Artist-developer building personal instruments — how do indie devs survive today?

[spectraoul]

I am using Patreon for my vst's and for my vcv rack selection files exc.. Some people may not want to go through the trouble of subscribing I suspect. I didn't have great luck with using rnbo but I did come up with some unusual delays. Mostly I am just using plugdata but haven't in awhile. There is nothing exclusive about Patreon where you can't move products or list them other places later if they already have a price or you are offering it at free + plus.

I would check to make sure that the state of the plugin in saving if it isn't I would use automation in the daw and try saving again.. I went so far as to buy a book on rnbo so you certainly understand it better than I do..

Thanks for sharing your experience.
My plugins are ridiculously simple compared to the incredible plugins I see you guys developing. I’m mainly focused on my K2k app, and I’ve even completely removed the DPF framework; I’m currently creating a minimalist VST3 and CLAP plugin that routes the player’s 8 stereo channels to the DAW. Nothing more. And Modal Compas plugin is just a MIDI output.
If I ever need advice, I now know who to turn to.

[Paul_Pulsonix]

I'm barely recovering my costs right now so it's just a hobby that got a bit out of hand.

[spectraoul]

I'm barely recovering my costs right now so it's just a hobby that got a bit out of hand.

I just took a look at BeatForge—great work. I'm on Linux, so I can't play around with it. It's a hobby that really shows your passion.

[Paul_Pulsonix]

I can't do a linux version unfortunately because my rex file player from reason doesn't support it, and it doesn't look like they are porting to linux anytime soon.

[kernaudioio]

survival for me has been the opposite of what the trade press describes. no agency, no distributor, no pr firm. four plugins shipped solo from denmark over fourteen months on a $29 price point with a $59 bundle and a free utility as the funnel top. the two things that moved the needle were (a) research-first positioning (i publish the dsp papers my plugins are built on, nobody else does) and (b) treating the human element as the primary differentiator not a side dish. the landing page, the support emails, the forum replies are the product as much as the code.

if you want to go this direction, the research angle compounds. every paper you cite publicly is a claim competitors cannot clone cheaply. every forum answer builds the reader's trust in your judgment before they ever install a demo.

[spectraoul]

survival for me has been the opposite of what the trade press describes. no agency, no distributor, no pr firm. four plugins shipped solo from denmark over fourteen months on a $29 price point with a $59 bundle and a free utility as the funnel top. the two things that moved the needle were (a) research-first positioning (i publish the dsp papers my plugins are built on, nobody else does) and (b) treating the human element as the primary differentiator not a side dish. the landing page, the support emails, the forum replies are the product as much as the code.

if you want to go this direction, the research angle compounds. every paper you cite publicly is a claim competitors cannot clone cheaply. every forum answer builds the reader's trust in your judgment before they ever install a demo.

That hits. just found your guides and went through them. Bravo, really well done. you show the reasoning that got you to the product, and it reinforces how I see things.

The blog + video direction i'm building aims at the same posture from another entry point. My way of seeing and interpreting the common concepts, and how I approach spectral material as something you edit and play with rather than read. that kind of idea.
Thanks for the inputs. your comments guide me in the fog.

[electricorange83]

where are those DSP research papers that the plugins were built on - kernaudioio?

[kernaudioio]

where are those DSP research papers that the plugins were built on - kernaudioio?

ARXIV is great + Google Scholar - both great to start off with otherwise you can actually buy a lot of interesting papers on Amazon as well.