# How not to be a sample library developer - 4 lessons for the future



## Old Timer (Nov 28, 2018)

I’ve been developing sample libraries for about a year now. With the launch of Plink 2, I now have three sample libraries available over at https://www.sampleism.com/label/Old-Timer/ (Sampleism.)

Here’s what I’ve learned so far.
*
Lesson 1 - Timing is crucial*
Have you ever known you shouldn’t do something and done it anyway? Like when you know your going to cut your hand if you try to take the stone out of an avocado with the sharpest knife you own and you go ahead regardless? Well, that’s what I did when I released Plink 2 on Black Friday weekend. I knew I shouldn’t do it. I knew, even as a pressed the send button that I shouldn’t do it. 

And yet I did it. 

Why? 

I think I was just plain eager. I’ve been working on it for months, and then it was with a coding guru from Sound Aesthetics Sampling, and he worked on it some more. And basically, Black Friday weekend just happened to be when I finally had everything I needed to upload it - the visuals, the manual, the demos, YouTube videos, etc… 

And I just couldn’t wait. 

And it was the worst time because of course every other sample library developer on the planet was also competing for the attention of all of us who buy sample libraries. Plink 2 was, of course, quite simply blown out of the water.

*Lesson 2 - I’m a daydream believer*
In my head, with each new release, I’ve thought - people will really like this. This will set the VI community on fire! I walk my dog and I daydream and I get carried away. Before I know it, I’m twenty years from now telling people how it all started. Of course I realise it doesn’t work like this. All I can do is learn with each new release, try and improve and make better sample libraries each time - but in my head each new release might be ‘the one’, like Spitfire’s original Albion was ‘the one’.

*Lesson 3 - Don’t ask YouTubers to do anything for you*
Marketing! I know nothing. I had this idea that if I Tweeted to all the YouTubers I like they’d pick up on Plink 2 and say ‘Hey guys, check out this cool new product.’ 

So I tweeted BoBeats, Cuckoo, Christian Henson, and Cabinet of Curiosities and said ‘Hey, What do you think of Plink?’. 

There was a deafening silence. 

Apart from BoBeats… Bo Beats Tweeted in reply - ‘No opinion on it really’. 

Now, I’m not sure whether to put this down to cultural or language difference, but his Tweet sounded harsh to me - and for a couple of hours I was hurt. I had in mind to send all kinds of responses. I even considered taking a picture of my todger and Tweeting back to him, ‘What do you think of this then?’

I didn’t. Probably for the best. In the end I tweeted - ‘Fair enough’ and added a smiley face. The next day, however, I was still mulling it over and while shopping in IKEA, I took a picture of a pepper pot and Tweeted ‘Hey Bo - Any opinions on this then?’ He tweeted back about 20 minutes later - ’10/10 Must Buy’. 

For some reason I felt better about it then.

*Lesson 4 - Numbers CAN lie*
I was briefly elated when I saw that one of my YouTube videos for Plink was getting (for me) quite a lot of views. But I was brought down again because I wasn’t getting many likes and not a single comment. 

I thought, how can so many people watch it and not react? 

It wasn’t until I realised that Plink is also some kind of software to do with writing code for games. So most of these views, I’m thinking, are misdirects and the vast majority of viewers are scratching their heads looking at a plinky sample library, probably thinking what is this, before clicking off after 20 seconds. 

Either that or it’s a shit video.



*Now what?*
So, what is my ‘take home’ from these lessons? 

I think it is that I shouldn’t try to rush things or expect anything. That way, hopefully, I can just enjoy what I do. 

I’m writing this with my cat, Dolly, sitting on my lap. She’s purring, and snuffling about, and isn’t too fussed about anything. She takes life as it comes. She eats when she’s hungry, sleeps when she’s tired, goes out when she feels like it. She doesn’t appear to have any self-pity or want much from life. She does what she does. She just is. 

I’m going to try and be more like Dolly.

Happy trails, OT.


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## Vischebaste (Nov 28, 2018)

Well, I've just watched it (deliberately, not misdirected from a software coding site) and I think it sounds lovely. So you can chalk up at least one genuine like!


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## Old Timer (Nov 28, 2018)

Vischebaste said:


> Well, I've just watched it (deliberately, not misdirected from a software coding site) and I think it sounds lovely. So you can chalk up at least one genuine like!


 
Thank you for that!


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## germancomponist (Nov 28, 2018)

Old Timer said:


> ... I’m writing this with my cat, Dolly, sitting on my lap. She’s purring, and snuffling about, and isn’t too fussed about anything. She takes life as it comes. She eats when she’s hungry, sleeps when she’s tired, goes out when she feels like it. She doesn’t appear to have any self-pity or want much from life. She does what she does. She just is.
> 
> I’m going to try and be more like Dolly.
> 
> Happy trails, OT.


Yeah this! The flora and fauna is far superior to us in many things. ... And now I will watch your vid.


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## CGR (Nov 28, 2018)

I feel for you Old Timer. Seems that there is so much out there vying for everyone's attention that much of the good stuff gets overlooked, at least initially. I've noticed a trend in recent years of the 'no response syndrome'. I get it, everyone is busy, but a little courtesy wouldn't go astray.

A quote from American comedian Steve Martin:


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## Old Timer (Nov 28, 2018)

CGR said:


> I feel for you Old Timer. Seems that there is so much out there vying for everyone's attention that much of the good stuff gets overlooked, at least initially. I've noticed a trend in recent years of the 'no response syndrome'. I get it, everyone is busy, but a little courtesy wouldn't go astray.
> 
> A quote from American comedian Steve Martin:


Love that! Thanks.


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## Erick - BVA (Nov 28, 2018)

Old Timer said:


> I’ve been developing sample libraries for about a year now. With the launch of Plink 2, I now have three sample libraries available over at https://www.sampleism.com/label/Old-Timer/ (Sampleism.)
> 
> Here’s what I’ve learned so far.
> *
> ...



Good lessons. I've had the pleasure of working with Paul on a number of things --and still am. We've discussed quite a bit related to these topics. But one thing that I've realized is that it doesn't really matter how cool we think our ideas are, they have to be practical and have some use. The source of the sound really doesn't matter. Oh, cool, you made this library from just the sound of wind? Well, that's neat, but can I actually use it? I tend to get caught up in the novelty of where a sound comes from when I'm making a library, instead of thinking about the practicality of it. So I tend to hype myself up thinking that others will dig a sound or library just because of the novelty of the sound sources. But almost any sound source can be made into an instrument. So all that matters is the end product, and how useful it is. 
None of the above was directed towards you or your instruments. I really like the sound of Plink!


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## Mike Greene (Nov 28, 2018)

If it makes you feel any better, most developers (including me) are terrible businessmen. Most of us are a combination of musician/composer/coder and maybe a couple other skills, but business savvy? Nope. That's a totally different skillset. So you're in good (or bad!  ) company.


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## NYC Composer (Nov 28, 2018)

Oh please, Mike. It just took you a while to get the energy flowing in the right direction. False modesty.


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## David Cuny (Nov 29, 2018)

Congratulations on getting v2 out!

But: so. much. purple. 

I remember seeing the video for the first Plink library. I thought it did a great job - it showed off the sounds, was visually appealing, and gave an example of the sort of music one could make with it.

I didn't need think I needed the library, but it stuck in my mind as something I might eventually want to pick up.

The second video is exactly as advertised - a bit too unfocused and rambling to sell me the same way the first one did. But I'm just a hobbyist, so I doubt I'm in your target audience.


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## germancomponist (Nov 29, 2018)

The first thing what comes to my mind is: You always have to sell yourself, you as a person! Look at Apple's marketing or some others, who do not present the best results what is makeable to produce, but they use emotional reasons, why you have to buy this or that.
If you can sell yourself well, then people will buy you almost everything. There are enough examples. Good products were often even prevented by other, sympathetic sellers. An example is the Beta 2000 Video System from Philips.
Do great vids and make sure that you are well presented in the most media .... .


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## Old Timer (Nov 29, 2018)

David Cuny said:


> The second video is exactly as advertised - a bit too unfocused and rambling to sell me the same way the first one did. But I'm just a hobbyist, so I doubt I'm in your target audience.



Ha! Love that and I couldn't agree more - you should have heard it before I edited out most of the hmms... it's a lot harder than I imagined actually saying words into a microphone.


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## Alatar (Dec 10, 2018)

Thanks for sharing you experience. 
Very interesting.
There was a talk about this on ADC 18. About making it as an Indie developer in the audio plugin market. Very nice talk, I think:


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## mOKa (Dec 10, 2018)

@Old Timer @Alatar
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

I just made a few little ones for myself and finally tried to make my first polished little "library" to see how it would be received. But like you mentionend not much interested or feedback tbh.
This is it. Hope its okay to add a link


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## Old Timer (Dec 10, 2018)

Alatar said:


> Thanks for sharing you experience.
> Very interesting.
> There was a talk about this on ADC 18. About making it as an Indie developer in the audio plugin market. Very nice talk, I think:



Very interesting. Thanks for posting - he's actually doing very well I'd say. I'm nowhere near close.


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## Old Timer (Dec 10, 2018)

mOKa said:


> @Old Timer @Alatar
> Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
> 
> I just made a few little ones for myself and finally tried to make my first polished little "library" to see how it would be received. But like you mentionend not much interested or feedback tbh.
> This is it. Hope its okay to add a link



Hey - thanks for sharing. I like your Drones library - I like the idea of a curation of sounds, which is the notion I had for Plink. Best of luck with your project.


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