Is it me or BF2023 is crazy ?

[Jac459]

Hello,

I don't have decades of experience in the VST world as I have been in the Reason Studios "rack extensions paradigm" for a long time, but I have the feeling that this year, the vendors are giving crazy discounts... If I summarize what I have in mind:

Synapse Dune 3 discounted ==> first time I see that.
U-He synths at 50% ==> first time I see that.
Fabfilter additional discount ==> I am pissed because I just bought full price the Pro R2 upgrade but still, it is great for the others.
Arturia usual 50% ==> quite common
Avenger 2 coming ! ==> still waiting to know the exact discount.
Bitwig 5.1 coming with upgrade discounted (I think that one is quite common).
Output portal, movement, thermal, ... at 50% => first time I see that.
Waldorf 40% even on their new synths...

+ all the ones I forgot.

Is it my perception or is it better than usual ?

[SLiC]

The UA deals were certainly controversially cheap…
I do think it’s better than usual…NI had deep discounts as well….
The market has never been more competitive, maybe it’s saturation as the bundles you get now are ridiculous. So many of us have too many great plugins it’s hard for developers to convince us to by more!

[Jac459]

The UA deals were certainly controversially cheap…
I do think it’s better than usual…NI had deep discounts as well….
The market has never been more competitive, maybe it’s saturation as the bundles you get now are ridiculous. So many of us have too many great plugins it’s hard for developers to convince us to by more!

Exactly, I will certainly pass on Dune 3 when it is for sure a superb plugins... But I need to finish scratching the surface of Current and synthmaster 1&2 that I barely used beyong presets.
And I'll still certainly buy the update of Avenger 2 if the price is reasonable.

[enCiphered]

Hello,

I don't have decades of experience in the VST world as I have been in the Reason Studios "rack extensions paradigm" for a long time, but I have the feeling that this year, the vendors are giving crazy discounts... If I summarize what I have in mind:

Synapse Dune 3 discounted ==> first time I see that.
U-He synths at 50% ==> first time I see that.
Fabfilter additional discount ==> I am pissed because I just bought full price the Pro R2 upgrade but still, it is great for the others.
Arturia usual 50% ==> quite common
Avenger 2 coming ! ==> still waiting to know the exact discount.
Bitwig 5.1 coming with upgrade discounted (I think that one is quite common).
Output portal, movement, thermal, ... at 50% => first time I see that.
Waldorf 40% even on their new synths...

+ all the ones I forgot.

Is it my perception or is it better than usual ?

I agree with you, Jac. There are indeed big discounts on good plugins this year. But you know what the sad part is? You don't need any of them to make good music. You already have everything you'll ever need. Enough reverbs, delays, instruments, effects... And as a Bitwig user, you couldn't be in a better position to be creative and inspired. We can already compose all the music in the world, create all the crazy sound design that is possible with what we already own without ever need to spend even a single cent again.

[Jac459]

I agree with you, Jac. There are indeed big discounts on good plugins this year. But you know what the sad part is? You don't need any of them to make good music. You already have everything you'll ever need. Enough reverbs, delays, instruments, effects... And as a Bitwig user, you couldn't be in a better position to be creative and inspired. We can already compose all the music in the world, create all the crazy sound design that is possible with what we already own without ever need to spend even a single cent again.

it was never about "need" . It was about having fun with toys...

But I totally agree with you... I kind of scratching the surface of so many of my synths... First being the Grid and Polymer.... I am starting to use Polymer in an instrument layer container as a multi layer instrument and it is a toooon of fun.

[chagzuki]

Dune has been discounted before.

I do worry with all this that developers aren't going to be able to make ends meet. Unless of course the price drops correspond with loads more people getting into music production, which is entirely possible.

[chk071]

Synapse Dune 3 discounted ==> first time I see that.

It isn't the first time, and, 30% or something isn't really that much. They also only offer Dune discounted, none of their other synths, which is a bit disappointing.

U-He synths at 50% ==> first time I see that.

Not the first time either, as they had 50% off deals with NI in the past.

What's new though is that they do sales themselves. It's nice to see that. Took quite a long time.

Waldorf 40% even on their new synths...

I've also seen that before.

Is it my perception or is it better than usual ?

I think it's your peception. There have been nice deals the years before as well. It's great, becaus, this kind of price dynamic is great, for both developers and customers. I rarely buy new plugins full price, but, there are a lot of people who do, and, this is the best of both worlds: For the early adopters, and the people who have set themselves a lower budget, and mostly buy discounted.

[Bombadil]

I haven't bought one BF gizmo yet.

Just sayin'

[seafire]

Synapse Dune 3 discounted ==> first time I see that.

It isn't the first time, and, 30% or something isn't really that much. They also only offer Dune discounted, none of their other synths, which is a bit disappointing..

1/3 off is pretty decent, maybe the others will have a reduction at Xmas, pretty sure they were before (79 down from 99)

[chk071]

Synapse Dune 3 discounted ==> first time I see that.

It isn't the first time, and, 30% or something isn't really that much. They also only offer Dune discounted, none of their other synths, which is a bit disappointing..

1/3 off is pretty decent, maybe the others will have a reduction at Xmas, pretty sure they were before (79 down from 99)

Reveal Sound have 50% off Spire, for example.

[seafire]

Well, anything 'off' is good, no? I don't run either business, so not my place to say what anyone should do.

[chk071]

Well, anything 'off' is good, no? I don't run either business, so not my place to say what anyone should do.

... which nobody here does.

[SLiC]

Reveal Sound have 50% off Spire, for example.

It must be getting hard for them to sell Spire, they have one product, hasn't been updated much for a while and its been around a long time ....I bet most people who want it have it by now! I guess there are always the people who come in as 'new' to all this (no idea what I would make of all this stuff as a newbie!)

[Jac459]

Reveal Sound have 50% off Spire, for example.

It must be getting hard for them to sell Spire, they have one product, hasn't been updated much for a while and its been around a long time ....I bet most people who want it have it by now! I guess there are always the people who come in as 'new' to all this (no idea what I would make of all this stuff as a newbie!)

Spire remains one of my favorite sounding synth... But I do agree... I guess they have other activities now... Just doing bare minimum...

[chk071]

Reveal Sound have 50% off Spire, for example.

It must be getting hard for them to sell Spire, they have one product, hasn't been updated much for a while and its been around a long time ....I bet most people who want it have it by now! I guess there are always the people who come in as 'new' to all this (no idea what I would make of all this stuff as a newbie!)

I know for sure that they have been working on version 2 of Spire for a while now (for years really). I have no idea when it will happen though.

You're right, Spire is getting a bit long in the tooth by now. It also has quite a few bugs in the VST3 version, which is a bit annoying (no MIDI learn, undo doesn't work etc.).

Regarding doing the bare minimum: Well, it looks like their business focus is their shop, which has a big variety of preset/sound packs. I guess that's what most of their income is coming from.