IK Multimedia creating unpurchased Custom Shop *.dlls

[Hink]

My two cents on this, I love the way IK products sound. I **HATE** the custom shop. It brings the shopping experience into my studio too much. I don't want to be inundated all day long with information about plugins I don't have. Just trying to use Amplitube I am constantly reminded through presets and such that there are certain models I don't own yet, etc.. I much much preferred the pre-custom shop world. Its good for IK's sake to put their custom shop in our face, so they can sell more stuff, but its distracting for me and I hate it, and I hate any other product that does that too. And I hate that Custom shop installs a bunch of bloat on my system, and into my plugin lists that I don't own and can't use unless I buy it too. I don't keep demo junk on my computer at all and for a good reason, I don't want to be bothered by it. But with IK's current approach, this always comes back every once in a while as a distraction that I have to then go in and administrate in order to remove the distraction, and in some cases can't completely remove the distraction.

IK stuff sounds great to me, I will keep using CSR and sometimes even amplitube, for sure Ampeg, but there are increasingly other good options without all this bloat. IK should find a better way to handle all of this, it doesn't have to be this over bearing. I'm sure it doesn't bother some people, particularly at first, but clearly it does bother a lot of us.

I pretty much agree with this and why I stay away from IK (even Amplitube is not installed anymore), when the custom shop came out I was not a fan of the idea and still am not. The truth is my DAW does not go online, this is not because of safety reasons per se' but because I dont want protection software and other things running in the background...my DAW is for one thing only and I keep it that way (though I do have chessmaster 10 installed on my DAW for those moments when I need to switch from 'creative' thinking to 'critical'' thinking. I have done this since I was quite young) Or when my ears just need a break.

I have only been to the custom shop once or twice and I did so on my laptop, so of course if I wanted to use the custom shop I could and I can even demo things because my laptop has my old Edirol UA-5 USB soundcard. I would rather buy plugins with real money (if it's changed my bad) and I dont like the idea of buying more credits than I need to get what I want.

I didn't like how it seemed when the CS came out it sounded like there would be tons and tons of new stuff coming out but it seemed to be slow when I was still interested in AT3, again this may have changed and a zillion things may have come out since but that did put me off back then.

While I am not alone in this thinking, imo the truth is I think is IK has to be doing well with the custom shop. We will never know of course how many customers they lost and how many they gained but again I suspect they have gained sales or it might be gone. I do know some kids who play guitar, one I have done work on his guitars in the past as he is the stepson of a good friend. I see these kids on FB from time to time all excited about different amps and tbh a lot of them seem to be hooked on AT and often boast about how many amps they own.

AT is a great sim, dont get me wrong and it could easily be re-installed if needed because even with several tracks from my miked up iso cab sometimes a little boost from a sim can fill out the sound a bit. However I also always record the line out from my amp and I find that speaker IR's do the trick for me when needed and my use of that is very subtle. I spend far more time re-amping my dry signal through my amps. In fact if I come back to a song that I haven't worked on for a while (like today for instance ) the first thing I do is set new revolver tracks (a cool feature in Samplitude) and once I have the tone I am going to use I just re-amp the whole thing so it's fresh and all things are equal.

The thing I like about sims is the presets, when I lived at my old place it was nice to be able to bring up the exact tone with a mouse click. But the above kind of cancels that out and sometimes the tone I recorded with is not the tone I want when all the parts are together. For me, I want a somewhat self indulgent tone on my guitar when I am playing and as such I am hopefully performing the parts at my best. From there I can fit them into the piece with best possible tone (and yes, that could come from a sim).

So you can put me on the list of lost customers, at least for now (also why you do not see me in many sim threads anymore). I might one day get myself arc, but that would be a ways down the road (a lot of expenses right now so I'm on a spending freeze). The custom shop was a bust for me, I didn't like it then and I still do not like it now. However there is one other factor, I use Samplitude Pro X and truth be told I am very happy with the included effects and DP that comes with Pro X Suite...so I am not using many 3rd party plugins at all

[jancivil]

Not hard to imagine younger people embracing it. I don't know, their bean counters could also have to justify how invested they are in it.
I have all sorts of options and stay with Amplitube 2. I've been a big customer. AT3 is gone from my system, I'd only be using it for the things I did buy, the only thing justifying it is x64 and in fact I don't need it, I have templates for processing guitar sound built and why bother reupping, VE Pro runs both side-by-side, there is no problem to solve really. If I was on Windows I would not connect the DAW machine to the internet, exactly because of anti-virus software.

IKMM's line 'Musicians First'... I have this technology in order to make music. I do not have issues typically that I need to call support behind. But fact is, there was a lot of administration to do just to make this shit happen, Custom Shop as the only way to make the AT2 things appear in AT3, installing things which are inextricable from it. So I think "you could do 'I feel your pain'" isn't that wild, but no, that's just a chance to mock me and imply I'm a moron. Yeah, I feel stupid for trying AT3. Tell your boss that, Peter. Or give me an address and I will.

[J4R1O]

Just sent IK support a request to "upgrade" (give a valid licence/serial) my IK Bus Compressor and Quad Image that I could sell them.

Since I've bought them via CS by using those silly credits (what a stupid thing to do, btw) they're integrated to my CS licence so I don't have any serial number(s) and therefore I can't sell them if I want to.

[djscorb]

Yeah that was yet another one of the issues I ranted about a while back. Pre CS there were licenses that were transferable.

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 5#p5522155

In fact all the issues I have with CS still stand. They have done nothing to change what I hated about it.

Good luck with getting licenses for your purchases but I reckon that IK will not risk opening the floodgates for every user requesting the same.

Cheers

Scorb

[Orbit-50]

Yeah that was yet another one of the issues I ranted about a while back. Pre CS there were licenses that were transferable.http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 5#p5522155
In fact all the issues I have with CS still stand. They have done nothing to change what I hated about it.
Good luck with getting licenses for your purchases but I reckon that IK will not risk opening the floodgates for every user requesting the same.
Cheers
Scorb

Saw the thread and I didn't know that this has been an issue with users since way back when. I agree with you on the transfer part. I bought a bunch of IK stuff a while back and haven't used it at all for various reasons and found out I couldn't transfer anything that was deemed "Custom Shop" which, guess what? Somehow most of it was listed as such in my account user area. The funny part is I never bought anything through the "Custom Shop". They seemed to have just made it so? So long story short, I can't get rid of it, so I end up eating all this software I won't ever use. I would even try to make use of it but the so called "Custom Shop" just flat out irritates me. My favorite quote of the thread that you linked to sums it up for me:

The whole world is turning into a blasted IT spambot and virus.

That's how I feel about the "Custom Shop".



.-.

[djscorb]

I never installed CS, because I saw this kind of thing from a mile away, but I assume that the whole "restore my gear" function converts your previously licensed plugins into the CS thing. I'm sure Peter can correct me here if I'm wrong, but I have a very strong feeling that licenses are consumed into a single one which becomes non transferable.

If this is indeed the case, it is very sneaky and underhand.

Which, going by all the other things such as not being able to use jampoints in certain situations, gear credits being sold in packs that don't allow you to buy a single processor without having credits "left over" etc., seems to be just the kind of thing that they would do. And, I reckon was completely planned all along from when some evil IK "genius" came up with the whole custom shop concept.

Cheers

Scorb

[djscorb]

So, IK have been unusually quiet!

Could we get a response to this?

If a user bought TrackS Deluxe and owns three singles from the pre Custom Shop days, does installing Custom Shop and using the "Restore my Gear" function assimilate those licences into a single CS license that becomes non-transferable?

Peter?

Cheers

Scorb

[Integratron]

Perhaps they are quiet because the entire notion borders on the ridiculous. I don't have any problems with the T-RackS/Amplitube Custom Shop. As mentioned earlier, many programs install this way... even DAWs. I think the IKMM marketing model is brilliant! I love being able to test the IKMM models nearly instantly. I've never been hit with a virus or malware from using CS and I've used it consistently since day one! I have a 1TB hard drive... I never worry about running out of space.

If this is such a terrible sales/use model, then don't use it.

My response to the OP. Search your systems hard drive for *.dll... you'll discover you have about a zillion of them. Now tell me what they all do. Next.

I the Custom Shop and I using it online.

[djscorb]

In my opinion it is a terrible sales/use model and so I haven't used it, hence my question.

What other audio plugin vendors use a similar system? I am not aware of any.

Besides which, I have asked a specific question and your post hasn't helped to answer it.

It's great that you love the CS/Amplitube system. Others don't.

My question was about whether restoring gear in Custom Shop makes existing transferable licenses NFR.

If that's the case then even fanboys would have a hard time finding anything good to say about it. Peter is usually pretty fast to quash any misinformation. Has any user lost their ability to transfer licences due to pre CS plugins being consumed into a single NFR CS license?

Cheers

Scorb

[jsp1979]

I'm sure Peter can correct me here if I'm wrong, but I have a very strong feeling that licenses are consumed into a single one which becomes non transferable.

If this is indeed the case, it is very sneaky and underhand.

I'm not Peter, but I can tell you this is not true.

Individual pieces bought through the custom shop are not transferable, but collections (like the Orange Collection, the British Bundle, etc.) always remain re-sellable unless they were received as a free product in a promotion.

[djscorb]

Thanks jsp1979

I have a couple of projects with the 670 and pultec in and will need to do a full install of a new mac mini soon. I wanted to know because if I install CS and lose my ability to transfer my licenses I would be gutted to say the least.

It does make me wonder though how Orbit-50 (see a few posts above) is unable to sell some of his plugins when he has never bought anything through CS?

If any other users have lost licenses then please chime in as I would rather know before inadvertently losing mine!

Cheers

Scorb

[hibidy]

I'm sure Peter can correct me here if I'm wrong, but I have a very strong feeling that licenses are consumed into a single one which becomes non transferable.

If this is indeed the case, it is very sneaky and underhand.

I'm not Peter, but I can tell you this is not true.

Individual pieces bought through the custom shop are not transferable, but collections (like the Orange Collection, the British Bundle, etc.) always remain re-sellable unless they were received as a free product in a promotion.

Oh, I didn't know that. Might ditch the british bundle.....

[jsp1979]

If you go to the list of your products in your user area, the transferable ones have a "License Transfer" link below them.

I just checked mine again and my Amplitude Orange collection (bought online) is transferable. I'm not aware of any way that transferable status would change.

[djscorb]

I hear you

Yeah, it's more the singles that I'm uncertain about.

I have the White2A, the Black76 and the Vintage670 all on separate licenses in addition to the Tracks Deluxe bundle.

I guess we'll have to wait for Peter to give us the official answer.

Cheers

Scorb

[djscorb]

To be clear, I bought these before CS came out and at present I have licenses and the ability to transfer them (from looking in my user area).

However, I haven't installed CS or restored gear yet so have no idea what will happen to these singles licenses were I to install CS on my new machine.

Cheers

Scorb