Future of iLive: A&H anyone?

[DrewMParticipant]

Hi Nicola,
With respect, the trouble with “Live is our flagship series and we’re fully committed to the system” and
“At the moment our R&D resources are fully committed to other projects” is that these
two statements are mutually exclusive in my world.
I can re-structure the busses on our iLive (which can be very useful), but when
someone wants me to do to something as simple as plug-in their USB stick to record their performance,
I can’t do it and yet many cheaper desks can.
I can quite understanding if A&H no longer want to play in this slice of the market, after all
it’s a commercial organisation and no doubt regularly reviews which market areas it wants to provide
solutions for. Equally our business can’t stand still hoping for something, somewhere, sometime.

[Mike StormParticipant]

Same discussion a few months ago: https://community.allen-heath.com/forums/topic/is-ilive-getting-update

Come on guys, do you expect an 8 years old digital mixer to keep up to date with the latest generation? My new cheap phone is much faster and more powerful than my iPad 1, and I cannot run the latest OS X on the iPad, but that’s technology for you!

As mervaka says in that thread,

It’s been developed into a stable, maturity platform with way more features than the original specification envisaged.

Did people complain with Yamaha because features were missing from the PM5D? Or they just waited for a replacement? Personally I’d be happier knowing that the A&H guys are working on a new iLive, rather than trying to squeeze in features. Guess what, they probably are, but why on earth would they tell us? If you want to sell the current Merc C-class, you can’t say much about the new one coming next year!

[DrewMParticipant]

No, of course I don’t expect it to somehow get features that would perhaps be difficult or just not practical
with the current hardware. Equally I don’t expect A&H to say “At the moment our R&D resources are
fully committed to other projects” with regard to their flagship series.

I know Merc will bring out a new model/tweak every year or two, even though I’ve no idea what it will be.

[mervakaParticipant]

DrewM, Merc sold the latest car each time. No free firmware updates, just new cars.

Free firmware updates don’t directly make A&H any money. Any continued iLive development would have to be financially supported by sales of hardware upgrades for example, which in turn takes more R&D.. If they sold firmware updates, they’d have to provide after-sales support for every damn version that they ever sold, which takes more resource.. It’s a vicious cycle either way.

[DrewMParticipant]

I’m not looking for free firmware with lots of new features, just a way forward.
We purchased iLive above all else because of the sound quality, and no regrets with that.
Quite happy to pay for new hardware or whatever.

Hmmm, now Merc would take my old one in part exchange ….. !

[mervakaParticipant]

Fair point 🙂

[Jens-DroesslerParticipant]

Yes, I actually do expect the iLive to get upgrades. I did not ask for them to be free, especially if changes of hardware would be necessary (which have been done before, so it’s proven to be doable). It was stated that there are people still buying iLive systems. If that’s so, where is the fairness in providing only the systems at much lower prices with updates, new features etc.?

Maybe there will be a follow up series to the iLive taking the flagship spot. Maybe there will be an updated iLive system partially compatible with the old one. Without a doubt there are still some more or less easy to implement features that would have been great assets. Things people don’t know they’d like until they have them or tried them somewhere else. It COULD still be a current system, but giving all R&D power to the cheaper series is making the iLive an outdated system, more outdated by the minute. That’s ok for jobs you did before and will have again, but it’s really bad for jobs you’re trying to get in the future. The problem now is with A&H information policies. Yes, if you want to still sell iLives you can’t tell about the upcoming iLive2… but that’s thinking on a much to small scale (a feeling I had with Qu and GLD already, seeing some system seller features missing). The iLive isn’t a system for “loyalist” small companies which grew up on A&H desks, it’s a system for people earning AND spending serious money in this biz. If those people see their numbers of newly acquired jobs drop or feel that the system has run its course, they start looking for new systems. If they knew that in 12 months there would be a new, maybe partially compatible system, so no learning required and some old hardware can be reused, they might wait for the new system. But without any informations, and that’s how A&H is handling things right now, they (like I) will be looking for other manufacturers. So instead of an “maybe/maybe not” iLive2 I will buy a Yamaha CL3. Yes, it’s more expensive than a T112 with iDR48, but the pure mentioning of getting a CL3 made several customers ask about when it will be available. So, A&H, it is easy: Give us a roadmap or see us take our business elsewhere. I’m surely not the only one thinking that way.

[jgroomsParticipant]

No you’re not. I jumped ship about 8 months ago and purchased 2 X32’s and their digital snake for about what I paid for my single iDR16. The iLive is a great system and I loved the features it gave me in my situation (sound for local cover band) but for what I need the X32 does more for less and is actively being developed and improved.

Not to mention the X32 is showing up in most of the clubs we play as the house board making things even easier.

[ElphieParticipant]

If you’re comparing an X32 to an iLive, you’ve got rocks in your head. You could compare it to a Qu system, as they are similar price points. If you’re playing at clubs with X32s everywhere please tell me, then I can avoid the like the plague. The two systems are not comparable in any rational sphere.

The OP was about the lack of updates and features. Has it been a bit quiet? Yes. Will this improve? Hopefully. Sure I’ll be disappointed if my iLive never gets another update, but I also know that it’s got more tricks than enough inside it, and certainly more than when I bought it. The graphic EQs & comps were a tad crap in the early firmware. Since 1.71 they’ve been significantly improved.

Cheers,
Michael

[jgroomsParticipant]

I am not going to debate the difference, and yes there are differences I agree, but (as I said) *for my needs* it didn’t make sense to continue an investment in the iLive series. The X32 is a very feature rich board (regardless of what you may think of it) at a fraction of the cost. I think A&H are also well aware of this and thus their emphasis in the Que and GLD product lines. I can even get a Midas Pro 1 cheaper than a basic iLive system (iDR-16 with R72).

[SteffenRParticipant]

I’m curios about the new Lawo… it has a lot of things I expected for iLive

[GCumbeeParticipant]

What is lawo?

[SteffenRParticipant]

Kidding?

https://www.lawo.com/en/home.html

Sorry for the link to a different company…

[GCumbeeParticipant]

Never heard of it. Nice looking though. Classy.

[benniferjParticipant]

Watching this with interest. I can’t help but feel that you purchase a product for what it is at the time of purchase, on its merits and current status. It is much like buying a new Mac laptop – they may bring a new one out tomorrow but if you need what they are selling at the time, accept it and use it and get on with it! What you have is no less usable than it was before – you can still mix a great sounding concert with it. Dante gives you many options to integrate with other systems too and is a reasonable cost for what it does.

The iLive may be lacking some features now, but as a pure live sound touring desk, it is fantastic. It never made the promise of coming with specific add on packs and features – if they come, it’s pure bonus surely?

That said, an iLive2 would be interesting and probably on time given the advances in CL world.

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