The download assistant obviously doesn’t know what is installed and what my entitlements are. It does sometimes tell me about some available updates, but all in all, it’s lightyears behind the competition.
Let’s look at the XLN online installer (of Addictive Drums 2 fame). It always knows, well, everything! What I purchased but haven’t yet installed and any updates for stuff I have already installed. A single click is all it takes.
Please, Steinberg developers, how hard can it be?
Steinberg community, would you care to make some noise about it? The download assistant, as it is, is just a continuing source of frustration.
Steinberg used to have a USB licenser. As this is a removable device, the licenses could ‘travel’ around the world. Even now. you can log in in the activation manager with an alternate identity with different licenses …
That’s weird, my Download Assistant know what I have bought, and shows it to me in the “my products” section. It also shows me when there are updates. Maybe yours is hidden? I don’t know if one can hide a section there…
Anyways I don’t too many steinberg stuff… Jus Cubase, Nuendo, Spectralayers and Padshop, so maybe managing it is easier?
For me to be honest it works great. Downloads are fast, installs never get any errors… it works!
It’s tied to your account and stuff you have a license for shows up in the ‘My Products’ section. This also adds stuff you licensed for a trial too, I can’t get the damn Cubase 11 trial off of mine even though I own 11/12/13 haha.
Hey, thanks for all the responses.
Yes, it does know what I own and yes, it offers me updates when there are any.
So far, so good.
But…
It keeps offering downloads that I have already downloaded and installed. That is really my main gripe. For example, Simon Phillips Jazz Drums, which I own and have installed, it says “Install” instead of having the green bar with the white tick. It gets worse with Absolute 6, where some items have the green bar and white tick, but some items say “Install”. Trust me, it’s all installed.
So ,it’s ambiguous and I ask myself: “Did I forget to install that?” Instead of making music I’m wondering “Do I really have to download the 13 GB Electric Bass?? I thought I did that already?”
You can download and install anything whether or not you have a licence (with the possible exception of the DNxHD decoder - I am not sure whether Avid continues to insist that only those with a licence can download that software). However, without a licence, you cannot use software like Cubase or paid content like Simon Phillips Jazz Drums.
Unless you buy a licence for Simon Phillips Jazz Drums or you can persuade Steinberg to give you a trial licence (I don’t believe they normally offer trial licences for paid content) then there is no point downloading it, as it will not work.
Well, I suppose that’s more important than Download Assistant not finding it!
Next idea, open “Steinberg Library Manager”.
See if the libraries that Download Assistant says don’t need installed are in the same folder as the libraries that it says aren’t downloaded. (the “Details” button shows the path). This might be a complete red herring, but I used to “Move” button in the Library Manager to solve a couple of issues I was having last week.
In my experience the download assistant goes back to the “install” option once you delete the downloaded files, which is not intuitive in my opinion. The download assistant is effectively agnostic to what you have currently installed. To complicate matters, you have an entirely separate application for installing and managing the sound libraries after you’ve downloaded them, and the two programs don’t talk to each other. Isn’t there also an authorization program too??
Ideally the download assistant and library manager should be distilled into a single application that can download, install, authorize, and manage your instruments, sound libraries, Cubase/Nuendo installation, and any relevant updates.
A bunch of low-grade sophomore software programming students could come up with better .
I only use if it’s the only resort. I usually download from the Support/Downloads site. Less painful.