cclarry

vintagevibe
 
I must assume that cclarry is a successful business man since he knows so much about business.  I do think he has one small thing wrong.  He is under the impression that businesses exist to lose money.

VV - I under no circumstance believe that a business exists to lose money.  I believe that a successful business
makes up in QUANTITY what they lose by OVERPRICING in the first place.  Case in point - WALMART.
They keep their prices low and sell more....that is HOW they do so well - they UNDERCUT the competition with
the SAME or BETTER product and sell in QUANTITY.  Make the prices "reasonable" and SELL MORE.  Seems 
pretty straight forward to me.

The problem with business is Corporate and CEO GREED.  The CEO believes that they "deserve" MILLIONS...while their employees make a pittance when, if they'd settle for a petty FEW HUNDRED THOUSAND, they could invest the difference back in the company, and the employees, and lower the prices, to make it a BETTER, MORE VIABLE, and MORE PROFITABLE venture overall.  

Another case in point - STARBUCKS..the CEO makes $9,600 an hour, but he balks at his employees making $15 an hour.  WHY?  Because then HE would only be able to make $9,000 an hour, and that is JUST NOT FAIR is it???!!! After all HE DESERVES that $9,600 an hour doesn't he?  But, as you stated "What do I know about business?"

GREED..that's all it is ...GREED....plain and simple...and the "Illusion of Value"  Capitalism at it's finest!

And they all play the game...it's just that some play it "better" then others...

If you believe Walmart is a good business model you should really see “ The high cost of low prices”. My list of reasons to dislike Walmart is too long to list here. They are a fine example of what you pointed out as the problem.
 
Rocky

bluzdog
 
 
If you believe Walmart is a good business model you should really see “ The high cost of low prices”. My list of reasons to dislike Walmart is too long to list here. They are a fine example of what you pointed out as the problem.
 
Rocky

Well aware Rocky...I know they TOO have big issues...but overpricing products isn't one of them...

All businesses have issues.   The problem stems from Corporate GREED at the top end, as I stated.

Starbucks also....GREED.  We some how seem to believe that "Making Money" is GREAT, even at 
the expense of everyone...customers, employees, etc....

They're in business to not only make money, but to provide a service to their customers, and to do
so at a reasonable price...NOT JUST TO MAKE MONEY.  That is my point.

EDIT:  BTW - I watch a LOT of Documentaries, and have seen that.  You want a REAL look
into American (and world) wealth, watch "The One Percent" Documentary by the Heir to the 
Johnson & Johnson Fortune...that will open your eyes...also his documentary "Born Rich".

Bajan Blue
Vintagevibe
I have to say I agree with Larry on some of this, especially Obi's comment:-
The only answer is 17 years of experience of customers telling us "we do not want to see new plugins available for sale or in Group Buys soon after they are released" 
Honestly please......
 
I agree with you that IK make good stuff but they do get it wrong - Look at SampleTank - what a monumental cock up that's been - and I am a very long time user and was actually looking forward to version 3 some time ago. Now I have kontakt 5 and Mach 3 - all I can say is that Sampletank 3,  if it ever comes along,  should be very good and the upgrade price simply has to be very reasonable - perhaps as Obi is actively in this thread he would be kind enough to give us an update on SampleTank 3's progress as things have gone very quiet, again, of late.
 
Finally I can't believe that you think IK's pricing and sales strategy is a preferred one - this constant group buy / 90% off policy they adopt in my view has degraded the perceived value of the software - I mean, they have just released these new products and have them for an initial price at $125 each I believe - but who in their right mind would pay this - unless you live on the moon everyone knows that very soon they will be "on sale" - well why not treat their customers as adults, price the products correctly from the getgo and when you have a sale, make it a legitimate one not a pretend one. 
 
Nigel

We do price the products more than reasonably from the get go (in fact if you ask the people whose efforts create these top quality plugins, they'd say we are already pricing them too low), there have been many purchasing the EQ 73 and EQ 81 at this price as they feel it is worth it.  It appears there's an assumption that nobody is interested in our plugins at full price, which I can understand from a certain perspective/context, but there exists a customer base who feel that the tools are excellent and they want to use them in their projects right away (some feel the price is worth the satisfaction of the end product, others simply make back what little these cost with a single project, and everywhere between) and for these reasons they simply can't be arsed to wait for a sale on something they feel is worth the asking price and that they're interested in using right away and they recoup their investment either directly or through getting good use out of a great plugin in short order (long before a sale exists on them).
 
About SampleTank 3, the builds are being distributed regularly and are showing fantastic progress toward the stated mid-year timeline on our official thread at http://www.ikmultimedia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7598  We've been posting shots of the instruments, the mixer, some videos, etc too.

IK_Multimedia

Bajan Blue
Vintagevibe
I have to say I agree with Larry on some of this, especially Obi's comment:-
The only answer is 17 years of experience of customers telling us "we do not want to see new plugins available for sale or in Group Buys soon after they are released" 
Honestly please......
 
I agree with you that IK make good stuff but they do get it wrong - Look at SampleTank - what a monumental cock up that's been - and I am a very long time user and was actually looking forward to version 3 some time ago. Now I have kontakt 5 and Mach 3 - all I can say is that Sampletank 3,  if it ever comes along,  should be very good and the upgrade price simply has to be very reasonable - perhaps as Obi is actively in this thread he would be kind enough to give us an update on SampleTank 3's progress as things have gone very quiet, again, of late.
 
Finally I can't believe that you think IK's pricing and sales strategy is a preferred one - this constant group buy / 90% off policy they adopt in my view has degraded the perceived value of the software - I mean, they have just released these new products and have them for an initial price at $125 each I believe - but who in their right mind would pay this - unless you live on the moon everyone knows that very soon they will be "on sale" - well why not treat their customers as adults, price the products correctly from the getgo and when you have a sale, make it a legitimate one not a pretend one. 
 
Nigel

We do price the products more than reasonably from the get go (in fact if you ask the people whose efforts create these top quality plugins, they'd say we are already pricing them too low), there have been many purchasing the EQ 73 and EQ 81 at this price as they feel it is worth it.  It appears there's an assumption that nobody is interested in our plugins at full price, which I can understand from a certain perspective/context, but there exists a customer base who feel that the tools are excellent and they want to use them in their projects right away (some feel the price is worth the satisfaction of the end product, others simply make back what little these cost with a single project, and everywhere between) and for these reasons they simply can't be arsed to wait for a sale on something they feel is worth the asking price and that they're interested in using right away and they recoup their investment either directly or through getting good use out of a great plugin in short order (long before a sale exists on them).
 
About SampleTank 3, the builds are being distributed regularly and are showing fantastic progress toward the stated mid-year timeline on our official thread at http://www.ikmultimedia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7598  We've been posting shots of the instruments, the mixer, some videos, etc too.

Well there's always the "gotta be the first to have it who'll pay anything" crowd Obi, as I pointed out in my assessment of your business model...there always will be...but I'm sure, in spite of what ever you may say,
the sales are not as anticipated.  

Yes ....ST 3 is only 6 months behind the already 2 year behind the already 2 year behind schedule...after 10 years!

RIGHT ON TIME!!!  Oh Yeah!!!  

+1 Larry,
 
Yeah, the ST3 thing was the driving factor that caused me to remove all of the IK workstation stuff from my already full sample drives. About the only thing I'm now using from IK is ARC and sometimes Amplitude.
 
As soon as I can find a suitable alternative to ARC it's gone also and I will be IK free.

I've got a feeling that most of the software companies do quite a bit of research on the sales trends of their products and know pretty much what percentage of buyers will buy right away and which will wait for a price reduction. Those who are eager to buy the product and feel that the value is there to justify the investment will buy right away. Others wait for a price drop or have to be more frugal because they don't have the funds to be early adopters. Either way, I'm sure IK pretty much has that mapped out before they even release it.

I have no doubt, this is a really high quality plug, the reviews by some pretty respected folk have been excellent so far. I just happen to be one that has to be pretty frugal with what I buy. Unless this was to eventually go from being a hobby, to a business, or I end up divorced....which ever happens first. :-)

Again I suggest people try the SlickEQ by TDR/VOS. It's free and sounds very good to me. I also like the Hornet SW34 EQ.
http://www.tokyodawn.net/tokyo-dawn-labs/ (for download)
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=210&t=408661 (bunch of user presets. Works like Valhalla)

Clint,

I grabbed the Slick EQ and it is on my latest song on the forums. I was very impressed with it; thanks for that lead. I will have to check out Hornet one of these days as well.

MakeShift
I've got a feeling that most of the software companies do quite a bit of research on the sales trends of their products and know pretty much what percentage of buyers will buy right away and which will wait for a price reduction. Those who are eager to buy the product and feel that the value is there to justify the investment will buy right away. Others wait for a price drop or have to be more frugal because they don't have the funds to be early adopters. Either way, I'm sure IK pretty much has that mapped out before they even release it.

I have no doubt, this is a really high quality plug, the reviews by some pretty respected folk have been excellent so far. I just happen to be one that has to be pretty frugal with what I buy. Unless this was to eventually go from being a hobby, to a business, or I end up divorced....which ever happens first. :-)

This is exactly what I "mapped out" in my reference to their business practice...

The "I can't waits first"
The "OK it's on sales" and, last but not least the
"OK it's in a group buy"s...

They somehow think we are oblivious to how this works....Nope...not the case...LOL

I'm sure these EQ's are good.  But then so are the Kuassa Neve's at $39 each or $65 for the pair.
And as is the DDMF 6144...their emulation of the 5033, for $39....

Of course you could get the Steinberg Licences Portico's for $199 each...

But, hey, to each their own...I've grown wise my old age...I'll be in group 3....

BTW...I just picked up the MAutoDynamicEQ from Melda during the sale for less the $60....
The only other Multiband EQ I have is the Quad Series from IK...and it doesn't compare at all.

And I can guarantee it's 10 times the EQ that these are...even at normal list price of $139 -
I would go so far as to say it's at least as good as, if not better, the Fabfilter PRO MB...

Try the demo...you'll be amazed....

http://www.meldaproductio....php?id=MAutoDynamicEq