Question for those module developers who have made modules for sale: what do you think of the experience?
I ask in part because I have an idea for a module that is better suited than most of my ideas to being sold. But I also like seeing my work being broadly used, and free makes that more likely. I’m certain that the amount of money at stake is far below what I could make by other paths, and I don’t really need the money, but making some revenue with a thing I enjoy making would be fun? I think? And I see a number of module makers doing it.
I started creating commercial modules not long ago. I already have a fairly substantial catalog of free modules. I’m making the commercial modules to provide myself a little bit of income. Plus I love making them.
The experience so far has been good! Here’s what I don’t like about it:
As you mentioned, you’re going to have a lot fewer users, and that’s unfortunate.
I get more stressed out about potentially shipping bugs.
I had to split my collection (and github projects) between “Voxglitch” and “Voxglitch Devices”.
Becoming a seller isn’t very automated. I had to essentially reach out to VCV Rack support (Andrew) and say, “Hey, I want to sell this module.” It’s easy, but be prepared to be patient.
I’m lucky in that I found a way to have both free and paid versions of my Entrian Sequencers modules (the free ones can’t edit sequences, but can import MIDI and can play patches created by people with the paid version). So I get lots of people using them, but I’ve also sold a lot of paid licenses.
You can also give away licenses, if gaining users is more important than the money - early in the product’s life I ran a “competition” where I gave away a free license to anyone who promised to make an interesting patch with it. That was a lot of fun. Maybe some of those people would have bought it if I hadn’t given it away to them, but it was well worth it.
For paid products, I feel more of a responsibility to maintain them than I do free products. That’s probably wrong, and someone will be along in a minute to tell me there should be no difference, but (for me) there is.
Another thing that maybe I shouldn’t admit to feeling: being paid for something you did gives you validation in a different way from praise. Telling someone you love what they’ve done is free, but getting your wallet out and paying for it has a literal cost. When someone does that, you have absolute proof that you’ve created something of measurable value.
I do greatly enjoy hearing from users. But I have long said that nothing says “I love what you’re doing” as convincingly as money, although that was mainly in regard to employers.
Making a video about/with my modules or using them in performance is actually even more convincing!
I’m terrible at coding, but might sell some patches for this exact reason. If it makes any small amount of income, that’s useful. Otherwise it provides validation that my patches have zero value to other people, and that could be kind of useful for other reasons!
Unfortunately $$$ is how we measure value in a capitalist society, so if you’re not making any then people perceive that what you do is worthless, which I think is a shame. Mylar Melodies did a great video on this topic recently, the pressure to monetise everything making hobbies feel like a waste of time. It makes it less fun. Then again, it would be nice to get a few quid for work you would have done anyway!
I have bought a lot of premium modules, and am happy to do so to support the developers. My only real concern is that I expect a different level of bug fixes and maintenance for the ones I buy than I do for the free ones. Some devs are really good about that, and some are not.
yes, I would hope and expect new premium modules have been tested and debugged thoroughly. Otherwise,I am more or less a beta tester that paid for admission, that actually feels like I have been duped into buying a less than premium product. I understand when things need a minor tweak, but if they cough up nans or have a dreadful workflow, it shows a lack of precision and testing.
I also wanna be clear, I totally get that VCV rack is unlike any software in its “business” model. I don’t expect any conformance with what anyone else does in that space. And as designers become their own agent for their own modules, I expect there to be some experimentation for each of those little businesses as well. And of the purchases I have made, they have generally been good experiences and sometimes a great experience and very rarely disappointed.
Referring people to VCV+ so they can see if modules have bugs or not is both lazy and unethical. If devs are going to sell something, those modules/plugins should be thoroughly tested before release/charging for them.
I’m not saying that every premium module should be “100% bug free”. I don’t think that’s realistic. Stuff comes up, and stuff typically gets dealt with. But when devs push things out without fully testing them, then charge people for them… that does indeed make the consumer a “beta tester that paid for admission” as @cubistguitar put it.
FTR, @DaveVenom has set a really good bar for how devs selling plugins should engage with their customers. Follow (and exceed!) his example and you’re golden.
To everyone else… Test your shit before you sell it. Don’t charge people for sub-par (cough-AI generated-cough) work, then expect users to test it for you… (not pointing at you @codyge, but definitely pointing at others) or suggest that people should pay for VCV+ to test it for you before they buy it outright.
I am very much considering this an experiment for myself. And not only in the “does it pay enough to be worth my time” way, as one might expect. I’m actually a bit queasy about stepping back from Rack modules being my amateur project, in the sense of “amateur” meaning “from love”. Adding money to something you love doing is widely considered a good way to kill interest in doing it.
But I do take the act of asking people to pay a bit for modules as an impetus to think harder and more clearly on the design. It went through a lot of design iterations, and took about four months to get to this point. And I’m already working on features for the next version.
One thing I’m also excited about is that doing that extra design thought that led to the Mixt module that goes with Twixt will soon result in a new random number module in my main plugin. First suggestive peek here:
Yeah I get you. There are over 400 premium modules now, so if you get VCV+ you can try them all and see which ones you like. It is otherwise very hard to know what you are gonna get. That’s all I was saying. Please don’t call me unethical for that.
VCV admin do a careful check of the pro modules, and even offer tech support to developers to help improve them! This is something that goes beyond the services they provide for our free plugins. Andrew helped me a lot with my first pro module, regarding CPU optimizations… and what I learned from that made all my free modules get way better.
I can only speak for myself. I test the crap outta my modules. Then I test more. Then I ask my trusted testers here to test. But it’s never enough! Releasing a paid module gives me tremendous anxiety. I haven’t released Sands yet and it’s been ready for ages.
@StochasticTelegraph I really like your modules. They are very creative and inspired. I strongly encourage you to keep going! I’ve had a great experience with VCV so far, and despite some learning experiences along the way, I think making pro modules actually greatly improved my skill level as it pushed me to try much harder.
I agree 100% with the 2nd sentence - all plugins should be thoroughly tested (and documented) before release, especially commercial plugins. Unfortunately, we live in an imperfect world, and not all do that. Assassinating someone’s character for suggesting VCV+ and 7 day return policy as potential options to guard against unworthy purchases is harsh and uncalled for. Both are pragmatic options people should be aware of.
In general, if you have a criticism, stick to the actual words written, or the actual product shortcomings. Avoid accusations of personal character flaws.
@StochasticTelegraph - Releasing a commercial plugin is definitely nerve wracking, and you do open yourself up to more criticism. But if you put in your due diligence, include an independent testing team, and pay attention to not only bug reports but also design or usability issues they may have, then you should be fine. Also, don’t rely on your testing team to find all the problems. You are probably using your baby more than anyone else, and you are most invested. Any time you are using your plugin is an opportunity for debugging - if something odd happens that you didn’t expect, don’t assume it was your own operator error and simply work around the issue. Rather assume there may be a bug or design flaw and dig into it.
As to your original question - All in all, I have been very happy with my experience developing and releasing commercial VCV plugins.
I stand by what I wrote… because I’m right.
Referring people to VCV+ as a way to demo modules is 100% OK.
Referring people to VCV+ to see if modules have bugs or not is lazy and unethical.
Honestly hoping Andrew’s process for adding content to VCV+ would include one more poke and prod for quality control. It is meant to draw new users and those unsure of VCV pro, so hopefully it acts like a “best of”.
