Softube Modular

[wagtunes]

I downloaded the fxb, followed the instructions, and had no trouble loading to Modular running in SONAR Platinum. The preset sounds really good by the way, without adding any external effects.

I have to agree, Modular needs a preset browser. I really can't understand why they didn't do it before release; as you pointed out, not all DAWs can load fxp/fxp files, so I have to wonder how extensively they tested in as many hosts as possible. This is a great-sounding synth with a lot of possibilities, but I think they really dropped the ball in this area.

Dropped the ball is a major understatement. They totally screwed the pooch on this one. And don't get me wrong, I love this synth. I had a blast programming it and have had a ton of compliments on my library, which is selling like mad. But that's becoming a bigger headache than it's worth. I honestly don't know how much longer I can go on before I just pull the page down.

Put the onus on Softube and make it clear that if any support is required to load your presets the customer has to contact them.

Otherwise you are acting as part of their support team by having to deal with these sorts of queries.

Do they pay you?
No

They themselves have stated how well the plugin has sold so its time they fixed this issue and theyve had 7 months since release to sort it, let alone the development and testing period

Here's the problem. If I tell the customer that, I know people. They're gonna say "Screw you, give me my money back." I've been dealing with customer service online since 2003. Trust me, customers expect you to do everything for them. If I turn them away, I might as well just take the product off the market because almost every sale will result in a refund.

[VariKusBrainZ]

I downloaded the fxb, followed the instructions, and had no trouble loading to Modular running in SONAR Platinum. The preset sounds really good by the way, without adding any external effects.

I have to agree, Modular needs a preset browser. I really can't understand why they didn't do it before release; as you pointed out, not all DAWs can load fxp/fxp files, so I have to wonder how extensively they tested in as many hosts as possible. This is a great-sounding synth with a lot of possibilities, but I think they really dropped the ball in this area.

Dropped the ball is a major understatement. They totally screwed the pooch on this one. And don't get me wrong, I love this synth. I had a blast programming it and have had a ton of compliments on my library, which is selling like mad. But that's becoming a bigger headache than it's worth. I honestly don't know how much longer I can go on before I just pull the page down.

Put the onus on Softube and make it clear that if any support is required to load your presets the customer has to contact them.

Otherwise you are acting as part of their support team by having to deal with these sorts of queries.

Do they pay you?
No

They themselves have stated how well the plugin has sold so its time they fixed this issue and theyve had 7 months since release to sort it, let alone the development and testing period

Here's the problem. If I tell the customer that, I know people. They're gonna say "Screw you, give me my money back." I've been dealing with customer service online since 2003. Trust me, customers expect you to do everything for them. If I turn them away, I might as well just take the product off the market because almost every sale will result in a refund.

Offer no refunds

Make it clear the customer takes the 'risk' (risk is used sarcastically here )

Better than not selling it at all

[Cinebient]

I downloaded the fxb, followed the instructions, and had no trouble loading to Modular running in SONAR Platinum. The preset sounds really good by the way, without adding any external effects.

I have to agree, Modular needs a preset browser. I really can't understand why they didn't do it before release; as you pointed out, not all DAWs can load fxp/fxp files, so I have to wonder how extensively they tested in as many hosts as possible. This is a great-sounding synth with a lot of possibilities, but I think they really dropped the ball in this area.

Dropped the ball is a major understatement. They totally screwed the pooch on this one. And don't get me wrong, I love this synth. I had a blast programming it and have had a ton of compliments on my library, which is selling like mad. But that's becoming a bigger headache than it's worth. I honestly don't know how much longer I can go on before I just pull the page down.

Put the onus on Softube and make it clear that if any support is required to load your presets the customer has to contact them.

Otherwise you are acting as part of their support team by having to deal with these sorts of queries.

Do they pay you?
No

They themselves have stated how well the plugin has sold so its time they fixed this issue and theyve had 7 months since release to sort it, let alone the development and testing period

Here's the problem. If I tell the customer that, I know people. They're gonna say "Screw you, give me my money back." I've been dealing with customer service online since 2003. Trust me, customers expect you to do everything for them. If I turn them away, I might as well just take the product off the market because almost every sale will result in a refund.

Offer no refunds

Make it clear the customer takes the 'risk' (risk is used sarcastically here )

Better than not selling it at all

Easy said but i think a lot customers might remember this and put you on their "black list"
You know, the customer is king (even if he/she is not right).

[wagtunes]

I downloaded the fxb, followed the instructions, and had no trouble loading to Modular running in SONAR Platinum. The preset sounds really good by the way, without adding any external effects.

I have to agree, Modular needs a preset browser. I really can't understand why they didn't do it before release; as you pointed out, not all DAWs can load fxp/fxp files, so I have to wonder how extensively they tested in as many hosts as possible. This is a great-sounding synth with a lot of possibilities, but I think they really dropped the ball in this area.

Dropped the ball is a major understatement. They totally screwed the pooch on this one. And don't get me wrong, I love this synth. I had a blast programming it and have had a ton of compliments on my library, which is selling like mad. But that's becoming a bigger headache than it's worth. I honestly don't know how much longer I can go on before I just pull the page down.

Put the onus on Softube and make it clear that if any support is required to load your presets the customer has to contact them.

Otherwise you are acting as part of their support team by having to deal with these sorts of queries.

Do they pay you?
No

They themselves have stated how well the plugin has sold so its time they fixed this issue and theyve had 7 months since release to sort it, let alone the development and testing period

Here's the problem. If I tell the customer that, I know people. They're gonna say "Screw you, give me my money back." I've been dealing with customer service online since 2003. Trust me, customers expect you to do everything for them. If I turn them away, I might as well just take the product off the market because almost every sale will result in a refund.

Offer no refunds

Make it clear the customer takes the 'risk' (risk is used sarcastically here )

Better than not selling it at all

Can't do it. PayPal has a mandatory 30 day refund policy. All they have to do is contact PayPal, tell them the product doesn't work and not only do they get their money back, but it's a black mark against me with PayPal. Enough of those and I could lose my account with them.

So no, this is not an option.

[TheHelioSequence]

I had asked Softube early on if there were any plans to make a preset browser (I go back and forth between Pro Tools and Sonar) and they basically said they were looking into it but that it wouldn't be in the nearest future. Perhaps if more people request it we might see some development in that department.

[wagtunes]

I had asked Softube early on if there were any plans to make a preset browser (I go back and forth between Pro Tools and Sonar) and they basically said they were looking into it but that it wouldn't be in the nearest future. Perhaps if more people request it we might see some development in that department.

I wonder if we can get a list of DAWs that can't load 3rd party presets. That way, I can put that list on my sales page and basically tell people "If you use these DAWs, this library will not work."

That MIGHT solve a lot of problems if not all because some people just don't read. That's another fact of life.

[aMUSEd]

I had asked Softube early on if there were any plans to make a preset browser (I go back and forth between Pro Tools and Sonar) and they basically said they were looking into it but that it wouldn't be in the nearest future. Perhaps if more people request it we might see some development in that department.

I wonder if we can get a list of DAWs that can't load 3rd party presets. That way, I can put that list on my sales page and basically tell people "If you use these DAWs, this library will not work."

That MIGHT solve a lot of problems if not all because some people just don't read. That's another fact of life.

The problem is essentially that we are really long past the point where we can rely on hosts to do this job. Back in the day when there was only VST it was much simpler, all hosts supported loading and saving fxp/b presets as it was seen as the hosts job. But with the proliferation of both plugin formats and plugin preset formats this has become a tangled mess, most hosts support their own preferred formats (aupresets for Logic, vstpresets for Cubase etc) but very few now support the lot particularly well (literally I can only think of Bidule and Studio One that do a good job of supporting native preset formats for all the plugin formats they support). Since host developers have essentially abrogated their responsibility to support presets for plugins most plugin developers have sensibly opted for handling this themselves (although unfortunately this has resulted in further format proliferation and a loss of common standards). My guess is the main reason Softube have avoided this till now is because most of their plugins are relatively simple affairs, mainly for mixing and mastering, and often don't need much in the way of preset support. But with a complex instrument like Modular where presets are essential, they really should have given this more thought from the start.

[wagtunes]

I had asked Softube early on if there were any plans to make a preset browser (I go back and forth between Pro Tools and Sonar) and they basically said they were looking into it but that it wouldn't be in the nearest future. Perhaps if more people request it we might see some development in that department.

I wonder if we can get a list of DAWs that can't load 3rd party presets. That way, I can put that list on my sales page and basically tell people "If you use these DAWs, this library will not work."

That MIGHT solve a lot of problems if not all because some people just don't read. That's another fact of life.

The problem is essentially that we are really long past the point where we can rely on hosts to do this job. Back in the day when there was only VST it was much simpler, all hosts supported loading and saving fxp/b presets as it was seen as the hosts job. But with the proliferation of both plugin formats and plugin preset formats this has become a tangled mess, most hosts support their own preferred formats (aupresets for Logic, vstpresets for Cubase etc) but very few now support the lot particularly well (literally I can only think of Bidule and Studio One that do a good job of supporting native preset formats for all the plugin formats they support). Since host developers have essentially abrogated their responsibility to support presets for plugins most plugin developers have sensibly opted for handling this themselves (although unfortunately this has resulted in further format proliferation and a loss of common standards). My guess is the main reason Softube have avoided this till now is because most of their plugins are relatively simple affairs, mainly for mixing and mastering, and often don't need much in the way of preset support. But with a complex instrument like Modular where presets are essential, they really should have given this more thought from the start.

So what's the solution?

[whyterabbyt]

I had asked Softube early on if there were any plans to make a preset browser (I go back and forth between Pro Tools and Sonar) and they basically said they were looking into it but that it wouldn't be in the nearest future. Perhaps if more people request it we might see some development in that department.

I wonder if we can get a list of DAWs that can't load 3rd party presets. That way, I can put that list on my sales page and basically tell people "If you use these DAWs, this library will not work."

That MIGHT solve a lot of problems if not all because some people just don't read. That's another fact of life.

Better to have a list that -can-, IMO.

[wagtunes]

I had asked Softube early on if there were any plans to make a preset browser (I go back and forth between Pro Tools and Sonar) and they basically said they were looking into it but that it wouldn't be in the nearest future. Perhaps if more people request it we might see some development in that department.

I wonder if we can get a list of DAWs that can't load 3rd party presets. That way, I can put that list on my sales page and basically tell people "If you use these DAWs, this library will not work."

That MIGHT solve a lot of problems if not all because some people just don't read. That's another fact of life.

Better to have a list that -can-, IMO.

Based on what aMused said you're probably right.

Curious. Do you have a solution for this mess?

[VariKusBrainZ]

Ok lets bombard Softube with the preset browser request.
Iv just submitted a request via their online support.

I honestly thought this was a no brainer feature they would have implemented by now

[deastman]

I had asked Softube early on if there were any plans to make a preset browser (I go back and forth between Pro Tools and Sonar) and they basically said they were looking into it but that it wouldn't be in the nearest future. Perhaps if more people request it we might see some development in that department.

I wonder if we can get a list of DAWs that can't load 3rd party presets. That way, I can put that list on my sales page and basically tell people "If you use these DAWs, this library will not work."

That MIGHT solve a lot of problems if not all because some people just don't read. That's another fact of life.

Better to have a list that -can-, IMO.

Based on what aMused said you're probably right.

Curious. Do you have a solution for this mess?

Decompile / reverse engineer the plugin and write a utility which replaces the hard-wired presets with ones of your own making.

*in flagrant violation of the end user license agreement

[whyterabbyt]

Curious. Do you have a solution for this mess?

Not really. If one's DAW doesnt handle FXP/FXB saving, there's always the possibility of using a subhost that does, and loading Softube into that, but for many peope thats obviously not ideal.

I use Bidule for all sorts of stuff and its stable as a rock, both standalone and as a plugin inside something else, and will definitely do this, but its a significant 'extra' cost as a one-off solution for this single problem.

Metaplugin is cheaper, about a third of the cost of Bidule at £34 and, on the Windows side at least, seems to load presets okay, though it cant save them. But again, its an extra cost.

Unfortunately FL Minihost, which is one of the few free Win x64 subhosts, doesnt seem to have a preset loader.

[aMUSEd]

I had asked Softube early on if there were any plans to make a preset browser (I go back and forth between Pro Tools and Sonar) and they basically said they were looking into it but that it wouldn't be in the nearest future. Perhaps if more people request it we might see some development in that department.

I wonder if we can get a list of DAWs that can't load 3rd party presets. That way, I can put that list on my sales page and basically tell people "If you use these DAWs, this library will not work."

That MIGHT solve a lot of problems if not all because some people just don't read. That's another fact of life.

The problem is essentially that we are really long past the point where we can rely on hosts to do this job. Back in the day when there was only VST it was much simpler, all hosts supported loading and saving fxp/b presets as it was seen as the hosts job. But with the proliferation of both plugin formats and plugin preset formats this has become a tangled mess, most hosts support their own preferred formats (aupresets for Logic, vstpresets for Cubase etc) but very few now support the lot particularly well (literally I can only think of Bidule and Studio One that do a good job of supporting native preset formats for all the plugin formats they support). Since host developers have essentially abrogated their responsibility to support presets for plugins most plugin developers have sensibly opted for handling this themselves (although unfortunately this has resulted in further format proliferation and a loss of common standards). My guess is the main reason Softube have avoided this till now is because most of their plugins are relatively simple affairs, mainly for mixing and mastering, and often don't need much in the way of preset support. But with a complex instrument like Modular where presets are essential, they really should have given this more thought from the start.

So what's the solution?

3 possibilities

1) For (some eg Bitwig) host developers to take this more seriously, I think for plugin standard formats we should keep pushing for this (ie fxp/b for VST2, aupresets for AU plugins, vstpresets for VST3 plugins should be the minimum standard) but clearly it would be unrealistic to expect them to support anything else given the mess we have now of proprietary formats.

2) Plugin developers like Softube to realise we are no longer living in a past where hosts did this well and build in their own plugin management.

3) However, where this works best imho is where it still bears some relationship with existing plugin formats to leverage maximum compatibility (rather than using some made-up format only the dev knows how to parse). For example Linplug manages this very well, all their plugins use FXP format, which makes them readable by the majority at least of hosts, but they have pulled off this even in the AU versions so internally their AUs read FXP too. That is a smart way to do this (and particularly since they have nice browsers with ratings too).

[Ah_Dziz]

Has "Modular" been updated much since it's release? I has plenty of bugs especially when it comes to complex clocking. Also large multitimbral patches don't work. Or small ones. The only ones that work are the ones included with the factory sounds.