Why Are Sonnox Plugins So Expensive?

[AC222]

Sonnox Eq: $295
Sonnox Reverb: $349

Are these guys on crack or are their plugins THAT good. I am hearing that other top premium plugins are cleaner and much better sounding for fractions of the price. We have other alternatives from fab filter, dmg, brainworx. Wondering if I'm overlooking something or if the Sonnox guys are clearly out of touch with their true market value. What says you?

[chk071]

Because people buy it for that price.
/thread

They surely have a good name too, so they can take it. All i can say is that at least the vinyl and tape restoration plugins from Sonnox which are built into Wavelab are really good. I also tried Audacity, which has similar plugins, but the plugins build into that were absolutely terrible compared, function and GUI wise. Well, you get what you pay for i guess.

[cryophonik]

Yes, they are WAY overpriced IMO. There was a time when they were considered elite among the competition, but the market changed drastically in terms of improved quality at a lower price. Apparently, Sonnox never received that memo and I can't imagine that they sell many plugins directly at their regular prices. That said, I still use multiple instances of Supresser in almost every song, so it's definitely proven its worth to me (even though I bought it second-hand).

[ObsoleteAcc99]

Sonnox Eq: $295
Sonnox Reverb: $349

Are these guys on crack or are their plugins THAT good. I am hearing that other top premium plugins are cleaner and much better sounding for fractions of the price. We have other alternatives from fab filter, dmg, brainworx. Wondering if I'm overlooking something or if the Sonnox guys are clearly out of touch with their true market value. What says you?

They do do amazing sales. I have to be honest, and you know you and I have general similar taste.

The compressor i paid $150 for 2 years back, and I use it as a track insert more than any other compressor plugin I have.

The de esser is far more than just a de esser, and i use it for specific frequency band compression without having to get out a multi band comp. I paid around $130 for it and it was low 100's in a recent sonnox sale (which are fairly frequent, so when they are on, THEN go to a reseller to get more discount on top).

The inflator I use every single song, and now with the uad maximiser, i have the choice. I don't use it much on the master buss though but to increase presence of certain sounds in a mix

The transient designer only does attack but it does it bloody well. It has a lot of control over the shaping of the attack which puts it above those with simple attack and sustain controls (when it comes to attack). Sonnox now have a new TD with waveform display that can do sustain also, and i believe I have read it's excellent. I have some UAD credit so will probably get it for that

The limiter is still good, i know, right? Hard to believe? But i still use it on and off. And kudos to sonnox for having the first plug in limiter with intersample metering.

That said, the limiter is of course overpriced cause things like ozone 7 are out for the same price and do a LOT more than just limiting. I wouldn't even consider buying that but it was in a pack i got for just over 100 also. (with the transient designer and the inflator which i LOOOOVE).

The reverb and EQ are *grossly* overpriced, it's more or less ridiculous - they are usable and ultra low cpu, so if they were really well priced (under $79 each), i would probably get them to complete the collection. The reverb is not fantastic at big lush obvious reverbs, this verb us all about MEGA tweaking and getting something to sit in a room space. For that, it's good. But i can get quick results for that with many other verbs.
The EQ is OK and has decent cut filters but I am not sure why it is still so expensive.

Basically, there are two parts to the overall answer why they are so expensive at their RETAIL prices.. the guys at sonnox are a bit greedy if we are to be honest.. i am not backstabbing them here as i told them directly.. their transfer fees are ludicrous (25 pounds per plugin on TOP of the 25$ ilok fee), AND they also have to approve the ilok transfer manually (they wait for their GBP payment first so there is no way around it for the buyer to just buy the assets and then download the sonnox installer, very cheeky). They also bundle individual licenses purchased at the same time, together, in SEPARATE ilok assets! So if i wanted to sell, say the de esser, because i bought it at the same time as the enhance bundle, i would need to pay 4 ilok transfer fees (to transfer the supresser, inflator, dynamics and limiter, even though the supresser is NOT part of that bundle),and the buyer would have to pay 100 GBP on top LOL. SO we are talking double the cost of what i paid for the supresser to transfer it
Obviously price has something to do with this greed.. after all, they are NOT stupid and know there is genuine quality competition out there for much cheaper these days, and they still want above and beyond premium dollar for sonnox stuff.. so what else can it be?

Second answer is, that a lot of them are damn fine plugins. The compressor is irreplaceable for me cause it actually behaves like a hardware COMPRESSOR. Also with the lovely sidechain EQ, and the separate expander AND separate gate, and warmth drive, it's just fantastic.

Best thing is to just demo them and wait for sales if you love any of them Also, their codec plugin is very cool, but their restoration stuff is out of control on the pricing unless it's on a mega sale, and even then, to get a declick and denoiser, forget it, just go for acon or RX.

Hope that helps

[AC222]

Thanks, cryophonik. That was my impression as well. I am not implying the quality is bad but when I checked out their plugin in another studio I thought they were pretty good but was floored when I heard what they cost considering the reverb from Valhalla was very much in the same league to say the least for a fraction of the cost.

@a217152 what is this about filtering out noobs? Please explain what this means. Your words not mine.

Maybe they are still in business but if you are making much less money than you could by adapting to the marketplace that is just plain stupid... I don't know how anybody could argue otherwise.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

Thanks, cryophonik. That was my impression as well. I am not implying the quality is bad but when I checked out their plugin in another studio I thought they were pretty good but was floored when I heard what they cost considering the reverb from Valhalla was very much in the same league to say the least for a fraction of the cost.

@a217152 what is this about filtering out noobs? Please explain what this means. Your words not mine.

Maybe they are still in business but if you are making much less money than you could by adapting to the marketplace that is just plain stupid... I don't know how anybody could argue otherwise.

And also re price, they are very rarely sold in MP cause of the tricky transfer procedures and fees. I have only ever seen sonnox in the MP here for way more than i paid for them from a reseller.. so.. i wouldn't bother waiting for that. Again if you like any of them the only way not to pay tooth and nail, is to wait for a sale then go to everyplugin or jrrshop Regarding the noobs thing I think he was just being facetious. Valhalla verbs are definitely better than the sonnox.

[AC222]

Sonnox Eq: $295
Sonnox Reverb: $349

Are these guys on crack or are their plugins THAT good. I am hearing that other top premium plugins are cleaner and much better sounding for fractions of the price. We have other alternatives from fab filter, dmg, brainworx. Wondering if I'm overlooking something or if the Sonnox guys are clearly out of touch with their true market value. What says you?

They do do amazing sales. I have to be honest, and you know you and I have general similar taste.

The compressor i paid $150 for 2 years back, and I use it as a track insert more than any other compressor plugin I have.

The de esser is far more than just a de esser, and i use it for specific frequency band compression without having to get out a multi band comp. I paid around $130 for it and it was low 100's in a recent sonnox sale (which are fairly frequent, so when they are on, THEN go to a reseller to get more discount on top).

The inflator I use every single song, and now with the uad maximiser, i have the choice. I don't use it much on the master buss though but to increase presence of certain sounds in a mix

The transient designer only does attack but it does it bloody well. It has a lot of control over the shaping of the attack which puts it above those with simple attack and sustain controls (when it comes to attack). Sonnox now have a new TD with waveform display that can do sustain also, and i believe I have read it's excellent. I have some UAD credit so will probably get it for that

The limiter is still good, i know, right? Hard to believe? But i still use it on and off. And kudos to sonnox for having the first plug in limiter with intersample metering.

That said, the limiter is of course overpriced cause things like ozone 7 are out for the same price and do a LOT more than just limiting. I wouldn't even consider buying that but it was in a pack i got for just over 100 also. (with the transient designer and the inflator which i LOOOOVE).

The reverb and EQ are *grossly* overpriced, it's more or less ridiculous - they are usable and ultra low cpu, so if they were really well priced (under $79 each), i would probably get them to complete the collection. The reverb is not fantastic at big lush obvious reverbs, this verb us all about MEGA tweaking and getting something to sit in a room space. For that, it's good. But i can get quick results for that with many other verbs.
The EQ is OK and has decent cut filters but I am not sure why it is still so expensive.

Basically, there are two parts to the overall answer why they are so expensive at their RETAIL prices.. the guys at sonnox are a bit greedy if we are to be honest.. i am not backstabbing them here as i told them directly.. their transfer fees are ludicrous (25 pounds per plugin on TOP of the 25$ ilok fee), AND they also have to approve the ilok transfer manually (they wait for their GBP payment first so there is no way around it for the buyer to just buy the assets and then download the sonnox installer, very cheeky). They also bundle individual licenses purchased at the same time, together, in SEPARATE ilok assets! So if i wanted to sell, say the de esser, because i bought it at the same time as the enhance bundle, i would need to pay 4 ilok transfer fees (to transfer the supresser, inflator, dynamics and limiter, even though the supresser is NOT part of that bundle),and the buyer would have to pay 100 GBP on top LOL. SO we are talking double the cost of what i paid for the supresser to transfer it
Obviously price has something to do with this greed.. after all, they are NOT stupid and know there is genuine quality competition out there for much cheaper these days, and they still want above and beyond premium dollar for sonnox stuff.. so what else can it be?

Second answer is, that a lot of them are damn fine plugins. The compressor is irreplaceable for me cause it actually behaves like a hardware COMPRESSOR. Also with the lovely sidechain EQ, and the separate expander AND separate gate, and warmth drive, it's just fantastic.

Best thing is to just demo them and wait for sales if you love any of them Also, their codec plugin is very cool, but their restoration stuff is out of control on the pricing unless it's on a mega sale, and even then, to get a declick and denoiser, forget it, just go for acon or RX.

Hope that helps

OK thanks, Theo! I didn't realize they did sales specials because I've only seen them full price. I thought the reverb was at least decent but was not blown away by the eq foe the price. It sounds like some of their other tools might offer better value for the asking price.

[cryophonik]

And also re price, they are very rarely sold in MP cause of the tricky transfer procedures and fees. I have only ever seen sonnox in the MP here for way more than i paid for them from a reseller.. so.. i wouldn't bother waiting for that.

I'm pretty sure that I bought my Supresser from you in the MP several years ago, didn't I, Theo? I do recall that they had some outrageous transfer policy.

Again if you like any of them the only way not to pay tooth and nail, is to wait for a sale then go to everyplugin or jrrshop

Bingo.

I think that's their whole business model. Keep them priced artificially high (particularly the EQ and reverb) to maintain the perceived value (while selling very few licenses), and mark them down for occasional sales to make their money.

[chk071]

Again, if they wouldn't be able to sell it for that price, they wouldn't do it. Simple and always true market rule. If they only sell 100 copies, no matter how high the price is, they can close down business. The kind of guess work mostly displayed in threads like these totally disregards this fact.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

cryophonik, yes, i rebought it.. for less than I sold it to you, which was at the time, the right price.. it's like every sale they go that bit lower. And i only rebought it the once and kept it

[memyselfandus]

Again, if they wouldn't be able to sell it for that price, they wouldn't do it. Simple and always true market rule. If they only sell 100 copies, no matter how high the price is, they can close down business. The kind of guess work mostly displayed in threads like these totally disregards this fact.

lots of people complain about Propellerhead RE's being overpriced. I dunno

[Jax Pok]

Nothing is overpriced you charge what you think it needs to sell at to survive. For a load of money I do expect an updated GUI.

[chk071]

FWIW, i think that Waves plugins are way too expensive. Especially that one knob series is better freeware IMO. But, talk is cheap, and my opinion will neither make them rich nor poor, so i just leave the wallet plugged. I'm sure they have some good plugins, but i also think that a lot of what they do and offer is based on a "it costs much, so it has to be good" base, which is also proven by their artist signature series, so that you can charge 50% more, just because the artist lend his name to it. I think it's safe to say that they would still do good when they would get rid of that, and half their prices. But they won't, so i will just stay away, unless they do a no-brainer sale or something. Fair enough if others don't feel that way, that's the nice thing about such an open and free market, that there's offers for everyone, and for every wallet.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

FWIW, i think that Waves plugins are way too expensive. Especially that one knob series is better freeware IMO. But, talk is cheap, and my opinion will neither make them rich nor poor, so i just leave the wallet plugged. I'm sure they have some good plugins, but i also think that a lot of what they do and offer is based on a "it costs much, so it has to be good" base, which is also proven by their artist signature series, so that you can charge 50% more, just because the artist lend his name to it. I think it's safe to say that they would still do good when they would get rid of that, and half their prices. But they won't, so i will just stay away, unless they do a no-brainer sale or something. Fair enough if others don't feel that way, that's the nice thing about such an open and free market, that there's offers for everyone, and for every wallet.

paid $13 for each one knob on the mega sale (already had 2 of them for free : ))

and honestly besides the pusher, i think they are all fantastic. I use them everywhere now, obviously not on a complete mix but to brighten or fatten a sound here or there.. even the verb is very useful on drum stems. For lightning fast mixing i get good quick results. I just wish the compressor was better, but now i have the one knob sonalksis for that, and it's a killer! But normal price for one knobs? YEAH, more or less hard to believe, hey.

I think right now for $106 at everyplugin, the dave aud emp box is incredible. Forget L3 is even in there, and just enjoy C6, the multiband transient, and alloy 2 for that money

What i mean is, waves know that they have to do deals now to stay in business, and they do them.

I really believe there are two types of engineer here

1) Home users who can't afford stuff not on sale and even then have to be very selective - i believe this is 80% of us at KVR

2) Professionals in the sense that they do this for a living.. and if they absolutely NEEDED a particular waves plug that was not on sale, they would buy it and make the money back that day.

Waves have sales for the 80% of us, but i do believe that small percentage will pay full price when they want or need something there and then. If it's on sale it's just a bonus kind of thing.

In general, quality vs price with waves is outclassed by most other devs. Their sale prices are generally spot on (when you go to a reseller rather than direct). If you buy multiple plugins and get extra discounts, then yeah buy direct at sale time and add to cart at waves.

[BasariStudios]

Because of SONNOX and NOTHING else, i repeat NOTHING else.