# IK Multimedia is Slow to Respond



## robgb

Thought I'd take advantage of the sale on Miroslav for $38, and after a torturous route to authorizing and downloading the necessary files, it turns out one of them is corrupted and I'm missing several sound files.

I contacted IK through their support page and was told it would be several days before I'd get a response.

WTF?

This whole experience has been a pain in the ass. Imagine if I'd paid full price for this thing.

UPDATE: Title edited to sound less like clickbait. Twenty-four hours later and still no joy.

UPDATE 2: I was finally contacted and the matter has been sorted out. Twenty-four plus hours after I purchased this instrument, I can finally play it.

UPDATE 3: Sigh. There seems to be a problem with the software refusing to let me change some midi values. Back to support....


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## ceemusic

One of the reasons I've stopped using all IK products.


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## Leslie Fuller

robgb said:


> Thought I'd take advantage of the sale on Miroslav for $38, and after a torturous route to authorizing and downloading the necessary files, it turns out one of them is corrupted and I'm missing several sound files.
> 
> I contacted IK through their support page and was told it would be several days before I'd get a response.
> 
> WTF?
> 
> This whole experience has been a pain in the ass. Imagine if I'd paid full price for this thing.



Thanks for the update @robgb!


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## VgsA

Ouch, I hate those things. Try reaching them via Facebook or something? They might help...


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## erica-grace

You shouldn't judge simply by a single response. I have not heard that IK has a bad rep (I do not own any products of theirs), so maybe something happened? They are not exactly SFA, with a whole host of employees. Maybe there is one person manning the lines for now? Maybe that person is in the hospital with a serious illness? Maybe someone in their family died? Maybe not - I don't know. All I am saying is don't bash a company and say "they are the worst" (exactly what you said) because you do not know why you have to wait several days for a response.

Besides - if you have to wait several days for a response, and had difficulty authorizing the product - that makes a company "the worst"?


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## Living Fossil

I had only good experiences with IK Multimedia so far, maybe you should not generalise too much based on a single experience.


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## Zoot_Rollo

bigtime Amplitube 4 user here.

never a problem, doesn't take away from yours though.

i echo VgsA's suggestion - try Facebook.


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## Land of Missing Parts

IK Multimedia's Modo Bass is excellent, though I can't speak for Miroslav.


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## dcoscina

robgb said:


> Thought I'd take advantage of the sale on Miroslav for $38, and after a torturous route to authorizing and downloading the necessary files, it turns out one of them is corrupted and I'm missing several sound files.
> 
> I contacted IK through their support page and was told it would be several days before I'd get a response.
> 
> WTF?
> 
> This whole experience has been a pain in the ass. Imagine if I'd paid full price for this thing.


Their mobile SampleTank got iOS is great but I seldom use Theo desktop stuff.


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## Guffy

robgb said:


> Thought I'd take advantage of the sale on Miroslav for $38, and after a torturous route to authorizing and downloading the necessary files, it turns out one of them is corrupted and I'm missing several sound files.
> 
> I contacted IK through their support page and was told it would be several days before I'd get a response.
> 
> WTF?
> 
> This whole experience has been a pain in the ass. Imagine if I'd paid full price for this thing.


Several days?
That's a long wait?
If this is your idea of 'the worst', i hope you'll never have to deal with Steinberg support.
First time it took 2 months for a response.
My current support request is coming out of it's third week without any sign of life.
IK Multimedia support sounds pretty luxurious to me.


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## Paul Cardon

Not to tone police, but a few days to a week for an email support response isn't uncommon at all for most companies and not worth making a post as vitriolic as this. I've also not had issues installing IK stuff, so... user error?



> *4b. Inflammatory thread titling* Another phenomenon we've noticed are members who create inflammatory titles to threads that suggest an ongoing problem. When the thread is reviewed however, we then find it is one isolated case not an ongoing problem [...]


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## Polkasound

I'm guessing one reason you had multiple downloads is because Miroslav uses the SampleTank player, so you had to download and install both the product and the player as well as the authorization manager. That's normal.

IK's delivery method is not my favorite either... you buy one plugin, and you're prompted to download a file that you assume is required, but it actually installs demos for every plugin they sell plus a "storefront" where you can buy them. (These can be deleted later on.) But I think their authorization process works well. Everything is conveniently in your account... your purchased products, download links, serials, etc. If you ever have a major computer crash, you'll never have to worry about losing anything you bought from IK.

Regarding response times to support tickets, this has been my experience:

IK Multimedia: 1-3 days
Native Instruments: 30+ days
Steinberg: 3+ years and still counting


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## Quasar

Land of Missing Parts said:


> IK Multimedia's Modo Bass is excellent, though I can't speak for Miroslav.


MODO bass is outstanding. Far and away the best product I've seen from IKM, and one of the best modeled instruments ever (to my admittedly limited awareness). It immediately became all things bass guitar, rendering Scarbee etc. irrelevant.

I have Miroslav V1, and can run it 64b with the SampleTank thing, but I dislike the UI and it seems slow and buggy on my system at least, compared to almost anything else. I tried Amplitube, but the UI is a nag screen reminding you to purchase stuff you don't yet have... Hit and miss for me. I saw no reason to try the $38 Miro V2. 

I am DONE buying ANYTHING just because it's "only" $38. There has to be a better reason than that...


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## robgb

All I can say is this. When I buy Spitfire, 8Dio, Soundiron, Indiginus, or Arturia instruments (and numerous others), each has their own process but it's completely painless. Getting this IK thing on my computer, however, was a giant pain and I'm still not done, thanks to the corrupt file.


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## germancomponist

robgb said:


> All I can say is this. When I buy Spitfire, 8Dio, Soundiron, Indiginus, or Arturia instruments (and numerous others), each has their own process but it's completely painless. Getting this IK thing on my computer, however, was a giant pain and I'm still not done, thanks to the corrupt file.


Can you not download it again?


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## Jdiggity1

I think you'll find THIS... is the wurst


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## robgb

germancomponist said:


> Can you not download it again?


Yes, I can and did. Same result.

They at least responded on Facebook. We'll see what happens.


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## Mornats

germancomponist said:


> Can you not download it again?



Before doing this I'd recommend to check to see if you have a limited number of downloads. I don't have any current downloads available in my account to check the number of times you can download a product but if I want to download my Sampletank sounds again I have to purchase a download credit (the download expired after 180 days). They do advise to back up your downloads on to a DVD but still...


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## germancomponist

Quasar said:


> I am DONE buying ANYTHING just because it's "only" $38. There has to be a better reason than that...


Today we paid €45 for a delicious lunch.


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## Desire Inspires

erica-grace said:


> You shouldn't judge simply by a single response. I have not heard that IK has a bad rep (I do not own any products of theirs), so maybe something happened? They are not exactly SFA, with a whole host of employees. Maybe there is one person manning the lines for now? Maybe that person is in the hospital with a serious illness? Maybe someone in their family died? Maybe not - I don't know. All I am saying is don't bash a company and say "they are the worst" (exactly what you said) because you do not know why you have to wait several days for a response.
> 
> Besides - if you have to wait several days for a response, and had difficulty authorizing the product - that makes a company "the worst"?



Total rubbish.

No accountability these days. A company gladly takes a person’s money and then gets put on a waitlist when help is needed? 

And the fact that you are making excuses for them is beyond ridiculous. Maybe you work for them or something?


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## Paul Cardon

Desire Inspires said:


> Total rubbish.
> 
> No accountability these days. A company gladly takes a person’s money and then gets put on a waitlist when help is needed?
> 
> And the fact that you are making excuses for them is beyond ridiculous. Maybe you work for them or something?



I mean... yeah. Support teams can only be so large, and most companies have a support queue. I'm not sure where this surprise is coming from.


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## jon wayne

I don't put IK at the top of my list, but I have bought several libraries on sale. I did the MP2 sale for the fun of it, and had no problems with the download. Installation on Mac was confusing, but was super easy on my PC. I'm not gonna sing their praises, but I think you get what you pay for with IK, and I wouldn't call them the worst.


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## Polkasound

Desire Inspires said:


> A company gladly takes a person’s money and then gets put on a waitlist when help is needed?



Apparently IK Multimedia is not small enough for the owner to handle support emails one-by-one, and not big enough to open a call center in Pakistan.

I've requested support from IK more than once in the past. Even though the wait for a response was no fun, they always came through.


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## Leslie Fuller

Hi guys, in case you’ve not seen, please look at this thread: https://vi-control.net/community/posts/4256957/, for context. Originally, it was about buying an IK library for a fantastic price, before all the problems set in!


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## NYC Composer

Alternate thread title possibility:

“Difficulty with IK authorization and support”


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## HeliaVox

I’m with the OP on this. I had so many problems with no assistance I totally gave up on IK. I’m glad y’aall’s stuff worked, but for me everything from installation to execution was a nightmare for me.


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## CoffeeLover

ive used amplitube alot since the early days.
i bought the old stomp IO way back but never used it 
also i won the first Miroslav harmonic in a competition around 2009 
never used it either it is still there in my IK account along with loads of other products i dont need.
i would not say IK products are the worst or bad,they just dont really serve my needs except amplitube has been really good
now i feel like i want to buy either axe fx3 or Kemper Profiling amp for better sounds and save up CPU resources 
ProTools and Avid have the worst customer experience that ive encountered in my entire lifetime.


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## Reid Rosefelt

I've bought a lot of stuff from IK, including iOS apps, desktop programs, and hardware. I've had dozens of interactions with them over the year on their service dept, their forum, and all the forums I frequent, including this one. My experience has always been very positive, and I have been very happy using most of their products.

Others, I see, have not had as good an experience as I have. But I do think it's a bit over the top for you to say they are "the worst," based on your single experience. But maybe you just want to provoke conversation? 

However, I do think you are going to be even more upset after you do install Miroslav CE, and try it out. There's just so much better stuff out there nowadays than the full version, and you've purchased a limited articulation version, aimed at non-pros. CE is out there along with zillions of libraries that I have listened to the demos and have no interest in owning, whether they are on sale or given away free, which CE has been. Now and then, when you buy stuff from IK they toss CE in the deal, like Sweetwater tosses candy in the box. 

But I love my Syntronik and T-RackS.


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## dougj7

All of my experiences with IK Multimedia products were positive so far. Their EQ-73 works great on percussion instruments. Hoping to never need their support but I know stuff happens.


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## jaketanner

erica-grace said:


> You shouldn't judge simply by a single response. I have not heard that IK has a bad rep (I do not own any products of theirs), so maybe something happened? They are not exactly SFA, with a whole host of employees. Maybe there is one person manning the lines for now? Maybe that person is in the hospital with a serious illness? Maybe someone in their family died? Maybe not - I don't know. All I am saying is don't bash a company and say "they are the worst" (exactly what you said) because you do not know why you have to wait several days for a response.
> 
> Besides - if you have to wait several days for a response, and had difficulty authorizing the product - that makes a company "the worst"?



IK has been around for a while..I believe longer than SFA (assuming Spit Fire Audio)...and IK is from my understanding, a fairly good sized company that can afford to have good C.S. My experience with them is not great either. I own a lot of their products...and when Sampletank 3 caused Pro Tools to crash with certain sounds, it took them one ONE year, no joke, no kidding...ONE YEAR, to reply with an update, and their response is that they were looking into it. That is not good. Their products (for the most part), are good...but man...one year without being able to use their main Sample playback...sucks.


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## robgb

Paul Cardon said:


> I mean... yeah. Support teams can only be so large, and most companies have a support queue. I'm not sure where this surprise is coming from.


I'll tell you where the surprise is coming from. Every other developer I've had to deal with in the past has responded to me within a single day. About a year ago, I had a problem with a library registration with 8Dio, got on their support chat and the problem was fixed in seconds. When I bought Miroslav from Sweetwater this morning—who surely has a bigger customer based than IK—I didn't receive my download link and activation code for four hours, so I contacted them and had the link within seconds. I'm surprised that IK doesn't immediately jump on these kinds of things. But as far as I can tell, they don't even have chat support.


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## MarcelM

i really wonder why some companys dont offer better customer support. i mean they know that people will talk about them and in the long run its just bad for THEM, right? we have many options to choose from, so iam really always happy when people report something like rob did here.

well, steinberg also need often days/weeks to reply and its probably the only company i can forgive this


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## KarlHeinz

I dont forgive Steinberg  (waiting for two days now for a simple download link for Halion Sonic SE so I could use it on my notebook for Pad motion) , but IK is really rising my blood. Had lots of questions on kvr but now giving up cause the only thing you get from them is advertising (on a forum...). Simple questions, no answers.....The products are not bad, I have taken the tour like so many with sampletank 2 and 3 and TRacks is still one of the best (simple, easy to use) mastering solutions out there. But if they would just spent half of the time for support they spent on advertising.....


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## SchnookyPants

Rob -

So you go to a restaurant, give 'em $38 for a meal, and they say, "We'll get back to you in a few days."

That's BS.

How about they send you a product and you'll send them their money in a few days.

You should get a refund until they can deliver what they gladly accepted your money for. There is an implied warranty of fitness and a fully functioning product.


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## robgb

SchnookyPants said:


> So you go to a restaurant, give 'em $38 for a meal, and they say, "We'll get back to you in a few days."


They actually responded to me on Facebook fairly quickly, but told me to go to support and contact the tech guys, who should be able to get back to me much faster. Still haven't heard from them, however.



SchnookyPants said:


> How about they send you a product and you'll send them their money in a few days.


Wouldn't that be nice...


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## rocking.xmas.man

I somehow can't believe what I read…
So you think getting an answer calming you that you might have to wait several days for a response is bad? IK Multimedia is a compandy developing and or selling products that are targeting a Variety of different users - hobbyists, hobbyists, hobbyists and some professionals. So they most likely get a few hundreds of mails asking how to install an iPad app, how to load a Plugin in DAW x, y and z, how to use a compressor, how to Position their Monitors, why there is no Sound coming out of their Keyboards - all stuff like that. You can be glad you got warned not to sit in front of your pc, Refreshing your mail account every 5 seconds to see if they have answered.

This is what you guys don't get. Spitfire, 8dio, etc. having instant Chat support is not something normal. It's something awesome, only possible because all of them really only do niche products.


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## chillbot

This is what it looks like when you have someone on ignore:






I was so confused by the lack of any info by the "OP" at first....


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## Grilled Cheese

Fugdup said:


> Several days?
> That's a long wait?
> If this is your idea of 'the worst', i hope you'll never have to deal with Steinberg support.
> First time it took 2 months for a response.
> My current support request is coming out of it's third week without any sign of life.
> IK Multimedia support sounds pretty luxurious to me.


+1 on Steinberg. I think they must reply to all support requests via carrier pigeon.


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## robgb

rocking.xmas.man said:


> So you think getting an answer calming you that you might have to wait several days for a response is bad?


Fuck yeah, I do. I JUST BOUGHT their freaking software and a file is corrupted. Surely I can't be the only person having this problem. And I don't give a crap how many customers they have, they should have responded to me in a timely manner. I've still heard nothing other than, yeah, we'll get back to you.


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## AllanH

I have two issues with IKMultimedia's way of doing business:

1) I only get 180 days to download my purchases. After that, I have to pay for additional downloads. This is, of course, "solvable" with lots of backups, but I find the policy disappointing

2) I only get 10 authorizations per product before i have to pay something again. I have products (Miroslav and SampleTank), where Windows updates have forced me to use some of my authorizations. I don't think that's right.

I don't use the IKM products as much anymore, so I no longer stress over it. 

My limited experience with IKM support has been kind, courteous, and (if I recall correctly) timely.


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## Desire Inspires

robgb said:


> Fuck yeah, I do. I JUST BOUGHT their freaking software and a file is corrupted. Surely I can't be the only person having this problem. And I don't give a crap how many customers they have, they should have responded to me in a timely manner. I've still heard nothing other than, yeah, we'll get back to you.



My friend, you did nothing wrong. 

It is unfortunate that companies do not believe in customer service. Even more disappointing is the fact that people here are tolerant of such garbage. 

Do not settle or go away quietly. You are owed reasonable accommodations for your frustrations. No one has the right to take your money and serve you a product that malfunctions!


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## NYC Composer

Desire Inspires-you are the worst.


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## Nick Batzdorf

Had to delete a post suggesting illegal activity.

Please don't do that - it invites bad things.


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## Nick Batzdorf

Polkasound, my apologies, but that whole subject has been made to disappear without a trace, so we don't want to leave trace elements.

I agree with what you posted 100%, and I hope you understand.


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## Polkasound

Nick Batzdorf said:


> Polkasound, my apologies, but that whole subject has been made to disappear without a trace, so we don't want to leave trace elements.



Ummmm.... what subject?


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## Sid Francis

Nick: You know how to nourish curiosity...working for Spitfire?  No, really just a joke....


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## Polkasound

Desire Inspires said:


> Even more disappointing is the fact that people here are tolerant of such garbage.



It sounds like you're confusing tolerance with experience. Many people here have experience dealing with a variety of companies as sizeable as IK Multimedia (multi-national company with millions of customers) and understand how support tickets work. The tickets are almost never instantaneous. Many take a full day or more, and big companies like Steinberg and Native Instruments, for example, can take up to several weeks to answer a support ticket.

There's usually an automated response acknowledging receipt of the ticket, and then it goes into a queue to be answered by humans. I'm sorry, but there is nothing special or extraordinary about Rob's purchase that entitles him to cut in front of every other customer in the queue to receive immediate help. I honestly feel bad about his situation, but he's simply going to have to wait in line like every other paying customer. [If Rob has never had to wait more than a day for support from a VI/software company before, he is unusually fortunate.]

In a perfect world, all companies would be able to answer support tickets within minutes, but the reality is that support ticket volumes fluctuate, creating both faster response times and slower response times. I'm guessing that their recent sales have created high support ticket volume, which means slower response times.

Having to wait more than a day for a support ticket to be answered is not ideal, but it's not extraordinary for a company of IK's size. A normal email conversation with CD Baby support, for example, can take weeks to play out because it takes them two days to respond to every addition to the conversation. Support ticket queues, and their inconvenient delays, are simply par for the course.


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## NYC Composer

Some people think it’s perfectly fine and groovy to express any passion they have, positive or negative, in any manner they choose. The InterWebs have incrementally validated this.

Me, I don’t think it’s so fine. I don’t think my commentary is OT, either. After all, I have strong opinions about this.


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## AlexanderSchiborr

robgb said:


> Thought I'd take advantage of the sale on Miroslav for $38, and after a torturous route to authorizing and downloading the necessary files, it turns out one of them is corrupted and I'm missing several sound files.
> 
> I contacted IK through their support page and was told it would be several days before I'd get a response.
> 
> WTF?
> 
> This whole experience has been a pain in the ass. Imagine if I'd paid full price for this thing.



Hi Rob,

Was that an automatic message you got in regards of that it takes several days? Maybe that was an automatic response from their system as this seems imo normal that they have to set up a general message reply because sure you are not the only customer and depending on how many requests they have it can take up to a few days. Having said that I read you contacted them on fb and you got there a quick reply. So how was that? Did you wait a couple of days and then you decided after that to contact them on fb or did you did that after you got that auto response mail? No don´t get me wrong: I don´t want to defend IK Multimedia nor I want to attack you, I am neutral and I can understand such frustration, but is that worth to open a thread here? I ask myself: Wouldnt it be fair to first wait on their response before deciding to open a thread with such a headline? And it seems they quickly replied on fb to you as it seems they are not ignoring your request. And before someone gets that wrong: I don´t work for them, I work for nobody. But that are my thoughts. Like I said: I can understand your frustration with that corrupt downloaded files but I also feel that such thread and especially the headline is a bit of a negative clickbait thing and though I don´t know the company in detail I feel at this point to mention my thoughts. You can disagree thats completely fine, just as some thoughts maybe for you. I mean we are different characters probably in that regards, but before I openly slam a company labeling them as the worst I would try first to sort things out directly with them before starting a discussion here.


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## Leslie Fuller

AlexanderSchiborr said:


> Hi Rob,
> 
> Was that an automatic message you got in regards of that it takes several days? Maybe that was an automatic response from their system as this seems imo normal that they have to set up a general message reply because sure you are not the only customer and depending on how many requests they have it can take up to a few days. Having said that I read you contacted them on fb and you got there a quick reply. So how was that? Did you wait a couple of days and then you decided after that to contact them on fb or did you did that after you got that auto response mail? No don´t get me wrong: I don´t want to defend IK Multimedia nor I want to attack you, I am neutral and I can understand such frustration, but is that worth to open a thread here? I ask myself: Wouldnt it be fair to first wait on their response before deciding to open a thread with such a headline? And it seems they quickly replied on fb to you as it seems they are not ignoring your request. And before someone gets that wrong: I don´t work for them, I work for nobody. But that are my thoughts. Like I said: I can understand your frustration with that corrupt downloaded files but I also feel that such thread and especially the headline is a bit of a negative clickbait thing and though I don´t know the company in detail I feel at this point to mention my thoughts. You can disagree thats completely fine, just as some thoughts maybe for you. I mean we are different characters probably in that regards, but before I openly slam a company labeling them as the worst I would try first to sort things out directly with them before starting a discussion here.



Hi @AlexanderSchiborr, please check the other thread here: https://vi-control.net/community/posts/4256957/, and you will see that Rob’s actual purchase of the IK software was around midday yesterday.


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## AlexanderSchiborr

Leslie Fuller said:


> Hi @AlexanderSchiborr, please check the other thread here: https://vi-control.net/community/posts/4256957/, and you will see that Rob’s actual purchase of the IK software was around midday yesterday.



Just yesterday? Ok, so he bought it yesterday, the download didn´t work properly, then he wrote a mail to the company which he got an autoreply, then he created that thread because the auto reply sais it will take several days and then he contacted them via fb afterwards and got a quick reply? Hm, ok, did I got that right?


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## axb312

Own the Stealth limiter and Bus compressor from IK. Good plugins.

Only thing is to resize them you need to own T-Racks.

Each plugin on its own sells for 125 Euros. Thats 250 Euros.

T-Racks 5 is for 150 Euros. That's 150 Euros just for the ability to resize and for additional metering.

Needless to say, not a fan of IKM anymore.


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## Saxer

No full realtime support service for some guy buying a $38 plugin on sale is really absolutely the worst


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## robgb

AlexanderSchiborr said:


> Just yesterday? Ok, so he bought it yesterday, the download didn´t work properly, then he wrote a mail to the company which he got an autoreply, then he created that thread because the auto reply sais it will take several days and then he contacted them via fb afterwards and got a quick reply? Hm, ok, did I got that right?


A reply without action means nothing. The reply on Facebook was that I should go and get support on the website, which I had already done. I went back and got a support ticket with ANOTHER department within support and got a canned reply. I have not heard a thing back, 24-hours later, about correcting the problem. So, yes, you got it partially right, except that your lack of empathy, the condescension and sarcasm were hardly needed. But thanks for the bonus. Remind me to return the favor the next time you have a complaint in this forum.



Saxer said:


> No full realtime support service for some guy buying a $38 plugin on sale is really absolutely the worst


Except they aren't aware I only bought it for $38, since it's a Musician's Friend sale and not an IK sale. But even if they ARE aware, that's absolutely no excuse for shitty customer service. I certainly hope you don't run a company.



Polkasound said:


> The tickets are almost never instantaneous.


I have enough experience to know this. BUT. A note saying they'll get back to me in a few days is completely ridiculous. As I said, I've had these kinds of problems before and they were corrected within hours.


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## AlexanderSchiborr

robgb said:


> A reply without action means nothing. The reply on Facebook was that I should go and get support on the website, which I had already done. I went back and got a support ticket with ANOTHER department within support and got a canned reply. I have not heard a thing back, 24-hours later, about correcting the problem. So, yes, you got it partially right, except that your lack of empathy, the condescension and sarcasm were hardly needed. But thanks for the bonus. Remind me to return the favor the next time you have a complaint in this forum.
> 
> 
> Except they aren't aware I only bought it for $38, since it's a Musician's Friend sale and not an IK sale. But even if they ARE aware, that's absolutely no excuse for shitty customer service. I certainly hope you don't run a company.
> 
> 
> I have enough experience to know this. BUT. A note saying they'll get back to me in a few days is completely ridiculous. As I said, I've had these kinds of problems before and they were corrected within hours.



Honestly: I was neither sarcastic nor condesceding. You seem really to be a person who is easily offended? I mean sometimes I am too but here I don´t see what kind of lack of empathy I showed? I even said that I can understand your frustration? did you read my comment? I was saying: I dont´attack you. Man..get a chill pill...you are not the center of the support ticket world..now that you can take as a little tease


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## robgb

NYC Composer said:


> Some people think it’s perfectly fine and groovy to express any passion they have, positive or negative, in any manner they choose. The InterWebs have incrementally validated this.
> 
> Me, I don’t think it’s so fine. I don’t think my commentary is OT, either. After all, I have strong opinions about this.


Some people also create posts to share their experience as a warning to others rather than contribute pointless comments to the thread.


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## robgb

AlexanderSchiborr said:


> Honestly: I was neither sarcastic nor condesceding. You seem really to be a person who is easily offended? I mean sometimes I am too but here I don´t see what kind of lack of empathy I showed? I even said that I can understand your frustration? did you read my comment? I was saying: I dont´attack you. Man..get a chill pill...


Look, if I misspoke, I apologize. I just find it a little disconcerting that it's day two, I haven't heard anything else from IK, and then I come here to find people making light of my situation, or even blaming me for complaining about it. It tends to put you (or me, at least) in a foul mood.


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## AlexanderSchiborr

robgb said:


> Look, if I misspoke, I apologize. I just find it a little disconcerting that it's day two, I haven't heard anything else from IK, and then I come here to find people making light of my situation, or even blaming me for complaining about it. It tends to put you (or me, at least) in a foul mood.


Yes, I see that..peace, I just wanted to say: I wrote tickets in the past too and maybe you can´t expect them to reply so quick. I am used probably to this stuff and so I don´t expect the insta replies. If that happens: Wow thats great, but don´t count on that. Again: All good, and I hope you will solve the issue and get your library installed.


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## robgb

AlexanderSchiborr said:


> Yes, I see that..peace, I just wanted to say: I wrote tickets in the past too and maybe you can´t expect them to reply so quick. I am used probably to this stuff and so I don´t expect the insta replies. If that happens: Wow thats great, but don´t count on that. Again: All good, and I hope you will solve the issue and get your library installed.


I have the same experience, but I've more frequently had the experience that the support desk has a chat module and a live person working it and the problem was corrected quickly. This one is particularly galling because the software I purchased is incomplete. Imagine if I were on some kind of deadline.

Anyway, I've said what I had to say. I'll report back if anything changes.

P.S. I changed the title of the thread to sound less like clickbait.


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## robgb

Finally heard back from them—kind of a generic response— but hope we'll get it sorted out.


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## AlexanderSchiborr

robgb said:


> Finally heard back from them—kind of a generic response— but hope we'll get it sorted out.



Thats good. Hope you solve that soon. And then I hope you have some good times with your new virtual instrument


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## Desire Inspires

NYC Composer said:


> Desire Inspires-you are the worst.



Yes, I am. Thanks, bro! 

Check me out on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/DesireInspires0

@DesireInspires0


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## kitekrazy

robgb said:


> Thought I'd take advantage of the sale on Miroslav for $38, and after a torturous route to authorizing and downloading the necessary files, it turns out one of them is corrupted and I'm missing several sound files.
> 
> I contacted IK through their support page and was told it would be several days before I'd get a response.
> 
> WTF?
> 
> This whole experience has been a pain in the ass. Imagine if I'd paid full price for this thing.
> 
> UPDATE: Title edited to sound less like clickbait. Twenty-four hours later and still no joy.
> 
> UPDATE 2: I was finally contacted and the matter has been sorted out. Twenty-four plus hours after I purchased this instrument, I can finally play it.
> 
> UPDATE 3: Sigh. There seems to be a problem with the software refusing to let me change some midi values. Back to support....



I've been fortunate that I had no issues but how did you know some were corrupted and missing? Was it through the initial scan or loading various patches?


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## robgb

kitekrazy said:


> I've been fortunate that I had no issues but how did you know some were corrupted and missing? Was it through the initial scan or loading various patches?


The zip file wouldn't open and said it was corrupt. The sounds come in three zip files and two were fine, but that third one was corrupt. So I was missing several instruments when I tried to load them.


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## dcoscina

I had a similar issue with Synthmaster. I bought 2 expansions and paid for them but neither showed up in my plug in. I tried contacting their customer service for the better part of a week but to no avail. Luckily I purchased thru PayPal and escalated to them so I got my money back since they never responded to them either.


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## Michael Antrum

Have you tried 7zip for unarchiving ? I’ve had problems with zip files before and using 7zip allowed me to open archives that other expanders showed as corrupt.


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## JPQ

dcoscina said:


> I had a similar issue with Synthmaster. I bought 2 expansions and paid for them but neither showed up in my plug in. I tried contacting their customer service for the better part of a week but to no avail. Luckily I purchased thru PayPal and escalated to them so I got my money back since they never responded to them either.



Good know. somehow i liked how synthmaster sounds (some others sound better to me) but this removes it my list. at least these others answers quickly.(U-he and Rob Papen,Tone2). Also Ik multimedia is removed even Sampletank 3 audiodemos some things sound something what i can use way.


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## Nick Batzdorf

Sid Francis said:


> Nick: You know how to nourish curiosity...working for Spitfire?  No, really just a joke....



Nope, I'm a Russian spy and I sleep with beautiful women in exchange for access to high-up sample developers.


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## Michael Antrum

Nick Batzdorf said:


> Nope, I'm a Russian spy and I sleep with beautiful women in exchange for access to high-up sample developers.



That's what they want you to think......


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## NYC Composer

Desire Inspires said:


> Yes, I am. Thanks, bro!
> 
> Check me out on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/DesireInspires0
> 
> @DesireInspires0


Thanks for the offer, but I'd rather have hot nails pounded into my eyes. 
Got any hot nails?


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## robgb

UPDATE: My initial problem was fixed, but I had a secondary problem in that the Miroslav player (and Sampletank 3) would not allow me to adjust the min and max percentages for controlling a knob (or fx) with midi. I have been back and forth several times with them, sent them a link to a video showing the problem, and they last thing I heard from them this morning was "I don't know what the problem is." Sigh. Let's hope someone there does and they get back to me.


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## NYC Composer

Upshot-your initial problem for your $38 product was dealt with within three days.

Thank you for changing the thread title.


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## robgb

NYC Composer said:


> Upshot-your initial problem for your $38 product was dealt with within three days.


It should have been dealt with in three hours. And no, I'm not joking.


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## rocking.xmas.man

how was your initial problem fixed?
your secondary problem is you cannot set that midi cc xy value 0 equals to 17% of the knob and value 128 equals to 85% do I get that right?


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## NYC Composer

robgb said:


> It should have been dealt with in three hours. And no, I'm not joking.


I want a red wagon, a pony, and I want premium chocolate ice cream to be calorie free. I don’t believe either of us is likely to get exactly what we want, but it’s good to have aspirations.


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## robgb

NYC Composer said:


> I want a red wagon, a pony, and I want premium chocolate ice cream to be calorie free. I don’t believe either of us is likely to get exactly what we want, but it’s good to have aspirations.


I don't need any of those things. I just need good customer service.


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## erica-grace

robgb said:


> It should have been dealt with in three hours. And no, I'm not joking.



Yes you are. Nobody that has any sort of intellect would ever say that seriously.


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## robgb

erica-grace said:


> Yes you are. Nobody that has any sort of intellect would ever say that seriously.


Your sly little attack aside, I'm dead serious. When I've had problems in the past with other developers or retailers, I've gotten help the very same day. Even big companies with lots of customers.

There is absolutely no reason why customer service has to be slow -- unless, of course, it's not that important to you. Some of the developers I've dealt with have chat support and they help you during the chat session. When I didn't receive my download from Musician's Friend a couple days ago, I got on chat support and the problem was solved within seconds. 

With IK, I had a corrupt download. Something that should be simple to remedy. But they don't have chat support. They have an archaic ticket system with no real instructions on which department to contact for such a problem. Sales? Tech Support? Had to guess on that one. Then I got a message saying it could be days before they contacted me. Someone suggested I go to their Facebook page and that sped things up a bit, but I still didn't hear from them until the following day.

So perhaps it has nothing to do with intellect. Maybe it has to do with providing a service.


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## erica-grace

No reasonable person would expect a response in _three hours_. No reasonable person would expect a small company such as IK to have support reps waiting to support customers 24/7 - which would have to be the case to get a response within three hours. When I send an email to SFA on Saturday morning, I get a response late Monday afternoon. If I send one Monday morn, it's replied to (usually) within 24 hours. Both are acceptable.

At this point, I think you are just trolling.


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## Motr3b

Hi
I don't know why this thread has 4 pages of comments, every one is saying the right thing,imo.
There is nothing wrong with asking for better services from a company that you bought a product from. Even if the product costs only 38$. At the same time, the whole idea of setting deadlines for a support reply might be a bit too idealistic. i can't blame rob for what he wants, and i can't blame everyone else for blaming rob for how he wants it.
So since the problem's solved, would you guys stop talking about the whole thing??


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## Polkasound

These are all my support tickets from 2016-2017...

Native Instruments:
Ticket created 1/3/2016. Ticket answered: 1/7/2016
Time: 4 days

Steinberg:
Ticket created: 1/7/2016. Ticket answered 1/18/2016
Time: 11 days

Native Instruments:
Ticket created 3/20/2016. Ticket answered: 3/20/2016
Time: 8 hours

Soniccouture
Ticket created: 12/5/2016. Ticket answered 12/5/2016
Time: within one hour

IK Multimedia
Ticket created: 12/2/2016. Ticket answered 12/2/2016
Time: within one hour

IK Multimedia
Ticket created: 12/7/2016. Ticket answered 12/8/2016
Time: 12 hours

IK Multimedia
Ticket created: 12/9/2016. Ticket answered 12/11/2016
Time: 1 1/2 days

8Dio:
Ticket created 3/22/17. Ticket answered: 4/6/17
Time: 15 days

SoundIron:
Ticket created: 12/6/2017. Ticket answered: 12/6/2017
Time: within the hour

Native Instruments:
Ticket created 12/6/2017. Ticket answered: 12/19/17
Time: 13 days

Sonokinetic:
Ticket created 12/13/17. Ticket answered: 12/13/17
Time: Within three hours

Based on my experience, response times within three hours are definitely not the norm, and therefore not something I would expect.


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## StatKsn

I think the main issue is unreliable downloading experience rather than support time, and you don't really know if their downloading pipeline/system is solid or not before purchasing.

Recently I had an unpleasant downloading experience with a developer I am reluctant to disclose the name (because they were very nice and the library is definitely great) where, no matter what I do, their downloading software refuses to login or show anything. It was not a connection or firewall issue as I can manually ping their server and TCP/IP shows a successful connection - they were quick to get back to me, but they can't suggest anything beyond "disable your firewall" as they apparently weren't who developed the software. After trying multiple PCs with no success, I luckily was able to download using a Mac with external HDD. It took two days.

They even had a dedicated subforum for downloading issue, with a lot of similar posts over the course of years, so the whole situation made me wonder why they were not able to fix the software or willing to simply use Continuata etc. instead of wasting their time supporting. The terms of download was also unfriendly (you can only download the library once - they cited bandwidth issue, but it is measly 20GB for a $400 product... also it's very slow as the software stops downloading while unpacking each volume one by one) which kind of makes me nervous about future purchase despite that the library was so good.

Continuata in general seems to be a good experience for me. Fast, reliable, can download as many times as I want and I can even use a manual link.


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## paulmatthew

Polkasound said:


> These are all my support tickets from 2016-2017...
> 
> Native Instruments:
> Ticket created 1/3/2016. Ticket answered: 1/7/2016
> Time: 4 days
> 
> Steinberg:
> Ticket created: 1/7/2016. Ticket answered 1/18/2016
> Time: 11 days
> 
> Native Instruments:
> Ticket created 3/20/2016. Ticket answered: 3/20/2016
> Time: 8 hours
> 
> Soniccouture
> Ticket created: 12/5/2016. Ticket answered 12/5/2016
> Time: within one hour
> 
> IK Multimedia
> Ticket created: 12/2/2016. Ticket answered 12/2/2016
> Time: within one hour
> 
> IK Multimedia
> Ticket created: 12/7/2016. Ticket answered 12/8/2016
> Time: 12 hours
> 
> IK Multimedia
> Ticket created: 12/9/2016. Ticket answered 12/11/2016
> Time: 1 1/2 days
> 
> 8Dio:
> Ticket created 3/22/17. Ticket answered: 4/6/17
> Time: 15 days
> 
> SoundIron:
> Ticket created: 12/6/2017. Ticket answered: 12/6/2017
> Time: within the hour
> 
> Native Instruments:
> Ticket created 12/6/2017. Ticket answered: 12/19/17
> Time: 13 days
> 
> Sonokinetic:
> Ticket created 12/13/17. Ticket answered: 12/13/17
> Time: Within three hours
> 
> Based on my experience, response times within three hours are definitely not the norm, and therefore not something I would expect.


Steinberg and Native Instruments usually take the longest . Either they’re just that big or don’t enough of a support staff . With 8dio , your best bet is the live chat , great success with that here . Soundiron , Orange Tree Samples , Cinesamples, Sonokinetic , Red Room Audio , Impact Soundworks and Audiobro are quick to respond generally be it an inquiry or technical support .


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## robgb

erica-grace said:


> No reasonable person would expect a response in _three hours_. No reasonable person would expect a small company such as IK to have support reps waiting to support customers 24/7 - which would have to be the case to get a response within three hours.


Musicians Friend, 8Dio, my ISP, my web service provider—all small companies that have responded to and fixed problems in a matter of minutes, not hours. There is nothing unreasonable about expecting a quick response, especially when something you just ordered and paid for is incomplete.

As for IK, the last I heard about the latest glitch in the software is, "It works fine for me. I don't know what the problem is." That was yesterday morning. Not a peep since, despite me sending them a video showing the problem exactly. Still waiting for a fix.

But as @Motr3b suggests, maybe it's time to move on. Even though the problems are not solved. I have no desire to endlessly debate the merits of good customer service. You'd think there would be no debate about it at all.


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## Land of Missing Parts

If you're under a tight deadline, you could try using your other libraries to cover in a pinch. You might not get the precise sound of Miroslav Philharmonik 2 CE, but I have an inkling that you've got other libraries that can get you a good sound so it needn't grind you to a halt.


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## kitekrazy

robgb said:


> Musicians Friend, 8Dio, my ISP, my web service provider—all small companies that have responded to and fixed problems in a matter of minutes, not hours. There is nothing unreasonable about expecting a quick response, especially when something you just ordered and paid for is incomplete.
> 
> As for IK, the last I heard about the latest glitch in the software is, *"It works fine for me. I don't know what the problem is." *That was yesterday morning. Not a peep since, despite me sending them a video showing the problem exactly. Still waiting for a fix.
> 
> But as @Motr3b suggests, maybe it's time to move on. Even though the problems are not solved. I have no desire to endlessly debate the merits of good customer service. You'd think there would be no debate about it at all.



I loathe this in gaming forums. After that the end users tell you it's your system and they brag about theirs. I've had situations where the zip file I downloaded is corrupt. After downloading it again a few times I know it's on their end. I always feel the larger they are the better chance of them being corrupt.


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## Polkasound

robgb said:


> Still waiting for a fix.



You apparently got the library to work, though, because I saw your review of the library the other day. How did you get it to work?


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## robgb

Polkasound said:


> You apparently got the library to work, though, because I saw your review of the library the other day. How did you get it to work?


They finally helped me with that. The fix I'm waiting on is the problem I talked about in the review, where the midi control menu doesn't work for me. Every time I change values they default back to 0 or 100%. This isn't supposed to happen, and I've seen it work for others. The IK guy says it works for him, and he doesn't know what's wrong. That's the last I heard from him, yesterday morning.


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## robgb

kitekrazy said:


> I loathe this in gaming forums. After that the end users tell you it's your system and they brag about theirs. I've had situations where the zip file I downloaded is corrupt. After downloading it again a few times I know it's on their end. I always feel the larger they are the better chance of them being corrupt.


To clarify, this was about a problem with the Miroslav player itself, not the download. The download issue was cleared up.


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## pmcrockett

robgb said:


> They finally helped me with that. The fix I'm waiting on is the problem I talked about in the review, where the midi control menu doesn't work for me. Every time I change values they default back to 0 or 100%. This isn't supposed to happen, and I've seen it work for others. The IK guy says it works for him, and he doesn't know what's wrong. That's the last I heard from him, yesterday morning.


This is maybe a long shot, but I used to experience Miroslav 1 behaving differently depending on whether I was running it as administrator or not (the problem had to do with it being unable to properly save presets unless running as administrator). So if you're on Windows and not already doing it, try running either your DAW or the standalone player as administrator.


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## robgb

pmcrockett said:


> This is maybe a long shot, but I used to experience Miroslav 1 behaving differently depending on whether I was running it as administrator or not (the problem had to do with it being unable to properly save presets unless running as administrator). So if you're on Windows and not already doing it, try running either your DAW or the standalone player as administrator.


Yeah, I'm on a Mac. Running as admin. Tried both DAW and standalone and still having the problem.


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## Land of Missing Parts

This is neither here nor there regarding IK Multimedia, but here's an interesting thought to consider when talking about the POV of composers versus the POV of developers.

Let's say a composer writes a song that ends up in a TV show. They do the work once, but get paid royalties every time that show airs.

A developer sells their product to a composer and gets paid once, but will then have to support that product for an open ended period of time going forward.

Now imagine if the composer were to have that kind of open ended business model where they have to keep reworking a song every time it's on TV but don't get paid. Ugh, it makes my brain hurt to think it.

Of course I'm oversimplifying and leaving a lot out of the story, like the fact that composers, up until their delivery deadlines, essentially do have to rework their songs to the point where it's torture, etc. Composing is no cakewalk, but I think it's useful to consider the point of view of the developers too. And more often than not they are composers as well.

A little love for all the developers out there, even though certainly I love some more than others.


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## StatKsn

In IK's case, it is an issue on their general infrastructure and a glitch on their core software. Since they use the same software on downloading almost everything they offer, and as Philharmonik 2 is more or less Sampletank it likely shares the same code with their other sampler products, fixing the issue is merely an ongoing investment on their core software/framework rather than an unpaid rework.

Some developers do offer lifetime free update or n-year free update for a very long time (a DAW example: FL Studio, Reaper). I doubt they think they are doing an unpaid rework. More likely, they think they are updating their codebase as a valuable investment for the future products.


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## Ellen Soomers

robgb said:


> Thought I'd take advantage of the sale on Miroslav for $38, and after a torturous route to authorizing and downloading the necessary files, it turns out one of them is corrupted and I'm missing several sound files.
> 
> I contacted IK through their support page and was told it would be several days before I'd get a response.
> 
> WTF?
> 
> This whole experience has been a pain in the ass. Imagine if I'd paid full price for this thing.
> 
> UPDATE: Title edited to sound less like clickbait. Twenty-four hours later and still no joy.
> 
> UPDATE 2: I was finally contacted and the matter has been sorted out. Twenty-four plus hours after I purchased this instrument, I can finally play it.
> 
> UPDATE 3: Sigh. There seems to be a problem with the software refusing to let me change some midi values. Back to support....


I agree, for me it is so annoying that i am gonna delete my purchase and i will never buy another IK Multi Media product. I've downloades at least around 200 Plugins/VST's but never had such a pain in the ass experience as this one from IK Multi Media, horrible!!!!


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