Avid Technology Reviews 200

Avid customer service is responsive, however we closed a ticket unresolved recently. I believe if someone knew more about the workings of the communications between the user systems and their servers, we might have resolved it. It is a minor inconvenience at this time, no big. Spent hours per day over a week or two to decide it wasn't worth correcting though.

There are 2 reasons I am prompted to review today:

1) My initial subscription included a plug-in bundle. I did not let my subscription lapse, however 11 plugins were "expired" upon my 2nd annual renewal. All their web and support still shows that these "expired" plugins should be included with my subscription. I had to read an online review of the 2024 version to understand that they took them away for my level. That's kind of *bogus*. Update your website at the very least.

2) Just don't even bother with the free offerings in their "Inner Circle" - It's all a scam to get you to provide your info to third-party providers. I have a 33% success rate on getting what they actually promise. They claim "100% free, no trial/subscription", I found out today I would need to purchase a dongle in order to register a "free" product. *Bogus*. Vet your providers before making promises on your own site.

Otherwise, the application is amazing, state of the art, and best cross-platform, I've made some great recordings and had few, if any, crashes or glitches, and I'm on Windows! To me, it's worth the annual fee to use, and for the support. I'll be looking elsewhere to purchase plugins though, and be glad to pay full price for a hassle free install.

Been a paying member for over a year now.
Now they're telling me I cannot cancel my subscription, because it's an annual subscription that cannot be terminated once a year has started.

The frustration though, is that I turned off auto renewal in time for the new year, but that was not enough. I had to write an email to support (there are no cancel-button on their website), and it took 3 months to get an answer.. They just told me the year had started, and that I must keep paying for another 9 months.

Will I return to them as customer later on?
No, hell not! STAY AWAY!!

3 weeks of trying to get a developer authorisation code. No response after initial contact that was incorrect code. Pretty poor experience. Why am I paying this company a subscription.... The best worst customer service ever.

Paying for Avid Monthly subscription. Waiting 3 days for a call back on tech issue. The program has the jitters like an old man on speed. Pay extra for a code to call into Avid support. Three days later, and currently on the phone for an hour, waiting for a tech. Pretty weak Avid. Moving on

After Sibelius 7 (and physical copies they couldn't tamper with constantly) the company has gone from a great software producer to an annoying online shop. I like to use Sibelius. I have been using it for decades now.

Just one question. If I have given up to you and bought your full online product with PERPETUAL LICENSE (so I don't need to bother with annual subscriptions etc.), why, oh why in the names of every deity known to mankind do I have to "Activate" it by logging in to Avid Link once a week because "my license has expired"?! What exactly does "perpetual" mean to you?

I bought the product, I paid for the product, I want to use the product.
What I don't want is to be on any mailing lists, constantly log in to some unnecessary program management program / marketplace and/or subscribe to annual support link.

I. Just. Want. To. Use. The. Program.

The software is great when you can get it to work. You will get customer service to help you via email. After you follow the directions the software will work properly for about a month, then the problems getting the software to boot will start over again. Sadly this has been going on for years. I would recommend MuseScore. While it is very slow on a long score to scroll, for educational purposes it does an acceptable job.

I have been a longtime fan of Avid products, particularly Avid Media Composer, appreciating the software's capabilities and features. However, my recent experience with their customer support has left me thoroughly disappointed and frustrated, to the point where I feel compelled to voice my concerns.

In the past, Avid support was efficient and responsive, with turnaround times as quick as 15 minutes. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. My recent attempts to seek assistance have been met with endless hours on hold, unhelpful email exchanges, and solutions that simply do not work. It's disheartening to witness such a decline in the support services for a product I once held in high regard.

As someone working in the tech industry, I understand the importance of reliable and prompt customer support, especially considering the substantial amount we pay for support packages. However, Avid's support has deteriorated to the point where it can no longer be considered acceptable.

I have reached a point where I am actively advocating against the purchase of Avid products in my professional circle. I believe that, despite the software's undeniable quality, the lack of effective support is a critical issue that users should consider before investing in Avid's solutions.

My attempts to contact Avid support have resulted in frustrating experiences, with wait times extending to 2 or 3 days. This level of negligence is unacceptable, and it leaves users like myself feeling abandoned and unsupported.

While Avid Media Composer remains powerful software, the diminishing quality of their customer support is a significant drawback. I am left with no choice but to caution others to proceed with extreme caution when considering Avid products, as the lack of reliable support can greatly impact the overall user experience. As a longtime user, I am thoroughly disgusted with the current state of Avid's support, and I hope that they take immediate steps to rectify this issue before losing more loyal customers.

Seriously the most frustrating experience I've ever had with downloading a program online. I've used Pro Tools in the past, most recently last year. However, you can't buy it outright anymore; you need to pay either a monthly or yearly subscription for it, so I cancelled my subscription once I was finished my last project. I want to renew my subscription to work on a single I want to release. Just navigating their website is extremely confusing, with all kinds of loops and dead ends. Once I purchased the subscription, I opened Avid Link (which I already have downloaded, because again, I've already used Pro Tools in the past) only to find that Pro Tools will not open recognize my subscription because I haven't purchased a license for it through their third-party license manager, iLok. I didn't have to do that last time, so I'm not sure why it's making me jump through all these hoops to activate a product I've already used before.

I am still waiting for a live support agent to answer my message. In the time it's taken me to do all of this and write this review, I could have imported the files into Logic Pro X and been editing it already. Consider using a different program if your time and energy is at all important to you.

Since Avid took over Sibelius music writing software, they have treated the long-term customers with contempt.
The annual subscription has increased astronomically over the years until non-professional, personal users struggle to afford the cost, for software which increasingly includes paraphernalia that does not improve the basic process of writing scores and hearing the results one iota.
Sibelius 2/3 were in fact much better but in order to get that straightforward scoring utility you have to pay through the nose as if you were earning regularly to make it pay.
It’s certainly not for the amateur dabbler on a pension. They ought to provide a basic scoring software like Sibelius 2, for much more affordable price.

Other than having a crappy DAW (that's what Protools is now compared to other DAWs in the market), they have the most crappy website in the world. I'm sick of it. I had to reach out to support multiple times just to re-activate my subscription because the website always crashes, freezes and doesn't just load the checkout page. Then the same happens when I have to download the invoice, errors pop-up saying 'the page has failed load'. It's an insanely frustrating experience, it's totally nonsense to have a website that bad in 2023. It's the worst website I have experienced in the latest 5 years at least.

Move to Luna, Studio One, Ableton Live or Logic Pro as I'm doing right now.

I horrified about avid in all possible ways. I've been a loyal costumer for 10 years now and this is the first time I reach for support with no success. It's enraging to see that the most expensive DAW company is also the one that cares less about users.

It's like Avid is in this committed relationship with money and totally forgot about us, the customers. Their obsession with profits is perverse, and it feels like they're just care about the money.

I've been supporting Avid for a while now, but it seems like they don't care about us as much as they care about their bank account. Where's the love, Avid?

Honestly, it's like they took customer satisfaction, tossed it out the window, and ran it over with a bulldozer. As someone who's been loyal to their products, this stings.

Avid, if you're reading this (I'm sure you are not as you don't care to costumers at all): We're not just walking wallets and many of us spend a very significant amount of money . Get your priorities straight and start treating us with some respect.

Terrible customer service, high fees, withheld payments on several occasions with no justified reason. Multiple calls and no resolution.

worst experience ever. Keeps personal data and credit card number against your will claiming it's their terms of service, forgeting that the law is above their own terms but these guys believe they can do whatever they want because they have been there from the start which is the only reason people are still using their products : lazyness to evolve. They send marketing email to which you can't unsubscribe because they say these are not marketing emails and you can only unsubscribe to marketing communication. Gives you an idea of how dishonest they are... Still can't delete my account and data after numerous emails and case creation.

Worst company ever, never buy anything from them. Pro tools user interface looks like a 1980 program, it works but there are other great solutions from companies which are not managed by stupid and dishonest people. I will never do business again with them and burn every piece of avid garbage which will cross my path

I am normally a very calm person but this bullsh*t is making me so extremely angry. I pay every month a subscription to use Sibelius as I no longer can just buy the product and I need to have license. Every. Ducking. Time. There. Are. Problems. I need to add at least 20 minutes working time to just try to open this ducking program I pay money for every month. I am so incredibly done with this ridiculous bullsh*t of a company. I worked with Sibelius for many many years but because of all the *pile of poop* since I need to work with this license I just can't anymore. I lost years of my life being frustrated about the *Redacted because this site won't allow mean words* way this license works. It is a disgrace that such a nice working program is ruined by such an asshat of a company. I hope that whoever is in charge of making whatever this scammy ass system is, steps into lego bricks every day for the rest of their lives.

I always have problems with Avid Link. It often logs out, doesn't remember or recognize my password. It's a joke.
I couldn't work today because I was logged out of my account.
Avid, make us a favour and completly erase this app. I need to work on pro tools, not spending two hours trying to log in...

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME IN THIS UNFAIR PLATFORM THEY DIDN'T GIVE YOU ANY TYPES OF REWARD FOR YOUR EFFORT.

I've learned to love the interface but it is the buggiest pile of doodoo ever engineered. Unusable still because of frequent crashes and lag. Hate to admit that I now have to spend time learning a new editing software.

I upgraded, PAID, & renewed my Sibelius “standard support” contract. Initially, Sibelius had activation issues, I got past those issues but .., Over the past week I’ve spent over 4 1/2 hours in remote viewing with tech “support” plus around 3 hours of my own time trying to debunk why Avid Sibelius either crashes or gets stuck in its plug-in checks. Other music production software (logic pro, Cubase, finale etc) do the same plug in checks without any issues. “Avid support” tries to pin the problem back on the client seemingly unaware that Sibelius should never crash or get stuck in plugin reviews. If there’s an issue Launching Sibelius, a pop-up should be sent with an option to bypass & if Sibelius Crashes then the Diagnostics should be automatically sent to AVID CUSTOMER CARE. Avid customer care is ridiculously BAD & wastes client time & productivity. They should pay me for my consulting time plus my lost productivity time. My production projects have lost days of productivity and missed several milestones.

Worst company ever. They just want your money and to not have to work or provide any service and have made everything subscription based model at ridiculously high prices. I have been a long time protools user but i am walking away as i have been treated terribly. Can't talk to any person on the phone after spending thousands over the years, worst website to navigate and services which have all become subscription based at the expense of customer, many who are long time users. There focus is all about profit and they have totally forgotten the customer.
Most music shops which sell avid are now urging customers to walk away and seek alternatives as everyone has been ripped off and are sick of them.
The CEO and Board should be all sacked!!
I urge all avid and protool users to walk away now!!