# Banned from NS twice :)



## Marsdy (Nov 23, 2004)

Is this a first? Doubt I'll get a third chance for a ban since my IP address has been banned. Doh...

Someone should give me a medal.


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## TheoKrueger (Nov 23, 2004)

I dedicate the V.I watch from the lower left corner in your honor. You can wear it around your neck


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## DonnieChristian (Nov 23, 2004)

What did they ban you for?


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## Frederick Russ (Nov 23, 2004)

DonnieChristian said:


> What did they ban you for?



For being creative with photoshop


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## Marsdy (Nov 24, 2004)

Frederick said:


> DonnieChristian said:
> 
> 
> > What did they ban you for?
> ...



Actually that was my first ban in May. The second was yesterday. There was a thread about GPO vs EWQLSO Gold (yawn.) My post, which commented on how NS was run, was removed almost as soon as it appeared and my IP address was blocked. 

I sent a very angry email containing some rather fruity language to the administrators at the afore mentioned forum who have since gone out of their way to get me in trouble with Game Audio and my ISP by reporting my email as abuse! :shock: I stand by what I said in the email and my right of free expression. :wink: 

I won't go into detail here as I don't want to get Frederick into trouble.


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## CJ (Nov 24, 2004)

LOL I think Frederick is in enough trouble as it is anyway  (no offense Fred just an observation - its really cool that people have V.I. to go to as an option although it may be making some folks from the other forum uncomfortable)

-CJ


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## madfiddler (Apr 1, 2005)

Yay, VGMers revolt against the 2nd world war german army bosses who moderate the forum


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## Aaron Sapp (Apr 1, 2005)

Geez buddy, little late with your reply eh?


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## madfiddler (Apr 1, 2005)

I only got banned today...


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## Nick Batzdorf (Apr 1, 2005)

What was your offense, madfiddler?


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## madfiddler (Apr 2, 2005)

Um, calling Doug a liar on the forum, about the "there won't be a 16 bit versions of EWQLSO"... and then trying to get some way of them allowing Platinum owners to purchase Gold Pro rather than having to pay $3k for Platinum pro.

The rule is... NEVER pre-order software... that was my big mistake, cos all I ever needed was Gold... and I guess... never trust a salesman... even if he appears to be a good guy on the outside...


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## Colin O'Malley (Apr 2, 2005)

Did you find out if they will let Platinum owners purchase Gold Pro? Seems like a good idea.


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## madfiddler (Apr 2, 2005)

That's what the last arguement was about. It was an emphatic NO.

I guess Gold Pro may just be instruments etc which use the normal Gold Kompakt player, rather than being stand alone. At least I hope that's the case and they're not just being difficult...


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## Colin O'Malley (Apr 2, 2005)

The did let Platinum owners purchase Gold for 150$. I imagine they'll do something like that for Pro.


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## Colin O'Malley (Apr 2, 2005)

Can you point me to the NS thread or was it completely deleted?


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## madfiddler (Apr 2, 2005)

Yeah they did let Plat get Gold for $250, and Silver for $50 (cos silver had sounds not on the other libs), but I didn't get Gold since I didn't think I should pay more... when if you got Silver, the Gold, then Plat you were never out of pocket.

The thread has been deleted..


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## Colin O'Malley (Apr 2, 2005)

Are you saying that, as a Platinum owner, I will need to buy the Platinum Pro Upgrade, then I can buy the Gold Pro at a discounted rate? I cannot simply buy the Gold Pro Update as Platinum owner and recieve the discount? I don't use the 3 mics in Platinum that much and was planning to go for Gold.


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## madfiddler (Apr 2, 2005)

You're only allowed to buy Gold Pro, if you own Gold... I'm like you except I'm not really using Plat much either, mostly Silver... but had hoped that Gold Pro would be available to be to get some Plat quality all be it at 16 bit rather than 24...


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## Stephen Rees (Apr 2, 2005)

madfiddler said:


> You're only allowed to buy Gold Pro, if you own Gold...



I don't think that's true. You were only entitled to the preorder goldpro discount if you had gold, but there's nothing stopping you buying goldpro at it's regular price whether you have Gold or not. My inderstanding is it is a standalone product, with it's own Kompakt player. By that I mean you open 'Gold' articulations in the 'Gold' Kompakt player, and the 'Goldpro' articulations with the 'Goldpro' player.

Similarly with Platinum, there will be the existing four Kompakt Players for Strings, Brass, Woodwind and Percussion, then 4 additional players for Stringspro, Brasspro, Woodwindpro, and Percussionpro included in the Platinum Pro upgrade.

I'm not 100% sure of that, but it's certainly the understanding I got from a few of Doug's comments over at NS.

Steve


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## madfiddler (Apr 2, 2005)

Mmm you could be right, but Doug told me that I cannot buy Gold Pro. However, perhaps that's to do with him telling me not to buy any more EW products...There was no mention of pre-ordering during the conversation. And he led be to believe that perhaps it was not supplied with Kompakt.

Well, time will tell anyway which ever.


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## fv (Apr 2, 2005)

Hi,



madfiddler said:


> I guess Gold Pro may just be instruments etc which use the normal Gold Kompakt player, rather than being stand alone. At least I hope that's the case and they're not just being difficult...



I believe that it will have its own Kompakt player. They said that you get 2 registrations for the Gold Pro Update (on top of the regular 2 for Gold ) in one of the threads over there. Keep in mind that this is speculation though as I don't recall them ever saying that it came with a separate player.

I feel bad for your situation here though. It would seem fair that at least he would have offered some sort of compromise in this situation. 

[Edit: Just saw Stephen's post. Perhaps he is correct that you could have simply ordered Gold Pro at the regular price.]
FV


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## CJ (Apr 2, 2005)

Not speaking of PlatinumPro, GoldPro and SilverPro:

I think Platinum users should be entitled to the same reverse pricing structure as those who build from the beginning:

Silver ==> Gold ==> Platinum

It should also work in reverse, because the outlay of cash should be the same:

Platinum ==> Gold ==> Silver

Why penalize those who have made the ultimate investment? Gold and Silver should be free to Platinum users - maybe just charge shipping? I don't own Platinum but it should be fair - currently it doesn't appear to be - just imho.

Platinum owners should also be entitled to Gold Pro early buy. Platinum owners need some concessions which I don't think is asking too much of East West.

-CJ


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## Colin O'Malley (Apr 2, 2005)

They charged me 150$ for Gold after I bought Platinum. That seemed pretty reasonable to me. I'm sure they'll do something like that this time around. My main concern is even though I have Platinum I don't think I need Platinum Pro, just Gold Pro. I hope I'm not locked into a higher price bracket.


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## Marsdy (Apr 2, 2005)

I think they have to pay a license fee to NI for each use of the Kompakt engine so it's always going to cost something.


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## fv (Apr 2, 2005)

Hi,



CJ said:


> I think Platinum users should be entitled to the same reverse pricing structure as those who build from the beginning:



They are entitled to the same pricing to a certain extent. If someone upgrades from Gold to Platinum, they have to pay extra *IF* they want to keep their Gold license. Either $150 or $250 (whatever it is - I don't know). This entitles them to be able to upgrade Gold as well as Platinum and have the advantages of owning both without having to pay full price for both. Same when going from Silver to Gold or Silver to Platinum.

Most people who would buy Gold from Platinum would still want to keep their license for Platinum. It would not make sense to not keep it since the license cannot be transferred nor sold, nor refunded.



> Why penalize those who have made the ultimate investment? Gold and Silver should be free to Platinum users - maybe just charge shipping?



People who upgrade to Platinum *and* keep their licenses for the lower versions still pay the same as a Platinum owner who buys a lesser license. So, they're not penalized. Only difference being that a Platinum owner does not have the option to leave their license behind and go only with Gold. I think that Marsdy is correct also that a NI license fee must be paid by EW for that instance.



> Platinum owners should also be entitled to Gold Pro early buy. Platinum owners need some concessions which I don't think is asking too much of East West.



I agree with this myself. However, since it wasn't going to be possible as per EW's policy, in order to get more for one's money, one could have bought Gold (as a Platinum owner) for $150 or $250 (whatever the going rate), and bought the Pro upgrade in the early buy. That would have cost approximately the same as buying Gold Pro now at full price with the difference being that the Platinum owner would recieve both Gold and Gold Pro for the same price of Gold Pro (without the discount).

FV


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## Colin O'Malley (Apr 2, 2005)

seems pretty fair to me


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## synergy543 (Apr 2, 2005)

fv said:


> People who upgrade to Platinum *and* keep their licenses for the lower versions still pay the same as a Platinum owner who buys a lesser license. So, they're not penalized.FV


Sorry, this is incorrect. Platinum Owners can no longer buy downgrades. This option was removed several months ago. The only way to get Gold or Silver is to buy it at market price. 

This seems somewhat unfair as was pointed out earlier, since if you buy Silver>Gold>Platinum there is no penalty. Why should there be a penalty if you buy Platinum first? It would only seem fair to offer some sort of downgrade option for a nominal fee.

And besides, since its just a license and not a product that you're purchasing, there should be no reason you shouldn't have an option to purchase access to a lower bit version - its the same sound library after all. Fortunately I bought Gold and Silver just beforehand. However, now if I want Gold Pro, I must buy it at full market price even though I already purchased Platinum Pro. I want the 16-bit version for sketching? Unreasonable?

My polite queries about this were also promptly deleted along with Mark's ....ahmm..."commentary" and then the entire QLSO Pro thread which has been headlining for months was removed, closed and archived with no trace of the queries or response.

Hopefully in the future EastWest will hear from others and realize the dilemma of Platinum customers with a single computer and reconsider the unfairness of their two-sided policy (Silver>Gold>Platinum vs Platinum>Gold>Silver) and make the downgrade option availalble once again.


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## Frederick Russ (Apr 2, 2005)

Hmmm - too bad. Seems like it should work the same both ways but perhaps its not part of the business plan. 

Best people to ask would be Doug and Nick privately rather than publically at NS imo - perhaps to look at a case by case rather than than the whole lump (meaning having to deal with all the financial implications of meeting the demands to all past users who would be affected). Seems that with EWQLSO Pro and Choir still waiting on the wings it could be that money is tight temporarily. 

I also submit that I could be wrong altogether - just hazarding a guess.


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## choc0thrax (Apr 2, 2005)

You have to have regular Gold before you can buy Gold Pro. Took this from SOL- " PLEASE NOTE: This upgrade must be used with the original library."


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## PolarBear (Apr 3, 2005)

I didn't follow the debate, but I think it's rather funny as Gold is a complete takeout from Platinum. Once you decided for a Mercedes you gotta stick with it forever it seems


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## madfiddler (Apr 3, 2005)

From IM's between myself and Doug b4 banning

_Imagine the chaos if we allowed our customers to change products when they decided they would prefer something else that became available. We just can't do it, we have contractual obligations that don't allow this. Also, GoldPro requires Gold, you can't realistically use it without Gold.

I'm not trying to be difficult, it's just that you want something we don't offer. That also doesn't mean we will 'never' offer it.
_

So, you MUST have Gold for buy Gold Pro... however, they may change their minds in the future, if they feel like it... So I guess Gold Pro may well come with its own Kompakt software.

M


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## Frederick Russ (Apr 3, 2005)

I can appreciate your wanting to make valid points, but its usually never a good idea to share private communications publically especially when the other party never intended these communications to be made public. It fosters distrust imo. 

I'm not trying to take sides here - I try to respect all sides of the views and opinions as many of us do here, but please lets try to keep this civil and balanced, thanks.


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## madfiddler (Apr 3, 2005)

OK, sorry for that... but IMO the fact that they MAY allow plat versions to buy gold pro in the future is valid.. I'll delete the other comment 

oh, and... I don't trust him.. He has continued to *cough* lie about the not releasing 16 bit versions.

Haha, with the new Choir library, which is 16 bit. The official word is "it is unlikely that 16 bit versions will be released"... lets see in a couple of months...


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## Frederick Russ (Apr 3, 2005)

Thanks - too bad about the Gold => Gold Pro thing btw - essentially it seems like with platinum you already HAVE Gold (stage articulations) but whatever....


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## madfiddler (Apr 3, 2005)

indeed... but not Gold Pro... and at this time you HAVE to buy Plat pro for $3000 instead of Gold Pro for $1000 even if you only use the Platinum stage mic (which is effectively what Gold is).


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## Alex W (Apr 4, 2005)

Yeah, and on that point I reckon $3000 for platinum pro is bloody steep.


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## Stephen Rees (Apr 8, 2005)

There's a thread over at Northernsounds East West section where Doug has confirmed that Goldpro comes with it's own player.

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33243 (http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/sho ... hp?t=33243)

Steve


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## Niah (Apr 8, 2005)

I don't own GOLD but I was thinking of buying GOLD PRO for the QLegato and some fx articulations. 

Do you mean that I can't buy gold pro without buying gold too?

If gold pro comes with it's own player that's pretty stupid.


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## madfiddler (Apr 8, 2005)

That's sadly right I think. Just as I being a Platinum owner can't buy Gold Pro either... yet. I was hoping that with enough enthusiastic responce from other members, it may have swayed Doug, but sadly not.


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## synergy543 (Apr 8, 2005)

Well, it seems that not only the price of Platinum but the price of Gold and Silver have fallen drastically with this wide-open "crossgrade" as anybody can join. I wouldn't expect it would be too long before Pro series will follow. They have effectively cut the entire product line in half as I guess every synth in the world would qualify as a competitive product.

"A SPECIAL PROMOTION FOR THOSE WHO ALREADY OWN A COMPETITIVE PRODUCT! THERE IS NO PROOF REQUIRED TO PURCHASE THIS CROSSGRADE!"

http://www.soundsonline.com/sophtml/det ... ku=EW-160C

http://www.soundsonline.com/sophtml/det ... ku=EW-161C


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## madfiddler (Apr 8, 2005)

Wowzers... what's going on with this. How is this supposed to make full price purchasers feel?


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## synergy543 (Apr 8, 2005)

Well they made a quarter of a million dollars with the last Gold Group Buy so most likely that the incentive behind the recent changes.

Money changes everything.

If it makes you feel any better, I bought Platinum just before the end of the year and I feel like a Total Schmuck. Well, its not as bad as loosing all my money in the dot com explosion (was margined to the hilt all the way down) as I still have something left this time. Still it seems rather abrupt.

I do like the library though so that eases some of the sting. Ouch!


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## madfiddler (Apr 8, 2005)

I'm sure I'd like it too if I could play it, hehe.

Well, it's damn good value for money now I think, so it's good in that respect. However, we now own something that most people can own, rather than being a little more exclusive.

Sorted out the NS Forum problem. A mistake was made which blocked me from the whole site. I can see everything apart from the EW section now.


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## synergy543 (Apr 8, 2005)

madfiddler said:


> I'm sure I'd like it too if I could play it, hehe.
> 
> Well, it's damn good value for money now I think, so it's good in that respect. However, we now own something that most people can own, rather than being a little more exclusive.


I never bought into the "exclusivity club". Everyone has a piano but how many can actually play it? Your expertise is with the violin (very good btw!) and your musicianship not with ownership of Platinum.

Sorted out the NS Forum problem. A mistake was made which blocked me from the whole site. I can see everything apart from the EW section now.[/quote]Great. You're not missing anything on the EW section as there has been a mass exodus over to http://www.soundsonline-forums.com/index.php? I'll bet you don't have a problem signing up there. Doug is having his own problems over at NS so you guys actually have something in common


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## madfiddler (Apr 8, 2005)

yeah, I found out I haven't been banned yet ( a cockup with banning from one area which made be banned from the whole forum occured)... But I've been talking to an owner of NS.. And apparently, because I wasn't banned from the whole of NS may well have given extra ammunition to the Sounds Online Forum starting up.


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