I want to share my experience working with VL2.
I’ve worked with various versions, so this feedback isn’t tied to just one. I was on 2.2.21 for a long time and have recently updated to 2.2.70.
Several very unpleasant issues occurred during our latest shows, which affected our performance. This forces me to seriously consider switching software for our work.
Core Problems
Unexpected Multi-Channel Routing Signal Loss
After setting up and repeatedly using multi-channel routing to send the signal to the mixing console, the signal suddenly disappeared! All settings were exactly the same as they had been for many previous shows. The outputs were correctly assigned, the connections were right in the settings, but the signal stubbornly refused to pass! I performed an “reset audio”—no result. I restarted the program—no result. I restarted it once more, and, lo and behold, everything started working! This is professional software; we get paid for our performance and shouldn’t have to scramble on stage to fix an invisible problem with no clear cause.
This might have happened because I used my MacBook with the internal sound card to create the show’s playlist before the gig, but I’ve done this many times before and the outputs always reverted to their correct settings.
Inconsistent MIDI Playback after Editing
The second issue: we use a custom-programmed MIDI click track for the drummer on a separate channel (with all necessary cues, making the built-in click track too limited). We’ve worked this way for a long time without issues. However, after updating to 2.2.70, I made a small edit to the beginning of this MIDI track, and the drummer couldn’t start because the MIDI notes had inexplicably become chaotically displaced, making it impossible for him to follow the entry cue.
I’ve also noticed before that if I close the program without saving the project, a previously saved state (for example, using Cmd-S) is highly likely not to be preserved, which is extremely strange.
Unpredictable Latency Changes on Project Load
Another issue: the latency can change drastically when loading a project. It might have been set to 128, but it changes to 1024. Given that our drummer plays to a MIDI track, this results in the click being significantly behind the rest of the playback.
Unstable Plugin Bypass State
On the master output channel, I have Fab Filter Pro L2 set to bypass. I use it for preparing the next track. If I engage it, work with it, and then switch it off (bypass it), save the project, and close it, there is a 90% chance that the plugin will be active (un-bypassed) on the next project load. This introduces delay with other outputs.
All of these issues require us to maintain an intense mental checklist during the soundcheck before every show. This doesn’t seem like a professional solution for musicians around the world.
Persistent Automation Bug
The problem with automation also remains unresolved. I’ve written about it on the general forum and in private messages to Spark support. This issue persists from version to version. If a project contains multiple songs with automation, after reloading the project, the automation will load incorrect tracks from other songs.
Conclusion
These are the main issues that severely tarnish the experience and create the feeling that I am essentially a beta tester for the price I paid. The core concept of VL2 is excellent, but these show-breaking bugs must be fixed! In my opinion, it would be better to have fewer features that work flawlessly than many functions that are unreliable.
Please forgive the length of this message, but these issues have been building up for quite some time.
My goal is not to offend anyone, but to get these errors corrected so we can work in peace.
Sincerely, Michael.
These same issues are present in the release versions available to everyone — at least on my end. And these are basic functions that should work flawlessly from the start.
I can’t recommend this software until I’m confident in it, and right now I’m not sure everything will run smoothly.
How am I supposed to explain to my musicians that they just need to wait until the developers fix everything?
I’ve described the essence of the problems and my goal quite clearly. I don’t need new features until the existing ones work as intended.
Everything is possible exactly as you described, but it won’t fly on faith. You’ve already been told that these are beta versions, etc., even though there isn’t a single release where everything works perfectly.
Any complaint should be supported by a video of the bug (and preferably one issue per issue, not all of them). Then you can voice your complaint to the developers.
And everything written here in the release: What Is VST Live: Discover All the Features | Steinberg | Steinberg you can demand that it work!
Everything else is new features, and here you can only request something to be done or improved, but always back up any malfunction or complaint with a video first. This will be objective and clear to everyone, and it will be easier for the developers to figure out what’s wrong.
Alright, I’ll make a video. I’m just curious — is everything working perfectly for everyone else? No one’s having the same issues as me? These are basic functions. Am I the only one having this bad luck?
For me, VL is stable enough already for a long time to rely on for concerts. As long as I don’t demand too much from the tool (e.g. switching parts very fast), it does not crash. I looked into automation, but the user experience of entering events in the timeline withholds me to use it a lot. Dragging midi events on the timeline never worked for me well either. The main reason I started using VL, is to be able to create a midi click track and have the ability to modify it during rehearsals instead of exporting a .wav from cubase. But that is still not possible without encountering issues in every step you do. I am lacking time to Investigate and report these though.
Everything’s great, of course, but as I told you,
create a separate thread! Describe the bug and attach the video. Right now, the title of this thread isn’t about bugs, but about your personal experience. Do you think the developers will read it? There’s a chance, of course, but they’re already busy.
So, if there’s no similar thread already found through the search, create a thread!!!, describe the bug, attach your video, and wait for the developers to respond!
And don’t forget to indicate what system and computer configuration you have.
Yesterday I uninstalled 2.2.70 and installed 2.1.0 and loaded my current project (26 songs with many plugins, Waves, NI, Steinberg) and I was surprised that that old version runs smoothly and the same good as newest. My stage horse is very weak - Ryzen 5 with 2 GHz, once overheated on sunlight this Summer but later it somehow works acceptably.
This is what we call the experience. Anything else - follow the white rabbit (I mean @sergeantt67 comment above)
