SplineEQ pricing poll

Official support for: photosounder.com

How much do you think should the full version of SplineEQ cost?

$19
18
47%
$29
11
29%
$49
4
11%
$59
0
No votes
$69
1
3%
$79
0
No votes
$89
1
3%
$99
2
5%
Other (explain)
1
3%
 
Total votes: 38

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Very useful EQ. I bought it because it was good & cheap. I voted $19.

I am waiting for those features talked about before. :)
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Do I think your excellent quality (rated 9/10 by Computer Music magazine and 9.45/10 by the good folk of KVR, fully functional 4 band demo version available from the link in the OP) equaliser would be more appealing if it cost more than it's remarkably low current price of $19? Well I heard it was based on the splines in an original Naive console and the officially licensed Naive vst eq costs $1000000000 so I guess a higher price, say $21, would make it seem more professional. On the other hand I could choose to be 'that guy' who thinks maybe I don't need this plug right now, but here's my chance to peg the price at $19 should I need it in 6 months time. It's a tough call. Can't make my mind up. If you ask again in six months...........
.....................maybe by then I'll have decided..............................and we know KVR loves a poll..................







All foolishness aside Valhalla plugs go for $50. They are best in class and there are fewer really good reverbs than there are good free EQs. SKNotes stuff is good and goes for $30. Sonimus is priced around the same or less. $19 is somewhere round the sweet spot-maybe even somewhere north of it for the averagely uninformed joe punter given you're not offering vintage analogue anything (did you think I was joking about modelled splines?). Cytomic The Glue is vintage analogue modelled up the wazoo, an outstanding product and coded by a real established pro who is clearly confident enough in his own ability to give away some outstandingly good work for free to potential future rivals. I still think Andy needed great clanking brass balls to ask $100 for it but that isn't to suggest it is overpriced, just a reflection on how hard it is to leverage any REAL added value into a product in a marketplace full of products that that function adequately, if indistinguishably. One last consideration for you, pertinent to KVR. Andy serves as an excellent example. I don't know what proportion of his sales are to KVR members but my guess would be that a really good proportion would be DUE TO KVR members. The place is full of savvy, informed, early adopter types. Word of mouth publicity is way easier to generate here than in the real world. No guarantees that the support of the KVR constituency will lead to success IRL but it damn sure will not hurt. UHe, Valhalla, Cytomic all tell a similar story. Repeated, positive interaction with the user base will get people onside and make them want to believe that yours is a good product made by a good guy. How many people know that Andy's filter design is becoming a de facto standard in the free vst world? If it's known anywhere it's known here and yes it makes him look like a mightily generous and mightily talented guy with something worth buying. Urs' gentle advocation and explanation of good copy protection, the wealth of relevant information (for reverb geeks) that Sean had posted on his blog and in response to questions I've seen from devs in the making in that other place. You get the picture. A soundbite summary: thanks for asking. Don't be a stranger.

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Sorry about the stillborn message earlier. I'm still sh#t at the internet. How do I fix that?

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theodore_whitmore wrote:Sorry about the stillborn message earlier. I'm still sh#t at the internet. How do I fix that?
paragraphs?
my other modular synth is a bugbrand

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A reasonable and accurate response Whyterabbyt but I was hoping for a clue as to how I remove my half formed message when the completed version is greatly more turgid and unreadable.

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theodore_whitmore wrote:A reasonable and accurate response Whyterabbyt but I was hoping for a clue as to how I remove my half formed message when the completed version is greatly more turgid and unreadable.
ah. ;) if you click 'edit' beside any of your own posts you can edit it.
my other modular synth is a bugbrand

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When a plugin is good, I still might find it a no-brainer when it costs as high as $50. A good example of this is perhaps the plugins from ValhallaDSP. Bought them all, the last two even without testing!!

SplineEQ is a wonderfull EQ and can become even better with the new features that have been discussed in the past. I would absolutely still consider it a no-brainer with a price as high as $50.

Relabs LX480 is a very good emulation of the Lexicon 480, but because of it's high price ($399) I don't consider it a no-brainer. I have to think more than twice about spending that amount of money on a single plugin. For now, I can't justify that price. It would have been a day one purchase if it was sold under $100.
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theodore_whitmore wrote:Do I think your excellent quality (rated 9/10 by Computer Music magazine and 9.45/10 by the good folk of KVR, fully functional 4 band demo version available from the link in the OP) equaliser would be more appealing if it cost more than it's remarkably low current price of $19? Well I heard it was based on the splines in an original Naive console and the officially licensed Naive vst eq costs $1000000000 so I guess a higher price, say $21, would make it seem more professional. On the other hand I could choose to be 'that guy' who thinks maybe I don't need this plug right now, but here's my chance to peg the price at $19 should I need it in 6 months time. It's a tough call. Can't make my mind up. If you ask again in six months...........
.....................maybe by then I'll have decided..............................and we know KVR loves a poll..................
Seems I missed this message. What's a naive console? I kind of had trouble understanding the rest of the message after that :lol:

After reading this topic I think I'm more confused about what I should do or not about the price (reading your message played a big part in the confusion Theodore lol), and the poll results are very interesting but I expected something like a bell curve with a clear peak, instead it looks more like a 1/x function and it's hard to make anything out of that (except that the median is right between $19 and $29 as I write this).

My plan for the future of SplineEQ was always to not add any new features to the 1.0.x version, only fix and polish things (if you add things you always break things, I wanted to make the v1.0.x perfect for what it does, not always have the mixed bag of fixes + new features + new bugs that usually comes with updates) and keep all the new features for a different version, which would then be released with its own higher price tag (don't ask me what it will be, in fact you should rather tell me what it should be :D). So I guess there's that to consider. Originally I decided on $19 because I thought everybody would agree on it being crazy cheap and I wanted to see how popular a good plugin with a pretty broad kind of appeal could do with a very competitive pricing, and it did alright but not like crazy-viral-everybody's-talking-about-it-while-throwing-twenties-at-me, which makes me think that just like maybe it doesn't need an average or high price to be seen as good quality, maybe it doesn't need a low price to be popular.

Sometimes I wish I had a guy just to determine how to price what I make (seriously sometimes I have no idea whether I should even ask any money for some of the stuff I'm working on, I don't even buy any of that kind of software, I just make it). But I've got the next best thing and it's asking you guys ;).
Developer of Photosounder (a spectral editor/synth), SplineEQ and Spiral

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Other:

You already give away a Free 5 band version which is more than I needed. :)

Plus I already own FabFilter Q and could never see this replacing it. No offense.

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A_SN I apologise for my poor sense of humour. Even I don't know whether I'm being deadpan or dumb half the time. The only advantage I see to the purchaser of a higher price is a sense that the product is 'more pro' (hence the Neve/Naive more brand=more pro=more $$$ crapLOLZ).

The rest of that brainspasm was me contextualising the price of your stuff within the $0-$100 indie dev market. Make of that what you will, I see clear trends (perhaps the market is the guy who should decide your pricing).

Secondly saying that some devs make me want to buy stuff without a marketing budget. I've only used the free version of your EQ. Very nice of you to give it away. Enough so to make me put a little sales pitch for it in the topline of my message, for anyone unaware it is rated 9/10 by Computer Music magazine etc. Ask me again in six months and I'm sure I'd say the same. My guess is that many (maybe most) of the people voting for a higher price do so out of similarly positive motives-y'know-this EQ is great, it's easily worth more than $19. That psychology MAY be true in a survey but not when it comes time to open their wallet. Just a thought. I hope that's a little clearer if not necessarily more helpful.

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theodore_whitmore wrote:A_SN I apologise for my poor sense of humour. Even I don't know whether I'm being deadpan or dumb half the time. The only advantage I see to the purchaser of a higher price is a sense that the product is 'more pro' (hence the Neve/Naive more brand=more pro=more $$$ crapLOLZ).

The rest of that brainspasm was me contextualising the price of your stuff within the $0-$100 indie dev market. Make of that what you will, I see clear trends (perhaps the market is the guy who should decide your pricing).

Secondly saying that some devs make me want to buy stuff without a marketing budget. I've only used the free version of your EQ. Very nice of you to give it away. Enough so to make me put a little sales pitch for it in the topline of my message, for anyone unaware it is rated 9/10 by Computer Music magazine etc. Ask me again in six months and I'm sure I'd say the same. My guess is that many (maybe most) of the people voting for a higher price do so out of similarly positive motives-y'know-this EQ is great, it's easily worth more than $19. That psychology MAY be true in a survey but not when it comes time to open their wallet. Just a thought. I hope that's a little clearer if not necessarily more helpful.
I think I understand, thanks for the insight :). As for the psychology behind the poll I would have thought it would be more along the lines of "I don't like high prices so why encourage any developer to raise prices?". I guess that's anyone's guess :).

I wanted to find out what people really mean when they say it's cheap/I should raise the price, but I guess there's no actual agreement on what I should actually do.
Developer of Photosounder (a spectral editor/synth), SplineEQ and Spiral

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vaisnava wrote:Other:

You already give away a Free 5 band version which is more than I needed. :)
It's only 4 bands actually :D. Is that still enough?
vaisnava wrote:Plus I already own FabFilter Q and could never see this replacing it. No offense.
Fair enough, FabFilter Pro-Q is a very good equaliser, and how many good equalisers does one really need? I guess SplineEQ is rather meant for people who don't already have a $189 EQ (unless you really like Spline's visualiser, or its splines, or its range) ;).
Developer of Photosounder (a spectral editor/synth), SplineEQ and Spiral

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Hehe, yes 4 nodes are way more than enough for what I use the Spline EQ for and that is VERY gentle slopes... However, I think you got my point exactly. "How many great EQ's do we need?"

Now unfortunately it seems we are kind of on a race to the bottom here in the plugin world as well. Especially when competing with a lot of the well known, budget priced ones.

I think Spline EQ would be a great option for someone who does not have a long loved EQ like the FabFilter Q, DDMF IIEQPro/LP10, Melda's Free EQ, Easy-Q, ToneBoosters EQ, or a host of others free, cheap, or expensive.

I have 4 of those and find it kind of silly, really...


Do not get me wrong, I think that the Spline EQ is very pretty, good sounding and intuitive plugin, etc... It's just a little late in the game for me to ever consider spending more than $19, with the competition out there and what is already in my plugin folder.

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vaisnava wrote:Hehe, yes 4 nodes are way more than enough for what I use the Spline EQ for and that is VERY gentle slopes... However, I think you got my point exactly. "How many great EQ's do we need?"

Now unfortunately it seems we are kind of on a race to the bottom here in the plugin world as well. Especially when competing with a lot of the well known, budget priced ones.

I think Spline EQ would be a great option for someone who does not have a long loved EQ like the FabFilter Q, DDMF IIEQPro/LP10, Melda's Free EQ, Easy-Q, ToneBoosters EQ, or a host of others free, cheap, or expensive.

I have 4 of those and find it kind of silly, really...


Do not get me wrong, I think that the Spline EQ is very pretty, good sounding and intuitive plugin, etc... It's just a little late in the game for me to ever consider spending more than $19, with the competition out there and what is already in my plugin folder.
Yeah, it's a bit like being the new kid in school lol. Maybe I should work on more original effects (which is actually what I wanted to do with SplineEQ, I just figured that making an EQ could be just as good as making a weird effect I have trouble explaining to anyone). After I'm done with the upcoming major version of SplineEQ that is.
Developer of Photosounder (a spectral editor/synth), SplineEQ and Spiral

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I voted $29. I honestly think that $25 is more fair, but you didn't give us that poll option. Part of why I support Quinto of SKnote with such fervor, is that he creates fantastic plugins, for affordable prices, and he isn't slowly gouging his customers with increased prices. (Please don't think that I'm inferring that you want to gouge anybody's pocketbook.) I won't name them, but there were another couple of developers producing fine products, that "used" to be affordable, but slowly, over time, the prices continued to rise. As a matter of principle, I will no longer buy from those developers.

Is Adidas apparel really that much better than Wal-Mart's stock? Really? Is "Bench", and "North Face" really going to make one's life better than a $150 quality winter coat from a 'vanilla' clothier?

However, part of what makes products like SplineEQ so wonderful, is the good quality for an AFFORDABLE price. Yes, it's a very good plugin. Yes, I really like it. Greed is terrible. (I'm not inferring that you are being greedy) We observe it over and over. A product gets released; it develops a following, then the developer wants to raise prices.

You'll sell more by keeping it affordably priced and you will realize longer-term customer loyalty. We have enough larger companies selling high-ticket plug-ins. In many cases, gullible customers are paying for marginally better quality, fancier interfaces, a few bells n' whistles, and BRANDING. If every blasted plug-in keeps getting expensive, then there's no room for those of lesser means to acquire decent quality.

The average home producer is not producing hit records. Many are producing online tunes that are listened to by an eclectic demographic of listeners. These same home producers are not earning any revenue; they do it because they love making music and sharing their creativity. Suffice it to say, the average home producer can't really afford those high-tickets plug-ins.

Here's a new take the subject: Perhaps your pricing could remain the same, but for those who can afford to pay more, provide the option. Stillwell and Cockos offer their products on the honor system. It's been working for them . . . . So, maybe a combination of 'base price' and option to donate more if the customer feels it's worth it; or can afford to.

I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I've donated to Martinic on quite a few occasions now. Each time he improves his organ VSTs, I show my sincere appreciation by donating another few $$. It's never a large amoutn at any one time, but every little bit does help and it addds up over time. If I do this, perhaps there are other honest men and women who feel the same way. The point is, I'm not being forced to; I'm doing it because of sincere appreciation.

Maybe this hoaky ol' preaher is out to lunch on this though . . . :hihi:
Thanks & God Bless,
Bro. Charles
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