LinuxMusicians

The PTM-5A emulates the sought-after passive filter character of vintage EQs, providing a versatile plug-in capable of subtle sonic enhancement or more obvious presence - highlighting elements of a mix without harshness or fatigue.

V3.0.0 is now available, adding phase / polarity switching and output level control together with many internal (graphical toolkit) enhancements and optimizations.

This is a free update for existing users, download and try for free or BUY* at www.overtonedsp.co.uk

*As independent developers we are passionate about building the best products we can, based on over 25 years pro-audio experience, but we are also dependent on product sales (and not subscriptions) to fund continued development - so, if you are thinking about maybe trying this in six months time, or perhaps buying it next year - if there's a sale on... It's highly likely that a lot more people are thinking the same (and no, there won't be a sale) - which means now would be a really good time to buy.

Nice, thanks!

Now we just need some sales...

Come on linux musicians (or Windows and Mac users), its FREE to download and try - and only £20 to buy. Free updates and support, no extra hardware required, and most importantly, its a native Linux plug-in that actually works

Mike, did you put it up on a KVR forum also ?

I posted at Harrison's Mixbus.

Cheers.

did you put it up on a KVR forum also

There'll be a KVR news mention - but we just did one for the PTC-2A, and I think they have a 'fair use' limit on how many free news articles you can post in a certain time.

I think you should become active on twitter and instagram, it's hard to deny the power of free advertising they have. I've just had a look on twitter and there are mentions in many different languages of your products. Perhaps make some videos and put them on a youtube channel to showcase why your plugins are good and what you can do with them. I understand it is all extra time spent but some of these approaches are quick and easy (twitter etc) and can only help you, and the others could be long term projects.

Edit: Oh I see you do have a youtube channel, I didn't know about that.

Yes - we do have a facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/OverToneDSP/ - but that's about as far as it goes for social media (if I had a pound for every spam email I get promising to put my company on the 1st page of google, I could give up coding and retire - I'd like to see them do that for a generic search term like "VST plug-ins" ... )

Thanks for the update Mike, just grabbed it. I know it's insane, but part of me wishes you charged at least a little for upgrades. These plugins are already a bargain.

I'm curious if you would share roughly what the breakdown is by OS for your customers in recent years? I imagine the Windows market would be where the greatest potential exists for keeping OverTone going.

I know it's insane, but part of me wishes you charged at least a little for upgrades...

I'd be happy to oblige.. Actually I did once charge for additional (AAX) formats and I got hate mail for months...

I've always believed that the software should offer value - I can't make it free, because it costs (a lot) to make, and to make available, maintain etc, and I've always been clear that I would not adopt a subscription pricing model either. Personally I don't like paying for subscription licenses - and I don't want my customers to be in that position either. But that does mean the business model is dependent on on-going sales. Unfortunately the nature of software development means that its easy to reach a kind of 'critical mass' where ongoing maintenance of existing products (or converting to new formats) easily consumes all the available development time making it difficult to focus on new things - which would provide new income.

(and as an independent developer I get to keep only a part of what I charge to the customer, once taxes, running costs - and paying all the other parties who get between me and my customers - have been taken into account. This is not unusual, I know of several independent app-store (game) developers, also in a similar position)

In terms of popularity of different OS - There aren't that many commercial 'competitors' on Linux - though that does seem to be changing or improving (depending on your point of view). Windows is a larger market, but, there are huge numbers of plug-ins already available, which makes it difficult to get visibility. Similarly for Mac OS - though Mac development also has its own headaches. I think the best I can say is that it is necessary to support all available formats / OS in order to generate enough potential income to make it commercially viable.

mike@overtonedsp wrote:Now we just need some sales...

Come on linux musicians (or Windows and Mac users), its FREE to download and try - and only £20 to buy. Free updates and support, no extra hardware required, and most importantly, its a native Linux plug-in that actually works

I must agree. Unless one has a commitment to use only open source/libre software, which I understand and respect, there is no reason not to buy these plugins. They sound really great, the support is great, and no one can complain about the price. I have them all and only wish there were more to buy.

It seems the plug-ins are well liked by those who try them - which is gratifying, and in the general scheme of things they've not done badly at all, but one of the most frequent things I hear is "I wish I'd tried these sooner..." - With potential users often hesitant to even try a free demo because "If I like it I will have to buy it..." - and that's a difficult position, especially when you know that if they did try them they would (I hope) appreciate the value. (And if anyone does run into any problems - after all Linux especially can sometimes be a little tricky - let us know and we'll be happy to advise)

Just like with hardware, the software signal path is only as good as the weakest link - and yet often people are prepared to spend several thousand on hardware add-ons and audio interfaces, but have no software budget at all.

mike@overtonedsp wrote:one of the most frequent things I hear is "I wish I'd tried these sooner..." -

Which brings us back to advertising and social media - if they had seen the software earlier then I expect they would have tried it earlier. I don't think it is fair for you to say that people are unwilling to pay for software, it is simply not true. There are a number of people here who use reaper, bitwig, renoise, tracktion, and others who are regularly donate or subscribe to ardour/qtractor. I, and I assume at least a few others, have bought all of your plugins and I love them and use them all the time. At risk of sounding like a broken record, I don't think you are making the most of the exposure that is available these days. Social media is a dream come true for companies with the free advertising it gives and these days is something that users expect to see and use as a place to learn about new products. I'm sure it is not a cure-all solution but if you're not making the most of these quick and easy ways to promote your business then it irks me slightly to see you post here with hints of victimisation. People on this forum have even offered to create accounts on your behalf to promote your products on social media but as far as I can see you did not take them up on that.

I don't mean this as an attack at all, as I said I love your products and business model but I don't think the 'if you build it they will come' approach works these days. I mentioned your pultec plugin in the comments of a mixbustv youtube video because he has a large following and regularly uses hardware and software (Waves I think?) pultec eqs, I was curious to see what he thought of yours. He commented back to say that he had not heard of it before but will check it out. I'm sure if a couple of big youtubers like him did favourable reviews then you would get quite a few sales from it. The thing is they need to hear about it first.

The point I meant to make was that a lot of people do find the software - but often, and for various reasons they might not get around to trying it - and that's not meant as a criticism of anyone, I'm just calling it how I see it - and it's just something we need to work very hard to overcome. Its a crowded market and people have a lot of demands on their time and income. Social media can work well - (but, obviously, just hoping that something will go viral isn't a sound business model)
That said, I am of course very grateful for any exposure we do get. I wasn't implying that people aren't willing to pay for software - I just mean that my experience has been it can be a secondary consideration in the grand scheme of things, and sometimes isn't adequately factored into the (potential cost) of making recording and producing music.

Fair enough. I suppose that consideration being secondary is even more relevant in linux with all the talk of things being free.