Yes, there are some bugs that need fixing. But anyone reading this thread would be led to believe that all Arturia products are unuseable, so it's necessary to point out that isn't the case.
I'm especially curious to know what caused a computer to crash ten times. What were you running, and on what kind of system?
I've been using the Vintage collection for a couple of years now. The only times it's crashed have been when I overloaded the MMV by trying out an extreme kind of feedback connection that I had doubts about (after I rebooted I got an email from the person I'd been discussing it with, who said don't try it in software because it'll only work in hardware.
); and a couple of times the MiniMg V crashed when I first got it. I reinstalled it and I've had no further problems. (It even left my patches intact and accessed them again when I reinstalled, saving me the need to restore them, which was neat.)
I'm not trying to interface the Arturia stuff with third party sequencer programs. I play everything the musically expressive way from a keyboard. Many people seem to have problems interfacing the Arturia synths with third party programs that Arturia has no control over. While some of them are widely used and interfacing would be desirable, it's true to say that people have reported problems with a bewildering variety of third party software.
The same goes for operating systems. Problems with Vista are being reported frequently, especially related to music software. That isn't a problem of the software writers' doing, but they're expected to respond to it and make changes to their existing products.
I do sympathise with people who are having problems, and I don't want to be misunderstood as minimising those problems. And it seems to be true there are long-standing problems that cause understandable frustration. I think Arturia would love to have the time and resources to fix those problems, but they're forced to do a balancing act between bug fixes and releasing new products. If they don't release new products there's no income and the bug fixes will never come rather than coming late.
The electronic instrument market is littered with fine, innovative companies that didn't make it financially. ARP is a prime example; Mg too, though they've managed a resurgence after disappearing. But, like Yamaha, they don't make the synths Arturia has emulated because it's no longer commercially viable.
In an ideal world all these companies would have the resources and the financial bouyancy to provide an instant response to all their customers' concerns. But this isn't an ideal world.
I'd advise anyone wondering about Arturia's synths to test the demo versions to see if they do what you want them to do. Also make sure your computer is up to the job and you have a high-end soundcard.
Without wanting to sound dismissive to the people having problems, these are good instruments on the right computer and when they're not interfacing with something else that they have problems with.
I'd hate to see us in a few years' time saying how great these synths sounded and how it's a pity Arturia went under because the company was too small to respond to enough customer needs and they got a reputation for being unreliable, which in turn stopped people from buying their stuff. Highly sought after and no longer obtainable products that sell for vast amounts on ebay won't help anybody. Yes, there are some problems, but I'd urge anyone reading this topic and wondering about Arturia's synths: demo them and see if they work for you, and if they do, buy them and keep this company going.
