Splice rent to own Serum plan, what do you think?

[Synthman2000]

Hi there can you explain:

i thought it was a rental scheme like SSD but no!

You mean solid state drive ? It means not reliable? Or am I misunderstanding the acronym. Thanks

[OneOfManyPauls]

I expect they meant the Slate Digital monthly deal where you pay $25 a month and get access to all the plugins, but you never get to own the stuff (ssd = steven slate drums):

http://www.slatedigital.com/online-shop/

[Zexila]

(ssd = steven slate drums):

Maybe Steven Slate Digital?

[mattetti]

Hi there, this is Matt, co-founder and CTO of Splice. First off, I would like to thank you all for your kind words, we are humbled by your positive feedback. I would also want to thank the amazing Steve Duda for his exceptional plugins and his desire to release only the best to his users. Without him always championing for his users, we wouldn't have Splice rent-to-own.

I'd love to answer any remaining questions. I'll start by clarifying some questions I read in this thread and in other few places:

* How much does it really cost in total?
$189, no hidden fees. You can cancel and resume any time. Steve and us are taking a risk because we do believe we make music creation more affordable. We hope you will prove we are right and will vote with your wallet.

* Do you need to run Splice to use Serum rent-to-own?
Yes you do, but not all the time. You need to login at least once a day so the plugin stays activated. You can use Serum offline for a few days but after 24H, you will see a message in the plugin saying that Splice is offline. If you don't connect to Splice for too long, the plugin will stop working... until you login back on Splice.

* Can I use Splice offline?
Yes you can, for a limited amount of time (about 3 days). See the response from above.

* Do we get access to Serum FX?
Yes, the way it currently works, once your first payment is processed (after the 3 day trial), you will get access to the FX version of the plugin and the Xfer forum for Serum.

* The Splice application uses a lot of CPU
I saw this post earlier from a Windows user and that is definitely NOT normal. Our applications were designed to run in the background and consume as little CPU and RAM as possible. We are investigating why might have happened but my personal guess is that the user encountered a CPU spike post setup due to the client trying to provide project backup/version control (a free service we offer). Once again, this is absolutely not normal, please contact support@splice [.]com if you see issues like that?

* What should I do, if I had a cracked version of Serum installed? (<insert here reason why you downloaded a buggy pirated version>)
I would suggest to start by uninstalling the shady version you found online. But technically, you can update from within Splice and we take care of activating your plugin. Note that you need to update Serum to the latest version since the rent-to-own activation wasn't available in earlier versions. Same thing if you had the demo installed, just update from within our app.
On a side note, thank you for going legit.

* Should Steve Duda run for US president?
He would be better than the current candidates but we can't afford not having him make awesome music creation tools. So my answer is no, not yet!

* Where can I get more presets, samples and loops?
Well at https://splice.com/sounds of course (shameless self-promotion)

I'd be glad to answer more questions, but I would like to point out that we a FAQ available here: https://support.splice.com/hc/en-us/sec ... wn-Plugins

[hivkorn]

* Do you need to run Splice to use Serum rent-to-own?
Yes you do, but not all the time. You need to login at least once a day so the plugin stays activated. You can use Serum offline for a few days but after 24H, you will see a message in the plugin saying that Splice is offline. If you don't connect to Splice for too long, the plugin will stop working... until you login back on Splice.

* Can I use Splice offline?
Yes you can, for a limited amount of time (about 3 days). See the response from above.

it seems totally honest , no problem with , honestly i don't care to connect my computer 1 times everyweek to activate the plugin.

[EnGee]

Hi there, this is Matt, co-founder and CTO of Splice. First off, I would like to thank you all for your kind words, we are humbled by your positive feedback. I would also want to thank the amazing Steve Duda for his exceptional plugins and his desire to release only the best to his users. Without him always championing for his users, we wouldn't have Splice rent-to-own.

I'd love to answer any remaining questions. I'll start by clarifying some questions I read in this thread and in other few places:



* The Splice application uses a lot of CPU
I saw this post earlier from a Windows user and that is definitely NOT normal. Our applications were designed to run in the background and consume as little CPU and RAM as possible. We are investigating why might have happened but my personal guess is that the user encountered a CPU spike post setup due to the client trying to provide project backup/version control (a free service we offer). Once again, this is absolutely not normal, please contact support@splice [.]com if you see issues like that?

Hi Matt, thanks for being here

If you meant me, then I said about disk usage, not CPU usage. I find it normal to have such activity if Splice is scanning my hard disk or part of it! Please make the scanning and other services optional to be selected during the installation of Splice or make a notification message at least so we know what is going on. The same applies on the update of Splice please.
Thank you for such great idea overall

[zeusweiler]

I really like the idea of this rent to own type model, even more so than the slate model.
I'm glad to see serum being offered this way and I think it helps shift the balance from piracy to people being able to use a legit version. Most people don't want to use a pirated version in my experience circumstances tend to dictate the decision.
I wish they offered daws like studio one, ableton etc this way also as they can be expensive outright once you have done computer, monitors, sound card, etc.
Anyways once I sort out a new Mac I will be doing this for sure. This is awesome and serum is awesome.

[mattetti]

If you meant me, then I said about disk usage, not CPU usage. I find it normal to have such activity if Splice is scanning my hard disk or part of it! Please make the scanning and other services optional

OK that makes total sense, and that is a very good point, I'll take that back to the team so we can work on a way to implement that.

[musikmachine]

Yes, I thought so. It is off now. I restarted the PC and it's not running (the service). Serum is fine running also. But damn the presets are not nice at all! I mean maybe only 10 or 20 are really nice! They give the impression that Serum is only for very harsh/digital sound which is not really! In few mins I could do nice vintage lead and bass! It really sounds great but it needs doing your presets from scratch unless you want that harsh sound

Yeah I was talking to some trap/dubstep/edm produces last week and they all use Serum so i was expecting a lot like that but thought there'd be a bank of more bread and butter sounds, glad to see there are a lot of banks available but any good free soundbanks i can load in?

Anything that shows the potential of Serum. Good looking list here of some free stuff. http://beatmodo.com/xfer-serum-presets-list/

This microwave soundbank demo sounds pretty good: https://www.clustersound.com/product-detail.php?id=105

Seems to do bright plucky digital sounds quite well like bells and stuff but barely scratched the surface yet, clearly a deep synth and need to spend some time with it.

[Compyfox]

First of all, thanks Matt for heeding the call via Twitter. That move is appreciated and in this situation more than needed.


You did not address the question on "VAT" however.

I'm from Germany, and the biggest issue I have with companies if you're interested in something, then have to sign up to even see on "checkout" if VAT applies or not. I'm fighting for years that developers address this in a FAQ right form the start "VAT where VAT applies", etc. Because this would change the total price of the "Rent-to-Own" deals.

Another thing I didn't see on your page, is payment options. I think this is a huge topic that needs to be addressed IMO.


And another thing that be of interest:
What if there is a user than can pay 10 bucks per month, but then has to sit out 1-2 months, then realizes "hey, I got like 40bucks plus, let's continue this", then the next month he pays another 10 and he continues that until he bought the plugin/instrument in question.

Long story short: custom rates per month, is that an option for anyone that would go for it?

* Do you need to run Splice to use Serum rent-to-own?
Yes you do, but not all the time. You need to login at least once a day so the plugin stays activated. You can use Serum offline for a few days but after 24H, you will see a message in the plugin saying that Splice is offline. If you don't connect to Splice for too long, the plugin will stop working... until you login back on Splice.

* Can I use Splice offline?
Yes you can, for a limited amount of time (about 3 days). See the response from above.

What about those users that have no online rig, yet still want to use that offer?
Is there an alternative solution in this case?

I understand the reason for a C/P scheme, but I'm against processes running in the background. (I'm on Win7 x64, but I had Win10 on my rig for a couple of days - I can feel for the issues)

* Do we get access to Serum FX?

I think what should also be mentioned on your page, a bit more prominent at least, is what you also offer in "parallel". You know... "goodies" and stuff. This might be another selling point on the long run.




Else, good luck with finding more companies that might jump on this payment plan.





And a little bit OT:

I expect they meant the Slate Digital monthly deal where you pay $25 a month and get access to all the plugins, but you never get to own the stuff

Considering what you get with the "Slate Everything Bundle" these days, do the math on how lot it would take to "pay off everything". But I agree, a possible solution should be found to maybe put the already "paid for" fees into picking up a plugin/set to your liking. Like a branch of the "subscription system" to get tokens toward a "rent-to-own"...

Would definitely love to see that - but for all companies that do subscription based systems (looking at you, AXIS Plugins and Adobe!)

[recursive one]

As a psytrance producer I'm supposed to be the very target audience for Serum. It seems to be a perfect tool for creating all kinds of twisted mechanical/robotic/alien sounds used in the genre, I know there are some banks for it made by well-known psy producers, like Mechanimal and Endeavour. But I still can't warm up to it's sound - everything I've heard from it sounds somehow plastic and stale.

In this sence this monthly payment model may be reasonable for me. Some synths may sound not very impressive on their own but shine in a mix, maybe Serum is one of these synths? If I'll be using it in actual mixes for a couple of months I may change my opinion (or cancel my subscription if I don't).

[chk071]

* Should Steve Duda run for US president?
He would be better than the current candidates but we can't afford not having him make awesome music creation tools. So my answer is no, not yet!

[EnGee]

Yes, I thought so. It is off now. I restarted the PC and it's not running (the service). Serum is fine running also. But damn the presets are not nice at all! I mean maybe only 10 or 20 are really nice! They give the impression that Serum is only for very harsh/digital sound which is not really! In few mins I could do nice vintage lead and bass! It really sounds great but it needs doing your presets from scratch unless you want that harsh sound

Yeah I was talking to some trap/dubstep/edm produces last week and they all use Serum so i was expecting a lot like that but thought there'd be a bank of more bread and butter sounds, glad to see there are a lot of banks available but any good free soundbanks i can load in?

Anything that shows the potential of Serum. Good looking list here of some free stuff. http://beatmodo.com/xfer-serum-presets-list/

This microwave soundbank demo sounds pretty good: https://www.clustersound.com/product-detail.php?id=105

Seems to do bright plucky digital sounds quite well like bells and stuff but barely scratched the surface yet, clearly a deep synth and need to spend some time with it.

It can do many kinds of sounds really, although I still like Dune 2 and Icarus sound more, but Serum didn't try to emulate a Virus sound. Anyway, I like the sound design in Serum more than Dune 2, Icarus and Massive. It's easier.

[Teksonik]

* Do you need to run Splice to use Serum rent-to-own?
Yes you do, but not all the time. You need to login at least once a day so the plugin stays activated.

Our applications were designed to run in the background and consume as little CPU and RAM as possible.

So the "price" of this pay as you go plan is the need to install a third party app ? No thanks.

So if someone were to buy Serum outright for the full price would they still be forced to use Splice ?

[OneOfManyPauls]

So if someone were to buy Serum outright for the full price would they still be forced to use Splice ?

it's all there on the site:

https://splice.com/plugins/purchase/serum

How does Splice authorize my Serum access each month?

Each time your computer connects to the internet, the Splice desktop app will run an authorization check to confirm your plan is still active. You’ll be granted up to 3 days of offline access before another authorization check is required. Once you’ve paid off the plugin cost, the Splice desktop app will no longer be required and you’ll receive a lifetime license with unrestricted offline access to Serum.