KVR Audio

plexuss · Post by **plexuss** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 2:18 am

Or, they strategized that raking more people into their products would increase upgrade revenue with higher prices upgrades. I have a feeling Waves might be trying this with WUP. I won't say anything about capitalism...

tom27 · Post by **tom27** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 9:34 am

For those still looking for an attractive deal, I can recommend plugindiscounts.com.
Best pricing there, quick to respond (but since iZotope does process orders manually it is not instant) - no issues with activation, all handled perfectly fine and no, I am not associate with this company

P.S.: I agree with pricing issues, but that´s obviously a long standing situation with iZotope in general. Having purchased BreakTweaker and StutterEdit at full price, there were many discount offers even from iZotope themselves, all including expansions etc. I have asked them why they don´t offer even a small discount on expansions for their early adopters but never gotten any reply at all.

bgerkes · Post by **bgerkes** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 10:42 am

I paid 845 dollars (including taxes, Europe). for the MPB2 just 5 months ago. Now they are asking 363 dollars (including taxes) for the upgrade: That is a total of 1208(!!) dollars for version 8. What are they thinking???

No way I am going to upgrade for that price. I wrote them an email about this. Of course I did not receive any reply.

JohnnyA · Post by **JohnnyA** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 7:12 pm

I thought about it a lot...

October 2017: A year after MPB2's release, they now release Music Production Suite, which adds Ozone 8 Advanced and Neutron 2 Advanced, but takes away Insight (meaning that we cannot sell the old bundle without losing Insight (which is the main reason I own the bundle in the first place; I love Insight but can live without all other plugins)).

It also adds RX 6 Standard, which is nice but not something most of us need (and we already have a few of them for free with MPB2). Audio repair tools don't really belong in a mixing/mastering bundle (RX is mostly used by people who need to rescue audio from irreplaceable things like movie dialogue and taped interviews and who can't just do a new recording of the broken part). It's also really strange that they keep "old" plugins like Trash 2 but remove flagship master-metering tools like Insight...

The cost for the upgrade from MPB2 is $299 at intro price. For that, I gain no new audio tools (O8 and N8 focus on automating the mixing process, but don't add *any* new audio capabilities... apart from the per-band choice of saturation algorithm in the exciter (big whoop)).

The cost for MPB1 owners is $399 at intro price (So +$100 compared to MPB2 owners). So they *are* still offering crossgrades for owners of their earliest mass-bundle.

Therefore, I have decided to wait for either a huge sale in the future, or for a “Music Production Suite 2” instead, which is sure to add more value. I can accept the +$100 to the crossgrade price in the future that they add for people who skip a version of their mega-bundle. They’re sure to offer such upgrades in the future too since it brings in more customers (that’s why they did it for MPB1) and would otherwise piss off people who skipped a version. So I fully expect that Music Production Bundle 2 can upgrade to Music Production Suite 2 in the future. If not, I would leave iZotope forever for being scumbags who switch the "name" of our bundle from "Bundle" to "Suite" and then refuse to let us upgrade to newer versions. But I just can't imagine that they'll be dicks like that.

So Music Production Bundle 2 (Oct 2016) to Music Production Suite 2 (Oct 2018 release) should be around $399, and will add much more value than the current measly upgrade...

I won’t use RX 6 Standard, and I don’t care about the extra automation in O8 and N8. The audio effect engines are the same. Who cares if they have some cool AI "press 1 button to ask it to auto-master your tune". That is not why I make music.

Therefore the conclusion is: Wait until they actually give us something new that affects our audio. Such as a brand new plugin. Or something like an awesome new Insight 2 (I can always dream that they took it away from Music Production Suite to be able to re-add it as a huge upgrade later).

PS: I *WOULD* upgrade for $50, or at most $100. The changes are so minor in "Suite"... What are iZotope thinking?! Maybe this was their plan all along, as a money-grab aimed at people who bought previous bundles when they were on sale.

WXLF · Post by **WXLF** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 4:16 am

bgerkes wrote:I paid 845 dollars (including taxes, Europe). for the MPB2 just 5 months ago. Now they are asking 363 dollars (including taxes) for the upgrade: That is a total of 1208(!!) dollars for version 8. What are they thinking???

No way I am going to upgrade for that price. I wrote them an email about this. Of course I did not receive any reply.

I am in the same boat as you, we purchased at a similar time. What's worse is that I purchased it right before the sale, which would've saved me $200 USD. I didn't mind missing out on the sale, until now. Because the upgrade path is way too much!

It really bothers me that Izotope would post, "People are upset on the internet? Shocking!" in response to users upset about the upgrade price. We are not self-entitled complainers who pirate your software. We are the people who support you!

With that said, I don't think i'll be supporting Izotope anymore. First time, shame on you. Second time, shame on me. The second time won't be happening.

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 5:30 am

I care not. The gripe I had about Neutron was that even if you DISABLED it, you got mad latency on every single track. Did they fix that? Yeh, good then. Otherwise, major yawn.

Send in the Benjamin's ..........

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 6:16 am

Blah blah... let's talk about actual plugins, shall we?

Spectral shaper is very handy and I actually use it on many synths to tame overwhelming harmonic peaks, especially in lower range. Since it's dynamic, it doesn't cut too much when not needed, like EQ would do. It's a pretty simple plugin with only handful of controls and cna be set up quickly, just does the job right.

I'm really a fan of Izotope as they make simple, yet very usable plugins like this. Too bad their support leaves something to be desired...

martinjuenke · Post by **martinjuenke** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:26 am

I like your constructive, calm approach

superdan54 · Post by **superdan54** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 4:45 pm

noiseboyuk wrote:
wagtunes wrote:And how much better a deal on an upgrade do you think you're going to get over the already introductory discount price?

$10? $20 tops?

I'd be stunned if it was more than that.
I wouldn't. I'd expect that upgrade $100 less at some point, possibly $150 (and of course there's the reseller discounts to factor in). iZotope doesn't do this with every single release, but they do with many - I'll wager a lot of folks here jumped on one of the ridiculous deals they run from time to time.

For example, last year Music Production Bundle 2 was a £149 upgrade from any one existing product in the bundle, and contained:

Neutron Advanced
Ozone 7 Advanced
Nectar 2 Production Suite
VocalSynth
Trash 2 Expanded
RX Plugin Pack
Insight

That was a particularly crazy deal, but that's the history that explains all the ???? for relatively minor upgrades to Neutron and Ozone (and the removal of insight from the bundle) for $299. Seems highly unlikely to me that they won't at some stage get back to this kind of pricing. My guess is that they felt they missed an opportunity to charge more of a premium for the early adopters, and then reign the masses in a little further down the line - that's what would make sense to me, anyway.

I think the major reason for the price hike is the inclusion of the full RX 6. That adds significant more value for those (like myself) who would use it, but understandably just be expensive filler for others.

Last year's introductory price was £149/$199 for an upgrade from MPB1 or advanced...I don't think there was ever a sale that took it lower than that. This year you can get the upgrade from MPB2 for £195/$250 at timespace.com. I just don't see the whole suite going lower. Perhaps they release a "lite" version (MPB3) that is discounted?

noiseboyuk · Post by **noiseboyuk** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 4:55 pm

superdan54 wrote:I think the major reason for the price hike is the inclusion of the full RX 6. That adds significant more value for those (like myself) who would use it, but understandably just be expensive filler for others.

I actually own RX6 Advanced, but get no additional discount, so if thats the rationale it's still not really joined up. I think last year's MPB deal was so good there was no need to offer any more discounts. But as a company, iZotope do discount a lot throughout the year.

Good to read people are liking the updates. Anyone found a use for the visual mixer?

shonky · Post by **shonky** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:22 pm

I only got the MPB2 last month, upgraded from Neutron Advanced 1 (which I bought for around £100 introductory price) for around £125. Not particularly bothered about this upgrade as I don't need it immediately and haven't really had the chance to do much with the MPB2 so far, so by the time I get to grips with that, Izotope will probably be offering some stupidly cheap deal on MPS, probably just prior to introducing MPS2.

To be honest, the MPB2 was pretty much the top of the line last month, it hasn't suddenly become rubbish now its been superceded.

Neophilia + impatience = getting rinsed pricewise.

If people feel they need it now, they'll pay over the odds. It doesn't appear to do that much more than its predecessor and I'm certainly not paying more for an upgrade than I spent on the original bundle.

jsp1979 · Post by **jsp1979** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:39 pm

Every six months or so, dozens of KVR users swear off buying anymore Izotope products.

But then the next deal comes along (the MPB bundles) and everyone's back on board.

That is, until the next upgrade cycle, and then the same folks swear off buying anymore Izotope products.

Rinse and Repeat.

WXLF · Post by **WXLF** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 12:21 am

jsp1979 wrote:Every six months or so, dozens of KVR users swear off buying anymore Izotope products.

But then the next deal comes along (the MPB bundles) and everyone's back on board.

That is, until the next upgrade cycle, and then the same folks swear off buying anymore Izotope products.

Rinse and Repeat.

I wonder where you pulled that statement out of? Hmmm

Couldn't find any complaining six months ago.. i found this from a year ago though.. Can't find anybody from this thread complaining.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=470951&hilit=ozone+7

I guess maybe... these O8N2 upgrade prices are just ridiculous?

jsp1979 · Post by **jsp1979** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 1:27 am

I pulled it right out of the pages of KVR.

Here's a thread from almost exactly 6 months ago as an example:

viewtopic.php?p=6719495#p6719495

Try the big Iris 2 thread as well. Or one if the Breaktweaker threads.

Ozone 6 was where it started going off the rails as far as KVR opinion for many. To be clear, I like the products. I just found it weird the concensus post opinion shifts so radically for Izoptope when they have consistently had high upgrade prices.

WXLF · Post by **WXLF** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:50 am

jsp1979 wrote:I pulled it right out of the pages of KVR.

Here's a thread from almost exactly 6 months ago as an example:

viewtopic.php?p=6719495#p6719495

Try the big Iris 2 thread as well. Or one if the Breaktweaker threads.

Ozone 6 was where it started going off the rails as far as KVR opinion for many. To be clear, I like the products. I just found it weird the concensus post opinion shifts so radically for Izoptope when they have consistently had high upgrade prices.

The thread you linked doesn't support your claim that the "SAME folks swear off buying anymore Izotope" then get back on board.

Anyway, I'm not here to argue. Just wanted to voice my opinion about Izotope's price gouging. I feel like the customers are paying for the people who pirate their software or something.

Ozone 8 & Neutron 2 announced for October 2017