FAVORITE SOFTWARE COMPANY...AN INFORMAL POLL

What company, of all the pieces of software you own, do you think deserves the title of "BEST SOFTWARE VENDOR" and why.  For me it was pretty tough to decide:
 
BEST:        Spectrasonics
WHY:        Forward looking customer focused company with one man's (Eric Persing) vision to guide them, consistently turning out industry and class leading software that works right out of the box.
 
BONUS POINTS:    Doesn't charge for most updates.
 
Honorable mentions:        Fab Filter, Hollow Sun, Orange Tree Samples
 
 
 
 

Favorite: Orange Tree Samples

Why: I've been using synths and sample libraries since the 1980s to simulate guitar and bass, but OTS libraries have finally brought it to a level where it sounds very realistic. The Evolution Electric and Acoustic Guitar libraries and the Iconic Bass: Jaco libraries are amazingly good. No more excuses for midi guitar or bass in demos. The guy is a brilliant sample developer who cares about customers and really listens to them in making features customers want. He also has great ethics. I have nothing but respect for him and his abilities as a sample developer and musician. I've given Greg recommendations on his products (which helped me see the product features I want!), website and marketing (my profession is marketing) after getting Strawberry and am a total fan. 

Honorable Mentions: Toontrack (imo best acoustic drum VST and the most realistic drum sample libraries on the market and very dedicated to musicians using V-Drums -- as well as going 64 bit without charging; I only wish they'd work out more deals with 3rd party sample devs), SonicCouture (beautiful libraries, nice to deal with) and Sonic Reality (I've always loved their vintage synth libraries and Dave "Squids", the owner, is very responsive to customers, as in the 10 yrs I've been a customer Dave has always been really fair, even kind). 

@Glynn I also could have said everything you wrote in your post! I was contemplating including NI in my honorable mentions for KONTAKT alone, but they just aren't as responsive to customers as I think they should be to earn the top honors and as far as Gforce -- exactly what you wrote (except I only own MTron). 

The big K. NI.

Cakewalk?....duhhhh.

Its the foundation for all the other stuff. Great platform, nice price, but the tech support response can be a bit slow. However, the forum kinda makes up for the tech support thing. I haven't needed tech support to answer anything that wasn't answered quickly in the forums.

Honorable mentions:

Jamstix: great product and some of the best tech support on the web.

Izotope: Melodyne Editor, great product, good price to value, and nice updates from older versions. Quite unexpected.

NI: wide range of great sounding, reasonably priced stuff. Lots of free updates.

Guitarhacker


Cakewalk?....duhhhh.

Its the foundation for all the other stuff. Great platform, nice price, but the tech support response can be a bit slow. However, the forum kinda makes up for the tech support thing. I haven't needed tech support to answer anything that wasn't answered quickly in the forums.

Honorable mentions:

Jamstix: great product and some of the best tech support on the web.

Izotope: Melodyne Editor, great product, good price to value, and nice updates from older versions. Quite unexpected.

NI: wide range of great sounding, reasonably priced stuff. Lots of free updates.

Izotope is not the parent company for Melodyne Editor - Melodyne is made by Celemony; Izotope makes Ozone (and other plugins).

Company: Microsoft
Why?: Without it we would be using Apple hardware and software
Bonus: No Apple hardware or software
Honorable mention: Windows ME

Most of the small vendors rank highly, and not just because they have to to survive. When one guy is responsible for a product, it's really his name that goes on it and his personal reputation is at stake. Furthermore, there are no marketing weenies deciding over a conference table what features the next version will (or will not) have.

Rayzoon is a case in point. Ask a question on the Jamstix forum and chances are the developer will answer it himself. I've had similar experiences with Voxengo, Celemony and Presonus (yeh yeh, I know, Presonus is not a small company - but the division that makes Studio One is a tiny, mostly autonomous, subsidiary).

Let's not confuse great products with great companies. Ozone is a great product, but iZotope as a company is not in the same league as, say, Voxengo. Some of the most predatory, arrogant companies make great products. I won't mention any names, but you know who they are.

Cakewalk, sadly, has fallen a few rungs from the old days when Greg ran the show. I'd still place them in the middle of the pack, though. No longer the best but far from the worst. I give them credit for keeping prices reasonable and not turning to the dark side of the dongle.

Wasn't "The Dark Side of the Dongle" one of those early thirties radio serials??

No...I'm pretty sure it was a serial.  The main character, "The Dongle" wore a sombrero with rick-rack around the brim and a frilly shirt.  By day he was a gay and carefree cabellero.  Well, carefree anyway.  But by night he was a vigilante crime fighter who hid in the dark alleyways along the streets of El Banyo and menaced evil doers with his giant maracas.  You remember, don't ya?
 
PS:  This might jog your memory:  Whenever anyone heard a rattle (even a baby's rattle), they'd whisper under their breath, "El Dongle' "!!

My favorite software company would be Toontrack because they produce software closer to what I would do if I had the resources and expertise to do it.  EZdrummer was practically what I envisioned a drum sampler should be.  Then when Superior Drummer 2.0 was in development it was like a dream come true.

My only gripe with Superior drummer is it's a pain to switch sounds around.  I think you should be able to drag and drop the drum pads like you do in battery.  And it should just switch their places.  This would be SO helpful.

Propellerheads: very intuïtive and creative software, very stable code, very few bugs.
 
Yeah, I know, the downside is rewire is still 32-bit.

Camel Audio. Great software at a reasonable price, great support, lots of add-ons to expand your sound library, informative manual and tutorial videos, occasional freebies and discounts, they maintain an active presence on the KVR forums, and they have the coolest sounding name, hands down.

My newest favorite software company is Orange Tree Samples.

Here's an example of why. It's a post by proprietor Greg Schlaepfer (Gregjazz on this and other forums) on his support forum at KVR in answer to the question of whether his products may be resold. (bold emphasis is mine)

As of now, there's a simple automated watermark which connects the sample library to the owner. Other than that, there is no challenge/response or other copy protection. Personally, I don't believe in intrusive, troublesome copy protection that just makes legitimate users' lives harder.

After finding a buyer and receiving payment, all you have to do is send an email to Orange Tree Samples, including the new owner's full name, email address, and product you're selling. There is no transfer fee--we'll send the new owner download links, and update our records as to the new owner.

So even if you buy an Orange Tree Samples product second-hand, you'll still receive the benefits (possible crossgrade/upgrade discounts, etc.) as if you bought it directly from the Orange Tree Samples website.

Bless you, Greg!