I made a really good sounding JUNO-6 emulation for free, shared it in the KVR forum - this is what happened

[Morphoice]

Long story short:
I built a really good-sounding JUNO-6 emulation in Faust, modeled from my own original hardware JUNO that I restored myself. Took me roughly a year to get it sounding right. I worked up the nerve to release it for free on the KVR forum, still in beta.
https://www.morphoice.com/eightysix

Here's what happened:

About 7000 downloads in a week — and a flood of comments and emails. Around a hundred people complained that they had to unzip a file, apparently a huge inconvenience. Twice as many complained about the "limits" that are authentic to the JUNO itself (the polyphony). Plenty more said it wouldn't run in some exotic DAW I'd never heard of — though after a few hours of digging, I confirmed it runs in every single one of them. A few people even complained about the hardcoded HISE folder structure I have no control over.

Not one person said a word about the sound.

The general tone was hostile, condescending, entitled, demanding, arrogant.

Is it always like this? What has the producer scene turned into? Or did I somehow stumble into an audience that isn't musicians or producers at all — people who just couldn't appreciate the year of work that goes into something like this?

Oh, and the most common accusation: "this was made by AI." It wasn't. I didn't even know AI was a thing when I started writing DSP and building plugins. The only thing I actually use it for is drafting the super-friendly replies to these people — because what I really want to say to their faces would get me banned and cancelled ;))))

[David Healey]

@Morphoice said in I made a really good sounding JUNO-6 emulation for free, shared it in the KVR forum - this is what happened:

Is it always like this?

Not my experience but my instruments are in a different genre so perhaps a different audience.

[Morphoice]

@David-Healey I've been told by AI:

Free stuff attracts the most entitled users — people who paid nothing often feel owed the most. There's no skin in the game, so complaining costs them nothing.
Big platforms like KVR have huge, anonymous crowds. Anonymity plus scale equals low-effort negativity. The thoughtful people just download, enjoy it, and say nothing — silence is the real majority.
Most commenters aren't deep musicians; they're collectors chasing the next free download. They judge convenience (unzipping, instant gratification), not sound.
"Made by AI" is the current lazy insult — it's the easy way to dismiss something without engaging with it.
And negativity is just louder. One happy user moves on; one annoyed user writes a paragraph. You're seeing a skewed sample, not reality.
The 7000 downloads are the real signal. The comments are noise.

[David Healey]

@Morphoice said in I made a really good sounding JUNO-6 emulation for free, shared it in the KVR forum - this is what happened:

I've been told by AI:

AI tends to give answers that reinforce bias in the prompt. Change your prompt and you'll get a much more positive opinion of KVR users.

[Morphoice]

@David-Healey that doesn't change my experience though ;o)

[David Healey]

@Morphoice said in I made a really good sounding JUNO-6 emulation for free, shared it in the KVR forum - this is what happened:

that doesn't change my experience though ;o)

True, no amount of AI can do that :) Just respond politely, ignore the trolls, and focus on the positive comments.

[dannytaurus]

I get way more bad reviews and negative feedback on my free plugins than I do on my paid plugins.

They aren't anonymous either - they either come by email or their email address is attached to the review.

As for the sound - unfortunately nobody downloading a free plugin cares how much time you took perfecting the sound. On the other hand, if you charged $199 for exactly the same plugin, you'd probably get a lot more positive feedback and lots of compliments on the sound.

Most people value something based on what it cost them. If it cost zero, they don't value it at all. If it cost hundreds of $$ they're much more likely to appreciate it, love it and, most importantly, use it..

[dannytaurus]

@Morphoice

Oh, and the most common accusation: "this was made by AI."

I would put that comment down to two things:

1. You have a quite a lot of (what appear to be) AI-generated images on your site, and
2. The plugin UIs are very minimal, even simplistic, and could be mistaken by some as first-pass AI-generated output.

Plugins based on vintage gear often have vintage-looking skeuomorphic UIs, which AI has a much harder time creating. Examples: all the vintage synths by Arturia, UVI, Cherry Audio, etc.

Your Juno might sound better than the Juno offerings from any of these makers, but with a simplistic UI and a price tag of free, nobody is going to compare yours to those.

None is this is critical of your design, by the way. It's reminds me a lot of Valhalla plugins, which is a good thing!

[Morphoice]

@dannytaurus yeah, the Valhalla UI was the real inspiration behind it, along with that flat design phase Apple is now dialing back on. I kind of love it, and it's really easy to do thanks to David's LAF tutorials.
Most of the art is my own — drawings, photography, or renders. There's some circuit-cyberpunk background on Circuit Mix, and the three guys on Wingmen are early AI imagery, because I was too lazy to draw something for hours and I can't draw men - but that's about it. There's even a media section where you can download my drawings and photography. People see what they want to see, though.
And I don't get the problem. 100 years ago they were railing against the moving production line. Now it's AI. The complaint never changes — only the target. Those who can't do will always resent those who do, and no new tool will ever fix that, because the tool was never really the issue.

Point taken, though! I should simply charge. A lot ;)