Rain, I see your point.   I think they would have to find a way to eliminate the alternatives completely.  Fl studio was not always popular with the wannabe hip-hop set.  In late 90's and early 2000's the MPC ruled hip-hop and then the Yamaha Motiff when the Neptunes sound was big. Software based production in hip-hop was pro tools on high end and Reason on lower end. fact, I suspect it was Reason's increase in security that helped boost the popularity of FL.  More of the kids I come across using cracked software tend to be using older versions.   
 
I work with a lot of urban youth and always steer them towards legal alternatives.  Another reason FL Studio is big among these kids is you can create a usable "beat" in one sitting using just the demo.  You can't save project files but you can export a finished stereo track with full use of instruments and effects.  It's a crappy but fully legal option to stealing. 

.

The Sonitus DirectX plug-ins were ported to 64bit some time ago.

kitekrazy1
 So when Cakewalk bought out products they really haven't made improvements.  Aren't those Sonitus plugins still only 32 bit?   That is usually the case when most products by another developer without hiring the developer.
 

 
Before Rene left, The RGC products were improved and new products were under development. Dim Pro and Rapture were created after acquisition. Z3ta also got  a new version after Rene left.  Hard to know what would have happened if he had stayed. Going into hypothetical land, I assume Camel Audio is more than pone person, so the same scenario would be less likely.

scook
The Sonitus DirectX plug-ins were ported to 64bit some time ago.

 Do these only work in Sonar?  I tried loading them in a VST host.  Is DirectX 64 bit capable?

kitekrazy1

scook
The Sonitus DirectX plug-ins were ported to 64bit some time ago.

 Do these only work in Sonar?  I tried loading them in a VST host.  Is DirectX 64 bit capable?

They work in any DirectX host but unlike VST, there is no bridge for DirectX. IOW, 32bit DirectX plug-ins require a 32bit DirectX host, 64bit DirectX plug-ins require a 64bit DirectX host. A VST host is not necessarily a DirectX host too.

BTW they are probably not closing due to piracy.  One of the few useful things I saw amongst the 50+ pages of FUD is that apparently you can find the financials of UK companies on line, and that they were doing pretty well.  I also doubt that they are a VATMOSS casualty because they would probably have posted something about it, much like the HS's of the world.   Here's hoping that they sold out to someone who will keep the product alive for a long time on both platforms.

so piracy is unrelated to sales? Isn't that an assertion :) What about guys like Michael Carnes who is decades deep in the industry and say it is related? 
 
not sure about the conspiracy theory here...

OK so you are right and I am wrong- even though there are guys on both sides. Maybe you should do a head count over the entire internet of how many guys on each side and make a nice presentation for me :)
 
While you are doing that I am off for a few hours but will check back in late tonight.

Yes, It's good you can step outside of your body and observe the human race there. And you're right- a silly pissing contest- and who started it?

Jeff Evans
 I am sure it can be reinstalled and used on future systems at anytime.
 

 
Unless we're dealing with simple .dll, I would not be so sure, Jeff.
 
Dimension Pro and Rapture were two of my favorite synths, and an integral part of my workflow until I upgraded the studio computer, recently. It is impossible to install them on recent versions of Mac OS - and the reason I managed to use them until recently was that I was still on an old installation.
 
Since I already knew that before the upgrade, I rendered tracks which made use of either synth before moving to the new computer.
 
Furthermore, knowing that they were on their last miles, I hesitated to start any new projects with them for the last few months.
 
I'd hate to have to go through the same thing with Alchemy - I already use very few 3rd party synths, and having lost two of my work horses, it would have an impact on the way I work. So I'm crossing fingers that this is only a transition period. 
 

 
Fortunately, Camel used a simple license file, so at least authentication won't be an issue if you have a full backup. But you can't assume it'll continue to work forever. All it takes is one propellerhead at Microsoft to make one arbitrary decision and any plugin you own could become obsolete.
 
Obsolescence is baked into the whole hardware/software ecosystem. SampleTank2 and Miroslav won't run on my new DAW because the vendor decided 64-bit support was only feasible with a brand-new product. I cannot re-install Adobe Audition on my new DAW, because it wants to connect to a now-nonexistent authentication server. And those are two companies that are still breathing.
 
Imagine, all you Waves users, if Waves suddenly went out of business and shut down their authentication server. You could only continue to use them as long as you never made any changes to nor upgraded your computer. There's even been a word coined for it: being kjaerhused. Most of you will know the origin of that word even if you haven't seen it before.
 
It's not just Waves, of course - they just have the most convoluted and fragile process. You are at risk with every product that uses a challenge-response authorization scheme. That includes popular favorites such as U-he, Fabfilter, Spectrasonics and Native Instruments. But not Camel Audio.
 
 
BTW, I think both points of view regarding piracy's impact on sales are valid. I've no doubt that sales would be higher if piracy could somehow be eliminated without draconian measures (e.g. iLok hurts sales). At the same time, I seriously doubt that any significant fraction of pirates would have paid for their booty if stealing hadn't been an option. It's a cultural thing, not new, and unrelated to the consumer's ability to pay. (Years ago, Microsoft caught the U.S. Air Force running millions of dollars' worth of bootleg copies of MS Office.) It's more about software being perceived as value-less because it's nonmaterial.
 
Either way, I don't think it has anything to do with Camel's passing. They were doing OK financially. My own (unsubstantiated) theory is that the owner (I believe it's solely owned by one person) simply decided to retire. The pending major release of Alchemy greatly enhances the value of his intellectual property, which explains the timing.
 
So who's the buyer? Everyone seems to assume that it's a major player in the music software scene such as Yamaha or Avid. But it could as easily be the Camel employees buying out their boss. Or some other UK- or EU-based manufacturer with cash in their pockets. G-Force, Tone2, or FXPansion would be good candidates, but probably aren't flush with cash.  Focusrite?

the other thing with libs is when companies don't make them backward compat.. I have that "issue" with izotope and their new version of Iris = not buying it.
 
looking at companies house it lists them as "active".. it doesn't say dissolved etc.
 

I'm thinking that any company with a limited product line is very vulnerable. How can you keep the revenue coming in when the entire company is one product?  Kind of like a guitar company that only makes one model. Eventually, those that want it, will get it, and then how do you make money?

Camel was putting out libraries that apparently sold pretty well and weren't exactly cheap (not Hollow sun cheap, anyway).  That was in the meantime while they were working on Alchemy 2. 
 
But yea, you would think they might have released a few more effects, too.
 
@