PowerCore platform is discontinued (TC Electronic)

WaveLab
1

Future development of the PowerCore platform has been ceased

As part of a larger strategic review, we have decided to cease further development of the PowerCore product range, including hardware units as well as software for the PowerCore platform…

…Finally, for those of you, who are registered PowerCore users and wish to continue using externally powered plug-ins on the long term, we have collaborated with Universal Audio in order to create an attractive UAD-2 crossgrade offer.

http://www.tcelectronic.com/default.asp?Id=17031

Sad news… at least for me !

Cheers,
Bernard

2

Yes… me too. I was quite depressed after I read the mail, because I spent so much time back those days to sort out Powercore FiWi Problems as well as I spent quite a lot of money on PoCo Stuff, owning not only 2 PoCo PCI & 1 PoCo Fiwi but all Oxford Plugins, (though I use mostly the Native Version these days) - but I use the great VSS3 Reverb all the time! This is my go-to reverb - well, the Assimilator saved my ass often and the X5 is cool - the “regular” Powercore Plugins are used not that often over here…

So I hope that I can use the Plugins at least that long as my new Win7 DAW lasts - but days are counting till someday a new Windows will be released and then… Sad thing!

3

Well, what I do not understand in that mail - will UAD port the Plugins to the UAD plattform? I can’t believe that…

4

It seems to be clear for me: the answer is no, there is no technology transfer announced (or planned) - the PowerCore platform is dead but System 6000 and others will go on (up to now).

Cheers,
Bernard

5

UAD2 crossgrade is official: http://www.gearjunkies.com/news_info.php?news_id=6032

6

Well. I do Not need that crossgrade cause I have all I need regarding UAD. But the Verbs, Mega, Classic and Vss3 are essential for every of My mixes. I REALY hope that they will Release a native Version one day, I hope bevore the Poco Stuff stopps working over here…

7

More if you already own UAD products the crossgrade offer is not valid for you…

and the cherry on top of the cake:

There are no current plans of porting the PowerCore plug-ins to native.
At the same time please beware that this is not a TC exit from Computer Recording, plug-ins inclusive.

Thomas Valter (TC Forum Administrator)

http://forum.tcelectronic.com/viewtopic.php?id=8674

Cheers,
Bernard

8

Oh damnit… There you spend larger amounts of time and money on something as well as you rely on it regarding your work and than all of a sudden you loose it. It is a shame. Analog gear is not very usable these days but even when the company is dead you can continue using it and if it breaks you usually can find someone who is able to repair it.

So it seems that we have to use an old PC in the future with system link or some fancy network stuff like FX Teleport (dead as well) to be able to run the reverbs we need. Or at least - the reverbs I need. I don’t need the other TC stuff that necessarily but those 3 reverbs are usually THE reverbs in my mixes, I barely use something else…

poop and when that Powercore Firewire breaks I am lost as well… Or not?

9

Yes, I read. I do not need though because I have - but as a “full customer” of both platforms, Powercore I use since day one - including all the trouble I had back those days, you just get NOTHING…

10

PowerCore’s software and hardware provide the utmost quality and a future-proof design.

Haha.

But time will show… Maybe they will release Native though - because I guess 95% of the code they already have. They wait till PoCo is sold out as much as possible. This would be quite unfair, but at least we (I) can use the stuff we need again.

Wow - but when I read that topic in the TC board - well, everyone is pissed… So many people spent $$$ on that stuff. Fortunately I never bought that MD3 Mastering stuff…

11

Fortunately I never bought that MD3 Mastering stuff…

Unfortunately I did! And also bought VSS3, CL1B, Master X3…

It’s a pity as I use the VSS3 alot, guess I won’t sell my M3000 now…

12

I did and use it every day… along with VSS3, NonLin2 and DVR2 reverbs from the System 6000 (3000) and its magical engine and some others optional plugins :cry:

Cheers,
Bernard

13

yes me too :frowning: I sold my M3000 because of the plugins. I also sold my UAD-2 after the whole driver fiasco with Cubendo/UAD-2/Vista. I stuck it for a year then decided I’d had enough and found Native versions.


Marcus

14

It’s a shock. And they manner in which they have done it is terrible. But, hey, they are not breaking the law so it’s a wake up call for us really. We need to think about how we preserve the technology we use carefully. It’s our problem, not theirs ultimately.

Opening old projects is tricky at the best of times. I am getting to the point where I archive a system disk along with the rest of the files now, so I can guarantee (ish) opening old projects.

I am planning to keep a Power Mac Quad alive and kicking for as long as possible, with my PoCo attached.
My plan is to run Powercore as external effects from there. Using Vienna Ensemble (which seems to be ok with MIDI clock.)

I likewise “turn to” VSS3 many times a day. I’ll put up with a little latency to run it as an external plugin now.

Also, perhaps we should start sampling what we like from the likes of Virus etc.

Anyway, it’s a major bummer. But I guess it’s good in a way to be reminded of how dependent we can become on one company, one piece of hardware etc etc.

By preserving my Quad core Powermac, I can run the much more stable powercore version 3 software, as the version 4 still has many problems and will probably fade pretty quickly when Lion arrives. Anyway, that’s my plan and what would I get for that Quadcore on eBay these days? £200? Less probably.

BTW I never sold my M3000 (and had it repaired recently). It was a gut feeling. External FX is the way to go. Bring on a massive MADI card with huge I/O…

B

15

External FX is the way to go

Isn’t it strange?

In the same time I have the feeling it is the best thing today to keep money/gold (better) on a secret place at home instead having in on a bank account (sadly I don’t have neither nor :wink: ) - and some other things - everything moves on so fast and today you can watch movies on your cell-fon and stuff, but in the same time it is starting to get difficult to connect an old IDE harddisk - or a Powercore Firewire - and people go back to the roots and storing gold in the cellar - like the folks did since stoneage.

Your Idea regarding the Quad Mac is great. I decided to do the same here.

Currently I am installing my new Super-DAW - it was quite disapointing that so much of the old and good software is not 100% compatible - Nuendo 3 is running but most of the UAD plugins are not loadable there (I don’t have a clue why) - maybe it is a good idea to move on, Cubase 6 arrived yesterday and C6 has ALL the features I EVER whished to have in Nuendo… When Nuendo will have as well I most likely go from Nuendo 4 to 5.5 or 6 - leaving older versions behind.

BUT I will keep my ultra solid Dual (Quad Core) Opteron / Tyan Machine by my side, running the latest system on there. Win XP, recently fresh and new installed with everything working. And yes - I have system images with older versions of plugins - because often it is a PITA when plugins are not backwards compatible and you have to open a 3 years old project. Ok - no one can really expect me that I am able to open a 8 years old full-mix total recall. Full of DirX plugins and stuff. But at least I like to be able to actually open it.

Maybe that machine will run Powercore Stuff even in 10 years - maybe I can use the plugins via a cool Network adapter ( which hopefully will be able to run on old XP as well :confused: ) I only hope that the device never breaks, ok - it will be no problem to find a used one on ebay for little monay, but I am not sure if TC will be able to port the PLugin licence to another Powercore. BTW: Does anybody know how this is be done? Lets say my PoCo Firewire breaks and I want to use my VSS3 Plugin on my PoCo PCI instead. How can this be done? It is registered to the Firewire unit…

16

In this case the current procedure remains applicable:
1/ You’ll have to send back your broken hardware to TC .
2/ Your licenses will be unregistered from the broken unit by TC
3/ You’ll be able to register your licenses to a new hardware unit (of course if you have another one or if you find one on the market)…

So the question is: does it make sense to buy today another PoCo Firewire unit just as a backup unit in case of a hardware failure as we know that within 3-4 years the unit will be obsolete and maybe no more compatible with Win 8/Mac OS 12 or its successor?

Cheers,
Bernard

17

I had exactly the same thoughts… Buying a replacement unit - surely they will become cheap soon… Buying New or used, would not make much difference. But that means - spending even more money to a dead-end solution!!

Other question is: Will TC remain support (unregistering from broken unit, registering new unit) in long term? Maybe it is no problem in 5 months, but what about 5 years?

As well that I questioned myself regarding Win8. Most likely ( I hope!!) that I can now use my new DAW for the next 5 years at least - I was on XP for 7 or 8 years… But one day we have to move on cause our Sequencer will only support Win8. Keeping the old XP / Win7 machine for “Teleporting” will enable us to at least use the most important plugins - I teleported SIR for years - so teleporting VSS3 would be fine as well. Ok, Teleport is dead as well… But surely one day there will be an alternative.

Look at Gigastudio. I have a full loaded Rig running GS3 with lots of Libraries. Used to use that via Gigaport (FX Teleport) - that rig based on my 2004 DAW - you know, P4B Deluxe with P4 3,2 GZ (you had the same setup, Bernard ^^) - it still runs fine and I use it for Master CD burning with a Plextor Deluxe IDE burner - but I can’t use Gigastudio anymore because I can’t use FX Teleport anymore! Haha, very funny.

But here I stepped over this: Soundlib G-Player - in the end this will give me a more solid system for just little monay - that Gigaport setup was working good but had often bugs and glitches…

Maybe we will find a solution, because we are not the only dudes who let alone, standing in the rain.

18

Some clarification from TC:

Hey guys,

I’ve been reading your posts all day and will continue to do so.

I do understand the frustration that some of you express.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind, and I will try to address some of those.
Please let me try to answer the majority of the subjects that have been discussed here; I apologize for this lengthy post.

Support contra development
This announcement is all about development, i.e. new stuff coming to the platform. We want to be clear about decisions that regards new operating systems or major changes in hosts that might happen in the future - before those changes happen.

What we say is that TC will do no new development for the Poco platform: no new plug-ins, no major developments in regards to new operating systems or control panel etc.
At the same time I’d like to underline that we will do bug fixing. We will put out new releases. In fact, we are working on releases for both MAC and PC. The next PowerCore software for MAC will be released no later than a week from now.

This release, named PowerCore 4.3, will include:

  • Fixes in regards to 64 bit operation
  • A rather large number of fixes of bugs that caused kernel panics
  • Fixes for Digital Performer version 7
  • Fixes for PCIe cards
  • Fixes for memory oriented bugs

There is also an update for PC in the pipeline. This update will address many of the issues mentioned.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why don’t TC release native versions of the PowerCore plug-ins?
A: This is one of the main questions discussed, and I do understand why, so let me dig a bit into this.

We have of course considered all possible ways to continue the life of our PowerCore plug-ins. Considerations included upgrading the hardware with new DSPs and we also looked at porting the PowerCore plug-ins to native (AU, VST, RTAS).

Unfortunately, the combination of algorithm complexity, tailor made PowerCore hardware and corresponding software structure makes it a very tedious and huge task to port PowerCore plugins to native, making it a non-viable route for us to take. We would sooo much like to be able to offer the complete package of PowerCore plug-ins in RTAS, VST and AU formats for you, but I’m afraid it’s not an option. Not even close.

A: Have you planned to close down user support for PowerCore?
Q: No. User support will continue. You can call in or use our online support system as always. Also, we have not planned to close down this user forum.

Q: Will you release the PowerCore software as “Open Source” so that others can maintain it?
A: I’m afraid we can’t make the PowerCore code open source, mainly but not only because it contains all of our copy protection code.
Also, as I said above, we will do updates ourselves.

Q: Will PowerCore support new versions of my host?
A: We cannot guarantee that PowerCore will run on future host versions. However, PowerCore adheres to the VST and Audio Units specifications, and unless changes are made to the hosts’ handling of plug-ins, PowerCore will remain compatible.

Q: Has TC planned to develop plug-ins for the UAD platform?
A: We are constantly evaluation platforms for our technology. At this time we have no announcements

Q: Has TC planned to close down the TC-Now webshop?
A: No. PowerCore is not discontinued, and people who has bought a PowerCore did it with the expectation that they’ll be able to extend the plug-ins for it.

Q: Has TC planned to close the PowerCore user accounts (My Account)?
A: No. The PowerCore user account “My Account” will continue to run. There is absolutely no reason for us to shut it down.
In other words, yes, you will be able to handle your licenses and other things in the future.

Q: How about service for my PowerCore?
A: Service will continue unaffected, too. We will be able to do service on PowerCore products for a long period ahead, so if your experience broken devices, bring them on. Also, there are no changes to the warranty of your PowerCore product.

Hope this answers some of your questions - feel free to comment or ask more.

Thomas Valter (TC Forum Administrator)

more here:
http://forum.tcelectronic.com/viewtopic.php?id=8698

Cheers,
Bernard

19

Well, sounds at least not too bad. Time will show…

20

VSS3 is now available as native VST3 plugin! Thanks Beheringer!