Thump!! 

@cmm said:

Before this thread hits the bottom, I wanted to see if Herb or anyone else at VSL could clairfy where this discussion has ended up.

Early on we were told that we can extend beyond the 15 July deadline if we contact VSL sales or our local distributors, that would get us another three months grace to fund the upgrade.

At a later point, after indicating he might need more time than that, Fred was told that Sales would call him and discuss a further extension.

Please understand I'm definitely not trying to stir this up further, just looking for what the final 'word' is on the upgrade timeline. I for one would be with Fred on needing as much time as possible to gather the financing.

Thanks in advance for the clarification

Well?? 

I was listening to Jay Chattaway's interview on Hetoreyn's podcast (well done!! Looking forward to the following ones). I surmised from what was said, that Mr. Chattaway has also not opted to upgrade to the Cube yet, and the reason he has yet to do so is certainly not that he is a loser who cannot pay his bills... There are different reasons why VSL users have not upgraded their software yet. I am also sure that he is at a level where he could not care less about his perpetual rights to upgrade being revoked, and doubtlessly there are others in that category. He is just an unexpected example of the apparently not so "few" users still working with Pro Edition.

Even if such an eminent TV composer was working with VI, that would not constitute a reason to ignore the plight of the lesser known "investors". I am hoping the management is deliberating an answer to CMM's and Fred Story's posts. The rest of us are also awaiting this with great anticipation.

Sincerely,

Errikos. 

Well I eventually went down the route of upgrading now, because I don't have a lot of hope that things will change, and there is no way I could afford to upgrade later. So I loaded up a credit card, and now have a whole stack of shiny new DVDs.

But, for my peace of mind, I'd still like to see the VSL team try to resolve this for everyone else. I now find myself more committed to their products than ever. Not only has my expenditure now doubled, but I am now at their mercy because I've bought into the VI player, which makes me feel quite nervous. In theory they could pull all kinds of stunts now that the ability to play the sounds rests with their own software. I can't help worrying how long it'll be until I can't use the samples without paying again. A move that restored my belief in their commitment to the customer would really help.

@Patrick Wilson said:

I would point out that since I bought a new Intel Mac and Logic 8 last December, the Performance Tool in Pro Edition no longer works (in EX24) rendering the move to Vienna Instruments even more essential. I would have hoped that VSL would have addressed that but they've apparently not.

It's all very fine for them to say that Apple moved the goal posts but I still think VSL should have tried to fix that for Pro Edition EXS users. I would like to see more support for legacy products please.

i'd like to annotate that the functionality of the performance tool has not changed since the move to the intel platform, what apperently has changed is the editor for EXS and obviously some related interface options.

the logic 8.01 update - though a little bit hard to find, but available at http://www.apple.com/logicstudio/download/ - fixed most of the issues, at least one can again edit exs instruments without corrupting them (note: legato instruments are nothing else but especially mapped exs instruments). there is nothing from VSL side which can be done currently.

this and several further issues also on other sampler platforms should let it appear obvious that the move to the Vienna Instruments format and player was an essential step to provide proper support in a current manner without the need to rely on the good will and release of updates by a third party.

it should not remain unmentioned that integrating the performance tool into EXS by emagic has been an important step for VSL to make true legato available for this sampling platform in a simple, intuitive and performant way. later the 32.000 instruments and the 2 GB memory limits have been addressed and we are looking forward the remaining issues will be too.

christian

@cmm said:

Bump...

Bump...BUMP  

Here is what I concluded. VSL must be doing this for their own esoteric reasons NOT to "maike more money" Because - this scheme basicly gurantees anyone who doesn't upgrade now will NEVER upgrade. So VSL I guess this is good bye.   I'll look to your competitors from here on out.    

@Errikos said:

I am sure I am not the only one waiting for a hopeful answer here on this thread by the management. The most decent thing to do in my opinion, would be to honour their word to all customers that purchased the early expensive bulk-product under the advertized promise of perpetual upgrade-plans, and not to sell any more products in that fashion if they do not so wish. There are daily responses by the management on this forum to single potential-maybe customers. There are quite a few patrons (more than once) here still waiting. It cannot be anything other than continuing deliberation on VSL's part. That is the only reasonable explanation.

Regards,

Errikos.

Errikos,

I fear that you are wrong in your assessment of the situation. I re-read Herb's penultimate post where he said, 

"Dear community I’d like to add some final words....."

I think that's what he meant - final words - i.e. End of!... Apart of course from his actual final post where he said that Sales would contact Fred Story. I'm not sure where that ended, but Fred hasn't posted since and I can't find a link to contact him privately to determine whether he was contacted, and/or whether he got any kind of satisfactory result.

I suppose it goes to show that no matter how loud people shout, how indignant they are, or how justified they believe their case to be, as many here do, or did, if you're in charge, you can just sit it out and it will blow over.

Quite sad really. [:'(]

Regards 

John 

Yes, well it is that last cryptic post of Herb's about the sales department contacting Fred Story that is of great interest... And I would like to know the end of Fred Story's story, for some reason the menu which pops up for most people here when one presses 'contact' on their post doesn't seem to work for Fred Story's account. Fred, if you're reading this, and if you would care to, I would ask you to post here or message me privately concerning the outcome of your dealings with VSL in this respect.

Be that as it may John, I personally haven't "shouted" or become abusive, but I did feel indignant, and most people can either accept their fate in this case, walk away, or bring a class action suit as Matt Gates hinted as a possibility. Personally, I believe I have been very reasonable when for the last few posts I have been requesting clarity on what is happening:

As far as I know, Herb has moved the deadline to October 15 provided we get in touch with our sales representatives by the middle of July (that doesn't make me particularly happy, still it is better than July - maybe they figured out they were giving more people chance to upgrade by extending, and they thought whoever doesn't by then, in their books, never will).

These would indeed be final words at least from VSL, had Herb not hinted that it may be a possibility to have a 12 month extension when answering Fred Story. All 'honour' having already gone to hell, having taken almost all trust with it in the process, at least that kind of extension would redeem VSL in one great respect; that this is not all about a sales gimmick.

Herb, I don't understand this silence..  Would you clarify this for us? Is it too convoluted to have your sales department contact all Pro Edition customers in the way you suggested Fred Story would be contacted? Would you extend the deadline to next year?

 Sincerely,

Errikos. 

Like Ed,

I have been offered a 3 month extension to make the upgrades. It's not a lot of time and I still feel like this move is alienating me as a long-time VSL customer. I will probably upgrade a handful  of my collections to VI while this offer is on (ie before July), but i really don't need the full set at the moment (at least not until I can buy another MacPro as a dedicated slave which may be more than a year away). I think their products are great and VE3 is amazing (especially if it learns to keep instruments in memory when switching projects), but I feel much less inclined to buy more of their products as a result of this decision. I also feel the responses and justifications given by Herb and the team haven't been up to their usual high standards of customer care, which is a little disappointing. 

Best,

David 

@Fred Story said:

Sorry guys. Between working on a scoring deadline and meeting with architects, bankers, etc. on our studio's upcoming move, I've been out of pocket for a bit. I've updated my profile to include my email address, so feel free to email privately if you'd like. Fred Story

Welcome back Fred,

I am experiencing difficulties both with Safari and Firefox to get to your 'Profile' ("Oops something went wrong...") or message you privately... You could perhaps take the time and contact me privately or reply here concerning your query about a 12-month extension for a VIP upgrade. Did you have any luck with that? We have "all" been awaiting the outcome.

Best wishes,

Errikos. 

I've rather enjoyed this telenovela of a thread.  Everyday I was eager to read the next plot twist.  In fact, I'm currently composing a score for it.  Using VSL of course.

All smartassness aside, I'm a relatively new user who really isn't affected by this and whose opinion probably doesn't matter but I feel for you legacy customers who find yourselves in this unfortunate situation.  This coming from a hardcore capitalist who usually reads threads like this and says, "oh! quit your bitchin'.  If you don't like go use somebody else's product." 

Now far be it for me to critisize VSL's business practices but if VSL made a promise to you then they should keep it.  I have a lot of respect for the VSL team.  They have put their blood sweat and tears in this endevour and it is a truely amazing product that rivals anything else on the market.  Although I'm a new customer, I've been keeping an eye on VI for a couple of years and finally saved enough money to buy some of their collections.  Money well spent as far as I'm concerned and I'm looking forward to buying more.  That being said, if too many upgrade paths was the reason for this then shouldn't have you thought of that before making the promise, "never pay for the same samples twice?"

As I said, my opinion doesn't matter much but I hope VSL reconsiders and offers you legacy customers some relief. 

Now Fred, we're all on the edge of our seats, how about that response from the sales department so we can get some resolution and [Fade to Black].

Since July 15th there are new discounts when you want to upgrade from Special Edition to the Concert Guitar (or Overdrive)

http://vsl.co.at/en/211/496/721/534/1438/1051.htm 

best

Herb