KVR Audio

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 2:34 pm

Spitfire31 wrote:
aMUSEd wrote:
Spitfire31 wrote:Greg (Houston) isn't exactly waving his Fabled Serum soundset in our faces…

I just bought it and, wow – what an adventure! For me, the drones and the vaguely ethnic sequences especially are a treasure trove of inspiration.

Emphatically recommended!

/Joachim
Just bought this but the first patch crashes Serum

I assume this was made using the beta? Not a great idea, I prefer not to use betas unless I am beta testing.

btw the official update is still showing as 1.0.0 in my downloads - it would be good to have access to the updates in my account rather than having to scan this thread or the XFer forum for news about updates. This is why things like this crash happen.
Other sound banks also need a recent, or most recent, version of Serum. For instance, on his website for the Halcyon soundset, Ayin Zahev (Sami) states that it needs version 1.016.

I agree that it would be a good idea for Greg to include info about the Serum version demand on his Fabled Serum soundset webpage. And I also agree that it would be more convenient to have the latest beta update in Xferrecords account!

/Joachim

Actually I'm not placing any blame on Greg, the underlying problem here is that XFer need to get more organised and professional in terms of updates, be clearer about when a beta becomes an official update (the lines are very blurry), and have official updates in user accounts and not rely on people's ability to scan various threads just to know whether they are up-to-date.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 2:36 pm

Sampleconstruct wrote:1.0.0 is the only official release up to now.

That's the problem, even the KvR news item for Serum says the latest update is 1.0.1, so is that a official update or just another beta? This needs to be much clearer.

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 2:55 pm

aMUSEd wrote:
Sampleconstruct wrote:1.0.0 is the only official release up to now.
That's the problem, even the KvR news item for Serum says the latest update is 1.0.1, so is that a official update or just another beta? This needs to be much clearer.

1.0.1 is considered a Beta as I understood it.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 3:15 pm

Sampleconstruct wrote:
aMUSEd wrote:
Sampleconstruct wrote:1.0.0 is the only official release up to now.
That's the problem, even the KvR news item for Serum says the latest update is 1.0.1, so is that a official update or just another beta? This needs to be much clearer.
1.0.1 is considered a Beta as I understood it.

As I recall there was a lot of confusion about that:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... start=1185

this is the problem, if there was greater clarity from XFer on this then we would not be getting sound designers using betas to design presets (hopefully at least) and would not have to scan threads to figure out what is the latest official release and even then still not be none the wiser.

Greg Houston · Post by **Greg Houston** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 3:16 pm

Spitfire31 wrote:Greg (Houston) isn't exactly waving his Fabled Serum soundset in our faces…

I just bought it and, wow – what an adventure! For me, the drones and the vaguely ethnic sequences especially are a treasure trove of inspiration.

Emphatically recommended!

/Joachim

Thank you for the praise Joachim.

aMUSEd wrote: Just bought this but the first patch crashes Serum

I assume this was made using the beta? Not a great idea, I prefer not to use betas unless I am beta testing.

btw the official update is still showing as 1.0.0 in my downloads - it would be good to have access to the updates in my account rather than having to scan this thread or the XFer forum for news about updates. This is why things like this crash happen.

Thanks for the purchase, aMUSEd. The soundset was made with 1.01 which was the last release build. As far as I know none of the commercial soundsets were made with 1.0. It was horribly unstable. I could only use it for about 15 minutes at a time before crashing. There was no 1.02 release build, though at least one major commercial soundset requires it. Steve has been encouraging folks to update to the latest beta, 1.03, recently removing the 1.01 thread from the stickies on the forum. Regarding the betas, I would make an exception in this case. Each beta has been more stable than the last such that I can't remember the last time I had a crash. In any case, send me an email if you'd like a refund. My apologies for the confusion.

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 3:21 pm

I totally agree with you Stephen, it is chaotic and needs to be clarified, or the user accounts just have to be updated asap with 1.0.1 if that is in fact a "release" and not a Beta. The amount of time I have spent explaining this to users of my Serums set Sonic Tabulator is wasted, although in the Email I send it is written in big letters, but many users don't read past the download link

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 3:39 pm

Greg Houston wrote: Thanks for the purchase, aMUSEd. The soundset was made with 1.01 which was the last release build. As far as I know none of the commercial soundsets were made with 1.0. It was horribly unstable. I could only use it for about 15 minutes at a time before crashing. There was no 1.02 release build, though at least one major commercial soundset requires it. Steve has been encouraging folks to update to the latest beta, 1.03, recently removing the 1.01 thread from the stickies on the forum. Regarding the betas, I would make an exception in this case. Each beta has been more stable than the last such that I can't remember the last time I had a crash. In any case, send me an email if you'd like a refund. My apologies for the confusion.

That is strange then as I am running 1.0.1 (because I thought it was an official release). Maybe I will have to try the beta?

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 4:27 pm

Just installed the 1.0.3 Beta, it seems very stable, with 1.0.1 I knew at least 5 ways to make it instantly crash, this does not apply for this version. While testing I couldn't resist to play a quick and mellow pad impro:

Greg Houston · Post by **Greg Houston** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 4:32 pm

aMUSEd wrote:That is strange then as I am running 1.0.1 (because I thought it was an official release). Maybe I will have to try the beta?

The soundset should be fully compatible with 1.01. I would double-check the version number in the Global tab under the big Xfer Records logo to make sure it does indeed say 1.01. For some folks the update didn't overwrite the original. Either way though I would definitely encourage you to grab the current "beta". It is far more stable than 1.01 which could crash just from changing presets.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 4:34 pm

Greg Houston wrote: It is far more stable than 1.01 which could crash just from changing presets.

Yes I guess that is what was happening and it wasn't anything specific to your soundset. Anyway I installed the latest version now and no more crashes so far.

Greg Houston · Post by **Greg Houston** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 4:36 pm

aMUSEd wrote:Yes I guess that is what was happening and it wasn't anything specific to your soundset. Anyway I installed the latest version now and no more crashes so far.

Super glad to hear that!

hollo · Post by **hollo** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:37 am

Sampleconstruct wrote:I totally agree with you Stephen, it is chaotic and needs to be clarified, or the user accounts just have to be updated asap with 1.0.1 if that is in fact a "release" and not a Beta. The amount of time I have spent explaining this to users of my Serums set Sonic Tabulator is wasted, although in the Email I send it is written in big letters, but many users don't read past the download link

Same happened with me also, but don't forget that Steve is a one man company, and i am
much more appreciate the speed of his updates to Serum, especially how stable and good the latest build is.

bitcrusher · Post by **bitcrusher** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 4:06 am

Same happened with me also, but don't forget that Steve is a one man company, and i am
much more appreciate the speed of his updates to Serum, especially how stable and good the latest build is.

Nice to hear this!

As for the other (recent) sentiments 'above' in this thread, I think they're a couple valid points of criticism.

re: downloads in downloads section, In the upcoming website rebuild there are both official and beta releases visible directly in user downloads. For now, you must go the top of the Serum forum. I'm putting pressure on my web admin about getting the new site up and if it doesn't happen soon, I'll be finding someone else to make it happen.

re: beta versus release versions, this is also valid criticism. The software is in what I consider its infancy, and at this particular time I do recommend running a beta version right now for maximum stability, despite how that might seem counter-intuitive. 1.01 (1.017) was a 'release' but I would not recommend it at this point, as mentioned there were still issues carried over since 1.0, which have been worked out progressively over the last dozen or so versions since 1.017. At this point, I've labeled it beta due to brand-new features (the CPU saving draft mode, and the tuning/oversampling locks). You can avoid those features and have what I would otherwise consider a worthy point release.

Anyway, hope this helps clarify something, and I look forward to making both a non-issue very soon.
-Steve
Serum | Xfer Records

SLiC · Post by **SLiC** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 6:43 pm

Hi Steve

I admire your intent of keeping the software beta until all bugs are squashed....but you will never get them all and 1.03 should just be released as the official version.

BBFG# · Post by **BBFG#** » Mon Dec 15, 2014 7:50 pm

... don't forget that Steve is a one man company...

Noted and flagged.
Thank you for that information.

Official Serum thread!