Fathom Synth Development Thread

[FathomSynth]

Hehe, Yeah I myself admit I actually felt a little defensive also. But I've given some thought to this over the last few minutes and come to the following conclusion... This has always been the thread where people can speak their mind openly with frustrations about Fathom without having to worry about their language, and while at times it may be difficult to hear, the end result has been a better synth.

I think about how badly Fathom quite frankly sucked a year ago (at least compared to the best synths), and how far it has come over this time based on user input. And like it or not much of that input at times has had to be brutally honest. Some of the very best features the synth now has has were initially based on scathing critiques. I see no reason to change directions now and become "corporate" and "polite", yuck, avoiding such timidness is exactly why I started this project.

So I want to re-iterate that this will always be the thread where you can say what ever you want about Fathom (no matter how harsh) and then actually see things fixed.

BW, so thanks for coming to my defense, but it's really important to me that new users can come here and speak their mind without being polite, it's interesting to note some of Fathom's harshest critics a year ago are now among "the converted".

OK, Folks, I really need to get coding, I''ll come back tomorrow and check and see what the general input is regarding the new system.

[Ikalou]

Fathom is worth a lot more than what I paid for, so I don't mind supporting the development by paying for updates.

Most people here feel this way, I think. The issue is the pricing model you proposed which is a little awkward and unusual (somewhere in-between more traditional significant paid upgrades and a subscription model).

[imrae]

We love you too! You have an innovative product and a great paid/free tier setup already.

I would strongly suggest you discuss these ideas with more experienced developers before trying to invent your own business model and scaring users. You are now proposing something that potentially could bring no income at all.

[nordickvr]

Fathom is worth a lot more than what I paid for, so I don't mind supporting the development by paying for updates.

Most people here feel this way, I think. The issue is the pricing model you proposed which is a little awkward and unusual (somewhere in-between more traditional significant paid upgrades and a subscription model).

Quite well summarized.
The "in between paid upgrades and [a] subscription model" here involved some randomness which is not welcome for most people I guess.

[jmg8]

OK, so I completely agree with your proposal, however, 2 weeks is too short. If I am honest, I might just wait two weeks rather than pay. But I also want to support such a great synth and think you are a great developer with the right attitude.
If you have fans like me that would support you each month and pay a few £, we should be rewarded with more than 2 weeks over the free users.
I would say 1 month would be much better and would make the people paying feel like they are getting more for their money.
Personally, I would be willing to pay £3 every month to help with the development.

[jmg8]

Also, the new industrial knobs look really nice!
Are you still planning on letting us have a colour picker option? I would also like to see an option to remove the texture, so it looks flatter.
Overall though looking good, nice work.

[VariKusBrainZ]

How about a Patreon account, Id happily pay a few $ a month so long as it was automatic and I can forget about it as Im a lazy twat

[glokraw]

Fathom coding and sales should be the priority,
gimmicks and schemes complicate and distract.
Keep it simple, the mono-version is the demo,
charge a consistant commercial price in keeping
with the competition, and charge a
decent price when major new features are added.
Your sleep, and program coding will both benefit,
which in the end, benefits your customers.
Cheers

[evilantal]

I'm also not a fan of paid updates, but since Fathom was so cheap to begin with it might work in this case.

The point of missing versions and saving money hasn't been addressed though.

Maybe something like a "paid advance release" program could work.
For example, releasing one major version update per year at a $20 update fee and four minor updates before that at $5 per update.
Then a user could choose to follow the minor updates or wait for the major update. But in each case the total price paid would be $20.

That gives the problem of penalizing early adopters, though. Someone buying after a year would pay less in total than an early adopter that also pays for updates.
Unless the full price of the plugin also rises for new customers with each major update.

I don't really see this working otherwise. Even though the amount is low each time, people tend to be averse to repeatedly paying for something.
Unless you can it a subscription maybe. But then I agree that such a thing would have to be made clear when the plugin was bought. Seems harsh to force it on customers that already bought under the then available information.

[bsntn99]

Like I said, I just bought this and it is practically unusable for me in its current state, and I haven't even got one comped update. There was no advanced warning of this impending update policy. How about a grace period for people like me that are just buying in?

Unusable ?



After such an awesome OSC and all these wonderful songs ???

Aren't you a bit abusing?

What kind of music do you compose to qualify Fathom of unusable ?

You are composer for J-M Jarre, Klaus Schulze?

Or perhaps... for David Guetta, the inverse of the former two above ?

I'm pretty sure that even Jarre, Schulze or Guetta would NEVER qualify Fathom of unusable!

What size do you need when you have to cover your head with a hat or any other cover?

Typical KVR Audio forum response. Someone offers an opinion and you decide to make it personal with insults. Well F...You!

[FathomSynth]

Guys, please no dissention, I brought this question to the community since I needed to find out the reaction before it happens and it could impact what people really think of the product, I was not trying to start any battles. People's first reaction to the idea was exactly what I was looking for, so I don't want to punish anyone for doing just that.

The more I think about this the more I suspect paid upgrades could bring only short term benefit in return for alienating the majority of users in the long run.

I'm leaning now toward a completely voluntary recommended donation for upgrades with no penalty or time delay at all for the free upgrades. If only a fraction of users felt motivated it would still help immensely.

[mutantdog]

As VariKusBrainZ suggested, Patreon is probably the way to go if you want to pursue a donations model, it seems to be working alright for AirWindows. It should give you an easy way to keep track of your VIP customers too, not to mention allowing the possibility to add in the odd exclusive bonus from time to time.

[BlackWinny]

Like I said, I just bought this and it is practically unusable for me in its current state, and I haven't even got one comped update. There was no advanced warning of this impending update policy. How about a grace period for people like me that are just buying in?

Unusable ?



After such an awesome OSC and all these wonderful songs ???

Aren't you a bit abusing?

What kind of music do you compose to qualify Fathom of unusable ?

You are composer for J-M Jarre, Klaus Schulze?

Or perhaps... for David Guetta, the inverse of the former two above ?

I'm pretty sure that even Jarre, Schulze or Guetta would NEVER qualify Fathom of unusable!

What size do you need when you have to cover your head with a hat or any other cover?

Typical KVR Audio forum response. Someone offers an opinion and you decide to make it personal with insults. Well F...You!

There was no insult at all in my reply.


I'm not at all a man who insults any other. I was just surprised by the choice of a word which doesn't reflect at all the huge work made by Everett.

[jmg8]

I think the insult is asking him about the size of his hat. What has that got to do with music software? You were implying that he was big-headed, you made it personal. Keep it professional (or friendly), please.

[jmg8]

.

I'm leaning now toward a completely voluntary recommended donation for upgrades with no penalty or time delay at all for the free upgrades. If only a fraction of users felt motivated it would still help immensely.

If you want to incentivise people to pay a voluntary fee, you MUST give them something. Make them feel special for supporting you.
If you defer the updates for just 1 month it will make a HUGE difference.
The people with free upgrades cannot complain, as they will be receiving free updates EVERY month which is very regular compared to most other companies out there.
However, the people funding you will feel valued by getting their hands on the update a month early. I think it will more than double the number of people donating and it is right that they get rewarded for their support.

Also, the people on the free updates will not feel hard done by that they have to wait a month, because........ The people paying will be speeding up the development. More money = more dev time = more features for people on free updates. They will be getting a better synth for free.
I don't feel enough people will pay voluntarily without incentive and you deserve more money to make this thing better, faster.

In my opinion, the best way to do it would be:
Start a beta. People who donate get to be in the "Fast Ring" "Beta Team" "Early Birds" and can use the beta for a month before it goes public.

I will pay you every month for that.
Please consider this option.