My response to the non-VST announcement

[mgc3003.com]

I can't tell you how delighted I am to hear that the VST plans are cancelled!!! This is actually WONDERFUL news.

I would *MUCH* rather the development focus to be making Har-Bal as good as it can possibly be. The VST plans just meant a lot of extra time spent to arrive at the same product in a different form.

An example of how I'd rather see development time used would be a feature I've heard discussed in other threads: the ability to edit the PEAK curve *separately* from the average curve. I don't mean visually, I mean literally with the changes made to the peak curve affecting primarily the peaks.

Some users have pointed out times where the peak and the average are exactly inverse of each other... so to fix one sends the other out of control. I haven't yet figured out how to handle that situation in Har-Bal.

But the bottom line is --- screw the VST version. Right now my process is:
1) Mixdown
2) Harbal
3) Load into soundforge for multiband compression & limiting. (Sometimes I skip the compression.)

I'd much prefer MORE HARBAL FEATURES over the ability to run in VST... Plus I don't think I've ever been able to MAXIMIZE a VST window on my 1600x1200 monitor... but the ability to do that in Harbal has been one of my favorite features.

I don't know how I would survive without Harbal. Hats off to the team for making what I feel was a GREAT decision!

[Evhal]

Well,

I think it totally sucks ! I purchased the program on the promise it would be VST version soon. For workflow it is MUCH faster to have it as VST. The VST version was promised to arrive in Q4 2004 and even in that quarter Harbal posted things were on schedule. Now it suddenly is a big issue ?????? Come on....I am VERY VERY disappointed by this and frankly I want my money back.. Have you looked at VOXENGO plugins for example? Don't tell me this ONE GUY can program VST's of equally 'complex' program material and Harbal can't ?

It totally SUCKS that the assesment of not being adequate at delivering a VST version took this long after keeping promises up and accepting purchases on the promise of VST comming till the last moment. It is even deceitfull..

So HARBAL....can I get my money back please ?

[HarBal]

Eval, see here for my response.

http://har-bal.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/vi ... highlight=

Paavo

[sonic-vent]

Thanks for a great product guys! But I do wonder... is vst still an option for future plans to the Har-Bal program? I mean, is there a possibility that one day we may be able to drop a T-racks vst plugin or a PSP Vintage Warmer into the processing chain (in Har-bal itself) while we Har-balize? No rush... just wonering... still not going to change my opinion of the program either way

THANKS!

[eardrum]

I for One am disappointed in the decision to scrap the vst version.
I purchase har-bal and was told on this forum the the vst vesion would be included in the origanal purchase price so I bought it,now there are no more plans for this.
Does that mean that the next upgrade will be supplied the those original owners free of charge, or are we going to be expected to pay for this after the promise of the vst version has been withdrawn.?

P.S I do like Har-bal just Curious!!

Michael

[har-bal]

I for One am disappointed in the decision to scrap the vst version.
I purchase har-bal and was told on this forum the the vst vesion would be included in the origanal purchase price so I bought it,now there are no more plans for this.
Does that mean that the next upgrade will be supplied the those original owners free of charge, or are we going to be expected to pay for this after the promise of the vst version has been withdrawn.?

P.S I do like Har-bal just Curious!!

Michael

Mike

We have never charged our registered customers for upgrades

Earle

[janpetter]

I for One am disappointed in the decision to scrap the vst version.
I purchase har-bal and was told on this forum the the vst vesion would be included in the origanal purchase price so I bought it,now there are no more plans for this.
Does that mean that the next upgrade will be supplied the those original owners free of charge, or are we going to be expected to pay for this after the promise of the vst version has been withdrawn.?

P.S I do like Har-bal just Curious!!

Michael

Mike

We have never charged our registered customers for upgrades

Earle

Hi Earle
So,when can we expect the next upgrade to be released?
All the best
Jan Petter

[dke]

I fully support the decision, I'd much rather the time be devoted to enhancing the stand alone HarBal.

Dan

[HarBal]

A couple of answers to a couple of questions. Firstly, VST support in some form or another for Har-Bal Harmonic Balancing is not off the agenda. It is off the priority list. We want to port Har-Bal stand alone across to common Mac/PC code ASAP and concentrate on releasing a Mac version before re-instating VST as a project. We took this re-prioritisation because we felt there was a big risk that releasing a VST product first could delay future development of Har-Bal technologies considerably.

Secondly, the time to release of a major update is likely to be at least six months. Essentially, while portiing to a common code base Har-Bal software development is stuck in maintenance mode, so the aim is to do the re-write in wxWidgets as quickly as possible. I don't want to put a fixed time on this task since we haven't done enough of the port yet to have a clear idea of whether time consuming problems are going to be likely. My most optimistic estimate would be 3 months to port across to wxWidgets, at which point parallel development of new feature code and Mac porting can be undertaken.

The release of a Mac version will take some extra time beyond the basic wxWidgets port. How much longer is again difficult to say.

Thanks for understanding.

Regards,


Paavo