A reader in our letters section [Tape Op #75] recently bemoaned the fact that a virtual instrument plug-in he had purchased was no longer functioning properly and that he had received no support from its creators, as it had been outmoded. I responded to his situation at length. We know, as our operating systems and DAWs upgrade over time, we will always find incompatibilities with our older plug-ins and such. In our reader's case, a $60 investment would get him comparable replacement software — not too bad of a loss or investment. But then, during a recent upgrade to Pro Tools HD 9, I lost a plug-in that I had been using for years, but to replace what appeared to be a randomly outdated version I would have to cough up $1,000. No upgrade plan. No workaround.
Wow. One thousand dollars is a lot of money for any studio owner. For a single plug-in? Logic Pro 9 is only $499. Pro Tools 9 is $599. So why is one plug-in $1,000? There's still a native version, which is what I had owned for many years (and had the iLok authorization for), but for some reason, all of a sudden, it wasn't able to run on PT HD 9.