Just jumped the Waldorf ship... - The Unofficial Access Virus & Virus TI Forum

MarkM13 · #1 26.02.2009, 01:59 PM

I've had a Blofeld for the last 3.5 weeks. I really liked the sound of it and programing it was great. But, the OS had soooooo many issues. I returned it and have a Snow on the way. I've been wanting a Virus for a while and thought I'd give the Blofeld a shot given the price difference. But, I found myself having to deal with the Blofelds quirks way too often.

Upon reading the 3.0 release thread I was getting the feeling that the TIs have their issues too. The snow that's coming has OS 2.7.3 I wondering if I should just stay there until 3.0 is out of beta.

If anyone would like to offer thoughts or suggestions to a TI newbie feel free to fire away.

This quest for a new synth started way back in Nov 08... If you're interested in the details they can be had here:
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/....php?t=2177467

blairwillis · #2 26.02.2009, 02:55 PM

It's safe to update to 2.7.5, but if you don't want to deal with quirks, definitely hold off on 3 for some of the big bugs to get worked out.

It's a beta, plain and simple, and the very first beta release for that matter. The whole point of a beta is to get it into a public test bed to see if volunteer "beta-testers" can help flush out bugs.

I think that the interwebs have been too freely applying the "beta" moniker to the point that people expect beta software to be stable. Case in point: Google's gmail, which has been in "beta" for years now.

An aside: The board comments on 3.0b sometimes surprise me with their tone. Yes, it's o.k. to post a bug to make other users aware of it, but IMHO stop freaking out about something not working and asking when it will be fixed. This is not unique to this board and this beta software, but across the net. People need to understand that "beta" means an experimental, work-in-progress, buggy, problematic, incomplete, quirky, etc..

I somewhat prefer "private" beta releases, such as the Ableton Live method of limiting beta software releases to a limited pool of beta testers who have specifically requested to test, rather than a wide-open public release. I would be concerned from a manufacturer's point of view that too many people will get the impression that the hardware is not reliable simply because they misunderstand the "beta" concept. Your comment that you were "getting the feeling that the TIs have their issues too" coupled with the next observation to stay with 2.7.3 "until 3.0 is out of beta" indicates this pervasive association of beta reliability with product reliability.

P.S. This comment is a beta version, is therefore not perfect or complete, and may be subject to further change or alteration. By reading this comment, you accept the limited license to consider the thoughts herein, and agree to hold harmless the purveyor of information for any potential damages or disruptions to your normal thought process. Attempts to contact the author will be subject to the processing of email via Google gmail, which is likewise a beta product, suffered an outage yesterday, and may in fact result in your message not reaching its intended destination. Even if it does, the author has been known to mistakenly delete messages, or just plain not respond, whether out of lack of interest, lack of motivation, or pure procrastination resulting in the message being buried in 1000s of other messages in the huge "inbox." Caveat emptor. E Pluribus Unum.

Totty · #3 26.02.2009, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkM13

I've had a Blofeld for the last 3.5 weeks. I really liked the sound of it and programing it was great. But, the OS had soooooo many issues. I returned it and have a Snow on the way. I've been wanting a Virus for a while and thought I'd give the Blofeld a shot given the price difference. But, I found myself having to deal with the Blofelds quirks way too often.

Upon reading the 3.0 release thread I was getting the feeling that the TIs have their issues too. The snow that's coming has OS 2.7.3 I wondering if I should just stay there until 3.0 is out of beta.

If anyone would like to offer thoughts or suggestions to a TI newbie feel free to fire away.

This quest for a new synth started way back in Nov 08... If you're interested in the details they can be had here:
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/....php?t=2177467

Unlucky mate, my Blofeld has been pretty faultless (at least in line with similar issues with my Virus TI - in fact probably better.

Saying that, I wouldn't be without my virus. I think you should hold on 2.7.3. 3 is a little rough around around the edges..

Splat! · #4 26.02.2009, 03:16 PM

Exactly what Blair said. It is a 'Public Beta', stop freaking out. If your projects are getting messed up, switch back to 2.7.5, which is quite stable.

Blofeld's new update fixes a lot of MIDI sync issues. I still find the Blofeld a little too harsh (treble side). But, some people like raw and gritty. I'm going to give it a little more time, before I decide

Wait for the Sample Memory to be released and maybe the plugin

________
Ferret armoured car

Chicago · #5 27.02.2009, 01:53 AM

Blofeld and faultless in the same sentence? I had one for a few months, and it was so buggy I could not use it. On top, the encoders are aweful and forget multi-mode - you cannot even save multis.

Snow and Blofeld are not even in the same class.

Totty · #6 27.02.2009, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chicago

Blofeld and faultless in the same sentence? I had one for a few months, and it was so buggy I could not use it. On top, the encoders are aweful and forget multi-mode - you cannot even save multis.

Snow and Blofeld are not even in the same class.

Yes, in the same sentence! I have had no show stoppers for me. You can now save multis. For crying out loud, it's so cheap I dunno what all the fuss is about. I bought it for the synth engine, not whether I can remote control it from a starship, make tea! Agreed the encoders aren't great, but they are no worse than my JP8080's sandpaper response. It's never hung, crashed played random notes, suffered midi timing issues, removed envelope shapes when playing and a number of other things my TI has done.

It isn't in the same class as a Snow, if I had to choose I would chose a Blofeld over a Snow any day. But then I have a TI

rcmusic · #7 27.02.2009, 10:45 AM

you can save multi on the blofeld (128 slots), this is an addition of the 1.11 OS

Splat! · #8 27.02.2009, 11:21 AM

I would choose a 'Snow' over a 'Blofeld'

I admit, I haven't spent much time with the Blofeld yet, but Waldorf needs to atleast get a VSTi editor (which looks like Largo)

My only complaint is that, the presets sound raw (treble harsh), not polished

compared to my GT and TI.
________
buy no2

MarkM13 · #9 27.02.2009, 11:31 AM

Blair,

Good post RE public beta. If the 1.11/12 versions of the Blofeld were released as beta I probably would have been more patient. However, even with the current updates on it my experiences were the same a Chicago's in that I found it unusable.

I had to chuckle at Totty's response,
"It's never hung, crashed played random notes, suffered midi timing issues, removed envelope shapes when playing and a number of other things ..."

Upon first reading that I thought he was refering to a Blofeld; those were the same exact issues I was having. The I realized he was referencing a TI!

I am going to hold off on updating the Snow when it arrives. Once 3.0 is solid I'll upgrade then.

Thanks for the comments.

M

Totty · #10 27.02.2009, 11:36 AM

Guess I must just be lucky with my Blofeld

and yes I have programmed it extensively and sequenced it. The only thing I haven't done is use Multimode, maybe thats where problems come in. To clarify, I would not choose a Blofeld over a Virus TI, but having a TI i would of course rather a Blofeld over a Snow. I don't think my post made that clear really as it was from my personal POV Soz about that.

They are very different machines and I'm glad to have both.