Lack of Customer Support

[VicD]

I have used Encore since 1992 and have always been very pleased with its performance. In recent years it has been the foundation of my home studio where I create performance tracks for high school musical productions, as well as other local performers. When my Windows 98 machine went belly-up, I upgraded to a new PC with Vista, which meant that my Encore 4.0 (on floppy disks) was outdated.

I recently paid $140 for the upgrade to Encore 5.0 so I could take advantage of the new VST player, but was surprised to find that no documentation exists for this new feature. I found it rather odd that GVOX would release a much-heralded new version without any instructions for the newest aspect of their program, so I turned to the Forum to seek out some answers.
What I found there were many others who were looking for the same answers, and the only response I saw from the administrators was “It’s coming.”

I then emailed the company 2 or 3 times and left at least 5 voicemails asking for help with the VST player. That was over a month ago, and I have received absolutely no response whatsoever!

Because of this total lack of customer support I could not get my studio operating correctly. As a result, I was forced to back out of a lucrative project, and my long-time client was placed in a very difficult situation.

Encore is a fantastic program and the new version has some nice improvements. I must say, however, that I am very saddened by the lackadaisical attitude of the GVOX staff and their total disregard for customer service.

I have purchased Cubase Studio 5, and I think it is going to work very well for me. I may very well be done with Encore.

[Denkster]

Dear Vic,

I can imagine your state of mind. I am very sorry you experience these troubles with Encore , the lack of documentation and support.
In the meantime, on Hotch's request, I myself (not a Gvox employee), realized a version in English of my instructions to set up VST Player with MIDI Yoke on Windows machines. I was not aware that you were not aware that this text existed.

You can find it here:

http://www.denkster.nl/manuals/MIDI-Yoke_EN.htm

Maybe it is not to late..

Eveline

[matt-olddev]

the only documentation we have for VST is the README, and it was accidentally not included on the mac.
here it is for Mac (a bit simpler than Windows)

Gvox VST Player README
Encore now has a Virtual Studio Technology host so you may use the VST instruments you already own.

Here is the step by step using GVOX VST Player on Mac OS X:
+ install VST plugins to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST or /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST
+ launch Encore
+ choose Midi Setup from the Preferences Menu
+ make sure "Enable Virtual Ports" os ON
+ launch the VST Player from either the Score menu or the MIDI Device/Instrument Settings window,
+ then inside VST Player:
- select desired VST in first popup menu
- set MIDI port to Encore

You should now be able to return to Encore and all MIDI output will be sent to the VST Player.


Other things about GVOX VST Player
+ Setup button: allows you to:
- change various audio settings
- choose a folder to look for VST plugins
(if you do not want to use Program Files\Common Files\VST\ )
+ Recording button: allows you to:
- specifiy a wav file to record to
- start and stop recording
- montior and change output gain to the recording
+ view buttons: opens the plugin's edit settings window, if supported
+ you can run 4 modules different plugins simultaneously
+ each module lets you change, reset, and view output gain
+ all previous settings are restored when launching the VST Player


MIDI IAC
+ you many need to use an IAC MIDI device instead of the Encore virtual ports. if none appear in Encore's MIDI Device/Instrument window or the VST Player, then you need to if you want Encore to automatically send dynamics info in Garritan's format (mod wheel), then you need to enable one in the mac "Audio MIDI Setup" utility. If you create an IAC device called "Garritan", Encore will automatically play dynamics and slurs using Garritan's preferred format (mod wheel instead of volume controller)

[John Miller]

GVOX Customer Support can be found at

http://www.gvox.com/contactus.php

Many Free Virtual Instrument Sounds can be found at

http://www.dskmusic.com

Download Instrument sets and unzip to your
C:\VST\Plugins\


here is the step by step:
+ install MIDIYoke http://www.midiox.com/myoke.htm
+ Copy unzipped VST plugins to C:\VST\Plugins
+ launch Encore & Open Midi Setup
+ set MIDI output port(s) to MIDIYoke 1
+ open vst player via score menu or choose instrument dlog
+ select desired vst in first popup menu
+ set MIDI port to MIDIYoke 1
+ go back to Encore and play some notes

other things you can do in VST Player
+ hit "view" to tweak plugin settings
+ Recording: allows you to record to a wav file
+ Setup button: allows you to change audio settings and choose a folder to look for VST plugins
(if you do not want to use Program Files\Common Files\VST\Plugins )
- you can run 4 modules different plugins simultaneously
+ change, reset, and see output gain
+ All VST Player settings should be saved to a file for next launch

[Rob M.]

Nice to see that the Powers that Be at GVOX really are listening and are prepared to address a genuine problem.

How about putting all of those lovely instructions and comments into a sticky on the Encore forum where we can all find them easily when we need them? And how about putting them into a PDF that can be downloaded and saved to a hard disk next to the PDF of the Encore Manual?

[q]

Nice to see that the Powers that Be at GVOX really are listening and are prepared to address a genuine problem.

How about putting all of those lovely instructions and comments into a sticky on the Encore forum where we can all find them easily when we need them? And how about putting them into a PDF that can be downloaded and saved to a hard disk next to the PDF of the Encore Manual?

I support your requests Bob.

Thanks for your post.

q

P.S. Why not open a documentation area on the forum. Just an area where people can get the latest.

[John Miller]

All solutions are available in a Search engine at the GVOX website.
http://www.gvox.com/support_base.php