IK Syntronik 2 Group Buy!

[abacab]

11 hours ago, Lionel said:

There's more companies(some even smaller than IK) that don't charge a fee to re-download content.  Maybe because I don't buy enough plugins from a wide variety of brands, but from the plugins/VIs that I do own from the likes of NI, Arturia, MOTU, AIR, AAS, D16, Melda, Plugin Boutique, etc... they don't charge a sheisty re-download fee.  //Sheesh, don't be evil, IK

But hey, to each your own...

Have at it.  How you waste money is entirely up to you ✌️

The IK plugin downloads NEVER expire in your account. Always available. The sound content is the part that does expire.

A lot of the companies that you list do not specialize in large sample libraries. So that is a big difference. Besides, paying one time $10 (or less with Jam Points) is cheaper than me buying another hard drive to archive hundreds of GB's of sample downloads on, in the rare event that I would ever need to recover them.

[abacab]

9 minutes ago, User 905133 said:

something I have wondered about: what's in the *.pak files v. the *.st3i and *.st4i files?  

*.pak are the sample files, and *.st3i and *.st4i files are the instrument preset files.

[Promidi]

3 minutes ago, User 905133 said:

@Promidi Good explanation for using the default locations.  I hope I was clear that in my case I was using non-default locations.

At one point I had everything IK on the my default 500 GB SSD C;\ drive, but I got tired of spending tons of time downloading the files and installing them with the standard/product manager only to have the process just stop since I had run out of room.

BTW, maybe you can help with something I have wondered about: what's in the *.pak files v. the *.st3i and *.st4i files?  

I also do not use default locations for any IK stuff.  I just make sure, with any installation of new items, that they are going to the locations that I have specified.

Any products usable in more that one IK program, I make sure that the content location definitions match in all programs (In my case Miroslav Philharmonic 2, SYN, SYN2 and ST4 Max).  As you know, some IKM products can specify multiple locations.

I believe st3i files are for ST3 individual instruments and st4i files are for ST4 individual instruments.  There are also st3m and st4m files.  There are for  ST3 and ST4 multis respectively.

I believe PAK files are the proprietary format where IKM can store actual sample data for their instruments.

[abacab]

11 minutes ago, User 905133 said:

At one point I had everything IK on the my default 500 GB SSD C;\ drive, but I got tired of spending tons of time downloading the files and installing them with the standard/product manager only to have the process just stop since I had run out of room.

That's a good plan to get the sample content off your main drive.

I also have a 500GB SSD "C:" system drive, and I try to keep it lean as possible with just Windows, my documents, my applications, & plugin VST files. All downloaded libraries and content folders get installed to my secondary internal 2TB SSD "D:" drive.

Then I use 2 external HDD drives to make backups, one for daily system drive images, and another for weekly content drive images. These auto backup jobs run at night while I am sleeping. All safe and secure.

[user 905133]

14 hours ago, Doug Rintoul said:

Spent my "budget" for this month. Fortunately, April is almost over and the GB will still be going strong in May. Probably like a lot of people, I'll jump in at 10 freebies.

If the SYN2GB gets extended and reaches 33 and I jump in, maybe when its over I can try to sell the SE version I bought at the end of February to someone who didn't get all 33 for the price of one.  ? 

But if it doesn't go to all 33, maybe I can sell the TS3.5 I picked up a few weeks ago just to get Syntronik 2 [Full].  ? 

Or if it only goes to 11, I could just keep TS3.5 and get the 11 new ones I don't have and end up paying what Syntronik 2 MAX would have cost!!!!! 

Of course there's always the option of looking at how my retirement funds have tumbled this year and decide I already spent too much trying to distract myself from the losses. 

Thank goodness IK gives me all these options!!!!  Oh yeah.  I forgot.  Maybe "The Markets" will recover by the time TS5.0 MAX comes out which might include even more instruments, improvements to the synth engine (including more editable parameters), and possibly Syntronik 2.5 or 3.0.   ? 

Warning for the humor-impaired: I believe that to survive these "troubled times," I need to take things with a dash of perspective which for me includes attempts at humor.  So, even though I reference IK, it is intentioned as lighthearted and good-natured humor.  In other words: I am not bashing anyone.  Seriously, though, these are indeed my options with regard to the SYN2GB.

Edited April 25, 2022 by User 905133
fixed typos

[TheMaartian]

3 hours ago, heath row said:

Don't forget if you have them, you can use 45 Jampoints to bring it down to $104.99

I have 38, so $111.99 isn't bad, either.

My problem is the place I'm renting while my house is being built has ADSL internet only. I can't even run my streaming TV at the same time as my laptop. Even then, I have problems. Netflix buffers better than Amazon Prime, Disney+ and Canal+, but it can still be dodgy. I'll have to download Syn2 Max over night...for how many nights, I don't know. We'll see.

Probably will never see Syn 2 Max for less, so I should just pull the trigger and cry once.

EDIT: Money gone. I'll post how many DAYS/NIGHTS the d/l process takes, unless my house turns into the Bates Motel and things don't go well. ?

Edited April 25, 2022 by John Maar

[Lionel]

1 hour ago, abacab said:

The IK plugin downloads NEVER expire in your account. Always available. The sound content is the part that does expire.

A lot of the companies that you list do not specialize in large sample libraries. So that is a big difference. Besides, paying one time $10 (or less with Jam Points) is cheaper than me buying another hard drive to archive hundreds of GB's of sample downloads on, in the rare event that I would ever need to recover them.

Maybe you or someone else could shed some light…

What companies(that specialize in large sample libraries) also charge a re-download fee for sound content?  Because I’ve yet to encounter them(besides IK).  And I’d be genuinely curious to know.

 

[abacab]

17 hours ago, Doug Rintoul said:

401...6 free synths now.

My projections show we should hit 10 free by next Tuesday... 7 1/2 days.

[user 905133]

16 hours ago, User 905133 said:

Yup!!  This is a major selling point for me--the wave sets and the ability to layer up to 4 of them for some really lush sounds! 

BTW, a few weeks ago I started creating expanded presets to take advantage of these new features (just a few test presets-in-progress so far).  That's why I have been optimistic about the potential for Syntronik 2.   I had been planning on finding a way to share them. More recently, though I have been kind of hoping IK creates a community for sharing Syntronik 2 presets like they have with their ToneNet community sharing system for Amplitube 5 presets.

But, if IK isn't interested, to me that doesn't mean that other SYN2 users couldn't share presets elsewhere.  Does anyone know if  (or have thought on whether or not)  that would violate the IK agreement? 

[abacab]

1 minute ago, User 905133 said:

But, if IK isn't interested, to me that doesn't mean that other SYN2 users couldn't share presets elsewhere.  Does anyone know if  (or have thought on whether or not)  that would violate the IK agreement? 

As far as I know, presets for any instrument that are created by any user are their original works. Consider that sound designers can create and sell preset collections for various 3rd party instruments.

So I would say that would not be a violation of any licensing or copyrights. Just don't distribute any factory presets or samples "as-is" and you are good.

[tom]

4 hours ago, User 905133 said:

I don't have any of the new instruments such as Syner-V, but I did have some issues of sounds not being found along the way when installing earlier SYN2_xxxx instruments.  I haven't sorted out it all out yet (esp., how IK installs to and uses different paths), but with the SYN2s I definitely had errors like that at first--until I sorted out installation paths.

At least one of the FAQ sheets talks about paths for the *.st3i and *.st4i sound content.  That might be helpful; not sure since the "same" (similar) problem can have different causes for different users. There is some good discussion on the IK Forum; not sure if anyone else addresses the missing resource issue.

There's always the option of opening a dialog with IK support.

I am not an IK software expert by any means, but you might want to look at the paths for the Syntronik 2 resources and make sure they are listed properly in the Settings > Library Section.  We can have multiple paths listed and I have my SYN / *.st3i files in one place and my SYN2 / *.st4i files on a dedicated 250 GB SSD. 

My E Drive is one of those Seagate External 6 TB Drives I got several years ago (not unlike some of the 8 TB ones mentioned in the "Deals" sub forum).  Much slower access/loading than from the SSD drive, but plenty of room for my *.st3i files.  

I installed my SYN2s with Syntronik 2 open.  The rescan (rebuilding database) happened automatically, but I have seen comments that sometimes under some circumstances people need to refresh something manually.  Again, my problem and solution might not apply to your circumstances, but maybe some of my experiences will be helpful. If not, there's IK's support process. 

FYI:  I suspect that at least some of the SYN2 presets use SYN resources. So I temporarily removed my E\: . . . \ST3 path from the library and got this with a Generation 2 preset:

As in your case, some SYN2 presets load just fine with the missing ST3 path; some don't.  Hope this helps.

  

Thanks for the help! Yeah did a manual search for files and for some reason the installer had nested them wrong inside the folder I had set. I did manual downloads of sounds too, seems like an issue with one of the installers or maybe I didn't check the path correctly. All sorted now!

[Doug Rintoul]

12 hours ago, Lionel said:

Maybe you or someone else could shed some light…

What companies(that specialize in large sample libraries) also charge a re-download fee for sound content?  Because I’ve yet to encounter them(besides IK).  And I’d be genuinely curious to know.

 

Sonuscore for one. In fact, when I try to download something I purchased in April 2021, I get the message: Sorry, this download has expired: Go to shop. Looks like I would have to buy the product all over again.

Fluffy Audio states this: Download links will expire seven days after this E-mail is sent. And there are limited download attempts for downloading your product. We suggest to backup your product to be able to recover your files anytime.

Sampletraxx has the same policy as Fluffy. They both use Fastspring for their downloads so it may that way for any Fastspring downloads.

Audiofier is another that uses Fastpring. Their email states: The link will expire in 7 days, so please hurry up ?

Xtant Audio has the same message as Sonuscore when I try to download past purchases. 

These are some examples from my last year of purchases. Now it may be that if I contacted support, they might be willing to reinstate a download for free, but no where on their websites do they specify that this service is available. Fortunately I have not had to find out

I would like to point out that just because some or even the majority of company follow a certain policy, not all companies should follow that policy. IKM implimented download charges for a reason, and I don't believe for a moment they did it because they were evil or trying to do something underhanded.

Update:

Just checked Fluffy's FAQ. Looks like they can reinstate download link if you contact support.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Doug Rintoul

[Lionel]

31 minutes ago, Doug Rintoul said:

Sonuscore for one. In fact, when I try to download something I purchased in April 2021, I get the message: Sorry, this download has expired: Go to shop. Looks like I would have to buy the product all over again.

Fluffy Audio states this: Download links will expire seven days after this E-mail is sent. And there are limited download attempts for downloading your product. We suggest to backup your product to be able to recover your files anytime.

Sampletraxx has the same policy as Fluffy. They both use Fastspring for their downloads so it may that way for any Fastspring downloads.

Audiofier is another that uses Fastpring. Their email states: The link will expire in 7 days, so please hurry up ?

Xtant Audio has the same message as Sonuscore when I try to download past purchases. 

These are some examples from my last year of purchases. Now it may be that if I contacted support, they might be willing to reinstate a download for free, but no where on their websites do they specify that this service is available. Fortunately I have not had to find out

I would like to point out that just because some or even the majority of company follow a certain policy, all companies should follow that policy. IKM implimented download charges for a reason, and I don't believe for a moment they did it because they were evil or trying to do something underhanded.

Update:

Just checked Fluffy's FAQ. Looks like they can reinstate download link if you contact support.

Thanks for sharing that info.  I can't say that I've heard of those companies. 

So would I presume these companies are smaller compared to IK, correct?  Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Doug Rintoul]

6 minutes ago, Lionel said:

Thanks for sharing that info.  I can't say that I've heard of those companies. 

So would I presume these companies are smaller compared to IK, correct?  Correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't know about the size of all the companies. Sonuscore is fairly well known. But why should that make a difference? Because a company is large, it should absorb the cost of downloads? And if they don't, that makes them scuzzy and evil?

Edited April 25, 2022 by Doug Rintoul

[abacab]

This topic is about the IK group buy, and info related to the product, and not the merits of a company's business practices. Please start another new thread to continue discussing that. Thanks!

[Lionel]

1 minute ago, Doug Rintoul said:

I don't know about the size of all the companies. Sonuscore is fairly well known. But why should that make a difference? Because a company is large, it should absorb the cost of downloads? And if they don't, that makes them, scuzzy and evil?

Of course I could see why a smaller company would charge a re-download fee.  Basically because they don't have the financial resources as a bigger company. 

If a company like Native Instuments(a hardware/software company similar to IK), for instance, can have unlimited downloads of their content w/o a fee, I honestly just don't see why IK can't do the same.

Not to mention, it was mentioned on this Forum in a previous post, that IK could go with a number of cost-saving cloud storage alternatives.  IK should really look into those.

I still think IK needs to address this.  I'm just not satisfied with the status quo.  Guess I'm just the odd man out on this topic.

 

[Lionel]

2 minutes ago, abacab said:

This topic is about the IK group buy, and info related to the product, and not the merits of a company's business practices. Please start another new thread to continue discussing that. Thanks!

Gladly.  And hopefully Peter can chime in as well.

[Doug Rintoul]

11 minutes ago, abacab said:

This topic is about the IK group buy, and info related to the product, and not the merits of a company's business practices. Please start another new thread to continue discussing that. Thanks!

Disengaging in 3...2...1...Disengaged.

[InstrEd]

So how many freebies to get onboard?

[David Baay]

Looks like the GB is well on it's way to 10 freebies needed to get all 11 new instruments so I'm in now for the princely sum of $35 plus 15 JamPoints. Should have been able to use 16 but for some reason it only allowed 15. I demand to speak with the manager of this corrupt enterprise immediately if not sooner!!!