EnochLight wrote:Just picked up Output's Exhale and Rev. Holy freaking crap - what a train wreck of downloading and installation woes... Makes me long for the simplicity of Rack Extensions, that's for sure.
First, you buy them through the Output store, then you have to install a Steam-like download manager, then you download them - which takes FOREVER... then you have to go through a convoluted folder and file search process through Kontakt Player (which you have to have installed first). I shit you not, I'm getting grey hairs just at the thought of having to reinstall this in the future...
Anyone else here go through the shit needed to get these things running??
Oh yes. All of this. I was very excited at first and then very discouraged about the idea of purchasing VSTs. I had issues with the Kontakt installation from the start. I was also interested in the Output instruments. I linked in another thread, a how-to installation video for the Output libraries. A video that one would need to have handy to pause and resume to make sure you are doing all the right things...and none of the wrong things! Incredibly complicated. There is no way I can ever manage working on various computers at different locations, let alone just my own, it seems.
I removed Kontakt from my computer for now. I swear I downloaded an installer that installed a separate installer just to install the free factory bank. It required that I register and create a login to do that. That's ok, I did it. And the only way I could download it was using that login. Alright. But supposedly I need to register it using a separate utility so that it won't run in demo mode? Really not sure. All I know is the free Kontakt Player and the free bank were running in demo mode for about a minute before locking me out and telling me my demo ran out? I reopened it and then it seemed ok for a few more minutes. Lost quite a bit of confidence in using it. It also installed, with no option given, 65MB of pdfs in every language they offer
Not sure I'm willing to throw money at libraries that are so complicated to install. Aside from that, I've been spending a great deal of time trying VSTs and more time installing them and even more time uninstalling them. They are inconsistent in installation processes and where each installs stuff—it's all over the place.
That and I have less confidence buying them. I had an Arturia plugin, that I only had an AU installed. So I logged into my Arturia account to get the VST...and the plugin is no longer available! So here we go...this is how it is, right? While there's some people having doubts about the future of REs, there is much more to be doubtful of with the future of each of your VSTs right now. Currently, all REs you have purchased are working in Reason and are available for you to download and sync from your account. With VSTs, there are countless ones that become incompatible day-to-day it seems. Handfuls probably just lost support as I was typing this. Haha