Hello!

Well, hopefully not everyone is yet tired hearing about 4Front Rhode.

Sales go very low, well - what one could expect - I'm a dumbo in marketing. Probably KvR is not enough for the exposure.

I've been asking for an advice

- one told me that I need to make 30-day limited demo
- other said that I need a cool skin (with screws)
- third one said that price is too low ($30) and people may think it is not professional.
- fourth said I need magazine reviews.

Everything is quite true, but I don't want to change anything. I'm not starving, and I don't want to push.

I just want this thing to be quite affordable. Screws are not important for the sound quality. I'm _not_ treating my users as idiots - they need good controls, not skins and screws.

As for magazine connections - I don't have ones. This is the first commercial VSTi I have released, so where would I take them?

I'm asking for an advice.

Thanks,
George.

The best form of marketing is ‘word of mouth’ so as you get more customers you should look after them and keep them informed of updates and progress to your plug-ins. If the product is good and useful to them too they will promote the product better than any other method.

Likewise the same customers can also wreck a company if not treated correctly.

Carry on what you are doing, give information in forums like these, send off details to the main music magazines like Computer Music/ Future Music ect and ask if they would like to review your product. Always put a link to your site, in fact it should be in your signature.


Also change the title of this thread to ‘Advice on Marketing’ And you could edit out the comment about sales, just under the link, as this will be of negative benefit to you

Regards,

Spe3d

:O)

Spe3D wrote:

The best form of marketing is ‘word of mouth’ so as you get more customers you should look after them and keep them informed of updates and progress to your plug-ins. If the product is good and useful to them too they will promote the product better than any other method. [...] Always put a link to your site, in fact it should be in your signature.

Signature is fixed

Spe3D wrote:

Also change the title of this thread to ‘Advice on Marketing’

Good idea... Though, it would not change the actual sense.

I just noticed that you use the same demo as the guys from scarbee for their scarbee R.S.P. '73. Is the midi file of C. Vinten's Shuffle Rhodes somewhere freely available? I'd love to use this for comparing different e-pianos.

Fette Töle

PS: The scarbee does sound better, but not that much. Considering the price the 4front rhodes is really a steal.

Most devs don't get a hit first time, in spite of the fact that their ideas are good, and their sounds are too.

They keep at it, sharpen their chops, and build a rep.

Pete Linsener, Mike Kleps, Angus Hewlett, Rene Ceballos and Dave Waugh (to name but a few) have built their reps to the point that people will pretty much buy anything they make.

And this has taken them a few years, what with the day job to get rid of, and evenings spent coding.

In some ways it's not much of a life, unless you're a true dev ... that mixture of mad ambition and hopeless curiosity.

Hi Georges, i've already emailed you about that, but my point is that why would someone pay $30 for a plugin which has a little brother with some controls crippled but which has exactly the same sound for free?

I think that the main issue with this release is that it's hard to find its right place to the market. If the commercial version had something like a whole bunch of controls to shape the sound, one could wish to pay to get them. But right now, a user who wishes a rhodes vsti has 3 options:

-to get mda epiano which is free and offers a decent set of controls over the sound
-to get 4F Epiano free for his unique sound caracter but which lacks of controls and pay for $30 to get some more controls but not any better sound quality.
-To buy the more ambitious Rhodes/Wurli emulations in the name of EVP, or Lounge lizzard which are both around $200 but which offer an oerall better sound quality(this is all subjective, I know, no need to come and tell me that 4f is the best E piano you've ever heard, that EVp is crap or lounge lizard a CPu hog or whatever) and more controls.

As you can see, the commercial version of 4Front Rhode is an in-betweener.

I of course don't mean that you've made an error releasing a free version of the product, this then would be a really wrong interpretation of what I mean. I rather think that you should have released a maybe more polished plugin that would have given the musicians the will not to stick with the free version only, or maybe simply made a totally free version of the plugin.


This only my opinion, it has no more value than that. I wish you a lot of success with this plugin and the upcoming ones.

Hi there!

I´d like to see you making money from your products, cause I use the lights of em myself, and find them really useful - as you already know

So I was thinking about the following:

- the skin IS important, and it shouldn´t be a big deal getting a designer to do something there. Many people don´t only buy for what they hear, but also for what they see.
- try to make a bit more of a concept out of it. Your products have vintage sound in them, so they should be marketed as vintage in all aspects.
- selling an epiano vsti may not be that easy... to many people, the synths they have emulate epianos the way they want it, and they can even get freebie ones like your light one, and mdas. Therefore, maybe you should consider selling all your pianos together in one package. If you´ve got more pianos that you´re working on, include them as well. Then you´d end up with a product which will be the ultimate vintage piano collecition. Whenever somebody requests some piano sound, in the reply will be included your product among others, like sonic synth. And where many people don´t wanna spend a fortune on sonic synth just to get a piano, many don´t wanna buy a vsti for just one sound. But if they get all these different pianos (and maybe harpsichords as well), they´d consider 4front!

loomchild wrote:

I of course don't mean that you've made an error releasing a free version of the product, this then would be a really wrong interpretation of what I mean. I rather think that you should have released a maybe more polished plugin that would have given the musicians the will not to stick with the free version only, or maybe simply made a totally free version of the plugin.

I agree with most of loomchild's comments with the possible exception of the first statement above. Personally, I think releasing a free version undermines what you're trying to do.

It would make sense with a high end product where there was a huge difference in features, controllability, etc., but as it is, for many users, they're not gonna spend $30 when you've already given them basically the same instrument for free. (They can change/mangle the sound with outside FX). Without the free version, they'd have to pony up the $30 for really the only budget alternative to Lounge Lizard, etc.

In other words, with each new instrument you develop, I'd look at what's available out there that's similar, and base my marketing on how strong the demand is. Here, I felt, you squashed the demand (with the free version) before your product got out.

Now having said that, I don't think it was a mistake. You're just starting out, and at this point in your career, free is good because free gets you noticed. Just rethink this approach for the next instrument.

Best of luck,
JD

I don't necessarily agree with this "no-free" view.

The successful devs I know all released free stuff when they started.

This gave people a taste of the quality they were capable of, and won them goodwill, respect and suchlike.

Linplug had the Alpha, rgc the Triangle, reFX had Trasher, Muon had a TB-alike. I could mention a half dozen more, but you prob know of them already. All similar stories.

At the time when all they were giving away their freebies and getting started they all had on aim ... to make enough money to go solo and quit the day job.

Each perservered and found their own way forward in the marketplace, creating new instruments, working hard and gradually (very gradually it felt like) growing from strength to strength, often by striking deals with larger companies or forming supportive partnerships.

I mention these as marketing case studies, as apart from inspired guesses by people who haven't actually done it.

Look to the leaders in the dev world and try and learn from them, work out how they did it ... and try and find your own path somewhere in there.

There is no formula, but most successes have two things in common.

- they had excellence as a starting point

- they developed useful partnerships in some shape or form on the way.

because the Pro version has more control over the sound
so of coarse it will sound different.

loomchild wrote:

Hi Georges, i've already emailed you about that, but my point is that why would someone pay $30 for a plugin which has a little brother with some controls crippled but which has exactly the same sound for free?

Quote:

Presets are compatible between basic and Pro versions

The engine is thus the same. Of course you got a few more controls, but the sound is basically the same. If I sustain the notes longer on my Ibanez guitar, or increase the attack of the strokes, it still sounds like an Ibanez.

kevvvvv wrote:

I don't necessarily agree with this "no-free" view. The successful devs I know all released free stuff when they started. This gave people a taste of the quality they were capable of, and won them goodwill, respect and suchlike. Linplug had the Alpha, rgc the Triangle, reFX had Trasher, Muon had a TB-alike. I could mention a half dozen more, but you prob know of them already. All similar stories. At the time when all they were giving away their freebies and getting started they all had on aim ... to make enough money to go solo and quit the day job. Each perservered and found their own way forward in the marketplace, creating new instruments, working hard and gradually (very gradually it felt like) growing from strength to strength, often by striking deals with larger companies or forming supportive partnerships. I mention these as marketing case studies, as apart from inspired guesses by people who haven't actually done it. Look to the leaders in the dev world and try and learn from them, work out how they did it ... and try and find your own path somewhere in there. There is no formula, but most successes have two things in common. - they had excellence as a starting point - they developed useful partnerships in some shape or form on the way.

Kevvvv,
Not sure you caught my last paragraph because you sound like you're refuting what was said, when we're pretty much saying the same thing.

But you said it more eloquently, so I'll retract my statement, and say "what Kevvvvv said".


JD

no if you look at the screen shot you will see a drive db control
this changes the sound from mellow to that funky honk we know and love from the 73 stage.

the free version only has drive curve and not db boost cut.

it also has a q control on the filter, ambient room size and amount
and most important velo control again adding to the hard hitting 73 stage piano sound.

IE if my Jazz bass only had a kneck pickup it would sound more like a
precision, but running off the bridge it honks.

the free version is great, but the Pro version is fantasico

loomchild wrote:

Quote: Presets are compatible between basic and Pro versions The engine is thus the same. Of course you got a few more controls, but the sound is basically the same. If I sustain the notes longer on my Ibanez guitar, or increase the attack of the strokes, it still sounds like an Ibanez.

Fatal not reading threads properly, innit

This thread caught me on a roll.

Two or three years ago, when all the now-seasoned devs were scratching at finding ways to make more than a few dollars a month for their efforts, searching for the "marketing solution" was some kind of shangri-la ... a regular topic of conversation.

At the risk of saying "I told you so" I was pushing for devs to unite in some way, or find ways of working together.

It's hard for one guy with no special business or marketing or art skills, or budget, or friends in high places, to cut it.

Not impossible, but hard.

So I admire successful devs for their persistence and tenacity ... and I'm grateful for their products.

When it comes to sell, there is no point about limiting changes. If you don't want to do what it takes (and your list seems like a good start), then your best bet is probably to find an associate that will. You may say that look is of no matte when it come to audio, but it's only true if ppl give your product a try (so they need a demo, yes). Why would they, if you consider the huge amount of average vsti in the corner ? Well, they will make a subconscious estimation of the faith you put in your work and bet on that. Which mean that look, website, price, announcement, and so on are key point to tell ppl that "hey, it may very well worth the try".

Of course, if you do everything of that, it would better be "worth a try" because once there are ppl, there is a reputation, and reputation is a die hard thing

PS: I don't know Rhodes well and don't have any idea of how good you're stuff is compared to the competitors BTW. Oh, this reminds me that in this market, you either have to have the best product (which is slightly different from "the best VST") or to be close to it with an agressive price.

PPS: Uh, and you also need a Mac version

Red_Force wrote:

Of course, if you do everything of that, it would better be "worth a try" because once there are ppl, there is a reputation, and reputation is a die hard thing

This is true

Regards,

Spe3d

cut everything down and make a crippleware, but do not call it crippleware.

that would be the best way George

otherwise guys will stick with your freebies, because respect != money and you are not going to get any $$$ if you do not abuse with freebies

rrtdj wrote:

cut everything down and make a crippleware

No one will want to cripple his own creature. I always hated doing trials/demos, so I'm looking for an alternative way.

rrtdj wrote:

otherwise guys will stick with your freebies, because respect != money and you are not going to get any $$$ if you do not abuse with freebies

I know what I'll do. I'll add tremolo and other nice effects to Rhodes, we'll see what happen.

gyohng wrote:

rrtdj wrote: cut everything down and make a crippleware No one will want to cripple his own creature. I always hated doing trials/demos, so I'm looking for an alternative way. rrtdj wrote: otherwise guys will stick with your freebies, because respect != money and you are not going to get any $$$ if you do not abuse with freebies I know what I'll do. I'll add tremolo and other nice effects to Rhodes, we'll see what happen.

everyone DOES cripple their stuff. take e.g. rgc (alto his crippleware always made me sick) or albino - demos are unusable, and probably that's the way to go.

no one is going to believe your integrity and reputation is not the key factor in this business. you've gotta be a bastard to survive and there is nothing you can do

rrtdj wrote:

no one is going to believe your integrity and reputation is not the key factor in this business. you've gotta be a bastard to survive and there is nothing you can do

I'm not starving, and OSS/opensound is bringing some money yet. Probably it's the time to finally do it the way I like.

Frank Sinatra wrote:

For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has naught. To say the things he truly feels; And not the words of one who kneels. The record shows I took the blows - And did it my way!

Someone briefly mentioned this earlier in this thread, and I wholeheartedly agree:

I've really got to wonder if there's enough need for another source of Rhodes sounds. Odds are, anyone who's got a hardware synth already has a Rhodes or ten in their arsenal. And it's not as if this plugin has it's own unique personality; it sounds similar to other Rhodes sources. IMHO, the only market that remains are those who insist on having an all-digital system, and there again; there were several predecessors, at all ranges of the price spectrum.

I'm not trying to diminish your skills; you did a great job! But if I were sitting down and saying to myself, "What type of vsti should I create?", from a purely marketing standpoint, I don't think a Rhodes a vsti would've been my first choice. IMHO, the market's pretty saturated in that regard.

"I've really got to wonder if there's enough need for another source of Rhodes sounds"

I've really got to wonder if there's enough need to make coments as this ?

I suggest that you re-read my post. I merely offerred an opinion in a polite, respectful manner, unlike most of the posts I see at KvR. My response would've been the same if he had created another analog synth vsti. Was I insulting or rude? Not at all.

If you were creating a new vsti tomorrow, and you wanted it to make money, would create yet another Rhodes?

could you please tell us another 73 rhodes emulation
in this price range of $30

this is not an argument im just curios ?

[quote="cnegrad"]
I've really got to wonder if there's enough need for another source of Rhodes sounds. it sounds similar to other Rhodes sources. IMHO, /quote]

Being a Mac guy, I'm not that well versed in this, but EP Station and EPiano come to mind. Look, if you want to market this as "a poor man's Lounge Lizard" go ahead. Heaven forbid anyone offers a dissenting opinion around here....

cnegrad wrote:

I suggest that you re-read my post. I merely offerred an opinion in a polite, respectful manner, unlike most of the posts I see at KvR. My response would've been the same if he had created another analog synth vsti. Was I insulting or rude? Not at all. If you were creating a new vsti tomorrow, and you wanted it to make money, would create yet another Rhodes?

My heart goes out to these independent softsyth developers,I bet it takes alot of time and trial and error to build these softsynths.

But i tend to agree with cnegrad the market is saturated with 100's of these sofsynths most of them being free, from my experience having used eveything that I've been able to get my hands on I'm happy to communicate that not all softsynths possibilities have been explored,so why do these developers knowing of all the hard work that it takes to create one of these synth fail to come up with something uniquely different,a one of a kind synth? - In a softsynth saturated market if your product doesn't stand out from the rest,than you might as well give it away for free,and that even takes twice the effort because now you have to find a way to keep your freeloading customers coming back to you.

My thoughts are that softsynth need to reach a whole new level for innovation:pair them up with bass modules + sequencer,pair them up with drum sequencers,pair them up with mic inputs and vocoders,just use your imagination,why do you think Energy XT is such a hot item?,because Jorgen went to the next level,Steinberg did it with Xphraze and there will be more to come until sadly it happens all over again.

hi cnegrad.

Ep station is a different type of epiano, last time I tried it
(it may of changed) it was more an FM type EP, Epiano I assume you mean MDA ? again is a different sound to the 4front model.

I still dont know of a 73 stage sounding vsti in this price bracket of $30.

so for me, it's a valid choice and a very good one.

peace.

cnegrad wrote:

Being a Mac guy, I'm not that well versed in this, but EP Station and EPiano come to mind. Look, if you want to market this as "a poor man's Lounge Lizard" go ahead. Heaven forbid anyone offers a dissenting opinion around here....

I'm a marketing professional and thought I'd provide you with some basics and ideas.

Good marketing starts with a good understanding of the market to which you want to sell your products. You first must determine who you are creating your product for -- ideally, before you create it, or at least before you finish it. Some next steps:

- Determine what features/qualities your target wants.
- Determine what they are willing to pay.
- Determine how to best get your products to your targets.
- Determine the best ways to reach your targets. This may be what most people consider the fun part. You can do this through KVR, but don't limit yourself to one place. Create press releases that you send to all the publications and Websites your targeted users (markets) go to. Start by contacting the magazine and Website publishers before you send your press releases. Make sure your Website is ready for the visitors. Let them download your free product (most won't buy right away) and ask for their email address and permission to email them.

Positive buzz can be significant, as someone in this thread mentioned, but you need to be able to take advantage of the interest that buzz creates to translate it into sales. Asking people their opinions at KVR, while it is not scientific research, is likely to provide you with some very valuable insights.

Considering the point you are now at, I would consider the free product you give away as providing the best opportunity you have to make sales. I would recommend that you give away as much free product as possible. But at the same time, require people sign up for your emails if they take your free product so that you can communicate with them and get the opportunity to tell them about your commercial software.

Go to every DAW-related site you can and post to let people know about your free software. When they download your free software, use the opportunity to sign them up for your email and tell them about the for-pay versions. As it stands, you may need to make your commercial software more differentiated from other commercial offerings. If you make your commercial product great and price it right and lots of people are already using the free version, you just may have a good opportunity on your hands. Look at how other companies work their demos.

- Regards,
eDrummist

Another vote in favor of continuing to give away a limited free version, both to give folks a taste and because people like things that are free. For example after I downloaded the free Triangle II synth from rgc and played around with it for a few weeks, I ended up buying both Pentagon & z3ta, and there's a good chance I'd purchase anything else Rene puts out -- and that's partly because he writes excellent synths, but also because he's very cool and responsive to his customers and that's the kind of developers I want to support. I think you'll get a lot more people paying you money because they WANT to, as opposed to if they HAVE to (i.e. there's no free versions of your plugs).

Also as much as I sort of resent the fact, looks do matter; that doesn't mean a GUI should be gimmicky (I don't like interfaces that go out of their way to emulate hardware controls, for instance), but functional and polished-looking are both important. Keep in mind most potential customers are going to see your plugin (by way of a screenshot) before they even hear it.

edrummist says

Quote:

But at the same time, require people sign up for your emails if they take your free product so that you can communicate with them and get the opportunity to tell them about your commercial software

I've been doing this for 5 years, and find you get a lot of abc@123 duff emails. Ppl don't give real names.

This also leads to masses of returned mails every time a newsletter is sent out. And loads of subsequent database cleaning chores.

Some form of email authentication is necessary for this system to work as suggested.

Recently we stopped making "giving your email" obigatory to get the freebie. We don't get as many names, but at least they're ppl who're genuinely interested.

Obviously, the best emails to collect are from ppl who've bought, as they do buy again.

And just a word of caution if you do collect emails – don’t Spam the customer. Ask if he wants to be kept up to date and ask if he wants to know about new products.

Keep the emails to one a month at the most. Keep them product and company related – don’t fill them with irrelevance just to fill space.

If the customer does not want an email from you – make sure you don’t send him one.
Have a privacy policy at hand for the customer to see too.

Regards,

Spe3d

eDrummist obviously has hit the nail on the head, but I just wanted to make a small couple of suggestions of my own:

OhmForce seem to do very well out of a "two-interface" arrangement. One "inspirational" and one detailed.
Not only is the Rhodes market fairly crowded, EVP and LL can do Wurly's too. Many's the time I've dialed up a Rhodes only to replace it with a Wurlitzer...
I suspect EP-station's success has something to do with brand loyalty.
They're not kidding when they say it's too cheap. I rarely check out freebies because they tend to be wastes of time. Same goes for things that are on the cheap side.

Obviously I don't actually have fact or figures for any of this, so I could be talking absolute garbage.

Phaedo wrote:

eDrummist obviously has hit the nail on the head, but I just wanted to make a small couple of suggestions of my own: OhmForce seem to do very well out of a "two-interface" arrangement. One "inspirational" and one detailed. Not only is the Rhodes market fairly crowded, EVP and LL can do Wurly's too. Many's the time I've dialed up a Rhodes only to replace it with a Wurlitzer... I suspect EP-station's success has something to do with brand loyalty. They're not kidding when they say it's too cheap. I rarely check out freebies because they tend to be wastes of time. Same goes for things that are on the cheap side. Obviously I don't actually have fact or figures for any of this, so I could be talking absolute garbage.

You are talking garbage, especially about the free stuff, take Crystal or Triangle most of the stuff that comes on the cover disk of CM really very cool free stuff indeed. Not even worth the debate with you on it – why am I writing this

Regards,

Spe3d

But seriously, I love Triangle but I've never got on with Crystal. FreeAlpha just made me want to buy Albino (which was pretty much the idea) and I never use any of the CM stuff (admittedly, the DS404 as rompler thing I should take advantage of). And we're talking the good free stuff...

Phaedo wrote:

I suspect EP-station's success has something to do with brand loyalty.

Well. EP-station is really the least successful of my stuff, to tell the truth. Which means that either it's not up to the standard of the other ones, or that the market is much smaller for an electric piano vsti. Or maybe (most likely) a combination of both...

This said, and that's my advice to the initial poster, I'd say that establishing brand loyalty is the best way to go. Maybe you'll find that selling that Rhodes module is not worth it after all, because there are quite a few similar vsti's out there, in all prices range, that have been around for a while, so that the needs of most users are already covered in this area. Maybe you should give this one away to make a reputation, and work on something more, well, original. A lot of developers did that to get started (René at RGC with Triangle, or your servitor with CheezeMachine and TickyClav).

Regarding magazines, once you get a little bit famous, they'll come to you. At least, some of them. I have yet to get Keyboard to consider reading an email from me (they even blacklisted me for spamming, after I sent them 2 emails in 2 years).

Hope this helps,

'Tick

kevvvvv wrote:

I've been doing this for 5 years, and find you get a lot of abc@123 duff emails. Ppl don't give real names...This also leads to masses of returned mails every time a newsletter is sent out. And loads of subsequent database cleaning chores...Recently we stopped aking "giving your email" obigatory to get the freebie. We don't get as many names, but at least they're ppl who're genuinely interested...Obviously, the best emails to collect are from ppl who've bought, as they do buy again.

Pranksters putting in fake email addresses can be a problem, but if you only provide a link to your VST download in an email sent to the supplied addresses, you should go a long way in elimating the problem. Further, you must give people a reason to want to sign up for an email from you. If you don't offer them something that is worthwhile, why should they bother?

If you can afford an email marketing ASP or software, the bogus addresses are handled automatically. A rule is set up that after a number of bounces emails are automatically removed.

I would never ignore the people who download your free products, after current customers (the best source of profitable sales for most companies, as it costs more to go out and find new customers than to sell more to existing ones), they are a very likely group to purchase your commercial products.

- eDrummist

Once again if you want to keep people coming back to you either create something very unique in a synth and market it for a very fair price,or create several very good synths over time and give them away - and if you want to go down in History as the craziest softsynth developer that ever lived!? create a bad ass synth one that would cost a chunk of money and give it away for free , you'll win alot of electronic musicians respect and loyalty, and thats worth its weight in gold . As for keeping a customer mailing list,I suggest that you ask the customer if they would like to be added to your mailing list and don't make it obligatory to sign up to get the download,NI does this and I hate it and i never give them the right info. Another way to keep customers coming back to your website is by offering them free Patches every month for the synths that you're giving away,I'd come back to your site if these were good patches ,you could also post tutorials and tips and tricks,add a user Forum,anything that the customer can benefit from without cost will keep them coming back giving you the opportunity to keep them abreast of new developments.

[quote="Fette Töle"]I just noticed that you use the same demo as the guys from scarbee for their scarbee R.S.P. '73. Is the midi file of C. Vinten's Shuffle Rhodes somewhere freely available?quote]

??? No. He is not allowed to do this!!! This demo was made specially for Scarbee R.S.P. '73 by Christian Vinten.

But it seems that demo is no longer at site so I guess everything is cool.

I've always found some type of nudity in advertising usually gets my attention pretty quickly.

......well you asked.

that said, and blondes are a bit flashier.

1) way more presets
2) ALOT more features to distinguish from cheaper version
3) sorry, but i do agree it needs to look prettier. that does grab people's attention
4) price is fantastic, i disagree with the comment that people wont think its professional because of the low price
5) some sort of advertising

i am not good with marketing at all but these things popped into my head anyway. never knew about your product till this thread, in the meantime i have tried the freebie and from reading the features of the full version, there really isnt a world of difference. that doesn't deter me personally, as i believe in supporting smaller developers, but we are not talking about just me are we

oh, and i cant belive some of the comments people made on your negativity link. real asses out there

Big Tick wrote:

Phaedo wrote: I suspect EP-station's success has something to do with brand loyalty. Well. EP-station is really the least successful of my stuff, to tell the truth. Which means that either it's not up to the standard of the other ones, or that the market is much smaller for an electric piano vsti. Or maybe (most likely) a combination of both... 'Tick

interesting! i can tell you now it IS up to the standards of the other ones, but in a different way. ep station has its own character - flavour. geez, i am surprised its not that successful for you. i find it such a beautiful instrument to play, and often go to that before lounge lizard2 or evp. and such a good price. maybe i AM wrong, maybe people want it to be more expensive??

Big Tick wrote:

I'd say that establishing brand loyalty is the best way to go. Maybe you'll find that selling that Rhodes module is not worth it after all, because there are quite a few similar vsti's out there, in all prices range, that have been around for a while, so that the needs of most users are already covered in this area. Maybe you should give this one away to make a reputation, and work on something more, well, original. A lot of developers did that to get started (René at RGC with Triangle, or your servitor with CheezeMachine and TickyClav). Regarding magazines, once you get a little bit famous, they'll come to you. At least, some of them. I have yet to get Keyboard to consider reading an email from me (they even blacklisted me for spamming, after I sent them 2 emails in 2 years). Hope this helps, 'Tick

more good points. this module doesn;t really do anything "out of the ordinary" to atract buyers, particularly owners of other ep vsti. it does however have the best price point.

as far as magazines, keyboard go to hell for dissin' my man tick! you fuckin with the man that made rhino!

i did read the great fm review, and i was very happy with the praise. it seems rhino floored them straight away as it did me. was suprised they didn;t say what a cpu pig it is though

and then there's fucking cm giving it an 8/10 when it should have gotten at LEAST a 9. especially when you see they gave fm7 10/10.

oh sorry, did i go ot???

More like off the rails.

please forgive my brutal honesty here, because i downloaded the demo and your plug is really excellent. nevertheless, i feeled compelled to express my opinion.

lows sales, in this particular case, could be a reflection of a 'point of sale' issue. many of us have a long wish list, but a tight budget; so if the plug is not at / near the top of the 'must have' list...

a reasonable facimaly of the rhodes EP sounds is one of the easiest to reproduce, and there are a ton of synth / sampler options which do this. the freebie vivaldi mx comes to mind, for instance.