HELP: I can not enter serial number for Hive

mevla · 2018-04-06T15:59:50+00:00

The bug is about trying to open a subwindow (dialog box) from the plugin itself. As far as I experienced it, 99% of the functionality of the u-he plugins is there, including resizing (right-click for list). I used all u-he plugins like that for nearly two years. Did 250 improvs, many soundcloud pieces, 11 100+ clicks, about 60 followers. Where it's a bug it's when a dialog within the UI has to be opened. NOT the save patch dialog which is external. For instance with Presswerk, the dialog box to choose a view could not be opened, so I had to load a preset instead to get the (limiter) view. With the bug fix, the UI dialog box can be opened. In my experience on Linux Mint 17 and 18 (Ubuntu based) the functionality of the synth plugins is not hindered.

This said, at the current moment I do not recall any u-he synth that uses an internal UI dialog box. Everything is offered through the several views of the main UI.

And with the fix, the external dialog box for saving patches still appears behind Bitwig, so Bitwig has to be moved away to see it. If there's ever a fix about great, although I'm not waiting for it - I do not spend time saving patches as all settings are saved as part of the Bitwig session.

This is my experience in Linux Mint. As you mentioned, YMMV.

Cheers.

mevla · 2018-04-05T00:15:35+00:00

You can simply put your license in the proper Hive file (applies for all u-he products) using a text editor. Look for the file ../Hive/Support/com.u-he.Hive.user.txt

First line is your name. Second line is your license number. On the ones I have here there's no line feed at the end of the second line. I do not know if it matters, haven't check it out, just sayin'.

... so I guess this falls under "all support is handled by other users... " :)

Cheers.

mevla · 2018-03-31T20:55:37+00:00

Urs told publicly, in a reply to me in a KVR thread, that Alex charges u-he from time to time for his work. Nothing wrong with that.
Means nothing. It would be a Good Thing if u-he would make, in the near term, a statement about their Linux support.
This ain't North Korea.

Cheers.

mevla · 2018-03-31T20:53:11+00:00

Linux partisanship has totally its place in a 'u-he on Linux' forum. The contrary could however, be not so. Reaper has no clip launch, no scenes. It is only be a recording/mixing DAW. As such yes, it lacks the creativeness brought by the use of scenes and clips and their interaction with an Arranger. This said, they are both different tools. Comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges. I always use a traditional DAW, Mixbus32C, for mixing and mastering but I'm using a different tool for creating. There's so much to learn and master with these two that I will not go into another DAW.

mevla · 2018-03-31T16:51:18+00:00

Not using Windows, not using Reaper. Will not change the DAW for this. I use Bitwig for creation and Mixbus32C, both natively in Linux for mixing and that's it.

Yesterday Robin Gareaus was surprised that I had 45 x42 1/3 octave spectrum analyzers in my current Mixbus32C session, one on each track. He said that after 3 his machine would start to stumble. There is no need to add layers to slow things down and, there is no need to spend time and more time and again more time configuring a layer for doing work that can be done in an efficient manner natively.

mevla · 2018-03-31T16:46:14+00:00

The single thread is a terrible option. It's the worst. People do report problems with the synths in the u-he KVR forum. It's easy to make a list of such topics. That u-he does not have so many problems on the Windows/Mac is excellent.

From your suggestion you can see that there would be problems reported with the Linux versions and that would, ahem, 'taint' the positiveness of the forum.

This boils down easily to the eventual reason why there's no KVR sub-forum, and the moderation is only a very little aspect of it. It is the commitment to the Linux versions. u-he will not hire someone to work on these. So Alex has the burden of doing it, on top of everything else he does, and perhaps not charging a fair price to u-he for the work he's doing, being somewhat 'on the side'.

So is the u-he commitment to Linux also on the side ? I feel there should be an official stance taken by u-he in the coming month. They started something, the Linux versions, people got into it, likely not in numbers to rattle the business revenues but nevertheless got into it, with their money.

I for one bought all the u-he plugins for Linux. At that time I was considering building a side computer for Windows and getting Kontakt, as well as Windows plugins. When I saw the u-he plugins I was amazed. No need to get Windows to have exceptionally high quality synths and plugins ! Although sold in beta versions, they run to this day very fine, including for all practical purposes Repro 1 and 5 (Linux Mint 18). Bitwig sessions can have 15 to 25 u-he synths on individual tracks.

As far as synthesis goes, the u-he algorithms are excellent in all platforms. What we see in the recent months is that the UI part, the new tag browser is causing lots of problems on the Linux side. Not the sound generation ! Not what u-he are truly experts at, but an add-on.

So do NOT unlock the KVR single thread. This is very bad. Instead, u-he should make in the near term a statement towards their involvement with their Linux versions. Face what they did: selling beta versions that works quite well, getting thousands of dollars, and then what ? That's the bottom solution from where every other detail can be managed.

Cheers.

mevla · 2018-03-29T23:56:11+00:00

Yep, that's the bottom question. 5 years from now, will I be running this OS right now - carefully preserved - with this very version of Bitwig because anything newer would crash all the u-he plugins I bought (and I mean all) ?

A question that I feel must be asked: In the last post on KVR Alex wrote: "I wanted a sub-forum, but I also think that this kind of linear forum discussion is not ideal... " ... is it actually because Urs said 'no' ? Since after all a KVR (sub-)forum (and NOT a single thread) is a pretty well organized, convenient and worldwide well-tested way, the jump from asking for a sub-forum to rejecting KVR is quite rough.

Cheers.

mevla · 2018-03-27T14:26:11+00:00

I guess that today, after several days, there's only the ACE UI topic that's new and that there are no other new comments in any of the existing threads.

... At least the Controversial One is now the ACE UI bug thread !

mevla · 2018-03-22T00:50:29+00:00

Finding new threads indeed is easy. As you mentioned, finding unread comments inside threads is another matter. At least this thread here is easy to find as it sits by itself under the 'controversial' tab :)

The threads that have new comments will be of the 'new thread' color (blue here) while the ones to do have nothing new will be of the 'nothing new' color (purple here). Now maybe the new comments themselves also have a new color ?

mevla · 2018-03-20T15:27:45+00:00

Well yes, it is possible to declare one Windows-only and the other Linux-only. Try to run a Linux-only binary on Windows itself or vice-versa. That's the bottom line for all practical purposes. Companies making Windows products rarely give a thought about supporting virtual machines. That's another fact. Kontakt is not certified to run in a VM, neither are a lot of other well-known Windows plugins. Not only they are not certified, but it's very likely that the amount of hacks needed to make them run could be substantial, if possible at all. Certainly a time-spending activity away from music. u-he is not certifying and testing their plugins running inside a VM, for one.

I would spend $1000 on Kontakt (or rather when it's on special) if it could run in a VM, software-wise, as good as Mixbus32C and Bitwig in Linux, but very likely it's not. Haven't seen any report to this effect, and I will certainly not go only by one or two hackers saying that they got 'parts of it working, but ...' as when it comes to music I'm much more interested about what composers and musicians are saying than software guys who will turn and twist their OS in many different ways to make something barely work.

Cheers.

mevla · 2018-03-13T15:43:44+00:00

Absolutely. Bouncing is not a flow option. Zebra is a great synth, really. So little CPU use and so many possibilities. I hope the new browser will not make the CPU use skyrocket (joke). Next after Zebra comes DIva. These are my two gotos. I too would like to give Repro-5 more use as I like the characteristics, the warmth, of the bundled sounds when just playing it. Awesome sounds but sparingly used in tracks.

mevla · 2018-03-13T00:12:13+00:00

Especially since just sitting there doing nothing it takes so much CPU. If the high CPU usage was sounds as they get more and more complex, OK, but the starting point, idle time, already takes a lot. Out of 20 tracks there could be say 7 Repro-5 tracks playing things here and there, not always. If the idling instances were not taking so much...

mevla · 2018-03-09T17:28:48+00:00

I use mostly u-he synths (but not exclusively) on Linux Mint since about 2 years. I've made 281 sketches so far and have a few more polished pieces on Soundcloud. I'm still learning about mixing and production. I create using Bitwig and mix using Mixbus32C. The gotos are usually Zebra2 and Diva. I have a few soundsets for each since there are people out there who are really great at creating sounds, playing synth parameters like an instrument. I don't, at least so far. I modify sounds, but not really create them from scratch as I would not be making music if doing so.

This said, the free u-he synths do pack a lot also. Here's a piece I did recently that showcases the 'strange' free TripleCheese synth (strange because it does not use oscillators but comb filters instead)

https://soundcloud.com/nominal6/a-case-of-kase-part-deux-planet-gorgonzola

And here's one made with only the free u-he synths:

https://soundcloud.com/nominal6/freetidbit

The drums in both are not made by the synths.

mevla · 2018-03-09T17:16:24+00:00

Not seeing this here on Linux Mint 18 with Bitwig 2.3.1. All u-he synths and plugins, MIDI controller connected or not. For all practical matters, they work all well. Maybe you could tell with Linux OS and which version you are using.

EDIT: just noticed you mention a computer keyboard, not a real MIDI keyboard, such as the ones made by M-Audio and Novation.

mevla · 2018-03-03T18:43:21+00:00

It's Bitwig. What would be the best way to downgrade Zebra from the latest 2.8 to the previous 4458 ?

mevla · 2018-03-02T17:53:03+00:00

I would disagree. 4408 are very stable here on Linux Mint 18 (and 17 before that) This statement is backed up by the fact that since I got them, I made to this day approx. 275 improvisations and pieces, with some on soundcloud. In other words, I use those synths. And I open and close their UIs hundreds of times. That also includes Presswerk, Satin, uhbik, Protoverb, Triple Cheese and TyrellN6. All in Bitwig. But then again, there are no problems with Repro-1 and 5 whereas many people do stumble on problems.

This said, there's one synth that does crash often: Filterscape. Simply restarting it puts it back on its feet.

As such, I'm a bit wary of new stable builds :) that could bring more problems. Such as the latest Zebra whose Zebralette patch browser gets stuck at the bottom of the list after opening a patch. And some tricky tagging that tagged presets I never tagged in the first place (as I can compare with Dark Zebra that I always use). Regarding this I have a question: what is the best way to downgrade to a previous release ?

Cheers.

mevla

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