When did Waves massively drop their MSRP?

[DJMaytag]

Gold used to be MSRP $800, just above the threshold for having to pay the $150 license transfer fee. Now I see it's MSRP $400. When did this happen?

Looks like a lot of other plugs have significantly dropped in price as well. I remember passing on the "upgrade" to the OneKnob bundle a couple years ago for $139 and now it's on sale for $89.

Has Waves finally figured out that NO ONE is paying full price for their plugs and bundles?

[plexuss]

Gold used to be MSRP $800, just above the threshold for having to pay the $150 license transfer fee. Now I see it's MSRP $400. When did this happen?

Looks like a lot of other plugs have significantly dropped in price as well. I remember passing on the "upgrade" to the OneKnob bundle a couple years ago for $139 and now it's on sale for $89.

Has Waves finally figured out that NO ONE is paying full price for their plugs and bundles?

Well, i think the current pricing answers your question - likely, yes.

This seems to be a typical pricing roadmap where the price depricates as time goes on. Waves has been able to milk pricing for a long time so it's not surprising that they finally had to succumb to the market pressure and reduce prices signifantly.

But in general this is what happens with most plugin companies - prices drop over time. This is why it's a good idea to work on suppressing GAS and just wait. The longer you wait the cheaper it will be for you.

[Armagibbon]

The longer you wait the cheaper it will be for you.

Yea sure. But until then if you're gettin along just fine without the plugs, why buy the damn things?
800 bucks for a bundle of cornerstones is just one tiny part of the cost of making music. 400 is even smaller but that doesn't change shit. If you don't need em, you don't need em.

Like if you're spending as much or even less on your hardware, there's a huge f*ckin problem with priorities over here.

[simon.a.billington]

I have noticed their price drop over time. The first notable change i remembered when they decided to ditch the separate SoundGrid plugin purchases so you only had to buy one license and it would run both Natively and on Sound/DigiGrid.

That suddenly made the SG/DG platform more appetising and achievable for some.

Their sales started to get more aggressive too. Not everything is "cheap" though. The SSL, Studio Collection and Abbey Road Collection are still up there. In some respect I think that has a lot to do with brand licensing.

Then there is the development time they spend. Some plugins, like much of the Abbey Road or H-Reverb, from memory, spent several years in development. I noticed these plugins tend to be more pricey because they need to cover their development costs.

Then there are some of their newer plugs that are just cheaper. I believe with NX they wanted to get it everywhere, so i goes they are looking at making more of a micro-transaction for people.

Their keyboards are relatively cheap too, but I guess outside of their sample playback engine they probably had the research and development done for the effects part of their plugin. So that's probably how they could afford to make it on the cheaper side.

I like them too. They're more "honest" than a lot of libraries who add all these effects to give the instrument a big and bold sound for the instant gratification generation, but it's not actually what it sounds like when you sit in front of one. Waves gave you some basic sound sculpting tools, but leaves it open for you to add your own processing so it can fit whatever genre you may have in mind.

Yeah sure theres a lot of tools many of us end up buying but don't really need. However, if it offers a workflow improvement, or introduces something new for your sonic palette that can justify much of the expense. Time is money, and if you can't pull a sound quick enough then it costs you time and your client money. If you're not careful they will go shopping around for someone who can achieve the same in less time because it saves them cash.

The same goes for hardware too, but you're client is only interested in what you can do for them. They don't care if you have $5,000 speakers. I do, but they don't. Sometimes you just have to make investments that your clients will directly benefit from.

[flugel45]

... Some plugins, like much of the Abbey Road or H-Reverb, from memory, spent several years in development. I noticed these plugins tend to be more pricey because they need to cover their development costs...

Currently the entire H-Bundle (H-Comp, H-EQ, H-Delay and H-Reverb) can be had for $71.43 (@ everyplugin). By any standard that's a great price for some great plugins.

[simon.a.billington]

... Some plugins, like much of the Abbey Road or H-Reverb, from memory, spent several years in development. I noticed these plugins tend to be more pricey because they need to cover their development costs...

Currently the entire H-Bundle (H-Comp, H-EQ, H-Delay and H-Reverb) can be had for $71.43 (@ everyplugin). By any standard that's a great price for some great plugins.

Abslo-bloody-lutely...

Only wished I got some of those for that cheap

[Harry_HH]

I have noticed their price drop over time. The first notable change i remembered when they decided to ditch the separate SoundGrid plugin purchases so you only had to buy one license and it would run both Natively and on Sound/DigiGrid.
...

I think the big change in their pricing policy happened earlier, somewhere around 2009-10.
The SoundGrid came a bit later.
The main impulse was likely the 2008 global recession, and decreased demand, and at the same time increased competition (more and more small, innovative developers), the change in the market, which all required a new pricing, product and marketing strategy, to keep the company a live and well.

[simon.a.billington]

I have noticed their price drop over time. The first notable change i remembered when they decided to ditch the separate SoundGrid plugin purchases so you only had to buy one license and it would run both Natively and on Sound/DigiGrid.
...

I think the big change in their pricing policy happened earlier, somewhere around 2009-10.
The SoundGrid came a bit later.
The main impulse was likely the 2008 global recession, and decreased demand, and at the same time increased competition (more and more small, innovative developers), the change in the market, which all required a new pricing, product and marketing strategy, to keep the company a live and well.

Well that would probably put it before my first Waves investment. So Im don't really know much before my history with them.