New Plugins Available to Buy From Akai

They’ve changed the store slightly . Yesterday it referred to the fabric collection being on sale till 30th July .
Now it just simply $249

TBH I kind of hate this development. Are they going to improve the built-in sampler now, or just introduce a paid add-on? Of course, it's been close to five years since I last gave Akai any money, so I'm not funding continued firmware development. But this does create a weird incentive for them to shove new improvements into plug-in windows rather than the main screens.

Wul wrote:They’ve changed the store slightly . Yesterday it referred to the fabric collection being on sale till 30th July .
Now it just simply $249

Well that original claim that Fabric was normally $500 didn't make any sense whatsoever, not when they are offering the 'everything' bundle for $500 as well. But obviously they'd gone to the trouble of putting that sale deadline in and setting up the 50% offer on that page, so they clearly did intend to offer it at 'a' discount, perhaps it should have been on sale at $125 and someone messed up?

But I assume people have purchased at the $250 price already thinking they were getting a time limited 50% off deal. I wouldn't be happy about that.

rvense wrote:TBH I kind of hate this development. Are they going to improve the built-in sampler now, or just introduce a paid add-on? Of course, it's been close to five years since I last gave Akai any money, so I'm not funding continued firmware development. But this does create a weird incentive for them to shove new improvements into plug-in windows rather than the main screens.

I think they do need to be very careful about pushing all the cool features into paid plugins, there has to be a balance. That's why offering plugin development to third parties makes a lot of sense, because the developer community would be independently creating all those cool extra plugins for specific tasks, while Akai can just concentrate on improving the core firmware. That's how it works with ecommerce platforms (e.g. Spotify, woocommerce); core software with x amount of included features, some paid plugins from the manufacturer and the rest is extensions/plugins developed by third parties (free and paid).

I have to admit, I have definitely been thinking about the possibility of them developing a Kontakt-style plugin, e.g. with the ability to offer a custom UI, more advanced keygroup functionality, better looping options, scripting etc. It does sound like it would be easier to implement as a plugin than trying to overhaul the core software.

Wul wrote:They’ve changed the store slightly . Yesterday it referred to the fabric collection being on sale till 30th July .
Now it just simply $249

They are playing the BS hurry up marketing. It does not work anymore, any marketing pro would tell you that. It works in a very small % of target customers, thou I see it being pull out once and again in the music busyness. Seems like musicians still fall for that kind of marketing techniques.

Delphinus wrote:If I were to purchase any of these new plugins are they strictly tied to one MPC?

I own both an MPC X for the studio and an MPC One that I like to take on the go with me. Please tell me I wouldn't have to double purchase them in order to use them on both units.

I don't plan on getting them anytime soon, gonna wait for a sale, but anyone that could shine some light on my question would be much appreciated.

I believe a single license should cover three 'environments' (e.g. 2 computer & 1 standalone, or perhaps 3 standalone), but you'd need to check with Akai, we might have had different arrangements while beta testing.

DerpAdoo wrote:All I know is that I've been buying plugins and software for a long time, and rarely do I EVER pay FULL PRICE for anything. Seriously, we are all bombarded with emails about this constantly, am I right? 75% off, 50% off, BOGO, TWO DAY SALE!!! I can't imagine that there won't be deals or specials coming on these, and probably soon!

I find all that stuff exhausting, you never know when it's 'safe' to buy anything, there always seems to be a better deal round the corner, it's just a stupid game we're all resigned to playing.

Even on day one we're already openly discussing that $150 is clearly not the 'real' price per plugin, it's artificial just so they can discount it later and offer a 'deal'. Everyone knows this, it's become completely normalised.

Today we have also discovered that yesterday's supposed half price, time limited $250 'deal' on Fabric wasn't actually a deal at all, today it's just $250, no mention of any promo.

Just sell them for the lower and reasonable price all year round and be done with it. Artificially doubling prices does not make the subsequent 50% price 'discount' any kind of true deal. If you are going to offer a true deal, do a deal on the sensible, natural price, not the fake inflated one.

MPC-Tutor wrote:

DerpAdoo wrote:All I know is that I've been buying plugins and software for a long time, and rarely do I EVER pay FULL PRICE for anything. Seriously, we are all bombarded with emails about this constantly, am I right? 75% off, 50% off, BOGO, TWO DAY SALE!!! I can't imagine that there won't be deals or specials coming on these, and probably soon!

I find all that stuff exhausting, you never know when it's 'safe' to buy anything, there always seems to be a better deal round the corner, it's just a stupid game we're all resigned to playing.

Even on day one we're already openly discussing that $150 is clearly not the 'real' price per plugin, it's artificial just so they can discount it later and offer a 'deal'. Everyone knows this, it's become completely normalised.

Today we have also discovered that yesterday's supposed half price, time limited $250 'deal' on Fabric wasn't actually a deal at all, today it's just $250, no mention of any promo.

Just sell them for the lower and reasonable price all year round and be done with it. Artificially doubling prices does not make the subsequent 50% price 'discount' any kind of true deal. If you are going to offer a true deal, do a deal on the sensible, natural price, not the fake inflated one.

What I usually do, is set a price point with which I'll be comfortable, and wait, when I want to get something. Then, if the seller put a sale that is lower than that threshold I buy the product. If afterwards it is cheaper, I don't even care. But never paying more than I think the value is for me.

Thru changed them all so there is just a regular price.. you can't buy the bundle pack anymore? I thought we had a month?

The complete bundle is still there, $499, no time limit.

These things aren't really marketed toward me. If they were £20 each I might bite but otherwise probably not. I think though that even if I were a pro then buying these ties that purchase directly to MPC. Now, this release has revealed some bugs that affect me directly in the first hour. If I spent money on a VST and my DAW of choice (Reaper before I got my MPC) suddenly went to crap I could switch DAW and take my VSTs with me. Here though, if Akai don't fix things then long term I might end up moving to something else and then these instruments are useless to me?

Someone posted previously regarding transferring, that's actually something worth looking into. If you sell your MPC, can you also transfer your plugin licenses to the new buyer, and if so, how?

MPC-Tutor wrote:Someone posted previously regarding transferring, that's actually something worth looking into. If you sell your MPC, can you also transfer your plugin licenses to the new buyer, and if so, how?

I hadn't even thought of that. This does seem a bit Roland ( a brand I won't touch these days, along with Adobe and anyone else with subscription based garbage ) so that'd be a real shame.

BTW, confirmation that it's three device per plugin:

https://support.akaipro.com/en/support/ ... trial-what

MPC-Tutor wrote:Someone posted previously regarding transferring, that's actually something worth looking into. If you sell your MPC, can you also transfer your plugin licenses to the new buyer, and if so, how?

I guess with account takeover (giving access to your account), but it's a problem if you have registered more stuff

As for the price 150$ would be a reasonable price for adding plugins to the standalone unit .
(comparing the bundle to VST's for using on computer , doesn't feel like a deal, especially if someone has experience with iOS and cheap (around 10$ AU synths)