Hey, thanks as always for your detailed reviews and feedback, it's genuinely really helpful in gaining insight into how people are using the libraries, what expectations are and where I might be able to improve with updates and new content!
Because you've bought a bunch of libraries and provided so many reviews/useful feedback I'd like to give you a new sci-fi bundle I released on shapeforms.com recently! Email me at hello@shapeforms.com if you like! :D
Some thoughts on the negatives listed:
If you're reading this wondering whether this pack is worth $60: It's hard to say.
It's true it's the highest-priced of my libraries to date, but not without reason: it reflects the time and effort put in (there are a handful of individual sounds in the library that took full days each to design), the value and versatility on offer, and was set after evaluating about a dozen competitors' products of similar quality, where I found the average price per sound was 13c (which if applied to this library would make it about $120 – so $60 I feel is actually very reasonable value). I'm definitely open to feedback on price though; I want to meet or exceed expectations, and want people to be truly happy with their purchase and ultimately enjoy using the assets!
* Not truly suitable for 'individual' sound use.
As you say the main draw of the library is in the versatility and variety found in layering multiple sounds. It's true not all sounds will stand alone as well as others but this is partly by design to allow 'room' for multiple layers at once without cluttering the spectrum and turning into noise. I tried to provide a mix of simple through to complex sounds in each category.
* Some sounds are a bit too 'wet'.
This is interesting feedback as generally I worry my sounds are too dry (which I do so people can set the sounds into any space with reverb etc.) Again though it's possible I've tried to include a mix from quite dry to a bit wet for variety in options.
* I was hoping for a more "cohesive" feeling between the sounds.
For example I expected a set of x sounds for each 'sound profile':
"Alien Ship (Synthy pulsy waves): Take Off / Landing / Engine Loop"
"Combustion Ship (think Jet Engine): Take Off / Landing / Engine Loop"
Pre-designed sound sets is something I've been wanting to add to this and other libraries, I think it would be good to include to fully round it out. What I didn't want to do though is be entirely prescriptive in the design of the library, since modularity and layering gives people more freedom and uniqueness in results (at the expense perhaps of a bit more trial and error). I'll aim to add some sound sets in a future update (but this may be a very long term goal)
* Boosts is all right, but could've used some more diverse recharging loops and has some 'odd' one shots that feel out of place.
Boosts was a hard one to communicate the idea behind (since there are also 'thruster' sounds). Boosts I imagined being like boost/warp pads/gates in games like Wipeout, while thrusters are the vehicles' own propulsion. Though of course any sound can be used for any purpose if it fits! It's true there aren't a ton of charge loops either, I'll look to include more in an update.
* Some of the sounds edge a bit too close to being a basic sound shape + LFO.
This was actually a later addition to the library realising I only had quite complex, heavily 'designed' sounds in there – I had been playing Ratchet & Clank and noticed their floating robot/vehicle sounds were actually very simple/minimal, so I see the addition of these sorts of sounds as a plus not a negative: more options to suit a wider range of use cases.
* Impacts.
...no "groaning metal" sounds, no big heavy bombastic metal crashes... could've provided some more heavy / deep metal clangs & clashes, screeching noises and groaning metal.
Groaning metal and massive crashes was something I wanted to include and attempted some designs for but realised ultimately I just didn't have the appropriate source recordings to really sell the effect well. These LARGE sounds are often best sourced from real world industrial-sized machinery and the like and as a solo indie sound recordist/designer I just don't have the clout/access that AAA studio sound design teams have. However! With some clever ultrasonic recordings of metal clashing I can probably produce something useful – this will be another long term goal since I'll need to gather new source material to record.
Again, very useful insights into how the library is being used/perceived, and I hope eventually to update it and further round it out!
