Heath Row Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 (edited) The curator is you, you search what you want, and get only what you want, of course if you don't know what you want, then . . . I guess, you'll be forever in the grasp of The GAS [edit] and by search I don't mean scrolling through endless lists and pages, I mean type it in the search box, or put a tick in a box, and BAMM!!! come home to daddy. Edited September 4, 2022 by heath row Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicMan Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 I'd say the volume has definitely dropped, but that's also because Lars was really good at posting all deals. For me personally, if it's a developers recurring regular prices (or I don't like them!) then I often won't spend time posting them. Using Waves as an example, but it applies to quite a few developers, if they're having a $29 sale, I really see no point in posting them, as then we're more free advertising rather than helping the forum members get deals. Not quite the same, but with JRR, most of us seem to just cherry pick the best bargains to share. Lars spent a lot of time making posts for almost, if not all of them. But Lars posting them probably does benefit some people who have been waiting for the next sale. I'm just not sure how he found the spare time to do all that! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAGinz Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 2 hours ago, heath row said: Personally I don't mind if any of these sites make money from this, they are providing a service, and a damn good one, good luck and more power to 'em. I’m with you on this, so long as disclosed in the event the poster is also specifically endorsing the product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PavlovsCat Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 (edited) On 9/4/2022 at 8:01 PM, LAGinz said: I’m with you on this, so long as disclosed in the event the poster is also specifically endorsing the product. The comcern over a site making a commission from a sale isn't the key point I intended when I compare Larry to the deal sites. Allow me to explain once again. A deal site that is focused solely on making revenue from affiliate sales commissions. Its sole objective is to get you to make a purchase using its link so it can make revenue from you. It's not going to find the best deal among multiple retailers, it's only going to show you retailers that give them a commission for your sale and exclude those that do not -- so the universe of what your shown is very limited by the site owner's ability to get a kickback on a sale; most of these principles apply to influencers and the "reviews" they do -- which are mostly motivated by their ability to make a kickback on sales of the products they "review" but some of the smaller ones also do it partially so they can get free product (NFRs) -- of course, all of this means you're seeing a heavily biased view that's not working solely focused on your interests, but on their profit or benefit interests . On a related note, they're going to ignore the small developers that don't give them a kickback when you make a purchase; so they purposely keep the product universe limited to what they can score a kickback on and exclude competitors they don’t get a kickback on or feature small developers that don't offer them a commission on sales (the small devs without affiliate marketing schemes are generally ignored). They're also not going to bother keeping up with those little extra discount codes that Larry was so great at sharing -- unless they have a code that generates them additional affiliate revenue. So you often don't get the best deal among all product resellers. You don't get the extra discount codes and you often don't know about small devs selling direct that don't have an affiliate marketing scheme that gives these deal sites and influencers a kickback for promoting their products. Now, I'll probably use the deal site by the guy who promotes it on this forum, because it absolutely can be very useful; setting up a bot to watch price drops; well, I'm actually presently doing that. I'm just saying that there's a notable difference in how something curated by Larry works -- a guy with no interest in grabbing a kickback for what he shared -- and a business model entirely based upon creating revenue from people looking for sales information. I'm not discounting the latter, I have a long history leading digital marketing that includes leading affiliate marketing at major brands and writing and speaking on these areas to Fortune 500 managers. I just want to point out the difference and how valuable that service Larry provided was, not just to us, but to small indie developers that don't give affiliate kickbacks. Edited September 6, 2022 by PavlovsCat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Jones Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, heath row said: The curator is you, you search what you want, and get only what you want, of course if you don't know what you want, then . . . I guess, you'll be forever in the grasp of The GAS [edit] and by search I don't mean scrolling through endless lists and pages, I mean type it in the search box, or put a tick in a box, and BAMM!!! come home to daddy. But Fleer don't want to "curate." I believe what he wants is something closer to concierge amirite? But it's not always about finding deals on specific stuff you want. What if I don't know that I want anything at all? I can't tell you how many times I just randomly decided to look on the Cakewalk deals forum after not having done so for weeks, and saw a deal that I wasn't even thinking about -- didn't know what it even *was* until I looked further into the thread and then said "oh yeah actually that'd be cool to have." It's like I go to the grocery store, and I don't plan to eat anything while I'm in there, but there's some guy giving out toothpick samples of prime rib he just grilled up and I'm like "actually yeah dude hook it up," but I didn't go there expecting that. That's what I like about the Cakewalk Deals. You don't know what you want until you see it; I see it.. I need it. Plus, I'm a Cakewalk lifer since Pro 8, so I *want* to be here. I'm also a Duped Lifer as I bought in to the "Lifetime Updates" final grift that Roland or whoever it was got me for. Edited September 5, 2022 by Christian Jones ? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heath Row Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 12 minutes ago, Christian Jones said: Plus, I'm a Cakewalk lifer since Pro 8, so I *want* to be here. I'm also a Duped Lifer as I bought in to the "Lifetime Updates" final grift that Roland or whoever it was got me for. I'm from Pro Audio 9, and the Life Time updates came in the Gibson era. Since 2015/2016 I have only been here (and the old forum) for the Deals, the deals, the deals and only the deals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Jones Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 31 minutes ago, heath row said: Since 2015/2016 I have only been here (and the old forum) for the Deals, the deals, the deals and only the deals. Interesting.. I'm largely here for the deals, the Deals, the deals and the deals myself. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleer Posted September 5, 2022 Author Share Posted September 5, 2022 9 hours ago, Christian Jones said: But Fleer don't want to "curate." I believe what he wants is something closer to concierge amirite? But it's not always about finding deals on specific stuff you want. What if I don't know that I want anything at all? I can't tell you how many times I just randomly decided to look on the Cakewalk deals forum after not having done so for weeks, and saw a deal that I wasn't even thinking about -- didn't know what it even *was* until I looked further into the thread and then said "oh yeah actually that'd be cool to have." It's like I go to the grocery store, and I don't plan to eat anything while I'm in there, but there's some guy giving out toothpick samples of prime rib he just grilled up and I'm like "actually yeah dude hook it up," but I didn't go there expecting that. That's what I like about the Cakewalk Deals. You don't know what you want until you see it; I see it.. I need it. Exactly. Which is why I need a curating concierge. Someone who knows what I need before I do. And finds deals accordingly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toffo Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 Well, since the thread is still not locked I’m gonna jump in once again to say that I miss Lara and I hope that one day, deals or no deals, he comes back. i’m here mostly for the chatter around the deals anyway, and I enjoyed reading what he had to say. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicMan Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 34 minutes ago, Fleer said: Exactly. Which is why I need a curating concierge. Someone who knows what I need before I do. And finds deals accordingly. That's one thing I really like about this forum. Some of my favourite plugins I'd never known about until stumbling across some deals on here and reading some of the recommendations ? I subscribe to the ones I know about, but it's those unknown gems that pop up that keep producing interesting and fun. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAGinz Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 11 hours ago, PavlovsCat said: The comcern over a site making a commission from a sale isn't the key point I intended when I compare Larry to the deal sites. Allow me to explain once again. A deal site that is focused solely on making revenue from affiliate sales commissions. Its sole objective is to get you to make a purchase using its link so it can make revenue from you. It's not going to find the best deal among multiple retailers, it's only going to show you retailers that give them a commission for your sale and exclude those that do not -- so the universe of what your shown is very limited by the site owner's ability to get a kickback on a sale; most of these principles apply to influencers and the "reviews" they do -- which are mostly motivated by their ability to make a kickback on sales of the products they "review" but some of the smaller ones also do it partially so they can get free product (NFRs) -- of course, all of this means you're seeing a heavily biased view that's not working solely focused on your interests, but on their profit or benefit interests . On a related note, they're going to ignore the small developers that don't give them a kickback when you make a purchase; so they purposely keep the product universe limited to what they can score a kickback on and exclude competitors they don’t get a kickback on. They're also not going to bother keeping up with those little extra discount codes that Larry was so great at sharing -- unless they have a code that generates them additional affiliate revenue. So you often don't get the best deal among all product resellers. You don't get the extra discount codes and you often don't know about small devs selling direct that don't have an affiliate marketing scheme that gives these deal sites and influencers a kickback for promoting their products. Now, I'll probably use the deal site by the guy who promotes it on this forum, because it absolutely can be very useful; setting up a bot to watch price drops; well, I'm actually presently doing that. I'm just saying that there's a notable difference in how something curated by Larry works -- a guy with no interest in grabbing a kickback for what he shared -- and a business model entirely based upon creating revenue from people looking for sales information. I'm not discounting the latter, I have a long history leading digital marketing that includes leading affiliate marketing at major brands and writing and speaking on these areas to Fortune 500 managers. I just want to point out the difference and how valuable that service Larry provided was, not just to us, but to small indie developers that don't give affiliate kickbacks. I got what you were saying the first time. Of course we’d all like Larry back, for many reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhonoBrainer Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 (edited) Good time to mention that HoRNet is having a 50% BOGO Labor Day Moonlight late summer sale. I didn't look it up, I just figured. Miss you Lars. Glad you have a life. Edited September 5, 2022 by PhonoBrainer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bapu Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 My 2 (pence/cent/centavos/etc.) Lars was on top of immediate availability of sale items that I would get in a company provided email sometimes up to two days later (ToonTrack comes to mind the most). Without Lars posting his insane amount of threads daily I'll just rely on company related announcements. I may miss a deal here or there, but such is life. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
husker Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 (edited) The culture of the forum certainly has changed since he left, and I don't think for the better. His wealth of knowledge really sparked some interesting threads here, and that just doesn't occur much anymore. I used to visit this forum multiple times a day, now sometimes I'll go days without visiting at all. I never was a huge contributor, but I gained quite a bit of knowledge. Now, it just really isn't worth the time much anymore. If you recall, we had to lobby to create this sub forum in the wake of the Cakewalk demise, now I wouldn't be surprised if it is just removed if it dies any more - it really doesn't have anything to do with Cakewalk. I miss Larry, but I don't think he is coming back either. I probably wouldn't - shoot, one poster here in the aftermath called Larry's personal beliefs/ideologies "unethical." Why would he stick around? Edited September 5, 2022 by husker 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitekrazy1 Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 2 hours ago, Bapu said: My 2 (pence/cent/centavos/etc.)Lars was on top of immediate availability of sale items that I would get in a company provided email sometimes up to two days later (ToonTrack comes to mind the most). Without Lars posting his insane amount of threads daily I'll just rely on company related announcements. I may miss a deal here or there, but such is life. Maybe his supplier went dry. I doubt he spent hours surfing the web. I also think his absence may have more to it since I can't see him getting that upset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Jones Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 ibtl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 ibtl +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitekrazy1 Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 On 9/4/2022 at 10:40 AM, PavlovsCat said: I'd say the best alternative strategy is joining that Facebook group Larry and I are in. He reposted a lot of his deals from that group. But what he did better than anyone I know of was provide additional discount codes and sales from developers that don’t use affiliate marketing. However, that group and the music software deals site guy that post here doesn't share the codes or a lot of the deals from smaller devs because they're focused on making commissions off of your sale. They only show you deals where they get a kickback and exclude the codes and developers that don't give them a kickback. I guess one has to search "I'd say the best alternative strategy is joining that Facebook group Larry and I are in" to find it. I may have joined it but FB is really messy. You get these feeds because friends replied to something you didn't join. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitekrazy1 Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 We have a bad habit of using Deals for anything but. Members should look at other parts of the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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