Is Circuit Studio still around?

Well I guess that answers that...

Similarly, I had a situation where I had an outated "CADKEY version 7 production release #2". It worked real well for Windows 98. Over the years an updated security & keyboard package left the old programs in limbo. I had to use OPEN FREELY app to get anything to run, and when XP was outdated lost it all together. However, rolling back in time, I asked "Oracle" to help with a build or driver that would allow me (end user) to isolate the functions, and could use the drafting tools with a few tweeks, and builds & modifications in windows... I still have the program, but it's in shambles, and the manifest file was corrupted.

P-SPICE was good chemical Engineering tool, I dabbled with Circuit Builders before in college between 95 & 98. Excuse me, but $5k to $8k American dollars was almost never seen, especially for a program that would go outdated in a few short months back then even, too. Good luck finding your nitch. STL files, and now 3D print software is a good idea, so is CNC mills and routers.

I'm using it.

True there have been no updates for about 8 months but then again nothing is badly broken - it is doing what it said on the tin and doing it well. I still use my Labcenter Proteus to update legacy projects but anything new I am doing in CircuitStudio. It has better circuit integrity and layout tools than the Proteus and can handle more complex boards more easily. It was expensive but much less so than Altium Designer (about 1/3 I think and ongoing costs if you want support and manintenance about 1/4 of the Designer prices) and covers the functionality that I wanted. About the only gripe is that although you can share schematics easily with Altium Designer the PCBs are in an entirely different format (although support for the format is/was coming to Altium Designer).

Actually I came on here to see if I need to wait for the current maintenance period (the initial 1 year) to expire before I buy the renewal - the live data on components and suppliers in designs is one of the better features .

In all - I recommend it.

I have been using CS for a year and I am getting frustrated with lack of support. The supplier link is a nice feature, but the Mouser link broke months ago and they don't seem to be interested in fixing it. I have contacted their support twice, but no response. There are also bugs in the program, maybe not badly broken, but certainly things that should get fixed.  These bugs have been "forwarded to Altium" by Newark but at this point I'm not holding my breath.

The CS website video still promises "active and continuous stream of updates and new features". That certainly hasn't happened. After asking Newark about updates and bug fixes, I received a response a month or so ago that said Altium has CS on the "back burner" and their programmers are working on other projects. Not very professional. This is not an inexpensive program, it deserves better support. There hasn't been a update since last May, a few weeks away. Bug fixes once a year is not too much to ask.

My one year expired yesterday. There is no way I will be paying the yearly maintenance if Altium is not putting any effort into maintaining the program. I will lose access to the vault, but its value is limited anyway.

Yes, CS is one year without any update nor newsletter.

Few days ago free CircuitMaker (toy with cloud-only storage used by hobbyists or who?) was released in v.1.2 and CircuitStudio for $ 3,000 nothing.

Really great practice from Altium, isnt it?

Unfortunately CircuitStudio is undone tool:

- every 20mins of work=crash of CS and restart needed

- panelizing of same PCBs is practicaly impossible

- thermal relief connected pads and direct conected vias at the same PCB impossible

- long and dificult shortcuts for only half operations

- missing gerber viewer (ok, AD viewer can be used..)

- very few configurable items in system preferences (e.g. own path to project directory if I dont want use default)

etc.

I'll be looking for an alternative to CS. Unfortunately many of my clients and suppliers use Altium -- not sure why. Maybe AD really is much better than CS, but I'm certainly not going to spend even more money to find out. I'm compiling a list of bugs; most of them are not show stoppers, but they are extremely annoying, and the fact that there hasn't been an update in the last year makes me reluctant to pay for maintenance. The user interface for the program is strange and poorly thought out, on top of the bugs. Support and documentation is scattered and hard to use. There is a lot of AD documentation, much of which fortunately translates to CS, but CS feels like Altium's neglected stepchild. I'm guessing that a CS update will come out just after I have to make the decision to pay another year's maintenance.

Update 2016.05.26: a few days ago I talked to an Altium sales rep, who shall remain nameless. He straight out admitted to me that CS is just a vehicle to get people to buy up to AD. He said the Altium engineers have nothing to do with it. That may be an exaggeration, but it's probably not far from the truth. He offered me some pricing options to get into AD, but we're still talking an additional $7K or so. So let me get this straight: you buy a $3K tool and it gets you a <$2K discount on the better tool. You're better off just buying AD at full price to begin with!

Also a few days ago I received an email offering Circuit Studio at a 50% discount! Thanks, I paid full price a few months ago. CS must be selling really badly for Altium to capitulate on pricing like that. The management at Altium needs to be replaced en masse. At this point I will consider any and all competitors rather than give Altium another cent of my money.

Hi Michael,

Have a look here . There's some good news for you..

Cheers,

Ashok.

We are giving away a few 12 Month Altium CircuitStudio Licences through our RoadTest Program. You can apply to review the software be clicking on the below:

Win a 12 Month Licence to Altium CircuitStudio!

My thought is that circuit studio is already dead.

I am still having problems licensing which takes them forever to fix.

I called Altium directly. they told me they don't support Circuit Studio while element14 points their finger at Alitum.

Customer support is extremely poor.. I suspect circuit studio is already dead.

Orcad has much better support.. at least the tech guys are much more responsive than element14/altium

Hi Chun Eng Loke,

I can assure you that CircuitStudio is not dead as we are working hard on 2 updates: a small one due soon and a larger one near year end.

Altium doesn't support CircuitStudio support questions directly so you're better off going direct to element14 software support by emailing software@element14.com and they can definitely provide support.

The eval license has had some teething problems as it is a new type that is different to the commercial license so it's possible that element14 needed to contact Altium to resolve the license problem you saw.

Were you able to run the software while it was licensed? The workflow and libraries are similar to Altium Designer so it depends on the workflow/branding you're looking for when choosing between Altium/CS or Orcad.

Best regards,

James Harriman

Altium