Any Spectrasonics news?

[mutantdog]

OK. What price would you set MSRP at. Not street price. MSRP.

$299-349 would put it at the top-end of plugin prices. As i suggested a feature limited lite version for $99 and a fairly well equipped mid-price $199 version would cover the spectrum of users budgets.

Alternatively an Alchemy-style model, fully featured with a basic library and additional soudsets available to bring up to the full library could be a better approach.

[Arglebargle]

I can't think of any other VST or combination of VSTs I would rather spend 250 on. I only wish I could get my money back for the stuff that Omnisphere deprecated, I could afford the upgrade with that

[hibidy]

Uh oh, I see signs of this turning into one of "those threads"

[trimph1]

Uh oh, I see signs of this turning into one of "those threads"

I know nothing of what you speak...whistleface.

[JonSolo]

Wow.

This is their business model. Who cares what we think! If you choose to pay (as I just did today) fine. If not, fine.

Piracy is NOT part of the argument or the equation. It should not ever dictate what we, as honest paying citizens, do. If a company adds to their pot to offset piracy, so be it. We only agree to it the minute we pay them for a product, and once we do, shut up!

If we choose not to, then it our choice and done. Over. No discussion. We closed the book because we felt it was not ours to buy at that price.

Value is subjective at best. Everything else is bull.

My perceived value of Omnisphere and v2 which I will get for free on April 30 is worth today's investment. Maybe not to you, but clearly to me. Again subjective. But everything else is bull.

Stop trying to rework someone's business strategy. It is annoying. And if you try to rework my business strategy...well, you know.

Oh, just my opinion for the record.

[mostlyjustj]

Over. No discussion.

B..b..b..but.... where's the fun in *that*??

Ok, I see where you're coming from and I know it doesn't matter but I need to discuss it. I *LOVE* the Spectrasonics business model. To me it was all summed up by Eric's statement at the end of today's video that went: 'When we introduced Omnisphere, we said it would take a lifetime to explore, and we were NOT kidding.'

They made a conscious decision to make a monolithic BEAST of a synth that is a couple notches more expensive than the competition, but they made sure that once you own it you have your hands on a VERY deep library with an incredibly deep set of tools to manipulate those sounds. The entry fee is steep, but paying that kind of $$$ tends to get you focused on digging down deeper, and they've concentrated on making sure to come up with a package that is guaranteed to continuously reward effort with beautiful and interesting sounds. And now that they've gone all-in on the synthesis side above and beyond the ROMpler core, you can EASILY double up on all that - you know what?? You're right - SCREW all the people who whine that it's too expensive!! I'm not listening!!

Ummm... is it April 30th yet??

[Phorous]

Ummm... is it April 30th yet??

Just purchased a huge tank of liquid nitrogen, wish me luck

[quantum7]

$500 is a lot of money for a plugin, they'd sell a lot more if it was cheaper.

Spectrasonics put years of work into Omnisphere 2 and they need to recoup their investment by selling their product for as much as possible without selling too high as to limit its customer base. Spectrasonics has over 10 years of market research that tells them that $500 is the "sweet spot". They sell it for too much, they gain $ but lose customers, but also if they sell it for too less, they risk the product being perceived as not as valuable.....which can do the same damage as being too expensive. Also, if they sell it for too cheap they would piss off their competition I would think. I'm guessing Spectrasonics looks at the competition and bases its price in comparison to how they honestly believe Omnisphere stands up to it....just like any standard business model.

Back to perceived value- Ferrari, for example, may be able to make a little more money if they sold their vehicles below 100k, but then IMO it would make Ferrari not that special anymore. Spectrasonics does not want to be a low-end, or even average audio software company. They want to be known as the "Ferrari" of VSTi's, and in order to do so they need to surpass the competition, of course, but also price their products accordingly. For people making a living off music, $499 is nothing if it gives them an edge over all the other composers out there. Personally, if Omni 2 was dirt cheap I would think Eric was nuts and it would make me question his products....I know it doesn't always sound right, but it is business reality.

Finally, from how Omnisphere 1 performed in sales vs. the competition over the last 7 years, it would seem to me that $499 is exactly where it should be priced, for Spectrasonics to be successful as possible.... as a business.

[ghettosynth]

Stop trying to rework someone's business strategy. It is annoying. And if you try to rework my business strategy...well, you know.

Oh, just my opinion for the record.

You know, what people find annoying is also subjective. For example, you find the discussion of business strategy annoying, whereas others might find your criticism of such discussion annoying. I'm just thinking out loud a bit here. This is just a forum and people are having a conversation. Personally, I don't think that getting upset over what someone else thinks about the value of your toys is going to lead to healthy discussion, that's just my opinion. I'm not saying that you're upset, but these threads seem to often get to that point.

I don't think that you can avoid these types of discussions with ANY single plugin priced at $500 in today's market. Those plugins are an anomaly, especially at the consumer level. I think that Kontakt, for example, would receive similar criticism if it weren't for Komplete and the annual half price sale. Very few people complain about the price of Kontakt standalone because very few people actually pay that price for it.

Spectra released an update to a plugin, this is a site about plugins, we're going to talk about it, the good the bad, and everything else. Not everyone is going to agree, that's ok, but not everything is going to positive or supportive, that should be ok too.

YMMV.

[hibidy]

Ummm... is it April 30th yet??

Just purchased a huge tank of liquid nitrogen, wish me luck

But did you order the post/toaster to thaw you? Edit, make sure you get one with the proper timer, otherwise you could miss the big day!

[ghettosynth]

And now that they've gone all-in on the synthesis side above and beyond the ROMpler core, you can EASILY double up on all that

How so? It's great if you like it, but I, and many others, think that the synthesis is, and has been for a long time, weak. They've added some filters and we'll have to hear them to be certain, but, based on that video, the description, their philosophy of sound creation, and their customer expectations, I don't think that they've put in what's necessary to go "all-in" on the synthesis side.

Look, that's not really a criticism, I don't think that their customers would tolerate Diva quality filters or audio rate modulation because of the CPU usage, as far as product management goes, it's probably not the right decision to cripple a product's usability for the majority of customers just to "keep up with the jones." But, whether you like it or not, as a synth, that makes Omnisphere yesterday's news no matter how many whizbangs that are added.

That's where the technology is today, and if you want to be cutting edge, you have to pay that price.

[mostlyjustj]

For example, you find the discussion of business strategy annoying, whereas others might find your criticism of such discussion annoying.

You know what *I* find annoying?? When a person starts a conversation about how annoying it is for other people to point out what is annoying to them when the thing those other people find annoying *isn't* annoying to the person who started the conversation....

Of course I'm sure there are people who are annoyed by me bringing up how annoyed I am by the conversation that person started about how annoyed they are by the person who expressed the original annoyance - but of course if they get on here and start talking about it somebody is going to be annoyed by *them*, so hopefully that will deter them from actually posting about it.

You know what else annoys me?? Wool undershirts. Seriously - whose idea was **that**??? Itchy as f%ck!!

[trimph1]

I knew that someone would start the whaaaing here.

Look, everything is subjective, including your opinion about the filters.

Until someone comes up with an objective way to prove their point it will be such.

IMO, of course.

[quantum7]

Another thing I didn't mention in my previous post was that by selling a product for a higher price, makes it easier as a company to exist. Image if Omnisphere only cost $20, nearly everyone who composed music would own it. Yeah, Eric would make a lot of money from sales, but the tech support that would be needed would possibly be such a nightmare that Eric wouldn't want to deal with it. I'm guessing he would need dozens and dozens of employees just for the tech support alone. With a $500 product, Eric only needs a handful of employees....whom he can pay quite well, I'm guessing. Personally, I would rather be the CEO of the latter.

[rod_zero]

Do anyone knows if they are going to offer a download version?

I live in Mexico and getting boxed versions is such a hassle, paying shipping and import fees.