Plugin Alliance becomes part of "Soundwide"

[EnochLight]

Well, this is.. interesting:

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/news ... dwide.html

Berlin, April 12, 2022 — Today Native Instruments, the leading manufacturer of music creation products, and iZotope, the experts in intelligent audio technology, introduce Soundwide as the new name of their parent company, and welcome several new members to the Soundwide group of brands. Soundwide houses the two industry-leading companies in one unified group, alongside the popular audio plugin platform Plugin Alliance and audio software company Brainworx who have recently joined.

[Loque]

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[MrFigg]

Free Oberhausen. That’ll do me. Thanks

[Loque]

Can i now use my useless vauchers for iZotope and NI too?

[MrFigg]

Can i now use my useless vauchers for iZotope and NI too?

Oj oj oj Loque. Not like you to be so cynical hahaha.

[Popey]

Can i now use my useless vauchers for iZotope and NI too?

Probably in the future. You can have some of my PA useless vouchers too if you want

[Loque]

Can i now use my useless vauchers for iZotope and NI too?

Oj oj oj Loque. Not like you to be so cynical hahaha.

I am never cynical, ironic or sarcastic...except all the time.

[joeyluck]

I'm checking out the free welcome bundle...

Still a little unclear what Soundwide is. Also, soundwide.com is parked on GoDaddy, so if they own the domain and today is launch day...doesn't seem like they were ready. Or do they not own the domain?

So Soundwide is NI, iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx.

I don't get the distinction between the last two. Is Brainworx not already a part of Plugin Alliance? Why are they listed separately? And does Plugin Alliance still mean all other companies in the PA group?

I guess there is also something called Sound Stacks that is part of Soundwide?

I don't quite understand the move. Now you have a group, Plugin Alliance, that distributes plugins for a group of developers, but not all (not NI or iZotope). And then Soundwide doesn't distribute Plugin Alliance plugins either, they only point you to Plugin Alliance.

Is Soundwide just a partnership to offer bundled deals?

[tallguy]

Gotta say, that Black Box doesn't sound half bad

[PhillipOrdonez]

So we are seeing two camps. On one side is these guys, on the other there's plugin boutique, loopmasters and Beatport.

And there's also music tribe with their large number of brands.

What other large mergers can currently be found in the music making ecosystem?

[bxbrkrz]

The most important info first: PA and BX are here to stay for good. While we are teaming up with Native Instruments and iZotope, two of my all-time hero companies in our space, none of what PA or BX stand for is going away.

Your plugin licenses and subscriptions are safe.

Safe from going up in price?

[Loque]

...

Safe from going up in price?

There is room for a price increase?

[bxbrkrz]

...

Safe from going up in price?

There is room for a price increase?

There is always room for it.
Where are you going to run to now, if everything is owned by a few?
They may need to do some 'savings' internally too.

But, let's stay positive.

[Loque]

There is room for a price increase?

There is always room for it.
Where are you going to run to now, if everything is owned by a few?
They may need to do some 'savings' internally too.

But, let's stay positive.

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[EnochLight]

Where are you going to run to now, if everything is owned by a few?
They may need to do some 'savings' internally too.

But, let's stay positive.

How's that "glass half empty" philosophy working out for you?

[joeyluck]

Might want to edit the title of the thread to "...becomes part of..." or something like that

[QVprod]

How I read it is Soundwise is the new name of the parent company that bought both NI and Izotope a little while back. They've now added Plugin Alliance and Brainworx which apparently operates as a separate company with the same CEO. Sound Stacks is brand new and also under the umbrella. Sounds like they're working on a DAW of some sort.

Happy to take the free Brainworx plugins. Already have the NI and Izotope offers.

[EnochLight]

Might want to edit the title of the thread to "...becomes part of..." or something like that

Good idea - done!

How I read it is Soundwise is the new name of the parent company that bought both NI and Izotope a little while back. They've now added Plugin Alliance and Brainworx which apparently operates as a separate company with the same CEO. Sound Stacks is brand new and also under the umbrella. Sounds like they're working on a DAW of some sort.

Happy to take the free Brainworx plugins. Already have the NI and Izotope offers.

I'll admit, I was a little sad when I saw iZotope get bought. I always liked them as an independent company, but alas - every company has a price for purchase these days.

[QVprod]

How I read it is Soundwise is the new name of the parent company that bought both NI and Izotope a little while back. They've now added Plugin Alliance and Brainworx which apparently operates as a separate company with the same CEO. Sound Stacks is brand new and also under the umbrella. Sounds like they're working on a DAW of some sort.

Happy to take the free Brainworx plugins. Already have the NI and Izotope offers.

I'll admit, I was a little sad when I saw iZotope get bought. I always liked them as an independent company, but alas - every company has a price for purchase these days.

Seems that way. Almost everyone with a well known name has a parent company now except for Slate and Waves I think?

[joeyluck]

Was iZotope bought? I thought they just created a partnership with NI to simply create offers and promote each other's stuff. And this whole 'Soundwide' thing seems similar in concept to me as Plugin Alliance... Such as Plugin Alliance doesn't own the participating companies. It's been confusing. Can anybody point me to the info about acquisitions?

And seeing Plugin Alliance, a partnership of devs, that is now a part of another umbrella partnership with other devs, but Plugin Alliance is still kept as a whole...and Brainworx which is a part of Plugin Alliance is mentioned separately though. Why? It is a bit confusing.

They describe "Soundwide" as being an "audio supergroup". I don't think it is anything other than a partnership?

[QVprod]

Was iZotope bought? I thought they just created a partnership with NI to simply create offers and promote each other's stuff. And this whole 'Soundwide' thing seems similar in concept to me as Plugin Alliance... Such as Plugin Alliance doesn't own the participating companies. It's been confusing. Can anybody point me to the info about acquisitions?

And seeing Plugin Alliance, a partnership of devs, that is now a part of another umbrella partnership with other devs, but Plugin Alliance is still kept as a whole...and Brainworx which is a part of Plugin Alliance is mentioned separately though. Why? It is a bit confusing.

They describe "Soundwide" as being an "audio supergroup". I don't think it is anything other than a partnership?

Yep both were bought by Francisco Partners. It was said they would create a parent company. https://cdm.link/2021/03/native-instrum ... -partners/

That company is now Soundwide

[PhillipOrdonez]

Just checked the free bundle... Fuck, the few ones I've bought from them, all now for free

[Loque]

Just checked the free bundle... Fuck, the few ones I've bought from them, all now for free

I was eying Oberhausen to grab it for a few bugs, but this is now obsolete...Since i had SEM i did not had any pressure

[joeyluck]

Was iZotope bought? I thought they just created a partnership with NI to simply create offers and promote each other's stuff. And this whole 'Soundwide' thing seems similar in concept to me as Plugin Alliance... Such as Plugin Alliance doesn't own the participating companies. It's been confusing. Can anybody point me to the info about acquisitions?

And seeing Plugin Alliance, a partnership of devs, that is now a part of another umbrella partnership with other devs, but Plugin Alliance is still kept as a whole...and Brainworx which is a part of Plugin Alliance is mentioned separately though. Why? It is a bit confusing.

They describe "Soundwide" as being an "audio supergroup". I don't think it is anything other than a partnership?

Yep both were bought by Francisco Partners. It was said they would create a parent company. https://cdm.link/2021/03/native-instrum ... -partners/

That company is now Soundwide

Thanks!

Any idea why Brainworx is listed separately? And does this mean all devs who operate under Plugin Alliance agreed to be a part of Soundwide? And does that mean ownership as well for those individual devs? I feel like that isn't the case...

[QVprod]

Yep both were bought by Francisco Partners. It was said they would create a parent company. https://cdm.link/2021/03/native-instrum ... -partners/

That company is now Soundwide

Thanks!

Any idea why Brainworx is listed separately? And does this mean all devs who operate under Plugin Alliance agreed to be a part of Soundwide? And does that mean ownership as well for those individual devs? I feel like that isn't the case...

It seems Brainworx operates independently I guess. I pretty much equate them as 1 company. Perhaps to could be set up as separate companies for the sake of separating assets. Steven Slate does similar with Slate Digital, Steven Slate Audio, and Steven Slate Drums being different companies.

If Plugin Alliance has a similar deal as NI and Izotope then They'd be operating independently as well so the other devs are likely still just 3rd parties similar to RE devs, Refill, and Pack creators are with Reason Studios. That'd be my guess.