!! Lennard -please respond !!

[zerocrossing]

From one of the Sylenth users who had no issue with the software, it seems to me that the only sin here is that he focused on making a new Mac version rather than fix some compatibilty issues people where having. What problems are people having?

[Teksonik]

http://www.lennardigital.com/modules/sylenth1/SE.php

"SynthEdit has only been used to build the user-interface of Sylenth1, because it simply allows easy graphical UI creation (as opposed to a tedious and boring job when done in C++)"

Apparently doing a total re-write of the code to remove Synth Edit is a tedious and time consuming job as well. No one who can code in C++ should use S.E for anything in a commercial product. We're seeing the repercussions of that decision now.

"We will be migrating the entire synth to a pure VSTSDK implementation in the future, since that will also allow better compatibility with other operating systems (Mac)."

I think all people are asking is that he just keep us informed as to the progress of the Non SE and Mac versions. A simple "Keep the Faith, I'm still working hard" once a week or so isn't too much to ask.

There is a similar situation going on right now with Linplug's RM 5 plugin, overdue from promised release date. The difference is that Linplug is a well known, established company that was one of the pioneers in the Vsti business. When they say "we'll release it when it's ready" you have trust in Peter that he will deliver based on his excellent track record over the years. Lennar Digital however doesn't have the history and foundation that has earned such trust....yet. Lennard's silence is not helping establish a good reputation. Anyone who followed the Crysonic saga over the years knows how eerily similar this story has become. That would help explain the reaction of ttoz.

[1-2-Many]

"We will be migrating the entire synth to a pure VSTSDK implementation in the future, since that will also allow better compatibility with other operating systems (Mac)."

That statement does not promise a Mac version. Those awaiting such should read it more carefully, unless there are other statements from the Dev which say so explicitly.


EDIT - this from his site FAQ

Q: Will there be a Mac OSX VST or AU version of Sylenth1?
A: A Mac compatible version has recently been put on the todo list. Please understand though, that the porting process will be a lot of work and will also take quite some time.

i.e. I wouldn't hold your pee thinking you might miss it.

[blue monk]

Some of the comments here are really *very* inapropriate.

There's a one man company releasing a working product that is not only better than most other competitors but also more affordable than most.

Now there are bugs mostly due to a development kit that was used.
You cannot foresee problems like these in life.
Obviously the use of Synth Edit was ment to avoid C++ coding. Now the developer not only has to port the thing which as I read originally took 1 1/2 *with* the SE-shortcut but he might also have to catch up with the know-how for being able to do so.
Additionally 50% of the market (that is *paying* users) is Mac.
And to port to the Mac he has to support AU aswell as VST.
That is extra work.
The different APIs in Mac OS X are *more* extra work.

That's a hell of a lot for a team let alone a single person.


Plus if you are going through rough times in personal life that won't make things easier.
Have you ever tried to learn for an examn when your girlfried broke up with you or your mom got cancer, or whatever?

Yes, it would be good letting customers know if there is any progress being made.
But given the circumstances (whatever they are exactly) you know enough to accept that there are no weekly news.
When working on complex projects you're getting one problem solved and are facing another. And everything takes longer than anticipated so while in the process you have no idea when you're going to be finished.


You bought a product and it delivered in most cases.
Problems with some DAWs couldn't be foreseen and work capacity being limited for one person you just can't give time schedules.

Would you prefer a Microsoft-style perpetual beta product?


I would like to have a Mac version out there yesterday but you can't blame anybody for choosing a specific development kit that turns out causing problems afterwards or for having just 24 hours a day and also having to eat, sleep, family obligations and some time for yourself.

Stop complaining and make music. If Sylenth doesn't work proberly on your DAW then that sucks but with things the way they are you (we) have to wait.

He invested a lot of time and it is very unlikely he is going to throw that away.
The only thing I would hope for is that he may consider teaming up with another company so he doesn't have to do more work than he realistically can.
But that is not my decision.


ps:
I mean I was getting here to post some requests for changing the user interface to make it more practical (subjectively) but right now I wouldn't dare asking for that out of respect.
When a Mac version is released I will be happy enough and guess I'll buy it - will check the demo first - I am on an AU host then.

[Teksonik]

Additionally 50% of the market (that is *paying* users) is Mac.

Got any data to back up that statement?

Yes, it would be good letting customers know if there is any progress being made.
But given the circumstances (whatever they are exactly) you know enough to accept that there are no weekly news.

It that because of those circumstances you are guessing at or is it because there IS no news. Has development stopped for one reason or another? We don't know. A two minute response from Lennard every once in a while would go a long way in building confidence in Lennar Digital.

you can't blame anybody for choosing a specific development kit that turns out causing problems afterwards

You have to know using a third party app to compile your vsti could lead to problems since you don't have command and control of all the code. In this case S.E. was used as a convenience to the Developer and has no benefit to the end user.


I like Sylenth 1 and Lennard is obviously a very talented person. I'd like to see what Sylenth 2 would bring. I'm sure that new versions are a lot of work and could take a while depending on circumstances. I'm just saying Lennard isn't doing himself any favors by remaining silent.

[blue monk]

Additionally 50% of the market (that is *paying* users) is Mac.

Got any data to back up that statement?

That was a statement from Native Instruments, either in a feature in german Sound & Recording magazine or in an interview with musotalk.de video blogger Noneric.

[blue monk]

It that because of those circumstances you are guessing at or is it because there IS no news. Has development stopped for one reason or another?

I am not guessing reasons. I gave 2 examples of what happens to people every day.
People get thrown out of their apartment or have water in their cellar or a fungus eats their home or they slip and break a few bones... whatever...
It's none of my business what personal issues somebody I don't know might have. I am not even interested.

You have to know using a third party app to compile your vsti could lead to problems ...
... S.E. was used as a convenience to the Developer and has no benefit to the end user.

Trying to avoid work by using efficient development tools increases the chance that a started project is finished and saves time which means the cost of development and ultimately the sales price can be lower.

By the way, has it occured to you that Cakewalk and XT have a flawed implementation of VST?
It took Cakewalk a long time before being able to implement VST at all.
My position would be: If it works on Cubase then the VSTi is implemented correctly.
If there are problems in Cubase 4 then it's probably due to the latest VST 3 standard - a friend of mine with NI Komplete had many problems with Cubase 4.
Let's not start this argument since I think most users here agree that bugs got to do with the use of Synth Edit.

I'm sure that new versions are a lot of work and could take a while depending on circumstances. I'm just saying Lennard isn't doing himself any favors by remaining silent.

Yes true.

But I also wonder how many users are actually complaining here (5, 10, 20?) and how many bought Sylenth and have no problems at all.
You know, if there are few people who are very vocal about their problems, it could well be that the majority is very happy but just not posting that on web-forums.
There is a general tendency of giving a lot of feedback in case of problems/discontent and less feedback if everything is working fine.

[blue monk]

Some interesting statements from Sound & Recording magazine about Sonar 6/7 problems with VST plug-ins and usable number of plug-ins:


Sound & Recording 01/2008
Review Sonar 7 Producer Edition:
"unfortunately I had to experience certain instabilities that occured in context of some plug-ins. ... program crashes are something Sonar users are not used to"


Sound & Recording 03/2007
Review Sonar 6:
"project with 100 tracks and 60-80% CPU usage ...despite optimizing audio preferences there were sporadic drop-outs and therefore stops of playback, which did not occur in the identically configured Cubase project.
Also a few VST-Plug-Ins (UAD for example) caused problems. The latency compensation did not work."

[warp x]

this guy is more full of shit than an unwashed portable cubicle at the football.

It's proof now that he's ok and well, but he just can't take a moment to write in the forums? When are you lot gonna learn? Sylenth is DEAD.

NO ONE, NO ONE is that busy they can't spend 2 mintues writing a message and SUPPORTING their customers. FOR f**ks SAKE, i am sick and tired of defending these abandoning asshole developers.

Uncalled for and harsh.
Get a life man.

[Teksonik]

People get thrown out of their apartment or have water in their cellar or a fungus eats their home or they slip and break a few bones...

Read this thread:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3109464

Vera did just break a bone and is limited to typing with one hand but she managed to post and let people know why she will be out of contact for a while.

Trying to avoid work by using efficient development tools increases the chance that a started project is finished and saves time.

How much time has been saved by using this effecient development tool? I wonder how many more sales Sylenth 1 would have had if it was 100% hand coded. I'll say it again if you can code in C++ there is NO reason to use S.E. at all in a commercial product. Now I always make this disclaimer after making such a statement: There are some brilliant S.E. creations made by some very talented people and it's not a knock on S.E.

To set the record straight I have an NFR copy gained from my association with a company and we were planning on releasing some presets. I'm not having any problems with Sylenth 1 at all but I've spent a lot of time programming patches for S.E. plugins in the past only to have them not work in a newer updated version. I would like to know for example if the presets I'm working on now will load in the Non S.E. version or not so I can plan accordingly. If there is to be no new version then I'll just keep tweaking away with this version. My concern is not for myself but instead for Lennar Digital. It would be a shame for this company to suffer loses from a lack of communication or even worse to go out of business. I'd like to see Lennard be around and creating plugins for a long time to come.

[lotus2035]

A typical Sylenth user's tri-monthly cycle...

- Lennard is God!
- Lennard is a cool guy!
- Lennard is missing.
- Lennard has abandoned me
- Sylenth is Dead!
- I'm gonna kill Lennard!!
- Hi lennard, nice to hear from you..

- Lennard is God!
- Lennard is a cool guy!
- Lennard is missing.
- Lennard has abandoned me
- Sylenth is Dead!
- I'm gonna kill Lennard!!
- Hi lennard, nice to hear from you..

- Lennard is God!
- Lennard is a cool guy!
- Lennard is missing.
- Lennard has abandoned me...........

..repeat ad infinitum....

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[blue monk]

People get thrown out of their apartment or have water in their cellar or a fungus eats their home or they slip and break a few bones...

Read this thread:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3109464

Vera did just break a bone and is limited to typing with one hand but she managed to post and let people know why she will be out of contact for a while.

...My concern is not for myself but instead for Lennar Digital. It would be a shame for this company to suffer loses from a lack of communication or even worse to go out of business. I'd like to see Lennard be around and creating plugins for a long time to come.

I totally agree with that.

I *do not* agree with some other people's idea that...

(A) ...if they have problems with their DAW it's the plug-in's fault
(B) ...if the plug-in has bugs (which is probably not the case) the developer must fix it quickly or can be insulted. considerable reasons for not being able to fix the problems quickly (again: there are indicators that Sylenth is not even responsible for the errors*) are not accepted - the developer has to make it happen.

First hand info from the developer whould be appropriate I admit and I am also here to read that first hand info.


I also disagree with the idea that actors, writers, musicians or in this case a developer owes you attention and chatting once you have bought a product.
I assume this is part of the underlying problem for a few people.
The majority of users certainly are not hot-heads.


I do agree that it is in the very own interest of a developer to have close customer relations and that it's not too great a task to once in a while answer concerns and to assure customers if there are bugs that those are being worked on.
But insults if there is a lack of communication are not cool.

I can imagine all kinds of reasons why somebody avoids a discussion with people who want a date of release while you are experiencing that your own previous assumption of when you might be finished can't be kept.
That could be part the answer why.
id software's John Carmack is known for his phrase: "It's done when it's done."
I also know people who have such a high workload that taking 15-30 minutes to go to a forum actually would indeed be too much.



*
Since I had a PC for several years I experienced all kinds of problems with all kinds of applications.
Tracking down a single reason for a particular problem very often is impossible.
Now going to a forum an blaming a developer like his alleged responsibility was a matter of fact is no only unfair, but it also means a serious damage of his reputation because all the happy users are invisible (they are happy - so they don't go on a forum to get support) and a few users with problems blaming a particular program or plug-in (despite they don't even know which part of their system causes the problem) are very "outspoken" when complaining.

The result is: A potential new customer reads the complaints and statements like "Sylenth is dead" (which is ridiculous because you can download it and on most computers it might be running without problems, which you can test for free with the demo) and then probably looks elsewhere.
If I would be a developer I would probably call them similar names like they are calling me.

[Meffy]

absolutely and utterly called for in every way.

No, it was not. If you can't get across what you want to say without coating your point with meaningless obscenities and insults, then it isn't worth saying. If you can, do so.

Keep it civil.

[Meffy]

[edit: dup]