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[gearnerd]

John wrote:

gearnerd wrote:

Again, this is not true.

According to the programmer, it is.

The request to be able to update/install multiple products in one go has been noted earlier but I have no further info.

BR,
John

If what you are saying is true, and the product manager ships with it’s own installer, then it’s a bit odd that the programmers didn’t bother writing a function that allows to install multiple products. I think it’s very sensible if it did ship with the latest installer because it keeps you from maintaining 500 odd installers (which has no added benefit for the users and is a lot of work).

There is a seperate updater shipped with the Toontrack Product manager as far as I can see. Are you refering to that? For updates it’s the same, would be nice if the updater is updated to include multiple updates.

@Olof, thanks for addressing my concern and providing an example! So technically it still works with a bit of a workaround. But my general point is I think Toontrack should be a bit more dilligent in maintaining older products. Beside the 32 bit installer there is also midi mapping which is wrong for example on custom and vintage and Music City USA SDX. I understand it’s not as enticing to work on older products, but Toontrack are charging the same price. It would be a different matter if they had a permanent discount on older products :).

[gearnerd]

John wrote:

Hi,

the installers in the downloaded packages are not used if you are installing through the Toontrack Product Manager, instead the PM uses the latest installer version.

BR,
John

Again, this is not true. The product manager simply launches the installer that is downloaded. Why do you think I’m pointing this out? Why do you think this topic exists? https://www.toontrack.com/forums/topic/updating-multiple-products-feature-request/

 

Can you please address the other concern I raised?

[gearnerd]

I hope they are secretly working on it and releasing it some day. I think technically it’s not that hard for them to implement, especially the midi stuff is easy (copying one folder to another). Other audio companies have been pushing product managers as the only way of installing their software. Maybe some people will be angry when Toontrack does the same, but I think most people will be very happy if they did.

I think it’s feasable for them to support bulk and individual installs going forward. Right now the product manager is a glorified download manager that interfaces with the toontrack website for most of it’s functionality. They probably need to de-couple the Product manager from the website to allow functionality like bulk-install and bulk-update because they shouldn’t be downloading the same installer files as from the website. What do I mean by that? The installer’s contain a payload and a piece of software that installs the payload. The product manager needs to encompass that piece of software that installs the payload. It only needs to download the payload (for multiple products) and install it. All the payloads will have a manifest file that explains to the installer what it is and where it needs to put it. For individual products on the website, it’s just a universal installer for 1 product with the payload bundled.

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Thanked by: Jeffrey Sheppard

[gearnerd]

Yes I’m using the Toontrack Product manager. I’m talking about the installers that the Product manager downloads. And I’m talking about products that should have gotten updates that seem to be abandoned by Toontrack.

@john, what you state is simply technically not true. “Maintaining separate installers for ≈500 products isn’t an easy task, so the Product Manager really is everybody’s friend.”
The product manager doesn’t do any installation, it’s just a glorified download manager for separate installers. This is discussed at length in this topic. https://www.toontrack.com/forums/topic/updating-multiple-products-feature-request/

Quite the opposite is true in fact. The installers are basically the same, nobody is maintaining separate installers. It’s basically two installer variants for all products. I did some digging for the topic mentioned above because I wanted a quicker way of installing toontrack products and updates. I eventually wrote a tutorial, you can find here https://www.toontrack.com/forums/topic/innstalling-multiple-products-in-bulk-through-command-line-guide/

Especially the midi installers are basically copying files from one location to another. Ever wonder why all installers look the same? Because they pretty much are the same.

Some of the installers that the product manager downloads, are very old and are 32 bit and thus not supported by newer versions of MacOS. Older SDX expansions don’t have their midi mapping right. So basically Toontrack is charging the same high prices for new and abandoned products that don’t get the much needed updates to function correctly.

[gearnerd]

If I can sell my ezdrummer 2 license, I purchased an upgrade to SD3 and EZD3 so I’m not sure if I’m able to.

[gearnerd]

sold!

[gearnerd]

I have a thread about unattended installation of products using the command-line terminal. I could probably make a script to make it more user friendly. That being said, the updates are still a pain because toontrack uses a proprietary installer that in some cases is so old that it’s 32 bit.

[gearnerd]

I’ll lower the price to 75 euro’s/dollars, toontrack fee included.

[gearnerd]

Sorry to double post. But the above method couldn’t be used for installing midi files in SD3. The installer basically copies over the contents of the midi folder that is inside the DMG disk file.

Bulk installing SD3 midi:

Go to the downloads folder where you’ve downloaded all the dmg files from the product manager:

cd ~/Downloads/Toontrack

Mount all of them using disk util
for i in *.dmg ; do hdiutil mount $i ; done

This next bit is slightly more complicated. You’ll need to know where the midi folder is located. for example:

/Volumes/External-drive/SD3\ Library/Midi

Replace the part in brackets called “[midi folder location]” with the location of your midi library. Make sure the path is right by using the [tab] key with tab completion.

for i in /Volumes/*MIDI; do sudo cp -Rv $i/Contents/Midi/0* [midi folder location] ; done

It will copy the midi files to your library, if you’ve done it correctly, the Toontrack product manager will show you a green checkmark.

 

Hope this helps. Of course proceed at your own risk.

[gearnerd]

Here it is: https://www.toontrack.com/forums/topic/innstalling-multiple-products-in-bulk-through-command-line-guide/

In general risks try to avoid using sudo on the terminal (there is only one command listed there) and make sure the path is right (using pwd).

[gearnerd]

Yes, a bit of caution is advised when using the terminal! Unfortunately though, the procedure doesn’t work for updates. Only for regular product installations, I wrote a guide in this forum.

[gearnerd]

Please let us use the “installer” command by using pkg files instead of using dmg archives. I think most people here in this thread would rather be dealing with a commandline interface to type something in that allows them to install a bunch of packages at a time than clicking in dozens of installers windows.

Edit: it seems to work using this guide. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25409584/apple-installer-command-help-for-bash-script/25409760#25409760

Operating system: macOS Ventura (13)

• This post was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by gearnerd.

[gearnerd]

I’m interested in Legacy of Rock. You can reach me at gearnerd@cluemail.com

[gearnerd]

Is legacy of rock still for sale?

[gearnerd]

Number 1 Hits EZX  is now sold.

[Author]

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