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

[ralfrobert]

7 minutes ago, PhonoBrainer said:

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

...

On sale, of course.

I did exactly that, on sale of course. Plus u-he and TAL. It was not too expensive compared to my unstructured purchases on the carnival ground of the plugin industry. Add Komplete, and you are 100% covered and have very manageable cost structures. 

Also, everyone should try to earn the money for the plugins solely by making music. This can be very irritating, I tell you.

[Fleer]

Yep. FabFilter. Simply fab. 

[Bapu]

2 hours ago, Fleer said:

Yep. FabFilter. Simply fab. 

I wonder if Fab DuPont uses Fab plugins?

[Fleer]

“As a consultant, Dupont has worked with manufacturers such as Lauten Audio, Presonus, George Massenburg Labs, Dangerous Music, Avid, Sonnox, and Universal Audio.”

Dang. 

[Starship Krupa]

2 hours ago, Bapu said:

I wonder if Fab DuPont uses Fab plugins?

I wonder if Fab DuPont knows Tony Dow.

[Bruno de Souza Lino]

I wonder if Fab DuPont has been sued by DuPont for trademark infringement.

[Reid Rosefelt]

I have definitely slowed down a lot because of money.  I had a profession and now I'm retired, living on a limited income.  So I'm trying to be very strategic about what I really want to buy and try not to be distracted by sales and the completist desire to acquire everything in a series.   I recently wrote @Simeon Amburgey that I am afraid to watch his videos because he is such an amazing salesman.  ?  

I'm working on a video now about how I'm trying to cope with my VST addiction.

[Bapu]

1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

I wonder if Fab DuPont knows Tony Dow.

Or do they both hang out with The Chemical Brothers?
 

[Fleer]

1 hour ago, Bapu said:

Or do they both hang out with The Chemical Brothers?
 

PFAS ?

Nah, PGAS!

[InstrEd]

OBCD

My daughters condition.

Obsessive Bio-Chemistry Disorder ?

She coined it herself

[Fleer]

I had a chemical disorder in high school. 
Flunked every time. 

[InstrEd]

54 minutes ago, Fleer said:

I had a chemical disorder in high school. 
Flunked every time. 

She is very visual and she gets a 3D image in her head of  chem problems.   I'm glad she found something she  enjoys  studying. But at the same time she is right about having OBCD         But on the bright side she should make a comfortable living.   I confess I don't understand any of the research she  is doing. 

[Doug Rintoul]

1 hour ago, InstrEd said:

OBCD

My daughters condition.

Obsessive Bio-Chemistry Disorder ?

She coined it herself

Not the definition I find when I google OBCD.

[InstrEd]

56 minutes ago, Doug Rintoul said:

Not the definition I find when I google OBCD.

I'm to scared to google that now!   I did say my daughter coined it for herself

[53mph]

I don't know if it's just down to rising cost of living, shrinking salaries or plugin saturation...I think the whole music scene is in a bit of a rut, and that has a knock on effect.

I know musicians who have struggled to recover post pandemic. They are looking for new ways to make a living.  I see big names selling off their catalogues. I see new Spotify releases being churned out, multiplying faster than rabbits on heat. And I don't see any quality control. Audiences are being stretched thinly. Returns on investment are diminishing. It all contributes to more hesitation when pushing that PayPal button. 

While the CEOs of tech companies take on god-like statuses (and salaries), they spit the crumbs to the creators.

On a personal note. I've stopped hoarding worthless software as I just cannot justify it to myself anymore.

A few months ago I was even considering selling off my guitars and music hardware. I just couldn't see a reason to keep churning out this stuff anymore.

I've only just started writing again.... Nearly half a year since my last release.

*Bad case of the Black Dog

[Zargg]

I have definitely cut back due to finances. 

I'm also at a point that if it isn't Console1 compatible (so mostly down to Softube and UAD, and I have most of the C1 compatible plugins), I'm not that interested anymore. 

They are not on the cheap end of the scale most of the time either.

I did upgrade to Softube Volume 6, and is the only plugin purchase the past year (I believe).

I don't feel like I'm lacking anything plugin wise either, so don't feel I'm missing out when new and good deals are presented.

All the best.

[Walter Cruz]

I'm not slowing down due to finances, but I'm slowing down. (But I live on a poor country - Brazil - so, sometimes even a $29 plugin can be expensive here).

Like other mentioned, I think that I've 'completed' my collection.

I bought a lot of the (now cursed) $29 waves, then the PA voucher crazyness took place... like most of you. I think that beyond financial struggles, we are all tired of the same tricks, same promises... and sadly, I'm not even making music, just collecting plugins...

There's some tools that I still want, but they're a bit more expensive (Fabfilter plugins, by example). But I don't feel the urge anymore.

[Fleer]

I’ve been slowing down for a while now ‘cause I seem to have the ones I consider somewhat essential (from FabFilter, UVI, EastWest, Cinesamples, Arturia, Embertone, Zynaptiq, Eventide, SlateDigital, Wavesfactory, SoundTheory, Spitfire, OrangeTreeSamples, PlugInGuru, Output, ReasonStudios, Virharmonic, Pianoteq, Soniccouture, Spectrasonics, Kilohearts, Heavyocity, U-he, SampleLogic, iZotope, ImpactSoundworks, Native Instruments, PluginAlliance and a few others like ValhallaDSP). 

I don’t feel like I’m missing much, and that’s why I’m acquiring not as much as before. 

[Doug Rintoul]

4 hours ago, InstrEd said:

I'm to scared to google that now!   I did say my daughter coined it for herself

Not to worry, just sound the letters out and think of someone overweight.

[mettelus]

Not sure if this was mentioned, but another aspect for me has been that new features are less and less exciting as time passes. I stopped upgrading some software even before the pandemic hit. The old version still does what I need, and I tend to be critical of things that waste my time (updating software falls into this bucket for me). I still default to Adobe Audition 4 (c. 2011) as a wav editor for many things (especially batch work) just for its speed and functionality, so Adobe was the first vendor kicked to the curb when CC was released. After I got the MCompleteBundle a while back, unless an FX vendor can do something Melda cannot, that vendor isn't even considered.

Some aspects just boil down to procifiency with the tools you have can be far more important to getting the job done. While you cannot hammer in screws effectively, you certainly can pull screws with a wrecking bar in short order to get to the next phase of the job at hand.