Installer is not user friendly

[hotmitts]

Long time customer of IK here: Trying to access my Sampletank 2 instruments.
Firstly I'm presented with a fee to pay just to download the library that I already own.
Lucky I backed up.
then I install the libray. It's 8 separate installers, plus one for the Sampletank2 exe.
Which doesn't show up so I still can't access the instruments.
Spent all evening trying to do this.
user-friendly? Not in the slightest.

[DarkStar]

The main sounds library downloads are available to download for 80 days after Registration of the software. After that there is a download reactivation fee if you need to download them again. That fee gets another 180 access to all your library downloads.

As youhad the downloads backed up you can use them again. Or, if you have the installed sounds library available you can copy that to your system.

Can you run the ST2 standalone program? NB The ST2 standalone program and the plug-ins are 32-bit only.

What particularly is not user-friendly?

[hotmitts]

Well, as I said there were several things that weren't user friendly:
Asking to pay extra for re-downloading sounds that I have already paid for. Yes, I was lucky to find my back-up but can't understand why there is a charge for those customer that didn't ? I think that approach will lose you customers and therefore money in the long run.

Then there's the installer...compare it to others by NI, Arturia, Toontrack, XLN and it could do with a new updated easy to use version;
I had to run 8 installers to get my library sounds going for ST 2, which aren't that big by todays standards.
Then I had to install 3 versions of Sampletank to get my library to import into the latest version.
I had to google and check the forums for how to import the samples. Seems to work after about 3 hours tryign but have had some crashes in ST 4.
I just tried to install an old expansion tank and I can't find it inside ST 2, there was no option to specify or check the installation path. I had installed everything prior to that using the default settings so shouldn't be a problem ?
I just think the installer could do with a major update to modernise and make life easier for customers. the products are good so all that is needed is a nicer install process.
When I registered ST 2 XL, I had to paste the serial numbers in segments bit by bit into different boxes, got an authorisation code that didn't work, had to go back to the website and paste in the authoristaion code there instead into about 6 boxes. just about got it working with trial and error but I don't fancy having to do that again ever.
I'm not one to complain but I do think a nice easy installer that sorts a lot of this stuff out would make this really help the customers and the company .

[hotmitts]

I hate complaining but I just wish the authoriser would do away with the serial challenge/response and limits to activations (it makes sense to have a limit to the number of active products, but I can't understand why there is a limit of 10 consecutive activations, which means I guess if you eventually reach the limit you have to contact support.)
As I have said I hate to complain about stuff and like the products but I think if IK updated the whole authorisation hub they could rule the world!

[Peter_IK]

This is all in context of a very old product, though, to be fair. SampleTank 2 is two generations back, SampleTank 4 is current. Current products use the much-improved method of installation and authorization via IK Product Manager.

[hotmitts]

Will this work - once I have installed all the sounds to ST 2.5 can I just a make a back-up copy of the instruments folder, and paste that in for future installations?
Even easier , could i just copy the imported instruments folder in St 3 and use that to paste in?

Partly I'm stressing because I'm maybe planning a hardware upgrade in the near future so may have to re-install stuff.

These bread and butter sounds are still quite useful for sketchpads

Anything too complex I tend to forget quickly these days !

[DarkStar]

Yes and yes \(almost), I've done both.

Install the ST2 library, if needed. In ST3, Import it into the ST3 library. Back up the complete ST3 library (not just the "Imported Instruments" folder).

Later on, copy the ST3 library to the new location. Then, in ST4, add the ST3 library path to the Sound Content path list.,

[hotmitts]

Yes and yes \(almost), I've done both.

Install the ST2 library, if needed. In ST3, Import it into the ST3 library. Back up the complete ST3 library (not just the "Imported Instruments" folder).

Later on, copy the ST3 library to the new location. Then, in ST4, add the ST3 library path to the Sound Content path list.,

Many thanks.
In my ST3 folder there's clearly folders for 'imported instruments' and 'imported samples' so I'm guessing as long as I back both those up it'll be good..? haven't saved any presets or multi's