Not A Deal - My Experiences As A New IK Multimedia Customer

[RSMcGuitar]

1 hour ago, JoeGBradford said:

There's a downstairs?! ☠️??

Yes, but you have to know the password and be dressed in 90% leather.

[RSMcGuitar]

I really love IK, especially Amplitube, but I have had a very similar experience with their support. It was clear whoever I was communicating with both didn't read what I had written and didn't know much about the software I was asking about. It's pretty crappy when you write a detailed description only to be asked for the exact same information in your description. I eventually just dropped my support request because it became a circular conversation.

[Jacques Boileau]

3 hours ago, husker said:

I have never been an IK Multimedia customer, but I have watched them from afar.  Some of their practices don’t have the best reputation around here, which has also kept me away from IK.

However, I started following the thread, and got a bit interested when I found I could get into the $200 tier for around $112.   I have recently started to learn guitar (and failing miserably), so  I was most interested in Amplitude.  I’m a synth guy, and though I don’t need them, I had been eyeing SampleTank and Syntronik as well.   I don’t have too much interest in TRacks, as I have more effects than anyone could ever use - much like everyone else around here.

I decided to buy into the group buy, and I thought I would put my thoughts down for anyone who is thinking about it, but has never had any dealings with IK.

1.  Their purchase process is extremely convoluted to me.  Jam Points, Gear Credits, Custom Shop – it all seems needlessly complex.  IK should really streamline this process.    I purchased 200 gear credits, and was able to join the Group Buy successfully.  I purchased Amplitude 5, chose SampleTank, Modo Bass, Modo Drums, and Syntronik Deluxe as my freebies.   Special thanks to @abacab and @cclarry for their guidance.
2.  The installation and authorization programs are simply abysmal.   There is no reason it should be this difficult.  I “computer” for a living, so I’m very familiar with these processes.   The disparate installation and authorization routines (oh, you have to use “this” authorization app for this, and the “other”authorization app for that) are just simply “dumb.”   The inconsistencies are extremely frustrating.  IK should really take a good, hard look at this.  Modo Drums and Modo Bass were simple;  everything else thus far has been a pain, and very confusing.
3.  In practice, the plugins work very well, and sound great.  No real complaints at all about the actual plugins.  They really are outstanding.
4.  Support – during my authorization and installation saga, I decided I would try out their support.   In real life, I am an IT Director for a large corporation that has locations in 20 US states, as well as Mexico and Canada.  We run a large Heldesk (and I’m ultimately responsible for it), so I am aware of the of the issues surrounding support.    I filled out the ticket with all the required information and screenshots, as I know how important that is.  The next day, I received a simple “boilerplate” response asking for the information and screenshots – it was clear no one had even bothered to read what I wrote.  Again, a big “fail” to support – I’ve fired HelpDesk technicians for doing something similar.  “Support” like that drives people away.

 

Again, these are just my thoughts on my experiences as a new IK Customer.   I really do appreciate the help of @abacab and @cclarry during my ordeals.

I am glad you didn't give up! In the other thread when you said you had given up I felt bad, honestly. This forum should not deter anyone from a good sale.

I hear what you are saying about the complication of gear credits, jam points etc. and respect yours and everyone else's opinion on this. But, like I responded to you in the group thread, buying at the shown price is fine and would still yield a great group buy deal. Going the convulated way is just to get the best possible deal, nothing else. Save a few bucks. Its akin to shopping around for the best price possible for say a TV and then searching for coupons for the store, if they exist, to bring a price even lower. Some like to spend the time doing these research, some simply don't care to spend the time and pay retail is fine for them.

This forum has been a great source of info on this, and many other deals, and it did make my head hurt trying to figure this one out at first. ? When I did understand it, I was glad for the knowledge it gave to save me a few bucks. But it's this forum, and other forums, that are raking our brains with how this deal works! Which btw I am very grateful for, not complaining. Lets be honest, IK never made it mandatory to use these methodes of bringing down the price! They just offer deals, like many other businesses,  and its up to us to use them or not. And be ready to understand how they work. We may agree or disagree on how they setup their business model, but we always have the choice of foregoing the deals if it does not suit us.

As for the support experience you have gotten, its not ideal I agree. Maybe they are overwelmed with this GB, but its not an excuse. And its not only a waste of time for you, but for them also. If it helps, from this forum I have seen many positive post about IK's support. I never had to deal with support yet so I can't offer personal experience and hope you have better luck next time.

[husker]

23 minutes ago, Jacques Boileau said:

I am glad you didn't give up! In the other thread when you said you had given up I felt bad, honestly. This forum should not deter anyone from a good sale.

And that is the best part about this forum.  Those members (like the aforementioned abacab and cclarry) that give up there time, energy, and efforts to help others.

It was actually because of this forum that I ended up joining the GB.

 

Edited August 29, 2021 by husker

[abacab]

756 to go to 8 free products!!!

[Jacques Boileau]

1 minute ago, husker said:

And that is the best part about this forum.  Those members (like the aforementioned abacab and cclarry that give up there time, energy, and efforts to help others.

It was actually because of this forum that I ended up joining the GB.

 

I agree yes, you will get great help in this forum for the best possible deals. I sure have. You got help from some of the best here. I would have gladly helped if I had seen a reply to my response in the GB thread. If you re-read my post you will understand that I was genuinely sad to hear your distress. I really thought you had left never to return. I am just glad everything turned out fine.

Now, we just need to convinced you to get in for a second buy so we can make it over the 10000 tier to get an extra month! ?

[abacab]

I'm no mathematologist, but there's only 1,720 to go to 10,000 to extend the group but for another 30 days!

[abacab]

But only 3 days remaining to get to the goal...

[abacab]

So we will need 574 purchases per day to get there...

[Doug Rintoul]

22 minutes ago, Jacques Boileau said:

As for the support experience you have gotten, its not ideal I agree. Maybe they are overwelmed with this GB, but its not an excuse. And its not only a waste of time for you, but for them also. If it helps, from this forum I have seen many positive post about IK's support. I never had to deal with support yet so I can't offer personal experience and hope you have better luck next time.

I think it really depends who get assigned your ticket. My very recent support experience was nothing less than stellar. My question was answered and resolved within a day and with one response. 

[RSMcGuitar]

2 hours ago, Doug Rintoul said:

I think it really depends who get assigned your ticket. My very recent support experience was nothing less than stellar. My question was answered and resolved within a day and with one response. 

I think you're probably very right about that. I would hope there would be a situation where if someone didn't know an answer they might pass it off to someone else. Unfortunately, I think that doesn't really work in a work environment. People want to keep their jobs and whatnot.

[Grem]

9 hours ago, RSMcGuitar said:

Yes, but you have to know the password and be dressed in 90% leather.

Get the gimp!!

[Larry Shelby]

EDIT:  Misread

Edited August 29, 2021 by cclarry

[paulo]

I've never taken to IK as a company or their products for some reason. I bought Sampletank and Miroslav way back when and I've grabbed whatever freebies they've offered over the years to see what they were like, but beyond initial new toy curiosity I've never actually used any of them. Part of that might actually be because they were free, so the obligation to get some use out of them is not there, but either way they just don't grab me in the way other products do.

[paulo]

10 hours ago, RSMcGuitar said:

Yes, but you have to know the password and be dressed in 90% leather.

You forgot the leopardskin print budgie smugglers. You won't get into Bapu's secret cave without them.

 

 

[antler]

1 hour ago, Grem said:

Get the gimp!!

Here you go; free too: https://www.gimp.org/

?

[jerrydf]

There's a quick and easy video on registering their software. Here it is:

 

[Fleer]

 

[iScream]

I would like to add my little experience about IK Multimedia. Recently I came across this promotion and decided to order iLoud MTM using my jampoints:

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/news/?item_id=11101

At first I did not understand how to add monitors to the cart. When I press "Buy Now" button, I am being redirected to a common page with all monitors. When I choose "iLoud MTM - Pair" and press "Buy Now" button, I am being  redirected to a common page again and again! Thanks to tech support, who explained to me that I need to click on the price tag in order to to add a product to the cart (a thing that is not quite obvious to me). Then I found that the price in dollars and euro is the same. I live in Russia, so my currency at IKM website is euro and I can't change it. In conversion to russian rubles, if I would pay in dollars instead of euro, it would be almost $100 cheaper. This means that the price will be less for everyone who pays in dollars than for those who pays in euro. Tech support replied that the currency depends on the region and that they cannot change it, so I decided not to buy these monitors just out of principle ?

[telecode 101]

My Queen post of the day and my tab bit of Queen trivia below.. :-

What IKM need is a unified vision when it comes to the IK Product Manger and support system. Check out all the actual gear IKM emulate in their collections. I think 50% of Syntronic, Tracks  and AT are in there. ?

 

 

also.. for those with a short memory or younger.. this song is actually linked to anti-Communism in the Reagan 80s. It was used in the film Iron Eagle originally, which was sort of a poor mans weaker version of Top Gun in order to create a film that can function as a recruiting ad for air force in the 80s. ? The link to the film has been lost for whatever reason but the original video still floats around which was aired on MTV.