Poll: 3.9 public beta now?

[Guest]

Hi

Ok, cpu errors, clicks 'n pops, no recording with UA plugs active, can't work with high latencies... blah, blah, blah

3.9 sounds like the cure but I'm going nuts trying to mix some tracks to harsh deadlines and spending more time on working round all the usual cr*p than actually doing the fun creative stuff. So fellow UAD1'ers.... what do you think?

 

[MPC]

I'm just as anxious as you probably are to get a working version of 3.9.
I can only assume they are not releasing it because it's not working to a level that would be satifactory for normal usage. I'd hate for 3.9 to be crashing, clicking/popping etc.....How far do you think they are away? Do you think it'll be weeks between the beta that must exist not to the release version? I don't know the answers to those questions. I'd love to hear an answer to those questions, and maybe James can offer us some answers. I doubt he will because, if he did and those dates weren't met there'd be hell to pay on this forum from a lot of users.

The problem is that they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Release a public beta, and if it crashes and loses someone's project, or just plain doesn't work right people will be flooding UA with complaints.

People like you may (or even I) may want that BETA with the hope that for the most part it'll work. It sounds like you understand that the public beta may work or may work poorly in certain ways and you are willing to take that chance.

The thing is this; James from UA and other's have outlined work arounds for new G5 owners, that can't install Panther directly on their internal HD.
While this is a bit of a hassle, it sounds like a reasonable workaround and you'll just end up with an external drive they may not of wanted, but that drive will cost you about $120.

It also sounds like you and some others who are pro users are desperate to finish some projects. To me $120 is nothing to spend if you have multiple paying clients waiting on projects, not only is that $120 expenditure not too bad, but if I had deadlines and wanted to maintain a professional image that expenditure would be an absolute necessity and I'd consider it one of the costs of doing business. I have to say that I'm used to things like this happening and I consider it par for the course. If you are a pro studio/engineer and you are really feeling the hurt from a small expenditure then perhaps it's time to examine your career choice!

If you are a hobbiest, and budget is you main issue, then you'll unfortunately have to cool your heels and wait. You probably don't have deadlines and I'm sincerely sorry to say that the only thing to say is you will have to be patient.

Don't get me wrong I feel everyone's pain because it's mine as well. Tiger is great, I install Tiger as well as all my other music software on a HD I bought last week, just to get a jump on things before UA comes out with 3.9. So, yeah a BETA would be ok I guess, I'd prefer a working version that was solid.

 

[DocMonkey]

I'd rather wait for a finished version, assuming they come close to their target date.

 

[Guest]

I'm just as... <snip> ...solid.

Nah, none of that stuff really

When I was on Logic/PC, I used to routinely pile on UA plugs aplenty while still in the tracking stages - mix as you go kind of thing. I like it that way, and so do my clients... Thing is, its just not possible on the G5 and it is proving a major creative impediment. Used to be that half way through a mix, client could say "I wanna add a guitar line". Before, easy. Now - got to bypass every UA plug in, adjust levels on monitors and foldback to compensate, reset buffer blah, blah... slow, painful and totally inspiration killing.

Anyway, freeze and bypass will fix this in 3.9... and let me get back to the way I want to work hopefully. Its just really frustrating that I have two really urgent projects I'm struggling to hit deadlines with and 3.9 would make them a cinch.

If UA are serious about a Q2 release, chances are they are within a few betas of - or maybe already have - gold master... at worst, minor issue territory, finalising updated manuals etc...

Cheers
Chris

 

[MPC]

....yeah, as a migrater from PC I suppose you are in a different boat. I've been a mac user all along so I'm used to working with the problems you are having. One thing that I'd be pissed about is that fact that you guys had direct monitoring on PC for quite awhile, we mac users have never had it, not UA related but I really wish direct monitoring would be something we'd have soon......there are some cool things about audio on PC.

To my recollection UA has never done public betas, but correct me if I'm wrong. I guess the only benefit is that you can be pretty assured that 3.9 will work well when it does come out. We'll all have to hang in there for now.

 

[JamesR]

well, they said end of Q2 and that's about two weeks.

i'd like to see a fully working, no new bugs, old bugs (g5 etc) fixed release.

sure, i'd like it asap so we can all go ahead and enjoy tiger's speed, but they said two weeks and i'll give them till then.

if 3 weeks go by and there's no 3.9, then i'll be mailing them asking when they expect it. after that, well, i guess everyone will be making some noise...

thing is, if they said they were going to release in on any given day, some people would be nagging for it for a month before in any event. UA can't ever please all those people, the best they can do is give a quality release on time.

for those who need to finish projects, they can hold off from installing tiger. those who have brand new machines, can get the job done with a 10.3.9 clone...

here's looking forward to a great performing 3.9 release - and those delicious new (old?) chorus's...

J.

 

[Guest]

[quote="MPC"
To my recollection UA has never done public betas, but correct me if I'm wrong. I guess the only benefit is that you can be pretty assured that 3.9 will work well when it does come out. We'll all have to hang in there for now.[/quote]

There was a public beta a while back ... dont recall the version though.

cheers
Chris

 

[MPC]

If they've done it before I suppose there's no point in them NOT doing it again. As long as you tell everyone \"use at your own risk\".

 

[Gerk]

Can't we just let this rest? They said end of june, it's not that much more time.

 

[Gerk]

If they've done it before I suppose there's no point in them NOT doing it again. As long as you tell everyone "use at your own risk".

Betas are bad for everyone, developer and user alike. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. When you're talking hardware drivers it's even worse, kernel panics, crashed at the worst times making you lose hours of unsaved work, yadda. Do you really want to do that on a production music system? I sure as hell don't!

Even if they didn't 'support' it, it can and will cause repercussions further down the line, i.e. the real installer has to clean up after the beta, people will install the real version and still have potential problems from something the beta did to their system, etc.

 

[MPC]

I agree; I myself would wait. Betas, always come with VERY explicit warnings. If people want a BETA so bad let em have it, and all the potential problems I described in my earlier post and you described in your post.