No demo, no sale?

[whassup]

As it has happened more often recently that there are people who sell their plugins at rather low prices while having no downloadable demo version of their plugin.
This turns me off.
So I would like to find out if I should get used to sorting out those offers or if maybe a poll would give more than a few votes to show that this is not so favored by us.

[BBFG#]

What companies/developers/plugins are you specifically referring to?
I only know of Spectrasonics that don't offer demo versions. And that horse has been beat to death and dust on KVR.

[unusable]

I decided against demos, mainly for not making piracy easier, keeping the codebase simpler and to grow slowly, so I can keep up (as a new company, the learning curve is steep). Instead I have a 30 days full refund - no questions asked - policy.

Looking at my current free offerings, that has been a stress test for my license system and my heart. It has kept up fine, btw. But I guess there are as many reasons for not offering demos as there are devs not offering them. Yes, we might lose some sales, but we might just sleep better at night. Who knows.

[whassup]

The last two I came across are S1gns Of L1fe and Morningdew Arpeggiator.
Spectrasonics, well yes.

[Examigan]

UVI has no demo versions. I dont mind too much, and I have some of their products.

[buffalo roam]

UVI has no demo versions. I dont mind too much, and I have some of their products.

UVI's Rumble has been available as a very short-term demo.

[Seafire Mk2]

Defo no sale if no demo here.

[Kai Enaki]

It varies. I usually want to try what I'm thinking about buying. Mostly to make sure it works on my system. The demo, however, don't have to be a 1:1 of the actual product. It can be a stripped down and free version like Tokyo Dawn Labs does it.

[cobaia]

I would never buy a plugin without having demoed it, that sounds crazy.
It is like buying a car without a test drive.

I even find it obnoxious when demo versions come with irritating limitations such as exaggerated noise, or an expiration period.

[D-Fusion]

I would never buy a plugin without having demoed it, that sounds crazy.
It is like buying a car without a test drive.

I even find it obnoxious when demo versions come with irritating limitations such as exaggerated noise, or an expiration period.

I agree on the random fading noise sound on plugin demo's.
I want to hear the sound of the synth and see what it can do.
I go to the beach when i want the hear the sound of the seashore.

Another one that is annoying is the plugin demos that have random silence for a few seconds.

You are finally getting somewhere in your testing and boom. Total silence.

[starflakeprj]

I don’t really mind if there’s no demo. In most cases, I just go on YouTube and look for walkthroughs, sound demos, or people actually using the product in a real session. That usually tells me more than a limited demo version would anyway, especially if the videos show the instrument or plugin in context rather than just cycling through presets.

That said, it definitely helps if the developer seems reputable. If they have a good track record, clear documentation, decent support, and other products that people speak well of, it becomes much easier to justify a purchase without trying it first. I’m not expecting every small developer to offer a full demo, but I do want to feel like I’m buying from someone serious.

Of course, I say all this like I’m making responsible financial decisions. Realistically, I probably would have wasted the money on something equally unnecessary anyway. So if the product looks inspiring, sounds good in a few videos, and the developer doesn’t seem sketchy, that’s usually enough for me to talk myself into it.

[cobaia]

I would never buy a plugin without having demoed it, that sounds crazy.
It is like buying a car without a test drive.

I even find it obnoxious when demo versions come with irritating limitations such as exaggerated noise, or an expiration period.

I agree on the random fading noise sound on plugin demo's.
I want to hear the sound of the synth and see what it can do.
I go to the beach when i want the hear the sound of the seashore.

Another one that is annoying is the plugin demos that have random silence for a few seconds.

You are finally getting somewhere in your testing and boom. Total silence.

Silence is ok with me, but not noise.
I mean, they must somehow prevent the potential customer from using the demo for production...

[wagtunes]

Normally, no. Unless it's something that I've been dying to get for ages. For example. If somebody came out with an Andromeda 6 emulation, I would buy it without a demo and no matter how much it cost within reason.

[kritikon]

Demo is not an absolute must have for me, though definitely preferred. Rather than stopping me buying, a demo is actually more likely to get me to buy something I initially don't want. E.g. GForce Prophet thingy didn't really interest me at all, but playing the demo showed me how useful their XMod system is and I'll likely buy it (still ho-humming about it). So that'll be a gained sale they never had. Without a demo I wouldn't have entertained it - Prophets don't excite me and it's the stuff different from actual Prophets that the demo interested me in.

But I've bought the odd plugin demo-less I the past. Generally from devs I know are quality from previous experience, not newbs I haven't experienced.

[agharta]

If a company offers no demos and no license transfers, that's a massive red flag for me.
That's very common in the sample library world, where prices can often be £500+ and still have these limitations.
That's a rich person's form of gambling!