Focusrite has bought Sonnox

[gentleclockdivider]

Focusrite seem a decent company. Better than being bought up by inMusic at any rate.

Or the recent deal where meta ( facebook ) bought accusonus for roughly 70-100 million
Good for the accusonus guys

[LenR_here]

Hmm, all these companies merging gets me worried. Once they get large enough it becomes easier for them to force users into subscriptions. Could eventually be 4-5 large companies with the best products and a forced subscription plan for each. Doesn't seem likely in the near future but these could be warning signs.

[sin night]

Any change of ownership or fusion brings a certain sense of uncertainty because it's a change and we don't know what will happen next. And this general trend towards acquisition/merging into a few big groups is a bit concerning of course.

Anyway, Focusrite seems a decent group; as a customer my overall experience with products from this group of companies/brands has been ok so far.
If it was about time for Sonnox to be sold, at least it went to what looks like a good new home...

[masterhiggins]

Hmm, all these companies merging gets me worried. Once they get large enough it becomes easier for them to force users into subscriptions. Could eventually be 4-5 large companies with the best products and a forced subscription plan for each. Doesn't seem likely in the near future but these could be warning signs.

Yup. That’s my concern, too. That’s a hard line for me, man. I’ve switched several different bits of software because they went subscription-only, including Photoshop.

[LenR_here]

Anyway, Focusrite seems a decent group; as a customer my overall experience with products from this group of companies/brands has been ok so far.
If it was about time for Sonnox to be sold, at least it went to what looks like a good new home...

Yeah, I fully agree, Focusrite has been pretty good. I'm happy for both of them right now.

The dark timeline is if Focusrite is bought out by a less scrupulous company. When many reputable smaller companies are merged into bigger groups, it only takes one bad guy to infect the lot with one takeover. Keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't happen.

[Tj Shredder]

As long its not Elon Musk who buys... We had this in the past with Gibson, they destroyed a couple of good companies/products...

[digitalboytn]

As long its not Elon Musk who buys... We had this in the past with Gibson, they destroyed a couple of good companies/products...

Henry von Gibson destroyed more than a couple of good companies and products...

He was a serious vandal

[CapnLockheed]

As long its not Elon Musk who buys... We had this in the past with Gibson, they destroyed a couple of good companies/products...

Henry von Gibson destroyed more than a couple of good companies and products...

He was a serious vandal

Henry was hellbent on perfecting the perfect "electronic" guitar they wasted millions buying other companies for their tech. Their first was a licensing deal Shadow for the rights to rebadge their SH-075. I used the original for years,(see pic),



but Gibson dumped their version in short order. Shadow wisely only licensed it and continued to produce after Gibson bailed....which they always seemed to do under Henry's "leadership". Not unlike Elon, Henry Juszkiewicz was spoiled who liked to play with toys. Several more of his forays into futuristic guitar "advancement" either failed to materialize, like the aptly named GIMIC system, (which was very quickly renamed to MAGIC....LOL), or were met with disdain from most players. From robot tuners to the "Dusk Tiger" LP's. People who bought in the expensive Dusk Tigers saw line quickly dropped and never got support.

Early on when Henry first closed down the Kalamazoo plant, (allowing Heritage guitars to be started by former Gibson employees), and moved to Nashville they were making decent guitars. But as time went on the higher end guitars became prohibitively expensinve, and the lower end saw considerable quality control issues. Now Henry's busy dismantling the company, shutting down the Nashville warehouse, the Memphis shop...which had been producing very fine ES style instruments and I hear the Bozeman MT, acoustic custom shop may be next on the chopping block. Little wonder that Henry Juszkiewicz is one of the most hated men…in the guitar world.

[CapnLockheed]

PreSonus could've bought them and renamed them PreSonnox.

Amusing as that is....aint gonna happen. Presonus has already been gobbled up by Fender which, in turn, is now owned by bean counting money mangers Servco Pacific Capital.

[DCrown]

I always thought Sonnox was SONY /Japan?

[Zero dB]

It was, once upon a time. Though it was Sony, Oxford, ultimately owned by some Sony division in Japan...

[Hanz Meyzer]

Prices usually go up after such a fusion then… for the same feature set. In the end, this concept will fail.

Really hate big money and such money games. Destroys any quality and innovation

[Funky40]

Hmm, all these companies merging gets me worried. Once they get large enough it becomes easier for them to force users into subscriptions. Could eventually be 4-5 large companies with the best products and a forced subscription plan for each. Doesn't seem likely in the near future but these could be warning signs.

exactly my thoughts as well !


my other thought:
it might be wise to keep from now on the "old" (today) PC while switching to the next one, and freeze that system. (keep one past generation PC and freeze)

[briefcasemanx]

Hmm, all these companies merging gets me worried. Once they get large enough it becomes easier for them to force users into subscriptions. Could eventually be 4-5 large companies with the best products and a forced subscription plan for each. Doesn't seem likely in the near future but these could be warning signs.

One smart guy in his basement can make sweet plugins. If the big companies all go subscription, the basement guys will just make way more money.

Most of us don't need any new plugins anyway.

[rod_zero]

At this point I could just use DAW stock devices, they have gotten so good that I think plugins have become in many cases redundant.