Hartmann R.I.P

[aMUSEd]

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the technical problems people had were ultimately system-specific incompatibilities with the implementation of the Nuke controller.

yes that's what I've been saying all along - they made the VSTi so hard to control with anything other than the NUKE it can't even be controlled properly by midi cc's.

As for this "crack" - one possibility is that someone at Hartmann had access to a version without the code crippling it in this way and released it when they heard they would soon be out of work.

[Majken]

i don't think they "had" to at all. they, like any big company, put the bottom line first and foremost, and will do a panic sell immediately if a product does not meet sales forcast on schedule.
Many great products have been abandoned too soon because of this.
Most of the big music hardware companies have done this several times through their history.

This was not just about a product not meeting the sales forecast. Hartmann seems to have owed them money, meaning the factory had not been paid for the units produced. Otherwise it would just have been a question of Hartmann buying a stock of the units to keep until they could sell them. So the factory seems to have spent money in workhours, material and production that they weren't getting paid for. Their sollution was to sell them to the highest bidder.

/Majken

[Z3R0T0N1N]

oh, i see.
they were the ones that made the units...
hmm.

[emdot_ambient]

Frankly, I don't find it shocking, odd or unexpected to see them go down. From everything I ever read about their products and marketing tactics, they seemed like just the kind of company to go bust early. Their products were very high priced, reportedly unstable and I'm not really sure how ground breaking their technology was (I've read that much of what made them sound good were the FX). On top of all that, their marketing claims were nothing short of hyperbole.

The combination of high price and fickle product quality is a dangerous and volatile combination.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[droolmaster0]

Frankly, I don't find it shocking, odd or unexpected to see them go down. From everything I ever read about their products and marketing tactics, they seemed like just the kind of company to go bust early. Their products were very high priced, reportedly unstable and I'm not really sure how ground breaking their technology was (I've read that much of what made them sound good were the FX). On top of all that, their marketing claims were nothing short of hyperbole.

The combination of high price and fickle product quality is a dangerous and volatile combination.

LOL. You 'read' that what made their products sound good were the effects? Thanks for posting that information.

[Blue Wind Project]

I don't know what this synth sounded like..
as I could hardly pay $857.00 for this...

Does anybody know if it was really worth all that
money ?

At $857.00 for a vsti..I can see why there's
problems.

[HanafiH]

Frankly, I don't find it shocking, odd or unexpected to see them go down. From everything I ever read about their products and marketing tactics, they seemed like just the kind of company to go bust early. Their products were very high priced, reportedly unstable and I'm not really sure how ground breaking their technology was (I've read that much of what made them sound good were the FX). On top of all that, their marketing claims were nothing short of hyperbole.

The combination of high price and fickle product quality is a dangerous and volatile combination.

It was an attempt to sell PC based processing technology at a very, very high price by hiding the PC inside the shell of a classic keyboard synthesizer. The small VST version was an attempt to extend the market when the sales of the main unit were too poor. Both products were overpriced and the market corrected itself.

[zircon]

system20, I got it when the price went to 150euro (before I knew what was going on - I just though it was a stroke of luck). The sound is quite simply amazing.

http://www.zirconstudios.com/Neuron%20Pad.mp3
http://www.zirconstudios.com/Neuron%20Pad%202.mp3

Some crude live playing while I modulate the joystick.. obviously programmed automation would sound much better, but I just wanted to get a demo or two out.

[emdot_ambient]

Frankly, I don't find it shocking, odd or unexpected to see them go down. From everything I ever read about their products and marketing tactics, they seemed like just the kind of company to go bust early. Their products were very high priced, reportedly unstable and I'm not really sure how ground breaking their technology was (I've read that much of what made them sound good were the FX). On top of all that, their marketing claims were nothing short of hyperbole.

The combination of high price and fickle product quality is a dangerous and volatile combination.

LOL. You 'read' that what made their products sound good were the effects? Thanks for posting that information.

Yeah, in Sound On Sound's review of it when it first hit the store.

There's been much talk about the Neuron's sounds, so, as soon as I received the review instrument, I was keen to hear what it had to offer. On the basis that most manufacturers place their most impressive sound in the first patch location, I waited for it to boot, saw the name 'Nata' appear, and began to play. My first impressions were good: it's a vaguely oriental sound comprising an ethereal pad and a plucked arpeggio. However, the sound is swamped in effects and reverb, so I switched them off, and was presented with something which to me, sounded very Wavestation-esque. The next patch, was based upon a drum loop and sounds like... a treated drum loop. You may be tempted to think that it's the Neuron itself creating the rhythmic patch, but it's not; it's merely using the rhythmic model of an existing sample.

After a few days of experimentation, I was becoming discouraged. Many of the Sounds were of high quality, but the interest was coming from the effects, not from the unaffected Resynators. I would happily have used some of these sounds, although there was little to tempt me to replace my Korg Trinity or Triton, or indeed to give a Yamaha Motif or Roland V-Synth a run for its money. Where were the towering spires of sound, the ephemeral tinkling, and the celestial beehive that I had been promised? To be fair, the ability to choose inappropriate parameters in Modelmaker later opened the door to a great deal of experimentation, but the results were still not as diverse or radical as I had expected.

[emdot_ambient]

system20, I got it when the price went to 150euro (before I knew what was going on - I just though it was a stroke of luck). The sound is quite simply amazing.

http://www.zirconstudios.com/Neuron%20Pad.mp3
http://www.zirconstudios.com/Neuron%20Pad%202.mp3

Some crude live playing while I modulate the joystick.. obviously programmed automation would sound much better, but I just wanted to get a demo or two out.

They sound nice but they're not really much better than what I've heard from the STS-21 or Protoplasm by HG . . . and the cost difference?

[diversheat]

I'm not sure, if we have the right to judge about the fractal facts we have. Whether Mr. Hartmann is to blame or Schlafhorst or Music Store or Rumpelstilzchen... Perhaps they are all right a bit. I know Music Store for I bought many stuff there. A big store, but they always take time for customers. The employees are very qualified. Schlafhorst is a great company with great reputation, too. Mr Hartmann is a well skilled industrial designer with the focus at music hardware design. 15 years ago he made studies over ergonomic keyboards in a professional and visionary way. Sometimes things run out of control, even in business. I know what I'm talking of...
What I can say is I'm shocked that a hardware-bounded vsti conception can be cracked. That could mean for the developers to lower the protection and half the prices. NeuronVS without Nuke and immanent protection for 390,-€ would sell more than it had. Sad, sad story...

[soma]

Can you still get it for 150 euro!?
Did that include the controller? Does the controller work as a midi controller too?

[aMUSEd]

No
Yes
No

[diversheat]

Can you still get it for 150 euro!?
Did that include the controller? Does the controller work as a midi controller too?

I hope you're kidding. Even when someone would make this offer to you, I hope you would deny it, if it would not be an offer from Hartmann! Any other could only be stolen.