KVR Audio

Cochrane · Post by **Cochrane** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:58 pm

For me it could be something like a re-branding, in the verge of releasing Alchemy 2.

Maybe Alchemy 2 is going to be so well developed that a simple update price for a large user-base isn't sufficient for returning on the big investment of developing it.
Rebranding Alchemy as a totally 'new' product (for a totally 'new' company) would be the perfect choice for making a bigger income (perhaps with some intelligent cross-grade policy for a loyal user-base).

BTW, only speculations on a very bad day...

Ambient Mechanics · Post by **Ambient Mechanics** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:04 pm

Cochrane wrote:For me it could be something like a re-branding, in the verge of releasing Alchemy 2.

Maybe Alchemy 2 is going to be so well developed that a simple update price for a large user-base isn't sufficient for returning on the big investment of developing it.
Rebranding Alchemy as a totally 'new' product (for a totally 'new' company) would be the perfect choice for making a bigger income (perhaps with some intelligent cross-grade policy for a loyal user-base).

BTW, only speculations on a very bad day...

I get what you're saying..but like I pointed out a few posts back, some of the sound designers who were working for CA on the new Alchemy 2 weren't even told anything about this and can't log in to the developers back office. That's hardly the way to go..meaning they are unlikely to drop those very people they need to bring a product to market, are they?

Keith99 · Post by **Keith99** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:04 pm

I cannot believe any of these speculations about buy outs etc. otherwise they would not stop supporting Alchemy 1 and the other plugins. I suspect they have been working hard on Alchemy 2 but run into troubles and delays and simply ran out of money.

Cochrane · Post by **Cochrane** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:05 pm

Solaris65 wrote:
Cochrane wrote:For me it could be something like a re-branding, in the verge of releasing Alchemy 2.

Maybe Alchemy 2 is going to be so well developed that a simple update price for a large user-base isn't sufficient for returning on the big investment of developing it.
Rebranding Alchemy as a totally 'new' product (for a totally 'new' company) would be the perfect choice for making a bigger income (perhaps with some intelligent cross-grade policy for a loyal user-base).

BTW, only speculations on a very bad day...
I get what you're saying..but like I pointed out a few posts back, some of the sound designers who were working for CA on the new Alchemy 2 weren't even told anything about this and can't log in to the developers back office. That's hardly the way to go..meaning they are unlikely to drop those very people they need to bring a product to market, are they?

yes. I see.

Keith99 · Post by **Keith99** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:06 pm

Not any new news here but maybe they will get a reply:

http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/cam ... ble-613289

Satch1 · Post by **Satch1** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:09 pm

Very worrying news! I hope all is well with the good folks at CA. Hopefully it's just some business decision that will benefit us all, and Alchemy 2 will continue development. Ben is a frickin genius... would be a shame for it to go to waste!

robotmonkey · Post by **robotmonkey** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:11 pm

Cochrane wrote:For me it could be something like a re-branding, in the verge of releasing Alchemy 2.

Maybe Alchemy 2 is going to be so well developed that a simple update price for a large user-base isn't sufficient for returning on the big investment of developing it.
Rebranding Alchemy as a totally 'new' product (for a totally 'new' company) would be the perfect choice for making a bigger income (perhaps with some intelligent cross-grade policy for a loyal user-base).

BTW, only speculations on a very bad day...

I doubt that is the case at all. Otherwise that would be really bad decision as the current situation is definitely pretty damaging to the Camel Audio brand. Maybe there is a good explanation but as the things stand at the moment their image will be tarnished with every minute there is no clear explanation what is going on. Currently it feels like they have left both of their loyal user base and sound developers high and dry. That is no way to gain popularity when introducing a new product. So far how this all has been handled makes them look really shady.

kiezum · Post by **kiezum** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:14 pm

I use Alchemy a lot and also their plugins! The soundlibraries are awesome. What can replace this? Granular, VA, Additive, etc

I hope all is well with Ben.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:15 pm

Keith99 wrote:I suspect they have been working hard on Alchemy 2 but run into troubles and delays and simply ran out of money.

And you suspect that despite their fairly healthy financial status as reported earlier in the thread, of course.

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 1#p5999211

ObsoleteAcc99 · Post by **ObsoleteAcc99** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:15 pm

[DELETED]

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:17 pm

standalone wrote:
Spip wrote:
penguinfromdeep wrote:Who could make an offer that is too good to refuse, and demands absolute secrecy with their draconian NDAs and such ... THere's only one answer: Apple
Exactly what I think...
You people know nothing about Mokafix, right?

Well, Mokafix is a tiny bit special. The dev didn't stop the development because he was bought out, he actually took a job as graphic designer at NI. This in turn made it impossible to continue with his own company Mokafix as it would have meant "company member is coding a competition product to Guitar Rig".

It's sad to see Camel Audio go.
They're sponsors for pretty much every(!) song/mix challenge on KVR Audio. Due to this announcement, I think the challenges have to pull the plugins that are available to win.

Thankfully, I am not reliant on these plugins. But I did have Alchemy on my radar for a couple of years now, but other stuff always had a higher priority. FX wise, I am still well covered.

What does worry me as well however, is the sudden move to close doors completely, and the radio silence. Even if they signed a NDA - this is totally unlike Camel Audio indeed. So I'd also love to read some sort of clarification.

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:18 pm

Another reason why PCs are superior

beely · Post by **beely** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:18 pm

TheoM wrote:No it won't. Anyone on mac would be foolish to use it in ANY new songs now and would be smart to replace it in current ones, as a simple os update might render it useless in as little as a few months, especially in Logic.

Oh Theo. I'm an Alchemy Mac user, and whatever the status of CA, I will still continue to use it and the many patches as a valid useful musical instrument, until one day it no longer will be usable - which might be years away.

No one is forcing you to update your OS either...*if* one should render a plugin unusable.

HideawayStudio · Post by **HideawayStudio** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:19 pm

whyterabbyt wrote:
twolegstoneworks wrote:I suspect the new MOSS act is the cause of this... Thank you so much, EU... we love you so much.
Absolutely not. Its already been pointed out several times that Camel's turnover and net worth was such that they'd already be VAT registered, and they're large enough to clearly have the resources to deal with MOSS.

MOSS affects tiny 'hobbyist' business who couldnt possibly afford the required legal and accounting services, not successful businesses with a net worth in the hundreds of thousands.

Going the MOSS route to achieve compliance with the new "Place of Supply" VAT Directive is clearly not a decision to be taken lightly and for even a larger company to go it alone is being grossly underestimated in terms of the implications of doing so. Just because a company has a relatively strong perceived value doesn't mean it has the cash flow to afford extra staff or paying the costs of significantly more man hours to achieve compliance in 29 EU member states. It is wrong to assume that simply because a small firm is VAT registered that the onerous nature of this legislation is somehow made easier.

I have been in touch with several fellow sample developers including some larger ventures who sell B2C which have been hurt badly by the new legislation and have been spending a considerable amount of time researching and planning routes in order to achieve compliance.

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:20 pm

NAMM is Jan 22. Exactly 14 days. If a buyout has been negotiated, I think we could expect news on this as part of a major announcement at a trade show - either NAMM or the Messe.

NI has form obviously - it swallowed several other synth developers and their products - egs Sync Modular, Absynth. In the first case the smarts of the developer were assimilated and the product as such disappeared and users got a free crossgrade or a cheap upgrade to the next version of Reaktor. In the second case, the product continued on as part of the NI stable.

I'm not sure what happened to the Mokafix IP - is that stuff somewhere in a suite like guitar rig or amplitube?

Camel Audio ceasing sales? [Update: CA acquired by Apple]