u-he

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:35 am

I'm pondering the economics of selling synth presets and the number of users seems a good place to start. I guess it's sensitive info... but a rough idea would help.

stardustmedia · Post by **stardustmedia** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:21 pm

I also would wonder. Also for other plugins.

But I'd be surprised, if anyone would tell

hopkihc · Post by **hopkihc** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:45 pm

One way to assess potential interest is to release a "teaser" soundset via some method that lets you analyze downloads.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:29 pm

We can roughly say

Zebra 10k+
Diva 5k+
ACE 4k+
Bazille 3.5k+
Hive 1.5k+ (mostly because it's not out yet and free to use)

I'm not sure if that helps at all...

zvenx · Post by **zvenx** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:42 pm

I am surprised you actually responded.
Thanks for that, I was always curious but not enough balls to ask.
I am surprised that ACE didnt' do as bad as I expected based on comments you made elsewhere.

Glad to know my favourite two are maybe also most others favourite two as well... we shall see when hive is released and no longer free to use. (although it is already my third favourite)

rsp

tehlord · Post by **tehlord** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:55 pm

It's not just about how many registered users. It's also about how many of those registered users are potential preset purchasers, in the case of Zebra I'd suggest that number is relatively low.

Robert Foster · Post by **Robert Foster** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 4:44 pm

tehlord wrote:It's also about how many of those registered users are potential preset purchasers, in the case of Zebra I'd suggest that number is relatively low.

Well...its much higher then Xfer Serum for sure.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:04 pm

tehlord wrote:It's not just about how many registered users. It's also about how many of those registered users are potential preset purchasers, in the case of Zebra I'd suggest that number is relatively low.

The interesting bit about Zebra is that we seem to sell more licenses every year than in the year before.

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:17 pm

Urs wrote:I'm not sure if that helps at all...

I guess it does. Thanks.

tehlord · Post by **tehlord** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:18 pm

Urs wrote:
tehlord wrote:It's not just about how many registered users. It's also about how many of those registered users are potential preset purchasers, in the case of Zebra I'd suggest that number is relatively low.
The interesting bit about Zebra is that we seem to sell more licenses every year than in the year before.

Probably because making music at home has turned from a niche pastime to a mainstream one.

Also, Zebra is probably an 'ultimate destination' for a lot of people as they feel more confident using such a complex beast and upgrading from simpler plugins.

Oh can you give the MSEG an alt click/snap to grid..........wrong thread.

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:50 pm

tehlord wrote:It's not just about how many registered users. It's also about how many of those registered users are potential preset purchasers, in the case of Zebra I'd suggest that number is relatively low.

I expect it'd be low for all of them. <1% of users or so.

On Urs' numbers, selling presets is only commercially viable for those who can churn the product out. I'd have to severely revise down my quality control and it would all become a rather pointless, grubby, cynical exercise. Oh well.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 6:05 pm

Well, I think some people have made some decent profits from Zebra preset banks. Those in our own store have certainly paid off big time, and I think some sound designers who were able to promote themselves have done fine as well

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 6:26 pm

But I really am very slow...

(the 'churn out product' bit wasn't a dig at anyone, well not anyone at this end of the forum)

tehlord · Post by **tehlord** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:44 am

Urs wrote:Well, I think some people have made some decent profits from Zebra preset banks. Those in our own store have certainly paid off big time, and I think some sound designers who were able to promote themselves have done fine as well

There are several factors that are relevant to the success of soundbank sales, and it's finding your own niche that often result in sales. Selling banks on the same website as the plugin itself is an obvious one as you already have the captive audience, not to mention some very talented sound designers creating the banks in the first place.

Another option is to target the working, professional musician and create a bank, or rather a set of very high tools that allows them to spend less time on creating the work that they are given less and less time to create themselves (The Unfinished for example).

Simply creating a bank of leads, pads and swooshes isn't going to cut it anymore as there are so many people churning out the same old thing over and over again.

Saying that Zebra IS a good place to start simply because of the sound design possibility and the number of registered users, but you have to know who you're going to be selling to before you start selling!

And demos, people love a good demo.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:34 am

Yeah, good demos are important - more so than the actual number of potential customers out there.

I guess some of the most used Synths out there are Sylenth1, Massive and the Arturia Minimoog. But then, there are already hundreds of banks for each of those. One can probably sell more soundsets to owners of synths that have only sold 1000 times but that have few to none soundbanks available.

u-he

KVR Audio

How many registered users - Zebra, Diva, ACE...?