afaik, all paid modules in the VCV library cost less than $ 1,700.-
and price tag of VCV+ is a bit higher than of Reason+
Price is also about the same as the top tiers of Roland Cloud and Plugin Alliance (which gives lifetime ownership of 10 plugins per year). I hope it never goes subscription only.
Speaking as someone who was severely burned by Adobe subscription, the Subscription model is fine as long as there are other options
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Hello all,
I’m a bit confused why users (here and social media) are angry about this. We’re not removing any services or products, just adding another option to get access to our products and third-party products. Nothing else has changed:
- VCV Rack Free is still open-source and free of charge. Some users are suggesting that it isn’t. I don’t understand this misunderstanding—the source code of the latest version can easily be found at GitHub - VCVRack/Rack: The virtual Eurorack studio
- All open-source modules from pre-VCV+ are still open-source. Again, some users are suggesting that their licenses have changed. I’m not aware of any—you can check their source/licenses.
- All premium modules sold at https://library.vcvrack.com/ are still available there. No module/bundle prices or availability have changed.
- VCV Rack Pro is still available $149 at VCV Rack 2 - Virtual Eurorack Studio
- Any non-subscription software that customers have purchased will continue working on your computer for life. Nothing will change if you aren’t interested in VCV+.
I thought that VCV+ would be welcomed by people with the following use cases:
- You want to try several modules and/or VCV Rack Pro without a large initial investment. No need to spend time reading about modules to choose a personalized selection based on your budget constraints—you can simply try and use them immediately in VCV Rack.
- You want to load patches from your friends or online, regardless of the premium modules they use in the patch.
- You want to temporarily enjoy the hobby of virtual modular synthesis for a few months but plan to move on.
- You want to try new modules as soon as they release without buying them each time. We hoped that VCV+ revenue would allow us or third parties to release a new module or bundle of modules worth about $30 every month.
We have received hundreds of requests in the last 3 years asking for use cases like these, and we believed that VCV+ was the clear solution to satisfy these customers. I subscribe to several audio plugin companies myself and enjoy using their risk-free services that always guarantee access to their newest products and versions.
Most revenue from VCV+ goes to third-party module developers, to give them a steady and predictable revenue stream to invest in new module designs, DSP, and testing.
I see no harm in offering an alternative way for customers to access the products on our store. However, if users don’t like VCV+, I can discontinue it.
Since launching VCV, we have listened to users and have directed this large ship to please as many users as possible. So if the existence of this new service displeases a large proportion of users, I will remove this option.
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I do think this is a good option which, if I were discovering VCV for the first time, I’d probably go for, just for a couple of months so I could see which premium modules I’d not want to be without. I’d then cancel, get VCV Pro and purchase whatever premium modules I’d decided on. I’ve most premium modules, a few of them I never use as there are better free alternatives. This option would’ve saved me money.
When will you release the remaining dark panels for the premium VCV modules?
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Do you plan on making things exclusive to subscribers on vcv+? LIke a new module might only be available to them? I don’t see a problem with the option of subscription as long as the regular users don’t get negatively effected.
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I see no harm either. Thank you for the clarification, I think this was much needed and certainly from my perspective, calms the alarm bells.
I’m sure you can appreciate how many services have moved to subscription and how many we are forced into in our lives, whether that’s streaming services, online storage for email, software, games, news services and so on. It usually involves not really offering anything beyond the subscription where you own nothing and are expected to be happy with paying more and more each year, and clearly many people find it very off-putting, to put it mildly.
However, it’s great to see your reasoning and the reassurance that this is not intended to be the sole future business model and that the rug isn’t being pulled. I think there is great value in the use cases you describe and I can’t see how it can harm VCV or users.
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Any plans on making changes to this? How will all three business models work together?
As others have asked, what’s the benefit for those who already have Pro and some premium modules?
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There are still lots of questions.
First of all, it is great that you share the VCV+ money with the developers of premium modules. But were they aware of VCV+? Did they give you a permission to use their modules for this subscription thing? Cause if not, I see a legal issue. Well, maybe it’s legal in US. If so, ignore it. But still if you haven’t asked them beforehand, it is bad.
Now how the VCV+ money will be split? Will it be evenly? If so, what is stopping people from spamming 100+ premium collections into the library to get a share of this pie?
OR if it based on how many times this module/collection was used, what’s stopping the developer to set the new price, like 100 times more than it was before, effectively making this collection or module VCV+ exclusive? Do you have regulations for such cases? What if they delete the collection to upload it again with this new price, not only making it VCV+ exclusive, but also forcing the old users to subscribe to VCV+, because it is more profitable to the developer in a long-term? So, basically: is there an anti-scammer protection?
What about just VCV+ exclusive stuff? Not the scam collections, but new stuff (maybe not even modules, but features) that is available only to the VCV+ users? If there will be anything like that, does that mean that VCV Rack Pro customers are now less important than VCV+ users? I hope not, cause that creates a hierarchy that you don’t want to have. But if not, what’s the point of a year-long subscription? It costs more than VCV Rack Pro plus some and it’s neither for people who “want to temporarily enjoy the hobby of virtual modular synthesis for a few months but plan to move on” nor any other category, especially not this one: “You want to try several modules and/or VCV Rack Pro without a large initial investment”. Why then? Just to make it $19/month for advertising? Or what?
Also why did it came out of the blue? there were no polls, no “So we have an idea, what do you think?”. You have a forum ffs, that’s what forums are for. To communicate, to test grounds and see people’s reaction. Instead it’s like talking with your boss. “Anyway, the water cooler is now $5 per cup and is open to the public” - “Why?” - “There were hundreds of people asking for it.” I am not saying it should be all open and transparent, but with these big decisions it makes sense to check if people will be happy with it.
Anyway, subscriptions could be good. And I appreciate the alternative ways of purchasing stuff, but in this case it clearly is poorly explained or thought through or maybe I am stupid, and me and all the people that were unhappy are overreacting. But what I saw with the initial announcement was an intention to push VCV into the subscriber-only hole. It was intentionally - as I saw it - confusing and amorphous enough to backtrack if needed. If by some miracle everyone was happy with this VCV+ thing, don’t lie to yourself and admit that it would be a huuuuge incentive to discontinue VCV Rack Pro. So I believe it was a test. And we see the results.
The intention of this comment isn’t to “gotcha” you or anything, I just don’t think VCV+ is a good idea AS IT IS NOW. You can shape it into something better though. But in my opinion it should be a different product: similar, but distinct. Like “VCV+ online” or something like that. Or… oh! “VCV+ physical” where you have a huge (and I mean it, it should be not just huge, but super-huge) real modular synth with all the modules that have a physical instance or form or whatever… and you operate through the internet. That would be cool! I don’t think it’s possible, but… who knows.
8 Likes
I’m guessing that a large portion of it comes from two things:
- People’s experience with other software moving in the direction of subscriptions has been near universally unpleasant.
- People don’t know what you have in mind. Telling people what you have in mind can help with this, but experience with untrustworthy assurances that accompany other software’s transition to subscriptions might outweigh that.
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What I would be more willing to support if it helped development would be something like the former Plugin Alliance forever $29 model. Each month the $29 allows to purchase one new premium set or can be heldover as a credit against future ones. Not sure the $29 level would be right for VCV (ideally less than non subscription price). But for this to be apoealing it would be in a setting of a faster release cadence of premium modules like a monthly one and ideally including some analog modelling. Also the new 7 day cash back gives a way of trying out the months newly released modules.
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For one I think this is really neat. I still haven’t purchased Pro because I’m perfectly happy with Free: I’ve never felt the need to use Rack inside the DAW and every now and then I buy a premium module. VCV+ would be a great way for me to experiment with some of the Pro modules I’ve been missing out without spending a ton of money. It makes a lot of sense if I want to record an EP or album, let’s say. I can create with no constraints for a set period and then be done with it. It would be like paying for studio time. I agree that being forced into subscription services sucks, but let’s focus on what’s in fact being announced here — not a transition, but rather an option — and use this space to point Andrew in the right direction.
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because “we” are worried that sooner or later the Pro version will be subscription only. that’s it 
IMHO there is no need to remove this option if we can choose between this and the bought option 
in fact, I’m already planning to try it as soon as I need it
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I think VCV+ is a good solution for somebody who wants to try and test VCV. It therefore offers considerable added value for the user. So I hope VCV+ will not be discontinued.
In the long term, however, it is not economically interesting for most users because it is significantly more expensive. In addition, you are forced to have a permanent subscription so that the patches continue to work in the future.
As a beginner, I will probably test it, but I will buy the modules that interest me because I want to have them permanently.
But as I wrote, I think it is very good for testing.
Is there any risk of modules being “upgraded” beyond the ability of legacy hardware/OSs being able to use them? Or can you choose to keep a version that you know will work?
I will never use subscription-based software, but you are welcome to offer it as an option for other users.
I honestly don’t know what all the fuss is about. We live in rented apartments and lease our cars. It’s perfectly normal that we only pay for the use and that we don’t own things. Of course, some people have their own cars and apartments, but if you don’t have the money to own something, you have other options. As far as VCV is concerned, I haven’t found any need for the Pro version so far and have only bought premium modules that I saw as a real added value. So far, I’m pretty happy with it, although there are already a few modules that I’d like to try out. That’s why I find the Pro+ model interesting. I’ll probably buy some modules and save the money on others. In any case, I’ll have a real decision criterion and not just my gut feeling, and all for a price that I can live with.
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I am not too worried (I already bought a lot of the premium modules, so VCV+ is not for me I guess), but would like to point towards another way of try-before-you-buy: Having a free demo period of premium modules.
I don’t know how complex it is to implement, but I believe this is also a way into getting more people to use premium modules. I do not see why you have to pay/rent to try something.
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That may have been addressed by the 7 day window to return for a refund, which is almost a short free demo period. Not sure if it applies to all premium modules sold through the library or not - still waiting for an answer.
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True and probably the most easy way to implement across all modules.