ArtsAcoustic announces ViRe-X Pro and ArtsAcoustic Reverb 1.6 (incl. 64bit versions)

[nick at artsacoustic]

Hi folks,

finally we have rebuilt our server after the crash and the attacks and we're ready to inform you about some new stuff, please read below.





Product update / changes

1. [update] ArtsAcoustic Reverb 1.6.0
2. [new product] ArtsAcoustic ViRe-X Pro 1.0.0
3. [update] New License agreement / license transfer

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1. ArtsAcoustic Reverb 1.6.0 (+64bit support)

After several years on the market and very good user response the ArtsAcoustic Reverb has been carefully repolished!
Starting with ArtsAcoustic Reverb 1.6 it will be available as native 64bit version for Windows and OS X.
But we also added some more of the most requested features: more room types, a very high quality mode and new presets for the new room types.

For something more complete take a look at list of changes:
* Available as AU and VST2 version supporting 32/64 bit hosts
* 3 new room types included: Impact, Light, Resonante
* High Quality Mode: 96000Hz internal sampling rate
* supports Windows 7/8 and OSX 10.8
* more presets
* fixed some bugs: sluggish GUI, unable to enter license, etc.

The update to version 1.6.x will be free of charge for all our existing ArtsAcoustic Reverb customers.
Details how to access the update will be sent out as soon as the update is available.

We will start a limited beta test for our existing customers in January 2013. Please apply if you are interested.

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2. ArtsAcoustic ViRe-X Pro 1.0.0

After quite some development time we are proud to announce ArtsAcoustic ViRe-X Pro (Virtual Reverb X), which is a completeley new algorithmic reverb that we've entirely written from scratch. On our way to a new product, which will also see the light of day in early 2013, we needed a new reverb to be included onboard. Long story short, we soon realized, that it was too good not to be released as a separate product, so we decided to go the long route and developed it to the max extend, while for the other new product we will develop something smaller.

Using our knowledge we've gathered for years in terms of reverb design, we've developed a special algorithm to be in control of resonances, on which the whole reverb structure is based on. This allows for great spaces in all forms and shapes, keeping annoying ringing and pattern-buildup at an absolute minimum.

Furthermore, knowing that high quality gated algorithms (not a gate after the tail, which is something entirely different) are very rare, we additionally added a very flexible gated reverb algorithm. More information and audio examples soon to come, but here's the sneak preview of the gui:



The ArtsAcoustic ViRe-X Pro will be released soon for a MSRP of 189,00 EUR / 189.00 USD.

Existing customers of the ArtsAcoustic Reverb will get a special discount offer, details will be sent out in form of email, as soon as the product is released.

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3. New license agreement / license transfer

Until now our license agreement has not allowed to transfer a license to a new licensee.
Even if we did not officially support a license transfer we usually did so when requested. That new license then has been turned into an unsupported NFR (not for resale) version which is a rather common process. Fact was that we were not compensated for the work that had to be done, in order for the license transfer to become valid.

We decided to change this policy. Now we do allow license transfers and make the new licensee a full ArtsAcoustic customer (eligible to support, updates, special discounts, ...).
However, since transferring a license causes a not insignificant amount of work, we now charge for the transfer.

Starting with the current versions of our products we have changed this license policy:
You are eligible to transfer your license under the following conditions.
* The license can only be transferred once.
* You may transfer the license beginning 6 months after the initial license has been issued.
* The license transfer fee must have been paid (50,00 EUR incl. VAT / 50.00 USD).
* After the license has been transferred you are not allowed to use the product any longer.
* The new licensee receives a full new license of the product (supported, updateable, not NFR, etc.), and thus becomes a full ArtsAcoustic customer


That's it for now, have a nice weekend and happy new year to all!

[Aiynzahev]

This new reverb looks great!

[Compyfox]

Finally some movement in terms of the AAR. Definitely great to see that, and I'm looking forward to upgrade. A slightly larger GUI and entering numeric values on double-click would be great as well - but it's usually "setup once, forget your reverb is there".


Regarding the new ViRe-X - was that inspired by the old and now pretty much discontinued Silverspike R2? Or is this more or less a stab toward the current Lexicon hype?


Thanks for informing us about the update, and the new License Transfer politics.

Happy new year to you as well.

[dalor]

Nick, can the EQ settings be set for early reflections and reverb independently (it's a must IMO)?

Love Artsacoustic stuff! One of those companies with super friendly unintrusive copy protection and great unique sound.

There's tough reverb competition out there.

Looking forward to check this one once its released.

[paterpeter]

I love my CL1s to death, so don't take this as criticism against your products, but IMO a 50€ fee for license transfers is way too much and not justified. I'm pretty sure this will scare potential buyers way. I really hope you reconsider your transfer fees to something more reasonable.

Also the line "The license can only be transferred once." is confusing - wouldn't that mean that the license becomes NFR after tranfer?

The new 'verb is interesting. A minor nitpick: I'd probably prefer the UI to have slightly more saturated colors, but that's always personal taste, of course.

Looking forward to your new stuff. Keep up the good work!

[Edit] something I always wanted to ask: why are the € prices ~25% higher than the $ prices, even though you only need to pay 19% VAT? Are those prices based on older exchange rates?

[nick at artsacoustic]

Also the line "The license can only be transferred once." is confusing - wouldn't that mean that the license becomes NFR after tranfer?

I know, when i read this at fist, i was confused, too, just as you were. . It actually means something different: You as a customer can only transfer the license one time. After that you don't own the license anymore, thus you can't sell it again (and again and again, etc). The new licensee can sell it (only once, too). This is a term that has to be written down in the license agreement by law.

The new 'verb is interesting. A minor nitpick: I'd probably prefer the UI to have slightly more saturated colors, but that's always personal taste, of course.

Kvr somehow f***s up the color as well as the sharpness, i can't really tell you why that is. If you look at the screenshot on our website, you'll see the colors are more saturated as well as sharp, so you'll have a whole different impression, see here:

http://www.artsacoustic.com/aav_screenshots.php

Next up is the new homepage, we only had to get things up and running after the crash, so we delayed the new homepage for the first.

[keel]

Hey, Nick

Any audio demos on that new reverb? Short room and long, long tail, plz! Thanks.

[Aiynzahev]

Will Vire-x pro be 64bit from the beginning?

[nick at artsacoustic]

Hey, Nick

Any audio demos on that new reverb? Short room and long, long tail, plz! Thanks.

Soon, please be patient a little longer.

[nick at artsacoustic]

Will Vire-x pro be 64bit from the beginning?

Yes.

[alex at artsacoustic.com]

something I always wanted to ask: why are the € prices ~25% higher than the $ prices, even though you only need to pay 19% VAT? Are those prices based on older exchange rates?

When we started our company we decided to offer our products with EUR and USD prices. EUR is used for all countries within the European Union and it includes 19% VAT. USD is used for the rest of the world without VAT.

Considering the ever changing currency exchange rate it sometimes seems better to purchase our products in EUR or USD. But if we just would have based our products on EUR we would have therefore permanently changing prices for everybody else in the world.

That's not what we wanted and also not so good for a major part of our customers.

[audiosabre]

Very excited to see an AAR update and a new reverb product (nice GUI). I hold your products in the absolute highest regard!

All the best for 2013...

[chokehold]

I was always semi-in-love with your plugins. Demos and magware versions sounded great, but x86 only, so a no-go. Now, after a decade of x64 platforms, you decide to jump on the train, and I was wondering whether it might be worth investing in your plugins while they're currently at sale.

So would you care to elaborate on this "not insignificant amount of work" it takes to transfer licenses?

50€ are a lot of money, in Germany a company takes that sort of money off customers for about 20-30 minutes of work by an IT guy.

I don't think deleting a license from a user account and moving it to another takes 30 minutes, not even 20 minutes, hell, not even when entering every detail -including serial numbers- by hand.

Say I buy AAR for 126€ now.
Say I lose interest in a while, and I have to wait a few months 'til I can sell.

What money can I get back from that purchase?

50€ go straight into your pocket.
So that's 50€ I'm not getting of the 2nd hand price I can ask.

How much can I ask for software that costs roughly 190€ new... about 100€-110€. If at all. Minus the 50€ you get.
So the max. I could get back when selling your plugin to someone else would be about 60€.

That's 30% of the retail price, and not even 1/2 of what I paid.
In other words: your plugins are VERY rapidly depreciating assets.

After all, I'm very old-school in this way, because my musician's ethics dictates me that "products of work are something to be rewarded if they please me", so I pay for the software I use.
But if I pay for your software in the first place, and sometime later decide to do the legally correct thing and not just give away my customer account login credentials but to run the process through you - I am still the one who gets bent over and screwed.

Sorry, but that's unacceptable for a normal person like myself, who doesn't make a living off the valuable plugins he buys.

One less customer for you.
One less guy who praises your plugins online.
One less guy who uses your plugins in screencasts.
One less guy who tells his friends how great you plugins are.
One less guy who defends your plugins against others' assertions in online forums.

Pay $40 for Valhalla Room today, and if I wish to sell it tomorrow - or in a year, I'll get $35-$37 in the KVR market place before an hour has passed.
That gets back nearly 93% of what I paid for it.

Please be smart enough to not play the "it's your own fault then, you could've evaluated the demo before purchasing it" card. We all know that a musician's, a sound-designer's and a producer's needs, requirements and interests vary on a near-daily basis.

So from a client's perspective, what might be the holy grail of reverb plugins today could be useless to him tomorrow. Why should the client be punished like that, just because their needs, requirements or interests change - or they're in need of cash, which -be honest- is a very common thing with artists.

If you're re-doing your servers anyway, why not include an automated form that lets you pick out two customer accounts from your database, highlight the license to transfer and then -here comes the magic- put a button on it that does the transferring for you?

That form alone might be worth 50€ of IT guy work, if at all.

No rant, just saying.

I'm just one of the probably very few who even care to speak their minds, and not just click away and forget about AA forever. So please, do the honorable thing and don't tell me to bugger off, but tell me why you think 50€ are a fair price for you to transfer the license?

Cheers,
and no harsh feelings from my side,

Rob

[paterpeter]

I'm just one of the probably very few who even care to speak their minds, and not just click away and forget about AA forever. So please, do the honorable thing and don't tell me to bugger off, but tell me why you think 50€ are a fair price for you to transfer the license?

I totally agree about the fees being much too high (as already mentioned above).

I can probably guess the answer to your question: "It's not only the transfer process. The new customer will also have new support requests etc.".
That could be. But maybe the new customer has far fewer requests than the old user. Who knows. Are there really that many support requests that actually take considerable amounts of time to solve? And if so, why isn't that included in the plugin's price? The plugins aren't exactly cheap to begin with, so you'd expect the average number of support incidents to be covered by the price.

[independentfactory]

Pay $40 for Valhalla Room today, and if I wish to sell it tomorrow - or in a year, I'll get $35-$37 in the KVR market place before an hour has passed.
That gets back nearly 93% of what I paid for it.

Please be smart enough to not play the "it's your own fault then, you could've evaluated the demo before purchasing it" card. We all know that a musician's, a sound-designer's and a producer's needs, requirements and interests vary on a near-daily basis.

So from a client's perspective, what might be the holy grail of reverb plugins today could be useless to him tomorrow. Why should the client be punished like that, just because their needs, requirements or interests change - or they're in need of cash, which -be honest- is a very common thing with artists.

I object to these absolutes you are using: "holy grail" , "useless".

BOLLOCKS!!!