Fractal ICONS Plugin

[sevenagn]

I'd be interested if you expanded upon that.

I would choose a basic auth code like Valhalla and U-he do. Everything more than that is just bloat at this point tbh. I remember that Slate's implementation of iLok Cloud was so shit that when R2R cracked their stuff, they also discovered that it was basically causing problems in the plugin itself (something about an EQ curve if I'm not wrong). Also, more recently, all the Acustica Audio drama... I think this hurts the paying customer more, because in the end, people who use cracked software wouldn't have bought the plugin either way.

To be fair, I was not even using the UAD plugins because all of them required iLok Cloud, not even the free ones, but later they just moved to machine-based auth. After moving to macOS, I tried UAD Spark and it actually works as it should, but I cannot stand all the bloat that has to be installed on my machine to be able to have this subscription

 

[sevenagn]

Not quite correct. There been working NDSP cracks for years.

The latest one was the Gojira X, in 2021. The newer ones got cracked when JMX lauched, so yes, almost 5 years without new cracked versions.

 

[LP59]

People that use cracked software aren’t going to be paying customers anyway.

I know that’s a common trope, but as a plugin developer, I can assure you it’s not true. I’ve been through the experience many times of seeing sales drop off the day a crack appears.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Thought I'd add my technical and thorough point of view:

Crack is wack!

 

[James Freeman]

If I recall correctly, Cliff never wanted to release an AxeFx VST plugin due to (guaranteed) piracy and loss of prestiege status of their algorithms.
Fractal clearly knew any Fractal VST will be cracked sooner rather than later.

One good thing about this cracking fiasco, is Fractal knew to release the shitty Fenders first instead of the Marshalls, Boogies, Soldanos and 5150s. Big brain.

 

[FuzzyAce]

One good thing about this cracking fiasco, is Fractal knew to release the shitty Fenders first instead of the Marshalls, Boogies, Soldanos and 5150s. Big brain.

Nothing shitty about the Fenders. They're more than capable. Only shitty playing makes the Fenders shitty.

 

[deathbyguitar]

If I recall correctly, Cliff never wanted to release an AxeFx VST plugin due to (guaranteed) piracy and loss of prestiege status of their algorithms.
Fractal clearly knew any Fractal VST will be cracked sooner rather than later.

One good thing about this cracking fiasco, is Fractal knew to release the shitty Fenders first instead of the Marshalls, Boogies, Soldanos and 5150s. Big brain.

I have to wonder if component prices due to tariffs and AI nonsense forced Fractal to go this route in the first place or if this was something they actually wanted to experiment with.

 

[James Freeman]

Nothing shitty about the Fenders. They're more than capable. Only shitty playing makes the Fenders shitty.

Totaly agree.
What I meant to say is, peope who play the cleaner bluesy stuff that requires a Fender don't usualy pirate software so the damage is of a lesser degree, thus giving Fractal time to think about what they are going to do about this issue with their more sought after models and effects.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Piracy is the devil. I hope this doesn't mean the stuff I like (aka what James is referring to) is getting walked back. That would be a shame

 

[Whizzinby]

I know that’s a common trope, but as a plugin developer, I can assure you it’s not true. I’ve been through the experience many times of seeing sales drop off the day a crack appears.

Yeah, I get it. There are a lot of shit heads in the world.

I’m not going to act above it, because I grew up in the early torrent/napster era and used to partake in downloading all kinds of software and music illegally, and jailbreaking devices etc.

When you’re young and broke, you can rationalize it, but I generally found that as I had the disposable funds I’d inevitably buy the stuff that mattered to me, and wouldn’t for the shit that ultimately didn’t.

Eventually I would like to think most people grow out of it, or maybe I should say, I just can’t relate to the mindset of grown ass folk who continue to do that shit. Ultimately it’s counter to your own self interests if you don’t give a dev a reason to continue to create cool stuff. Maybe I’m losing touch.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Totaly agree.
What I meant to say is, peope who play the cleaner bluesy stuff that requires a Fender don't usualy pirate software so the damage is of a lesser degree, thus giving Fractal time to think about what they are going to do about this issue with their more sought after models and effects.

I get what you're saying, although I don't know about the whole profile of a particular kind of hacker. Besides that, I would think that getting the plethora of Fenders accurate would be more difficult than a lot of heavier and gainy tones. There's a lot of nuance from clean to mean in those Fenders that is difficult to replicate. Of course heavy amps have that too. What I'm saying is, a lot of time went into developing these models... none should be taken for granted.

 

[Elf]

This is a bit buzzwordy imo. NDSP plugins hadn’t been cracked for 4+ years and basically the day before mayerX came out the flood of cracks started rolling in.

According to the Internet this is not a correct statement, some of their their plugin were cracked before that.

 

[TubeStack]

Isn't it not just a concern about losing sales, but also other companies seeing behind the curtain and getting a look at Fractal's modeling magic?

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

No.

I think in case of say the Spotify guy that is very much them case.

Igen!

 

[BROCKSTAR]

Even us talking about it isn't really helping the matter.. The more this info spreads, the more the cracked versions gets used and less money for fractal.

 

[sashimi]

Totaly agree.
What I meant to say is, peope who play the cleaner bluesy stuff that requires a Fender don't usualy pirate software so the damage is of a lesser degree, thus giving Fractal time to think about what they are going to do about this issue with their more sought after models and effects.

This is an interesting angle, are we profiling the metal dudes as more likely to pirate software than the Fender dudes?

 

[Orvillain]

I would choose a basic auth code like Valhalla and U-he do. Everything more than that is just bloat at this point tbh. I remember that Slate's implementation of iLok Cloud was so shit that when R2R cracked their stuff, they also discovered that it was basically causing problems in the plugin itself (something about an EQ curve if I'm not wrong). Also, more recently, all the Acustica Audio drama... I think this hurts the paying customer more, because in the end, people who use cracked software wouldn't have bought the plugin either way.

To be fair, I was not even using the UAD plugins because all of them required iLok Cloud, not even the free ones, but later they just moved to machine-based auth. After moving to macOS, I tried UAD Spark and it actually works as it should, but I cannot stand all the bloat that has to be installed on my machine to be able to have this subscription

Right yeah, I get you.

The stuff I have experience in is drum software. It used to be that, way back in the day, the size of the content was a piracy deterrent. But obviously nowadays that just is not an option.

The best I can come up with is, you make your buying experience, your authorization experience, as frictionless and as user friendly as possible, and you basically have to swallow the impact of piracy in some fashion. It is a really shit situation for companies to be in. Subscription services can go some way to tackling it as well, but not really... lots of people are anti-subscription. There's rent-to-own which is a decent business model actually, and I quite like it. But it also does encourage people to get into debt, so there's social impact there too.

I will confess, I feel less concern for the big players like NI than I would for U-he or Valhalla; which are very small operations. But in effect, it does impact everyone. There's ultimately a value based problem in people's minds, where they don't perceive value in music, so they don't perceive value in the tools used to create music, and aren't willing to spend the cash that this stuff really is valued at. The pricing race to the bottom has really impacted the industry, and it is going to get a lot worse now there are "build your own plugin using AI!" tools arriving on the market.

The market is about to be flooded with absolute shit. Which is exactly what happened to music about 15 years ago.

UA are absolutely terrible when it comes to ads and bloat and bullshit, for sure.

 

[Whizzinby]

 

[Elf]

For years we were reticent to enter the software market for just this reason and we heard constant complaints about that. "Wah, wah, I want an Axe-Fx plugin and I'll hold my breath and stomp my feet until I get one".

I bet this is bad for the morale of the team, at the same time very funny take on your own or possible future customers

 

[FuzzyAce]

I bet this is bad for the morale of the team, at the same time very funny take on your own or possible future customers

I remember stomping my feet (the gif did) for a plugin.
But is was in good fun, I already have an AM4 and VP4... just wanted more.