Nov 05
No More Volume Logic
2007 at 05.08 pm posted by Veerle
After updating to Leopard I noticed that a plugin that I really love wasn’t working anymore. I’m talking about Volume Logic, an audio enhancement plugin for iTunes. My first reaction was to go to their website and see if they had an alert or update for Leopard.
Big Surprise
Big was my surprise when I was greeted with a "closing night" picture and that it had been discontinued.
Volume Logic & Leopard: This product line was discontinued prior to the release of the Apple Leopard operating system and is not compatible with the latest from Mac operating system. You can try the following if you have installed the final release version of Leopard and are having problems with Volume Logic please uninstall VL, reinstall and then activate using the serial number. This has worked for some users. However, no new versions of Volume Logic will be released to address this incompatibility issue.
That sucks! I've written about this plugin ages ago and what it can mean for your sound. Once you tasted it you can't live without it.
What's going on here?
When you read something like this all kinds of scenarios pop into your head and the most logical one that I could come up with is that Apple bought them out and this will be part of the new iTunes 7.5 or later. Of course this is speculation as I don't have access to inside information. In the mean time we are still left with a non working plugin.
Is it fixable?
Well yes it is kind of. After installing Leopard the plugin loaded fine, but when I switched it on nothing happened, no difference in sound whatsoever. It also didn't accept my serial number anymore. In my search for a solution I did find a great tip somewhere deeply buried on MacInTouch Leopard reader reports.
- Quit Itunes. Uninstall, drag the plugin from /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/ and the preference file User/Library/Preferences/com.octiv.VolumeLogic.plist to the trash
- Reinstall 1.3.2 with your serial number.
- If this works... Volume logic should load but not function.
- Quit iTunes
- Download iWOW (updated for Leopard) Demo and install
- Quit iTunes or dont start iTunes....
- Drag the iWOW plugin out of /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/ to the desktop
- Ctrl Click iWOW plugin (show package contents)
- Goto Contents/MacOS/ (you should see iTea.)
- Ctrl Click VolumeLogic plugin (show package contents)
- Goto Contents/MacOS/ (you should see iTea.)
- Replace the iTea located in the Volume Logic plugin with the one from iWOW on the desktop.
- Close up everything and start iTunes.
That worked fine for me BUT it is still not accepting my serial number.
Regretfully I didn't find a solution for that :( We can only hope that the real reason behind all this is indeed Apple buying this technology and that they will implement it into iTunes and the iPods. If not, I am afraid we are screwed after those 30 days or until the next iTunes update.
UPDATE
I've found a fix posted by TexasZeus for the serial number issue as well but it involves using Terminal.app to make these changes. Make sure that you are only copying the part after the $
- $ cd /usr/lib
- $ sudo cp libcrypto.0.9.dylib libcrypto.0.9.dylib.old
- $ sudo cp libssl.0.9.dylib libssl.0.9.dylib.old
- $ sudo ln -sf libcrypto.0.9.7.dylib libcrypto.0.9.dylib
- $ sudo ln -sf libssl.0.9.7.dylib libssl.0.9.dylib
After running this and you start iTunes it will ask for your serial number again but now when you enter it the Volume Logic plugin will accept it.
PS: I didn't update to iTunes 7.5 yet so I'm not sure if it still works in that version too.
UPDATE (14 December 2007)
Don't use this method anymore but go to the updated post instead.
25served
1
Ah, Veerle that sucks. Its a good reminder to check all software, even things like plugins before upgrading. I always forget about the freebies and the plugins when I upgrade. Hopefully you can find something comparable soon.
2
Nobody is screwed. I was a big fan of Volume Logic too, and you can imagine my disappointment when I found out it would never work on Leopard. But a couple days later, an updated version of iWOW was released. I gave it a try, and purchased a licence within minutes, just like I did with VL back in the day. iWOW sounds just as good, and it’s only $20 for a limited time. Yes it sucks having to “pay again”, but at least it’s a solution. In fact, it is the only solution.
3
I totally agree with you. Personally, I didn’t have any third party apps not work.
4
Haven’t tested yet, but if it works then thanks a million for saving my ears. It’s soooo painful to listen to poorly-produced podcasts without Volume Logic to compress the sound.
I’d been using the demo for a couple months now—I did intend to buy it when it would expire, but it never did. I thought it was a bug or something, but when I found out it was discontinued I figured it might actually have been intentional—either from Volume Logic themselves or from a lone developer in the team—unlocking the plug-in just before closing shop.
I like your theory of an Apple buyout; it didn’t really make sense to me that they’d discontinue such a good, must-buy plugin. CoverFlow’s developer released a last bug-fix release with no expiration time just a couple days before Apple announced they bought him, so one can hope…
5
I’m with Garoo and yourself in being optimistic for an Apple buyout.
When I first tried CoverFlow, my first thought was “this needs to be in every copy of iTunes”, and *ahem* 6 months later it was. Now it’s in the Finder.
As with CoverFlow, my first thoughts when installing Volume Logic was “this needs to be in every copy of iTunes”.
I do think the road-map for Apple to further develop iTunes and the iPod range will be in improved audio.
6
it looks like Plantronics owns it now. I just got my Mac, and have not had the chance to try it on Leopard, but they have a support email.
http://www.volumelogic.com
7
I tested both Volume Logic and iWOW (before Leopard’s launch) and chose iWOW over Volume Logic. It’s good that iWOW is already Leopard compatible, I think it is indeed better than VL.
Also, as much as I also wanted Apple to incorporate VL into iTunes with no extra charges, I wouldn’t think the developer would left such a message as you pasted here before an announcement of Apple’s acquisition. It would be a little bit different, so I won’t count on it right now.
8
I found this out a few days ago when looking for software updates. A buyout would be great. Nothing would be better than having such a sound on a typical iTunes installation. Also on an iPod that would be great. However it looks for me that Plantronics - the company behind - is more focussed on enhancing its core services. This was in my opinion a step to optimize products and trying to reduce their palette of products. I, however do not understand why, if this is the case, they do not open the software and make it a form of freeware - or even open source. I asked this via mail to their support, but I just got back the standard answer: Development closed… I am a huge fan of this product and iWow is not nearly capable to do the same to the sound.
9
This and other stories of friends of mine, also using Leopard, remembers me somehow of the usage of Windows. Since Leopard I can see different behaviours of the program on differently configured Macs and now you have to start bricolage in your system. Some say it’s a chalange but I’m a little uneasy about this development.
10
iTunes 7.5 has now been released so we’ll see if your buy out theory is right.
11
Whoa - those command line fixes are scary. You are aware that you changed the encryption and ssl libraries, possibly affecting *every* command that uses encrypted traffic, right? (SFTP, https:// links, SSH)
12
Sounds to me like the plugin is just adding more limiting and compression to (in modern music anyway) already over compressed source material.
It sounds better because it appears louder, not because it’s actually improving the sound!
Not a great loss, just turn your speakers up a bit and enjoy non-digitally crushed music the way that the sound engineers and mastering engineers intended!
13
Tested on iTunes 7.5: it works.
I have no problem with the product key, I’ve installed VL entered the key, closed iTunes, did the first fix you mention, restart iTunes and it works.
14
The iWow fix works. Thanks so much!
15
Works great. Why didn’t Plantronics just update iTEA themselves?
“We’re moving on”? WTF is that? Take the $$ and run?
Thanks for posting this fiXX
16
I have used Volume Logic for a long time and really liked it. When I updated to Leopard, Volume Logic was the only thing I found that didn’t work.
When I read your blog, I was really happy to find the idea to replace the iTea component of Volume Logic with the one from iWow.
I followed the instructions and it worked . . . Volume Logic is working again.
PS: I had iTunes 7.5 installed too.
17
Thanks for this! It was one of the relatively few headaches that I encountered after upgrading, but I’m glad that I don’t have to live without it.
18
Thanks for the tip! This and my VPN software did not work after the Leopard upgrade. I fixed the VPN last night and this fixed Volume Logic. I am glad it is back. Thanks again.
19
Yes, it is a pity that the plugin isn’t compatible because with Leopard.
Thanks for the useful tips, I really love this plugin.
20
Instead of doing the libcrypto dance, try replacing the “EWSMacCompress.tar.gz” file inside of VolumeLogic (there are two copies, just replace both).
The reason it uses libcrypto, is because it uses eSellerates licensing library, which is what that file is.
Latest eSR SDK is here: http://webvise.mindvision.com/pub/mac/eSellerateEmbeddedSDK.dmg
I can’t find my serial number to test it fully, but it does get to the Activation sheet and submit licenses to the key server without throwing any errors.
If that works, the the solution just becomes “Update iTea and EWSMacCompress.tar.gz”.
21
OK, I am running the demo of SRSWow and it is just not doing it for me. I used VL (back in the day) as it allowed me to play my music softly in an office setting but still hear it. Its compression was great for this use.
SRSWow has a couple of sliders with little to no explanation of what they really do and I still find myself fiddling with the volume knob to find detail or lower overall volume. I really wish they would free this software. At this point I might just buy a license (not that I can).
Sheesh.
Are there any other alternatives?
22
Wow, my discovery sure became popular. all the way back to the Top. You’re Welcome.
“Mac Fan”
23
Wow! Thanks, Veerle, for all your efforts on this. I really love what VL does for iTunes and have been using it since it was beta on OS 8.5!
Volume Logic first caught my eye because of my musical past life as an audio engineer. ‘Hard to believe that this tech seemed to get no notice from iTunes community at large.
24
This is a great… I love VL and was afraid I was out of luck. Thanks for bringing this up and for posting the fix.
Lynne
25
How can I buy Volume logic, my trial expired and if I click on “buy now” they say that it’s no more possible.
Any suggestion?
Thanks…