[dBHEAD]

Like many others, I guess now I'm seeing the error of my ways. I should have waited.

This "Ignition Pack" installation stuff is killing me. It took hours to finally get the IK Multimedia plugs all authorized and working. Even after installing the updater downloads, Sampletank still wouldn't authorize right. I had to authorize it every time I opened a new session. Finally, after e-mailing IK Multimedia Support, they e-mailed something back that I believe was a back door. They e-mailed some copy and paste text that went into some obscure file. So Sampletank is finally working. Took hours. Exasperating.

Now Reason Adapted. Unfortunately, Propellerhead does not offer e-mail support for Reason adapted. The CD says to click and drag the folder to the hard drive. So I did. It didn't install in Pro Tools. Downloaded the updater. It has the application and the patches, but I have no clue where this stuff is supposed to go. Applications folder? The plug-in folder? They don't tell you. There's no answer at their site. The don't offer e-mail support on the Adapted version.

If anyone knows, please tell me. At this point, I don't think I'd buy the full version anyway, given the awful customer support. I've pretty much written it off.

What scares me is that I still have Melodyne, BFD and Ableton Lite to install. I don't expect installations to go 100 percent smooth. I've been installing software on computers now since the mid 1990s and there's often some tweaks and smaller problems to solve and I don't complain about that. But this is ridiculous.

I don't blame Digi. I know it was the double-whammy of Tiger and the Intel Macs that caught so many unprepared. But I have never had to work this hard on installing something. Ever. This totally takes the cake. Nothing even comes close.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I've decided to give the Ignition Pack about two more hours of my time over the next few days. Whatever installs, installs. Whatever doesn't, well...

I will say this, though: when Digi comes out with 7.3, I think those of us with Intel Macs who bought a Digi product (the 002R in my case) ought to receive a new FULLY COMPATIBLE Ignition Pack that will install easily with the new version of LE.

I know that probably won't happen, but I'm a reasonable person who would rarely ask for something like that. It's just that given the nightmare so many of us are having installing this not-ready-for-the-market packet of code, I think it's fair.

I'm not angry, but I am frustrated. Maybe the next installs will go better and I'll be all chipper by Thanksgiving.

Um, but I'm not holding my breath.