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Post by nicksteinborn on Nov 21, 2023 15:28:42 GMT -6
Slowly working on building up better and better hardware, but man do black friday sales on plugins get me every. single. year. Like a pair of distressors ain't popping up for less than $2k.. but the newest ultra high tech squiggly line EQ/saturator that does everything for you for $50?! And only THIS WEEK?! On the other hand, UA mistakenly put a $150 crossgrade offer for the signature bundle that worked from ANY UA plug in their dealer portal that got posted to a few sites and I snagged one off vintageking a couple hours before it got taken down. So I ended up at $350 for a $300 bundle. Vindicated. And these plugins will NEVER lose their value or go obselete because software is forever so it's definitely money well spent.  I just mostly wanted that Sound City Studios verb and everything else was icing on the cake especially at such a deal. |
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Post by kcatthedog on Nov 21, 2023 15:53:46 GMT -6
UA logic, at same time one client pays $189 for 22 plug ins , another client pays $150 for those same 22 plug ins, plus 22 more: go figure?
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Post by nicksteinborn on Nov 21, 2023 16:42:57 GMT -6
UA logic, at same time one client pays $189 for 22 plug ins , another client pays $150 for those same 22 plug ins, plus 22 more: go figure? It's one thing to have some aggressive deals that show a different path forward. It's definitely frustrating that I paid what, $250/ea for the LA2A, 1176, and Pultec DSP bundles years ago and now they're offering native versions for a fraction of the price, but I get it. They have a new direction that's not tied to hardware and much stiffer competition. But why add complete chaos and confusion on top of that with inconsistent pricing and a complete refusal to have offers for your longtime users who paid the big bucks for your plugins years ago? Really doesn't seem like anyone thought it through. Now I've seen them teasing "loyalty pricing for people who own let's say 75-80+ plugins". wat. Still can't put together something definitive after this whole fiasco? Seems pretty obvious to figure out a dynamic pricing structure if you're going to offer bundles like this and don't want to piss everyone off. At least be consistent. Now I have doubles and triples of a bunch of licenses on my ilok that I can't sell too. |
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Nov 21, 2023 17:23:19 GMT -6
Well, don't feel too bad. I think I paid an average of about $275 for each plug... Yep me too! I made a spread sheet of every single studio and music related purchase I've ever made since 1999 both hardware and software. Since 1999 (24 years ago) I've spent $20,000 on software alone (I'm including DAW's, plugins, Sample Libraries and VI's) Of that I calculate I'm using about 25% of those purchases as the other 75% is now outdated, outmoded, discontinued and/or unsupported by my current computer OS. (Add to this $20,000 another huge sum for the computers that have run it, DSP cards from Powercore and UAD and many interfaces too - all written off as useless) Of the hardware I've bought since 1999 I'm still using 95% of it! The hardware is, in many cases worth more than I paid for it and the computers and software are essentially worthless. So I conclude as great as software is .... it is absolutely terrible value for money long term. I'm curious how that breaks down by decade. Software of all types used to be way more expensive. I'm guessing that a lot of that spend was front loaded in the first 10 years (doesn't change your point btw... just curious). |
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Post by thehightenor on Nov 22, 2023 1:59:30 GMT -6
Yep me too! I made a spread sheet of every single studio and music related purchase I've ever made since 1999 both hardware and software. Since 1999 (24 years ago) I've spent $20,000 on software alone (I'm including DAW's, plugins, Sample Libraries and VI's) Of that I calculate I'm using about 25% of those purchases as the other 75% is now outdated, outmoded, discontinued and/or unsupported by my current computer OS. (Add to this $20,000 another huge sum for the computers that have run it, DSP cards from Powercore and UAD and many interfaces too - all written off as useless) Of the hardware I've bought since 1999 I'm still using 95% of it! The hardware is, in many cases worth more than I paid for it and the computers and software are essentially worthless. So I conclude as great as software is .... it is absolutely terrible value for money long term. I'm curious how that breaks down by decade. Software of all types used to be way more expensive. I'm guessing that a lot of that spend was front loaded in the first 10 years (doesn't change your point btw... just curious). It’s surprisingly even actually. In the last 10 years, there’s been a very large amount of sample libraries and VI’s and plug-ins available so I’ve spent a lot building my collections. |
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Post by ragan on Nov 22, 2023 11:32:36 GMT -6
Demo’d a bunch of stuff in the signature bundle last night. I was most keen to hear Sound City. Jury is still out for me. It does some cool stuff (and I’ve really just scratched the surface) and I did get some drum space that was better than what I’ve gotten before. Mostly a positive impression so far.
One that really jumped out for me was the Massive Passive. That thing opened up a mix really nicely.
Studer plug sounds like I remember, I like that one.
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Post by kcatthedog on Nov 22, 2023 12:05:25 GMT -6
The signature is good value. I’m interested in Sound city but stand alone its $350, not going to happen. Happy what I got, just bad timing with the Signature $150 flip flop. I see some already requesting a cross grade from lesser to Signature! |
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Post by ragan on Nov 22, 2023 12:29:08 GMT -6
Isn’t signature still only like $285 or something? That’s a lot of action for that money.
Like others, I remember paying lol prices for individual UAD plugs.
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Post by kcatthedog on Nov 22, 2023 13:39:29 GMT -6
Agreed, i paid $190 for 22 plugs, so Signature with the new verb plus 21 other plugs, is a great deal.
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Post by thehightenor on Nov 23, 2023 2:41:56 GMT -6
Isn’t signature still only like $285 or something? That’s a lot of action for that money. Like others, I remember paying lol prices for individual UAD plugs. I signed up their subscription, I’m done buying UAD licences. Those no point in owning them, as they constantly bring out new ones that become “go to” reverb or “go to” EQ and then a load of previous plug-ins become “never go to” plug-ins! I have way too many UAD plug-ins I never use anymore which I’m not going to add up what I paid as I’ll feel crap about it. The sub costs me $10 a month - in my part of the world my energy costs for 6 months of the year are $15 a day! I’ve worked out I’m literally no worse off getting the sub, and I don’t have to give them any large sums of my capital anymore And when new plug-ins come out that I want they now seem to be part of Spark and boom they’re ready for me to use. Plus when I’m in a writing arranging cycle they allow me to pause my sub and restart when I’m in a mixing cycle. If I’m doing music for other people I already own a whole slew of UAD plug-ins and Fabfilter, Soundtoys, Softube, Eventide, DMG etc. Fabfilter, Soundtoys, etc where good value collection purchases as they don’t seem to be constantly releasing software and when they add one it’s a very cheap add on cost. UAD are unique …. they are constantly rolling out new plug-ins - they’re the most prolific plugin developer out there and they seem to have a way of constantly out doing themselves are scuppering the value of their previous offerings! Soundtoys for example has classic timeless plug-ins like “Echo Boy” been around forever and still a go to as is most of their collection. UAD have nothing “classic” I mean they have about 10 different versions of their LA2A now …. all aimed at different marketing ploys. I bought the UAD Motown EQ (I think it’s stunningly great) and it’s wiped out virtually all my desire to use 80% of my other UAD EQ’s. Nope, I’m done with the UAD merry dance - I think the Spark subscription is actually (whether they realise it or not) an antidote for their own bizzare approach to plugin development and marketing. OK off to try the new Sound City Studios - guess what - yep it’s included my Spark Subscription - surprise surprise |
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Post by kcatthedog on Nov 23, 2023 3:17:23 GMT -6
Great but the sub plan has only a subset of UA plugs although it is slowly growing.
As long as the sub plan provides you with the plugs you want then, all is golden.
Having bought in and out out ua twice and losing about 70% of my capital ($1,000's), I found it ironic to buy almost 100% of my preferred ua plugs for $180.
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Post by kcatthedog on Nov 23, 2023 3:19:11 GMT -6
Here is a comparative UA plug in special package table prepared by UA , note it shows standard, to BF sale prices:  |
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Post by thehightenor on Nov 23, 2023 7:17:58 GMT -6
Great but the sub plan has only a subset of UA plugs although it is slowly growing. As long as the sub plan provides you with the plugs you want then, all is golden. Having bought in and out out ua twice and losing about 70% of my capital ($1,000's), I found it ironic to buy almost 100% of my preferred ua plugs for $180. I already own virtually all the UA plugins before the subscription started! For me the subscription is a much better way of using the new plugins. |
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Post by kcatthedog on Nov 23, 2023 9:18:36 GMT -6
I understand but other then getting say Sound city, you would have had all the uadx versions (native), of the plugs you own in your daw anyway?
I understand about low cost snd UA adding things to the sub!
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Post by thehightenor on Nov 23, 2023 14:33:11 GMT -6
I understand but other then getting say Sound city, you would have had all the uadx versions (native), of the plugs you own in your daw anyway? I understand about low cost snd UA adding things to the sub! True, but I wanted the Rotary Waterfall plugin also the UAD virtual instruments are all really good and so I’ve saved a heap having those. Most importantly, I don’t need to buy any more DSP cards as I’m now running most of my bread and butter UAD plug-ins natively. So far the sub is feeling like very good value for money. The more they add to the roster the better value for my sub is feeling. The pause facility is also really great and the potential in my situation to be a further cost saver. |
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Post by kcatthedog on Nov 23, 2023 14:38:51 GMT -6
I’m with you. i sold my card and the native package I got includes all ua vi and the rotary b3, and my m1 doesn’t break a sweat.
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