How do you handle demos and trials for your HISE plugins?
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Hey everyone,
I’m a student and I’ve been looking into how small developers let people try their plugins before buying. When I made my first plugin, I couldn’t even install a DAW on my own laptop to test it, which got me thinking about how much friction there is before anyone hears a plugin at all.
For those of you selling HISE plugins, I’d really like to know:
What do you offer before someone buys? A trial build, a demo with limits (time, noise, no saving), audio and video demos, or nothing?
How did you end up with that? Was it something HISE made easy, or a choice you made for other reasons?
What’s the most annoying part of it for you? Building and updating the demo version, licensing, people emailing because it won’t install?
Has a trial ever clearly won you a sale, or lost you one?Even short answers help. “We just do videos, it’s fine” is a useful answer too.
Full disclosure: I’m working on an idea around this, which is why I’m asking. No link, because I want to hear how it really works for you first.
Thanks!
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@s_creator I just do videos. I have one demo video per product. https://www.youtube.com/@meatbeatsofficial
I make an audio demo first in Logic, then screen record the plugin window and use those recordings along with the audio and some background visuals to make a demo video. I try to include enough text in the video to cover the plugin features and benefits.
I don't do demo versions of the plugin, or trials of any kind.
I don't do licensing at all yet, but will do when I move away from Gumroad.
The reason I don't do trials or demo versions isn't because of the complexity of doing it, it's because I don't like them myself. I like to watch a good demo video, then buy the plugin.
Most of the trial plugins I've ever downloaded were never eventually bought. They just languish in trial jail.
The exception is freemium, where the plugin has a demo mode with limited feature set but is otherwise fully functional - no noise bursts, time limit, save limit, etc.
I see that as basically two plugins in one - a free one with limited features and a paid one that unlocks all the features.
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Thanks, that’s really clear. Out of interest, roughly how long does one demo video take you from start to finished, and which part takes the longest?
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@s_creator Honestly, I make quite a lot of promotional videos. I’ve tried offering free trials a few times, but rather than helping sales, I actually feel like they may hurt them. Videos and marketing strategies are what work best for me.
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@s_creator This is my video creation workflow for an instrument plugin:
- Create a 1-2 minute audio demo in Logic (4 hours)
- The plugin plays through a series of sequences over some basic drums
- Record screen captures of the plugin playing each riff as a separate video file (1 hour)
- Bounce the audio demo to WAV (5 minutes)
- Put the audio demo and plugin captures into a 1920x1080 Screenflow project (5 minutes)
- Add a main static title (plugin name) and footer (VST/AU, Mac/Win, URL) (10 minutes)
- The video timeline duration is defined by the length of the main audio clip
- Place and crop each plugin video capture on the timeline so it syncs with the audio (1 hour)
- Write a series of text lines explaining the features of the plugin (30 minutes)
- Place text lines under the plugin videos (30 minutes)
- Animate the plugin captures and text lines with simple slide in/out moves (30 minutes)
- Find or create a suitable background video (1 hour)
- Export the project as 1920x1080 MP4 video and poster frame (10 minutes)
- Duplicate the Screenflow project and reframe to 1080x1080 for social media (1 hour)
- Export the project as 1080x1080 MP4 video and poster frame (10 minutes)
Although the actual total here is about 10 hours, it often takes days or weeks to get motivated to start the process.
