Subject:How much of the "problem" is Acid 4?

Posted by: Jessariah

Date:8/24/2002 10:30:55 PM

Guys (and gals),

I've got to say that I'm seeing some gripes in here that don't really gel with my situation. Up front, to be fair, I use ACID as a loop-based composing tool. I don't use it for MIDI or tracking (I've got SONAR and VV3 for those tasks). I also don't use soft synths.

Now, with that said, I have been playing with this app on and off for a week now with no problems at all. I set up my card (Delta 44) in about 3 seconds. I've imported Acid Music files. I've thrown separate sets of tracks through multiple busses w/ plugins. I've gone up one side of the Chopper and down the other. I've rendered out to .wav. No sluggish behavior. Not a single crash.

And I'm working on a relative dinosaur -- PIII 850, 256MB RAM, WIN 98SE, ATA 66 (double drives @ 7200 rpm).

I know there are some out there who are pushing this to its limits, but as one who sees (and uses) Acid as "one of many tools in the box," I'd like to say I'm very pleased with it.

My bet is, the other features will be straightened out here soon enough (for you nay-sayers wanting to know why the SoFo people aren't writing novels in response to your biting posts -- would you rather them spend all their time in here, or at their stations, fixing these problems?)

I'm not saying the complaints and bug reports are unfounded. I AM saying that there is a productive way to get to the solution and an UNproductive way. Ted announced the features, and we sat here and watched certain members of this community bash a product they had never laid hands on. We were all anxious -- no doubt about it. Then, it was finally released. Now we have the same faction playing "monday morning armchair marketer/programmer." This doesn't do anyone any good. There are those who have posted bug lists, and those are helpful. And then there are those (like our ReWire fanatics), who will find every and any excuse to bash SoFo and Acid 4 because it didn't come with their particular "little darling." Some of these people were, just a week ago, waving a big flag and proclaiming that we need to be supporting SoFo now more than ever...

I bought Acid 4, sight unseen. No demo. No nail-biting. It was almost certain that there would be some bugs. If I had encountered any, I would have dealt with it. Go back to "old faithful" for a few weeks if necessary. They will work it out. When 5.0 comes out, I'll buy that, too. Why? BECAUSE THIS IS, HANDS-DOWN, THE BEST LOOP-BASED APP ON THE PLANET.

Think about how easy your life would be without Acid AT ALL...You want your "little darlings?" -- chin up and hang in there. Some perspective buyers (and future supporters of the features you want) read these forums before making purchases. If I were a stranger to this site, reading some of these recent threads, I would think that Acid 4's sole purpose is to crash my computer and ruin my life. I (and my money) would be gone, never to return.

Sorry I got long-winded, but I really think some of you are making enemies when we need to be making friends...

Subject:RE: How much of the

Reply by: dlcham

Date:8/24/2002 11:17:28 PM

No doubt, it's the midi stuff that's causing all the heartburn. I suppose that's to be expected because that's really the new functionality here. Like you, I also think that SoFo will get this stuff straightened out pretty quickly.

Subject:RE: How much of the blah, blah, blah

Reply by: midihead

Date:8/25/2002 3:55:21 AM

Hey, it's a public forum. If Sonic Foundry wanted a special forum for rants and pissing I think they would have made one...don't you? Therefore, don't get upset with those who come and speak their minds here...the door is wide open.

From the looks of it you use Acid for loop creation, and that's all. Well then, unless you've used the new features you're not going to find the many problems that are surfacing, right? Therefore you can't fathom the frustration people are having. Though I don't think everyone is griping in a diplomatic way...there are some very valid points. Not to mention that it helped to find that I'm not alone as I've seen the same problems I'm having being spoken about on this forum.

MOST of the problems seem to be with the VSTi's and Delta ASIO drivers. I personally think that the Delta problems are inherant of the ASIO drivers from M-Audio and that this may not be a Sonic Foundry issue at all. I've had little problems with some VSTi's like sounds changing for no reason, where others have just plain booted me off my machine. It's frustrating no doubt when you've laid out a bunch of tracks, added a VSTi and then blam...locked up, booted. But alas, I would have never expected much less from a new feature. I feel that Sonic Foundry will adress these issues in bug fixes and upgrades, this I have faith in. These are some MAJOR add on's here, so some slack must be granted. That's why they've been so kind as to allow us to rant here on this forum, so in turn they may find out from the vast number of voices what's right with it, what's wrong.

Hey, I suggested the addition of a step sequencer, I suggested FX automation and obviously they listened. I use ACID almost exclusively in my compositions. See, I'm one of those guys that pushes it to the envelope.

-Midihead

Subject:You missed the point...

Reply by: Jessariah

Date:8/25/2002 8:36:57 AM

I never said that the complaints and bugs were unwarranted (in fact, I said just the opposite). I was also very clear that my usage wasn't going very deep into the app. I'm not saying that no one should be critical in this forum -- I AM saying that the way some people are going about it is counter-productive. When you see threads that are titled "How do I get my money back?" and so on...that's just opportunistic nonsense. If I had that serious of a gripe, I'd be on the phone -- not in a user-to-user forum. And the ReWire issue -- we've been there and done that. Yet, some people have to throw it into every single argument they post here. Stuff like that is what I was addressing.

Look. SoFo probably would have been wiser to Beta this for six weeks and release a less-buggy app in October. We would have had our hands on it, but wouldn't have been as disappointed, knowing that there were some things to iron out. But the tour was announced and they had no choice. Poor planning? Yeah, probably. Will it hurt them $$$ in the long run. Yeah, probably. Hopefully, something like this won't happen again.

I just think we need to be focusing on what we CAN do, reather than repeatedly harping on what has been done and who's to blame and how many got the shaft...over and over and over...

Subject:RE: You missed the point...

Reply by: drbam

Date:8/25/2002 10:45:00 AM

<<I AM saying that the way some people are going about it is counter-productive. When you see threads that are titled "How do I get my money back?" and so on...that's just opportunistic nonsense. If I had that serious of a gripe, I'd be on the phone -- not in a user-to-user forum. And the ReWire issue -- we've been there and done that. Yet, some people have to throw it into every single argument they post here. Stuff like that is what I was addressing. >>

Exactly!! At this point I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a thread that addresses the "meaning of reality" and why the planet may be unsustainable due to SoFo falling down on the job! This same kind of crap is even worse on the Vegas forum. I would really like to see all this pissing and moaning energy directed toward really assisting folks who have functional questions. There's some really knowldgeable folks here and I personally would love the opportunity to learn from them. Unfornunately most of the good stuff gets sidetracked into these "endless loop" soapbox posturings (pun intended).

drbam

Subject:RE: You missed the point...

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:8/25/2002 5:44:15 PM

Very well said.

I come here all the time so I can help other ACID users with their problems and maybe give out a tip or two when I can.

This is a peer to peer support forum. I have no problems if users want to come here to gripe. Fine. I guess that's their problem. However, what would be the point? For other peer users to see it? The good people from Sonic Foundry gave us this forum and do not, I repeat, do not have to respond to any posts here. They do so out of mere courtesy. It would be absolutely ludicrous to assume that they have to respond here.

Inane and insulting comments don't help either, as Kevin and Byron pointed out. For example, there are just different ways different people work with the same program. I just don't use ReWire. Am I any less of a musician/composer/arranger/whatever just because I don't use ReWire to hook apps together?

To me, it says a lot if one can't live without a certain feature that one has requested or wanted. It tells me one cannot be ingenious enough to work around an apparent limitation in a program. (ACID Pro has so few to begin with, IMO. It is the loop king in my world.)

And it's not the end of the world just because it's missing this one feature or if ACID has bugs (which will be fixed). One would say, "Time is money." I guess, but I'm not in this for the money. I'm in it for the music. Maybe that's why I can't understand the problem. If that be true, call me Unenlightened. I will wear the title proudly.

F--k it, I'm done here (for now),
Iacobus