| LEOPARD COMPATIBILITY NOTE (Oct. 26, 2007): The initial release of Leopard (MacOS X.5) appears to have introduced a number of compatibility issues with our software. We recommend that users of our software hold off on upgrading to OS X.5 or upgrade onto an external drive so that they can also boot from an earlier version of OS X.
ered questions. You can search the FAQ's for a particular application by clicking here. Please carefully examine the FAQs before contacting us. See application-specific and topic-specific F.A.Q.s See a list of current application versions by clicking here TO RETRIEVE LOST SERIAL NUMBERS, UPGRADE INFORMATION AND URLS (registered users only), click here |
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Will your software run on Intel Macs? Do they run under Rosetta? |
Our OS X-native applications (MetaSynth 4, ArtMatic Pro 4.0 and VTrack 2.0 and ArtMatic Voyager 1.2) are all Intel-compatible (not native) and run well under Rosetta with only one known problem*. We will be creating Universal Binary versions of our applications, but we do not yet have a timeline to announce for Intel-native versions of our software. If you have an Intel-Mac at your disposal, you should download the demo version of the software and try it. A user reports that the current MacBook Pro and Intel iMac can preview about 192 voices realtime which is almost twice as many voices as a 600MHz G3 can preview. This is fewer voices than the current Dual G5 machines can preview, however. * - On an Intel-native computer, recording audio in Metasynth Pro through the internal microphone does not work. Other than that, there are no known problems and about 75% of our users are working on Intel Macs with the software. |
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From where can I download the latest version of my software? |
To find the download location and serial numbers for any U&I applications you own, visit our online customer information page http://www.uisoftware.com/searchreg.html This information is only provided to registered users due to rampant piracy. |
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Lost Or Broken Serial Number |
If your serial number is not working, you may be using a serial number for a different version of the program than the one you are launching. Read below for information about having the serial number and download information sent to you. There is a page where you can look up information for all products that you have registered or have purchased from us http://www.uisoftware.com/searchreg.html |
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How do I update my registration information? |
If your email address has changed since you purchased/registered your product, click here to visit our registration update page. | |
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Why didn't I receive an upgrade notice? |
Upgrade information is sent to all registered users at the email address that we have on file. There are several reasons why you might not receive an upgrade message: 1) The email address that we have on file is out of date. You can update your email address by visiting: http://www.uisoftware.com/searchreg.html You will have to find your old registration. Search using your past email address and click on the link to update your information. 2) If your email address is current (i.e. if you can find it at the URL given above) then the upgrade message was intercepted or blocked by a junk mail or spam filter either on your computer OR at your ISP. Many ISPs have spam filters online that prevent what they think is spam from reaching you. About 20% to 30% of the upgrade messages that we send out are blocked. In some cases, the messages are stored in an online junk mail folder; in other cases, the messages are deleted on receipt by your ISP. Please log on to your ISP account and check its junk mail settings. If you have set junk mail to be deleted, turn that option off before asking us to re-send the message. If your email address is found at http://www.uisoftware.com/searchreg.html click on the button/link to have your serial number and download information sent. This will also result in recent upgrade messages or special offers being re-sent. |
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When I try to launch the application, some other application opens |
Add '.app' to the name of the application. In some cases, a person has an application installed that has mapped our creator type to some other application. Adding ".app" to the name forces the OS to open our application correctly when this happens. | |
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How do I upgrade?/Upgrade policies |
When new versions of all products are released, we email upgrade information to all registered users. Upgrades are only available to officially registered users. If you haven't received upgrade information or new product announcements then your email address may have changed or we might not have received your registration card (only needed if you didn't buy directly from us). If you mailed a registration card to Arboretum, they may not have forwarded it to us. If you haven't sent in your registration card or you sent a reg. card to Arboretum, please fill out our online registration form. Click here to go to the registration page. Be SURE to enter all requested information since we can't send the correct information if we don't have all of the info. IF YOU NEED TO UPDATE AN EXISTING REGISTRATION, register your software or update your registration by visiting http://www.uisoftware.com/register.html |
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I am having trouble downloading the software or unstuffing the software. What can I do? |
The most common download problem is that double-clicking on the download URL in an email does not work. This is actually a bug in some email programs. Our messages are straight text messages. Some email programs detect URLs but construct an invalid link. To see if this is the case, try to download the software. If the browser gives you a file not found message, carefully examine the URL in your browser's location field and compare it to the TEXT that appears in the message we sent. If the URL is not precisely the same in the browser and the email message, type the URL or copy the text from the email message (making sure to get all of the characters) and paste it into your browser. BE EXTRA CAREFUL not to include extra spaces. If you URL is out of date, you can have the most recent URL sent to you by visiting: http://www.uisoftware.com/searchreg.html If this does not address your problem, please read below: Oftentimes, it is not clear whether the problem is downloading the software or unstuffing it. Here are some general guidelines: If you receive a file not found message from your browser, there is a good chance that either you have encountered a bug in your email program (if you double-clicked the link in the message you received) or mis-copied the URL. Be sure that the URL that you see in your browser's location field precisely matches the URL as it appears in the email message you received. If double-clicking the link in your email message does not work, select the text in the message. Copy it to the clipboard and paste it into your browser's location or URL field. If you continue to have problems, email use the precise URL that you are pasting into your browser and the URL as it appears in your browser's location field after trying to download. If the software downloads but you receive a message when unstuffing the file that something is wrong, you may have an older version of the Stuffit Expander. If you have a version older than 5.5, make sure to download a newer version. 90% of the problems unstuffing downloaded files from our site are the result of using an older version of Stuffit. The other 10% of the problems are the result of incomplete downloads. If you are having problems downloading, try using another browser or file transfer application. We check all of our uploads to make sure that they are intact on the server. So, problems are generally the result of communication errors of one sort or another. If using another application to download doesn't work, you should wait and try again later. Heavy traffic through the download bottleneck occasionally results in incomplete downloads even with broadband connections. The problem generally goes away if you try again later. If you continue to have download problems, contact us at support1@uisoftware.com |
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The Image Synth stutters sometimes in MS4 with presets that played fine in MS 2.7. What is the problem? |
The stuttering you are experiencing could have several different causes. First, if you are previewing the Image Synth and it only happens with some presets, take a look at our tech note by clicking here. In the vast majority of cases that we have examined, we have found this only happens with presets with a large number simultaneous voices. Many people are unclear on just how Image Synthesis works and are surprised when a preset with 100 simultaneous voices does not preview smoothly. A preset might have a lot of simultaneous voices without your knowing it. Take a look at our tech note by clicking here. A little background may be helpful and help you figure out if there is a problem or note. Keep in mind that in MS 2.7, previews were done at 22k in mono. MetaSynth 4 does full-stereo previews at sample rates up to 48K. So, if there are many simultaneous voices (pixels) being triggered in the Image Synth, MetaSynth is being asked to do many times more processing than before.
Has it been a while since you restarted your computer. If none of the above helped, shut down your computer and re-launch. OS X uses virtual memory and the performance of virtual memory can degrade over time -- especially if you have either limited memory or limited/fragmented disk space.
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Windows/PC versions? |
We are frequently asked whether our products are available for the WINTEL platform. Currently, there are no Windows versions of our programs. We understand that there is a desire for these programs on the Windows platform, but we are expert Mac programmers with little Windows experience. We have decided to stick to what we do best which is create great Mac programs for creative artists. In the time that it would take us to port a single program to Windows we can create several great programs for the Mac. We have not ruled out the possibility of porting to Windows but there are no plans at this time. We will update this item if we decide to create a Windows version of any of our apps. In the meantime, used and refurbished iMacs and iBooks have become quite inexpensive, and they work great with our applications. |
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How do I learn more? Is there a user forum? |
There is a great online community of U&I Software users. It is both the best place to get technical support and a great place to learn more about U&I Software applications, get tips and meet like-minded artists. The group is called the UILIST online users group. This is our first line of tech support and results in the quickest response since the participants often answer questions before we can get to them. These are also the questions that we answer first since the answer benefits many users at once (some of whom were too shy to ask). The list is also a great source of tips and inspiration. You can learn more about it by clicking here. This list is a great resource since many list members are product experts and creative artists who have gone through the discovery process and are happy to help. Also, they often know more about related topics (projectors, sound cards, and other non-U&I-specific topics) than we do. |
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What is the latest version of my application? |
See list of the current application versions and upgrade options by clicking hereThere is a link on that page to get the URL of the latest version and information about how to upgrade to the latest version. | |
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Animation rendering is slow. How do I speed it up? |
Make sure to turn off Background Rendering in the Preferences dialog for both OS 9 and OS X. | |
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I am an AOL subscriber and have not received my download information. Why? How can I get it? |
It has come to our attention that AOL is now (for some strange reason -- since we never send email to anyone but registered users about software updates) blocking all email from uisoftware.com to most of its users. This mail is put into a mailbox -- that most people do not even know exists -- that contains all blocked messages sent to a user. Below are two sets of instructions for accessing such messages. These instructions were provided by users. METHOD 1: AOL had me go to my mailbox through the AOL.com page via your web browser (NOT the AOL application). On this page is a "spam folder" which allows me to see all automatically blocked emails AOL system wide) and identify them as not spam. Sure enough all your replies were there (along with at least 10 other non-spam messages from personal friends of mine!). Apparently these are automatically blocked because someone on the AOL network clicked the "Report Spam" button when receiving from that particuar server. Go figure. METHOD 2: (Make sure to perform EACH step or you won't arrive at the right page): On AOL 5.0 under OS 9.2.2, the spam-box & its controls can be found via this sequence: My AOL> Marketing Preferences> E-Mail Preference> AOL Keyword: Junk Mail> [You can also start here.} AOL Spamfighters!> Spam Messages blocked & Mail and Spam Controls Spam messages blocked tabs let you see Spam messages blocked Today (since midnight ET), This Week, and This Month. Mail and Spam controls "... let you decide what kind of e-mail you receive. Determine what is placed in your spam folder...." The choices are "Allow all e-mail...Block all e-mail... Customize mail control...." |
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Is Xx being ported to OS X? I see MetaSynth has |
Yes, Xx is being ported to OS X. MetaSynth 4 underwent a significant transformation from earlier versions and we just were not able to get Xx done at the same time -- and we didn't want to sit on the finished MetaSynth 4 until Xx was done. We don't have a timetable and hope that you will be patient as we are a small developer devoted to making the software not just OS X-native but also U&I-worthy. The OS X audio/midi architecture is a big change from the old OS; so, porting to OSX is not a trivial task. | |
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When MetaSynth is brought to the front, the u.i. sometimes doesn't work. What is wrong? |
In some cases, the OS doesn't fully activate the window when MetaSynth is brought to the front. To fix this problem, click on the MetaSynth window's title bar. | |
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Some PICT or AIFF files are not selectable in the open/import dialog. What is wrong? |
It is likely that these files have the correct file extension but do not have the file type correctly assigned. We have posted a utility application that fixes the file type of such files. It can be downloaded from: http://uisoftware.com/DOWNLOADS/FileTypeUtilities.zip (ArtMatic Pro 4.1 and VTrack 2.1 can handle files with no assigned file type -- so be sure that you have upgraded to the latest version.) Here is some background: OS X has both file extensions (the letters like 'aif' or '.jpg' that appear at the end of a file name) and file type codes (a four-letter code not visible to the end-user that can be set by an application). In OS 9 and early versions of OS X, file extensions were cosmetic and the real file type was determined by the file type code. Since the release of OS X.4, many applications have stopped setting the file type code and rely solely on the file extension. Future versions of our applications will be able to handle files whose extensions have been set but have no file type. |
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OS X: When will you support OS X for Xx and Videodelic |
All of our applications except for Xx and Videodelic are now OS X native. We are in the midst of bringing these two remaining applications to OS X. We are working hard on the next generation of all the applications in our suite but do not have details or dates to announce. Theseapplications run in OS X in Classic mode with the following caveats: -- MIDI features (when running OS X classic) (which rely on OMS) require a third-party utility called MidiBridge9x that allows applications running in Classic to access the OS X core MIDI (because OMS is not directly supported by OS X Classic). Many users are experiencing excellent results with it. You can find out more at: http://www.troikatronix.com/midibridge9x.html -- Videodelic's video input does not work. -- Videodelic audio input may exhibit greater latency than under OS 9. Test with the demo version to see if the performance is acceptable on your machine. |
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What is the difference between VTrack and Videodelic? Which is right for me? |
Videodelic and VTrack are both great apps that create intriguing visuals, but they are very different from each other. The best way to figure out which is for you is to download the demo versions and try them out to see which appeals to your way of working. There are quite a few users (almost 50%) that use both VTrack and Videodelic along with ArtMatic Pro to create video and music video. Videodelic is primarily a real-time video synthesizer optimized for playing live visuals. It applies special effects to images, movies and video input under the control of audio input, MIDI, or the computer keyboard and mouse. It also has a simple sequencing room for rendering QuickTime movies. Videodelic is great for quickly putting together stunning visuals that are tightly couple to audio or MIDI input. Well-known musicians and VJs have taken Videodelic around the world and used it to create live visual accompaniment. It has been used on stage by bands such as Dream Theater, King Crimson and Radiohead and used for numerous music videos and commercials. VTrack is an eight track video sequencing program (NLE) and special effects tool for creating high-resolution, broadcast-quality QuickTime movies. It allows you to mix and layer up to eight tracks of video ,unrendered ArtMatic systems, pictures, and graphic/text objects. Because you can define a tempo-based grid, cutting to music is a snap since you can ensure that events are aligned to the beat. |