Mini Review of Musio, My Pick for Best BF Deal of 2024; $149 Sale Ends Dec 10

[peter]

Best Deal of the Year Musio for $149 US Ends Dec 10 2024

There have been A LOT of great Black Friday deals this year. My picks for the best would go to Musio 1 (perpetual license) and Universal Audio’s various bundle deals. Both are amazing deals. Whether you’re just getting starting in DAW best recording or you’ve been doing it a long time and just want to add more pianos, strings and orchestral libraries, these two, IMO, are the best deals of the year. Both developers, Cinesamples and United Audio are among the highest-quality developers in the business.

MINI REVIEW OF MUSIO 1

I plan on doing a review of Musio 1 in the coming weeks. I’ve been using it for nearly 4 weeks and I think I have a good understanding of its strengths and weakenesses. I’ll do a short summary here. First, let me be clear that I purchased Musio from Best Service like any other customer. This is not an NFR given to me for review purposes. I don’t know anyone from Cinesamples / Musio, and I’ve worked for some of their competitors. So I have no bias towards them.

The included instruments are superbly recorded and well put together. Overall, they sound gorgeous and they’re fun to play.

The Tina Guo cello libraries are a stand out. They sound great and are enjoyable to play. However, many Musio libraries don’t have the same level of detail as a deep sampled Kontakt library, nor do they have the scripting that helps make many Kontakt string and guitar libraries more playable. Another significant difference between Musio libraries and Kontakt libraries is that Musio libraries lack presets and the effects that are part of the Kontakt versions. For example, I was extremely excited about getting Piano in Blue based on the demos for the Kontakt instrument. However, the Musio version doesn’t have the presets and the effects of the Kontakt version that give it that vintage analog sound. It just sounds like a beautiful sampled piano library; it doesn’t have the iconic sound found on Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” album.

I wrote Musio an email to ask how I could achieve that and the person who responded recommended XLN Audio’s RC-20, which I own. I attempted to use it with Piano in Blue, but it didn’t come close to the demos for the Kontakt version. I found paring it up with a vintage preamp plugin and a tape plugin got me closer.

One of the things I LOVE about Kontakt is getting lots of great presets with a sample library. That’s missing from Musio. Even more, I greatly enjoy creating and saving my presets in Kontakt and that’s not an option in Musio — or if it is, I didn’t figure it out yet. One of the problems with having to use outboard effects with a sampler is that you can’t merely dial up those sounds as presets in the future. I did provide detailed feedback to Musio and even offered a way that they can make adding presets and more effects profitable — to attempt to make my suggestion more appealing to the business.

Even with these shortcomings, Musio 1 for $149 USD or even $199 USD represents a fantastic value in today’s sample library and plugin market. I purchased it before my 30 day trial ended. I had already used it in several projects because I found so many of the instruments inspiring. Consequently, I can wholeheartedly recommend Musio 1 (perpetual version) at either of those price points. I’m not aware of any other perpetual license package of sample libraries that even comes close to this value.

VALUE: 10 out of 10
SOUND QUALITY: 10 out of 10
DETAIL: 8 out of 10
PRESET QUALITY: N/A
PLAYABILITY: 8 out of 10 (it lacks scripting)

[THE ABOVE IS A ROUGH DRAFT OF A RATING SYSTEM. I WILL BE REFINING THE RATING SYSTEM PRIOR TO LAUNCHING THE OFFICIAL FUNCTIONALITY.]

Best Service Deal

Musio 1 $149 USD with your choice of one of the below freebies “worth up to €/$ 299”:

– AAS:               Universal Sound-Pack (39 €)
– Brainworx:       bx_masterdesk True Peak (299 €)
– Engine Audio: Wooden Melodica (49 €)
– IK Multimedia: MixBox (199 €)
– iZotope:          Ozone Elements (49 €)
– MAAT Labs:    MAATgo (24 €)
– Native Inst.:     FM8 (149 €)
– PrimeStudio:   Raven Strike (99 €)
– Rast Sound:    Vocal Morphs PRO (59 €)
– Ueberschall:    Groove Shadows (49€)
– Ujam:               BeatMaker Cozy (69 €)
– Zero-G:           WARP_static (69 €)
https://www.bestservice.com/en/musio_1.html?aid=ZBgL2roqVxRSujmR

Plugin Boutique Deal

Musio 1 $149  USD with your choice of one of the below freebies

UAD Oxide Tape
IK Multimedia T-RackS Studio Bundle
GForce AXXESS
UJAM VICE
Native Instruments Monark
Mastering the Mix Advanced Mastering Course

https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/11429?a_aid=66fd59ee09bb9

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13

[jude77]

That was a REALLY good review.  I hadn’t paid much attention to this sale, but I’m going to look before it disappears.

1

[doug]

Great review @peter. I can’t help but wonder if Musio 2 is coming out soon and they are drawing users into platform with unheard of prices for Musio 1. Here’s hoping that Musio 2 addresses the short comings you found in Musio 1 and that the upgrade price is not astronomical.

Just curious as to what freebie you got with Musio 1. I had all the options that would have otherwise interested me. I ended up getting Rast Sound  Vocal Morph Pro.

This would be a clever signature if I could think of one.

[peter]

On doug said

Great review @peter. I can’t help but wonder if Musio 2 is coming out soon and they are drawing users into platform with unheard of prices for Musio 1. Here’s hoping that Musio 2 addresses the short comings you found in Musio 1 and that the upgrade price is not astronomical.

Just curious as to what freebie you got with Musio 1. I had all the options that would have otherwise interested me. I ended up getting Rast Sound  Vocal Morph Pro.

 

What I wrote earlier was based on public statements made by Mike Patti. Mike has stated that the company plans on marketing new libraries to Musio 1 customers. Now, I really didn’t scratch the surface with what I wrote, because there are a lot of sample libraries in Musio, far beyond orchestral. There are several piano libraries. There are a few electric piano libraries (being a Wurly fan, I find the Wurly a real disappointment and won’t be using it; but there are so many other libraries, it wasn’t a deal breaker for me).

My guess is that additional libraries will be economically priced but nowhere near the value of the Musio 1 deal. That’s simply not realistic. Think of it as a low cost of entry into the ecosystem. Cinesamples isn’t looking to make big profit margin off of Musio 1. As I wrote earlier, this is penetration pricing — it’s done to grab marketshare quickly, and, in this case, to establish a customer base that they can further market to. Now, this is an area I consult in, so I have to be a bit careful here. But I’m not on contract to any developers at the moment. My guess is that, future Musio libraries will be priced between $20 US – $100 US each. Likely not far from where SoundPaint is at.

This is where it gets interesting because historically orchestral libraries were priced to be more niche. That’s why Mike Greene is constantly ranting and attacking his competitors on VI Control — he’s furious that the model is changing and has been trying to get developers to agree to not sell below certain prices. He’s publicly posted about it (he posted about his attempts to get 8Dio’s CEO to stop selling libraries so inexpensively, stating that it makes it extremely difficult for him to earn back his production costs). So, what this means is that ALL OF THE MARKET is going to need to learn to get better at marketing; at selling higher volumes. OR the treat their Kontakt divisions as the top tier, premium, new high-end library outlet and only release it for their proprietary player division after the library has paid back production costs.

I suspect the latter is the formula that will be used. So there may be a two or three-year period before these divisions see a new big high-end orchestral library. The alternative is that these developers simply establish a channel that enables them to sell much higher volumes at lower profit margins.

I ended up getting Horns of Hell, which I figure I can trade with someone for something else. Nothing really appealed to me.

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[Fleer]

Meanwhile, some interesting changes at the helm of Cinesamples, according to some posts at VI Control.

1

[peter]

On Fleer said

Meanwhile, some interesting changes at the helm of Cinesamples, according to some posts at VI Control.

Mike Patti’s LinkedIn shows that he became Chairman (the tagging, not his profile) in August  2024 and made the head of marketing Chris Hayzel, the new CEO.

I did figure that the business was having issues when the other Mike left last year. A developer in the business told me that they recently did tighten their staff, but I wasn’t aware that Mike stepped down as CEO and apparently sold the business. I know Tina Guo was heading marketing for a while and now she appears to have a new library coming out with Christian Henson’s new company. So yes, it could mean that the business is struggling or it could just mean that they have new ownership. New ownership, of course,  doesn’t mean they’re failing. I’ve heard that while they trimmed staff that they have a talented team.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrishayzel

• This reply was modified 11 months, 1 week ago by peter.

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2

[peter]

The more I look at the LinkedIn posts and see the new CEO is more of a graphic design professional, not an experienced manager, after reading the VI-CONTROL post from the customer success manager, and considering the departure of Mike Patti — although one of his industry friends tagged him as Chairman. Considering Patti’s and the new CEO’s comments it doesn’t look at all like Patti is involved in the business anymore. It looks like he sold it and is pursuing something else.

Okay,  so after reading all of this, I now do think the future of Cinesamples looks very iffy. I definitely don’t forsee development of major new libraries in the future. My instincts are that the business will be sold, hopefully to a developer who will invest in furthering the Musio platform.

It does put everything in a different light. The other Mike left the business last year. A contractor that worked on Piano in Blue now owns the rights to that library; other former Cinesamples libraries are now distributed by other contractors. That could be a sign of problems with Cinesamples. Tina Guo is now working with Christian Henson’s new company. That could mean nothing or it could reflect that people are bailing on the business.

Had I learned all of this several days ago, I don’t know if I would have purchased Musio. This is the dilemma of buying sample libraries contained in a small developer’s proprietary plugin.

Now I’m hesitant to contact a few developer friends to learn what they know because I’m sure they won’t want me to share it here. But I do think that all signs point to the business being in trouble.

Consequently, I would recommend those who purchase Musio keep in mind the possibility that this business may not be in great condition. Of course,  we don’t know about lots of these small developers, many of which are one man operations. Impact Soundworks just bought a former contractor’s sample development company. IS is a business that surely does more than a million dollars a year in revenue but is still ran out of Aversa’s house and I believe that he’s the only employee, everyone else he uses are contractors. That is how many of these businesses operate. But the departure of a founder/principal and the appointment of an inexperienced manager as the new CEO doesn’t look like a move of a growing business. Of course,  I’d love to see them succeed, but everything I’ve just read reflects a business in trouble.

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2

[peter]

This is a pretty cool history of the sample development world, Cinesamples,  and Musio. Although it would make that realistic sample libraries used on personal computers (as composed to the Chamberlain approach that started it all) one believe that this all started in the 00s, but it goes back much earlier to EastWest and Sonic Implants in the 90s.

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[Kirean]

Not commenting on Musio, but there’s been an awful a lot of buying and selling of companies as of late.

For example, the company behind APD/Sample Logic/etc apparently bought the whole operation of Pulse Audio.

Supposedly they’re the new owners of VSTBuzz as well.

All this stuff makes it far easier to fight GAS as I’ll mainly concentrate on either Kontakt libraries, other more well established (and diverse) companies and/or things from smaller devs that offer consumer friendly activation procedures. Or, it’s so cheap…

But here’s to hoping that Cinesamples/Musio manages to stay afloat.

2

[peter]

More than anything, the fact that Cinesamples gave Piano in Blue to a contractor involved in making the library (and a fairly minor contractor who processed samples) and a few other libraries to another contractor looks a lot like they may have:

1. Transferred the rights to the libraries due to unpaid fees in a licensing agreement due to cash flow issues OR they may have transferred the rights to the libraries to raise cash due to cash flow issues.

2. They’ve retained the rights to the Musio versions, and are selling Cinesamples directly and through retail channel partners, but it definitely doesn’t look like the moves of a financially healthy business. That’s purely speculation, but there are enough red flags where I’d recommend considering that before purchasing from Musio. The new CEO clearly doesn’t have the qualifications one would expect for such a role.Mike Barry exited the business; Mike Patti has been quiet about the transfer of leadership to someone who was a graphic designer a short while ago; several former Cinesamples libraries ownership rights have gone to contractors; I find it extremely likely that this business is struggling.  There are far too many signs that indicate the business has serious issues.

Now people can look at Mike Greene going after Cinesamples like he has 8Dio and other competitors and credit him for bringing attention to Cinesamples struggles. However, Greene’s platform sees more than a half million visitors per month. Spreading rumors that a competitor is having problems will cause many potential customers to not purchase. It does damage like wildfire. I did a brief assessment of the damage Greene’s attacks on 8Dio caused to the brand reputation and it was profound, reaching to the major social media platforms and major and minor forum communities. I had discussions with two popular influencers in the space who had concerns about Greene’s allegations, while being aware that Greene has a habit of malicious attacks on competitors. Greene targeted 8Dio and Cinesamples more than any other competitors. 8Dio is still going strong, but the damage he did has made many sample developers more hesitant to partner with them as a result of Greene’s attacks and their concerns that they may be attacked if they come aboard the SoundPaint platform. It’s without question that Greene has greatly worsened Cinesamples struggles by putting obstacles in the minds of sample buyers and contractors.

Weaponizing a major platform in this market to attack competitors has a serious impact.  I don’t think it’s the core cause of these problems, but it is gasoline on the fire. What, IMO, is the takeaway for sample buyers? Musio 1 represents the best value on the market by leaps and bounds, however, because these libraries are formatted for a proprietary sample player plugin, the purchase entails a degree of risk that if the developer closes its doors, there will be no updates for that platform. Of course, if these libraries were formatted for Kontakt, this would be far less of a concern. So if you are considering purchasing Musio 1, at this point, with what I’ve just learned — and I have contacted some developers to get their takes — I would weigh the possibility that Cinesamples’ financial state appears questionable at this time. There is risk that comes with any software purchase, but that risk is much more significant when the entire ecosystem is reliant on proprietary software made by the sample developer.

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2

[peter]

I learned a little more info about Cinesamples new CEO, and I’m guessing, he’s also likely the new owner and it does make me think there may be hope for Cinesamples.

He’s the son of musician Howard Hewett — from 80s hit band Shalamar — and actress Nia Peeples from the TV show Fame. He’s a composer. for various TV shows and films and has worked as a Content Art Director at Artiphon (2019-2023), leading creative design and production.

From people in the industry, Mike Patti’s real love is composing. He has a master’s in music. I’m guessing that’s where he’s redirecting his career. His LinkedIn resume makes it clear that he’s no longer working at Cinesamples but is working as a composer and producer. It could be that he is having Chris run the business while still maintaining ownership or partial ownership.

As you can see on the below graph, according to LinkedIn (definitely not the most reliable source for this info, but it’s all we have on this small privately traded business), Cinesamples has had a decline in the total number of employees over the past couple of years. However, it still has a staff of approximately 10 people, which is more than enough employees to operate this kind of business and I have been told by an industry insider that they have some talented people on the team.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelpatti/

https://www.michaelpatti.com/

 

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4

[Brian]

Appreciate the “Inside Baseball” @Peter.  I see on a VI thread that a Musio dev chimed in on what he is working on (I assume a contractor).  I got an a email from Musio a few days ago that they just released Cinestrings Runs- I assume still for Musio One.

2

[peter]

On Brian said

Appreciate the “Inside Baseball” @Peter.  I see on a VI thread that a Musio dev chimed in on what he is working on (I assume a contractor).  I got an a email from Musio a few days ago that they just released Cinestrings Runs- I assume still for Musio One.

I do feel a responsibility to investigate what’s going on now that I’ve given a mini review and recommended Musio 1.

It’s an incredible value. If this company stays around, there’s really nothing that can match it for twice the price. There’s easily dozens of sample libraries included that I absolutely love. String libraries, piano libraries, etc. I think for any hobbyist — putting aside the questions and concerns about Cinesamples’ health — this is as big of a no brainer that has ever existed for as long as I’ve been buying sample libraries. Just for the Tina Guo and other cello libraries for $149 US, I’d consider that an incredible deal, but then there’s a ton more than that.

As a hobbyist musician, I really want Musio to succeed. I’ve consulted to 8Dio / SoundPaint and I have dozens of their libraries (I had a bunch of them before I consulted and they gave me credit for more after I consulted) and those are awesome too and they have vast presets, good effects, programming and the ability for me to create my own presets and programs that I love, and Musio is a lot more barebones than the SoundPaint Sampler, but the included sample libraries are so incredibly good that it’s not a big deal for me, especially for the price. Yes, it would be awesome if Cinesamples later added presets and effects — or even if they came up with a premium version as an upgrade. If they had an upgraded plugin sample player that contained presets for everything, great effects, arpeggios and programming I would easily spend another $100 – $150 just for that.  All I can say is that if this company stays around — and I hope it does — this is the greatest sample library deal that has ever existed. Nothing can touch it.

What are your thoughts as a user of Musio, @Brian?

I realize that you bought the lifetime deal and are, rightfully, concerned about Cinesamples future, but how satisfied are you with the quality of the libraries, the playability, the software user experience and the customer experience with any support you’ve needed? Concerns about the business aside, everything about this product has been superb for me. The plugin runs great. The libraries download promptly. Cinesamples has done everything right. Mike Greene wants to influence the market to stop buying Musio based on a fear about the company’s stability — just like he tried to persuade the market to not buy 8Dio / SoundPaint based on what he knew to be lies about the developer (that’s from our direct communications; he even tried to persuade me not to consult to 8Dio — and I can tell you that my experience with them was very good and I have been the harshest critique of their libraries I am aware of — Greene furthered the fiction that 8Dio attacks anyone who gives it a negative critique, while knowing that two of the three stories being spread were lies; Greene told me that even though it wasn’t right, it doesn’t matter because he loathes 8Dio’s CEO and I should never work with her).

While Greene has caused widespread speculation about a number of his direct competitors by weaponizing VI-Control as an attack center, the reality is, we know very little about the financial health of any small sample developer. We have no idea if Mike Greene’s Realitone or Impact Soundworks are in the black or red. With one person companies like these — and a lot of sample developers and small plugin developers are one or two person businesses ran out of people’s homes — all it takes is the owner having a serious health issue or a legal problem for the business to crash and burn. But there is zero transparency for any of these businesses. That is, any of them can fold tomorrow. If that did happen with Cinesamples, I think their catalog of libraries is attractive enough that another company or entrepreneur would likely have an interest in buying the business or the assets and continue marketing these products.

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3

[Brian]

I agree that Musio is a crazy great deal.  I am not really put off by their bespoke sample player.  It is clean and easy to use.  Lord knows I have a boatload of FX I can apply, although it would be nice to have more baked in presets.  I like the quick preview and download as needed.  EastWest is taking the same approach- you can optionally install everything, but you save a lot of disk space by pulling it down as needed.  I am referring to their bespoke player and not Kontakt based. True, you are counting on the company being there in the future.  I think we are seeing more and more dependence on internet access for our stuff to work at all.  Old timers will remember when the only way to use a computer was via a dumb terminal.  I am a flight simulator buff and bought the new Flight Simulator 2024 version from Microsoft that released a couple weeks ago.  They moved to keeping almost ALL assets on Azure servers.  They basically had to to have any market for the new product. The 2020 version was about 120-250 Gigs of core local data, with map and terrain info streamed in from a 3 petabyte database.  FS2024, if following that blueprint, would require 1.4 Terabytes local storage on every users system, plus the 3 petabyte internet db.  I don’t know how they did it, but 2024 runs WAY better than 2020 did on my system, and the total install is about 25 Gigs.  I have a good data connection, which can certainly make a difference.

Sidenote on 8DIO/Soundpaint.  I think they are a good outfit. As a user, the few times I contacted support I was well treated.  I also took part in their Soundpaint beta program for several months and had only positive experiences.  I dropped out a while ago only because I didn’t feel I was devoting enough time to using the software to do it justice.

1

[Kirean]

Cinesamples just posted on VI Control: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/a-letter-from-cinesamples-musios-chris-hayzel.158743/

3

[peter]

On Kirean said

Cinesamples just posted on VI Control: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/a-letter-from-cinesamples-musios-chris-hayzel.158743/

Thanks for sharing that. I read every post in the thread. Chris comes across as genuine and his story all adds up. Mike Patti is a talented musician and composter and I know from people who’ve worked with him that his heart was more into composing than making sample libraries, even though he built a superb sample library business in Cinesamples. I think if Musio would have had a better start and perhaps, better funding, it’s a great, disruptive idea. I had posted at the Cakewalk Forum when some folks were eager to go for a lifetime deal that lifetime software deals are most often reflective of a company that has been unable to raise capital conventionally, so doing a lifetime deal means you’re taking on a good degree of risk the company’s lifetime won’t be very long. It seems that Cinesamples was struggling when Musio was launched, which obviously, made for a very rocky start of a new division (I launched a successful division of a mid-sized corporation back in the late 90s where I was in line to be the next CEO before I decided to change course and focus on digital marketing in the Fortune 500). I did think that Chris lacked the experience to lead the business, but he clearly knows how to communicate and appears to be a straight shooter.

As I mentioned before, what do any of us know about any of these small sample developers? It’s usually the reason that I avoid buying sample libraries built in a developer’s proprietary sample player. But the value of Musio was far too good for me to pass on. Using the trial for 30 days made it irresistible just for the strings and pianos alone. I found/find them inspiring. That said, I still will avoid buying sample libraries from small one or two person developers.

Another takeaway for this communication from Musio’s CEO? Cinesamples commitment to Kontakt looks like toast. Some quick points that Chris made:

• Mike Patti still appears to own the business and is indeed acting as Chairman.
  “Mike Patti decided that he wanted to step back, spend more time with his family, and focus on what he loves: composing music. So in August of this year, he decided to step down as CEO and name me as his successor. I was deeply honored that he trusted me enough to hand me the keys to something that he’s built and fostered for most of his adult life.” 
  
• Chris was surprisingly candid about the company’s financial struggles and current state; that’s a great sign that makes me inclined to believe that he’s telling the truth.  
  We pretty much spent the entire first half of this year making up for the previous season’s deficit, doing everything that we could to get our bearings while continuing to deliver great instruments to you.
• Musio is growing. 
  “And lastly, Musio is growing. Significantly. Just to give you an idea; at the end of May of this year, Musio had around 4,000 active users (across subscription and perpetual). In the last 6 months we’ve more than tripled that number of active users, by the end of December we will have quadrupled it, and we’re just getting started.”
• They’re down to six employees.  That’s enough to keep this business moving forward and being lean will enable them to spend more on developing new libraries.
  “All of this is because of this small, 6-person group of dedicated, passionate, and incredibly skilled people who were determined to push through the challenges of the last year and make shit happen regardless. And it’s the same group of people who are going to make sure that you: our supporters, our users, our community, will continue to see value from the product that you’ve invested in.”
• Musio 2 is projected to be delivered in Q2 2025. 
  “Our ridiculously talented production lead has already planned and started production on Musio 2, and we’re aiming to release the first batch of Musio 2 instruments sometime around Q2 of next year.”
• Chris is promising to deliver on promised new mic positions functionality to Musio customers. That’s great news, because it costs money to have developers work on this, so it shows that they’re not abandoning anything, but improving the software.
  “Our Development team continues to push toward building and implementing new features (including, yes, Mic Positions), all while maintaining a regular cadence of updates and bug fixes to keep Musio running smoothly today. They’ve taken some major steps forward on the Mic Positions front and have a working internal version. They’re currently fine tuning the feature before releasing it into beta, and subsequently the public build. Once Mic Positions are available to the public, the team will be turning their focus to more features and exciting new product developments for next year.”

Now how long before Mike Greene starts attacking Chris? The one factor that could avert that is if Chris starts spending money at VI-Control. But Greene is hyper-obsessed with how Cinesamples, 8Dio and other developers are disrupting the sample world by dramatically lowering pricing. This is the kind of thing — but for larger industries — that I once used to write about and it was because I am fascinated by these stories. I am definitely rooting for Musio and Chris to succeed. They’ve clearly grown their marketshare by a lot by using penetration pricing. The big question is, are they making enough to fund other libraries. My guess is that they will focus on less costly to make sample libraries rather than the big budget ones that was Cinesamples core business. More pianos, guitars, keyboards, vocals, etc. Anyhow, I wish them the best. I do love what they’ve done to date.

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[peter]

For anyone who didn’t pull the trigger on this for the Black Friday price, the lowest price you can currently find it for is $199 US at Plugin Boutique where you can also get a free plugin along with your purchase (you can buy it for the same price direct from Musio, but don’t get the free plugin or store credit, like you get with PiB). Best Service has it at its regular price of $399 US, and I can see that is what was loaded in with Google’s shopping search engine until earlier today for Plugin Boutique. So when this sale is over, expect that the price will be $399 US, which I still think is an excellent value for what you get, but of course, $199 is a great deal ($149 was, of course, even better, but that’s no longer and option).

https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/11429?a_aid=66fd59ee09bb9

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[antler]

I appreciate the honesty/transparency and hope Musio succeeds. Prior to launching Musio, I had wondered if Cinesamples was financially in trouble as they had a few years of back-to-back sales on their Kontakt libraries.

2

[peter]

On antler said

I appreciate the honesty/transparency and hope Musio succeeds. Prior to launching Musio, I had wondered if Cinesamples was financially in trouble as they had a few years of back-to-back sales on their Kontakt libraries.

When Mike Barry left Cinesamples, I knew that wasn’t a good sign. Now Chris has confirmed that they were doing poorly but the ship has been straightened out. I wouldn’t correlate big sales with a company struggling. Yes, it certainly does happen to bring in revenue quickly, but right now, the industry is seeing disruption in the pricing model. Cinesamples, 8Dio and Native Instruments led that change on the sample library front, while Waves led it on the effects plugin front. It does mean that a lot of small developers are going to have to learn very quickly how to get better at marketing and move a lot more product to make the same profits, because margins are shrinking.

If you were just getting your feet wet with cinematic recording, Musio and SoundPaint and their vast catalog of great sample libraries that has long ago paid for production costs, so its really just paying the royalties of those involved in the production and data costs, puts them both in excellent positions do very well as prices come dramatically down. If that brings more people into the market — and their respective customer basses — they can introduce new libraries at lower costs. Of course, those libraries won’t be as inexpensive as libraries made a decade or more ago whose production costs are fully paid, but it will be substantially less cost than if they had a much smaller customer base. For hobbyists, like us, there’s a benefit to supporting these developers as they lead the way in driving down prices for pro-quality sample libraries.

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2

[zoukiman]

Should I  then download all the libraries? Does it make sense? Did you do that?

Will I be able to use it or even “reinstall” it in case Musio would go down?

 

The Musio interface disturb me as well… But yes, great stuff!

 

• This reply was modified 11 months, 1 week ago by zoukiman.

[peter]

On zoukiman said

Should I  then download all the libraries? Does it make sense? Did you do that?

Will I be able to use it or even “reinstall” it in case Musio would go down?

 

The Musio interface disturb me as well… But yes, great stuff!

 

I downloaded all of the libraries I thought were most important as soon as I became aware that Mike stepped down as CEO.  But as I learned more — which I shared here — I feel a lot more confident about Musio. That said,  I’m also a pragmatist. It doesn’t hurt to download every library you find most of interest.

I skipped the synths and drum machines. Even though they sound alright, I’m well covered in those areas and they didn’t seem to be anything special to my ears.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

2

[doug]

On zoukiman said

 

The Musio interface disturb me as well… But yes, great stuff!

 

I like the Musio interface. What is it that disturbs you?

This would be a clever signature if I could think of one.

1

[zoukiman]

On doug said

On zoukiman said

 

The Musio interface disturb me as well… But yes, great stuff!

 

I like the Musio interface. What is it that disturbs you?

This would be a clever signature if I could think of one.

Well, maybe because it is new for me, but one for the download, one to play… And I couldn’t choose where to install the instruments, the download yes. I could move the instruments to my desired path after there get unpacked…

Maybe it’s me, not a big trouble, I will figure it out. Great value for the money, for sure! Love it already!

1

[jude77]

This thread made for a fascinating read in that we were able to see a bit “behind the curtain” of the software development world.  I feel sort of like I walked in the Library of congress and somebody handed me the complete JFK file.  I wish Cinesamples the best, and all other small developers as well.  It looks to me that starting and maintaining a small software company takes a pair of brass ones.

[peter]

On jude77 said

This thread made for a fascinating read in that we were able to see a bit “behind the curtain” of the software development world.  I feel sort of like I walked in the Library of congress and somebody handed me the complete JFK file.  I wish Cinesamples the best, and all other small developers as well.  It looks to me that starting and maintaining a small software company takes a pair of brass ones.

I did spend some time as a Fortune 200 business strategy director, assessing acquisition targets and doing strategy planning. It definitely impacts how I assess companies, even small developers, even when I’m not trying to do it. I suppose it’s kind of like when you’ve had music training and you hear a song’s chorus go up a step or something, how you automatically analyze that whether or not you’re trying. It is basically a little of what you do when you’re doing a competitive analysis. With these small developers, we have no idea of what kind of financial shape they’re in. The best we can do is guess based on any personal and strategy changes that reflect a company in trouble. Cinesamples has had a lot of those signs in the past couple of years. But everything Chris Hayzel stated in his posts adds up — it all fits, and he was refreshingly open. That doesn’t mean I think that Cinesamples / Musio is necessarily an incredibly stable company, but I do think it has a decent shot and being successful and I do think it’s worth supporting.

I’ll also share this — there are some things I know that I cannot share about the company from the recent past — that were signs that I found reflected a company in serious trouble. But everything Chris stated reflected an acknowledgement that they had some serious problems and survived them and are now doing incredibly better.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[Author]

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