Are the days of the high priced plugins history?

[mellotronaut]

But like I said, I get your point. I think that most people who buy these products are hobbyists and people hoping to become pros, and ultimately, any of this software, for them, is classified as a luxury item.

I think it's true that more hobbyists buying software than pros.
We have seen a lot of pros using cracked software, samplelibs and stuff. I think it's not really true that plug-ins in the range > $200 are cheap for such people and luxury for hobbyists. I see the opposite, that a lot of hobbyists buying a lot of stuff and collecting expensive synth etc.
Many pros having only a small income compared to hobbyists with a daytime job. There are also statistics eg. from the KSK (social security system for artists and journalists in Germany) where the average income for musicians is about <1000€ per month!

i'm always stunned, how much money some people are able spend on music software and loop/sample libs every month.

[UncleAge]

But there are always companies selling very expensive plug-ins like U-He. Since years the price is near 200€ for Zebra, no specials or offers etc.

I find this point interesting. I don't discount your point of view at all, however... U-he has offered the dinosaur crossgrade discount thingie on Zebra for ages. And there were low (read: discount) introductory offers for Ace and the Uhbiks if I remember correctly. But the bigger issue here that I see is that I don't think $200 is a lot of money in comparison to what I am getting. And for the record I'm not just talking about Zebra. So I guess its a matter of perspective.

In addition, I'm not so sure lower pricing, as in a race to the bottom, is a good thing. In such a niche market as this is I can't believe some of the devs have gotten by with such low pricing. Regardless of where I stand I'm quite sure the pricing is a result of what the market will bear. If and when the major economies start doing well I would expect to see plugin princing go back up.

[4damind]

But like I said, I get your point. I think that most people who buy these products are hobbyists and people hoping to become pros, and ultimately, any of this software, for them, is classified as a luxury item.

I think it's true that more hobbyists buying software than pros.
We have seen a lot of pros using cracked software, samplelibs and stuff. I think it's not really true that plug-ins in the range > $200 are cheap for such people and luxury for hobbyists. I see the opposite, that a lot of hobbyists buying a lot of stuff and collecting expensive synth etc.
Many pros having only a small income compared to hobbyists with a daytime job. There are also statistics eg. from the KSK (social security system for artists and journalists in Germany) where the average income for musicians is about <1000€ per month!

i'm always stunned, how much money some people are able spend on music software and loop/sample libs every month.

Short info... The average income in Germany is 2.700€ (after Tax!), compare this to < 1000€ for musicians and you get the picture. I expect similar values for all countries with a similar or better national output.
There is some money people (hobbyists) invest in music software and stuff. IMO the hobbyists _are_ the big market and not the pros.

[4damind]

U-he has offered the dinosaur crossgrade discount thingie on Zebra for ages.

True but to be honest, this is not a really a permanent discount for all people. Because not all people owning a hardware synth and not all are interested to replace a synth with Zebra So, yes there is a discount but a very special discount.

And there were low (read: discount) introductory offers for Ace and the Uhbiks if I remember correctly.

Yes, but this counts also as a beta testing/early adopter discount. You pay to be a beta tester or a early adopter. Afaik many developers having such offers for new products. If you are too late in the game you must pay the full price - for ever

Anyway, I will not judge the price scheme or stuff. But there are always expensive plug-ins and I see not a permanent price drop.

[kv331]

I love the "Gaussian" curve, it explains a lot

[ezelkow1]

U-he has offered the dinosaur crossgrade discount thingie on Zebra for ages.

True but to be honest, this is not a really a permanent discount for all people. Because not all people owning a hardware synth and not all are interested to replace a synth with Zebra So, yes there is a discount but a very special discount.

Its not a special discount at all, if you dont own something that your actually replacing it with all it takes is a little creativity, it is basically a discount anyone out there can get if they want to put in a little effort.

Anyways, I do think everything is getting cheaper. For me the one place that has made it blatantly obvious is Steam, where a few months after release most products end up ~50% off. So they get the initial boost of the early adopters that really really want the product, and then a few months later a larger influx of cash as the price comes down and many more people hop on. Many devs on there have realized that if they price their stuff alot cheaper they end up with a lot more income as things start to approach no-brainer prices for the vast majority of people. Just using that as an example of somewhere else the prices have come down compared to what they used to be

However that being said Im not sure how well it applies to this market since it is a much much smaller market than video games. I dont think its a bad or good thing, just depends on the developer and which method works best for them in the end. Seeing the complaining that goes on around here, I really doubt a high price->low price after a time period would really fly since that seems to tick alot of people off

[Tricky-Loops]

Short info... The average income in Germany is 2.700€ (after Tax!), compare this to < 1000€ for musicians and you get the picture. I expect similar values for all countries with a similar or better national output.
There is some money people (hobbyists) invest in music software and stuff. IMO the hobbyists _are_ the big market and not the pros.

There is no "average income" in Germany of 2,700€, that's nonsense. Every person has a totally different income. And there are loads of poor people who haven't much money for audio software! I only know a few people who are earning 2,700€ a month or more - but I know a lot of people who only have 1,400€ or far less.

[Urs]

Compared to other synth it's expensive.

There is no comparable synth in terms of workflow and integration of synthesis techniques :-p

[4damind]

Its not a special discount at all, if you dont own something that your actually replacing it with all it takes is a little creativity, it is basically a discount anyone out there can get if they want to put in a little effort.

But you know what I mean. This is more a "we have a discount but you must be creative..."
I don't like such stuff. I'm a interested buyer and have no interest to play creative games, print cards and make photos to get some percent off.
A better thing would be to have a crossgrade-offer for existing users (which is more than fair!) or to drop the price to that with the dinosaur offer (Afaik $50 or 40€) so it would be about 160€ for all people.

[ariston]

Short info... The average income in Germany is 2.700€ (after Tax!), compare this to < 1000€ for musicians and you get the picture. I expect similar values for all countries with a similar or better national output.
There is some money people (hobbyists) invest in music software and stuff. IMO the hobbyists _are_ the big market and not the pros.

There is no "average income" in Germany of 2,700€, that's nonsense. Every person has a totally different income. And there are loads of poor people who haven't much money for audio software! I only know a few people who are earning 2,700€ a month or more - but I know a lot of people who only have 1,400€ or far less.

The statistic he's referring to is here http://de.statista.com/themen/293/durch ... einkommen/. They're talking about 2700€ per household, not per person.

In any case, you don't have any reliable numbers to back up that assertion. It would, however, be interesting to see the pro (i.e., makes money with his/her music) vs. hobbyist ratio in terms of sales.

I'm glad prices are dropping, but I hope it's not going to put deserving devs out of business.

[Tricky-Loops]

Compared to other synth it's expensive.

There is no comparable synth in terms of workflow and integration of synthesis techniques :-p

What I admire about your company is that you don't make any special sales, group buys, summer sale etc. - the prices are always the same, the whole year over...

[sl1914]

Or the special price tends to be when a new VST becomes available.
This kind of pricing strategy that isn't changing all the time makes it much easier for customers to decide when it's a good time to buy a plugin - if it seems interesting enough.

[mellotronaut]

... IMO the hobbyists _are_ the big market and not the pros.

totally agree.

[Bronto Scorpio]

Compared to other synth it's expensive.

There is no comparable synth in terms of workflow and integration of synthesis techniques :-p

+1

I had to save a very long time for Zebra but it was totally worth it

Cheers
Dennis

[4damind]

The statistic he's referring to is here http://de.statista.com/themen/293/durch ... einkommen/. They're talking about 2700€ per household, not per person.

It means both One person _or_ one household
(see the description under the graphic there)