Zebra 3 and Zebra Legacy

[mevla]

And so, since I have both Z2 and Zebra HZ, I will get Z3 kostenlos ?

That is, when the Linux version will be available. Hmmmm ....

[Urs]

And so, since I have both Z2 and Zebra HZ, I will get Z3 kostenlos ?

That is, when the Linux version will be available. Hmmmm ....

There is a Linux version.

The kostenlos part is for people who separately bought Zebra 2 and The Dark Zebra before they both got turned into Zebra Legacy. You can check by requesting your licenses here: https://u-he.com/my-licenses/

[2NDMOUSE]

Back in 2012 I pledged that the upgrade from regular Zebra2 to Zebra3 will be 30 bucks, but free for existing owners of The Dark Zebra. Of course we will honour that pledge

That pledge is not being honoured in my case Urs. I own Zebra 2 since 2020. I then upgraded to ZebraHZ, and bought the dark zebra soundset. I upgraded because, at the time, I was led to believe Zebra 3 would then be free whenever it was released.
Despite me owning these, and most of the rest of the U-He catalogue, I'm disappointed to learn my purchases are being called into question. I have sent emails to customer support today, and although you've stated here that it would be honoured, it turns out it's not. Considering the amount of products I've bought from U-He, it's very disappointing.

[Urs]

Back in 2012 I pledged that the upgrade from regular Zebra2 to Zebra3 will be 30 bucks, but free for existing owners of The Dark Zebra. Of course we will honour that pledge

That pledge is not being honoured in my case Urs. I own Zebra 2 since 2020. I then upgraded to ZebraHZ, and bought the dark zebra soundset. I upgraded because, at the time, I was led to believe Zebra 3 would then be free whenever it was released.
Despite me owning these, and most of the rest of the U-He catalogue, I'm disappointed to learn my purchases are being called into question. I have sent emails to customer support today, and although you've stated here that it would be honoured, it turns out it's not. Considering the amount of products I've bought from U-He, it's very disappointing.

We have several people now who say that they had bought The Dark Zebra, but there is no record of this. We have always kept our database up to date. One possibility is that you used a different email address for the purchase. In that case we can help you if you remember what address this was. The other possibility is that you kept the respective email or invoice and send it to our support. But if we can't link the two purchases, you can't expect us to just give it to you.

The good thing is, we have several weeks to figure this out before the actual release.

[2NDMOUSE]

We have several people now who say that they had bought The Dark Zebra, but there is no record of this. We have always kept our database up to date. One possibility is that you used a different email address for the purchase. In that case we can help you if you remember what address this was. The other possibility is that you kept the respective email or invoice and send it to our support. But if we can't link the two purchases, you can't expect us to just give it to you.

The good thing is, we have several weeks to figure this out before the actual release.

I sent screenshots of ZebraHZ to customer support, that clearly show not only that it is licenced with my name on it, but the ZebraHZ presets page also clearly shows the dark zebra soundset is installed and visible. I wouldn't have either of those if I hadn't bought them. For obvious reasons, I'm not going to post those here.
I know that you have changed payment vendors. One of those was MyCommerce, which now cannot even be accessed as they have just disappeared, along with the proofs of purchase contained on their servers. It was always awkward and frustrating to deal with, but now......they've just vanished and took everything with them.

I don't know if it was that, but something has fell through the cracks somewhere Urs, because I definitely bought this. I did, somehow, have 2 accounts connected to U-He, but they were apparently merged a while back.

Bottom line.....if I'm currently running a licenced version, you must have a record of it. It couldn't have been licenced, without the handshake from U-He.com .
I don't, under any circumstance, do warez, and if I did, I wouldn't be so bold or so stupid to approach you with bogus information. I'm sorry for any inconvenience, but I definitely bought this.

[Urs]

So... in case you missed it, but when we switched products from Zebra 2 and The Dark Zebra to Zebra Legacy, simply everyone who had ever had Zebra 2 also suddenly got all the soundsets including The Dark Zebra. This is how everyone who had Zebra 2 also got ZebraHZ and all the soundsets. This was communicated over months and on our website. It is even communicated right now on the products page for Zebra Legacy:

"Current Zebra2 owners can already use Zebra Legacy and all its content free of charge with their existing license, no additional purchase necessary."

So it's totally legal and common that someone who ever only purchased Zebra 2 would have The Dark Zebra as well. So we are not accusing you or anyone of piracy. But a screenshot of a licenses ZebraHZ is simply not saying much.

#----

So we have *all* receipts from MyCommerce, as we must in order to provide for customer service etc. If you have bought The Dark Zebra from MyCommerce, we do have the receipt. Every month we downloaded the sales reports and imported the soundset sales into our database.

We had at least one case today - maybe you? - where we went through all sales reports and searched for a name, but that name was nowhere to be found. We even mounted old hard drives that were kept in a safe for secure storage. (I just recall, this was for someone who said they bought Zebra 2 before 2010... tough forensics in really old backups)

In any case, we won't resolve this here on KVR. You're welcome to state your concerns, but neither I nor my team will be able to help you with this in a public forum.

If you have any idea, a user name, and email address, I'm sure we'll be happy to give it another go tomorrow or next week, or next year even, to find that sale in our reports.

[seafire]

My Z2 is nfr, from beta testing, there is no 'legacy' or 'darkhz' in my licence.

Is that normal? I'm not after 'darkhz' or even V3, just curious

[2NDMOUSE]

So... in case you missed it, but when we switched products from Zebra 2 and The Dark Zebra to Zebra Legacy, simply everyone who had ever had Zebra 2 also suddenly got all the soundsets including The Dark Zebra. This is how everyone who had Zebra 2 also got ZebraHZ and all the soundsets. This was communicated over months and on our website. It is even communicated right now on the products page for Zebra Legacy:

"Current Zebra2 owners can already use Zebra Legacy and all its content free of charge with their existing license, no additional purchase necessary."

So it's totally legal and common that someone who ever only purchased Zebra 2 would have The Dark Zebra as well. So we are not accusing you or anyone of piracy. But a screenshot of a licenses ZebraHZ is simply not saying much.

#----

So we have *all* receipts from MyCommerce, as we must in order to provide for customer service etc. If you have bought The Dark Zebra from MyCommerce, we do have the receipt. Every month we downloaded the sales reports and imported the soundset sales into our database.

We had at least one case today - maybe you? - where we went through all sales reports and searched for a name, but that name was nowhere to be found. We even mounted old hard drives that were kept in a safe for secure storage. (I just recall, this was for someone who said they bought Zebra 2 before 2010... tough forensics in really old backups)

In any case, we won't resolve this here on KVR. You're welcome to state your concerns, but neither I nor my team will be able to help you with this in a public forum.

If you have any idea, a user name, and email address, I'm sure we'll be happy to give it another go tomorrow or next week, or next year even, to find that sale in our reports.

I know it won't be resolved here. I simply wanted to bring it to your attention because I wasn't getting satisfaction from customer support considering that you said you would honour it.
If I have to phone my bank and get them to search for the transaction, I will. I bought it, based on your first post in this thread, on the proviso that when released, I would get Zebra 3 for free. That was the selling point. You can look at my purchase history Urs. I own Diva, Bazille, Ace, Satin, Hive, Filterscape, Repro, and multiple Zebra.
I don't just say I own things when I don't, and reading between the lines, I find the insinuation that I'm lying, to be very disappointing coming from a company that I've loved for well over a decade, invested in, and considered my favourite developer, but if £30 is more important to you than the hundreds I would have undoubtedly spent, that tells me you'd value that more than customer allegiance and proven loyalty.

[Urs]

My Z2 is nfr, from beta testing, there is no 'legacy' or 'darkhz' in my licence.

Is that normal? I'm not after 'darkhz' or even V3, just curious

Yes, that is normal.

We distinguish between Zebra 2 licenses and Zebra Legacy licenses. Two different products that contain the same plug-ins. Like, when you buy NI Komplete, you get Massive, but you can also buy Massive alone. However, I our case the older product is a bigger investment, so we tie to it the better upgrade deal.

[Urs]

I know it won't be resolved here. I simply wanted to bring it to your attention because I wasn't getting satisfaction from customer support considering that you said you would honour it.
If I have to phone my bank and get them to search for the transaction, I will. I bought it, based on your first post in this thread, on the proviso that when released, I would get Zebra 3 for free. That was the selling point. You can look at my purchase history Urs. I own Diva, Bazille, Ace, Satin, Hive, Filterscape, Repro, and multiple Zebra.
I don't just say I own things when I don't, and reading between the lines, I find the insinuation that I'm lying, to be very disappointing coming from a company that I've loved for well over a decade, invested in, and considered my favourite developer, but if £30 is more important to you than the hundreds I would have undoubtedly spent, that tells me you'd value that more than customer allegiance and proven loyalty.

I am sure that nobody is saying that you're lying. The team is just doing their job.

Just know that our support team has to deal with hundreds of requests per hour, since something like a thousand people are unsure which entitlement the have. Some of our team work until late, I just spoke with two and it's 10pm.

Please be patient. State your case, try to find your receipt. We will do the same, but we might have to let things settle before we can dig through old log files and such.

[seafire]

My Z2 is nfr, from beta testing, there is no 'legacy' or 'darkhz' in my licence.

Is that normal? I'm not after 'darkhz' or even V3, just curious

Yes, that is normal.

We distinguish between Zebra 2 licenses and Zebra Legacy licenses. Two different products that contain the same plug-ins. Like, when you buy NI Komplete, you get Massive, but you can also buy Massive alone. However, I our case the older product is a bigger investment, so we tie to it the better upgrade deal.

That's what I thought, just checking.

[AmethystClassic]

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, I cannot find it: Will Zebra Legacy remain available for purchase after the release of Zebra 3? I'm still interested in buying it but don't have the cash right now.

[dayjob]

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, I cannot find it: Will Zebra Legacy remain available for purchase after the release of Zebra 3? I'm still interested in buying it but don't have the cash right now.

yeah.. and it will apparently get updates as well.

[tq]

Just a "thank you" to Urs for being so present and dedicated here. It's not the norm, and I also appreciate that he's politely answering questions from noobs to nerds - even if the debate is getting heated or people are doing the usual KvR-trolling. The man has the patience of a turtle.

And: No, not a fanboy here or anything, but I think even in a business, it's important to have humans with a heart (probably true for both developers and "us" as customers). So a big thumbs up!

[digitalmy]

I can only second that. I followed up with this thread for many years now and wondered all those years how you answered the same questions over and over again with such a calm and professional tone. This really impresses me a lot!

Btw: I immediately bought the Z3-Upgrade on Wednesday whithout even trying Z3 beforehand and I am so in love with this synth, thanks a lot for this beautiful piece of software!