Same Old BS

[Bobby Hull]

It appears as though I have had a post removed. Perhaps the two problems I mentioned were unflattering to the company and instead of providing advice, they chose to "poof" them away.
Please know that I was on the phone all day to Florida at MY expense without getting anything other than an answering machine and no one called me back.
I did get Miroslav to work in DEMO mode after 7 hours. Finally, I uninstalled Cubase, everything Syncrosoft related and did fresh installs of MP. Why did this happen? Will it happen to someone else with 2 dongles? Should they come here for help?

And what's ironic, is I'm not saying diddly squat about my impressions of MP. In the past, I have defended and promoted your company when things looked their bleakest and the negative backlash appeared to be getting out of control. Lovely......

As for my denied authorization, if I don't get it straighterned out in 8 days (at my continued expense) what happens?

As for the $61 in duties, everyone in Canada has a right to know this. Had I known, I would have sent the package to my inlaws in Michigan.

Unfortunately, it is becoming clearer and clearer that these forums are about the profits. When you're gushing about products and sending in positive reviews, they have all the time in the world to thank you. Two sincere, constructive issues that might even help others and it's curtains.
I haven't been here since ST2 was released but it's just the same old BS.

[DaveElson]

I know what it's like to feel that a company isn't supporting you after buying their goods, but since I've been here at KVR and purchased stuff from Esoundz, I know customer service is very important to them.
I believe (but I'm not certain) they are closed on Saturdays (if it was today you were on the phone to them) and re the $61 in customs, perhaps you should blame your government, the supplier can't be blamed for that.
I'm not trying to preach, as you've obviously been around here for a while and have purchased music goods before, but give them a chance to make right what you believe is a wrong.
I hope it all works out well for you.

[Squids]

I really wish everyone would read the company forum rules before they make judgements such as this. I understand it can be confusing because I talk about IK all the time but consider this is NOT an IK forum and not the place for IK tech support! This is the Sonic Reality and eSoundz forum. It is mentioned in the "welcome to the Sonic Reality forum" thread. We cannot be responsible for personal tech issues with IK products here and if people try to post them they MAY be deleted. This is not the place for them! Sorry, but we go very far as it is to help anyway from the esoundz side (more than most retailers could/would). As an esoundz customer our support team will even follow up to make sure you are a happy user of your product if you CC them on your support emails to IK or any other VENDOR of esoundz. But, please don't confuse the two. Esoundz is not IK. Here in the Sonic Reality and eSoundz forum the only thing we can be responsible for is sound issues with our products and issues related to the esoundz store (and even then, private details are urged to be dealt with individually not in a public forum).

Additionally, we ask that particular country's duties are also not discussed in our forum and this is for a variety of reasons (whether it is good news or bad news on what prices a country may charge or not). I actually let your "Canada/Communists" thread stay although it too was dangerously close to moderation. Sorry but this is a company forum with our name attached to it. We have guidelines. Please follow them.

By the way, I will delete blatant sabatoge responses such as the one that was in this thread from someone else saying "don't buy from this company" (we don't even know who that person is and it very well could be a competitor opportunist hitting below the belt for all we know). If someone has constructive criticism to share that is one thing. But, to just blatantly attempt to do damage is not tolerated.

That all said, we are pretty liberal and cool around here if you're cool with us. Not corporate and cold. I am the CEO and make myself personally accessible (uh, hey, not to mention at 2:30 am on a Saturday night??? Come on! ). We have fun and a lot of helpful information is shared around here. That's not something you get from every company. People generally like our forum, like the experience they get from esoundz and I rarely have to moderate. Whenever I do I am prepared to explain why and we have that thread which explains it in advance. It is not easy being a company in the middle of some complex politics in this business world-wide with distributors and other companies we work with.

Oh and if anyone wants to think "it's only about the profits", let me tell you that you are dead wrong. Sure, profits ARE important to any business. But, Sonic Reality spends way more time, money and effort toward cool products with rare esoteric qualities and features of esoundz designed to make customers happy (like epointz for example) than we really have to "just to make a profit". I'll give you an example. When we made Miroslav Philharmonik I thought it would be cool to have the real player noises from the original sessions. So, I spent days going through the original recordings just to look for coughs, sniffs, people dropping bows and other "realism" that one could use to add the human element into their performance. Did we really NEED to do that???? No, probably not. But, we did it anyway. If you knew how many times we "did it anyway" for the user's benefit... there'd be no QUESTION where our balance is at. It's pretty darn good! We give back plenty and most people appreciate it (reminds me of the new combis we're doing as well as a bonus for Philharmonik users... and the list goes on).

Please just respect the forum rules. There aren't many.

[DotNoir]

I'm sorry to go a bit offtopic, but the service I have gotten from esoundz and Squids personally has been wonderful. I've only ordered twice, but I will continue to shop at them because of the great support. I am one happy camper

[sghoughton]

The import charges are rather unpredictable as well, so they're not even relevant. I usually get screwed by UPS so avoid them at all costs, but you can actually pay some reasonable fees if you go with other delivery methods (and often no extra charges at all).

steve

[Rellik]

I have a question now -

Bobby Hull's question was about Philharmonik, wasn't it? And Philharmonik was a collaboration between IK and Sonic Reality. Doesn't Sonic Reality have the same responsibility towards its customers that IK does, even though it didn't work specifically on the technological side? Especially given that IK tends to be so colossally hard to get in touch with and solve problems with.

When I bought Miroslav Philharmonik, I felt more safe because I knew that Sonic Reality was in cooperation on the project, and I knew that even if IK was a hassle, I could depend on Sonic Reality to be fair and have the interests of its customers in mind. If this is Sonic Reality's company forum, shouldn't it be able to support Sonic Reality's company products

[Squids]

I have a question now -

Bobby Hull's question was about Philharmonik, wasn't it? And Philharmonik was a collaboration between IK and Sonic Reality. Doesn't Sonic Reality have the same responsibility towards its customers that IK does, even though it didn't work specifically on the technological side? Especially given that IK tends to be so colossally hard to get in touch with and solve problems with.

When I bought Miroslav Philharmonik, I felt more safe because I knew that Sonic Reality was in cooperation on the project, and I knew that even if IK was a hassle, I could depend on Sonic Reality to be fair and have the interests of its customers in mind. If this is Sonic Reality's company forum, shouldn't it be able to support Sonic Reality's company products

I know it may be complicated but let me explain. Sonic Reality does support the SOUND side of Philharmonik. IK supports the software side of the product. If you buy from esoundz then esoundz supports the SALE side of the product (like when you buy from a store and they make sure you are a happy camper).

So, if you want to talk about the sounds of Miroslav Philharmonik, then this forum is the right place. If there is something technical in general that people can help with here then we allow it. But, if it is a case of someone wanting to talk about their individual tech support issues and frustration then it is borderline. We can't use this forum to "pretend" to be IK's tech support is the problem. IK allows us to have this forum as long as it doesn't misrepresent. Even if I work with IK in many different ways, here I can only officially represent SR and esoundz.

[Rellik]

Ah - I understand now!

But here is a suggestion: wouldn't it be more effective to lock every thread that is unacceptable for that reason, with a message that suggests that the user should contact IK, and a link to the support page? You can include exactly those 2 paragraphs above in the post, as well - there would be no misunderstandings that way, and it would still make sure that the forum is not misrepresented.

I think the moral of this story is that IK really REALLY needs a support forum...

[Amberience]

You know, in this day and age it's always too easy to be suspicious of companies. I know, I'm one of those people who instantly raises an eyebrow at a decent off... "what are they getting out of it?"

But I have to say Esoundz/SR have never let me down as a customer. I shouldn't be bandying around the decent things they've done for me, it could make them more hassle, but they've done some good things.

I've found them to only be reliable and helpful.

[princeofroles]

Having participated in a couple of group buys at Esoundz, I have to add my voice to those who think it's a very fair and well meaning company. I have seen MANY cases where Squids has gone far to make sure that a customer is treated fairly. Software development is a very complicated process (I know firsthand, having spent 20+ years doing it, which includes a few years working at Kurzweil), so there ARE going to be problems....all you can hope for is that you're dealing with a company that cares.... and Esoundz is head and shoulders above most companies in that regard. Try having a problem with NI sometime....THEN you'll have something to compare custormer support with! In short, keep up the great work, Squids!

[Squids]

Ah - I understand now!

But here is a suggestion: wouldn't it be more effective to lock every thread that is unacceptable for that reason, with a message that suggests that the user should contact IK, and a link to the support page? You can include exactly those 2 paragraphs above in the post, as well - there would be no misunderstandings that way, and it would still make sure that the forum is not misrepresented.

I think the moral of this story is that IK really REALLY needs a support forum...

IK has too many users to do a support forum. They are many times the size of the largest software company here for example. But, anyway, you have a point. Sometimes I do that. In this case the thread was fading and no one answered anyway. But, maybe next time I will do it the way you describe. You guys know I am a nice person and I don't ENJOY pissing anyone off (especially a customer of esoundz). But, you have to believe me that SR is a complex animal with regard to how we fit in with other business and have to be a little strict in order to keep this place around without making false representations or even just allowing it to be a platform for bashing companies we work with. Tricky stuff. There's a proper way to have a productive, contstructive discussion here. People can be critical. It doesn't have to be all roses (ie. this thread does still exist and he's pretty much saying we're guilty of "the same old BS" (BS= Bullshit). But, he has a point, you have a point and I have a point. I think it is best if people just respect the forum rules and we are all friendly with each other. This is supposed to be fun.

[Bobby Hull]

You're right Dave, this arrangement is confusing and convoluted. It gives me pause to consider what the point of this forum really is. It's a nutty world. When I pointed out to Sweetwater that they were selling Miroslav for $800 and it might be a typo, they called me within 15 minutes trying to sell me the product at the correct price. Will IK tech support call me back within 10 days. If not, what happens to my status as a legitimate purchaser of this software? I'm sure the sounds are great. I hope to use them some day. But then again, I've got a DS Unity sitting in a box that I have never used. Thanks Bitheadz...

[Squids]

Sweetwater is a retailer and IK is a manufacturer. Completely different animal. Sweetwater has a massive staff of people who only deal with sales and support. You can't compare that with ANY manufacturer. But, I agree that IK should get back to you faster than that on any technical issues. They could be backed up at the moment or it is possible they never got your email or call so please try again. It seems odd that it would be 10 days waiting. That doesn't sound right. Feel free to CC me to on your email to support and if it takes longer than a few days to hear back then I would like to know and I will say something. It should be 24-48 business hours maximum in my opinion.

As for the purpose of this forum, it is for Sonic Reality, a sound developer and esoundz, a retail web store focused on sounds and plug-ins. We talk here about the software our sounds work in. I hope that clarifies it better.

[Rellik]

But even extremely extremely large companies like Image-Line and Steinberg and Cakewalk and (I think NI?) have support forums..

Anyway, I think most people understand, Squids everyone knows you're a nice guy who likes to keeps his customers happy. But you're never going to be able to avoid being treated like an avatar for IK as long as IK doesn't have any accessable support - you're so accessable, it's hard for people to avoid blaming you for IK's usual lack of responsiveness and treating you like you can help solve their IK problems.

Do you/Sonic Reality have any leverage over IK? If that's the case, if you suggested that they open a support forum, maybe they would actually do it And it would solve problems for everyone (except IK maybe...)

It's unlucky that SR is partnered with such an unsavory partner... I've given them a second chance after they broke one promise, but if they fail to deliver the new (FIXED) version of Philharmonik by Nov. 19th like they said they would, I'm asking for my money back - I'm not allowing even one extra day. They do make good products, though

[Bobby Hull]

Yay!!!!!!!!
I inputed all of the data by hand. No copy/paste and it worked! I'm authorized.
Miroslav sounds incredible and this from a guy who Kirk Hunter, Quantum Leap Brass, Garritan Strings and Ultimate Strings.

"We talk here about the software our sounds work in"
Golly Dave, all I wanted to do was talk about Miroslav. It's still convoluted and yes you are my favourite software developer in the universe but it sounds to me like you've had your peepee slapped by men in grey suits.
Canada is the greatest country in the world. My remarks were tongue-in-cheek. What's all this crap about rules? You used to break them all the time and it was entertaining as hell over at Cubase.net.

Finally, I have a few small issues about some of the sounds. Where can we discuss them?

Peace out