KVR Audio

VELLTONE MUSIC · Post by **VELLTONE MUSIC** » Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:13 pm

What makes you buy something - among all kind of aggressive,misleading,deceiving trading tricks and strategies companies use almost every day in any aspect of trading,what impress you and makes you 'trust' some brand or product?
In most cases i bet on quality of the product and price ratio,but how could we be be sure that quality or the price isn't trick again,especially when comes to music 'products' isn't it all subjective?

Winstontaneous · Post by **Winstontaneous** » Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:16 pm

VELLTONE MUSIC wrote:What makes you buy something - among all kind of aggressive,misleading,deceiving trading tricks and strategies companies use almost every day in any aspect of trading,what impress you and makes you 'trust' some brand or product?
In most cases i bet on quality of the product and price ratio,but how could we be be sure that quality or the price isn't trick again,especially when comes to music 'products' isn't it all subjective?

For me "utility" and "inspiration" are better yardsticks than "quality": Does this product meet a need I have? Does it help me sound better or open new creative avenues for me? If the answer to one or both questions is "yes" I'm interested, then it's a question of whether the asking price is worth it.

I enjoy supporting developers who have a meaningful presence here and/or on GearSlutz...u-he, Cytomic, Valhalla DSP, Acon Digital, Airwindows, Tokyo Dawn, Voxengo, Unfiltered Audio to name a few. I prefer owning software licenses with free upgrades through the current major version, and tend to steer clear of schemes like plugin subscriptions, Waves' WUP, and IK Jampoints.

AnX · Post by **AnX** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 5:20 am

A product has to be of use and good quality.

Marketing is basically bullshit to draw you in. Most of it is obvious enough to avoid wasting your time and money. Sometimes you need to physically demo to find its bullshit.

Some of the 'cool' companies market themselves by constantly saying they dont, or passive aggressively commenting on other companies tactics.

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 5:54 am

As an engineer and a sceptic, I always check everything 10 times before I buy. What devlopers say in their materials can be tempting, but I always check manuals, reviews and hands-on videos. Also look for discounts and other offers.

Often also demo stuff, but only after above steps just to not waste my time.

VELLTONE MUSIC · Post by **VELLTONE MUSIC** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 1:16 pm

For me "utility" and "inspiration" are better yardsticks than "quality": Does this product meet a need I have? Does it help me sound better or open new creative avenues for me? If the answer to one or both questions is "yes" I'm interested, then it's a question of whether the asking price is worth it.

Yeah same here - i was about to buy new vst synth,then said to myself : 'Do i really need this?Do i need it right now.What exactly is what i need most at this moment?'

low_low · Post by **low_low** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 1:34 pm

VELLTONE MUSIC wrote:What makes you buy something - among all kind of aggressive,misleading,deceiving trading tricks and strategies companies use almost every day in any aspect of trading,what impress you and makes you 'trust' some brand or product?
In most cases i bet on quality of the product and price ratio,but how could we be be sure that quality or the price isn't trick again,especially when comes to music 'products' isn't it all subjective?

You can find threads on this forum from me asking customers of the various companies if they like the companies, whether their support is good, whether their upgrade pricing is good, about licensing issues, other problems they've had, etc. I usually do that before purchasing if I can, because companies of course are never going to be up front about their support, for example ... you really have to talk to their customers to see if they are any good or not. I won't deal with a company that has crappy support unless I have absolutely no choices in the matter. If they can't be bothered to pick up the damn phone and answer your questions, I can't be bothered to give them my money. If you can't get any of their customers to tell you, call their support department BEFORE you buy pretending to have an issue and see how hard it is to get it "resolved" to see what you're getting yourself involved in.

People like Urs from U-He, where he's literally involved in a Zebra thread over on the Instruments forum and asking if people have any questions .. that's solid platinum right there. That's a company you want to deal with.

Unaspected · Post by **Unaspected** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 1:37 pm

Spec sheets tell me whether I need to demo something and my ears have the final say - along with weight usually being a fair guide to build quality. When it comes to software, stability and usability are both essential additional factors. The brand is also important, once you have expectations for a certain standard.

harryupbabble · Post by **harryupbabble** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:54 pm

I've never bought anything from the internet. I am waiting for REAPER 6.0. I will definitely buy that. That will be my first and probably last internet purchase. I don't think that REAPER even has marketing. I've never seen an advert or anything like that.

I guess I've seen videos about REAPER's capabilities. Maybe that's marketing. Or maybe it's just endorsement of REAPER by other users.

I thought about buying the Podium DAW before I settled on buying REAPER. Unlike Podium and probably all other DAWs, REAPER let's you demo in full uncrippled mode. If that is marketing, what could be better marketing than that?

russeault · Post by **russeault** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:01 pm

I'm kinda new with music, so like most noobs I'm probably the kind of person that companies are marketing to (not particularly well informed, overenthusiastic). Don't want to debate whether my judgments are right or not - just these are the companies that have made a big impact on me as a noob.

NI Maschine - lusted after this, then asked myself, "What does this do that Ableton Live Lite doesn't?"
superb marketing. Especially not selling maschine software without the hardware - they've probably sold tons of mikros to people that just want the software. Gutsy choice. Seems like a cheap MPC with a sound library, an updated product from the pre-DAW era.

Focusrite audio interfaces. $80 more than Behringer. Jumps out to noobs as "the high quality one that's barely inside your budget."

Ableton Live Lite. Still love this software. Got it for free with MIDI keyboard. I've never gotten something so good for nothing before.
Reaper: I fell for the FOSS fanboy-type hype, then installed Ableton Live Lite, which is pretty and comes with a full instrument suite, packaged with pretty AIR and Sonivox synths, worlds above Re-Synth (?) which tricks noobs into thinking that soft synths are boring and useless.

Love AIR Music, pluginboutique with their $1 sales. . .

Winstontaneous · Post by **Winstontaneous** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 7:07 pm

REAPER's path is a bit of an outlier in that it was created by a (very talented), independently wealthy developer. I'm not sure how many of their moves would translate to devs of lesser means. Not to knock REAPER, it's not my #1 DAW (though it was a while back) and is a brilliant piece of work and not the same old same old.

harryupbabble wrote:I've never bought anything from the internet. I am waiting for REAPER 6.0. I will definitely buy that. That will be my first and probably last internet purchase. I don't think that REAPER even has marketing. I've never seen an advert or anything like that.

I guess I've seen videos about REAPER's capabilities. Maybe that's marketing. Or maybe it's just endorsement of REAPER by other users.

I thought about buying the Podium DAW before I settled on buying REAPER. Unlike Podium and probably all other DAWs, REAPER let's you demo in full uncrippled mode. If that is marketing, what could be better marketing than that?

imrae · Post by **imrae** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 7:45 pm

VELLTONE MUSIC wrote:What makes you buy something - among all kind of aggressive,misleading,deceiving trading tricks and strategies companies use almost every day in any aspect of trading,what impress you and makes you 'trust' some brand or product?

Dan Worrall demo videos!

Generally I like/trust developers that are open and passionate about what their product is actually doing. TDR =

Waves are very hit-and-miss on that; the RenEQ manual is brilliant, the RenComp and C1 guides have lots of good info. But other plugins have suspicious "analog" buttons and don't explain at all what e.g Vitamin really does.

rob_lee · Post by **rob_lee** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 1:51 pm

VELLTONE MUSIC wrote: ↑Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:13 pm What makes you buy something

Trying it for myself

reggie1979 · Post by **reggie1979** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:55 pm

For me, I don't care about the tactics. If it's something I'll use (or at least think I'll use) and it's a fair price I'll buy it.

Have so many good toys, have too many actually but the marketplace is so over it I'll just have to keep them

reggie1979 · Post by **reggie1979** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:59 pm

Oh and yes, I agree, being able to play with it first is pretty much a necessity. I don't like bursts or drop outs but sometimes I even put up with that. What I'm checking is the smile on my face (if there is one) and usage, is it glitchy, etc.

If it's too hungry I usually say no. Currently spinning "echobode" and I'm nearly sold on it.

Samplecraze · Post by **Samplecraze** » Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:16 am

I prefer to stick to single function utility plugins. However, I still get sucked into buying something because it might have a feature that I need even though it is caked under a ton of other features.

As a single owner business I have a real hard time with marketing. I choose to be honest and price my products based on user feedback reviews. Still struggling to market efficiently.

Best marketing?