Vital - Released

[liquidsound]

Making it free was disruptive, probably designed to take out Serum. However, it also seems to have disrupted itself, leaving no motivation left to continue. That's life.

https://www.insightly.com/blog/disruptive-marketing/

That was my original thought…
Karma…

[Fannon]

Or make the synth free, but build a preset marketplace around it where you take a certain cut.
Since the synth itself is free and the marketplace "official" and well integrated, it would reach a much wider audience. Could benefit both sound designers and the synth developer.

I do wonder what happens now with Vital. My guess is that the developer is just burned out from the forum and human interaction around this but is still continuing to work on it on his own pace. Handling all this is not easy and not every developer can establish the right mindset or necessary distance. I wouldn't hold that against him as he's clearly a genius when it comes to developing software.

[osiris]

I think a way to do this is give a free version, offer a better paid version and sell Soundsets. In other words, the free version can't save presets. Incentive.

[martiu]

way to do is to still save presets but free version to be cut down paid version, for example 2 osc and noise in free
3 osc noise and sample in paid version, also less effect on free
you can save presets on free and use them later on paid if you upgrade
also motivational message on the UI on free version - upgrade now

[GeneralQ]

There is a trend on KVR to call a Product abandonware if it doesn't get a new update every week. Why not accept it as a finished product. It's a free synth that works very well. I did buy the 25$ version to give some support. I consider it freeware but even if you paid 80$ I still think it's worth that.

That might be the whole issue: A price model which simply doesn't work to work full time on the plugin.

Just speculation, of course. But, from the past, I know that the least people really put money on the table, when they can have most of the product for free.

Your speculation seems not too far fetched. I wouldn't be surprised if 90% or more of the users are on the free version or even more. And vital is simply not making enough money for the dev to justify taking more time to develop it.

[rubez]

People crave endless updates and assurances that the product isn't "dead", but are they even using what's already there to any degree of its potential?

Probably not. Better to knuckle down and make music or original sounds instead of surfing a few presets and deciding it needs updated as if that's the problem.

We paid for the presets, not the synth. That's an indication that it's not a traditional business.

[Bartone]

Vital did go open source in one point.
Maybe after that open sourcing the development slowed down with the "real" Vital?

[Largos]

Other way round, it was open source initially but subsequent releases weren't

[jobinho]

People crave endless updates and assurances that the product isn't "dead", but are they even using what's already there to any degree of its potential?

Probably not. Better to knuckle down and make music or original sounds instead of surfing a few presets and deciding it needs updated as if that's the problem.

We paid for the presets, not the synth. That's an indication that it's not a traditional business.

Problem is, I’m wary to invest time in a soft synth that may not see more updates.

[EnGee]

IMO, if it goes open source, it would be much better than just die. It would be really a great synth. It can be donationware, or with a fixed price even if it is open source.

Yesterday I have checked Surge XT and wow! It is a deep synth now with so many possibilities. I could do two sounds that I liked and intending to use in a project. I didn't like the effects in general (it is the same with Vital), but that is not a biggy as I can add the effects I want and prefer. It is not as easy as Vital to guess the workflow, so it needs some time to figure out. Sure if I keep it, then I will donate some money to the development.

[Jac459]

The discord is still quite active.

Maybe the developer is working hard on a V2. Or maybe he got a kid or whatever family event...

[N__K]

As long as it works on intended platforms since its release, an "eternally stable" feature-complete version can be a very good thing.

In hardware, the phenomenon can be seen in common guitar shapes/configurations (and amps of course), and in synths like Minimoog, Roland's classic Juno models, TB-303 and so on. For the sounds achieved with them, they are standards, almost as much as physical instruments of forms and functions which have been stable for hundreds of years.

In software, there are cases like Sylenth1, which have not changed for over a decade and still do what they were designed for. Zebra 2 and other u-he synths have similar status, so do Image-Line's Harmor and Sytrus, and same goes for many other tools from various companies.

***

The point is, when the design is good for its use case and the software is stable - with patches/projects being 99% to 100% compatible between any installation on any platform - the tool can become a standard.

Vital is a good design in its own right. The initial distribution model raised awareness, and the free-as-in-beverage version enables anyone to keep testing it. Whether Vital will enjoy a long-term snowball effect over the decade(s), time will tell. And I won't argue against there being some nitpicks and things to fix - there usually are, even in long-term stable versions.

But in general, to paraphrase agent Dale Cooper, "this is - excuse me - a damn fine piece of synthesis software"!

[Jac459]

As long as it works on intended platforms since its release, an "eternally stable" feature-complete version can be a very good thing.
...
But in general, to paraphrase agent Dale Cooper, "this is - excuse me - a damn fine piece of synthesis software"!

Interesting point of view mate, thanks for sharing...

I think Spire can also be part of these future proof soft synths with a very particular sound.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Vital is example of modern,powerful,flexible and intuitive synth.
Kind of new standard.
But...
There is some areas where v.2 could be upgraded.
I need new workhorse and hesitate between Pigments and Massive x,but if Vital 2 offer more osc,more filters,more of everything it already have plus better reverb for like 80-90 euro ,i will be on buy button immediately.
Most synths need time to learn the workflow so to feel comfortable with them and using them easily,but Vital is like 5 min so friendly and easy like neighbor girl you meet every day and say hello,smiling at you (probably with something in mind hahahahaha :):)
Cheers

[Andreya_Autumn]

Yesterday I have checked Surge XT and wow! It is a deep synth now with so many possibilities. I could do two sounds that I liked and intending to use in a project. I didn't like the effects in general (it is the same with Vital), but that is not a biggy as I can add the effects I want and prefer. It is not as easy as Vital to guess the workflow, so it needs some time to figure out. Sure if I keep it, then I will donate some money to the development.

(Surge team member here) Glad you like Surge! Just for clarity, we never take money for anything we do. If you want to give money for the synth just give it to a charity of choice or buy someone a coffee or whatever.

Vital is already open-source. Not completely (last I checked), but the majority of the codebase is. And while I don't know the dev personally my hunch is that he'd open-source it all if he had no intention of developing it further.

The speculation that he can't put full-time into Vital updates seems reasonable, but like others have said, that may not be a bad thing! Surge wouldn't have gotten to where it is today if the devs were trying to use it to put food on the table. The lack of economic pressure means the development can take the time it needs. Again, I don't know Matt and have no idea what his work is like right now. Just saying updates being slower isn't necessarily cause for worry.