IK renews its entire product range- MAX 4 etc.

[Examigan]

their site is dumb. it tells me i'm eligible for an upgrade but doesn't tell anything about it or where to look. i haven't installed the 1 plug in i have because i got a new computer and don't want to install the entire product line as a demo. apparently the new installer allows you to install only what you own... but wtf.. i don't care enough to go get it or deal with this company

Same here. I looks as though the green box should be a link to my upgrades but it doesn’t work

Where are you seeing that green box? I logged in and am trying to find where you guys are seeing all that, such as to upgrade (with no other info), etc.

EDIT: I found it. It makes it seem like you'd need to click that box, but you don't have to. They shouldn't have made it look like a button as it makes it confusing. Upgrade pricing will automatically show up (if you are logged in) for any product are looking at, if it is eligible.

[tq]

It would be really helpful if IK's system would have the option to 'consolidate' individual products to the respective bundle version (i.e. if one owns all the single products). As it is, I am not eligible for the full 'maxgrade' discount, despite owning a large chunk of their overall product portfolio, and having multiple Max products in form of their single products (but I never purchased a 'Max' version, just individual products over the course of many years).

By not having that option, IK actively punishes the people who bought their single versions, often at full price, whereas the late comers who bought the bundles are getting the better deal (or any deal).

So @Peter, maybe you can propose that to the management? A "consolidate to bundle" option shouldn't be super hard to implement, and would also make the product list much more manageable.

[noiseboyuk]

It would be really helpful if IK's system would have the option to 'consolidate' individual products to the respective bundle version (i.e. if one owns all the single products). As it is, I am not eligible for the full 'maxgrade' discount, despite owning a large chunk of their overall product portfolio, and having multiple Max products in form of their single products (but I never purchased a 'Max' version, just individual products over the course of many years).

By not having that option, IK actively punishes the people who bought their single versions, often at full price, whereas the late comers who bought the bundles are getting the better deal (or any deal).

So @Peter, maybe you can propose that to the management? A "consolidate to bundle" option shouldn't be super hard to implement, and would also make the product list much more manageable.

IK and NI are quite similar in that regard. I made a blanket policy many years ago with both companies to never by any single products (even buy 1 get 25 free) - it never works out in the end. The best deals are always a) bundle upgrades and b) after they’ve been out a while. The more years you wait, the better the deal too.

[emasters]

It would be really helpful if IK's system would have the option to 'consolidate' individual products to the respective bundle version (i.e. if one owns all the single products). As it is, I am not eligible for the full 'maxgrade' discount, despite owning a large chunk of their overall product portfolio, and having multiple Max products in form of their single products (but I never purchased a 'Max' version, just individual products over the course of many years).

By not having that option, IK actively punishes the people who bought their single versions, often at full price, whereas the late comers who bought the bundles are getting the better deal (or any deal).

So @Peter, maybe you can propose that to the management? A "consolidate to bundle" option shouldn't be super hard to implement, and would also make the product list much more manageable.

Fully agree with this. Many times I now pass on purchasing from IK, since it feels like they value customers who have invested less and don’t share discounts with those who have purchased individual products that make up the bundle. I didn’t qualify for the Amplitube Max discount with TONEX intro (owned all the Max products but not the Max bundle) - so I passed on buying TONEX. The IK sales person was unwilling to manually accommodate in this situation. Really a very disappointing way to treat loyal customers. Here we are again with the MAX promotion.

[AdvancedFollower]

So how many hours has everyone spent updating everything so far?

I'm about 9 hours in so far. Seems they've reorganized the locations of some of the installation files since TS 3.5 so the install manager doesn't recognize previously downloaded files any more even for the libraries that are already installed. It also didn't reset my download counter of ST4 Max on the website, only in the Product Manager so I can't manually check which .zip files should go where. Same with Syntronik 2 which seems to be broken up into individual packages now while the main Syntronik 2 package shows as Expired.

There also seems to be a bug in the installation manager where it fails on ST4_MAX_Sound_Library_Update_1_5.zip with a javascript error. I even downloaded the entire ST4 Max on a second computer (got to get my money's worth on those 180 days of unlimited free downloads!) and it threw the same error.

[VitaminD]

Why would you subject yourself to that pain when there are competitive products elsewhere that don't make you jump through such hoops?

[emasters]

Why would you subject yourself to that pain when there are competitive products elsewhere that don't make you jump through such hoops?

Yeah - good question. I currently use many of IK's plugins, having given up on their sampled products. The Installer won, I lost -- too much time, complexity, issues. So many other alternatives....

[lights]

I was hoping AmpliTube and T-RackS were “renewed” with all-new ML-based modeling.

I was hoping "IK renews entire product range" meant native Mac ARM support for Lurssen Mastering Console & Miroslav Philharmonic 2.

As far as I know they re the only two products that aren't. Oh well...

[AdvancedFollower]

Well I figured out the issue at least.

The file SampleTank 4\Multis\SampleTank 4\Motion\Alienating Myself_.st4m in ST4_MAX_Sound_Library_Update_1_5.zip is (incorrectly?) encoded as "Alienating Myself?.st4m". Since Windows doesn't support "?" in filenames, the entire installation fails.

Extracting the file with 7-Zip converts the "?" to "_", and then it's just a matter of compressing it again using 7-Zip/Deflate. Then replace the zip file with the new one within the IK Product Manager's download directory and retry the installation.

[soulata]

Why would you subject yourself to that pain when there are competitive products elsewhere that don't make you jump through such hoops?

Yeah - good question. I currently use many of IK's plugins, having given up on their sampled products. The Installer won, I lost -- too much time, complexity, issues. So many other alternatives....

Same here. SampleTron 2 is the only sample based product I use from the TS3.5

[Big Mouth Strikes Again]

With Arturia, for example, each new synth or FX plugin you buy separately tends to count towards the upgrade price when the next version of V-Collection/FX Collection comes out.

I decided to pass on the new LX-24 reverb and the MiniFreak V software synthesizer. Both plugins would be nice additions to my collection. But I have SO many plugins already, I'll just wait for V Collection 10 and FX Collection 4 when the LX-24 and MiniFreak V will be part of their respective bundles. I'll upgrade then.

[Big Mouth Strikes Again]

Well I figured out the issue at least.

The file SampleTank 4\Multis\SampleTank 4\Motion\Alienating Myself_.st4m in ST4_MAX_Sound_Library_Update_1_5.zip is (incorrectly?) encoded as "Alienating Myself?.st4m". Since Windows doesn't support "?" in filenames, the entire installation fails.

Extracting the file with 7-Zip converts the "?" to "_", and then it's just a matter of compressing it again using 7-Zip/Deflate. Then replace the zip file with the new one within the IK Product Manager's download directory and retry the installation.

This is my primary gripe with IK sampled instruments and libraries. Files gets installed willy nilly all over your hard drive. If you have two or more generations of libraries, such as Syntronik 1 and Syntronik 2, Syntronik can't find the samples after you edit an instrument and try to reload it.

Sampletank is a also a clusterfvck. Actually it's worse. i was going to pay for the upgrade to the latest version of Sampltank MAX. But after a similar snafu with file directories, I said "no thanks."

[AdvancedFollower]

This is my primary gripe with IK sampled instruments and libraries. Files gets installed willy nilly all over your hard drive. If you have two or more generations of libraries, such as Syntronik 1 and Syntronik 2, Syntronik can't find the samples after you edit an instrument and try to reload it.

Sampletank is a also a clusterfvck. Actually it's worse. i was going to pay for the upgrade to the latest version of Sampltank MAX. But after a similar snafu with file directories, I said "no thanks."

Yeah it's a bit of a mess. I wish the installer did a better job of verifying file integrity and cleaning up redundant files. It's basically just a batch-file that extracts the zip files automatically and runs each library installer in silent mode. At least we don't have to manually extract and run 100+ installers any more....

I probably end up using far more bandwidth for IK Multimedia than NI Komplete. Since NI offer unlimited downloads I just don't bother re-downloading every little installer or double-checking my backups since I know I can just run Native Access at any time if I need to reinstall.

[Big Mouth Strikes Again]

I probably end up using far more bandwidth for IK Multimedia than NI Komplete. Since NI offer unlimited downloads I just don't bother re-downloading every little installer or double-checking my backups since I know I can just run Native Access at any time if I need to reinstall.

I think I *might* get more use out of IK's Total Studio 4 MAX collection than my current NI Komplete Ultimate 13. It seems like NI have been releasing nothing but Maschine expansion packs, half baked Reaktor instruments, and mostly terrible Kontakt "Play Series" libraries. I may be mistaken, but I think the only new instrument that NI has released in quite some time is Super 8 which I like a lot even though I have plenty of similar subtractive synth plugins.

But I feel like NI's quality control is superior to that of IK Multimedia. As you point out, Native Access is far more robust than IK's Product Manager.

It's a shame that IK can't seem to pull it together.

[machinesworking]

I probably end up using far more bandwidth for IK Multimedia than NI Komplete. Since NI offer unlimited downloads I just don't bother re-downloading every little installer or double-checking my backups since I know I can just run Native Access at any time if I need to reinstall.

I think I *might* get more use out of IK's Total Studio 4 MAX collection than my current NI Komplete Ultimate 13. It seems like NI have been releasing nothing but Maschine expansion packs, half baked Reaktor instruments, and mostly terrible Kontakt "Play Series" libraries. I may be mistaken, but I think the only new instrument that NI has released in quite some time is Super 8 which I like a lot even though I have plenty of similar subtractive synth plugins.

But I feel like NI's quality control is superior to that of IK Multimedia. As you point out, Native Access is far more robust than IK's Product Manager.

It's a shame that IK can't seem to pull it together.

IK and NI have similar issues to me. I really use Amplitube, Tonex, T-Tracks/Mixbox and the new modeled drums and bass, the rest is fluff. Same with NI, Kontakt and Reaktor basically Massive X isn't bad, but the Play series is awful in terms of just being Rompler stuff. The orchestral stuff isn't bad but there are so many great orchestral libraries out there.

I hate both of their installers with a passion, nothing but garbage. End users often have multiple drives we have their libraries on, and it's pulling teeth to set that up.