Why is Slate Digital hated?

[Robmobius]

Slate plugins threaten some long held beliefs that analog will always be better than digital.

Him and a host of other great devs. He's not as 'special' as he likes to think he is.

[Bouroki]

Someone somewhere said that SD = plugins for extroverts. Pretty much sums it up

[Local Man]

I got my first slate vst VTC this bf cause i somehow like the sound and gui and it was cheap. But i always remembered how i read how awesome his plugins are. Lately i read more bad stuff and even hate and im worried cause i got a plugin from them now.

I hope not to have made a mistakr cause i also am mayve interested in fg-stress.

If you purchase fg-stress you will make a misstake. So many have asked for an update since it came out a long time ago since it's buggy and Slate promised it will be updated but has anything happened? No! Instead he releases plugin after plugin. He's not interested in updates. He just want to release new ones. Simply, he doesn't give a dime about the users. If you go to the site you have to look hard to find to purchase a plugin. He doesn't care about that either. He want to force everyone to get the supscription instead of purchasing. He want to dictate the user in every way. I will never purchase a plugin from that man again. If you don't care about me why the hell would I care about you and fill your wallet?

I am pretty sure you are thinking of fg-x not fg-stress. Fg-stress is very new and has received very high praise (haven't used it so I can't say if it is warranted or not). As for fg-x which is an older product, all of which you say is true.

[jbarish]

Slate does have some good plugs but the hype is a bit off-putting. At times he's like a car salesman crossed with a carnival barker. Having said that, I recently signed up for the subscription and I now feel like I somehow sold my soul to the devil. Hopefully I'll be able to get over that. LOL

[Local Man]

I think much of the criticism in this thread is fair but I will say that I for one have received excellent support from slate digital when I needed it.
In general I will say that if you like digital recreations of classic studio gear then slate's plugins are very good in this category. For me, though I like that sort of thing and think it has its place, I also find it sort of boring so I wouldn't pay a high price for it. I think that if you are using digital tools then you should be taking advantage of all of the things that they can do that analog gear couldn't dream of. We ought to be advancing the art of audio production and sound design and not always looking to the sepia toned past. But of course that's a whole other can of worms, and like I said I think slate's and other similar plugins have their place.

[plexuss]

The only reason I have Slate plugins is because I was able to get a slew of them dirst cheap 2nd hand. I do use them. Frankly, they are no better than Waves analogue models. They are different than Waves of course, which is nice that there isn't too much over-lap, but in terms of pure sonic quality, they are in the same league. As an example of analogue models that I feel are better than Slate/Waves, that would be AA Nebula, most of PA's models and Kush.

I find Steven Slate to be repulsive however. He is everything I despise: he's smarmy, arrogant and an exploitive capitalist tool. That's how he comes across to me anyway.

[kmonkey]

I think much of the criticism in this thread is fair but I will say that I for one have received excellent support from slate digital when I needed it.

This is also true - i received top notch support from their support guys.

But...noone is talking about their support here + support people are separate i mean other people are working there. I am sure if Steven worked there we would get Subscription offer adverts and fancy stories how subscription is more rational while perpetual licenses are for dumb people - even inside support tickets

[Local Man]

I think much of the criticism in this thread is fair but I will say that I for one have received excellent support from slate digital when I needed it.

This is also true - i received top notch support from their support guys.

But...noone is talking about their support here

Actually they are (including the op)

Thx guys. The most important aspect is also gor me the support. Only hardware ilok sucks really... if slate digital however is like soundtoys etc and care for their users then im happy if not im careful.

FWIW, at least one user here has had a negative experience with their support and it's documented in the bargains discussion thread.

That is the only reason I brought it up. I guess I should have quoted that to begin with.

[JJ_Jettflow]

I got my first slate vst VTC this bf cause i somehow like the sound and gui and it was cheap. But i always remembered how i read how awesome his plugins are. Lately i read more bad stuff and even hate and im worried cause i got a plugin from them now.

I hope not to have made a mistakr cause i also am mayve interested in fg-stress.

There is nothing wrong with the plugins. In fact they are great sounding plugs on par with companies like PA and Waves.

Most of the negativity is due to the fact he was one of the first (but certainly not the last) to offer subscription service as well as outright purchase. As well, some seem to find his persona unpalatable. Also he has the nerve to protect his hard work with the dreaded iLok which seems to be just too much for some people.

However the plugs themselves are quite fine and you have nothing to worry about. Enjoy!

[ghettosynth]

That said, there was a glimmer of hope recently... They sold their new VTC for $49 on black Friday this was billed, on their facebook page, as giving something back to the people who buy licenses.

'Some of our loyal customers who have purchased a lot of our software but are not everything bundle users have been sent a custom Black Friday deal that is not publicly available!'

Don't mind my cynicism, but I don't buy that this is "giving back" so much as it's another attempt to extract a bit more consumer surplus from the market. I suspect that it's mechanism is twofold. First, I suspect that he has realized that those of you who bought into their plugins pre-subscription are not going to go subscription because of the value proposition and so the only way to get money from you is with a substantial product discount.

Second, and I think that this is the real kicker and explains the real reason why everyone didn't get the "special BF deal," I think that he's realized that subscriptions require a market perception of high value and without the fans, that's possibly starting to decline. So, people outside the ecosystem aren't going to jump on the whole thing because they haven't yet drunk the coolaid. I don't think that people think of subscriptions as a partial purchase of the product in the sense of "this might work, I'll try it for a month and see." My guess is that most subscribers are buying into the hype of SD and see value in getting EVERYTHING and plan on keeping the subscription for a long time, even if that is ultimately not true. To that consumer, it seems like a great deal. So, that initial choice to get the subscription is actually perceived as a large commitment even though it is broken up over time and this doesn't drive the same impulsive consumer behavior that a sale does.

So, giving the loyal customers the good deal allows him to extract more revenue that he wouldn't get anyway, but, there's no need to allow everyone those deals because you only need one deal to drive impulsive behavior and get people into the SD loop where you can sell them on the subscription.

I automatically give companies with subscription plans one or more demerits. I don't buy for a minute that any successful subscription plan doesn't impact how else you conduct your business, particularly your non-subscription pricing and promotions.

[JJ_Jettflow]

D/p

[Robmobius]

In fact they are great sounding plugs on par with companies like PA and Waves.

I don't think that they are on a par with PA... But they blow anything by Waves away.

[donkey tugger]

His drums are very good for the Metel.

[JJ_Jettflow]

In fact they are great sounding plugs on par with companies like PA and Waves.

I don't think that they are on a par with PA... But they blow anything by Waves away.

I don't know... For me I use all three companies' gear and find they work well together. Same with Kush stuff too.... which also has a sub service as well

[cfanyc]

Slate Digital is company that has produced some excellent and some more run of the mill plugins.

On the excellent side I would mention: trigger, fg-x (when it works well, not in all systems apparently),
fg-stress, his convolution verbsuite, and the neve eq in VMR.

Slate himself is a very skilled salesman, occasionally appearing as crudely exaggerated but this
is part of the act, I think. Whenever he interacts with customers he chooses his words very carefully
and always stays within perfect civility and respectability.

The thing that has peeved a lot of reasonable people, myself included, is the subscription scheme
where he wants to put everyone on a perpetual renter model regardless of what the need,
what the already have, and how the want to mix-and-much plugins across plugin manufacturers.
His arguments about the merits of the value proposition ranging from the skewed to the
nonsensical, imo.