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Sample Library Depreciation thread

I don't regret my purchases as much as regretting too many purchases. I don't complain about NFR. Most of the time mine choice are based on impulse. (You should see my DAW collection). This is the way it is with digital content. Try to use them anyway. If you are into PC gaming getting burned far outweighs any DAW software.
 
I've just downloaded a 30 day trial of Iconica Opus from Orchestral Tools and Steinberg. It was 190gb I think, and I'm quite enjoying it so far.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you sell this on later if you want too.....

Just saying...
 
Or how about user trials!!

I couldn't agree more. if there is no resale option, then the developers need to either stand by their product, or offer trials. I bought a few things from 8Dio based off their trial pack...sounded so good, I could imagine how the rest sounded...so I did.

"the legato has a problem on fast sequences as you can hear a weird noise in the transitions" means gold to me, as it is something which may affect my ability to create music, whatever that is.

This can also be the fault of the user...you need to take into account the experience of the person saying that. If Andy Blaney had said it...of course would mean more than if someone who hasn't really worked with sample libraries or did lots of mockups, or even own any other library to compare against. Also context and perspective (what the person's expectation of the library is), has a lot to do with it as well.

The bottom line, is that only you can determine if what someone else is experiencing, is going to affect your style and way of composing. Someone might complain about the tone, but if they only have one mic, and no good reverbs to put it through, then that's something to consider when deciding if you are going to buy or not.

Also, a three day money back guarantee would be cool...:) All in all...agreed about a few things you said.
 
I guess I should count myself lucky since I don't regret any of the purchases I've made. Granted, I'm a responsible shopper who's able to wait for sales or crossgrades. I've never pre-ordered anything and don't plan to.
 
As some people have mentioned here, I feel that bite-sized freebies could be one way to allow trial-before-purchase.

Walkthroughs and reviews are not interactive and thus won't do the job. Instead, these tend to play on skill and our falsely formed perceptions of the product's potential.

Or perhaps some system where you can book an appointment to trial the full product via a remote connection to somewhere (similar to chrome remote desktop). It used to exist but I don't really know of what happened to this concept.
 
At the end of the day, I just wish there was a better way to make a more informed decision on purchasing a library. Whether that is trials, returns, or something else doesn't matter much to me.

This is what I've wished for many years now. I've spent between $30k and $40k on music software/samples/synths since around the early 2000's. Sadly, nearly half of my purchases have been long-term disappointments in which I never ended up using the software. $15k - $20k of wasted money! I personally believe that many sample developers truly do not want their libraries be demoed beforehand, as they know it would allow people to make more informed decisions on whether the library is right for them. Developers count on well dressed demos and impulse buys. I'm 50 years old though, so maybe I'm just getting cynical in my advancing age. All I know is that years ago I decided that I would do whatever it took to either track someone down who has the library, as to get to use it myself first, or what until at least 2 or 3 reviewers whom I trust give me their opinions on it. I'm a working musician who has made my money back on my investments, but no other investment except software has wasted more of my hard-earned money. That's my take on all of this.
 
This is what I've wished for many years now. I've spent between $30k and $40k on music software/samples/synths since around the early 2000's. Sadly, nearly half of my purchases have been long-term disappointments in which I never ended up using the software. $15k - $20k of wasted money! I personally believe that many sample developers truly do not want their libraries be demoed beforehand, as they know it would allow people to make more informed decisions on whether the library is right for them. Developers count on well dressed demos and impulse buys. I'm 50 years old though, so maybe I'm just getting cynical in my advancing age. All I know is that years ago I decided that I would do whatever it took to either track someone down who has the library, as to get to use it myself first, or what until at least 2 or 3 reviewers whom I trust give me their opinions on it. I'm a working musician who has made my money back on my investments, but no other investment except software has wasted more of my hard-earned money. That's my take on all of this.

Blame consumer behaviour and planned obsolescence! Especially the latter.
 
Apologies if someone has already said this - I haven't read all five pages. But...

There's this idea that instruments always get better. Actually, the same applies to all tech things.

Often, but not necessarily! I mean, yeah, streaming - Gigasampler - was a huge advance. But it's not like the first good sounds were released last week.

What I resent having wasted money on is hard drives. Instruments that are good when you get them stay good.
 
I'm just an amateur, a hobbyist, and while I regret a few purchases, I am happy with most of them.

But nothing in my world is ever appreciates or depreciates. I pay rent or buy food or buy a VSTi and the money goes away. That's all it is. If you go to the theater and don't like the film you don't get your money back. People spend thousands of dollars taking vacations to Disney World or wherever, have a terrible time, and they don't get their money back either.

The only thing that bothers me about the virtual instrument and effects software universe is the apparent majority acceptance of fascistic copy protection and the lack of community outrage over the now standard human rights violations of privacy and autonomy. Dongles & mandated online activation are locking me out of almost everything, to the point where I've simply lost interest in new products and tech developments.

In comparison to the now dominant control-freak CP realities, issues concerning price/returns/resale/trial/ policies are absolutely trivial.
 
You can get Albion ONE for a ridiculous price right now. So you can't resell it? Who cares! Toss it and get another one! I just wander around in wonder of the samples that we have available to us. Here is a sick brag but I have probably spent $XXk on samples that I have never used. Oh well.

I'm certain that many other forum members may not have the resources to adopt such an outlook regarding hundreds or thousands of dollars spent on products that are not what they appeared to them. I just think that as others have suggested, it would be great if more developers would offer trials before purchase.

I guess I haven't read all the negative threads you have referenced, so I don't have the full background on the animosity that seems to be floating around on this subject. So, I will leave it at that and hope it does not escalate to drama zone proportions!
 
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I'll add this about the library demo idea:

I've done a number of student films and along the way met a lot of student composers at the same colleges. Tons of them use pirated libraries almost entirely, if not entirely, and I've found that the process for pirating a library is stupidly easy. The cracks completely ignore any authorization, allowing the use of any and all libraries with basically no fuss.

Sure Kontakt has that "Demo Mode" functionality, but you take that same library file and load it up in a cracked Kontakt and it works flawlessly. Nothing about the libraries themselves is special. Hell, any of you could give your fully official purchased version of your library that you downloaded to anyone with a crack and they could use it immediately.

All I can for sure say about all this is that Kontakt is NOT a safe platform for handing over timed demo versions of libraries.
 
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acceptance of fascistic copy protection

I guess if you come from the perspective of, "all property is theft," I can't argue with you.

But if not, how do you see things? It seems that without copy protection of some kind, piracy would be even worse. It's already rampant, as @Paul Cardon points out above, and if everything gets pirated -- no more libraries at all.

The privacy issue I agree is sick but I think that's a little off target for v.i.s -- no?
 
I'm just an amateur, a hobbyist, and while I regret a few purchases, I am happy with most of them.

But nothing in my world is ever appreciates or depreciates. I pay rent or buy food or buy a VSTi and the money goes away. That's all it is. If you go to the theater and don't like the film you don't get your money back. People spend thousands of dollars taking vacations to Disney World or wherever, have a terrible time, and they don't get their money back either.

The only thing that bothers me about the virtual instrument and effects software universe is the apparent majority acceptance of fascistic copy protection and the lack of community outrage over the now standard human rights violations of privacy and autonomy. Dongles & mandated online activation are locking me out of almost everything, to the point where I've simply lost interest in new products and tech developments.

In comparison to the now dominant control-freak CP realities, issues concerning price/returns/resale/trial/ policies are absolutely trivial.

That doesn't stop people from making music. The no dongle crowd is quite huge and they still crank out music. As the competition grows we've also seen a lot of flexibility in being authorized friendly. A one time one license meant one machine.
 
That doesn't stop people from making music. The no dongle crowd is quite huge and they still crank out music. As the competition grows we've also seen a lot of flexibility in being authorized friendly. A one time one license meant one machine.

I’ve had my elicenser and iLok plugged in for years, and the authorization process is quick and painless these days. Easy peasy.
 
I guess if you come from the perspective of, "all property is theft," I can't argue with you.

But if not, how do you see things? It seems that without copy protection of some kind, piracy would be even worse. It's already rampant, as @Paul Cardon points out above, and if everything gets pirated -- no more libraries at all.

The privacy issue I agree is sick but I think that's a little off target for v.i.s -- no?

Whether I share Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's perspective is another subject, but it's not needed here. Your point that "piracy is already rampant" successfully makes the case that the current model does not work.

What do you mean by off target? In terms of using these tools, what could possibly be more fundamental than the right to pursue one's creative aspirations in an atmosphere of privacy and autonomy, in a workspace of one's own choosing, away from the prying eyes and cacophony of a globally connected web?

That so many otherwise intelligent people are not outraged by the systemic implementation of human rights violations on this level - solely to serve capital - staggers me. But it does not surprise me because I read history, and history amply demonstrates that people, en masse, can adapt and become enured to any cultural "norm" imaginable, regardless of however pathological it might obviously seem when viewed from the outside.
 
I’ve had my elicenser and iLok plugged in for years, and the authorization process is quick and painless these days. Easy peasy.

I live in constant paranoia and anxiety that my e-licenser would one day fail me; which is why I use Logic (from Cubase) and software relying on device authorisations nowadays...

I guess if NI moves to the dongle, it would create enough pressure for smaller developers to move as well?
 
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sorry just a quick check, does anyone know if kontakt still allows demos?

I just tried today with a few libraries I hadn't registered yet and now when i try to open them it says that it cant load them because its a file from an uninstalled library...so if it doesnt let you open them, how can you demo them?

anyone know?
 
sorry just a quick check, does anyone know if kontakt still allows demos?

I just tried today with a few libraries I hadn't registered yet and now when i try to open them it says that it cant load them because its a file from an uninstalled library...so if it doesnt let you open them, how can you demo them?

anyone know?
You can't open licensed "Player" libraries without installing and authorizing them in Native Access. The only times you get a "Demo Mode" is when you try to open a non-Player library in the Player version of Kontakt or if your machine authorization has been broken and previously authorized libraries are de-authorized. Can happen if you change parts in your computer. You can't just use Demo Mode on anything by default.

Whether I share Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's perspective is another subject, but it's not needed here. Your point that "piracy is already rampant" successfully makes the case that the current model does not work.

What do you mean by off target? In terms of using these tools, what could possibly be more fundamental than the right to pursue one's creative aspirations in an atmosphere of privacy and autonomy, in a workspace of one's own choosing, away from the prying eyes and cacophony of a globally connected web?

That so many otherwise intelligent people are not outraged by the systemic implementation of human rights violations on this level - solely to serve capital - staggers me. But it does not surprise me because I read history, and history amply demonstrates that people, en masse, can adapt and become enured to any cultural "norm" imaginable, regardless of however pathological it might obviously seem when viewed from the outside.
And not to be rude but this is wildly out of the scale of the conversation here, right?
 
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