Topic by 2johjoh2

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Topic: Forced selection of instruments packs before activation ?

Hi there,
After upgrading to v 8 pro (coming from 7 std), I noticed the following info in my User Area ("Registered Products") :

"You must select 2 instrument packs for this licence of Pianoteq 8 PRO.
You cannot activate and use Pianoteq until you choose them."

I already had the Steinway Model D and the Grand K2, and was considering choosing one more (since a Pro licence also includes 4 instrument vouchers).

But the system didn't let me : after online validating my choice, it didn't appear in my User Area, nor did it appear in the (closed then reopened) standalone instrument.
Apparently, I was expected to fill all available slots ...

That's really strange, and annoying : I don't want to choose everything right now. There are a couple more instrument packs I'm interested in, but I want to take my time to compare them to other virtual instruments or (sample) libraries I own.

What's even more bizarre : Pianoteq 8 allows me to play with the two instrument packs I had before.
There also was no issue activating the new version on my laptop.

So : what's this all about ?
A bug ? A - very unfortunate & badly implemented - attempt to force people to make ill-informed instrument pack choices ?

Any ideas ? Thx for you help ...

Reply by budo

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Re: Forced selection of instruments packs before activation ?

probably they do it this way because they assume the buyer would have already spent enough time with the demo version to decide on what to get.  certainly that's what i did ... i used the demo version for months, even making lots of recordings, before i took the plunge.  i don't remember what instruments i got, but at the time i had a clear idea of what i wanted.  eventually i had to get all of them anyway

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Reply by Key Fumbler

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Re: Forced selection of instruments packs before activation ?

2johjoh2 wrote:

..

What's even more bizarre : Pianoteq 8 allows me to play with the two instrument packs I had before.
There also was no issue activating the new version on my laptop.


Any ideas ? Thx for you help ...

Hi Joh,
You sound very, very confused about what you've actually bought!
The upgrade includes two packs. These two packs are not "instead of" they are "as well as"!
Hence if you only had the two packs (for instance you were a Standard user back in the day when when that came with the option of two packs) you will now have full access to four packs.

If you are in the early stage then it will be pretty easy to pick out two extra packs - without having to pick from the more unusual choices shall we say.

Anyway you could load up Pianoteq Stage demo version just to play the various instruments if you actually still need time to decide. Stage sounds identical because it is identical from the perspective of factory presets.




Hopefully that will reduce your concerns?

Reply by 2johjoh2

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Re: Forced selection of instruments packs before activation ?

Key Fumbler wrote:
2johjoh2 wrote:

..

What's even more bizarre : Pianoteq 8 allows me to play with the two instrument packs I had before.
There also was no issue activating the new version on my laptop.


Any ideas ? Thx for you help ...

Hi Joh,
You sound very, very confused about what you've actually bought!
The upgrade includes two packs. These two packs are not "instead of" they are "as well as"!
Hence if you only had the two packs (for instance you were a Standard user back in the day when when that came with the option of two packs) you will now have full access to four packs.

If you are in the early stage then it will be pretty easy to pick out two extra packs - without having to pick from the more unusual choices shall we say.

Anyway you could load up Pianoteq Stage demo version just to play the various instruments if you actually still need time to decide. Stage sounds identical because it is identical from the perspective of factory presets.




Hopefully that will reduce your concerns?

Thanks for your attempt to reduce my concerns.
However, I knew/know all that.
The thing is that now - afaik that was not the case before - you are forced to fill the remaining slots (in my case 2) in a single move.
You can't select one now, and another one later. The only "option" is to keep playing the two slots in demo mode, even when you have decided on one of them.
That seems rather ridiculous. I can't think of any good reason.

BTW : according to the statement on the "Registered products" page, you shouldn't be able to activate the instrument, unless all 4 slots are taken for. (I don't know how to put a screenshot here, but in my first message a literal transcript of that text is included.
That would imply you could only demo extra instruments (outside you initial selection of 4) ...
(so forget to demo slot 3 and 4)
It would also imply that, if you don't complete your selection yet, you can only play Pianoteq in Demo Version (as activation would be impossible) !!!

Fortunately !! They failed (?) to implement this correctly - which is quite a relief.

Reply by dv

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Re: Forced selection of instruments packs before activation ?

2johjoh2 wrote:

Fortunately !! They failed (?) to implement this correctly - which is quite a relief.

I understand your frustration. And share that frustration frequently, because I try all the time to do things that software system don't want me to do, and in those occasions I want to break my keyboard and monitor. Once I broke my cell phone slamming it on the floor, because of that frustration. Don't be like me.

Modartt is a very small company and its employees spend the vast majority of their time on the sound engine itself rather than on covering every possible edge case of the license activation options (and we all want a great sounding instrument, and can live with the hiccups in the licensing process, we'd all hate a perfect licensing system with crappy sound, no?)

If this is very important to you as it sounds, my suggestion is to contact their support, explain your need and kindly ask for a solution. As far as I've done that myself and heard on this forum, a good solution has always been found in a timely manner.

Best of luck!

Where do I find a list of all posts I upvoted? :(

Reply by jast

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Re: Forced selection of instruments packs before activation ?

In the meantime it might be helpful to know that you can have your packs exchanged via support within 14 days of registration(/activation?), so even if you pick something now that you don't like in the end, you can still have it exchanged for something else.

From https://www.modartt.com/faq:

I chose the wrong instrument pack during registration. What can I do?
If you change your mind regarding any of the chosen instrument packs during registration, please contact us within 14 days. We will then change it for you.