KVR Audio

MarkLivesinLA · Post by **MarkLivesinLA** » Sat Aug 02, 2025 12:06 am

I have to say, my experience with this company has been horrific.

ALL of their email support responses so far have indicated that either AI is replying, or they literally don't read the emails they respond to. They simply offer canned "approximate" replies.

This morning I received an email from them telling me it was their "Final Day" to purchase their Total Studio 5 MAX" for a reduced cross grade (MAXGrade) price of $99.99.

I clicked upon the link and it took me a page that didn't even have TS5Max on it. I enquired as to why so I could complete my purchase and I got a canned reply that they can't offer discounts after the offer expires. Except the offer was sent THIS MORNING. And it's still today.

I also noticed they quietly removed several products from TS5Max that were in TS4Max and there is pretty much NO mention of this on their website. Lousy communication, lousy service. Lousy installation procedures, but...I'll grant them, a few nice products.

It seems I'm finally starting to understand why there's virtually nothing in the way of a user community for this product and almost no videos on YouTube that aren't by them. There's no anticipation for their products out there because their lineup and simply weird pricing stategies are beyond any reasonable explanation. Anyway, just had to say, if a company can't stand by their product or indeed their own email offers, well, it's not good.

Apologies for the rant, but that is my honest experience with their support. I dearly wish i could instead sing their praises.

midi sentinel · Post by **midi sentinel** » Sat Aug 02, 2025 2:30 am

Ah, this brings all the joyful memories of sending super detailed support requests to IK support, after spending hours to dig into problem and provide them with as much information as humanely possible, just to get an answer 3 weeks later asking something along the lines of "was your computer plugged into power?" I am ridiculing, of course but it was something so incredibly stupid and insulting, after spending enormous amounts of time to get all the details, just to get a reply that was obviously created just to put the ball back into my court and avoid having to deal with the issue, in dumbest way possible.

That is when I sold all IK shit I had (TS Max, whichever one it was at the time) and never spent a dime on them again.

I never spend a cent on IK or Air, because of truly incredible support (in worst way possible) experiences. There is a reason their trash is so cheap, so often.

So yeah, just drop them if you can and move to support better developers.

There was also a bugged sample in a piano that came with ST4 (additional one that was purchased separately at the time), hitting specific note produced slightly distorted sound and it was easy to reproduce. Never even got the answer. It was years back, I forgot about it until now. Yeah, they are joy to deal with

And then you end up sending a question to Toneboosters guy and he answers so quickly and in so much detail that you end up feeling guilty for even asking. Some people really care about quality of their work, and some are IK Multimedia

MarkLivesinLA · Post by **MarkLivesinLA** » Sat Aug 02, 2025 4:36 am

Thank you. Glad to know I am not alone. I try to be reasonable but it flummoxes me when a developer just anondons its customers because it usually implies they don't have some kind of foundational strategy.

Caine123 · Post by **Caine123** » Sat Aug 02, 2025 7:23 am

you got PRISM now so be happy *just kidding*

from this topic i got this response...
viewtopic.php?t=622680

Peter - IK Multimedia wrote: Fri Aug 01, 2025 4:16 pm
Caine123 wrote: Fri Aug 01, 2025 2:37 pm
Peter - IK Multimedia wrote: Thu Jul 31, 2025 4:58 pm Glad you like it! Also free with Total Studio 5 MAX and noting that this applies to current users of it and T-RackS 5 MAX not just new purchases (though both are on sale with today as the last day, and the Total Studio 5 MAX deal is especially juicy and was a very limited time - about 2 weeks and change)
you guys seem to be fast to announce new products and reply to good feedback but dont respond to problems and support lol, always trying to remember some people, even if i only reach 1 member here on kvr to be warned im glad, your bad support should never be forgotten IKM
You do your part as you see fit, but note that we do not do technical support via third party forum. Our support team helps people every day. If you have ticket(s) you have issues with please send those ticket numbers to me via PM and I'll happily pass them to our Support Manager. Thank you.

Spoiler, Peter is here since years and it never helped to send him a pm either, maybe he is really just a marketing guy and EVEN sends support a message directly, it never helped

this shows the quality of their support.

jamcat · Post by **jamcat** » Sat Aug 02, 2025 7:28 am

What did you think he was, other than "just a marketing guy"?

Caine123 · Post by **Caine123** » Sat Aug 02, 2025 7:39 am

jamcat wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 7:28 am What did you think he was, other than "just a marketing guy"?

i know i know, just dont want to judge Peter fully when I dunno his conditions in the company and himself, so he might be someone trying to help or not, but just mentioning that it might seem he can help further is just a waste of time either (from my experiences). so get no hoped from IKM even if one of their team members is on this board

MarkLivesinLA · Post by **MarkLivesinLA** » Sat Aug 02, 2025 2:50 pm

I've seen Peter do his best but even his hands are tied I think. As you said, he has no real power to resolve anything.

Seems to me that me showing them they emailed me an offer that doesn't exist on their website and proving it by forwarding said offer to them, (it was a single day extension of an offer that was around for a month), you'd think it'd be in their power to simply say " our bad, here's your coupon code for the discounted upgrades we promised you, thanks for your past purchases and for being a customer". But they didn't. They ignored the proof I sent them and basically said "too bad, so sad". That's what speaks volumes about a company. Not that they make mistakes, but the way they handle those mistakes. Every screw up is an opportunity to show you care and leave customers not mad, but happy that you showed you care. They don't care. They are the developers, not a third party site that messed up. It is most certainly in their hands to make things right. They just choose not to.

ians · Post by **ians** » Sat Aug 02, 2025 3:54 pm

Well, I think I'm just about to find out how good or bad their support is. I think I've just purchased the wrong upgrade from a reseller, so the serial doesn't work. A genuine mistake, but there are so many upgrades & the wording between them is subtly different, I'm still not sure what I've done. I've emailed them to clarify & am hoping for the best!

Gam456 · Post by **Gam456** » Sat Aug 02, 2025 5:45 pm

MarkLivesinLA wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 12:06 am This morning I received an email from them telling me it was their "Final Day" to purchase their Total Studio 5 MAX" for a reduced cross grade (MAXGrade) price of $99.99.

I clicked upon the link and it took me a page that didn't even have TS5Max on it. I enquired as to why so I could complete my purchase and I got a canned reply that they can't offer discounts after the offer expires. Except the offer was sent THIS MORNING. And it's still today.

https://audiodeluxe.com/products/ik-mul ... x-maxgrade
+ Extra 10% Off with Code SUMMER10

CapnLockheed · Post by **CapnLockheed** » Sun Aug 03, 2025 6:46 pm

IK Support = Apologies & excuses at best and total silence at worst. It rarely equals an actual solution. And if that wasn't bad enough.....IK is perhaps the ONLY company that does not host the drivers for their hardware on their website. If you buy used IK hardware and it's already been registered you have no access to the unit's driver's. And if you ask IK for them....fugeddaboudit.

AND add to that the fact that they discontinue hardware after a VERY short life cycle AND it will NOT work with their software after the next update. The original IK STOMP I/O & the Stealth Pedal were brilliant but extremely short lived considering how expensive they were new. Now they are just expensive doorstops for my studio. NEVER AGAIN.

starflakeprj · Post by **starflakeprj** » Sun Aug 03, 2025 7:00 pm

Everyone, take this with a grain (or a shipping container) of salt, but maybe IK Multimedia is preparing to be acquired by InBrand Music?

bill45 · Post by **bill45** » Wed Aug 06, 2025 6:59 pm

I posted a support ticket months ago; still no response.I posted on the IK forum and was scolded."This is not a support form." Their website: Support> forum.I figured it out on my own. You should be able to use what you pay for.A major problem was ignored. The forum guy did make a couple suggesting, then, bug off" This is not a support forum.

MarkLivesinLA · Post by **MarkLivesinLA** » Thu Aug 07, 2025 5:09 am

I got some response after two tries and their head of support gave me the discount price. I'm grateful for that.

However, I must say the installation process is almost punitive in nature. It took around 12-15 hours of constant interaction. Just mind boggling. There is little to no documentation that explains it. And the YouTube community for the product is conspicuously absent. Which suggest very little enthusiasm or appetite for it. So utterly bad. Generically named dmg installers(names like SampleTank 3 content 1, 2 etc, that need to be installed individually (like, dozens of them) such that you don't really know what you're installing until you're done and can't be judicious about how to use your disc space, and the inclusion of modules that are no longer licensed, and not a part of my purchase (for example, Syntronik 2 Max) still being available and suggested for download. Then on trying to use it, getting the error "not authorized", even though it's not even licensable and was offered for me to install.

I haven't even mentioned the excruciatingly slow download, or that every single included SampleTank 3 (versus 4) content installer dmg would crash on the mac, without exception, so I had to figure out my own cludgy workaround of copying content directories from the package over to my disc, all manually.

Just a comedy of errors. I only paid $85 for Stufio Max and their Track-S 6 is worth the price so I am philosophical about the rest because it's effectively a bonus, but I suspect I will remove the majority of it from my hard drive. It's just too crappy and too space consuming.

morelia · Post by **morelia** » Thu Aug 07, 2025 7:38 am

starflakeprj wrote: Sun Aug 03, 2025 7:00 pm Everyone, take this with a grain (or a shipping container) of salt, but maybe IK Multimedia is preparing to be acquired by InBrand Music?

This has nothing to do with their speed of development, but I've found InMusic support to be, well, actual support, the helpful kind. Unlike the canned responses/unread message replies I get from IKM.

Hoffstein · Post by **Hoffstein** » Thu Aug 07, 2025 5:55 pm

I went through the multi-hour process yesterday of uninstalling every single piece of IKM software on my PC. Even though this requires manually running the original installers (to uninstall) about a thousand separate components, I must say that the end result was worth it. No more CPU hog T-Racks, no more bug-ridden SampleTank taking up GB upon GB of storage, no more abandonware MixBox, etc. etc. Today I woke up with a spring in my step, truly the best cleanse I’ve had in quite some time. Highly recommended and perhaps the most rewarding experience I’ve had as a long-time IKM customer.

IKMultimedia Support (or lack thereof)