I guess Polish, Russian and Turkish human resources' cost is far inferior than in Germany or Italy.
And in the USA, company's owners don't pay employees' social security which may double the labor cost in western Europe.
This may explain that, but of course doesn't make Germans plugins better than polish ones.
Finally, are you sure these company you've named (Voxengo, Melda,...) don't practice outsourcing in India?

 

haha,, best laugh i've had for a while.
zebra is an amazing synth and the guy gets kudos for that if nothing else.
why shouldn't he make money? he's not in this for altruistic purposes..
as for time bombs or whatever, nothing can be as bad as ( ahem) tone2. now that stuff is nasty...

 

WHO told you this fairytale??
Even "Nonresident aliens" working in the U.S. have to pay Social Security taxes.
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-too...rom-Paying-Social-Security-Tax-/INF19965.html

 

This is one of the reasons why I don't think they are worth it. And one of the things to take a look at also is there's a difference when looking at the worth of a u-he software bundle which can be duplicated millions of times by the developing source at no material cost, and considering the value of physical products where there is a material cost in order to recreate the products every time. These are products that have there own processing engines, sound circuitry, true filters, I/Os, graphic displays, etc, and the list goes on. There is always something else first on my list to buy before spending the equivalent on a u-he synth bundle. People don't seem to grasp just how similar the quality of a VSTi synth is going to sound in the first place. If they forget about the presets that come with one to the next and focus on the reality that the I/O quality of a software synth has got to be 80% reliant on the "hardware" chain it is linked to they might see some light of day. When they focus on the reality that Diva, Zebra, and Hive passing thru high-end mastering converters you don't read about in home studio articles every day is a different story than Diva, Zebra, Hive, and Windows Audio. U-he synths rely on your hardware the same as any freeware synths with tweakable features do. There's a difference between a midi-keyboard controller with monophonic or polyphonic aftertouch. These are the types of things that play the major part in the quality and response of a software synth. People can respect my opinion or not, but I don't think any software synth bundle should have anyone spending $500 or more and feeling they got their money's worth. At that point they are feeding on the naivety of potential customers, or customers who don't care whether they might be giving them a $400 tip in the process. And that's why a lot of times people buy software synths at rip-off rates and whether they claim to be satisfied or not.. now some of them know why the patches don't sound as good to them as in a demo they heard. I've read some negative remarks in this thread. A man being broke is one thing. And a man who thinks his purchases through usually has money to spend.

 

Last edited: Oct 24, 2015

Definitely right, also for me!
In the end every software company is just selling *plain clones* of one MASTER-product (@ too high prices!).
There's the hook: to code software, make the graphic design work etc...you'll need other people: employees...
...or freelancers, that need to be paid (if living in a total capitalist system). Mr.Heckmann has 8 or 9 employees.
Hence he has to provide opportunities for a regular income, invent new products etc. Nothing negative in this,
even when they might hire some professional reverse engineers to implement and constantly re-fresh their
"cyclic software protection method". Of course bigger companies like Native Instruments have completely
different business models, and in the end those are creating much more jobs & opportunities for people.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

I don't know how you go about buying soft-synths, but I at least always download a demo first (and U-he, like most other software companies, lets you do just that) to make sure it's compatible with my other software and hardware, as well as making sure it will do what I need it to and sound the way I need it to sound. I've never relied on audio demos on the company's site to convince me of how it sounds or works -- I only do that with sample libraries, because there really isn't any other way to do it (with certain exceptions), and even then, I make sure and research it as much as possible before plunking down hundreds of dollars for one.

Either you've downloaded these demos, decided that these soft-synths don't work the way you'd hoped and have gotten angry about it (which is what I hope this is, at any rate), or you've never actually sat down and messed around with any of these products, read some complaints elsewhere and you're ranting for the sake of ranting. Either way, it's actually pretty pointless. If you don't like U-he, don't buy their stuff. If nobody buys their stuff, there's no more U-he to worry about. If you've purchased their stuff and you're angry about it, the only people who are going to listen to you (maybe) work at U-he, so you should be complaining to them. Hell, even if you didn't buy their stuff, you can always send your rants to their sales department, assuming they're justified.

 

i own 3 u-he products and there are no problems with key anywhere... and when you buy the plug ins early they are fair priced, even at full price they are worth the money. frequent updates, great products... and they still work bundled with some non legit u-he plugs^^

 

It wasn't given away for free, for 'free'. Those plug-ins are paid in advance , and they will only do them IF they can benefit from it: reaching dozens thousands readers who will discover the plug-in and might visit the website for some info, and will be aware of the professional plug-ins for sale. These magazines have stats, and convert ingrate numbers, and they can guarantee the dev will get XX in return.

Would you think that uhe would have 1 minute of feelings, and would be like 'ohhh, I feel like offering something to the human race, race that I love and respect so much, these people from around the world are so marvelous, I will code a nice plug-in and give it to them, for free, because I believe not everything should come at a cost, in this wonderful world'.

?

The calculist (def: savant who loves maths) has studied several months, crossed data, stats, website visits, clicks on plug-in logo, etc, and only when making a free plug-in looked like something POSITIVE, beneficial, that could bring more money, only then, a free plug-in is made.

Shit, when I think about it, automatically the words 'invasion', 'world', 'profit' '1939', 'ambition' and 'selection' come to my mind.

 

i try to answer here...

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Okay, maybe there are taxes but nothing compared to those in western Europe (no medical insurance for example). Remember what Obama was fighting for...

 

Wow,
And uhe will offer you a 3 incredible soundbank with 3 sounds each + a coupon with 1.20€ discount (valable next 24 December between 05.00am and 05.05am) , for you to create an account here and spread some words of wisdom and affection?

Love is love, no doubt about it.

 

nah i dont need the soundbanks, can pirate them... but i can value good products and u-he stuff is good, end of story.

 

Your statement makes sense to me, but I'm afraid you're absolutely wrong about one thing: Colonel Ashamed has never been in your company because he served with me in Irak.

 

You practice high prices only when you want to become a multi millionaire . Being successful and making a lot of money isn't enough, the goal is being the only one in the market, and grab 100% of the global sales.
Today, Poland and Czech could be a German country. But Hitler wanted the whole planet.

Music isn't a small thing for 10 or 20 guys.
While I'm writing, maybe there are 250'000 Cubase, live, sonar, etc being used across the world.
There are a bunch of people making music, from hobbyists to huge studio owners.
There are a lot of potential buyers, that get ignored by companies like uhe. Who decided they prefer reaching 20'000 guys that can spend 200 euros than reaching 300'000 guys who can only spend 30 or 50 euros.

That part of greed I can't accept, because it's just stupid, and shows how selfish you are.

if I made a plug-in, I would like EVERYBODY TO be able to buy it.
I would like to have Dada life (sausage fattener ) and Valhalla (roomverb ) who sell their plug-ins at barely 29-40 euros, I would like to hear them saying how many millions $ they have made by selling their plug-ins at such low prices VS trying to sell them at 99 or 129 euros each.

I hate greedy pigs in real life, can't stand those half-human.
That's why I hate devs who think they can do, think, set prices, decide and do THEORY WAY, and the entire planet must obey and follow, or be ignored and die.

I believe there is too much greed on this planet, and people could and should share more, help more, and give a little more to the others, even if it's only a 2 euro discount.
there is no reason to live these few years we spend on earth, by wanting everything for us, and nothing for the others.
when we already have so much more than most people, will 1000, or even 5000 euros less make a huuuuge difference? Weren't we lucky enough to have received all we have, that we should be thankful , and share a little of our happiness and benefits with others.

maybe I'm the number #1 motherfuker many people hate here on audiosex, but I still believe in a few things. And I can't tolerate, understand and accept ANY kind of greed. Any. Are UHE greed, among many others? Fuck, yeah.
when you can't lower a fuking price by 1 cts, during 1 hour, just to prove the world you are the one WHO CONTROLS, DECIDES, and nothing and nobody will change that, well. .. be happy.

 

Good idea. Say that to Porsche and I'm sure they will sells their cars at the same price as Volkswagen.
Do you seriously think that a plugin like Sausage Fattener require the same amount of coding time and effort than Satin?

 

this is a whole load of bullshit... they set their prices where they think they need to be to generate the most profit... and that's no crime, it's perfectly normal. no one forces you to buy their stuff at the prices they set.

 

Urs and his company make very good products, that is for sure. I especially love Presswerk, my new fav compressor plugin. That said, I think Urs himself is a douche. A talented programmer, an accomplished dsp guru, but a douche in his approach and mentality. Him saying "if you can't afford my plugins, then you have better things to do than create music" tells me enough about his character. In a way he may be right, brutally honest that there are more productive things to do than create music if you are poor. On the other hand, his opinion feeds into the long-established elitism in the various fields of art. It's a double-edged sword: he wants you to buy his plugins, he will work very very hard to convince you to part with a large sum of money in return for his product, and thus his plugins are top-notch. The downside (in my opinion) is the fact that he apparently does this purely for personal profit, not as a contribution to the collective cultural wealth of humanity, which is sad, really. At least that's my take on it.

 

Last edited: Oct 23, 2015

Hey Guys/Gals, Friendly Reminder

There's no reason for bad-mouthing each other, this is a Professional forum, why act like it, when we can be one?
Please respond in a respectful manner, Opinions are welcome, disrespect is NOT.

Thank You.

 

To me it is any companies right to protect their plug-ins any way they want(except tone2's way when they try and hurt your cpu). It's like why do we have locks on our doors to our houses? To protect from scumbag thiefs and so our stuff doesn't get stolen by said scumbags. Do we look down and hate on people who want to protect their property? I don't get it I guess.

 

That's OFFTOPIC. The thread is based on discussions about product prices of software developers.
There are enough threads with discussions about software protection. What you wrote is obvious,
but mislead the direction of the discussion.

 

Last edited: Oct 23, 2015