chris.r

26 minutes ago, ralfrobert said:

I attended a seminar on energy efficient programming not long ago. Green software is a topic that is all over the place right now. Perhaps we really should...

So long they don't require pedaling from me to run I'm fine with it  

Did I see it correctly in the background, he uses the "vertical only" Adams in a horizontal position? ...and I thought it's forbidden  

51 minutes ago, Fleer said:

It’s the GUI

not organic? we should have a corner for the most organic software here  

Same here. Some vendors put their installation files in these places on my OS partition, some files as big as >500MB. I was trying to free up some space and removed couple of these files and then couldn't update or uninstall! NI, Roland, AIR being among the offenders here.

Sounds great  I recon a lot of similar threads on KVR from years ago, devs like Klanghelm, TDS or Valhalla being always praised there for quality, stability, no nonsense activation, no bloatware and reasonably priced alternatives to some big names.

With the most recent changes I only hope we want loose the PA Installation Manager in (un)favor of NI Access.

12 hours ago, kitekrazy said:

21 hours ago, ralfrobert said:

Do you have a suggestion for the title? I am happy to change it to avoid misunderstandings. 

off line authorization

customer friendly activation developers appreciation thread?

Don't forget your 20% coupon in overloud account if you own any gem.

Sadly all codes already being used.

7 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

I once ran it while launching REAPER, and sure enough, it phoned home...

Sometimes it could be just 'Automatically check for new updates' ticked.

Yeah, me no liking it at all! Didn't it that when they introduced in-app-purchase in Amplitube, the CPU usage went up? Or am I paranoid 😂

12 minutes ago, MarcL said:

Regrettably it is not only the installer (download) that is that big! I could accept that. Even if you install only ONE SINGLE plugin you get over 2GB on your drive, the most are not the plugins files themselves (vst3/dll, you can delete the ones you don't need), but there is a common base (.pak) in "Program Files" that's about 1.7 GB!!!

From what I understand the big file is bitmaps for all plugins....? I agree altogether it's bloatware but because early on I did start with IK instead of Slate, I'm keeping with them now even though the loss of space is more and more painful. If only they were bit more CPU efficient. I like the sound though  

10 minutes ago, ralfrobert said:

11 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

Having a license key doesn't always mean that the product doesn't also phone home during the registration process.

Do you have any details on the products mentioned above?

Right. Erik, to the point 😄 let's put them down here (and make it easier for everyone). Those from my list I tried at least to check and confirm in their FAQs, so they should be all fine for offline.

Plugin Alliance does allow for a simple license file for their whole suite (it's one of methods possible with them): first you have to create a machine ID for each computer, once it's there in your account then you only need to activate them for every new plugin that you bought and then at the bottom download a single consolidated license file and replace the old one with this new on your disk

Applied Acoustics Systems - does allow for serial then challenge/response (basically a challenge-response offline activation method)

Airwindows free for all  

Harrison - DAW: nice workflow for mixing, license is file on disk - awesome, editing tools are being actively developed... I stuck on an early version but historically they used to offer a very good upgrade price so I probably will be looking for upgrading at a point, plugins: there is a problem as their plugins crash my Cakewalk to desktop, but hey, who said I can't use other tools:

Audiority - no nonsense license file, updated, some good vintage stuff there

AudioThing - license file, updated, nice selection of plugins and instruments

Boz Digital Labs - serial, updated, anyone need recommendation? we're missing the Pro Channel versions, Mr. Boz!  

Final Mix Software - I think these come without any authorization, just install - like Hornet and Sknote

Hornet - no authorization, great selection to choose from, updated

Klevgrand - serial, updated, nice stuff there both, the instruments and effects

Melda Production - license file, updated, versatile suite of plugins

Overloud - great plugins, I think you can authorize directly from the plugin online but you've given an option for offline method and to authorize to an USB stick

United Plugins - license file, updated, well worth looking into plugin selection and great prices on intro sales

Not of that specific FWIK.

One thing I'm trying, since the prices are much more accessible over last couple years, is to build an alternative plugin collection to the online only ones, that I can install and authorize any time with a simple license file on disk, so that I can even go back to the idea of building a completely offline workstation one day should I get fed up with subs and the like. There is quite a broad variety of choices there:

United Plugins is giving best prices when on intro sale

AudioThing have some intriguing plugins to look for

Audiority good for some vintage flava

Boz... can't be sure if it's challenge/response?

Melda Productions maybe not exactly into vintage but very versatile

Final Mix Software for quick effect

Hornet

Harrison, but some of them are buggy on my system

Kazrog

Klevgrand

Overloud

Sknote (didn't use them in long time though, but sound great once they work)

...and then there's a bunch of challenge/response type of plugins that need internet at least for authorizing, like Baby Audio or denise, Cherry Audio being probably worst of them because I can't see how I can install it offline - it's impossible!

3 minutes ago, Fleer said:

if you’re on their sub. 

Acha! ... no I don't do subs.

LOL, same here. I just spotted old Fix Phaser license in my iLok account, when installing a fresh new one 😂

...but the price was so good.

6 minutes ago, ralfrobert said:

Any ideas on lighter alternatives to T-Racks?

Plugin Alliance comes first to mind, especially great when on sale! 

I always thought Slate plugins are the direct competitor to T-Racks but they were always dongle'd so I avoided them until today, not sure it's still the case but for me too late. So I can't say if they are lighter or not since I don't have any.

I've bought into sonible because I didn't want to go the izotope route. Now what...

3 hours ago, MarcL said:

It seems that IK has removed offline authorization secretly!

To me it looks more like a process in time with regard to changes they've undertaken to authorization managers of their software.

3 hours ago, MarcL said:

In the FAQ and in the documentations you still find the instructions for doing offline authorization! Also the support tells you some cloudy, abstruse things about offline authorization ("What App do you want to authorize? and you know that in the first step it is not relevant. - Newer products (available for a lot of years!) cannot be offline authorized anymore. - ...).

Exactly my point there. With time, they have moved over from the old type of authorization manager that handled both, the online and offline authorizations, to the newer Product Manager that seems to work just online, sucks I know. Also that's why all the questions in the first about which exactly app you're trying to authorize because with all that mess now it seems relevant, otherwise it won't work if you try the wrong way. There's this paradigm shift now onto everything online and subscription and perhaps we users don't do much enough to express our objection, or maybe there is already enough acceptance in the amount of customers taking the offer.

3 hours ago, MarcL said:

Also looking at their strange software implementations in T-Racks and Amplitude raises hackles! You always have to install the full package even if you only own a fraction of the modules (It is not only the installer, but also the installed files: 1 T-Racks module > 2 GB)! And they tell you the whole time that the product is updated when only new modules have been added!

Well, to me the T-Racks suite is great, if not a bit too CPU intensive, and I'm too long with these products now that I'm just used to all be bizarries. I think if you're new user then you might need to weight for yourself the pros and cons of having a good sounding and quite versatile suite of effects that will come with a convoluted way of installing tied to it. The download alone is over 2GB (edit: as you pointed out promptly). Guess the new IK Product Manager had been introduced to simplify the authorization process, at the same time bringing a harm to users like us that would want an offline method, you can't please everyone😂😔.

3 hours ago, MarcL said:

And looking at such companies I wonder why some people attach importance to support? It's almost useless IMO!

Yeah in my case they've eventually (wish some push ) been helpful with some sales or account issues but never got to resolve a bug I reported. I've seen other users saying their bug fixes were done so there's that.

Scratch that.

11 hours ago, Craig Fowler said:

The bummer for me is that the TGX-85 is out of stock. I still have a hardware SY85 synth (well, my daughter has it), but I'd love a software version.

Any idea if they will be bringing back more licenses? I was stupid to wait until today only to see it gone 😭😭😭