I also wish you could buy bundles with gear points. That just seems illogical that it isn't an option.

+1
I'd like to see that as well. Would be cool.

Oh so I see. Thanks.

Why make it that difficult?

The "Deluxe" set was and still is sold without Black and White. So if BERFAB has all singles except White/Black, this would mean his licenses are equal to "Deluxe".

So why not simply convert it into Deluxe for simplicities sake? He would then be qualified to go the Deluxe -> Grand route. And IKM didn't loose a dime, but actually gain more since he got his modules individually. Doesn't matter if in a sale or not.



You see, not to slam your turf here. But this is exactly the problem I was PMing you about months ago. Instead of having simple schemes, everything is overly complicated.

Ah yes, not intending to say you doubted our devs Actually I wrote pretty quickly too - they are both there for the listening (especially the 1176 with that preset mentioned which is quite good) and of course the changes can be very apparent yet very different for each on their own (and with the different sources). I didn't mean to infer it wasn't. And yes, I should clarify that there's a lot to do with the source as was pointed out too. We really shouldn't compare these two units, as they have different behaviors. One important note about the LA2A as I can say regarding it on its own without comparison is that it (White 2A) will be harder to push into saturation due to its nature and that you'll clip your DAW before you clip the unit (just like the hardware reacts). So comparisons to each other aside, the 1176 also does now have a really apparent and musical harmonic distortion when pushed too. The LA2A has a lot more headroom, too, so it makes comparing the two units less relevant than I had meant to imply.

I should always focus on the comparison to the real version of the hardware, I didn't mean to imply that these two units should be compared to others. And the point about the different sources is a really great thing to highlights, as well as the LA2A having so much headroom in general on its own (not in comparison with another unit, but in its own right as a real hardware unit).
Last edited by Peter - IK Multimedia on Thu Dec 06, 2012 10:13 am; edited 1 time in total

@CompyFox - and I've offered to get people a proper resolution via direct contact with our team. If we have 5 million SKUs for every different upgrade path that would kind of make it more complex.

Well the 'schemes' (as you put it) are to handle most customers.. the situations that don't fit those are when you contact support and have them figure something different that caters to your issue individually. I'm guessing that is what Peter just said.

Perhaps Support can offer him the deluxe upgrade for free and/or the Grand upgrade for the deluxe price.. but he won't know until he asks in private to one of the support team on the ikm website.

They (and no company) can NOT offer plans for all options all the time. As a customer, it seems logical to have all options. As a business it might not be so logical.

FWIW, I will privately pursue this with the contacts that Peter has pointed out. However, I'm certain that there are many other loyal IK customers in similar circumstances (there were tons of group buys for these things), and I believe that this is what CompyFox is pointing out.

Cheers
-B

Great post, totally agree .

Of course you can't handle that - but the sales department could. It would make things so much simpler for everyone. And it would actually make up for the mess of the Custom Shop.

My 2c - I have a DX license, so I could go Grande without problems. Don't know if I will if this is really all just called from ONE DLL, which would funk with my old projects.



BUT... where does it go from there, Peter?

Let's say you plan a new bundle by mid 2014, but until then, you released like 2 singles Q2 2013, which turns into a higher bundle maybe called "Grande Extended" by xmas holidays 2013 - but it won't be, since you bought them single through the Custom Shop.

Now even later in mid 2014, you release another great bundle with like 20 new plugins. You can upgrade from Grande, Grande Extended to "Godzilla Bundle". But there are tons of persons that bought the singles before it turned into a bundle and these people want to upgrade at the same low rate as the "Grande Extended" users.

This is the very same problem.


Again, this is nothing for the marketing people on the web but for the sales. Then again, it could be so simple.

What is your solution, Compyfox?

My solution?

I have T-Racks 3 Deluxe, so I can go Grande. But I'm turned off by the new Shell and Custom Shop, not to mention the focus on "multi-band" plugins and a butt-ugly (read: SynthEdit ugly, as mentioned by me earlier) SSL clone (which SSL? 4k again? Or is it a Neve? But the info says "80ies", so it's not the Portico). So chances are that I might not go for it.

Up until then, I was eyeing Black/White, but never had the funds. Looks like I simply use stuff from the competition instead.



All I can do is give hints in terms of how to improve things. For example with the licenses.

As user, I can't do anything about the Shell thing anymore - this is obviously a step backwards (IMO!). I don't think I will upgrade my installers. But I fear I will be forced to do so eventually (i.e. if the "license manager" will be dropped).

And I still vote for a drop of the GearCredit and the JamPoint system. Go for normal prices instead - like everyone else that offers "online goods" (yes, hinting at the videogame and mobile market again - even Microsoft dropped it for Windows .


Until then... IKM has to take the critism for introducing more trouble than actually improving things.
Last edited by Compyfox on Thu Dec 06, 2012 10:52 am; edited 1 time in total

Neve?

Edited, looks like it's an SSL 4k according to the IKM page. Unless someone says something different. My bad.

Actually, I thought it would be Neve from "British Channel," then I saw the GUI. The layout is a direct rip of the Duende Channel, no matter what the colors.