** Beware of SpinEQ on the new CM (CM78) **

[zeoy]

I hope you're wrong kovacs. They have it in the "CM studio" folder not the "demo software" folder

[zeoy]

nice eq for a freebie, seperate left & right channels is a nice touch.

You got it with the CM78 or a later issue?

[diverdee]

cm78 probably, it's a while since i've bought a copy of cm.
I believe there's a serial number in there somewhere.

[zeoy]

cm78 probably, it's a while since i've bought a copy of cm.
I believe there's a serial number in there somewhere.

the problem is that I didn't find anything in cm86 and the plugin is still in the cm studio folder in the DVD. Maybe I am missing something

[Jace-BeOS]

I like VST better than DX plugins for one reaon - they are easier to move. Having had similar experiences in the past with bad installers I generally adopt the practice of installing the VST dll component (if given that option) into a temporary folder first and then moving it into my VST shared folder when I know its OK. Often I try out a VST by dragging and dropping straight into Energy XT first as well. I've never had a problem wit moving VST dlls so this works fine for me as long as the base files are installed in a different directory (which is good practice so you don't have non VST dll files in the shared folder).

AGREED. This is EXACTLY what I do. I even go so far as to install, when forced, VST stuff via the installer, copy the "installed" files, run the uninstaller and then move the required VST files into place in my vstplugins folder. I understand that installers are to make things easy, but it isn't hard to drag a single dll into the vstplugins folder. This whole system would be WAY simpler if the damn OS (Windows) was designed without drive letters and constant inconsistency (example: all BeOS boot volumes are named the same so the developer of a VST can include a link in the download package that says "drag VST file to here!" for the one step installation - I think it's this way on the Mac(?) If Windows wasn't so damned ass-backwards and complicated, architecturally, installers wouldn't even be needed!

And yes, I'm a Windows user. Sigh.

[kovacs]

I hope you're wrong kovacs. They have it in the "CM studio" folder not the "demo software" folder

Strange...In issue 86 it is *listed* under the CM Studio on page 117 but not in the CM Studio detail box on the right side of page 119.

[zeoy]

I hope you're wrong kovacs. They have it in the "CM studio" folder not the "demo software" folder

Strange...In issue 86 it is *listed* under the CM Studio on page 117 but not in the CM Studio detail box on the right side of page 119.

So, what do you suggest me to do. e-mail spinaudio and/or CM?

[kovacs]

Check out the CM forum but I would also email spin audio. They were really nice when I talked to them a while back.

[zeoy]

Thanx kovacs

[Jace-BeOS]

I've read this whole thread and saw that CM and Spin Audio reactions to the information about the buggy installer SUCKS!!
First of all Spin Audio tried to shift the blame and explained that there are 3 installation dirs...

Had to respond to this one... You sound like me, albeit the me of a year ago. What is happening here is the typical interaction between technical product developers and normal users. Normal users shouldn't have to deal with this nonsense, but the technical people who create and, in this community often publish, the tools are incapable of seeing the undesirable complexity of the product. The developers are used to things being the way they are and are not used to thinking in a "less technical" manner. This is a problem all over the computer industry. The only thing that will fix this is developers learning to empathize with non-technical users.

I'M THE OWNER OF MY COMPUTER AND NOT ANYONE ELSE! I will decide to which folder a program will be installed and by no means it would be acceptable for a program to delete and damage folders on my hard drive in the case I dont choose its 'default' installation path.

You have every right to feel this way. It's how I feel. The problem is, we're using products that are, by and large, made by and for "technopeople" who are not able to recognize that "their" way isn't necessarily the "right" way. As a user myself, I find endless flaws and bugs because I do the horrible terrible crazy thing of... using options offered by the software. Be that chosing installation locations other than the defaults or using obscure preferences. If it's there, it should be usable and not cause problems. Shifting the blame onto the user (even if that's not the intent, it still happens) is not acceptable because the user was OFFERED the choice that they supposedly took in error. Good design does not "offer to cause problems."

I have learned to stop customizing things. In other words, I have learned to just let the computer products walk all over me and do what they want. The harder I try to control and corral software and OSes, the worse it gets. It's not really made for us to do what we want with it. It's only meant to do what the developer had in mind. Even if they gave "options" to us, we can't use them often because there are too many combinations to test the results (thank the OS architects and their "design mentality" for the majority of this).

Anyway... this issue has since been addressed, in public, by both companies. They were not as careful as they should have been. CM is horribly filled with typographical errors in every issue (if I can spot so many in one read, that tells me no one is proofreading) and that leaves me with the expectation that the CD/DVD included with the mag is also filled with similar "could have spotted and fixed it if were paying attention" kind of stupid problems. But, they did take responsibility in the end and didn't threaten the users like other companies have decided to do (duh, you morons, your customers are your reason to exist!!). CM and Spin did better than what most companies/developers do in this business. They deserve credit for recognizing that their customers make their business. As someone else mentioned about HP, there are lots of monolithic corporations that just don't get this. They've become too large and too powerful and the people running them have somehow taken on the belief that customers are required to give them money on the corporates' terms.

As for CM and Spin, I just encourage them to be more careful and to design simpler systems next time (such as, sticking ALL required materials in one single DLL for a VST, as it is meant to be!).

Developers and users have incompatible mindsets. Computers will always be the domain of the technoweenies until the developers start to take a more objective view of things. "Because this is the way it is" is a terrible reason to keep doing something. When there are systems in place and techniques available to simplify, DO SO.

And I misquote: "Complexity is the single greatest obstruction to reliability."

Former technoweenie,

[rockstar_not]

Derek,

Thanks for the warning.

I think I skimmed all the posts.

I learned a lesson - I think from this point forward, I might just limit my plugin choices to those that come in .zip or other format that allows me to see a text file on installation instructions and the .dll and whatever presets come with it. Unlike JaceBeOs, I want complete control of where to put the files.

No more installer programs for me for plugins. They always have scared me, no matter whether it's a plugin or some other code.

Jeez, I'll never ever audition the disk full of plugins that I have today as it is. I only get about 2 or 3 hours of tracking and editing a week.

-Scott

[Rangtangtang]

Such fuss, I went through this before, heard nothing and even sent email to spin?. Im confused, Computer Music and Spin didn't help.
Its a freeby or not a freeby, its demo or not a demo, either one should come to the party. Yes, you may have to buy the particular back-issue, and the installer was faulty, and whether freebie or demo, your still actually paying for it.

[zeoy]

There are other people complaining about it in the CM forum too. Must be only for the cm78 issue but they're still including it in the "cm studio"

[KCC3.14]

Same thing happened to me the other day...
I booted up Plogue Bidule and it completely wiped my vst folder. Leaving only the folders in the vst folder removing all the contents.
And it was not the first time I had used Bidule. It just scanned the vst folder like always but now wiped everything.

Now I'm prepared for this shit:

- I backup the whole vst folder
- I regularly make an image of my OS partition
- I even make a backup of the folder containing all the audio applications
- I backup the sounds, patches and samples folder
- I backup the folder containing my project files

All on separate DVD-RW's. This is as far as I can go in disaster control. Apart from being totally f**ked it also was a learing experience. Now I don't install just anything. I try to keep things simple, using just the stuff I really need. What's the point in having 10 additive vst synths? And all the time it takes in installing, configuring etc.

[Joseph Burrell]

This is the same exact problem I had with Spin's DXi wrapper a week ago. Upon uninstall it completely wiped my VST folder. What a freaking joke. And I didn't have a current backup. Thank god for System Mechanic's recovery tool. It recovered most of the lost plugins. I have great respect for Spin Audio's products. I love them. However, this really is sub-par for them. I hope to see this rectified. I hate to see them tarnished by something as easily fixed as this.