Is 2C's Aether REALLY worth it? (the answer is: yes, certainly)

[Sampleconstruct]

Aether is really more than worth the 250 Bucks, it's an incredible bargain at that price imo!

shhh I havent bought it yet. Dont make them up the price.

But Andrew just wrote they'll not up the price, so no worries
The fact that no one on KVR is selling his/her licence (I attempted a second hand buy a few days ago and got no replies) says it all

[cybertron]

Aether is really more than worth the 250 Bucks, it's an incredible bargain at that price imo!

shhh I havent bought it yet. Dont make them up the price.

But Andrew just wrote they'll not up the price, so no worries
The fact that no one on KVR is selling his/her licence (I attempted a second hand buy a few days ago and got no replies) says it all

Ya - I was really hoping someone would break down and sell me their license for a good price...

[dmbaer]

Thanks for the question. No sorry, no more group buys for Aether. Our personal feelings are in line with Doug a few posts back: Aether is a steal @$250 and competes directly with (and wins in many ways IMHO) things that cost 5-7 times as much.

Given all the good press you're getting plus the warm comments here, there's probably merit in what you say. The group buy thing is an interesting phenomena ... one I had never encountered prior to hanging out in music tech. forums. The subject would probably make a great doctoral dissertaion for an doctorate in economics. What's the sweet spot to maximize profit?

My own rule is never to buy anything tech. until I have the time to learn/work-with it. The one thing that makes me break that rule is a bargain. I ended up with Alchemy that way and also Wusikstation. I very well may have never discovered either, but for the announcement on the Cakewalk forum of both of these group buys. I'm a sucker for a sale.

An speaking of Cakewalk, to a certain extent those of us who start with Sonar as our first music software purchase are a bit at a disadvantage when it comes to subsequent acquisitions. You get so much for about 500 bucks with Sonar, that paying half for just one thing seems exorbitant.

Oh well ... I'm sure we'll all get used to it.

[jensa]

You get so much for about 500 bucks with Sonar, that paying half for just one thing seems exorbitant.

Buy what you need, not what other people think you should use.

[cryophonik]

Buy what you need, not what other people think you should use.

I'm not sure what prompted that comment since dmbaer didn't really imply that he was being persuaded by other people. Actually, quite the contrary:

My own rule is never to buy anything tech. until I have the time to learn/work-with it.

[jensa]

Buy what you need, not what other people think you should use.

I'm not sure what prompted that comment since dmbaer didn't really imply that he was being persuaded by other people.

Oh dear. You missed the smiley. I wasn't that serious. If I offended anyone I'm sorry.

[elxsound]

Buy what you need, not what other people think you should use.

I'm not sure what prompted that comment since dmbaer didn't really imply that he was being persuaded by other people. Actually, quite the contrary:

My own rule is never to buy anything tech. until I have the time to learn/work-with it.

I understood it...

Basically, if you don't see the value in buying it, then simply don't.

The comparison of the price of Sonar to the price of Aether brought that on. A lot can be argued about that even being a fair comparison... I personally don't see it, valuation is indeed a personal thing.

Anyway, my own 2 cents is that $250 really is a bargain for what Aether is capable of doing.

[jazzimprov]

"Aether is a steal @$250 and competes directly with (and wins in many ways IMHO) things that cost 5-7 times as much"


Well,
Aether sounds good but it is a little over the top to suggest that it's worth is in the $1250 - $1750 range, IMHO

I think $250.00 for a reverb is pushing it as it is.

I think perhaps the hype is getting to the developers as well.......

[jensa]

By the way, I love Aether. Everyone should buy it. Now.

[ZenPunkHippy]

By the way, I love Aether. Everyone should buy it. Now.

An already beautiful sounding reverb, now it sounds even better. It's an amazing update

Peace,
Andy.

[cryophonik]

"Aether is a steal @$250 and competes directly with (and wins in many ways IMHO) things that cost 5-7 times as much"


Well,
Aether sounds good but it is a little over the top to suggest that it's worth is in the $1250 - $1750 range, IMHO

Andrew didn't say that its worth is in the $1250-1750 range - he said that it "...competes directly with...things that cost 5-7 times as much...". In other words, they feel that their product can compete with more expensive reverbs, such as Lexicons, et al., but at a fraction of the price.

[dmbaer]

By the way, I love Aether. Everyone should buy it. Now.

And I may very well do so at some point! But just not right now.

I spend a lot of time on the Cakewalk Sonar forum. Not surprisingly, the subject "best reverb" comes up a lot. A very interesting observation on the subject came from one of the more technically astute veterans there who stated that a) he's finding himself using only light application of reverbs in his work these days and b) he doesn't see the need to obsess over reberb quality when the contribution of such is down 18db from the primary content of the music. On the other hand, for many of us cool technology is appreciated (and lusted after) even when the practical need is marginal.

[Andrew Souter]

"Aether is a steal @$250 and competes directly with (and wins in many ways IMHO) things that cost 5-7 times as much"

Aether sounds good but it is a little over the top to suggest that it's worth is in the $1250 - $1750 range, IMHO

I didn't. What I said is that I believe it competes VERY favorably with things that DO cost that much. I generally think prices in that range are a bit excessive.

(mostly because there is really no manufacturing cost with software, as compared to hardware--the algorithms can be just as good though and really better in many ways by taking advantage of modern mass-market hardware (i.e. Intel CPUs) that benefit from mass economies of scale.)

I think $250.00 for a reverb is pushing it as it is.

I think perhaps the hype is getting to the developers as well.......

No problem, thank you for your thoughts. We try to remain humble, but we are indeed rather proud and excited to release this, and we have a sea of unsolicited feedback that generally tells us we should be. But humility is the best policy, and we should really let the product speak for itself, you're right. I think I do that in general, but thanks for reminding me.

now, if I could just stop checking in here and getting pulled into the conversation, I could finish the manual and put up the new web listing and post the demo, and you could decide for yourself.

[jazzimprov]

"Aether is a steal @$250 and competes directly with (and wins in many ways IMHO) things that cost 5-7 times as much"


"Our product is worth X times more than what we are charging so it is a steal!"

This is not a new tac for promotion.

I don't have any problems with what they want to charge,

I still think the comparison is a bit inflated..... but that is just me....

The reverb is quite good, I am less enthusiastic about the build up and hype...

[elxsound]

"Aether is a steal @$250 and competes directly with (and wins in many ways IMHO) things that cost 5-7 times as much"


Well,
Aether sounds good but it is a little over the top to suggest that it's worth is in the $1250 - $1750 range, IMHO

Andrew didn't say that its worth is in the $1250-1750 range - he said that it "...competes directly with...things that cost 5-7 times as much...". In other words, they feel that their product can compete with more expensive reverbs, such as Lexicons, et al., but at a fraction of the price.

Also note that jazzimprov has a single post, which seems a bit suspect for a first posting on KVR.