Why Are the Linux Versions of U-He Products Hidden On the U-He Web Page

[gislikarl]

Second this, appreciate the honest feedback from Urs. As someone who's been running Bitwig on Ubuntu since 2014, and U-He plugins since they first started supporting Linux, I can attest that everything works flawlessly. Will you post an update when you and Abique have discussed the recent changes?

[gislikarl]

And to add to the discussion, I think there is tremendous value to be found in releasing software for Linux. With the state of Windows 10 and Apple not valuing the pro sector as much as they did, Linux could become a major player in the creative industry. We're starting to see this emerging in other areas with the release of Lightworks and Davinci Resolve. And supporting every flavor of Linux isn't necessary considering the popularity of Ubuntu, which is what most vendors are going after anyway.

[glokraw]

In what world can a freakin STICKY topic, in the top
forum section, be considered 'hidden'?!

Limit support to ubuntu? R U CRAZY?

And to think I thought all the loons were at the Syntronik topic

On the bright side, for those to whom things seem hidden,
and those who have a regular life, the linux version of
Reaper is extremely useable now. Unpack the archive,
drag the folder where you like, it's installed, just call the Zebra.

And there is a new vst wrapper actively being developed,
LinVst, that also is simple in use, and works well.
And wine has progressed greatly this year, regarding linux audio.
The number of plugins that don't work in linux,
shrinks every week.

I'm fine with the way things are, no official support,
because none is needed, just keep the lines of
communication open, and people will get things sorted.
Maybe florescent color text on the sticky topic?

And why the new nanny-state 'little Billy might loose his preset' craze?
Seems like bags of money tossed off the Oberbaum, just to keep up
with competitors who are quietly circling the drain because
of waisting resources on such nonsense.
Anyway, enough wining and stirring the pot.
All in good fun. Not too serious.
Too busy pacing the studio floor waiting for Repro 15 to show up
Cheers

[tomsa]

I'm fine with the way things are, no official support,
because none is needed, just keep the lines of
communication open, and people will get things sorted.

If the problem with compiling plugins for Linux is fixed before Zebra 3 drops (hopefully sooner), then all is well.

TS

[mclstr]

Re: "we also think they might be able to live with the "eternal beta status" until we are able to hire a new developer, preferrably with Linux experience."

I personally have had no problems with running Basille and Zebra2, as well as DiscoDSP products with Bitwig on two different Debian/Ubuntu distributions.

Bitwig have been great with fixing bugs. I reported a minor bug and they followed requesting more details. They resolved it right away and the fix was released in the next version a few days later.

I will be buying more U-he products in future. Like I stated before, I would have purchased from U-he sooner had I known they had Linux compatible versions. I didn't follow the forums that closely and since there was nothing on the U-ha website and all reviews of U-he products only list Windows and Mac compatibility, I didn't know until a few months ago.

I know quite a few musicians who are on the verge of switching to Linux now that they are able to have access to a good selection of DAWs and plugins.
Some are still weary about support issues. People who run Linux tend to not worry about support(hand-holding) as much with Windows or MacOS users. And so some maybe shouldn't switch to Linux and instead pay the money.

I will say that the new Multimedia versions of Ubuntu have turned out to be quite easy to use, not all that different from other OSs, but you shouldn't be afraid of the command line if you are going to use Linux. The command line may seem intimidating and awkward at first, but a little help with Google can help ease the move.

[David Else]

I can live with the eternal beta as they all seem to be 100% solid and have never crashed!

I can't really understand why you don't make the Linux versions more obvious with a big beta note next to them on the main site. They really should all be on the main website with the other downloads, hidden on a forum to help stop people knowing about them seems a bit like confused thinking. Either they are available or not

Would be great to see asap after the final Repro-5 Linux build all the other plugins updated to the same latest build on Linux! The Linux versions are now old and missing features.

I can see how the lower market share makes for lower priority, BUT things are not that simple in business. I was just reading Edward L. Bernays Propaganda book, the original manual for nearly all modern marketing. Its all about public perception being far more important than anything, loving Linux is going to pay off big time, I am certain of it! People won't forget what U-He did to help the cause in the early days

[#rob]

I can't really understand why you don't make the Linux versions more obvious with a big beta note next to them on the main site. They really should all be on the main website with the other downloads, hidden on a forum to help stop people knowing about them seems a bit like confused thinking. Either they are available or not

From 1 page back:

Well, it's a chicken and egg problem, isn't it?

We can only advertise & sell stuff if we can offer the same kind of support as for our Mac and Win stuff. However, we would need an additional developer and probably additional support staff, because our current staff just doesn't know the first thing about Linux. Thus, full commitment to Linux is also a commitment to 5% to 10% more spendings.

As we however consider people who use Linux a tad more tech savvy than people who use MacOS or Windows, we also think they might be able to live with the "eternal beta status" until we are able to hire a new developer, preferrably with Linux experience.

[David Else]

You guys are doing great as it is, please just make sure Repro-5 comes out on Linux at the same time as Win/Mac and update all your older plugins... that will keep all us Linux users happy for ages

[hihu]

Well, the Linux community is slowly reaching one out of a hundred downloads for us, mostly free stuff.

This is because you have to reinstall Windows twice often

I'm using the plugins also on my windows machine. My main operating system for audio is Debian 8 now 9 and I hadn't to reinstall the operating system since 2014. The windows machines are changing quiet often so I have to download the windows version from the website many more times.

To speak for myself which is not representative for all customers: One of my main buying reasons for the plugins from u-he was the linux support. Good music software and softsynths lack on linux.
But on the other hand on linux a lot of good software is available on linux when you think of video production and 3d design.

When you browse linux music websites then the plugins are advertised to work on linux. But I also understand the position from the u-he team. When there is no official support for the plugins then they cannot be advertised on the website with customer support. But as linux user I'm used to the fact, that there is never support from most companies in technical questions.

But I love the plugins, own 3 of them at the moment and I'm a really satisfied customer.

[muffler]

I understand you if don't have the resources to support the plugins, that's a business decision. I don't kid myself that Linux audio is taking off, but it IS progressing and there is a significant need for high quality commercial plugins (yes, I love FLOSS, but I'm up for anything that sounds good).

Out of curiosity, how do you know how many Linux plugins you have sold? When I purchased a Presswerk license last week, it had no indication about platform on it.

If you want a balanced metric on the potential market, the Linux versions would need at least some visibility and download links from your website. If people can't find them, of course you are not going to sell many.

Thanks again!

[jarmaton]

To speak for myself which is not representative for all customers: One of my main buying reasons for the plugins from u-he was the linux support. Good music software and softsynths lack on linux.
But on the other hand on linux a lot of good software is available on linux when you think of video production and 3d design.

Same here.. bought 2 u-he synths to complement bitwig and linux support was the one of the key factors for me (Same thing with renoise and redux).

[lunardigs]

To speak for myself which is not representative for all customers: One of my main buying reasons for the plugins from u-he was the linux support. Good music software and softsynths lack on linux.
But on the other hand on linux a lot of good software is available on linux when you think of video production and 3d design.

Same here.. bought 2 u-he synths to complement bitwig and linux support was the one of the key factors for me (Same thing with renoise and redux).

Same here too. Linux support is my big buying decision of late.

Also, it's true, FLOSS video production/animation/CAD/3D printing is incredible considering stuff like Blender. Last year I built a Xeon E5, C612, dual Nvidia 1080 GPU, Linux based Blender workstation for my business and It's impressively fast and stable.

... I've said it before, various times on KVR, I'm done with the big OS duopoly. My old go-tos, like Native Instruments, etc. I've abandoned--not out of grudge either; I've simply resolved to avoid further abuse by Microsoft and Apple. Period. ... Not a tough choice though, because Linux kicks ass.

[yellowmix]

Out of curiosity, how do you know how many Linux plugins you have sold? When I purchased a Presswerk license last week, it had no indication about platform on it.

They don't. Urs said he was going by "downloads".

As the plugins are fully-functional without a license (they use the same licensing system), it costs nothing to download and test them other than your time. So it's a good proxy comparison.

[#rob]

Urs said he was going by "downloads".

This. Our server does have logs we can evaluate, and we can find out how many times installers for which platform were downloaded. While this doesn't give us the exact download-to-actual-purchase ratio, it does allow us to see how the general interest is, purchased license or not. And those numbers are not very high.

We also get a feeling for it by how many eMails we receive to our support system. There have been eMails along the lines of "thank you for supporting Linux" or "it doesn't work on my distro, what am I doing wrong", but those accumulate to maybe 1-3 every month. We get more Windows specific support requests every hour.

[mevla]

Our server does have logs we can evaluate, and we can find out how many times installers for which platform were downloaded.

How many Linux users download their u-he synths from KVR ? I sure did. If I remember weel, only Dark Zebra I had to ask u-he and, for Protoverb and Repro-1 directly from u-he since after all a Linux version is offered directly. All the rest from KVR. Do you maintain stats on KVR downloads also ?