Samplitude Pro X9?

[mcaroul]

So it sounds like the upgrade price of $185 and $275 to 2025 Samplitude Pro and 2025 Samplitude Pro Suite, respectively, is the same regardless if you are coming from X8 Music Studio or X8 Samplitude Pro or X8 Pro Suite. So it sounds like a great deal if coming from Music Studio X8 [which I am on] but a bad deal if you are already on one of the X8 pro tiers.

[jens]

So it sounds like the upgrade price of $185 and $275 to 2025 Samplitude Pro and 2025 Samplitude Pro Suite, respectively, is the same regardless if you are coming from X8 Music Studio or X8 Samplitude Pro or X8 Pro Suite. So it sounds like a great deal if coming from Music Studio X8 [which I am on] but a bad deal if you are already on one of the X8 pro tiers.

Yes, indeed - the way I understand the wording it's the same if you are coming from a decade old version of Samplitude too... which certainly is quite an okay deal then.

For those being on X8 Pro Suite that's an absolutely ridiculous price though.

One of the issues that is generally assumed to have cost Magix a whole lot of money was exactly that - same upgrade price regardless of the version - okay for older versions but far too much for those who'd been... er... up to date before the update. People just don't tend to put up with that these days. Thus many users skipped one uodate, then another one and then a couple more (what with quite likely having moved on to others DAWs in the meantime and all that).

Think about it: on one hand they try to persuade you to go the subscription route in order to secure a steady flow of income; but then really don't put the slightest effort into keeping those who won't fall for that as happy - and paying - customers.

Makes absolutely zero sense - unsurprising result of bad business practices: insolvency.

Enter BorisFX, doing the exact same thing. You just couldn't make this up.

[lfm]

It's the same problem in all software industry.

Latest example was Waves tried to go all subscription and they were overwhelmed by the negative response and went back to perpetual as well for those wanting that.

Avid did the same thing with ProTools being all cocky it was "industry standard" and they had to allow perpetual again. Even unlisted on stockmarket since some years.

Adobe seems to have succeded with Premiere being all subscription, having the Elements entry version as perpetual.

Cyberlink was all perpetual on PowerDirector 2017 still and had serious discounts and campaigns on that, so got version 15 and 16 for €55.
- since then also having subscriptions and all subscriptions are discounted, but not perpetual.
- they stay on this path still, so seem to work for them.

General problem with daws to me seem to be lacking surveys and let users vote on features to improve.

I remember discussions on old Cakewalk forum where people put feature requests but staff responded
- we go by "industry trends" regarding what to add

Maybe detailed surveys with everything they think about and let people vote would bring more people in and upgrade and the lot.
- but many will scream about bugfixes I guess, but have that on the survey as well

StudioOne did big thing about Dolby Atmos, as now do Samp as well
- it's a very limited user base I would guess that want that
- but maybe it puts them in the Premium grade daw, not sure

I remember that Steinberg really tried to get pro studios to go Cubase and put ProTools on the shelf.
- a hard thing to do
- it would maybe put a golden shimmer on the product that pro's use it

Have a dialog with user base
- we see that you did not upgrade last major release, what is missing for you?
- I do not see any other solution than to communicate

I put a couple of things on my ticket to BorisFX
- let markers be anchored mixed in time or beats as you please, they only allow all in either
- the range start and end fields, start field is always combined Start/Position so you loose Start as position is changed
- you can customize up to 5 fields, but cannot select Start alone in one of them, always Start/Position
- BorisFX said to be fixed and on todo list

How did these things escape 30 years of development they brag about?????
- pro this pro that, awards stacked on awards
- such basic things that all other daws do as they should
- just a few things that make Samp unusable if doing video or cumbersome if any extensive work for that matter

My answer is they hire cheap coders abroad that does not use the daw at all, they are just programmers.

Some companies are silly about revealing new features they are to release until D-day?
- how about trying to have a dialog with user base to have features people are ready to pay for????
- who cares if you know in advance what they are considering in features!!!
- if there is something you actually like you will open your wallet

It's impossible to please everybody, but optimize at least.....but if on subscription you have no leverage unless stop using the product all together....with perpetual you can jump an upgrade to say "nothing here for me".....

[scatman84]

otherwise, I think Samp will again be transferred to another corporate entity.

I think the suits will then instead decide that it's just not profitable to keep maintaining the programme and kill it off.

Noooo!
Let's take some proactive steps so that BorisFX listens to our sentiment! $185/$275 is too high!
I have emailed them about this and asked for a better upgrade price ($99/$149/-).

Fellow users who care about Samplitude, please mail BorisFX. Let's unite as loyal users and lovers of Samplitude and let's keep it alive! Please!!!

[pekbro]

Its a time limited offer as well, once it's over you'll have to buy a brand-new license since your old Magix lic wont be eligible to upgrade...

[scatman84]

Its a time limited offer as well, once it's over you'll have to buy a brand-new license since your old Magix lic wont be eligible to upgrade...

Oh yes, I forgot about it!!

All the more reason to get active fellow Samp lovers!!

Please mail BorisFX and request them the following upgrade price - $99/- for standard and $149/- for Suite. (Which is fair considering what other DAWs in the market charge)

Let's make a one thing loud and clear - Current upgrade price is not at all acceptable. It's simply not justifyable to spend so much on a nearly defunct software when many other well functioning DAWs are available.

[lfm]

Its a time limited offer as well, once it's over you'll have to buy a brand-new license since your old Magix lic wont be eligible to upgrade...

The last 15 months or so Magix had constant half price new license, varied every month various campaigns +/- $30 or so
- I upgraded ProX2 for €100 to ProX8
- purchasing ProX2 2015 was half price new, I think crossgrade something

The odds that it will only be available at full new price is really low.
- they have had periods doing that and had to give it up
- nothing changed because a new owner

If I get a really good "get onboard" upgrade I will go for it, no questions asked.
- otherwise I will await the new video engine that I hope full match competition daws running video
- and a bunch of fixes needed to really start new projects in Samp
- really want to support Samp is continued if not too costly just having it installed and not used

Professionals running Sequoia I guess is having external monitoring systems and not rely on playing video in the daw, otherwise I cannot understand that part did not get attention earlier.
- vidplayvst.com as vst inside Samp uses a fraction cpu compared to their internal video engine
- same with Sonar (and StudioOne 4.x), I don't even notice having video running as well

Have serious dialog with user base I imagine could change how people upgrade or not.
- just doing the same-old as Magix did will not change anything

Having serious single feature voting, and not people drop long lists of requests could possibly bring a new injection to what gets implemented.
- single feature, let people vote
- more happy people, more sales

[scatman84]

Its a time limited offer as well, once it's over you'll have to buy a brand-new license since your old Magix lic wont be eligible to upgrade...

The last 15 months or so Magix had constant half price new license, varied every month various campaigns +/- $30 or so
- I upgraded ProX2 for €100 to ProX8
- purchasing ProX2 2015 was half price new, I think crossgrade something

The odds that it will only be available at full new price is really low.
- they have had periods doing that and had to give it up
- nothing changed because a new owner

If I get a really good "get onboard" upgrade I will go for it, no questions asked.
- otherwise I will await the new video engine that I hope full match competition daws running video
- and a bunch of fixes needed to really start new projects in Samp
- really want to support Samp is continued if not too costly just having it installed and not used

Professionals running Sequoia I guess is having external monitoring systems and not rely on playing video in the daw, otherwise I cannot understand that part did not get attention earlier.
- vidplayvst.com as vst inside Samp uses a fraction cpu compared to their internal video engine
- same with Sonar (and StudioOne 4.x), I don't even notice having video running as well

Have serious dialog with user base I imagine could change how people upgrade or not.
- just doing the same-old as Magix did will not change anything

Having serious single feature voting, and not people drop long lists of requests could possibly bring a new injection to what gets implemented.
- single feature, let people vote
- more happy people, more sales

Your points are valid but we don't know how BorisFX approaches and plans their discounts. Magix looked like they were handling Samp very passively and half heartedly, so they gave discounts in that fashion too!

Looking at the "onboarding" offer from BorisFX, we can conclude they have no idea what the current prices and upgrade discounts of other DAWs are!

So that's why we users have to make ourselves heard....let's all comminicate actively to BorisFX...

[lfm]

Looking at the "onboarding" offer from BorisFX, we can conclude they have no idea what the current prices and upgrade discounts of other DAWs are!

So that's why we users have to make ourselves heard....let's all comminicate actively to BorisFX...

Are they that off compared to other daws?
- what is missing is different for how current you are on Samp as Magix goes
- just one level for any previous Samp is ok I think, but being current a bit high

I looked earlier this spring about my Cubase Pro 9.5 and it would be same as Samp 2025 to upgrade, such an old version. But those that had CP13 was about €100.

StudioOne is in this range too to get my v4.x to v7.x.

New Sonar I believe is startoffer about $100 but then $149 for Bandlab subscription. So don't think perpetual anymore(maybe you keep what you got, not sure)

Last 4-5 years many countries have had 5-10% inflation, so maybe we should update our expectations and that $100 today is not what it was before.

In my ticket I just asked if they would honor being current, and they said to send me serial of my product and they would give me an offer.
- I did earlier today and will see where they land

Looking at Q&A they say to give serial, date of purchase as well as specific product if Suite etc.
- they would verify and come back with an offer text said

I don't think we need to "scream" about it, I think they are openminded on this.

[scatman84]

Looking at the "onboarding" offer from BorisFX, we can conclude they have no idea what the current prices and upgrade discounts of other DAWs are!

So that's why we users have to make ourselves heard....let's all comminicate actively to BorisFX...

I don't think we need to "scream" about it, I think they are openminded on this.

These upgrade prices are at least $100-125 off! That's not small in this economy. Generally, if a new company comes on board, they have to try and get as many existing customers back as possible. This upgrade price is not gonna do that.

Majority of sales are going to come from niche loyal users, so they've to do better.

As you say, let's hope they are indeed open-minded about it.

Not asking to 'scream', but since there appear to be no representatives of BorisFX on any audio forums, I am just asking users to make ourselves 'heard' - We just have to create a ticket on their site and explain the situation, which I did today.

[mcaroul]

Thank you all. So going from Music studio X8 to pro suite for $275 is a great deal. I will likely avail myself of that (but not before I test a large midi project). That said, I do feel bad for all of you who already bought pro x or pro x suite. For whom the upgrade is not good at all. I will certainly join your voices and email Boris FX that they need to come up with a better upgrade price from one recent pro x version to the most current version. Otherwise, I may avail myself in the future of Steinberg's 40% cross-grade to cubase pro.

[lfm]

These upgrade prices are at least $100-125 off! That's not small in this economy. Generally, if a new company comes on board, they have to try and get as many existing customers back as possible. This upgrade price is not gonna do that.

I put some examples that prices are not that off!

Where are your examples, please list your examples?

When Sonar at Roland went Gibson, I don't remember that changed anything.
- my Sonar Artist were $50 annually but that was 10 years ago
- and obviously Gibson did not feel like keeping Cakewalk not making money

Then Cakewalk went Bandlab, and Sonar was free. Normally it would not be available.

When Cakewalk announced a new Sonar and was to be charged for all kinds of demands came up from those that bought Platinum that were to be free updates forever while on Gibson. That idea died and only subscriptions on Bandlab get Sonar today as I recall.

We must allow BorisFX to make a business of Samp and the rest, or they are soon gone. There is always a category that everything must be free but you cannot make a business from that.
- it's not just "getonboard", it's actually a new updated major version as well

For those that absolutely want the $50 range stuff there is Reaper, nTrack, MultitrackStudio, Mixcraft etc.

The core problem today for daws might be that major daws have everything that old recording equipment had and more. So what is added is some peoples cup of tea and not others.
- some what more content or plugins other want certain features and improvements
- so without deeper dialog with userbase they may invest resources into the wrong things

For those wanting more content there is the Samp Suite thing, which is a good idea I think. StudioOne Plus is similar I think. They try hard to get people into subscriptions.

[scatman84]

These upgrade prices are at least $100-125 off! That's not small in this economy. Generally, if a new company comes on board, they have to try and get as many existing customers back as possible. This upgrade price is not gonna do that.

I put some examples that prices are not that off!

Where are your examples, please list your examples?

When Sonar at Roland went Gibson, I don't remember that changed anything.
- my Sonar Artist were $50 annually but that was 10 years ago
- and obviously Gibson did not feel like keeping Cakewalk not making money

Then Cakewalk went Bandlab, and Sonar was free. Normally it would not be available.

When Cakewalk announced a new Sonar and was to be charged for all kinds of demands came up from those that bought Platinum that were to be free updates forever while on Gibson. That idea died and only subscriptions on Bandlab get Sonar today as I recall.

We must allow BorisFX to make a business of Samp and the rest, or they are soon gone. There is always a category that everything must be free but you cannot make a business from that.
- it's not just "getonboard", it's actually a new updated major version as well

For those that absolutely want the $50 range stuff there is Reaper, nTrack, MultitrackStudio, Mixcraft etc.

The core problem today for daws might be that major daws have everything that old recording equipment had and more. So what is added is some peoples cup of tea and not others.
- some what more content or plugins other want certain features and improvements
- so without deeper dialog with userbase they may invest resources into the wrong things

For those wanting more content there is the Samp Suite thing, which is a good idea I think. StudioOne Plus is similar I think. They try hard to get people into subscriptions.

Propellerhead Reason, Presonus StudioOne, are excellent examples of affordable upgrades which are not as low as $50 and not as high as $275/-.

There seem to be consensus in Samp user community about it being very high, so it's just not me ranting about it.

Despite Samp not being stable and without many major features, for so many years, we're hopeful about it.

All I'm asking is $149/- for suite or $199/- max if it's a major update as you say.

[scatman84]

Well guys, after trying to gather and unite Samp users for a campaign for better discount, advocating a case for it here and on Gearspace, I think I'm done...

Because today I received a reply from BorisFx....and it's disappointing.

I've been a user since Sam Pro 9 (2007) upgraded till Sam X5 Pro Suite

Following is the reply from BorisFX -
"Thank you so much for your loyalty and long history with Samplitude. We truly appreciate your support since the early versions, and it’s great to see the progression of your upgrades over the years.

Regarding your request, we will not be adjusting the upgrade pricing for Samplitude 2025 Suite. The current upgrade offer reflects the best available discount, and we won’t be able to lower it further.

We do, however, recommend keeping an eye out for seasonal promotions, such as Black Friday, when additional offers may be available.

Thank you again for being part of the Samplitude community."

I think they're not gonna change the price....well I tried....feeling a bit disappointed....maybe I'll wait for a couple of versions more...or who knows, I might not go back to it...

[lfm]

Was thinking Black Friday too, that policy might be these types of campaigns.

I am on ProX8 so curious if any better being current. Very common software vendors honor that if doing every year.