|
Post by Quint on Mar 9, 2021 18:52:45 GMT -6
Which brings up an interesting thought. Which is better? Dongles or subscriptions? UAD hardware requirements (dongle) might be what helps to keep UAD from ever going subscription. To me UAD is & isn't a dongle. I'm sure some will debate it endlessly but I still see advantages to the "outboard DSP" platform, being able to shove things away from the main CPU. Other companies have tried that but couldn't make it work long term... TC Powercore? The reason I went with UA was two fold. One is that IMO they sound great. Two? They're really super easy to deal with. If I want to demo and then buy a plug its a quick, painless process. Authorized in a minute. On the flip side, without naming companies some iLok stuff is a complete drag. Had a project come in for mix last year, took the Logic session as-is. There were a handful of plugs I didn't have & easy to substitute, but there was also a specific one that was a special effect and I figured, well I should have that anyway and oh look its on sale! Gimmie! And then the pain started. What should've been a quick process, and I have other plugs from the same company installed and working... the process of buying, downloading and then trying to install that thing dragged for over 2 hours. Totally stopped work. After 2 hours with the plug not installed and opening a support ticket, taken completely out of my head space it was time to shut down the room, take the dog for a walk and crack a beer. That's why for me UAD wins. Couple 3 clicks of the mouse and I'm sailing on. Don't disagree with you. I referred to the UAD hardware DSP as a dongle because others call it a dongle. Sometimes I sort of think of it being sort of dongle-ish, but I do still appreciate the DSP aspect of it.
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,921
|
Post by ericn on Mar 9, 2021 18:57:06 GMT -6
I think very very soon, the stock plugins in every major DAW will be good enough, and of large enough variety, that many of us will have to seriously question whether we need any subscriptions at all. And if we do it'll be "whats the ONE subscription plan I have to have?" We might already be at that point... I think you might sort of be on the right track but I don’t think they will be included in the base price. What I predict is AVID, Stienberg Presonus, etc, will buy up or get back into the distribution game. Then you will see packages advertised, plus let’s say AVID bought Exponential Audio, they would get rid of everything but the AAX version and have an exclusive. Oh wait that’s what they did 20 years ago!
|
|
|
Post by Tbone81 on Mar 9, 2021 20:24:05 GMT -6
I think very very soon, the stock plugins in every major DAW will be good enough, and of large enough variety, that many of us will have to seriously question whether we need any subscriptions at all. And if we do it'll be "whats the ONE subscription plan I have to have?" We might already be at that point... I think you might sort of be on the right track but I don’t think they will be included in the base price. What I predict is AVID, Stienberg Presonus, etc, will buy up or get back into the distribution game. Then you will see packages advertised, plus let’s say AVID bought Exponential Audio, they would get rid of everything but the AAX version and have an exclusive. Oh wait that’s what they did 20 years ago! You might be right, but in the constant struggle to "one up" each other, DAW companies need to find ways to convince you to buy the new version. One way they do that is by including better plugins, and marketing them as the latest and greatest. Its only a (short) matter of time before every DAW has built in analog emulated summing like Luna, Harrison Mix Bus, and even Studio One. One step after that they'll have built in Tape Emulation etc etc. And I'm willing to bet most of them will do it really good. At that point does anyone need Steven Slate, or Waves, or PSP, or etc etc etc Other than the specialty plugins (like the Izotope stuff) I'd say not many.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2021 22:31:05 GMT -6
Its a weird world. Cubase and VSL are dropping elicenser for ilok....waves no longer ALLOWS ilok... Number of internet connected licenses i will pay for? Zero. Do you how many times my Addictive Drums hasn't opened? That was cheap as chips....cool demo drums for $35x2....i knew that was a PIA way to do it. I wouldnt buy it again. Machine auths have always been functionally inferior to dongles. Someone asks which is worse? Are you KIDDING me? Ive used the two dongles for 20 years with a single issue i helped slate track down...every machine auth, i feel like has at LEAST been a PIA, if not causing work stoppage. I say “feel” because its probably not 100%....still, my wallet says its 100%. I can use whatever is around. That IS a threat. Machine authorizations and one careless developer just tanked revenue for a ton of companies. Dongle only and writing licenses that enable suing the living shit out of people making money with pirated products are the only way forward. There’s no reason they can’t write in some iron clad arbitration clauses to the click wrap.
|
|
|
Post by Johnkenn on Mar 10, 2021 0:48:58 GMT -6
Just mixed two songs today - and mastered because they couldn’t afford a real mastering guy . Anyway - I will really, really miss Ozone when and if we get there. I have a confidence using 8 and 9 that I hadn’t had befor - it gives me a baseline. If I spend the whole day mixing, I like to have parameters that either confirm or are at odds with my burnt ears. That Metric AB thing is pretty cool, but I’d be bummed to have to completely change my workflow at this point.
|
|
|
Post by srb on Mar 10, 2021 7:52:20 GMT -6
I've been an Izotope customer for a long time. I'm not sure I could easily replace RX. I've only really come to Ozone in v8, v9. I like it as an analysis tool first. The AI functions are pretty damn cool. Tonal Balance is right handy as a confirmation asset. But since I have incorporated it into my workflow these last couple years or so, I'd like not to give it up because of subscription fees, but I likely would if it comes to that. RX is another matter here.
|
|
|
Post by sopwith on Mar 11, 2021 14:50:20 GMT -6
Welp, the subscription future is all but confirmed...
Only thing to be excited about here in my opinion is Izotope updating the ancient Kontact interface.
|
|
|
Post by the other mark williams on Mar 11, 2021 17:09:24 GMT -6
OK, rather than continue to speculate about what all this means, I sent iZotope an email a couple of days ago to ask questions, and I just got a response back. I'll paste my question below, and then their response below that:
Mark said:
KenG at iZotope said:
So here are my thoughts: I'm choosing to take this as good news. At least as of now, they are not planning to go subscription-ONLY. (Of course, one always wonders if the writing is on the wall or not...) They also are planning to release updates that are native to Apple ARM chips, and those updates will be free.
To me, that's good news. If we can get native versions on Apple Silicon, we can run with that for awhile. Sure, it may still cause me to start thinking about escape plans if that day arrives, but it gives me more confidence that there's at least some kind of future at iZotope for us non-subscribers.
|
|
|
Post by wiz on Mar 11, 2021 18:25:19 GMT -6
Consider you just got a big wet wiz kiss on the forehead😳
Thanks for finding out
|
|
|
Post by Blackdawg on Mar 12, 2021 0:02:50 GMT -6
Just mixed two songs today - and mastered because they couldn’t afford a real mastering guy . Anyway - I will really, really miss Ozone when and if we get there. I have a confidence using 8 and 9 that I hadn’t had befor - it gives me a baseline. If I spend the whole day mixing, I like to have parameters that either confirm or are at odds with my burnt ears. That Metric AB thing is pretty cool, but I’d be bummed to have to completely change my workflow at this point. Well surely you can keep using ozone 8 and 9 for a long time as it is.
|
|
|
Post by the other mark williams on Mar 19, 2021 13:24:05 GMT -6
Just to add to the thread:
I'm still on Ozone 8 and RX 7, and both are working flawlessly on my M1 Mac Mini, obviously being translated by Rosetta. This, added to the news I reported a few posts up from here about iZotope's commitment to continuing non-subscription versions AND a pledge for current versions of those two pieces of software to be supported with a fully Native ARM version leave me feeling a lot more confident. Confident enough that I'm considering the "Music Production Suite Upgrade from any Advanced Product" for $199 from Plugin Boutique.
That would update my Ozone and RX, plus add a bunch of other stuff.
|
|
|
Post by sopwith on Mar 19, 2021 17:10:44 GMT -6
Ended up jumping on this deal - $169 at JRR for Music Production Bundle crossgrade which gave me: Ozone 8 > 9 Advanced upgrade, Neutron 2 > 3 Advanced upgrade, RX 8 new to me, Nectar 2 > 3 upgrade, 2 new Exponential verbs, plus a couple things I might use like Stutter Edit and vocal synth. I'm pretty happy with the value of all of that. They're great plugins, but this is the final stop for me on the IZ train.
|
|
|
Post by Guitar on Mar 19, 2021 18:00:16 GMT -6
Yep, I'm really enjoying my bundle purchase as well, lots of goodness to dig into with the penultimate pack. I am not subscribing, either.
|
|
|
Post by the other mark williams on Mar 19, 2021 18:05:59 GMT -6
Ended up jumping on this deal - $169 at JRR for Music Production Bundle crossgrade which gave me: Ozone 8 > 9 Advanced upgrade, Neutron 2 > 3 Advanced upgrade, RX 8 new to me, Nectar 2 > 3 upgrade, 2 new Exponential verbs, plus a couple things I might use like Stutter Edit and vocal synth. I'm pretty happy with the value of all of that. They're great plugins, but this is the final stop for me on the IZ train. Nice! I always forget to look there...
|
|
|
Post by sopwith on Mar 19, 2021 20:34:12 GMT -6
Ended up jumping on this deal - $169 at JRR for Music Production Bundle crossgrade which gave me: Ozone 8 > 9 Advanced upgrade, Neutron 2 > 3 Advanced upgrade, RX 8 new to me, Nectar 2 > 3 upgrade, 2 new Exponential verbs, plus a couple things I might use like Stutter Edit and vocal synth. I'm pretty happy with the value of all of that. They're great plugins, but this is the final stop for me on the IZ train. Nice! I always forget to look there...
It was $30 off once in your cart there, vs the $10 off coupon direct from IZ.
|
|
|
Post by theshea on Mar 20, 2021 1:59:46 GMT -6
damn you guys push me into buying ozone advanced 9! i‘ve got the demo and use the mastering assistant to give me one perspective of a mastering. than i do my own mastering but having the ozone one as a second view is quiet nice. but tone balance and master rebalance are neat features ...
|
|
|
Post by Guitar on Mar 20, 2021 4:48:23 GMT -6
The MP4 Suite/bundle upgrade from "any paid product or Exponential audio" is $339 at JRR!! That's insane. I could have saved $60, oh well, too late now.
|
|
|
Post by theshea on Mar 20, 2021 6:12:24 GMT -6
The MP4 Suite/bundle upgrade from "any paid product or Exponential audio" is $339 at JRR!! That's insane. I could have saved $60, oh well, too late now. for 149€ i could upgrade from elements to advanced over at plugin boutique ... really tempting
|
|