Clawing everything back?

Pingu · Post by **Pingu** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 8:27 am

Is it just me who thinks like this? It seems to me that with every update of the Pulsar software, Creamware are clawing back a bit of what they gave us. Don't get me wrong; I, for one, was utterly astounded at how much was contained in the original environment, for the price that we paid (I've been there since the first release of version 1), and I would actually have been prepared to be told that only the environment came free, and that every device had to be paid for. I'm also not the type who winges about having to pay for updates - I do understand about development costs and so forth - and I would quite happily pay for the updates to the environment.

But of course Creamware promised that the updates are free, and I think they are starting to regret it. So the strategy seems to be to make us pay without us noticing. With each update something seems to disappear, and then we are offered the opportunity to buy it back.

The VocoderII disappeared from the environment in version 3, but we can buy VocoderIII or the Vocodiser if we want. One of my favourites was FM1. When it vanished I emailed Creamware, asking if it would be updated, and they said yes, but in the meantime I could simply import it from verson 2, and the only thing that wouldn't work would be the preset list. This turned out not to be true. In fact the instrument doesn't seem to work at all in the latest environment. It plays a note, but I can't select any parameter for editing. And the update appears to have been forgotten. So FM synthesis has been taken away, and the only way to get it back seems to be to buy Poison.

So I was worried when I logged on today and saw the Minimax. Because I'm betting this means the Miniscope I and II will vanish from the environment, and I'll have to buy them back.

I really wouldn't mind paying a nominal fee for each update of the whole software, so long as everything continued to be supported, but I do object to this sneaky way of removing devices and then making us buy them back.

Pingu

algorhythm · Post by **algorhythm** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 8:57 am

Also, (I think I am correct on this) - Inferno was free in 2.X, but with SFP, it is part of synth pack 2, which you have to pay for, or have gotten propac before. . .

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 9:14 am

That's right. But you can take your pre-SFP Inferno with you (just copy it into Synths folder), like we have to do w DynaMixer...

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 2:20 pm

I don't thinkg you ever "lose" any devices that you had in the first place, although some might not get updated and thus not work under newer software. (like FM01).

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 11:33 pm

During the last revision stages of the SFP bèta version, CW was working on 'compatibility with older projects'. Older projects include older devices... They all work here, haven't experienced any problems this far opening older projects/devices.