Since polls are anonymous and everybody is different I am very curious on how the warez against legal license distribution is here on TA.

There can be different drivers for people using warez, from not knowing if they want to keep using the product, to not wanting to invest money in SW full stop. also people who might want to be legal and limit themselves to using only shareware/freeware DAWs and VSTi's

Since ofcourse the poll can very easily be skewed by deliberately choosing certain answers, this is not what this poll is about. It's also not intended als a moral discussion, though most of you know I have a very clear view on this. So here we go, feel free to add thoughts to the discussion and see where this goes:

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Analogue Mastering
Esoteric sound for the discerning ear

Last edited by Raphie on Mar-06-2011 at 10:46

ugh (again?). no.

I buy software because i support developers
I buy software, because i want to be legit

In that order. Being legit is not so much a goal for me. but I feel bummed (just a bit) out when people download my music for free while I've been putting my heart and soul into it. I'd rather pay for something someone put genuine effort into than for the sake of having everything legal. Either way, in the end you are both supporting and legit .

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Storyteller Website | Storyteller @ Facebook | Storyteller @ Beatport | Storyteller @ Soundcloud | Stephen J. Kroos - Europa (Storyteller Remix)
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quote:

If less is more think about how much more more would be. -Frasier

Last edited by Storyteller on Mar-06-2011 at 11:14

I got my first cracked product yesterday funnily enough - a big well know fx and dynamics package but I uninstalled it this morning as it had bugs, most notibly when unfreezing a track it all went haywire.

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the other day i downloaded a certain suite of plugins. basically it's just some filters, compressors and limiters. some people might see this as theft of $1699, but i see it slightly different. im more into the whole try-before-you-buy school, even though i have no intentions of buying it after i've tried it.
okay, im procuring the software illegally, but in most cases i install it, and test it out for a short period of time, then never use it again (tbh often i dont even come as far as installing them).

so i dont really see it as stealing, when im not making money of it, and the developers arent losing any money since they never had my business to begin with.

my daw is legit though, and most of my vsts too. at least the ones that appear on my releases.

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BA-DUM-TSS

quote:

ALFI - BOHICA - DJ MIX (Stream+Dropbox)

ALFI IMHO interesting perspective: whether you're able to make money with it or not, there are loads of offerings in the world where people don't make money with, would you steal a hammer from B&Q, just because you have no intention to ever become a carpenter?

I can understand the try before buy thing though, but in fairness WAVES offers 30 days trails for their products and SSL even 3x 30 days. People who regulary buy software most of the time already won an iLok or eLicenser.

I think your last point, "was not intending to spend money with them anyway" is probably the most honest one. This can be for a lot of reasons, you don't REALLY like the product, or the product is too expensive for what it offers. But again, if both a legal demo period would suffice in order to determine that, right?

I think it's more a virtual / physical thing, where virtual doesn't feel as bad and because it can easily befound, it can't be THAT wrong, right?

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Analogue Mastering
Esoteric sound for the discerning ear

yes, a fully functioning trial demo would be perfect for trying out software that you have no intentions of purchasing. but the demos ive found have mostly been of synths, not effects, and they are often very limited from the full product.
so imo, the developers are basically painting themselves into a corner with releasing rather obscure products at redunkulas prices.
i just wanna see if what they claim they can do sounds as good or not lol. if im impressed i'll buy, but often that's not the case.

so not only am i not costing them any business, if i am impressed i will very often preach their word aka free advertising thus generating profit for them, everybody wins etc.

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BA-DUM-TSS

quote:

ALFI - BOHICA - DJ MIX (Stream+Dropbox)

Last edited by itsamemario on Mar-06-2011 at 12:44

as usual with polls theres an option lacking or two.

I buy software because I dont want any hassle. It works better, easier to get and install, support, upgrade etc etc. The + sides are many. the negative sides are nothing but money. And money is just paper. I had a cracked version of Reason, Ableton and Cubase my first year as a producer. I had so much trouble with all of them so i ended up deleting them and bought Reason. Since then I have upgraded Reason a few times and bought Ableton, and Logic too, and have no problems. I do not use VST or hardware at all so I save money there, the daws have everything needed included. For the same reasons, I bought a mac, less hassle. In these hectic times I dont have time for computing-problems.

edit: its also abit about the physical thing. when buying a DAW you get a box with a DVD, a licence in your name and a manual. You sort of own it as a thing you can put in your shelf. Many VSTs is just a downloadable shit. I dont buy mp3 either, its not physical. I did buy alot of CDs and Vinyl back in the day but now Im just streaming everything through Spotify and pay a membership yearly instead. The physical aspect matters to me, and was the reason i wanted to go hardware some time ago, with no luck lol.

Last edited by 112268 on Mar-06-2011 at 12:58

Here's the thing. I'm 19, and don't have a lot of spending money. If I had absolutely no way of acquiring music software I'd likely not be making electronica. I'm not the target market of any software devs and if piracy didn't exist they wouldn't have seen a penny from me anyway.

I actually do plan on buying a legit copy of FL eventually, or maybe some other DAW, as the continuous updates I can't get do seem nice. I'd also buy a few VSTi's while I'm at it, especially if I ever start making any sort of money off of making music. I wouldn't like profiting off of cracked software, and I do prefer owning legitimate copies of software rather than cracked versions. Once I can afford it I'll be more than willing to pay for what I have now, but for now, fuck it, I'm 19 years old and can't justify spending hundreds of dollars on a hobby like this.

So, if nothing else piracy is helping them in this instance. I download everything pretty unapologetically now but eventually they'll see some money for it. Had piracy not been available, they'd never see that money anyway.

I'm flat broke, poor white trash but I either buy all my stuff or get it free, from KVR Audio. I used to use warez but something about that completely affected the creative process for me and I've simply done better with my own legit software than I ever did with warez. If it's something that works for other people, that's great, but there's something about the way I feel about myself when I'm using stuff which is ostensibly stolen that completely fucks the joy out of the process.








EDIT: Plus, I take a morphine-like sanctimonious comfort in resting assured that I am a better person than ALL of you!

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Now with extra singles!
my old stuff, not quite up to snuff - but I still dig it - UPDATED 9/23/2012

if youre broke just use reaper and free vsts and samples. nothing wrong with that. sometimes i wish i did.

i have no idea why people get so mad at people using hacked software. The rage on gearslutz for this type of thing is palpable. You want to talk about people stealing, lets talk about all those banks that had to be bailed out with no strings attached. So much mispent anger. I think the people that get angry are just failed engineers that blame their failures on anything they can.

When I was in school , I used 95% hacked software. I could not afford it and nobody suffered. It isn't lost sales. THere are people that use it as a justification but what ever moral justification is something i'm not really privy to so there really is no reason to worry or get angry about it. It happens.

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"This is why Superman works alone." GC
old stuff from days gone by (2001-2004)
Mad For Brad's gay little contest

Last edited by Looney4Clooney on Mar-06-2011 at 16:06

If you guys want to use stolen software - I'm not begrudging anyone here. But DO NOT try and take away my sanctimonious self-satisfaction for not doing so, nor should you besmirch me for hypocritically lording it over you, that I don't.







THAT would be a crime!

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Now with extra singles!
my old stuff, not quite up to snuff - but I still dig it - UPDATED 9/23/2012