No Lovin' from TaSCAM... Again

[MikieNes]

Remember that girl who broke your heart? She was SOOOO magic; Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis all in one incredible, beautiful creature. You kept trying and trying and trying.

She'd play you, too. Spend a little time with you, batting those beautiful eyelashes, brushing against you so alluringly -- then blowing you off yet again. But it was always the same story -- you'd end up alone at the end of the day with nothing to show for all your efforts but pain and frustration.

You finally wised up and blew her off once and for all -- and for three months never heard from her, until, day by day, like a nasty scrape, the pain dulled, and you would find yourself surprised that hours, even days had passed without a thought of the pain that had once dominated your entire world.

Then the phone call would come, and, with a sweet, honeyed voice, she'd work her magic on you again, and you'd think to yourself "maybe THIS time things'll be different...."

Enter TASCAM and their magic product "Gigastudio", the reputed sound sampler of the gods. GIGABYTE-sized, absolutely authentic sounds from your MIDI tracks. The ability to create aural magic for the price of a small television set.

And I bought the hype.

Not once, but twice.

Now I'm no slouch with hardware -- in addition to a one-year tech certification, I've got Microsoft MCP and COMPTIA A+ and Network+ certifications. I can build a PC from the ground up with my eyes closed and diagnose and repair virtually any problem.

I've also used a number of different audio products -- Cakewalk, Sonar, Sonic Foundry, Halion, all will generally excellent results. But EVERY incarnation of Gigastudio has only caused bluescreens or simply refused to function.

After shelling out the first 150 bucks and spending months and months of fruitless tweaking and rebuilding, you'd think I would've learned my lesson.

But no, not this hopeless romantic.

When music giant Tascam bought out Nemesys, the company responsible for the first Gigascrewedio, I thought -- like so many other hapless victims -- that THIS time things would be different.

And so I parted with another cool 250 bucks with the blind faith of the lovestruck.

Needless to say, the relationship never got past first base -- the initial installation -- and, since I waited past the warranty date, I am, once again, nicely out of luck.

So I called Tascam right before the holidays.

Getting only a recorded message, I spoke nicely, calmly, and gave detailed information about the problem, along with my contact information. I sent out a follow-up email, along the normal channels.

No answer.

I kept trying, calling long distance at different times of the day, leaving messages with tech support and the main number. E-mail after email followed.

After two weeks, my patience wore somewhat thin -- hell, even a form letter would have been appreciated as a simple gesture of courtesy.

But now, a month later, it seems I just can't get no lovin' from Tascam.

Fact is, Tascam, she just don't care.

And so, as I finally promised, I'm parting company with Gigascrewdio, never to look back. And to all of you hoping to make music with this expensively-wrapped, overly-hyped, perfumed piece of fecal matter, expect the same. You ain't gettin' no lovin' there.

I, for one, will be looking into lemon laws to try and recoup my cash so as to spend it better elsewhere.

And so, that eternal advice still hasn't changed: dump her and look elsewhere. There are a hell of a lot better ones out there; ones who won't take all your money and leave you frustrated at the end of the day.

[cjacek]

The only products that TASCAM hyped, actually under-promissed but OVERdelivered were ones in the Analog Glory days of the 80's. People there cared too. It's not the same TASCAM to be sure.

[The Ghost of FM]

Is this, one, opening post conclusive scientific proof that Gigastudio is an unusable product for every last one of its customers or do we have someone here with a hidden addenda to place a knife in TASCAM's back?

I'd love to say I know the author of this this thread's opening post but it turns out this is his first post here at home-recording.com so obviously he never came here for help.

[MikieNes]

Originally Posted by The Ghost of FM

Is this, one, opening post conclusive scientific proof that Gigastudio is an unusable product for every last one of its customers or do we have someone here with a hidden addenda to place a knife in TASCAM's back?

I'd love to say I know the author of this this thread's opening post but it turns out this is his first post here at home-recording.com so obviously he never came here for help.

Hoss, no offense, but, you're right. You don't know me.

So you'll just have to take it at face value that I really am a certified, extremely competent PC tech. Feel free to check my bio out, if you have doubts:
http://aliberaldose.blogspot.com

My only "agenda" is recouping my significant monetary and time losses and finding a working alternative to this crap.

But, hey, feel free to rush out and buy a whole steaming heap of their crapware; don't let ME dissuade you.

[BRDTS]

......"Cakewalk, Sonar, Sonic Foundry, Halion, all will generally excellent results..."
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And of course you DON"T have Gigastudio installed on the same computer with all that stuff, right?

I've had Gigastudio in it's various incarnations for years. By itself on it's own pc. Using various Echo cards, standard Echo giga drivers. Even extensive Giga setups using fxteleport. Works great. Like a tank.

No troubles. No lemon.

[The Ghost of FM]

Originally Posted by MikieNes

Hoss, no offense, but, you're right. You don't know me.

So you'll just have to take it at face value that I really am a certified, extremely competent PC tech. Feel free to check my bio out, if you have doubts:
http://aliberaldose.blogspot.com

My only "agenda" is recouping my significant monetary and time losses and finding a working alternative to this crap.

But, hey, feel free to rush out and buy a whole steaming heap of their crapware; don't let ME dissuade you.

There's an old military axiom that addresses situations where one feels they have been wronged by the system and that is to bark up, and never down.

Barking upward puts you in contact with those that can actually address and do something about your concerns.

Barking down, to your peers doesn't solve the problems, it only displays your temper tantrum and lack of skills at peacefully resolving an issue.

If you claim to be fluent in certain aspects of computers and programs, that certainly is no guarantee that, that makes you an instant master and judge about any other program. Just as one might be fluent in English, French and Spanish, does not make one instantly fluent in Russian or Chinese.

These forums were set up with the intension of recording musicians to come together and help each other in understanding the art and science of recording music. This place was not assembled to be a pulpit for the disgruntled who have abandoned hope and only wish to throw stones.

If you were here long enough and read enough you might have come to know these things too.

Cheers!

[soundchaser59]

Generally speaking, if there are enough people using a software package without any problems, then some people who DO have problems, that points to the hardware, not the software.

First thing I would do is what BRDTS said, wipe the machine and reinstall with only the bare minimum OS essentials and Gigastudio, nothing else. If it still craps out on you (while a great number of other people are still having no problems with it) then there is something about your hardware that the software cant handle. Does Gigastudio have hardware requirements or compatibility requirements?? The most common offender is the video card, especially if it's an ATI or Rage card. I had bluescreens almost daily until I removed the ATI, reinstalled the OS, then switched to nVidia. I have not had any bluescreens at all since I switched.

Just a thought provoker, nothing completely useful or helpful here. But hope you find out the cause of the problem......

[The Ghost of FM]

Originally Posted by soundchaser59

Just a thought provoker, nothing completely useful or helpful here. But hope you find out the cause of the problem......

I would dare say that what you offered our new friend to the board is very helpful.

Let's see if he gave that a whirl?

Always great to hear from you, Gary.

[soundchaser59]

Thank You Ghost. Hope all is going well up north.

Let's hope that is all the tip he needs to get Giga working well....

[MikieNes]

Points taken, gentlemen. I don't want to be unconstructive here, just giving a warning to other potential buyers to carefully consider before making a gigastudio purchase.

Ghost, you're right, and I have indeed contacted the biggest cheeses I could track down at Tascam. But I also thought others need to know about ongoing issues with this software, and, worse, the company selling it.

Soundchaser, I think you're bang on. I only have Gigastudio, MidiIllustrator, Goldwave and Cubase LE on this machine. Gigastudio was the first thing I installed. Even turned off all the unnecessary services (set to manual), and disabled the serial and parallel ports in the BIOS. It's an audio-dedicated machine, built specifically around and for Gigastudio. I sank a lot of cash into building a machine JUST FOR THAT PROGRAM, and thus, you might imagine I'm a little less than cheery about the end results.

I would also agree that the problem might be hardware related (AMD 64-bit CPU, ATI X200 video card, etc.), EXCEPT I'm not getting BSOD's or lockups or anything.

The problem's specifically with the registration. It doesn't accept the registration written on the DVD jacket. And after, oh, TEN (long distance from Tokyo) phone calls and messages and THREE emails and a MONTH and a HALF, they still haven't bothered to even send a form letter.

It's be so easy for them to just give me a damned spam email, even, but a dissatisfied customer patently doesn't rank on their list of priorities.

[The Ghost of FM]

The problem's specifically with the registration. It doesn't accept the registration written on the DVD jacket. And after, oh, TEN (long distance from Tokyo) phone calls and messages and THREE emails and a MONTH and a HALF, they still haven't bothered to even send a form letter.

So, just to clarify; Are we talking about a registration key number on the program disc's case that doesn't activate the program as part of the installation process?

If so, this would be an issue to take up with the vendor of the software as a first step, no?

Was it an open stock purchase you made?

Were there any signs that the product was in any way counterfeit software?

Sorry if these questions seem too banal but it would be nice to have all the facts if we are to legitimately commiserate with you.

Cheers!

[sloom]

This will not be the first complaint about Tascam- so you have to give it that. But: This forum, and maybe as many as several other forums dealing with Tascam, do have knowledgeable folks frequenting them. This forum is likely a better resource of info even if you could speak to Tascam, anyway!

[Zaphod B]

Originally Posted by The Ghost of FM

Were there any signs that the product was in any way counterfeit software?

MikieNes, when you said that the problem was a registration issue, this point from FM was also my first thought. You're in Tokyo, and I would think the probability of buying (either purposefully or inadvertently) counterfeit software would be high.

[MikieNes]

Zaphod:

I mail ordered it through MTLC.

And even if it were counterfeit (I'm sure it's not; it arrived huge outer box and all); a serial number should still work. Mine doesn't I checked on the net for others; they don't either.

And thanks for the thought, sloom.