u-he update of almost everything August 2021

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

If the choice was Zebra3 development or installation manager, obviously I'd choose the former. But if there's enough people on the team at this point (or will be) where some folks can work an installation manager while plugin development goes on unimpeded, then I'd favor that. It's not a huge deal if I never get one, but I don't think it has to be all doom and gloom either.

[Tendou]

are there any improvements for windows users?

Yes, loads. Performance, user experience, presets, everything.

awesom, thank you!

[BBFG#]

If the choice was Zebra3 development or installation manager, obviously I'd choose the former. But if there's enough people on the team at this point (or will be) where some folks can work an installation manager while plugin development goes on unimpeded, then I'd favor that. It's not a huge deal if I never get one, but I don't think it has to be all doom and gloom either.

And that's the problem I foresee. That it distracts the team or creates another that has the potential of creating unnecessary conflict.

Sorry for the discourse, and perhaps my own health is partly to blame for my skepticism here. And I hope this doesn't get me suspended here. But last month I had the 2nd vax shot and I'm one of those that have suffered from it. Blood tests have shown a complete disruption in kidney/liver/pancreas function four days after it, with a temporary rise in BP and bleed rate noted by my primary physician. Also had the worst case of gout I've ever known and that during a fast! Hence, spending more down time therefore mitigating with KVR usage.
Doing my best to fight those side effects for the better.

I'm often skeptic, but work hard at not being a cynic.
I just know that some of the plugins I loved are no longer worth it because of these managers. And I don't want to lose my favorite synth company to the same thing.

[briefcasemanx]

Is there any point is having Triple Cheese (or other freeware synths) if I already own all the other U-He synths? I always just assumed that the payware synths would fully cover what Triple Cheese does and there was no need to download it, but I haven't actually even tried it or heard it. Is my assumption correct?

If the Installation Manager can:

1. Check for updates to installed products
2. Allow me to set paths for install (resources, VST plugin folder, etc.)
3. Allow me to designate install formats (VST2 and VST3 yes, no 32-bit please, no AAX here, NKS where available)
4. Actually install all updates in one go respecting #2 and #3
5. Doesn't download any products I don't own (not saying U-he would ever do this, but the UAD/IK approach is annoying)

...then I'd be all-in. When you're updating like 15 products at once, having an installation manager than can handle the above would get rid of the tedium and save me lots of time. That's fewer hoops to jump through as I can setup the installation and walk away and go make dinner or something else.

If the installation manager just downloads the installer for each and I still have to run them (this is the IK approach), then it's not much of a value add.

This, and only this.

In the meantime, I like when companies have registry entries for their installers, so that once you choose a default install destination and formats to install on one plugin, it remembers those choices for the other plugins you install from that company. Makes manually installing much quicker when you own a lot of plugins from a single company.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Is there any point is having Triple Cheese if I already own all the other U-He synths? I always just assumed that the payware synths would fully cover what Triple Cheese does and there was no need to download it, but I haven't actually even tried it or heard it. Is my assumption correct?

It's absolutely worth checking out. I had always assumed the same. It's really interesting.

[BBFG#]

If the Installation Manager can:

1. Check for updates to installed products
2. Allow me to set paths for install (resources, VST plugin folder, etc.)
3. Allow me to designate install formats (VST2 and VST3 yes, no 32-bit please, no AAX here, NKS where available)
4. Actually install all updates in one go respecting #2 and #3
5. Doesn't download any products I don't own.

If the installation manager just downloads the installer for each and I still have to run them then it's not much of a value add.

2 & 3 are already part of each program.
5 could easily be handled through a website update in addition to OS categorization.

So that just leaves #4.
They do install quicker than most of my plugins and I prefer to check each install before starting the next.
Not saying your way is bad in any way and I get why you might want it that way. Really don't get the idea of "tedium" in this context though. There's a ton of programs I would agree to for that word, but not these.

So to keep it simple.
Change the website download page so it still handles the owners and demos in a unified way, but list them under a heading of the OS and then with a check box to click for which ones you want and/or a download all. They could even subdivide this into Synths and Effects. And remembering that downloading all would simply install the demo.

For the owner with this Access point, let it link directly to that. Include a "Download Only" (so we can install as we need) that's separate from "Install" and or "Install All". But let it use our own working download manager.

This is where NI, Roland, Korg, Arturia, and Steinberg have problems that we either have to search for work arounds or contact support for.

I like that we don't have to even log in for these updates (except for the Dark Zebra). The hoops to find them are minimal now, and it's much better than it was.
It just feels like some want to turn it into what other companies do. And I just want to remind them that had become detrimental to many of us. Because once you get said manager, then maintaining a website system becomes twice the work. And then it gets farmed out. And then it becomes...

[BBFG#]

In the meantime, I like when companies have registry entries for their installers, so that once you choose a default install destination and formats to install on one plugin, it remembers those choices for the other plugins you install from that company. Makes manually installing much quicker when you own a lot of plugins from a single company.

Mine install to the same path I originally installed them to without a registry entry. This has also proven better for me when I want to change it to a different place by simply uninstalling and reinstalling where it asks me again where to install. And in that case, I don't have to delete registry keys and reboot before doing that.

[briefcasemanx]

In the meantime, I like when companies have registry entries for their installers, so that once you choose a default install destination and formats to install on one plugin, it remembers those choices for the other plugins you install from that company. Makes manually installing much quicker when you own a lot of plugins from a single company.

Mine install to the same path I originally installed them to without a registry entry. This has also proven better for me when I want to change it to a different place by simply uninstalling and reinstalling where it asks me again where to install. And in that case, I don't have to delete registry keys and reboot before doing that.

I just install to the default directory, so I wouldn't know. I just updated everything U-He and it was kind of a pain clicking off all the checkmarks except VST3 on like 10 different plugins though. I'm other developers get around this either with a simple registry entry that stores preferences or some sort of global file that's read by all plugin installers from that manufacturer.

[BBFG#]

In the meantime, I like when companies have registry entries for their installers, so that once you choose a default install destination and formats to install on one plugin, it remembers those choices for the other plugins you install from that company. Makes manually installing much quicker when you own a lot of plugins from a single company.

Mine install to the same path I originally installed them to without a registry entry. This has also proven better for me when I want to change it to a different place by simply uninstalling and reinstalling where it asks me again where to install. And in that case, I don't have to delete registry keys and reboot before doing that.

I just install to the default directory, so I wouldn't know. I just updated everything U-He and it was kind of a pain clicking off all the checkmarks except VST3 on like 10 different plugins though. I'm other developers get around this either with a simple registry entry that stores preferences or some sort of global file that's read by all plugin installers from that manufacturer.

Having to uncheck boxes has happened on certain updates, but they have mostly been the same as the last installation as well for me. But I still check. Ever since a news app signed me up to Facebook and a certain Italian software company from here signed me up to Twitter, I look hard for those boxes already checked "for my convenience".

My default path for them is D:/64/u-He.
And I've stopped making a separate entry folder for data. So it's all under the same place.

[Arashi]

Plugin managers vary in quality, but are pretty much always better than having to manually check for updates, then download and install them one-by-one every time an update is released.

The worst of the ones I use is Korg's, which just downloads the installers and makes you run them yourself…and even that is still better than checking a website for updates and manually downloading each one. Native Access, Arturia Software Center, and Softube Central are all pretty polished and work very well (my one complaint about Native Access is there's no way to uninstall anything). With the number of plugins I have in each one of them, there's no way in hell I'd want to download and install them one-by-one.

So I would definitely welcome a u-he plugin manager. With this recent round of updates, I had to download and run nine separate installers, and each one requires quite a few clicks and an administrator password. Sure, if people want to manually run the installers for some reason (boredom? too much time on your hands?), I see no reason to take that away, but I think most of us would like a plugin manager.

[glokraw]

I own quite a few of the U-he products, and none of them are so shallow that I couldn't fill ALL available free time with just one of them, for extended periods of time. For those in some sweat-drenched hurry to install them all in one go, an ounce of tedium for a ton of pleasure is a pretty good deal. I remember IK customers bemoaning the separate installs of Syntronik synths, as if they were going to use them all the first night, or even the first week. Slow down. Record something. Install something else in a few days

I'd rather be my own installation and registration and authorization manager.
Better a Zebra 3, than yet another a pita to be maintained by a synth creator, and futzed with by customers. I doubt it would pay for itself.

Whatever you need to do, increase our options, without removing any existing ones that work fine.
Cheers

[pdxindy]

So I would definitely welcome a u-he plugin manager. With this recent round of updates, I had to download and run nine separate installers, and each one requires quite a few clicks and an administrator password. Sure, if people want to manually run the installers for some reason (boredom? too much time on your hands?), I see no reason to take that away, but I think most of us would like a plugin manager.

As long as the plugin manager is after Zebra3!

I installed 11 updates... took maybe 20 minutes. Since it is fairly infrequent, I consider it a non issue. That amount of time is nothing.

[Urs]

Whatever we do is triggered by one simple need: How to avoid customer issues that could be prevented.

Installation, updating and deinstallation take up a huge part of daily frustration of users - and in turn our support guys.

Because people simply don't read, our options are

- work on individual installers
- make easy to follow tutorial videos
- offer tools that simplify procedures

We are of course following all of these options. There's no need for anything as large as Native Access.

But there's also a general move of OS manufacturers towards restricting of what installers can do. So atm it's not quite clear if any form on installation management will work on future versions of macOS and Windows.

[PeterP_swe]

If the Installation Manager can:

1. Check for updates to installed products
2. Allow me to set paths for install (resources, VST plugin folder, etc.)
3. Allow me to designate install formats (VST2 and VST3 yes, no 32-bit please, no AAX here, NKS where available)
4. Actually install all updates in one go respecting #2 and #3
5. Doesn't download any products I don't own (not saying U-he would ever do this, but the UAD/IK approach is annoying)

And have an uninstall option for individual or all products. It frustrates me immensely that the NI manager doesn't have that.

[noiseboyuk]

Just to say the new version of the Repros on Windows is a dream - browser much snappier to load and in use. Thanks Urs.