Exactly.
But I digress, what good is patience and understanding when " I think I know what’s best" attitude can suffice 
/s
My bad - he actually said in that very same April reply that the family health issue was resolved. Though, he also said that there could be times he’d focus on developing only, and that he’d have hired someone to reply on the forums during said times. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not checking the forums, as his profile reads “Read 4d”, which I think means he last checked the forum 4 days ago. I like to think he’s taking notes of all bug reports and is quietly fixing everything for an update where he’ll also bring the new features he mentioned for the FX section.
EDIT: There’s an actual “Last Seen” parameter on the forum’s accounts’ details, and his reads July 19th, which is 3 months ago. His last Discord update is 40 days later, and no update since then. So yeah, guess a general update would ease a lot of users’ worrying.
There must be a good reason for Tytel to be taking a breather. I’d say let the sleeping giant take a well deserved vacation. As liliputian as we could become if enough of us become restless, I don’t see how it would help anyone.
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While I can understand the frustration with bugs in general in any software, and one of my top priorities as an end-user is for software stability, at the same time, I also understand that it’s not so simple in some contexts as…
‘Here’s my bug. Fix it or you’re a d!ck/cünt/a-hole/[enter-crotch-area-of-choice].’.
For example, from an admittedly-quick glance at some bug-reports, they don’t appear to follow Matt’s bug-report framework to the letter…
Report bugs you have found in Vital.
Along with the bug report the following information is also helpful:
- What OS and DAW you are using
- What version of Vital you using
- Steps to reproduce the bug
- Any crash logs
As for the expression, ‘The customer is always right.’, its gist seems to mean that, in a sense, they are ‘right’ even if/when they are wrong, because enough angry and/or bad-faith customers (and others, like saboteurs from for-profit competitors) can sink a biz/create a bad rep.
At the same time, however, Vital isn’t a normal biz. How many people are using it vs how many bugs vs how many use other similar software vs how many bugs they have vs costs & pricing vs biz-models vs sizes of bug-fix/dev teams vs time everyone has, and so on and on…
Vital is relatively-new software and maybe that operates within a relatively-new model in some ways. 2020? If so, even MassiveX might be older.
That said, maybe consider giving it time and/or patience if you have any bugs (assuming that the bugs are actually with Vital and not with something else on/with your system not necessarily related to Vital) while trying to follow/submit bug reports as closely to the letter as you can (while you volunteer or consider volunteering your own time and experience toward helping others with Vital) before you start trashing the dev and/or software.
If the dev(s) and users are operating in good faith, then it will likely show/work over time.
You guys can put as many rainbows and cotton candy on the situation as you want but that doesn’t change the fact that Matt has once again ghosted his own company forum which he set up to support his customers.
How long would it take to post “I am aware of the bug reports and am working on an update” ? One minute? The fact that he has posted on Discord tells me he’s able to access the internet and has at least time to post there.
Version 1.5.5 has an install date of 11-2-22 here so we’re coming up on a year since the last update. An update that still contains known bugs. I think a year is more than adequate patience.
You can genuflect all you want but Matt is simply not handling business properly for whatever reason.
Shame, as Vital is a nice little synth that could have a promising future but it’s obvious the developer is simply not able to handle the task for whatever reason.
So at this point I’d suggest he shut down his shop and stop selling a buggy product. If at some point in the future he is able and willing to handle the responsibility then he can open back up.
As for “he’s only one person” take a look at all that Markus of Tone 2 has been able to accomplish on his own. Multiple stable updates and upgrades for multiple synths and doing sound design for his plugins as well. It’s not an impossible task for a single developer to handle multiple projects but it does take one that is dedicated or not otherwise encumbered and distracted.
As for the customer is always right, it is the paying customer that puts food on the table so yes they are to be served in an appropriate manner. All the people who sucked up the free version or are promoting Vital as a freeware synth are the ones most to blame for killing Vital. But that’s what you get when you release a nearly un-crippled free version of your payware synth.
Anyway I just came back here to check for any progress or communication and seeing none my classifying Vital as abandonware is just enforced.
Looks like Vital is dead boys. Either learn to live with the bugs or delete it and move on…
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You… you do see how this only proves my points
Anyway… Any Helm users in the chat? LOL
Teksonik wrote:
The fact that he has posted on Discord tells me he’s able to access the internet and has at least time to post there.
Funny, I finally got around to scouring through the Discord that Matt’s last communications were quoted from above. Beyond those 3 messages, he’s pretty much ghosted that venue as well. So yeah, I agree…I think he’s pretty much gone.
About a year and a half ago, in another thread, I predicted that it would end like this. Then I addressed the fact that some bugs will never be fixed. Intuition allowed me not to invest money in this synthesizer, even though it was announced loudly and with great fanfare.
It’s strange that open source software (even paid) is almost always unfinished and the developers disappears without even a single sentence of explanation.
What are the bugs that people are so bent out of shape about?
Vital is rock-solid on my M1 MBP with Ableton Live 11. It is my central synth. I use it 6-7 times in every track. Never encountered an issue.
I’m curious why people are so passionate about bugs. It’s not like Matt built a half-baked synth with a million deficiencies and walked away.
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I think Vital’s worth waiting for. It must have cooked Matt’s noodle, considering how complex the task is, taking into account compatibility and trying to keep pace with Apple. Don’t see any reason to complain, and I’ve tithed. Will tithe again.
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The most solid statement , Vital is brilliant. Wow a few year ago this would have been alien technology !
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Just to throw a curve ball, a couple of months or so ago over at KVR in its Instruments section, I posted a subject/comment about artificial intelligence as it applies to synthesis/synthesizers. In it I mention and even cite a video of some guys attempting to create their own synth from scratch using maybe ChatGPT for help in the coding.
Synplant 2 just came out and it seems to do a little bit of neural processing or something like it and there’s other related stuff that has also come out this year.
That writ, Matt may have changed directions in this regard with Vital and/or with a completely new concept.
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That would be most interesting , Synplant 2 not sure what to make of it ? Vital is my main synth for a long time 
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Vital’s great! Where Vital can do text-to-speech, if somehow attached to AI, theoretically, it could do any sound, maybe even just by talking to it…
Us: “Hey, Vital!”
Vital: “Good morning! Ready for some music?!”
Us: “We sure are! Watcha got!? Any ideas since yesterday?”
Vital: “I sure do!..”
I’ve got the free RVC running on my computer in the form of Pinokio. Maybe it’s related in a very tangential way to Synplant 2. I’ve yet to use it, but we’ll see…
…But maybe that’s part of my points above; to keep an open mind, look around and don’t put all your eggs in one basket or bother/bother with the artists or coders too much.
Coding may become somewhat obsolete anyway, just like much of our use of browsers for example to access the net. Lots of code behind them that we don’t see or bother with and maybe shouldn’t as humans.
Much should be the jobs of computers/AI at least mainly to free up more time for humans to do what they love, prefer and are better at or more suited to doing.
Yes…we all love Vital. I only started this post to see if Matt would respond with just a few sentences or two as to the state of Vital’s development. I didn’t think that was too much of an ask.
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He seems to have done so already in that thread that he then closed. And I don’t recall reading anywhere where he promised a particular time-frame.
Again, he also laid out a framework for bug reports that, at a quick glance, the reports don’t seem to follow to the letter.
As I’ve already written, among other things, it’s a matter of differences of values and expectations.
You want what Matt can’t or doesn’t want to deliver.
How well do you manage your own relationships?
Clearly it’s passed the best before date that Matt is going to hold your hand. So move on, maybe grab Serum, and lose the crocodile tears.
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Vital falls into the ‘labor of love’ category. might even say divinely inspired. hard to put that on a clock.
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I’m tempted to agree.
Don’t really think this thread is productive so I’m going to lock it.
To answer the question, I’m still here and working on Vital. I’ll make an announcment when there’s a new version.
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