That makes absolutely zero sense when the trial itself, is already 'time-limited'. i.e. after that short window for testing the trial has expired, then precisely 'no presets' ('alpha' or otherwise) can be used with the trial version. GForce should maximise that short window of opportunity to showcase their products fully to prospective customers.plexuss wrote: Sat Oct 14, 2023 1:00 amIt's an incentive to buy. Making presets available is one incentive. Locking some presets behind a paywall is another incentive.MrJubbly wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2023 11:31 pm Their policy of allowing only the so-called 'alpha' presets to be available to demonstrate the plugin to prospective customers, will never make commercial sense to me.
Like I said, I own all GForce's plugins, bar MKII. But that was most certainly 'despite' their trial policy, and definitely not 'because' of it.
I would have become a GForce customer many years ago, before I actually did, if not for their trial versions, not really showcasing the full extent of what their plugins were capable of (either by not providing enough time to comfortably familiarize and explore the plugin at leisure, or through their policy of limiting available presets to audition what the plugins are truly capable of in expert hands). So, I passed by on GForce and decided to shop elsewhere for many years.
Several years later, I decided to revist some of their plugins and took a gamble on a couple, despite again, not being able to really testdrive them fully (to an extent, where I felt they would 'definitely' be worth the purchase), or to even audition what other more experienced patch-makers had created in the full preset libraries.
In retrospect, once I had purchased those plugins and had full access to both the plugins and presets, my only thought was: "why the hell were GForce being so strict with their time limitations and 'hiding' all these presets that showcase what their great products are truly capable of from potential customers?" The more time you spend with the plugins, the more you realize how great they are. Clearly, if they provided more time and access thereof, they would sell more.
In short, GForce are beyond any shadow of doubt, losing out on sales, due to such policies. Nobody can convince me otherwise, since I already know first hand, from personal experience, that they lost my custom due to such practices. And I only happened to circle back around and give them another try later by happenstance.
Now, I own practically everything they make. But how many other lost customers, put off by that, never did return? I would wager, a lot. And during those intervening years when I wasn't a GForce customer? ... Other companies with less restrictive trial demos (such as u-he) benefited greatly instead.
So yeah, "Incentive to buy?" ... Do me a favour!
It's the exact opposite! ... How can it be an incentive, if the customer doesn't fully know what they're getting? And for all the user demoing the plugins knows, the so-called 'Alpha' presets might equate to the best the product is capable of, and the rest are rather 'less Alpha' ... and nobody likes a 'beta' (unless you're a 'tester') This is 2023. Just keep things simple, GForce. Be completely transparent with full access to your products and trials (we just had that whole 's-storm' with Minimal Audio's shenanigans). Be up front and open right from the offset. Let the customer know exactly what they're getting in the full product, right from the demo (which could also be a bit more generous with the time allowance) through to the full purchase. Because, what the customers are getting is good.
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