Superior Drummer 3 Upgrade Discontinued?!

[Stefan]

Hi,
I have received a sales announcement saying:
END-OF-SALE ANNOUNCEMENT.
Attention all owners of Superior Drummer 2: The Superior Drummer 3 Upgrade will be discontinued on December 31, 2018. Don’t miss taking advantage of the heavily discounted upgrade pricing. Upgrade today!

I hope you are not really serious with this intention. You are forcing me to upgrade now and disable it later – this is unfair! You shall not do that! I have already invested into you, do not say it will not count any more! If I am not ready to upgrade now do not force me! Leave it up to me when I upgrade!

Stefan.

Stefan Sebechlebsky, Bratislava, Slovakia.

23

Thanked by: SCOTT KATZ, littlesicily, A former customer. and 20 others.

Topic

[SigiZ58]

Hi,
honestly speaking. I just got the same email.
I have all SDX from SD2 and now this ? I will have to think about the future.

3

Thanked by: SCOTT KATZ, arturovcid and Tuncer Toklu

[steve]

This a poor move by Toontrack and stinks of a money grab and literally nothing else.

There should always be an upgrade path between versions. I own all Steinberg products from Nuendo down. If they tried something like this I’d sell it all migrate to another providers eco system. Whoever made this decision seems to have a lack of understanding how users feel about being strong armed into an upgrade before they are ready solely because the company concerned, ‘Toontrack’, is ripping the carpet out from under them. Disgraceful!!

8

Thanked by: SCOTT KATZ, 123rw, Sophiam and 5 others.

[wphall]

People complaining about the cost of SD is totally annoying. This is NOT disgraceful… we should be thanking Toontrack for NOT being greedy.

Why isn’t Toontrack being greedy you might ask? For two reasons:
– First (and this is huge): They aren’t being jerks and switching to a subscription model. THANK YOU TOONTRACK! Seriously, thank you! Adobe, MS, etc.. now they are greedy.
– Second: For the price, this is the single most amazing piece of drumming software available today. The amount of work that has gone into this is second to none.

Think of it like this… Toontrack could easily have done 2 things here:
– Gone to subscription- Again, thank you!
– Called SD3 SDPro and completely eliminated upgrades altogether.

So, I’d like to say, “Thank you Toontrack for the awesome software and NOT being jerks. Please keep up the awesome work!”

Just my 2cents.

2015 MacBook Pro: 16/512ssd, EZ2, SD2, SD3

[Terry.Kack]

It’s been 10 years since they asked for an upgrade fee. They could have released a version every two years for a modest $100 fee every time and and you’d be out $500.
It’s an astounding upgrade; I already have it. It’s so much better that I think you’re just wasting time and effort for a lesser result if you haven’t upgraded.

[olliepudge]

@wphall said:
People complaining about the cost of SD is totally annoying. This is NOT disgraceful… we should be thanking Toontrack for NOT being greedy.

Why isn’t Toontrack being greedy you might ask? For two reasons:
– First (and this is huge): They aren’t being jerks and switching to a subscription model. THANK YOU TOONTRACK! Seriously, thank you! Adobe, MS, etc.. now they are greedy.
– Second: For the price, this is the single most amazing piece of drumming software available today. The amount of work that has gone into this is second to none.

Think of it like this… Toontrack could easily have done 2 things here:
– Gone to subscription- Again, thank you!
– Called SD3 SDPro and completely eliminated upgrades altogether.

So, I’d like to say, “Thank you Toontrack for the awesome software and NOT being jerks. Please keep up the awesome work!”

Just my 2cents.  

I agree with all of this. $200 is a steal for what you get with SD3. I can’t believe there are people who still haven’t upgraded yet. Do yourself a favor and just do it. You will be glad you did!

[Scott Eshleman]

@olliepudge said:
I agree with all of this. $200 is a steal for what you get with SD3.
I can’t believe there are people who still haven’t upgraded yet.
Do yourself a favor and just do it. You will be glad you did!  

Add my enthusiastic agreement to the discussion.
But it seems that mobile apps, the proliferation of plugins and piracy have cheapened the public perception of the value for the time,
labor and resources required to create software like a SuperiorDrummer or EZDrummer.

Putting this kind and level of drum production into the hands of the prosumer… it really is a bargain.

Think about it:
Rent a renowned, professional recording studio, like Galaxy studios in Belgium, The Warehouse in Vancouver, BC,
Atlantis Studios in Stockholm, Avatar Studios in New York City or Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

Hire a professional drummer, like Kenny Aronoff, Gene Hoglan (Strapping Young Lad, Testament) or Tomas Haake (Meshuggah).

Hire a legendary and/or in-demand producer, like George Massenburg, Bob Rock, Andy Sneap, Neil Dorfsman, or Forrester Savell.

Hire an engineer & a tech or 2. Maybe even a drum tech.

Rent 4, 5, 6, or 7 drum kits and their various accessories.
and that’s just to make the samples!
Just watch any of “the Making of….” videos (some linked below).

Then think about the programming done to create all of the different modules and functionality in the software to manipulate & play those samples…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY4Hrtble0Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNQGzr5vUoM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=dmsUPreQ0II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPlAcqmqY3Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=019UQykJ0pM

[olliepudge]

@Scott E said:

Add my enthusiastic agreement to the discussion.
But it seems that mobile apps, the proliferation of plugins and piracy have cheapened the public perception of the value for the time,
labor and resources required to create software like a SuperiorDrummer or EZDrummer.

Putting this kind and level of drum production into the hands of the prosumer… it really is a bargain.

Think about it:
Rent a renowned, professional recording studio, like Galaxy studios in Belgium, The Warehouse in Vancouver, BC,
Atlantis Studios in Stockholm, Avatar Studios in New York City or Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

Hire a professional drummer, like Kenny Aronoff, Gene Hoglan (Strapping Young Lad, Testament) or Tomas Haake (Meshuggah).

Hire a legendary and/or in-demand producer, like George Massenburg, Bob Rock, Andy Sneap, Neil Dorfsman, or Forrester Savell.

Hire an engineer & a tech or 2. Maybe even a drum tech.

Rent 4, 5, 6, or 7 drum kits and their various accessories.
and that’s just to make the samples!
Just watch any of “the Making of….” videos (some linked below).

Then think about the programming done to create all of the different modules and functionality in the software to manipulate & play those samples…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY4Hrtble0Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNQGzr5vUoM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=dmsUPreQ0II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPlAcqmqY3Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=019UQykJ0pM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=yDqIfYk6qRM  

Exactly Scott! Good post. I honestly would’ve gladly paid the $400 for SD3 after owning it since release day. I think it was very generous of Toontrack to offer the discounted price for the upgrade. Like wphall said, they could’ve just added it as a new software program with NO upgrade option at all.

[ngstime]

Will there be a upgrade sale this summer? or is it just time to move on?

Are you certain this kind of bullish tactic to force us to upgrade is a good idea?
Ultimatums always fail….

[wphall]

Well… If there going to be a sale, it would probably be now. TT is currently having a Superior sale, but I don’t think any of the platforms are included in this. Just SDXs.

This is software is worth $$$$. $199 is so amazingly fair considering the current world of High Tech greed from companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Etc… Look at Apple, the purposely don’t include 32GB phone so people have to buy the 64 instead. Thus, their line (was): 16, 64, 128. They have data that 32 is the sweet spot and is where most people start. Thus, they offered a 16 which no one wants and forced people to spend $100 more. AND, they keep adding features to fill up your iCloud automatically so people have to buy a monthly subscription.

Now, let’s look at Google… they purposely completely eliminated the entire right side of paid google search results. Why? Because it forces their marketplace competitiveness by 300%. Thus, bids drastically went up for ad space overnight. Wham, they just decided to force users to click next page more AND forced ad bidders to pay more. And wait, there is more… they are making money off of your data. You have a “Free” gmail and/or Google Drive account… this is so they can scan your stuff to show you more ads. Thank you for sharing your stuff.

Toontrack is simply saying, “Hey guys, if you’re going to upgrade, upgrade in the next 6mo.” That’s it. I just don’t think its all that much to ask considering how much in time and money they had to shell out BEFORE ever making a dime to build all this. HUGE risk on their part.

Anyway… bla bla bla… its $199 and is the single best bargain in tech right now.

Hope this helps.

2015 MacBook Pro: 16/512ssd, EZ2, SD2, SD3

[Stefan]

Most of the above commenters have misunderstood the point! Nobody is complaining about the cost. I am complaining about TT limiting the time to upgrade. They should impose no deadline!

Stefan Sebechlebsky, Bratislava, Slovakia.

6

Thanked by: Pete_34, ilter, qraig and 3 others.

[ngstime]

It has nothing to do with the upgrade content ~ at all!

It has to do with:
“Give us $200 by the end of the year, or you’re done!”

Simply put: that is Extortion!

I’ve tried to reach out to Toontrack.
Their response is they’ve done this practice before with EZD to EZD2, so it’s all good.
(and no response here, unless they are the shills above)

What is really amazing, was I was looking to upgrading to SD3 and grabbing both Rock SDX packs this summer!
But no sale on SD3 and weak sale on SDX on top of the glaring issue above.

I have been weighing heavily the past week on this….
I think it’s time for me to go in a new direction
It’s really sad, as I’ve been a supporter of Toontrack since ’02 with the original dfh
Having the best drum samples is really subjective at best, and Toontrack isn’t the only place in town.
I’ve discussed this w/ 3 friends that use SD2, and the consensus was all the same.
It just seems to be time to move on 🙁

Best of luck with your future endeavors
I’ve enjoyed your products through out the years

Best regards

3

Thanked by: Pete_34, Ben_4 and ilter

[Scott Eshleman]

[John]

@ngstime said:
It has to do with:
“Give us $200 by the end of the year, or you’re done!”

Simply put: that is Extortion!

Can you please show me where that line has been communicated?

AFAIK no one is pointing a gun at you or threatening you that bad things will happen to you unless you give Toontrack money.
You were given an 8 months heads-up that the discounted upgrade offer will end.
You are free to take up on that offer or pass.
I own a lot of software and other products that from time to time entitle me to get time-limited special/discounted offers. To say that each of those are criminal acts that “force” me to pay, is simply absurd, IMHO. Either I take an offer or I deem it not worth investing in for the moment.

Your current Toontrack software will not stop working when that offer ends. Your products that you own will still work. You are not being forced to buy something.

Just my personal $0.02.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

3

Thanked by: Ted Hetfield, axeattaxe and Alf Schumacher

[Stefan]

It is common practice to offer discounted upgrade to customers who have already paid full price for some previous version. This is the condition – that the customer has already paid full price for a previous version. And it is absolutely not common to impose another condition – time limit on it. This is the matter we are complaining about!
Do not confuse with time-limited, otherwise unconditional, special/discounted offers – that is quite different thing.

Stefan Sebechlebsky, Bratislava, Slovakia.

4

Thanked by: thedrumdoctor, Pete_34, ilter and 1 other.

[PlatypusNL]

I just hope that toontrack, just like any selfrespecting software producing company, makes the SD2 sourcecode available (fully, without any encrypted code) to all official SD2 owners. This way the owners can start a community to further develop and improve SD2.
I guess that by law they must or at least by judges ruling if nescessary.
Or…they should offer upgrading to SD3 platform for free. So users will have SD3 framework with SD2 soundkits. Those user then should be able to fully switch to SD3 with a soundkit upgrade fot which they can charge the EUR 170.

I for one am not amused by this current approach.

[Author]

Replies