Arturia servers down?

[TNM]

Originally Posted by simon.a.billington

Dude, I'm in Australia. We may not have the tax, but the exchange rate is what kills us here. Roughly speaking the USD is x1.25, the EU x1.33 and the UK x1.5.

Thankfully I can get most things for US pricing, except IK, I'm paying bloody Euros for that. Although, with the JamPoints it works out to roughly a third off, so I get it for around the asking price. So that's a bit better.

Although NI sells using Aussie Dollars, so they tend to be the best value for the money from my given perspective.

With the falling aussie dollar, US dollar priced stuff is bad too.. and now we do have 10% tax on any download.. who said we didn't have tax? Devs that use share it incorporate it into the price, others add the 10% at checkout (like avid lol). Our dollar is 65 US cents now, that's terrible.. heat cost me like 350 in our currency with all conversion fees and currency is relative.. If i could get heat for 199 AU I would have been thrilled. We get it worse than *anyone* including the EU cause they seem to forget they have the world's strongest two currencies. NI and ableton rock cause they provide fair, tax inclusive prices. NI on the Black friday special to upgrade to komplete 12U from 11U was great and to go from live 9 suite to live 10 suite it was 225 AUD (now 299) but I didn't go for that as I don't use live any more (no need to with PT, it can do all the tempo sync stuff itself and that's all I ever used live for really.. could never use it or take it seriously as a DAW LOL cause of the PDC issue)..

Anyway, to get pigments will cost me over 100 AUD by the time PayPal or the CC company if i go direct, has their pound of conversion tariff flesh. That's whY i decided against it for now.. Since I had already bought Avenger a week prior, i don't really see the need.. This is why I can't upgrade my V collection 4.. almost 500 in our currency.. ludicrous to go from 4 to 7. Can't do it. I'd rather sub to ultimate for a year than do that to be honest!

[TNM]

That said.. there are exceptions.. omnispehere 2 is 579 AU here physical shipped with flash drive where as it's 500$ US to buy it there which is *way* more than 579.. so i am going to eventually support spectrasonics as I really respect that and it's a great synth.. just have to wait till I can afford it, next year. So fair for us on the local pricing, even taking a hit themselves to help us, means they get my vote and my wallet.

[simon.a.billington]

Originally Posted by TNM

With the falling aussie dollar, US dollar priced stuff is bad too.. and now we do have 10% tax on any download.. who said we didn't have tax? Devs that use share it incorporate it into the price, others add the 10% at checkout (like avid lol). Our dollar is 65 US cents now, that's terrible.. heat cost me like 350 in our currency with all conversion fees and currency is relative.. If i could get heat for 199 AU I would have been thrilled. We get it worse than *anyone* including the EU cause they seem to forget they have the world's strongest two currencies. NI and ableton rock cause they provide fair, tax inclusive prices. NI on the Black friday special to upgrade to komplete 12U from 11U was great and to go from live 9 suite to live 10 suite it was 225 AUD (now 299) but I didn't go for that as I don't use live any more (no need to with PT, it can do all the tempo sync stuff itself and that's all I ever used live for really.. could never use it or take it seriously as a DAW LOL cause of the PDC issue)..

Anyway, to get pigments will cost me over 100 AUD by the time PayPal or the CC company if i go direct, has their pound of conversion tariff flesh. That's whY i decided against it for now.. Since I had already bought Avenger a week prior, i don't really see the need.. This is why I can't upgrade my V collection 4.. almost 500 in our currency.. ludicrous to go from 4 to 7. Can't do it. I'd rather sub to ultimate for a year than do that to be honest!

Hang on... Whaat?? 10% tax pin downloads now?!?! Since when??? FFS!!

Man they're stealing money from the wrong people, they need to be going after the billionaires and companies who don't pay their taxes and living on corporate welfare, instead of trying to squeeze blood from a stone. Seriously, the intelligence levels of most governments is simply appalling.

Rant over...

I ended up, getting Pigments myself. It was indeed worth the $100 AUD I roughly ended up paying for it. I mean, it's not the solution to everything, but it does offer a wealth of new sounds and potentials. Plus you have access to buying new banks online quite easily, which I never really bothered with in most cases, but because this is integrated I might check it out.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by simon.a.billington

Hang on... Whaat?? 10% tax pin downloads now?!?! Since when??? FFS!!

Man they're stealing money from the wrong people, they need to be going after the billionaires and companies who don't pay their taxes and living on corporate welfare, instead of trying to squeeze blood from a stone. Seriously, the intelligence levels of most governments is simply appalling.

Rant over...

I ended up, getting Pigments myself. It was indeed worth the $100 AUD I roughly ended up paying for it. I mean, it's not the solution to everything, but it does offer a wealth of new sounds and potentials. Plus you have access to buying new banks online quite easily, which I never really bothered with in most cases, but because this is integrated I might check it out.

As I wrote elsewheres here when I did my recent reinstatement (last year) to PT 2019.6 I went direct to the Avid site and I got billed for tax payable to the state of New Jersey (US) where I live. Someone here from California also got billed for tax on downloadable s/w.

At $49US I couldn't pass up Pigments 2. Granted it takes a bit of learning especially the way one assigns modulations but it's worth it.

[simon.a.billington]

Originally Posted by musicman691

As I wrote elsewheres here when I did my recent reinstatement (last year) to PT 2019.6 I went direct to the Avid site and I got billed for tax payable to the state of New Jersey (US) where I live. Someone here from California also got billed for tax on downloadable s/w.

At $49US I couldn't pass up Pigments 2. Granted it takes a bit of learning especially the way one assigns modulations but it's worth it.

I haven’t gotten into sound designing with it much myself. But that’s normal, I never seem to have time. I tend to modify whatever I find in the library that doesn’t quite fit what I need. It’s still sound design I guess, and I could do stuff from the ground up if I really wanted to, but i wouldn’t call myself a sound designer. Not for synths anyway.

I do love it’s scope though. On Logic I have Alchemy as well, that has lots of scope too, however, it’s accessible to just about everyone using Logic. So if you need to express a bit of individuality I find it’s better to have other choices that you can use in combination.

Unique sounds aren’t everything, though, familiarity is also an important key. Think about it, distorted guitars and slamming drums are essential to rock and metal, just as the 808 is essential to hip-hop. You can play outside familiar sonic territories a bit, it helps give you a more unique, identifiable sound. Explore too far though, and it becomes a different style altogether. I believe the key to a good, commercially viable sound is striking a good balance.

Not that anyone asked...