Are finances curbing your purchase of plugins, music software, upgrades, hardware?

[Marc Cormier]

11 minutes ago, Byron Dickens said:

Must be the hard drive closet on the left end.

[husker]

5 hours ago, Carl Ewing said:

Imagine running any other business where you're constantly just buying more and more shit because it's on sale. Like a construction company that has 80 types of a hammers because of "flash sales". 

That really is a great analogy.  I've never thought about it that way before. 

[GTsongwriter]

3 hours ago, AndyB01 said:

I think I'm done with plugins for a while. I need to replace my ageing laptop when Win 10 goes out of support but I'm milking every last ounce out of it before I do.

I've been looking at potential suppliers of a replacement and they seem extortionate for a dedicated music PC, so not sure where I'll source one yet.

Meanwhile I'd better hope that contract extension comes through... ?

Andy

There's people still using windows 7 and XP that I know of.  Even if support ends for those systems doesn't make them useless.

If your afraid to use the internet after support ends, get yourself a Raspberry PI zero, set it up as a internet firewall and put it between your old computer and the internet for protection.

 

[Starship Krupa]

Not financial as such, but for other reasons, mostly that I've "topped up" my collection.

I exceeded my desire/need to own any more FX when I leveraged up to MComplete in the last Melda 65% off bundles sale. Prior to that I had gotten the iZotope MPS5 in the glitch, and at that point was confident that I was not going to be slowed down from anything I wanted to do for want of tools to do it with.

The way I am with tools and instruments and so forth is that once I'm confident that money can take me no further, I pretty much stop (and move on to the next project that involves shopping!).

I know it's a truism that if you know what you're doing, you can do a great mix with one good each compressor, EQ, delay, and reverb, but it's nice to have a wide variety to choose from (as long as it doesn't lead to being frozen due to too much choice).

Virtual instruments are the more slip'ry slope, but even with those, I'm beyond my own capacity to make use of the ones I have. I have MASSIVE, Chromaphone, MSoundFactory, MDrummer, and MPowerSynth. I think my bas(s)es are adequately covered. I'm not going to be sitting thinking "I just can't find an appropriate sound."

Every once in a while some trinket or other will catch my eye, and I'm usually up for checking out interesting freeware.

I'll confess: I do crave the dopamine squirt that I get from acquiring some new trinket or other. But I do get to the "enough" point (when there is one).

[Fleer]

4 hours ago, Bapu said:

It's so big it's beyond compare

Compadre

[Brian Walton]

On the average it is fair to say most in this hobby bought far more plugins than they have use or need for.  

It was clearly a bubble that burst.

Yes the economy is now terrible and combined with no need for more purchases are now rare.  Wasted way too much during the constant pandemic sales.  

[Yan Filiatrault]

6 hours ago, paulo said:

unless somebody comes up with a vst that writes the lyric for me, then I already have enough stuff for my needs, it's the lyrically uninspired idiot attempting to use it all that is standing in the way of my path to endless riches. 

 

You have ChatGPT for that and it’s free 

[kitekrazy1]

Part of it is bad finances.  I'm still paying from purchases (software) made over 10 years.   Then many vehicle repairs, tires, are placed on credit.  Then you have no issue paying for a plugin and then more.

It's overwhelming

[NOLAGuy]

I'm in line with most of the comments where the "inner desire" to get a new or steeply discounted plug-in has faded... EXCEPT for vocal plugins.

I see a new vocal plugin and I watch all the videos, check reviews and if there's any hope of somehow improving my vocals just a lil bit, I spring for it. Only to later find that ther are no magic presets that I can just add to my vocals and really sound good.

 

So... I decided to do something really radical. I stopped buying plug-ins because of ads or enticing videos, and I'm going to actually learn to use each effect I already have and try to completely understand what it does and does not do to enhance my vocals or instrumentals. If I find it doesn't do something better than another plugin I have, it goes off to the archive folder.

 

Give me a few months of doing this and let's see if I can survive it!

[Byron Dickens]

 

[tansetter]

6 hours ago, El Diablo said:

There's people still using windows 7 and XP that I know of.  Even if support ends for those systems doesn't make them useless.

If your afraid to use the internet after support ends, get yourself a Raspberry PI zero, set it up as a internet firewall and put it between your old computer and the internet for protection.

 

Yeah, I'm really thinking of getting off the supported OS treadmill and riding Win10 into the ground far beyond 2025 EOL. I'll get a separate (cheap) machine for banking and secure financial transactions, and dip the DAW machine in amber, harden it, DMZ it, virtualize it. Shoot, I bet in 10 years neo-hipsters will be pestering me for my collection of vintage plugins, and I'll be bragging in forums about that classic VST2 32 bit "warmth," and character!

[ralfrobert]

14 hours ago, Carl Ewing said:

Economic downturn or not, this is the THE cheapest time in history to get into music / audio production. There are way too many cheap paths to excellent quality stuff. Unless you pirate, then every year is the cheapest year I guess. Haha. But I think people really have to become more disciplined. There is no need to have 10 tape emulations. 14 reverbs and 8 LA-2A emulations. Imagine running any other business where you're constantly just buying more and more shit because it's on sale. Like a construction company that has 80 types of a hammers because of "flash sales". Haha. Excessive software also creates legacy  / compatibility nightmares over time, and just adds tons of logistical headaches (i.e. total wastes of time) trying to keep track of it all, or doing new system installs or troubleshooting. 

I think the moment things turned around for me was when I started thinking of the software as a craftsman's tools, not shiny lifestyle products. It helped a lot to watch Mixing with Mike, particularly the older videos. He just uses Waves all the time, because he knows the plugins in and out and is used to reach for them. 

Just a matter of thinking. The DAW environment is a workbench, not a plugin exhibition for hipsters. 

[Starship Krupa]

Here's some food for thought (which made me feel kinda uncomfortable when it occurred to me):

We all talk about "getting to really know the (friggin' excellent, in most cases) FX we already have," and nobody reading this would disagree that it's the best thing to be doing.

So....how much time (online or elsewhere) do I spend sharing that information with other people vs. how much time I still spend sharing deals information (even though I've decided that I already have enough/too much)?

The answer for me, is "waaaay less." I know more about forum friends' tastes in plug-ins and manufacturers than I do about their tastes in EQ, compression, and reverb settings. Yes, we do talk a bit about what this or that plug-in is good for (all hail the almighty MCompressor dynamics display). And it is the Deals sub after all.

Still, if what I want to be doing is honing my skills (which I'll probably never be "finished" honing), why am I not spending at least as much time sharing about that in a forum that's not about deals?

Not entirely rhetorical question, there may be some logical reasons, like wanting to find my own path through it, reluctance to admit what I don't already know, etc. It's more fun to be an "authority" about something than it is to be someone asking for information. And for sure, there's a camaraderie in this sub, the value of which isn't to be underestimated.

We joke, but topics like this one do act as an opportunity for mutual support around the idea that some bit of software or other is going to "save" me. ?

[Starship Krupa]

8 minutes ago, ralfrobert said:

The DAW environment is a workbench, not a plugin exhibition for hipsters.

That's a little harsh, dontcha think?

I think of mine more as an aging musician's electric train layout. ?

[ralfrobert]

3 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

That's a little harsh, dontcha think?

I think of mine more as an aging musician's electric train layout. ?

Like in model train? Yes, you can see it like this. The Märklin penny grave.

[ralfrobert]

General remark: We have some nice discussions going on here that have nothing or little to do with snatching the next product. Great!

[Canopus]

Back in 2012 I decided to once again pick up my dormant interest in music creation. Here’s a bar chart showing the number of purchases I’ve made for the last ten years. It includes DAWs, plugins, Kontakt libraries and synth expansions. I seem to slowly be on the mend, but that's probably more caused by plugin saturation and diminishing interest than by economics.

I’ll keep the related bar chart showing the purchase amounts to myself and my bad conscience.

[Nick Blanc]

As an answer to the topicstarter, no finances are not really an issue for me per se. I consider myself very lucky to have an incredibly stable job,  low pressure/stress and a very decent pay. Combine that with very low living costs (I got very lucky with the market to buy my house when I did) and I have a pretty sweet setup. So, all is well? No. Costs of living are rising, that's a concern. I make a conscious choie to avoid going to bars every weekend. I don't eat out / order in. I go out to lunch once a week. I walk around in clothes that are years old. Etc.

But I'm cutting back on software purchases and focussing more on the hardware side. I have no interest anymore in the next vari-mu emulation. I'm not saying I won't ever buy another plugin (I just bought the Sonible gate because I only have the Kilohearts one). I do however would like to own a Prophet at some point. And I won't get there by buying 7 EQ's a month.

[PhonoBrainer]

To answer the OP: yes, slowed way down. Feeling the boa constrictor of inflation.

It seems the common path to buy literally hundreds of effects, on sale of course, just to figure out the 12 you like to use.

To that end, wish I had just gone with Fabfilter first, instead of later on.

So that's effects. A different story are the instruments and sound sources. I can justify a new color in the palette. 

What??? Wave-o-matic has faithfully recreated the vuvuzuela bagpipe of East Borneo? In  9GB Kontakt instrument? Gotta have it.

On sale, of course.

Edited July 20, 2023 by PhonoBrainer

[Release]

I've definitely cut back, but it's not necessarily about finances.  It's more or less about seeing the embarrassing amount of tools I own that I haven't fully explored yet.  

I'll see a nice new instrument come out, get on all the forums to see what people are saying, check out all the YouTube videos and just savor that sweet, sweet dopamine rush.... and then realize I probably have something that's "close  enough" in my library and I tell myself just can't justify it.  

But man, the thrill of the hunt (and places like this that are just enabling out addiction) makes it difficult.  LOL.