PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?

Chazrox

Whats up! Im getting close to completing my first plugin so I wanted to start reading up on the latest methods of delivery that you guys are using.

Things im wondering about:

How do you distribute licenses #'s?
What are the main differences in methods for Mac vs. Windows?
What is your favorite platform for online distribution?

Also if there's anything else I should be aware of crucial to delivery process please feel free to fill me in.

I do plan on getting an apple developer account so I can properly code sign everything. I've been walking people through beta installs for a couple months now and I can see how things can get messy so i'm trying to prepare for that.

I appreciate all the great advice as always!

Thank You in advance!
Bless!

Rox

d.healey

I sell through WooCommerce and use a license plugin that generates licenses for each order. These are sent to the user via email and made available in their account.
The delivery is the same, it's the packaging that's different. You need to make separate plugins and installers for each, but I think you're doing that already.
I sell through my own website mostly. But I also work with resellers, Audio Plugin Deals, Loot, Xchange, and a couple of others.

You might want to look into signing up with Pulse and using their downloader and selling through their store. It's owned by the same people who own Audio Plugin Deals now.

Chazrox

@d-healey nice! What license plugin do you use? Is that native to WooCommerce? I didnt see anything specific to license/serial#'s unless its under another name. I would prefer to stay on my own website as much as possible but im not opposed to using resellers as well. Thank You!

d.healey

@Chazrox I use this one, but there are other options https://wordpress.org/plugins/license-manager-for-woocommerce/

Chazrox

@d-healey great. Thanks. Ok so I guess the last question is, how do I script my plugin for managing licenses? Do you have a video covering that?

d.healey

@Chazrox I don't, my licence is only a key that gives customers access to their downloads, and they can also use it to transfer their purchase to someone else. I don't use any DRM in my plugins.

Gab

@Chazrox You should check out Pulse Downloader.

Takes care of the installation part and license parts so no need for MSI/Installer or pkg. plus it has a HISE support that already locate the samples for the user. (so no prompt screen)

fast download and If you use Cloudflare R2 it's basically free for the storage and download.

You can also update your vst from it directly.

downside is that it now comes with a 2.25% fee on sales and ultimatly require the user to have/download the Pulse Downloader app. and also they have direct integration for 3 main website (Wix, Shopify and Squarespace) the rest need to be setup somewhat manually but doable as long as you have a license manager (Gumroad and payhip are not good candidate for that)

For the prefered website it would depend on what you're aiming for. at this point shopify is what I would recommend since it's basically the most versatile out there, you can use tons of apps, there's a lot of info online and it's not much different from the Wix or Squarespace price, sure it's a bit more expensive but the first tier lets you access everything which is where you need to be careful choosing the right website.

orange

Check out this topic: https://forum.hise.audio/topic/4967/woocommerce-linked-licensing-system-for-your-plugins?_=1744863135125

Chazrox

@d-healey said in PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?:

I use this one, but there are other options https://wordpress.org/plugins/license-manager-for-woocommerce/

reading up on this now.

Chazrox

@Gab said in PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?:

You should check out Pulse Downloader.

I'll check that out. David also mentioned Pulse.

I also just checked out @orange 's suggestion. Thats pretty dope! Man I say it all the time, you guys are goooood! haha.

OK. I have some reading up to do for sure.

Thank You guys!

@d-healey said in PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?:

I don't use any DRM in my plugins.

So what you're saying is these methods dont require you to code your plugin any differently?

orange

@Chazrox said in PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?:

So what you're saying is these methods dont require you to code your plugin any differently?

As long as the plugin can communicate with the server, everything can be done with the APIs inside HISE, there is no need for anything extra on the plugin side.

For the communication, You need to make settings on the server side.

Chazrox

@orange Sweet. Thank you!

d.healey

@Chazrox said in PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?:

what you're saying is these methods dont require you to code your plugin any differently?

Correct, my plugins don't have any licence related code in them - except Rhapsody which allows users to activate licences, but they are not used to restrict the user

Chazrox

@d-healey thats a small relief hearing that. Im feeling better about it now for sure. ha. Thanks!

Lindon

@Chazrox said in PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?:

Whats up! Im getting close to completing my first plugin so I wanted to start reading up on the latest methods of delivery that you guys are using.

Well I think I do things a bit different from everyone else - apart from those amongst you who've licensed this code from me(and Im always open to license requests by the way..) -- so here goes:

Things im wondering about:

How do you distribute licenses #'s?

Depends, mostly - from my own site the plugins use an RSA key which, just like everyone else I use a WP plugin to send out the code with the user purchase. I have a small utility (written in HISE) which generates RSA serials as and when I need them for each product. I then just import them in WP plugin.

For stuff with Tracktion - its waaaay more complicated - and use their backend service - so its a call to that etc. Essentially I do nothing about serials here - I just ask for this user id/password for this product do they have a valid license for today? and the server responds appropriately..

What are the main differences in methods for Mac vs. Windows?

Well here's where I do it a bit differently from most others. So my plugins download and install all their own samples, images, metadata etc. etc. from Within the plugin itself. So on first start up the plugin does the authorisation and then behaves like a download/installer program setting up its own required files/locations etc. Both online and offline versions available to the user - for those 7 people left on the planet not connected to the internet...So it asks the user the usual stuff .. where do you want the samples placing? etc.

I do this because well, my plugins use a custom tag based browser system for presets, wav files, and sample(map)s. These require their own meta data files, plus there's meta data about what expansions are available to buy, and images for these etc etc. It gets to be a big list pretty quick, and requires installing in several different places...so I find its easiest on me and the end user if the plugin is smart enough to know what it needs and deals with the download install process itself. Essentially its doing the same things Dave's Rhapsody installer is doing (I think). On second and subsequent starts the plugin checks the install has been done correctly (e.g. it checks all the ch1 files are where the user asked them to be placed) and runs as per normal.

One of the upsides of all this is that the Mac(White Box) and Windows(inno) installers only have to install the plugin itself, so they are pretty simple to write..

The other upside is it does expansions pretty easily too...

I also have a version of this that works with Pulse - so Pulse does the inno/Whitebox part and the plugin does the rest as usual - I use it for the Sample Logic stuff (they are the same people who own Pulse, as well as APD and VSTBuzz)

What is your favorite platform for online distribution?

Well its probably no surprises that its Tracktion - but Id have to warn you the chances of getting on Tracktion Presents are (these days) very very slim, they are pretty slammed with our stuff, Dawsom and their own releases. But otherwise yeah Loot, Plugin Boutique etc. for regular distribution, APD and VSTBuzz for "sales"

Also if there's anything else I should be aware of crucial to delivery process please feel free to fill me in.

Install setup will likely be your biggest single support call topic...get it as bullet proof as you can

I do plan on getting an apple developer account so I can properly code sign everything. I've been walking people through beta installs for a couple months now and I can see how things can get messy so i'm trying to prepare for that.

I appreciate all the great advice as always!

Thank You in advance!
Bless!

Rox

tomekslesicki

I've been using Pulse since 2019, and I'm the guy who worked with them on native HISE support. Recently the ownership changed, and even though we - people who were using Pulse - were told that the terms of operation are going to stay unchanged, they informed me that they'll actually change the terms for me anyway. It was 10th of March or so, and they said something like "hey, we're changing the terms for you, and they'll affect your pricing from March 1st". Not a very respectful way to do business, in my opinion.

Also, keep in mind that all Pulse does is it gets the multi-zip archives from the server and unpacks them. There's no license management or anything like that.

Anyway - I'm using a custom installer now I built with HISE. You can pretty much replicate all Pulse does with this @d-healey (thank you!) tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqGsqJoBxiQ

Chazrox

@Lindon That sounds like an awesome code!

All great advice.

@Lindon said in PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?:

and Im always open to license requests by the way..)

I dont think I can make use of this code specifically. Do you have other types of codes that you license?

@Lindon said in PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?:

Install setup will likely be your biggest single support call topic...get it as bullet proof as you can

Agreed! Thanks for the great advice! I'll look into everything you mentioned including all the different platforms you mentioned.

Thank You!

Chazrox

@tomekslesicki Wow. Thats pretty cool that you made that, and sad that they treated you like that. Thanks for the insight. Crucial.

@tomekslesicki said in PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?:

Anyway - I'm using a custom installer now I built with HISE. You can pretty much replicate all Pulse does with this @d-healey (thank you!) tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqGsqJoBxiQ

Im definitely gonna check this out now. I've been avoiding that video because I didnt think I needed it but for this purpose I think it'll be very useful. Thanks for the link!

Lindon

@Chazrox said in PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?:

@tomekslesicki Wow. Thats pretty cool that you made that, and sad that they treated you like that. Thanks for the insight. Crucial.

Well I work with the Pulse guys(as Sample Logic) on a pretty weekly basis and this isnt my experience at all, they seem very professional and considerate. In fact they use my HISE based approach in PULSE for their own products because the existing HISE solution wasnt something they felt comfortable using, no idea why.

Lindon

@Chazrox said in PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?:

@Lindon That sounds like an awesome code!

All great advice.

@Lindon said in PLUGIN DELIVERY: Latest & Greatest?:

and Im always open to license requests by the way..)

I dont think I can make use of this code specifically. Do you have other types of codes that you license?

Well there's a range of things, and not trying to get too salesy here, this is the list:

The download/Install system
The Authorisation system (RSA based and includes the key generator)
the tag based browser system(s)
the slot-based multi-fx system
the chord player system
the arp pattern builder

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