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Geek Culture / SFX Engine - overpriced?

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Lampton Worm
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 05:26
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Hi,

I'm a supporter and regular purchaser of TGC and their related products, and so I thought I'd check out this new one, but erm, isn't it a tad expensive for what it is?

http://www.thegamecreators.com/?f=sfxengine

Might just be me.

Cheers!
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Chris K
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 05:39
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I guess the developer would say what price they're willing to sell it for.
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BatVink
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 07:17
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My question would be...what does it do for £97 more than audacity? Not a criticism, it's just the question I would ask before buying.

BatVink
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dark coder
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 07:19
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yeh i use audacity good for converting/editing files of the fly, £97 does seem overpriced imo tho, well making sound effects i a niche market so you cant expect alot of people to buy it so the prices have to be raised.


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Lampton Worm
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 07:23
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Yup, tis up to the developer. Just thinking from a value point of view that you could get FL Studio for cheaper than that, which has a ton of nice free plugins etc. or as BatVink said Audacity. I'm not criticising either, just interested in why it's worth that, maybe the description doesn't do it justice - or I'm missing the point!
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Richard Davey
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 09:02
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We don't set the pricing on 3rd party titles. They obviously think it's worth it (not being a musician or sound effects sort of person I can't really say either way, but it worked well enough for me).

"I am not young enough to know everything."
- Oscar Wilde
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Van B
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 20:03
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It's a sound effect generator, like those old fashioned synths with all the fly-wires. Really it's a professionals tool that most of us would'nt use, it's simply too complicated to be very usefull to most people. At that price it's quite reasonable compared to other software like it, it can't really be compared to things like Fruity Loops because they're completely different animals - it's like saying 'How can they charge £2500 for 3DS Max and only £45 for PaintShopPro?'.

Frankly a collection of BBC sound effect CD's would be an infinately more usefull way to waste £100.


Van-B


It's c**p being the only coder in the village.
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BatVink
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 20:11
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Quote: "Frankly a collection of BBC sound effect CD's would be an infinately more usefull way to waste £100."


Used to borrow them from the library as a kid, on good ol' 12" vinyl. More fun to listen to them with the menu first, you can usually work out what was used...or you could when they were produced manually! Breaking celery for finger nails being ripped off - fantastic!

BatVink
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BatVink
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 20:13
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Check this article out...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/beasts/makingof/sound/

BatVink
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Shadow Robert
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 20:44
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Quote: "it's like saying 'How can they charge £2500 for 3DS Max and only £45 for PaintShopPro?'."


Wouldn't Photoshop for $650 and PaintShop Pro for $35 be a better comparison?
However this said, they are in totally different leagues development wise..

It's always been the case that sound engineers pay through the nose for everything. I mean just look around at some of the products that do similar stuff from Yamaha and Roland, and this looks like a steal.
That said look on SourceForge and you get something which does the same just for free.

Personally I think the skin on it makes it look a little tacky, but guess that's just me. That's the same reason I didn't feel like splashing out on Fruity Loops, the product just feels tacky to use.


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Van B
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 20:50
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Hehe, that was my point, they're totally different animals - anyone ordering that sound thing and expecting to be able to make music will be very dissapointed.

I used to have the horror CD, damn quality stuff, legs getting sawn off and everything. ICE-T used a helluva lot of BBC samples, quite funny to think of people complaining about his song 'Black and Decker' because it has the sound of a drill going through a skull - then they find out he got it from a BBC sound effect CD!.

IIRC Sony have a real nice effects DVD out, it's like £30 or something, but for a full DVD that seems pretty reasonable. I'll see if I can find a link.


Van-B


It's c**p being the only coder in the village.
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Van B
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 20:56 Edited at: 26th Nov 2004 20:56
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Bah $399! - that's for a 5 cd set - but they're movie quality samples after all.

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/products/showproduct.asp?pid=916


Van-B


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Lampton Worm
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 21:17
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...just a side note, you can make sound effects in FLS, not only music. Probably not the best example to use I had a listen to the demo sounds, but they arn't anything I can't do in FLS already, so I might try the demo to find out more. Its probably a clever/specialized piece of kit so I'm looking at it from the wrong angle.
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Van B
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 21:22
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I don't think you are Lampton, it is the kind of thing you'd use to make your own sounds, like synth sounds, string loops etc etc, by mixing different filters.

Experimenting with FL and exporting the sound file for use in other programs is basically how you'd use SFXEngine.


Van-B


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empty
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Posted: 26th Nov 2004 22:55 Edited at: 26th Nov 2004 22:56
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Good music and audio software products tend to be relatively expensive mainly because the target audience isn't that huge and most of them are rather complex pieces of software.
Surprisingly sound libraries are relatively cheap these days. I remember times when a single sound effect CD with an "unrestricted" license (ie, you can use the effects in your own commercial productions) was usually around the $300 mark.

Play Nice! Play Basic!
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