Empirical Labs (Distressor?) plugin development

[Southsidemusic]

Welll whether or not people want to pay or can afford $350 for a plugin is debatable but I won't cough up that much for a plugin when we already have the hardware units.

Less than a 3rd of the hardware price is way to ambitious. There are many plugins we can get that makes the same things as the distressor. Soundtoys is right there.

[tamasdragon]

I'm really excited about this. Hopefully we will hear it very soon.

[musicman691]

Reading/seeing this intro price makes my mood match the weather outside my window - grey and gloomy. $349 US at launch? That's nuts. I know, I know - development costs and such but still this is shooting one's self in the foot. I get the feeling Dave really doesn't want to support this and by making the price so high he'll get few buyers.

[Righty27]

I guess none of us know what DD's business (or other) objectives are with this plugin ...

I won't be picking it up at the $349 (intro) price, whereas a more typical (for a decent compressor plugin) e.g. $149 price, combined with the Distressor's reputation (I have more than one 1176 plugin BTW) would have resulted in an immediate purchase without a demo ... and I suspect this is more representative of the DAW/plugin buying public than e.g. the more prominent voices on Gearslutz.

[Bob Olhsson]

I did a search on AAX-DSP compressors and $349 isn't really out of line. He just isn't offering a cheaper native-only version.

It's a no brainer purchase for people doing live sound or tracking live with an HDX system. If it sounds great, it could become a no brainer for the rest of us.

[Righty27]

Thanks Bob - I haven't read all of the Gearslutz thread but do recall coming across an AAX DSP discussion at some point, now that you mention it.

Enabling HD users to track with multiple Distressor plugin instances would make this considerably better value if this is included.

Likewise, maybe this leaves the door open to a native-only offering at a lower price? :)

[Bob Olhsson]

Since it's Empirical's only plug-in and they need to pay for more highly skilled developer time than the typical native plug-in requires, I wouldn't expect a lower priced version. The reason there aren't a lot more AAX-DSP plug-ins is $$$.

[mesaone]

I think we've become really spoiled. If the plug-in is faithful to the hardware and has a DSP version, then I think it would be worth a $350 price tag. Yeah the hardware is only 4x that price, but plug-ins can be used on multiple channels.

[WernerF]

If there is in fact a DSP version I hate to say it but I'm in.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by WernerF

If there is in fact a DSP version I hate to say it but I'm in.

That would make you take the HDX system out of the closet?

Is there a website link we can go to to see this thing? I mean other than GS?