Would you purchase a 799$ software which has already been cracked?

I lately got a 2nd hand push1 with ableton live 9 intro license.

Later I found…live 9.7.1 suit(799$) was cracked already…

799$ was almost 3/4 of my salary…

So what is your choice?

I think you are posing the wrong question. One can spend the rest of their days downloading and using cracked software, but I don’t think it makes anyone more creative or a better musician. Then again, if you spend 3/4 of your monthly salary on something, perhaps you would be highly motivated to put in the work to get some results with the software. After all, you already invested a lot of your resources on it. Perhaps not the answer you were looking for…

Lel, everybody does it, but no one will admit it :3

For me, I was looking at cracks until I could buy the software and be all legit, but the cracks were unreliable / problematic… So now I’m a real boy.

Melodyne on the other hand, I was looking at buying, but the latest version has removed one the main features I want … so I need version 3, and celemony don’t sell it

If you’re implying “JohnSmith” that I’m not being real here, you’re wrong. I can admit that I had a huge collection of warez back in the day, but that never helped me achieve anything musical. On the contrary, it made me obsess about the software. That might be fun too, but it’s a whole different ballgame.

The tools are the same no matter how you got your hands on them. I have a feeling that this myth about people not being creative with cracked software is more to do with the fact that folks using cracks are usually younger and newer to the game, so they take a more exploratory approach that results in lots of learning and experimenting but not much musical output. A few years later they get better jobs, buy the software and wax lyrical on forums about how paying up turned them into more diligent musicians.

As a full-time developer I would highly recomment to buy the software, because this way there are two big advantages over a cracked software:

1. You support the hard working people behind the software, because devs are humans too.

2. Cracked software is a big security issue, since you can’t keep the software up to date and also you put your system in the risk of getting infected with malware either in the cracked software, the crack itself or the key generator. Even running this in VM is not safe because there are VM exploits too.

By the way purchased the iZotope music production bundle 2 just yesterday on sale for 440€ which is a great deal and comes with all the advantages above.

Decide yourself whats more worth for you.

Can’t afford it? Get something else or save up.

By the way purchased the iZotope music production bundle 2 just yesterday on sale for 440€ which is a great deal and comes with all the advantages above. :)

I just got the same bundle on sale and it’s been one of the best things I’ve purchased for music. Ozone 7 actually makes me look forward to the mastering stage. Crazy.

As for using a cracked version of your entire DAW: I used a cracked version of Ableton back in the day for a long time. Really got to know the software, started making more and more complex stuff I was proud of.

Then in the middle of a big important project the crack just stopped working. Ableton was asking for registration and I couldn’t make music anymore.

I ended up buying it, and it was a good idea. I’ve been happy with the choice, even though it was pricey at the time.

YMMV. That said, I don’t know if this is the best place to talk about using pirated software.

asking pirates if they pay for software? wtf…

I used to use hacked software, like a lot of us I guess, but I don’t do it anymore for a simple reason: creative constraint. I’m too easily distracted and if I have too many tools, I always end up tweaking knobs and envelopes instead of moving on. I’ve bought Ableton by the past, sold it, bought Bitwig, sold it (was it a mistake??), and now I’m learning to love Reaper (<3). Limiting myself to the use of a carefully/consciously chosen software helps me focus on achieving things (as the OP-1 does, by the way).

Other reasons involved have been cited already: coherence (some of those software are niche products, support from the users is vital), security and reliability (big deal), ease of use (hail free software!).

Well, not related to Ableton and music in general, but I was using cracked software for a while, but I bought it when I started to earn money with it. I think there is a nuance with hobby and professional use.

If a software doesn’t have a free trial, I’ll check for a torrent simply to see if it’s worth my hard earned dollars. I believe “try before you buy” is a really important factor in my choices in gear, tech, and music.

The question is why are you asking us?

Are you the type to loot a shop in a riot because everyone else does it?

@Less, I had Lite 4, then lite 6, then Live 6 standard, then upgraded to 8 suite and 9 suite. The right thing is to buy it. You don’t have to spend the cash all at once.

Yea wait for deals. I got live lite. Then upgraded to standard on sale, then upgraded to Suite and Max 4 Live on sale. Just be patient and wait for sales!

Thanks mate, I am gonna digging into the intro & try to make full use of it first. Then I’ll decide the next step.

Well, not related to Ableton and music in general, but I was using cracked software for a while, but I bought it when I started to earn money with it. I think there is a nuance with hobby and professional use.

Of course, in case of Ableton if you use it for hobby, you might not justify spending 800$ on it, but it’s still professional software. That said, I think its a general thing, that noone makes good things for cheap. Using purchased software always comes with benefits of not needing to worry about it being broken or malwared, you always have customer support and in general it should work as intended. If you never used ableton before, Intro license is something good to start with and will give you basic understanding whether you need better license or no. And still, it’s up to you to decide to pirate better license or no. Plus, some of the features from Suit are unavailable on pirated version, i think. Ableton is a good and mature software, which even in current state covers everything you might possibly want from DAW, so regardless of your musical choices in the future, if you plan to work with music and sound, buying Ableton is a good investment into musical career.

I was raised up in such an environment that even schools, colleges are using non-genuine OS & warez and they never felt shame.

And I asked few of my friends, colleagues(some of them are engineers, designers~) their opinion, none of them could understand why I am gonna pay.

That’s why I am here looking for some other voices so I can make up my mind.

The question is why are you asking us?

Are you the type to loot a shop in a riot because everyone else does it?

I can’t talk about Ableton, because I only have the version that came with my focusrite interface… but there has been put a lot of work into every Software. I think the problem is, that you can’t see the craftsmanship in software as you see it in hardware…
try as much DAWs as possible and find the one that fits your workflow best.

Firstly, that’s a LOT of money for cracked software! You could grab it for free from a Torrent site.