

[concon]

I don't think there has been a year in the past 20 years when I have spent less than $1000 year on music software... many years probably at least twice that.

I'm thinking as subs become the norm, I'll continue spending around $1000/year on music software via subs... but I'll have access to a LOT more creative tools... and I'll always have the latest versions too.

I wouldn't count on it. Looking at another software field, subscription Adobe offerings don't seem to have expanded all that much in the past decade. And I don't get a sense of vast improvements, either.

[vertibration]

You guys know there are producers out there who write whole albums with just Serum, and they are extremely successful right? Amazing albums with just a few tools.

Why would anyone want to spend up to $1000 a year on software? That is just crazy.

[rod_zero]

does it still requires ilok?

[DJDJ]

Seems plausible to me that this might be a response to Falcon and all the libraries being cracked earlier this year. I get why people would be against it though, and I don’t like seeing everything go subscription either.

But that being said, it’s a great way to check out software before you buy. I got Minimal Audio’s Rift & Kilohearts both on subscription, and hated both. So happy I didn’t pay in full for them, which I was tempted to do.

I also agree though: subscriptions shouldn’t be a replacement for demos

[concon]

Roland Clouds subscription now looks pretty good!

Really? How? I've followed discussion threads on them and see lots of complaints.

[SLiC]

UVI has some good stuff but its offering is very limited (hardly any stand alone effects and really just a lot of sample libraries running in Falcon). I suspect most people will just be happy with Falcon and the odd library that interests them when on sale!

I think if 'Soundwide' do one subscription that covers all NI products, all iZotope Products and all PA products then all other subscriptions will become redundant anyway!

[YnJ]

You guys know there are producers out there who write whole albums with just Serum, and they are extremely successful right? Amazing albums with just a few tools.

Why would anyone want to spend up to $1000 a year on software? That is just crazy.

So, people who spend money on things they are interested in are crazy? People spend $1000 or more on all sort of things they don't need to spend that much on, or anything at all. I spend more than $1000 every year on books, I guess that makes me a raving lunetic, and I know several people who spend more than $1000 on clothes, going to live shows with bands they like, on their classic car, and on and on. All raving lunetics I guess

[Aloysius]

You guys know there are producers out there who write whole albums with just Serum, and they are extremely successful right? Amazing albums with just a few tools.

Why would anyone want to spend up to $1000 a year on software? That is just crazy.

So, people who spend money on things they are interested in are crazy? People spend $1000 or more on all sort of things they don't need to spend that much on, or anything at all. I spend more than $1000 every year on books, I guess that makes me a raving lunetic, and I know several people who spend more than $1000 on clothes, going to live shows with bands they like, on their classic car, and on and on. All raving lunetics I guess

lunatic
/ˈluːnətɪk/
Learn to pronounce
noun
plural noun: lunatics

a person who is mentally ill

[YnJ]

Do we really need a grammar nazi on this forum?

[YnJ]

Anyway, to get back on topic, I'm not impressed by their subscription model. I have Falcon already and if their other synths are just sample based, as I suspected they were, I'm not interested anyway

[PieBerger]

You guys know there are producers out there who write whole albums with just Serum, and they are extremely successful right? Amazing albums with just a few tools.

Why would anyone want to spend up to $1000 a year on software? That is just crazy.

So, people who spend money on things they are interested in are crazy? People spend $1000 or more on all sort of things they don't need to spend that much on, or anything at all. I spend more than $1000 every year on books, I guess that makes me a raving lunetic, and I know several people who spend more than $1000 on clothes, going to live shows with bands they like, on their classic car, and on and on. All raving lunetics I guess

Lunatics, the lot of them!

[ThomasHelzle]

I wouldn't count on it. Looking at another software field, subscription Adobe offerings don't seem to have expanded all that much in the past decade. And I don't get a sense of vast improvements, either.

Yeah, I'm not so sure either.
Adobe started their subscription when their catalog started to become stale.
While yes, they are the industry standard, innovation had become very slow and many users were updating only every couple of versions and the second hand market was rather huge.
Introduce subscription.
Now the small users go somewhere else (affinity etc.), second hand is dead and the agencies and studios who rely on the tools don't have a problem with subscription, since it's actually easier to budget for. And freelancers working for them have no choice.
But no monopoly lasts forever...

Same basic issue with NI, Izotope, UVI, Arturia etc.. There is only so much stuff users will lust for, only so many synths you can sample, effects you can provide.
Komplete is already beyond the scale where the two or three new things make users hungry to update to the latest.
It's simply a matter of scale and proportion - have 5 tools and update to 8, you feel good about getting it, have 30 tools and update to 33, not so much.

Subscription works well for larger studios and producers, for the enthusiast it's a money drain that can suck you dry in an instant, especially if you also go for streaming and whatnot subscriptions as well.
Works okay while you are well paid, sucks balls when there is a draught, and you find yourself without the funds and lose ALL your projects right with it when you don't pay.
Shortterm its great, longterm its a rather bad deal for the user.
You lose quite some freedom and get bound to a certain eco-system - which is of course the intention.

And with freeware getting very very good as well as the factory effects in many DAWs being nothing to sneeze at either, I'm not so sure if this model will do that well in the audio industry in the long term.

Subscription also doesn't feed GAS as well as individual sales, so the addictive part isn't working there after the initial rush.

I'm totally fine with rent-to-own or perpetual-with-free-updates-for-a-year schemes, but so far no subscription did tempt me. In other areas than music I do rent software though.

Will be interesting to see how this works out in the longer run.

Cheers,

Tom

[Aloysius]

Do we really need a grammar nazi on this forum?
Last edited by YnJ on Thu May 26, 2022 2:39 am, edited 2 times in total.

[carlosigls]

Everyone who does what they want with their money, for my part, I refuse to subscribe.

[soulata]

I'm totally fine with rent-to-own or perpetual-with-free-updates-for-a-year schemes, but so far no subscription did tempt me. In other areas than music I do rent software though.

Will be interesting to see how this works out in the longer run.

Cheers,

Tom

Same here. I do subscribe to Kush sometimes, for a month or two, but other than that, no.
Plugin Alliance has a pretty good system, where you can spend your yearly sub on plugins you want and keep them forever. Rent to own basically. Others not so much.

k