SX 2 to SX 3 upgrade price is unfair !!!!

[kritikon]

I generally find surfing around the Steinberg site similar to surfing around the OhmForce one... befuddling is the word that springs to mind.

So can I just get a few things straight...at least at KvR you tend to get a few sensible answers sometimes

1. I upgraded from VST5.1->SX2 after July 15th; so I can upgrade from SX2->SX3 for Euro100?

If that's the case, then it might be worthwhile for me to do it - it appears that you can now upgrade from VST->SX3 for Euro400 However, I got SX2 for NZ$530 ...which is around Euro250-ish I think Plus SX2->SX3 at Euro100 = Euro350. Which is still cheaper than a direct upgrade from VST->SX3 (Yippee...it actually was worthwhile upgrading to SX2 then ) I still have to find a currency converter - I get completely mixed up with conversions. It used to be easiest to go from $NZ->UK (which was 3:1 or close to it). Now I have to go from Euro->UK->$NZ - I reckon Euro100=NZ$200 but could be hopelessly wrong...but it seems a small sum for SX3 while the iron is hot.

2. What's the Warp thingummy? It sounds like an inbuilt timestretching feature type thing?

3. Somewhat unrelated-but-related. My music PC is not connected to the net (and I don't want to connect it - I simply don't trust myself to not surf around on potentially virus-ridden sites - whereas my present habits are to surf on this old PC then virus check and spyware-check anything I download before transferring to the music PC)
So... can I still upgrade my dongle from SX2->SX2.2 without a direct connection - I saw some 5MB download .exe that I assume is an app to upgrade my dongle - Am I on the right track? (and this is relevant, because if I find SX2.2 works well, then I might not even need SX3).
It was all just so much easier when I simply waited to upgrade to a fully working final version (i.e VST5.1!) I might consider doing the same again and just wait for any more upgrades until SX5 or 6

But the timing just now means I can maybe get SX3 for less than it would have cost from VST->SX3. But not if the warp thingy is just a gimmick.

Now I've just confused myself even more. You know how sometimes when you write something down, it clarifies it? Now it just looks like gobbledygook to me. And I haven't even got to use SX2 yet...have to wait for the new PC to arrive (hopefully Wednesday) - tried loading SX2 into the old one with Win98SE, and no joy with SX2 at all.

So what I'm thinking is...now is a good time to get SX3 at a cheap price. Why make myself go through the agony of learning SX2, and then also SX3, when I could just go straight to SX3 and give myself only one lot of agony. I really am not looking forward to making music next week.

OK...non-coherent ramble is over. Anyone got any answers, if they know what the questions were

[bluedad]

1. I upgraded from VST5.1->SX2 after July 15th; so I can upgrade from SX2->SX3 for Euro100?

I'm in the same situation..nothing's for sure yet; I've seen it mentioned as low as $20..as high as $149.
Just have to cross our fingers

[bluedad]

2. What's the Warp thingummy? It sounds like an inbuilt timestretching feature type thing?

videos
go to this page and watch the videos and they'll explain.

[kritikon]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggggghhhh!



Nearly 30MB of videos to watch...I'll wait until I go to work tonight. It'd take me until next week to d/l that lot on a dial-up modem.

Ta for the link though, Bluedad.

You know...I almost regret upgrading; maybe I should have just stuck with VST5.1 - I could get music done quite happily with it and my old PC I also had to wrestle with the dilemma of what new PC to get made up. Go for a wizzbang one with a 3.4 CPU and 2G of RAM and pay the premium for that, or settle for a slightly lesser CPU with only 1G of RAM but for a far easier price. I settled for the cheaper one - with 64bit just around the corner, I figured I'm probably going to upgrade in a couple of years again, and a 2.5G CPU should see me through happily. All I want to do is make music, but my head's nearly exploding with all the hassle that upgrading brings. At least I'm getting most of the upgrading all done in one hit.

I never had this hassle with h/w...then again, I couldn't do half of what I can do now with s/w. Maybe I should take up a less stressful hobby, like butterfly collecting.

[Improv]

Earthtones:

I've read that people who got SX 2 after April can get the upgrade for £9.99 (less than $20 I would presume).
I would think that includes upgrades as well. You might wanna check up on that.

Thanks Armadillo, I hope you're right.

Could you point me to where you read that, or where I can further look into this. I bought the upgrade direct off the steinbergusa site, and am a bit confused as to who/where I should go to sort it out.

Cubase 3 FAQ:

http://forum.cubase.net/forum/Forum27/HTML/000047.html

"Are there any special conditions for customers who have bought Cubase SX2 very recently?

There is a special update package available for customers who bought Cubase SX2 after the 15th of July 2004. Please contact your regional distributor for details on ordering and pricing."

[TVD]

Jeez guys..at least you CAN upgrade..my VST/32 bit the dust last month..but still..

Imagine if you had a 1 inch penis.

No upgrading there, eh?

Any upgrade path is a good one

Cubase v5.0. Remember that ladies & gentlemen

SX killed it.

Sometimes the marketing of upgrades is a freaking joke.

[rollasoc]

My 2 pennies worth on the upgrade price.

I seems to me that Steiny are releasing a new version every year. Plus since it is software you don't actually own it, it still belongs to Steiny.

So basically, it costs you many many pounds to first license the product, then you pay a £100 a year maintenance fee to them, for the upgrades. (which is what many businesses do!).

Of course you are free to not pay the maintenance fee and given previous upgrade prices, it might make better economical sense for you to purchase every other version (like I do with the Fifa games...)

Have fun

Rollasoc
http://ww.hairthieves.com

[kritikon]

Anyone got any more details on the warp thingummy? I tried to d/l the Steinberg videos at work, but they've blocked external downloads

Dial-up isn't conducive to watching 8MB videos over the net

Does it use very fine granular calculations to manipulate audio or something - and if that's the case, won't it take up alot of CPU to do it?

Need more details please

[Bennett]

These types of discussions are always interesting. Both viewpoints have validity. Just a few additional comments (some stated before).

1) Steinberg is a business.
2) The end user doesn't own software - they license it.
3) Steinberg doesn't force anyone to upgrade.

To wit...

1) Steinberg has been part of Pinnacle for some time. If anyone knows Pinnacle from the video end of things, this is in line with Pinnacle's practices for some time. So while longtime Cubase users may feel slighted, this is a part of the corporate ownership. It is what it is. This is not new for Steinberg as the same-price upgrade was offered when SX2 came out (i.e. VST5 ->SX2)

2) As we are all licensees of the software technology, in essence what Steinberg is doing is charging SX2 users for the time duration which they used SX2. That is those who didn't upgrade from SX1, they never used the SX2 technology so why should they pay for it? Sure one can argue that it is unfair for some in a particular time-window but no matter where Steinberg makes the "cutoff" it will affect some users negatively.

3) SX1, SX2, VST5, etc. don't magically stop working when SX3 comes out. If you don't need SX3's features - why pay for it? Granted, Steinberg will stop development and eventually supporting older software, but that is the case with any software. Really Steinberg's same-price upgrade path should help people because you can plan on skipping SX3 if you don't need it and wait for SX4 knowing that you will be granted the same price.

(Disclaimer: This comes from a former Logic & SX user who is a Tracktion devotee)

[maoinhibitor]

I paid £99 to upgrade from SX 1 to SX 2 and now it's
another £99 to upgrade from SX 2 to SX 3 , that means
it would cost me £198 to get from SX 1 to SX 3
but those that upgrade from SX 1 to SX 3 only pay £99 and get all the features I paid to beta test in
SX 2 for free

I didn't bother reading the rest of the thread so my appologies if this has been repeated ad nauseum. When did you upgrade to SX2. You have had the benefit of using the SX 2 features for the last year (I assume) and that should be worth something.

I've heard the same kind of whining in the sonar threads about having to pay for upgrades, but at least Cakewalk doesn't punish their best customers. The best upgrade prices are for sonar 3 users.

[TVD]

These types of discussions are always interesting. Both viewpoints have validity. Just a few additional comments (some stated before).

1) Steinberg is a business.
2) The end user doesn't own software - they license it.
3) Steinberg doesn't force anyone to upgrade.

To wit...

1) Steinberg has been part of Pinnacle for some time. If anyone knows Pinnacle from the video end of things, this is in line with Pinnacle's practices for some time. So while longtime Cubase users may feel slighted, this is a part of the corporate ownership. It is what it is. This is not new for Steinberg as the same-price upgrade was offered when SX2 came out (i.e. VST5 ->SX2)

2) As we are all licensees of the software technology, in essence what Steinberg is doing is charging SX2 users for the time duration which they used SX2. That is those who didn't upgrade from SX1, they never used the SX2 technology so why should they pay for it? Sure one can argue that it is unfair for some in a particular time-window but no matter where Steinberg makes the "cutoff" it will affect some users negatively.

3) SX1, SX2, VST5, etc. don't magically stop working when SX3 comes out. If you don't need SX3's features - why pay for it? Granted, Steinberg will stop development and eventually supporting older software, but that is the case with any software. Really Steinberg's same-price upgrade path should help people because you can plan on skipping SX3 if you don't need it and wait for SX4 knowing that you will be granted the same price.

(Disclaimer: This comes from a former Logic & SX user who is a Tracktion devotee)

And if we don't like it, we can all become Tracktion users.

[TVD]

I paid £99 to upgrade from SX 1 to SX 2 and now it's
another £99 to upgrade from SX 2 to SX 3 , that means
it would cost me £198 to get from SX 1 to SX 3
but those that upgrade from SX 1 to SX 3 only pay £99 and get all the features I paid to beta test in
SX 2 for free

I didn't bother reading the rest of the thread so my appologies if this has been repeated ad nauseum. When did you upgrade to SX2. You have had the benefit of using the SX 2 features for the last year (I assume) and that should be worth something.

I've heard the same kind of whining in the sonar threads about having to pay for upgrades, but at least Cakewalk doesn't punish their best customers. The best upgrade prices are for sonar 3 users.

I think FLStudio users have it better because most of their updates are free. Hell, even Tracktion users have their updates free. Why can Cakewalk, Emagic & Steinberg do the same sometimes?

[AD80]

Hell, even Tracktion users have their updates free.

Not anymore.


Best $80bux I ever spent tho .

[1-2-Many]

I decided rather than just whine and complain here, I'd also voice my displeasure to Steinberg (in a more civil tone of course ). I pretty much condensed the sentiments of this thread and sent it to them.

I'd urge others to do the same.

Here's what I wrote

Hello Steinberg,

(please route this to the appropriate destination. I would also appreciate a reply addressing my issues)

I'm not happy with the recent upgrade structure and feel I must route my displeasure into the proper channel.

Basically I don't find it fair that you essentially charge your loyal users more because they choose to keep current on the upgrade path (and by so doing, keep money flowing into your pockets as a developer), and at the same time, give those who don't stay current what amounts to being a price break.

Luckily, I bought the SX2 Upgrade within the grace period and was able to get the SX3 upgrade for only $60 after all was said and done. However, it really upset me that had I only waited just a few more weeks I could have had SX3 for the SAME price as I paid for the SX2 Upgrade. I feel like I just flushed $60 bucks down the toilet! Most dramatically, what about those poor users who bought the SX2 upgrade in the months of June or July? They got to use SX2 for a whole 4 months for $149, what a bargain. Now they get to pay $149 again. I'll bet they're very happy with the Steinberg upgrade structure.

The lesson learned by many users is this, Don't stay current on Stienberg products; you'll end up paying More. Lesson to be learned by Stienberg (hopefully) The current upgrade policy alienates our loyal user base, and encourages people to hold off on updating our product.


Simply put:
1. upgrading from SX-2 to SX-3 should be cheaper than going from SX-1 to SX-3.
2. Those falling within your established grace period should get a free upgrade. Many other software companies do this, and it is a most fair practice.


Thank You,

I know the cynics out there will tell me how pointless it is, and nothing will change, and no one there at Steinberg is gonna care, but you're attitude is self fulfilling now in'nt?

[Kim Lajoie]

Hmm, I'd be interested to see what they write in response to that.

Forever,




Kim.