MAGIX releases "Independence" line at pro.magix.com (+updated to v3.1, incl. Mac 64-bit)

26th September 2012 - KVR Audio News

Magix has announced that the complete line of "Independence" products including the sampler and a wide range of plugins (formerly yellow tools) is now available at the MAGIX Pro website.

The Independence line offers producers and music creators a huge selection of instruments and sound packages for professional composing and live performance. The new versions of Independence include an improved library package of Independence Instruments and the development of the "Engine" sample player.

"The release of the new Independence products as part of the MAGIX brand marks a very important step in our efforts to offer our customers better service and information about our products in the future", commented Christian Hellinger, MAGIX Vice President Audio.

The Independence Product Line

The Independence Pro Software Suite 3.1 represents the basis of all Independence products. With an overhauled audio engine, multi-core support, timestretching and pitchshifting options and high-end effects such as the realtime impulse response processor "Origami", it now offers more creative possibilities than ever before. The new version 3.1. also has 64-bit Mac OS X interfaces for VST plug-ins, Audio Units and standalone devices.

Independence Pro Software Suite 3.1. is included in Independence Basic (12 GB sound library) and Independence Pro (70 GB content library). The sampler workstation includes a host application for live performances (Independence Live) and a fully-equipped effects rack (Independence FX). Independence Basic is included with Samplitude Pro X and Independence Pro is part of the Samplitude Pro X Suite.

For those looking for an introduction to the world of sampling workstations, Independence Free with a 2 GB sound library is available as a free download.

Independence Instruments

The sound libraries in Independence Basic and Pro offer producers a vast array of instruments. In addition, MAGIX also offers "Independence Instruments" – comprehensive sound libraries organized into instrument groups: Drums & Percussion, Guitars & Basses, Strings & Synths, Acoustic & Electric Pianos and Orchestral.

The newest instruments with the Engine Sample Player

The Independence-based sample player Engine is completely compatible with Independence and new Engine Instruments are constantly being developed.

Software updates for Independence Pro Software Suite 3.1. and Engine 3.1. are free for all registered users of previous versions.

Read more at pro.magix.com

Find Independence in the KVR Marketplace

Products Related To This Item

EngineSampler / WorkStation
by Best Service Included with Best Service compatible libraries

MyKVR

IndependenceSampler/Sample Player
by MAGIX $329.00

MyKVR

$329.00Buy

CheckoutX

Independence FreeSampler/Sample Player
by MAGIX Free

MyKVR

OrigamiReal-Time Impulse Response Processor
by MAGIX Included with Independence

MyKVR

More News

Ueberschall releases Chart Hits (Elastik Soundbank)

September 25, 2012

bismark updates bs-16i for iOS (1.5) and bs-spectrum for iOS (2.2) and...

September 26, 2012

Sony Creative Software releases Vegas Pro 12 and Vegas Pro 12 Edit

September 26, 2012

Playgrind releases "AtmoSpheres" for iOS

September 26, 2012

Softrave reduce prices for Tape harmonizer, Tape Filter and Guitar Boo...

September 26, 2012

Mildon Studios releases "GD-F40 Maynila Acoustic Guitar SFZ" with intr...

September 26, 2012

Discussion

Discussion: Active

fizzicist
26 September 2012 at 5:12pm

Looks like Magix still has some details to work out. It was pretty easy to transfer my YellowTools account to Magix, and all of my registered products showed up in the My Products section of the Samplitude Service Center. However, I expected the available downloads of the updates that pertain to my registered products to appear in the "Downloads" section, which is described as containing "Available downloads". It doesn't do that. Clicking on Independence or Engine results in a blank field under "Available downloads".

Instead, the links to the downloads for the updated versions of the software appear in the "My Products" section. Not entirely intuitive, but OK, I guess.

The download links won't accommodate a download manager (like Speed Download), but my browser (SeaMonkey) handled the download OK. However, what you're downloading (at least in the case of Independence; I haven't tried the others yet) is a ZIP file that unzips to reveal a Download Manager.app (4.5MB on Mac OS X). You have to open that to actually start the download of the Independence Pro Software Suite 3.1 (419 MB).

So far I haven't figured out how to get the Engine update from Magix. The Service Center page says it's available in the "Downloads" section, but it's not there, as described above. Nevertheless, the most recent version of Engine is available from the Best Service website.

Bhan
28 September 2012 at 1:43am

fizzicist -

I went through the same process of finding the registration under My products - I guess the licenses were automatically transferred to Magix from Yellow Tools. Thanks for the heads up that I only downloaded the download manager. I haven't followed through on installing and registering yet. I have Samp pro 9 on my system and I'm hoping the new independence will register through the existing Code Meter. I haven't had to mess with it in so long that I'm clueless to using a dongle anymore. The support center got back to me almost immediately which is great to see. They recommended that I download the new library - Which I hope is only the installation software ( I have the Library on dick and there's no way I'd download the content ).

Hoping others will chime in on the exact procedures. I don't wish to screw up my existing install until I'm sure how to update.

fizzicist
28 September 2012 at 3:53am

Bhan:

The Download Manager downloads a package file with the filename "MAGIX_Independence_Pro_Software_Suite_3_1_120904_13-58_3_1_0_325.pkg", and then runs the installer from there. It's a humongous 440.2MB file. Oddly, even though it's the "Pro" software suite, the Download Manager puts it into a folder called "Independence Free". Go figure.

You don't have a choice as to where to install the app. The installer has a "Change Install Location" button, but it's useless because you can only install on the volume that's running the system (in my case, OS X). The installer automatically installed Independence and Independence Live in my Applications folder. (My existing install of Independence 3.0 is in another directory.) The installer also created a "Magix" folder inside my user Documents folder and then created an "Independence" folder inside that. Presumably the "Magix" folder is the equivalent of the old "Yellow Tools Root Folder".

When I launched the Independence application, I had no instruments. It took me a while to figure out how to get my instruments loaded. I had to create an "image files" folder inside the "Magix/Independence" folder, and then put aliases (shortcuts for Windows users) to all my image files in there. (My image files are all stored on a separate volume.) I still have to get my other instruments to appear (Gu Zheng and Epic World), but I presume it will follow a similar process.

The good news is that installing the updated version did not mess up my existing installation. I was able to open Independence 3.0 at the same time as the new Independence 3.1. Everything in Independence 3.0 still works the same. The new installation is...er, "independent" of the existing install (heh). But that might not be the case if your existing install is in your Applications folder. I suspect in that case the installer might just write over it. If you want to keep your existing install working until you figure out how to get everything working in the new app, it probably would be a good idea to move the existing application to another directory.

It's not clear to me whether there's a new library with new instruments. Magix doesn't provide much guidance on how to do the upgrade. The one thing I can tell you for certain is that I was able to get the old instrument library to work with the new 3.1 upgrade by using the procedure described above, and I was glad that I didn't lose any functionality on v3.0 in the process. Having the instrument libraries on a separate volume and linking to them with aliases (or shortcuts) is definitely the way to go. After I'm certain I've got everything working right, then I'll delete all the stuff that pertained to v3.0.

Bhan
29 September 2012 at 12:17am

I'm hoping that I'm similarly set-up with another directory - been awhile since I installed 3.0. Thanks for the information, I'll be downloading the installation manager tonight. Magix Tech support suggests a an uninstall for old versions and fresh update install - probably because of the potential for confusion for the installation manager in the same directories. Any noticable changes or improvements with 3.1? I'm hoping the mixer outputs selection Gui gets fixed at least.

One more question if you don't mind - Do I need to run the Library install as well ? or just point the new image ( short cuts) ? I'm pretty sure there is no change in the instruments library content.

fizzicist
29 September 2012 at 12:52am

"Do I need to run the Library install as well?"

I don't know. It's possible that the installer app will put the library in exactly the right place where it will work right out of the gate with the 3.1 app. But if so, that's not what I want it to do. I don't want that humongous bunch of library files on my boot volume. I might try to run the library installer later, though, just to see what happens...and to see whether there are any new instruments. But if the installer puts the library on my system volume, I definitely will move it. I've already proven to myself that the library doesn't have to be there in order for v3.1 to work.

"Any noticeable changes or improvements with 3.1?"

Can't answer that one either...at least not yet. My principal intention after installing v3.1 was to make sure I could get it to work with the existing library, without disrupting the functionality of my v3.0 install. I managed to accomplish that, but I haven't had any time to actually play with it. However, in a side by side comparison of 3.0 and 3.1, the interface looks identical. I suspect that, with the change to the 64-bit version, all of the changes are "under the hood", as they say.

TheWhistler
29 September 2012 at 8:37am

Hi and thank's to fizzicist for the information. I just loaded the 400+ MB and installed it right away. Pointing the new installation to the image files on my secondary disc was no problem at all (thank's again to fizzicist).

I am using REAPER. In this environment I had no problems with 3.1 so far. I loaded a few instruments and templates with multiout and some complicated routing - worked at the first glance without any problems.

@Bhan: I ran the installer and it replaced the old installation -> no problem so far. If you already have the library on your hd, go to: preferences / libraries / add library / then point Independence to where you have stored your library and (!!!) the layers folder. Then independence will recognize it at the next start.

What made me more confident also for future support and development, is that MAGIX had my password and I could log in easily. I used my already existing serial and the work was done. That is a total improvement to the absolute lack of user support by Yellotools in the last 2 years or so. I also had contact with the (friendly and helpful) support by MAGIX by e-mail. So MAGIX go ahead. Independence is a really cool software, but the Yellowtools business behavior was a bit quirky, so was the installation ect. After all it seems Independence is back and that's good news.

fizzicist
29 September 2012 at 4:26pm

Psychiatric Nurse: You're welcome, and I wholeheartedly agree that it's great to see Independence getting some active support again. It really is a great instrument.

Bhan
29 September 2012 at 3:48pm

I've downloaded the installer app and it's somewhere on my online system - so next conflict for me is to determine if there is a way to transfer the installer for installing on my daw. I had hoped that the installer was capable of being loaded on a flash drive that I could transport to my daw. Anyone know the location and name of the installer after downloading? My online system is vista and I'm installing on a XP OS daw system. I

fizzicist
29 September 2012 at 4:25pm

It might be called something different for the Windows version, but for Mac OS X, the actual file I downloaded was a ZIP archive called "independence_softwaresuite_31_dlm.zip", which my download manager automatically unzipped to become the DownloadManager.app.

When I opened that application, it displayed a dialog whose title bar says "Installation manager", so it's actually more than just a download manager; it actually downloads the software and runs the installer application...at least that's the way it works in OS X.

THIS POST HAS BEEN REMOVED

fizzicist
29 September 2012 at 5:38pm

Here's an update on using Independence 3.1 as a plugin. (All my previous posts pertained to operations I performed in stand-alone mode.) When I open Logic Pro v9.1.7 (my DAW application) and click-hold on the plugins slot in an instrument channel strip, Independence is now listed under the (plugins)/AU Instruments/Magix/ contextual menu. There's still a listing for (plugins)/AU Instruments/Yellow Tools/Independence Free, but it doesn't work. When I try to load the plugin, Logic displays a message stating that I need to specify the path to the Yellow Tools Root Folder.

There's no point in doing that because there's nothing in Independence Free that isn't already included in Independence Pro, and I already have all my instruments available via that plugin. The Independence Free Content Image Files (there are 8 of them), and the Independence Free Layers and Library Files all appear as downloadable items in the DownloadManager.app, but I did not select those for download when I downloaded "MAGIX Independence Pro Software Suite 3.1". They all say "version 1.0.0.0". If there's any reason to download them, I haven't found it yet. But if I discover otherwise, I'll post it in this thread.

For the record, it appears that Independence 3.1 does not automatically fetch all the layers information from the previous 3.0 install…at least, it didn't for me. For 3.0, I had all the layers info stored in my ~/Documents/Yellow Tools/Independence/layers folder. When the DownloadManager.app's installer automatically created the ~/Documents/MAGIX/Independence/layers folder, it apparently ignored everything in the ~/Documents/Yellow Tools/Independence directory. The 3.1 install only showed the standard (empty) "MIDI Programs" and "my favorites" folders inside the layers folder.

So, specifying the path to the ~/Documents/MAGIX/Independence folder (using Preferences:LIbraries:Add Library in Independence) did not enable Independence to load the Independence Pro instrument libraries. But when I specified the path to my 3.0 stuff in the old ~/Documents/Yellow Tools/Independence directory…ZAH!!! — all of my Independence Pro instruments then became available (after doing a Save Preferences and restarting the plugin).

I suspect that If I moved the contents of my 3.0 layers folder to the 3.1 layers folder, then specifying the ~/Documents/MAGIX/Independence library path would work. I'll try that.

fizzicist
29 September 2012 at 6:35pm

"I suspect that If I moved the contents of my 3.0 layers folder to the 3.1 layers folder, then specifying the ~/Documents/MAGIX/Independence library path would work. I'll try that."

Yup...that worked. Everything is now running off the ~/Documents/MAGIX/Independence library path.

Bhan
29 September 2012 at 5:53pm

Ok - Thanks again fizzicist - I was able to do a search and find the installer exe. Ran it - plugged in my serials ....Installed !..all is good. It took me awhile to find the new location and copy my image file short-cuts - layers. copied VST DLL's etc... Magix found everything ......all is well. I still cannot get the outputs set correctly except for the default stereo out. I usually use 3 stereo and 2 mono outs.

Thanks for the help and the reminders - Cool of KVR to have this discussion forum add-on

Bhan
30 September 2012 at 12:35am

Sheesh - so now I screwed it up. After everything was working - I went back to uninstall YT 2.5.4 and 3.0 in the process I deleted the <program files>- < common> <Yellow tools> stuff, thinking I was coasting purely on the Magix Independence directory - then everything went to hell because the Yellow Tools E- license registration is gone...I can't get any access to my libraries again. Tried re-installing everything ( except the libraries )multiple times...and no go. tech support from Magix has been very responsive. I'm hoping they can walk me through this one. I do not want to down load 70 gigs of content when I have the CD's - but I don't know how to get back to square one.

fizzicist
30 September 2012 at 1:31am

...er, so I take it you don't have a backup?

Sorry you're going through that, but glad to hear that support is responsive. Good luck.

Bhan
3 October 2012 at 5:16am

Good news : I re-activated my Library through Best service. I have to applaud the support service at Magix. They are very quick to respond, and provided great support. I certainly hope that Magix follows through with continued development and additional content for independence.

TheWhistler
3 October 2012 at 9:00am

Hello, can't we join a discussion which would be a bit more comfortable?

Is there a real Independence user-thread?

fizzicist
3 October 2012 at 3:33pm

You'll find threads about Independence and Yellow Tools throughout the Instruments forum, but there's no dedicated forum or single thread for Independence. The approach you've already tried — starting one yourself — is probably your best bet.

vadymmykh
5 October 2012 at 3:34am

I hoped this day will never come... But it came...

Recently I reinstalled Windows. I installed a new 8 Pro (it's so cool, BTW) and had a 'obligation' of reinstalling everything. I thought "Ok, it's not a big deal, just a couple of hours more". But when it came to Independence I discovered some unpleasant news. All that later, but now my story begins with a simple installation of Independence 3.0 I had on my PC. After that I spesified the path to my huge library. Because I had a new Windows, both library and a program appeared as "unregistered". It is normal, when you install something onto new system so all I needed was a simple activation of Independence and a Library.I tried the old school method but the link sent me to MAGIX site instead of yellow tools. I saw news about the new version so I downloaded the 419 Mb program of 3.1 and installed if, previously with an uninstallation of 3.0 (to avoid incompatibilities). New 3.1 looked like the same except MAGIX logoes and new icons. I specified my Library in Preferences and Saved the settings. Independence found my instruments, but when I wanted to load them, en error occured. The point is that I uninstalled 3.0 version, which included eLicence Manager for both program and a library. This Manager is useless with 3.1, as it has it's own system. But my old Library wants to use it!

I wrote to Magix this morning and didn't receive an answer during the day. I really don't have much time, cuz I need my PC to get work in 1 week.

I'm downloading a new library, because my little trick with putting my old files into Documents\MAGIX Downloads and renaiming them to correspond a new format didn't work. The manager just downloads a new file and gets rig of all previous ones. I have slow internet right now so I think I will be downloading it for one week or more. They should do something more easy than that.

vadymmykh
5 October 2012 at 4:11am

I'm a fool. Just looking more precisely I found that I could activate my both 3.0 and an old Library onto

http://www.bestservice.de/yt_redirect.asp/en

fizzicist
5 October 2012 at 5:17am

A fool never learns. Sounds like you just learned something. Hence, you're no fool! ;)

vadymmykh
5 October 2012 at 8:25am

Yep, thank you! =)

TheWhistler
5 October 2012 at 6:13am

They will give you response. I had a problem with the old (Yellowtools) installation shortly after MAGIX had bought them. I had to reinstall and reactivate my installation so I ran out of activations (3x). I got some friendly e-mails from MAGIX and they set back my counter too. The response took a while (2 days it was if I remember correctly). It's a problem when you are in a hurry and 2 days is a long period these days, but sure they will help you.

vadymmykh
5 October 2012 at 8:35am

When I ran out of three activations, I just had to write to Yellow Tools a letter to reset a total number of activations and re-activate a software. It took me even less than from you with Yellow Tools guys, I had an answer next morning.

Yesterday I just was in a rush, in a hurry, so I just didn't read "You can also activate your old Yellow Tools products at Best Service". The Library by itself IS an old product (version 2.5). I just needed to read "small prints".

But at the moment I have all setup and ready for working.

fizzicist
5 October 2012 at 4:46pm

Glad to hear that you got it all working, vadymmykh.

It's my understanding that Yellow Tools' responsiveness was...er, somewhat inconsistent in the past, as reported by some folks. For my part, I've never had any problem. In fact, I have to say that Christian has always provided first-rate support.

In any case, I'm delighted to hear that support seems to be working well under MAGIX. Independence Pro is a very useful instrument, and I'd like to see its development continue.

Also, for those who haven't found it yet, Psychiatric Nurse started a MAGIX Independence (User Thread) in the KVR Instruments forum, where the composer is full-featured and it's easier to create and edit your posts.

Please log in to join the discussion