QUOTE (mgoorevich @ Mar 11 2015, 09:13 AM)
I bought an Elite bundle in a previous group buy promotion.
But I will buy NO MORE of any Sonnox plugins in my life.
This is why:
1. All Sonnox original prices are too high comparing to other high end, pro plugins. The 50% is not enough. Most plugins should be discounted by 60 - 90% to be attractive today.
E.G: Sonnox EQ Native $315 vs DMG Equality $150 or FabFilter Q2 $160. And there are many more!
Same story with other plugins, none of which are unique quality wise.
2. When you decide to sell it, there is an outrageous fee you must pay to sonnox $150 + iLok fee $50 = $200.
3. You can't sell plugins purchased as bundle separately even though they are separate licenses in your iLok account.
4. The upgrade from v4 TDM to Native AAX v5 is $160.
So my Elite TDM I bought for $1300 in Don't Crack Group Buy on December, 2009, today requires another $160 to update to Native v5! So think twice about the value of today group buy promotion by Sonnox.
5. I love Don't crack and purchased other products from them with joy. This is only corresponds to Sonnox outdated policy.
We must first ask Sonnox to change it if they want to sell another 300 license in one drop!
Hello mgoorevich,
You are right in saying that there are now quite a few great sounding EQ out there and that they are very competitively priced. All of them are slightly different in their treatments and overall sound, and at that level of quality, it becomes a matter of individual taste. Ease of use, the design of the interface, and the amount of 'fine-tuning one can do also figures in the evaluation of the plugins usefulness. Sonnox is pretty good on delivering on all three of those points.
And that goes for the entire product line, for example the Reverb, Limiter, SuprEsser, Inflator, are right at the top of their class. The Pro-codex is a fantastic tool for getting the ultimate quality when you move your mix to a different format such as .mp3, you can tweak until the mix until it can't really get any better. Once again providing that competitive edge that just might make the difference between a 'great' product and a 'superb' one.
Another sign of their commitment to the 'high-end' is the fact that they have ported almost all their products to be HD-HDX for ProTools, in a way they had to, because a very high percentage of their user base is working on this platform. And that was costly in terms of development, others chose not to do that and perhaps that is why they offer their products at a lower price point.
I have been on the 'inside' and seen what it takes to move a set of plug-ins to a new format. And going to AAX DSP and Native is one of the more difficult undertakings, time and expense-wise. You can't have people coding for a substantial amount of time and not pay them for their efforts. The least expensive plug-ins are VST only, those companies who have invested in re-coding their Plug-ins in AAX DSP or Native charge a fee for the upgrades to pay the people who did it for them, it is that simple.
All this to say that Sonnox product represent a certain 'value' and deliver 'quality' tools, They have recently had promos and sales that allow people to get their 'work' at a reasonable price, including this Group Buy . I am sure they sincerely hope you get enjoyment and some monetary compensation for the investment you made making your music sound as good as possible using them.
And thank you for your kind words about DontCrack. We will try to continue to help you get the products you would like to have at the most reasonable price we can offer them at.
Best Regards,
Nick
