Um, I’m 52 and have been cheap from well before the advent of Google and the internet. I don’t think this offer is “unfair”… . it’s just too damn expensive, especially I already own like 3 of those vst’s.
If you already have them, then you have them. The bundle isn’t really going to apply to you unless you need more duplicate keys all the way around anyways. I personally wouldn’t mind having a second H5 key…it’d be quite useful for me…but I can’t really afford it right now so I’ll wait, and I likely would be far more tempted to go with some other product over getting a second H5 key. I like that they now have a bundle that can better compete with the Komplete 10 lineup, that includes all those products. It’s a nice future option for me if I ever decide to pull the trigger, and the fact I might could get a second H5 key in the deal would be gravy for me! I.E. I’m not likely to buy a second copy of H5 for its own sake. Instead, I’d go get Mach 5, a box of Vienna sounds, or whatever. I might however buy a bundle with some duplicate keys to stuff I already have in order to get other things Steinberg that I don’t have (HSO, The Grand, some of those Yamaha vst plugins, etc) , and take advantage of a second H5 key 
I can also trade or sell keys for the ‘independently licensed plugins’ I don’t plan to use, no?
In your case, push for a deal on what ever plugin you don’t have, but would like to acquire.
I looked at options when I got H5, and believe me, it wasn’t an easy decision to go with H5 given the robust competition out there.
Point for point, I could easily give several other products far more ‘value points’ if I simply made a list of them all. The problem was…the other products had a lot of points I don’t need, while H5 had the few that I do, along with some benefit of some features or workflow options that the others don’t have at all.
To get the ‘value’ however, the competing companies also wanted to sell me about 60 other products that I don’t really want/need, that would also have required me to invest in some more hardware to even consider implementing it properly.
Kontakt by itself, without getting some $500 bundle (great stuff…but don’t really need or want most of it) was about the same price as H5 (if I waited till the annual new year sale NI always has…otherwise Kontakt would actually cost more). I kept watching both…knowing that eventually one company or the other would run a sale on just the bits I need. Etc…
In my case, H5 and GA4 integrated into Cubase 8 just did a few things that the others don’t do AT ALL (Note Expression, surround sound sampling through the daw…pulling in instant rendered 20+ track soundscapes as a single 6 channel surround sound sample, etc.), that happen to fit my needs. The workflow in H5 and GA4 when combined with CuBase/Nuendo is simply amazing (in my subjective opinion). That, combined with a well timed promotional sale, was good enough to convince me to pull out my credit card
If you want to soundscape on the fly…plan to work with surround sound or other multi-channel formats, resample any number of tracks/waves/vstis all in a single pass (instantly actually) and further trigger/layer/process them on the fly…H5 inside CuBase/Nuendo is just an amazing tool for that sort of work-flow!
In contrast, if you want ‘stereo or mono sounds in a box’, (presets that someone else has pre-produced for you)…H5 currently probably isn’t going to be a best value for that sort of user. It’s also probably not going to be the engine of choice for someone who wants to ‘make sounds in a box to sell/share with other users’. Steinberg could change all that and build onto the Halion engine so that it trumps all others on all fronts…but to get more motivated, and better funded to do that…more H5 sales would help
As for GA4…in my opinion, that’s just shaping up to be one of the coolest MPC plugins out there. It’s fun and easy to use…ESPECIALLY if you’re running it through CuBase/Nuendo. If someone likes and needs a good MPC engine…GA4 is robust enough to hold up to it’s current price point…at least for ‘now’.
Every product isn’t going to be for everybody…at any price point. We as users just have to map out what we want or need, and shop the deals that fit us at the time we’re ready to buy.
Sometimes, we find ourselves in a position where there isn’t really much competition…you go with what’s there and pay what they ask for it, or you do without.
Change of plans. All details at
Thank you!!