Evolution series Strum engine - can't tell which FX articulation is selected

[stpete111]

In the Strum function of the Evolution guitars (at least in the two I own - Steel Strings and Strawberry) when the selected articulation is "FX", there's no way to know which of the 25 FX articulations is selected, other than by hearing it - and even then, some articulations like Body Hit have 6 different versions, so who knows which one it is?

This is a really glaring omission to me, in an otherwise great VI. It seems to me there are a couple ways to address this - either have a dot next to the selected articulation in the dropdown menu (or have the selected articulation highlighted), or, if you hover over the FX banner in the main Strum view, a popup would tell you exactly which one is selected.

I don't know if these VI's are even actively being developed anymore, but if so, this would definitely be a very welcome fix.

[stpete111]

It's a real bummer to see my 2nd question about Evolution instruments go completely unanswered/unacknowledged by anyone at Orange Tree. It really does make me feel like these instruments are not even being supported or being paid attention to anymore. This is a shame, as I own about 9 different brand guitar VI's, and the Evolution series is definitely in the top 3. If the couple of things I've mentioned were fixed, it would definitely be top 1!

[Gregjazz]

We just released an update last March, and there will be another update for the Evolution libraries fairly soon to add a couple new settings and bring it up to date with the next Evolution guitar release happening soon, so rest assured that all those libraries are still very much actively being developed.

In earlier versions of Kontakt 5, the dropdown menu controls used to have a highlight to indicate which option was currently selected. That way you could see which effect was being used in the strumming pattern. Unfortunately at some point--whether intentional or a bug--Kontakt's dropdown menus no longer have that indication, so we'll need to add a workaround so that you can see the currently selected option in the dropdown menus. As you mentioned, adding a dot to the beginning of the menu item's text would be a good option. These are built-in Kontakt controls, so they can't be skinned, unfortunately. Kontakt also doesn't really have the capability to have hover popups either.

[stpete111]

We just released an update last March, and there will be another update for the Evolution libraries fairly soon to add a couple new settings and bring it up to date with the next Evolution guitar release happening soon, so rest assured that all those libraries are still very much actively being developed.

In earlier versions of Kontakt 5, the dropdown menu controls used to have a highlight to indicate which option was currently selected. That way you could see which effect was being used in the strumming pattern. Unfortunately at some point--whether intentional or a bug--Kontakt's dropdown menus no longer have that indication, so we'll need to add a workaround so that you can see the currently selected option in the dropdown menus. As you mentioned, adding a dot to the beginning of the menu item's text would be a good option. These are built-in Kontakt controls, so they can't be skinned, unfortunately. Kontakt also doesn't really have the capability to have hover popups either.

Hi Greg - thanks for that reassurance, that's great news! The Evolution series is truly the best out there, in my opinion!

Thanks for the info on the Kontakt dropdowns, and that's a bummer that a bug was introduced by NI. I look forward to seeing how you may come up with a way to work around this.

Thanks!
Pete

[stpete111]

We just released an update last March, and there will be another update for the Evolution libraries fairly soon to add a couple new settings and bring it up to date with the next Evolution guitar release happening soon, so rest assured that all those libraries are still very much actively being developed.

Hi again Greg - I can see the downloads in my account for the March update; is there a way us owners can get some kind of alert (email or otherwise) when an update for an owned product is released?

Thanks!

[Gregjazz]

As long as you have emails enabled in your account settings, you'll receive notifications for when updates are released. You should have received an email for the March update, for example, unless it ended up in your spam folder.

[stpete111]

Ok great, thanks!

[stpete111]

We just released an update last March, and there will be another update for the Evolution libraries fairly soon to add a couple new settings and bring it up to date with the next Evolution guitar release happening soon, so rest assured that all those libraries are still very much actively being developed.

Hi Greg - are there release notes posted anywhere for the updated versions of Evolution?

[Gregjazz]

The update information is just in the emails for now. I need to implement a proper changelog into the website so that can be shown on the download page itself.