marcL

We're all getting old! 😆 I could have used the same introduction as you. 😄 These are my problems: I am still one of these guys that have 2 computers offline. With the new Antares authorization this is a problem, even if Codemeter generally would support offline activation, Antares seems not to support it with their Antares Central sh..! I know how to use iLok. I have even 2 Antares plugins using iLok and that runs perfect also for offline activation (on iLok hardware)! It is really a hassle when it is now required to install and understand Codemeter in addition, only for 1 Antares plugin! Codemeter requires resources (100 MB space on my precious C-drive SSD and process runtime resources for 1 plugin only) I tried to install and authorize Duo, but now it seems it's all been invain! I guess this plugin will get on my dungheap of unusable plugins! 😆 It's a pity that more and more plugin providers imply this forever online doctrine! But as always: YMMV ! 😉

I have also trouble on one of my machines with CbB! But there is no issue with Reaper on the same pc!

Sh...!

But I have 2 Antares EVO products on iLok!

Is it not possible to change the authorization key to an iLok key?

Sorry, my idea was just spontaneous! As I see there is no possibility to disable OpenGL for Harrison plugins (if they use it at all) as it is possible for Softube. I thought rather that an update of OpenGL could eventually solve the problem. But maybe I see it too simple! 😄 It was just a notion , because I experienced a similar behavior, i.e. closing the plugins led to a crash.

The good thing is that this thread is very interesting and I enjoyed to read it (again?) as if it is present! 😄 (Jeepers, I also added some likes 😆!)

I had something similar with newer versions of Softube plugins on my W7 daw. Softube were very helpful and in the end the culprit was OpenGL. When I disabled it, then the plugins ran without issue (very fast). Maybe your problem has also to do with OpenGL? Maybe an update helps.

Honestly I don't expect any useful stuff for me, 'cause I have already so many PA plugins, NI Komplete 13 and most of the iZotope child stuff! 😆

But wasn't it tied to MixBus then? By the way it runs without problems here in CbB and Reaper. And it is superlight on CPU, surprisingly for a mastering EQ ! 👍 Besides its authorization is real offline! No worries about losing it even if Harrison would plunge!

It is a lot for one plugin! Think if you have a lot of tracks and each with multiple plugins. I think your measurement is on a moderate or even powerful system. On my laptop (i5-5200U, 8 GB memory) it shows about 2.7% cpu for one single instance. A delay is not like a reverb that you may use on a bus for multiple tracks. I have almost 30 delays and there is only one that can exceed this: PA's Sandman Pro 👎. By the way there are many plugins of clever developers that show only 0.1 up to 1.0% cpu even on my laptop (e.g. Softube plugins, Toneboosters). And this is the benchmark IMO 😉.

It is an interesting delay plugin, but it is very CPU hungry! That's what I don't like. It's minimum double compared to other delays that I have, or the best one consumes 20 times less cpu! Lately I have checked a lot of plugins in Reaper with regard to CPU consumption. I was really surprised of some (disappointed). I have also dropped 3 current deals, because of that. For this test I like that my laptop is not so powerful. This makes it easier to see the differences (than on my desktops).

In addition to the hassles this is the major problem that I see with all software that needs an online connection for authorization! And we all know that any Windows or hardware changes can cause the requirement for authorization renewal of many products. That's why I love all my Daws and plugins that have some kind of REAL offline activation (or even no activation required)!

I don't know whether your comment is meant to the OP or my last posting? I assume it is the former. In respect to backups and also to the "Save as" I have another problem with Sonar/CbB. I really like the possibility to insert audio clips into a project without a copy to the project folder. It's because I have one central folder for each song with all the finished tracks that I backup on its own. Like this I can have a couple of projects for this song sharing the finished tracks and it does not make sense to have redundant copies of these tracks (that are eventually even not current). But for all new recordings and manipulations (bounce to clip ...) I use the project folder! This works perfect with CbB. But now the problem: If I use "Save as" to rename the project or to create another instance, there is no way to keep this kind of audio clip storage. Either I use copy to project folder (in this case all clips are copied) or I disable it, then nothing is copied. This is a shame! The only workaround is to create folders and copy the project manually in Windows Explorer. This keeps the project clip locations untampered.

I don't have Internet in my recording room, also no wifi, our house is about 70m away from it! I also don't understand your comment about "re-invent the wheel", there is an offline authorization for CbB, but it requires BA!

Open your project Use "File > Save As" Go up one step in the directory hierarchy (to the top Cakewalk project directory) and enter a NEW project file name. Enable "Copy all audio with project" Change the "Audio Path" to your liking Press "Save" The 3rd step is very important. AFAIK this is required that you are able to set a new audio path. I never understood why, but it seems to be a requirement.

Yes, but most of those 1000s of people run Cakewalk on an ONLINE computer, i.e. they don't need BA anymore! Do you get it?! I know that there is no issue anymore doing the reauthorization on an online computer! In my recording room I don't have any internet (pc1) and on my other music production pc I could avoid a lot of trouble by setting it offline (no more Windows update issues)!

Thanks scook! But as I said I used exactly this "Quit button", because I was aware about what you say. Therefore I was really surprised that there were processes running nevertheless!

Yesterday I found out that both of my offline computers needed new CbB authorization. Okay, today I decided to "quickly" do it. First I extracted one authorization request to an USB stick. Then, when I wanted to start BA (BandLab Assistent) on my laptop I couldn't find the Icon and the program. Finally I found an installer program in the AppData\Local folder. Starting the installer opened BA. I tried to process the offline authorization as I had done several times. The result was only an error message that said something like no access. Retries led to the same result! I was baffled! ☹️ I was angry and thought about abandon CbB. But then I gave it a last chance by reinstalling the latest version of BA and try again. Wow! This did the trick! But I think it's impossible for a user to understand why it did not work before. The error message was really unmeaning. The second authorization ran without problems. Tonight when I logged into my laptop I was annoyed that the cpu cooler ran on full power, very loud! First I did ignore it, because I am used to such nasty things by Windows Update (another reason to have music computers offline). Because it did not stop even after a longer time, I opened the task manager and found out that there were 4 BA processes driving my cpu to 100%. And this although I did quit BA in the system menu (as one shoud do)! Wtf! Killing the 4 processes brought the cpu down to 1%! 😉 What a pain, why is there not a simple web page for offline authorization as with most other software providers?

YMMV ! Although I own a lot of PA plugins I prefer to download each individual installer. Most of the time I don't have to run more than one at a time as there are not so many updates. Also, like this it is less difficult to organize a backup of the installers by versions. There are times I don't want to install the newest version of a certain plugin (e.g. it is slower) and there are some plugins that I like as VST3 and some that I like as VST2 (e.g. because of the PA preset problem in CbB). But talking about the PA individual installers: I like them, because they meet almost all of my requirements:aversion They don't clutter my drives with unnecessary stuff like most others do (Windows installation entries and uninstallers, homepage links, menu entries, avid stuff, ...) With PA's autorisation file for all of your PA plugins it is easy to install on an offline DAW. Just run the individual installers on that machine and do offline authorization for one plugin and voila, all your plugins are authorized. Still there is some manual work to do, because you cannot specify a subfolder for the VST3 location and the location of the manual.

This sounds very complicated if I compare it to simply have a proper folder with all individual installers of several versions (as I do). Almost all installation managers have the following issues: You cannot revert to a previous version (only with the old Cakewalk installation manager you could do this properly!) You have to download on all machines again, or at least have to follow a complicated way to copy installation packages. Often you can't really configure the installation processes, target directories all the same, targets (vst3/vst2...) all the same, ... For each installation you have first to download and install the newest installation manager. Thus I still have an aversion to all kind of installation managers!

The only thing I wonder about is their new authorization system. Can you do offline authorization? What happens when you lose machine authorization (Windows change, component fail)? These things were almost okay with iLok, but now?

It is excellent, I really like to use it for MIDI, creating synth tracks and mixing. Though with audio clip editing (within and without take lanes) I still get upset most of the time, because there are still so many issues and even bugs (bounced clip losing name, cross-fading moving clip contents, bouncing clips losing gain setting, ...). But still I hope that one day BandLab is also fixing this stuff! 😆

I meant the former! I would like to buy maybe 2 or 3 plugins of the Advanced, but I am not interested in the whole Advanced really.

I have RX7 Standard and IMO it's still not worth to upgrade. For me also the upgrade to Advanced is not reasonable for $400. There is not a lot of functionality that I would gain that I really need. I think it's dense that those very special plugins are not available separately (do you hear iZotope?)! ☹️