I tried the free version shortly after it’s release, to see if it worked for me. I was mainly drawn to the text to wavetable. As soon as I knew it was working for me, I paid for the pro version, because it had Unlimited Text to Wavetable.
Now a number of the languages don’t work, many of them that aren’t working are the ones I would use the most. So now I don’t have unlimited text to wavetable, they are limited. That’s not what I paid for.
Because many other languages are working, and no updates had occurred to break the settings, the error message is misleading. I believe it’s a problem at Matt’s end with how the synth has to go through his system to do the conversion. It’s probably just a straight forward fix, but he’s AWOL.
I haven’t seen it mentioned here yet, but the actual last update from Matt about Vital’s development was on August 29th on Discord, in #All (Supporter channels, which means channels available exclusively to Subscription and Pro users).
EDIT: I found a couple more updates from Matt.
#community-support is a Public channel, anyone can access it.)
Previous messages also from August 29th from Matt say that he’s not sure why, but maybe one of the text to speech services Vital relies on has deleted some languages.
As a British English Teacher living in Vietnam English ()UK) and Vietnamese were two languages I checked working before buying the Pro option. So it’s disappointing if he is selling the Pro Version and Unlimited Text to speech if he has no assurances of any if the languages provided from his provider.
No, some people just want the bugs fixed in the software they paid for which is certainly not “out of step”.
If Matt is responding at Discord but ghosting his own company forum then that’s incredibly unprofessional. Still selling said buggy software is even more unprofessional and borders on unethical. Don’t even get me started on what he has promised people who pay for a subscription.
I come back here once in a while to check for any news but to be honest I classify Vital as abandonware and Matt as a developer who can no longer be trusted.
I get it that some people just defend his actions or lack thereof out of an unrequited sense of loyalty but blind loyalty serves no one.
No, some people just want the bugs fixed in the software they paid for which is certainly not “out of step”.
If Matt is responding at Discord but ghosting his own company forum then that’s incredibly unprofessional. Still selling said buggy software is even more unprofessional and borders on unethical. Don’t even get me started on what he has promised people who pay for a subscription.
I come back here once in a while to check for any news but to be honest I classify Vital as abandonware and Matt as a developer who can no longer be trusted.
I get it that some people just defend his actions or lack thereof out of an unrequited sense of loyalty but blind loyalty serves no one.
Yep, ghosting one’s own forum is what I would call a “dick move”.
I mean, I’m not just not caring about the situation. I am not angry at Matt even, I paid for Pro because I couldn’t wait for the then beta spectral filter/flanger/phaser morph modes, which were enough for me to think Matt deserved the money. I got worried when it had already been around four months since his last public interaction, but when Matt finally responded and disclosed there was a health issue being dealt with in his family, I became patient, and I still am. He hasn’t updated us about it, and he has every right not to. For all we know, the issue might be still ongoing and draining him mentally, and might want to spend as little time on the Internet as he can. Anyway, I think we have no business assuming anything about his private life, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m just hoping for any news whenever they’re coming.
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.
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…
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.
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.
/s