It is beautiful to get to the conclusion that people spend their money to reach a higher life quality, but the statement of more money is not equal to more life quality still holds. This does not mean that it's those peoples fault, it means that this equalization is simply a fallacy. Our socialist friends do well to realize this.

 

I agree with your statement! Money isn't everything and is actually just a means of exchange. But somehow, bartering had to be organized, and coins and later banknotes were invented, and later even Bitcoins...! Quality of life includes, for example, peace, friendship, clean water, intact nature, healthy food, truth, and security!

 

Also, I see over and over that people aren't considering inflationary purchase power. Some notable selections that where among the first to have success in their category...

In the beginning (of commercial):
Arp 2500 $60,000 - $165,000
Moog III $77,000

The wave of non modular begins:
Minimoog D $10,000 (first-ish successful portable synth)
Prophet 5 rev.1 $19,500. (first poly)

In comes new cool kids with their kewl Casio watches...
PPG Wave $25,000 - $35,000
Crumar GDS $90,000 (og Tron soundtrack, first commercial additive synth)
The budget version of the GDS - DKS Synergy $16,5000

Market has grown, manufacturing and logistics improved, era of the everyman synth begins! or does it?

Roland Juno-60 $6,000
Korg Polysix $3,500

Now I am become death, Destroyer of [analogs]

Yamaha DX-7 $6,500

All of these categories had (or I guess would shortly have in the case of p5..being first n all) synths that were much more expensive. I just listed ones that had "budget" market reach. You want eye watering numbers read up on the history of sampling devices.

Price to feature continues steady improvement the next 10 years or so. Late 90's, early 00's -- computing power, software, and consumer interfaces (ie, not the DSP stuff) align with 'everyman' pricing for first time ... from this point forward any kid with a job could save enough to build at least a secondhand computer good enough to run trackers, record and process audio *(in the US and Western EU anyway). p2p takes off. Fruity Loops launches, the cooler older kids who discovered trackers 5 years earlier begin their war on FL, Logic users on windows were about to cry, Cubase puts away childish things and moves to pc/mac, Rubberduck launches and since software obviously perfectly emulates analog hardware everyone threw away their tb-303s. Unity attained.

Music gear has never been cheaper than right now. The power of that gear to price is mind boggling on a comparative historical scale. Instagram whoring, meticulously prepared curating, and idiots masquerading as authoritative voices has also unfortunately never been greater than right now.

 

They are not expensive because they are production tools, if your music sells well and you have just made your first $10k out of your music; - what is $159 or $249 for a "plugin" that helps you create and produce? And if that is still expensive for you and you prefer to go buy the latest pair of NIKE AIR for $499 instead, then you must be a total greedy cheap fuck.

 

Do you work for 10 cents an hour? Plugin prices look like this, just one example:
1 plugin = 1,000 hours of work at $20 = 20,000
Sales price of $100 = 200 plugins, then the costs are covered.

How many plugins does he need to sell to make a living in the future?
He also has to pay for advertising, traffic, and taxes—do the math yourself!

 

I also live in a (very) small country, so I feel your pain and frustration.
Greetings from Monaco.

 

Last edited: Jul 2, 2025

The people you're talking about are usually victims of capitalism themselves. Often, they're struggling to survive.
The only way to counter this is to qualify yourself, join forces, and produce the products you need yourself.

 

WHY ARE FOOD so expensive these days????? no, but really?

 

There are several reasons:

• Currency devaluation, i.e., inflation
• Crop failures
• Supply difficulties
• Too much bureaucracy
• CO2 taxes
• Higher energy costs

Assume that you've become about 20% poorer
If you're a tobacco smoker, even more... As you can see, it also depends on the products you buy.
Coffee has become very expensive, eggs are three times as expensive etc.!

 

If you live IN Monaco but were not born there, you are likely the problem. If you have birthright citizenship (ie the peasant scum) you get access to state subsidized housing (same housing as everyone else, minus the millions of dollars), preferential treatment for jobs, social allowances for just about any life stage or altering event. The gov't wants to keep the locals happy. Happy locals, happy (upper level) employees, the machine churns. Now, if you live 4 Freedom Units up the road in France but just happen to work in Monaco... you're life is absolutely not the same as a native.

 

Given the news about P. Daddy, capitalism seems less disgusting than rap.
At least that's what the delicious young lady lying on the deck of my 27-meter yacht - on which I only play classical music - claims.

Greetings from Monaco... ;)

 

Flashy or not is immaterial, the price is the price. You should ask Microsoft, Oracle, Sybase, Adobe, Apple, etc., to lower their price in your "smaller country" and see what they say.

To illustrate further: I once had a TV client in Jakarta contact me during my holiday in Bali and ask that I fly up to Jakarta for a "refresher consult." At my expense. I politely suggested they get in touch with my office in Singapore, or New York, and book me through the usual channels, but they said it was "too expensive" and that Jakarta was "only an hour away," and literally added: "please, please, please?" (I kid you not). They also got their prettiest girl to call me, figuring I might be swayed by her charms.

Man, #1) don't disturb me on my holiday (that's what OOTF auto messaging is for), #2) my time is no less precious in Congo than it is in Tokyo, and #3) I get young, pretty girls teasing me (and not delivering the goods) all the time - I'm immune.

I have been to 74 countries (multiple times for most of them), many of them "smaller countries" in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. I've seen plenty of BMWs, Mercedes, Porsches, even Ferraris and Lambos. And private jets at the airports. The car park of my hotel in Bali (I have photos) was full of Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Lotus, and I forget a couple of other ones. About 200+ of them. In Indonesia. Let that sink in.

All of the above said - to express that we're no fools in "bigger countries" - you don't need any "flashy plugin used by the entire music industry." You don't need to spend a penny more than you have spent on your DAW. Logic, for instance, has a very comprehensive array of professional grade audio correction and effects tools built-in. At zero extra cost. The same goes for Cubase, Reaper, Pro Tools, Samplitude, and whatever else is in fashion these days.

If you can't get satisfactory and professional grade results on your production with the built-in tools of your DAW, there's not a chance "a flashy plugin used by the entire music industry" will yield better results.

Learn how to use the tools included with your DAW - even if you must combine two plugins, or three - before writing to complain about the pricing practices of companies based in other countries.

For the record, I am sympathetic to an extent: PSP Audioware for instance, started out because two Polish audio engineers could not afford (25 years ago) the audio (hardware) gear that they lusted after. So they decided to start PSP and to code their dream outboards.

So the question is two fold, isn't it:

1. Why don't you learn to use the free professional grade tools included free of charge with your DAW?
2. Why doesn't your "smaller country" do as the Polish people did (study audio engineering and start a company)?

 

just get a better job or get some extra work on the side

 

iLok protected plugins cost more for developers too and quite frankly most of them are over hyped, endorsements and all that, it's not like we don't have choice or alternatives for majority of them.

Like many here I tried and used majority of them, it's one of the perks and have zero buying remorse, just support developers that deserve it and have plugins that I actually use.

Novelty wears off and you are left with trying to justify your expense, so give something proper run and decide after some time period.

If you think there's nothing like Soundtoys or whatever, you just have so specialized need and that tool is maybe worth every buck for you then, plain and simple.

 

They actually often do that, though... Not the greatest example.

 

When I was 12 in 1993 and first got interested in making music it was impossible to really get more than a keyboard and even an adult with a job would've had a hard time building anything that would've been able to produce any good quality music just as a hobby.

I understand that from a perspective of today it's different but still making music has become more affordable than ever. Prices for professional products are what they are they won't go down. If you want more affordable options to the expensive plugins listed they're there just buy them instead. You don't need the so called industry standards to make great music.

 

Good mics (even the new crop of MXL's), a reasonable interface and any relatively decent DAW and your really don't "need" plug-ins. Master that part first and you'll discover IF / WHAT you really need for your mixes.

 

According to me:
Piracy/VPN concerns: This is indeed a major factor. Companies worry that regional pricing creates arbitrage opportunities where people in high-income countries use VPNs to purchase at lower regional prices, undermining their primary revenue markets.
Industry standard: the audio plugin industry has historically used uniform global pricing,
Price policy : Many companies do take this approach - they set their prices based on their target market (primarily US/EU professionals) and expect customers to either pay full price or choose more affordable alternatives.
High-cost country origins: Most major plugin companies (Soundtoys in Vermont, Oeksound in Finland, FabFilter in Netherlands) are based in expensive countries with high development costs, salaries, and operational expenses they need to cover.

 

I bought a DX-7 in 1985. At the time only one single music store/dealer per city had exclusive distribution/selling rights to the DX-7.

Whatever the MSRP was then ($1,995 I seem to recall), the "street price" was actually hard set by Yamaha at $1,695.

If a dealer sold a DX-7 for even a dollar less, they lost rights to the entire line of Yamaha products. Yamaha had the golden goose, they could dictate their terms, and they did.

So I paid $1,695 + Massachusetts sales tax (5%) + whatever a Mooradian gig bag cost then (best gig bags ever). $1,695 in 1985 is worth $5,063.97 today.

 

I have incontrovertible evidence (over 27 years) to the contrary. An MSSQL or Sybase or Oracle licence is the same price worldwide. I've been writing up contracts for 27 years in 74 countries (all continents), I do this for a living, I don't think you and I are talking about the same thing.