Activate Guitar Rig 3

[Larry Jones]

How can I activate Guitar Rig 3 (not GR LE)? I got it with SONAR years ago and just got a new (used) PC for a DAW. I installed all my old versions of SONAR and got many (most?) of the old "free" plugins. Guitar Rig 3, however, came along, but opens as a time-limited demo and wants to be activated with a serial number. I don't recall ever having a serial number for it. There's nothing about it in Command Center and the Native Instruments website is pretending this plug doesn't exist. I know about the free Guitar Rig 6, but for various reasons I prefer this old sim.

Edited March 31, 2023 by Larry Jones

[OutrageProductions]

The bundled version of GR3 did require a serial number and it was posted in the old Cakewalk Command Center in your account with the download links to all of your purchased products. IIRC, GR-LE was a freebie courtesy of Gregg H.  If you no longer have access to that portal, you may be out of luck.
I  know that I still have all my authorizations back to Pro Audio 2.

Edited March 31, 2023 by OutrageProductions

[sjoens]

What was it bundled with? I don't have GT3 (I searched) but just loaded GT4 into an FX bin which asked to transfer GT3 presents.

Not sure where it got them but how cool if all plugins asked that.

Edited March 31, 2023 by sjoens

[Larry Jones]

14 hours ago, OutrageProductions said:

GR3 did require a serial number and it was posted in the old Cakewalk Command Center in your account with the download links to all of your purchased products. If you no longer have access to that portal, you may be out of luck.

Thanks for your response. I do have access to my old account. Guitar Rig 3 is not mentioned anywhere there, but I do have the plugin. It was installed when I installed my old versions of SONAR. Pretty sure I won't find download links in Command Center since SONAR 8/8.5 was not a downloadable product.  I didn't notice exactly which version GR3 came with, but I did not purchase it (so it must have come with some earlier version of SONAR), and I've been using it for years.

Today I fired up Producer 8 and Producer 8.5, thinking maybe the plugin needed to see the "parent" app and would then activate itself, but no luck. GR3 is available in both versions, but as a demo version that needs a serial number. As I mentioned in my original post,  Native Instruments is pretending GR3 doesn't exist. In fact, the "Click here to activate" splash screen leads to a Native Instruments Service Center page that doesn't connect to anything. My account at NI shows numerous products I have purchased from them, but not GR3 (or any other Guitar Rig version).

I found a serial number for Guitar Rig 3 LE, but NI does not accept that one. I have contacted them from their support form to see if they'll help. Fingers crossed.

Edited March 31, 2023 by Larry Jones

[sjoens]

I wonder if installing as Administrator would help, as in the case of Dimension.

Cool thing about Sonar 8 install disc are the included videos.

[msmcleod]

IIRC Sonar 8 came with Guitar Rig 3 LE, and Sonar X1 came with Guitar Rig 4 LE.

Sonar 8.5 was an upgrade to Sonar 8 which came with the Project 5 FX suite and Session Drummer 3.  I don't think there were any changes to Guitar Rig 3.

So if you've got a non LE version of Guitar Rig 3, you've likely clicked on an upgrade button at some point, something else has installed or upgraded it for you, or it is actually the LE version, but it just doesn't say "LE" in the title.

FWIW my version of Sonar 8 was boxed, but Sonar 8.5 was a download. This is reflected on the Cakewalk.com website - i.e. I can download Sonar 8.5, but not Sonar 8 (all I see is my serial number & activation code for it).

I'll need to look it out, but I think the serial number for Guitar Rig 3 LE came in the Sonar 8 box.

EDIT - just looked at my Sonar 8 box, and there isn't any serial number for GR3.  Maybe it automatically registers after installing Sonar 8?  Being so old, it probably needs to be run as admin to register properly.  It may also be tied to Sonar 8, which means you may need Sonar 8 installed.

[sjoens]

I kinda surmised that, although I think it was just called Guitar Rig LE with no version number. My last 2 systems had Sonar 8 installers run only for the plugins, but GR3 LE is nowhere to be found on them so you're probably right.  Either that or they configured GR4 LE to overwrite it when X1 came out. I've since upgraded to v4 & 5 so I'm not necessarily looking to use 3 again. 

Funny thing about plugins engineered to only run in the host DAW they were registered with - some are able to slip by that protocol.

I have one that won't run in any version of Sonar except Home 7XL - but it will run in other DAWs. 

Edited April 2, 2023 by sjoens

[Larry Jones]

On 4/1/2023 at 3:56 AM, msmcleod said:

IRC Sonar 8 came with Guitar Rig 3 LE, and Sonar X1 came with Guitar Rig 4 LE.

Sonar 8.5 was an upgrade to Sonar 8 which came with the Project 5 FX suite and Session Drummer 3.  I don't think there were any changes to Guitar Rig 3.

So if you've got a non LE version of Guitar Rig 3, you've likely clicked on an upgrade button at some point, something else has installed or upgraded it for you, or it is actually the LE version, but it just doesn't say "LE" in the title.

I skipped X1, so I'm dealing only with GR3.

On my current system (which I am still setting up) if I try to load Guitar Rig 3, it comes up as "Guitar Rig 3 Demo" (Not 'LE'). I don't recall actually installing it while I was installing all my old versions of SONAR,  but it does appear as a plugin in CbB, and it wants a serial number. I do have the serial number, which is printed on the DVD paper sleeve inside the SONAR 8 box, but there is nowhere on the Native Instruments website to enter said number -- it acts as if I don't have GR3 installed, possibly because they'd prefer that I buy their latest version. I contacted NI and they first warned me that it probably wouldn't work and they wanted no responsibility for what might go wrong, but they sent me a link to  Google Drive where there was supposed to be a way to install GR3. I do not have access to the Drive because I am registered at NI with a non-Google email address. I have asked them to try another way but they have not responded.

I have come to the conclusion (just guessing) that when they use the term "installed" they are talking about a specialized meaning, to wit, "physically installed on my system and registered as such in their system." So when they sent me a link (inaccessible to me) to "install" GR3, I think they were trying to get it "installed" in such a way that I could see it in my NI account online and enter the serial number.

Back before I moved to a new computer, I don't recall ever seeing "LE" in the GR3 interface, but I know I never intentionally tried to upgrade it. However the plugin worked fine on the old Win 10 system, so if NI ever lets me activate it I'm hoping it will work on the new Win 10 system.

Thanks, Mark, for jumping in on this.

Edited April 3, 2023 by Larry Jones

[Bill Crockett]

Larry, Sorry for the very late post on this.

Before seeing this thread, 2 weeks ago I decide to install SONAR 8 with the works this time using all 4 discs.  I got Guitar Rig 3 installed and activated on SONAR, but it was a convoluted process.  This is on Windows 10 64-bit.

BTW, when you first launch Guitar Rig, it will show as Guitar Rig 3 Demo, Buy, Activate. When activated, it will become Guitar Rig 3 LE. You cannot active via NI Service Centre now.  NI shut that down in 2020.  You have to download and install Native Access.

In my SONAR box is the Guitar Rig 3, 25-digit serial number.  Also found in the box, is the Guitar Rig 3, 9-digit password for Native Instruments.  You must have both.  If you have not got the password, you can message Native Instruments for help.

I could not get the latest Native Access to recognise my install of Guitar Rig 3.  I had to used Native Access 1.14.1

https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000407909-Native-Access-Legacy-Installers-for-Older-Operating-Systems

Guitar Rig 3.2.1 Win Update fixed activation problems on 64-bit systems  I had to download and install Guitar Rig 3.2.1 Win Update to fix it.

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/downloads/update-manager/?q=Guitar+Rig+3&t=updates

Type guitar rig 3 in search for products.

Here is the list of legacy products that can still be activated in Native Access.  Guitar Rig 3 can be activated.

https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006053397-Service-Center-and-Legacy-Products-End-of-Life

Hope this helps.

Edited February 16 by Bill Crockett

[sjoens]

Thanks for the links.  Would have never found them myself.    Despite having original install files and being "Activated" with all presets, my X1 version of Guitar Rig 4 LE has been DOA for some time.  Every attempt to fix it thru NI failed.  Followed your steps and it's all back.  Nice thing about NI is their legacy app support.

[John Vere]

This makes me wonder what happened to Cakewalks association with NI? Wonder when they broke off?
Just thinking if they had continued we might have scored the full version of Kontakt somehow.  

I most certainly remember the 8.5 days and Guitar rig 3. I stayed with that up until X3 which then came with TH3 which I immediately liked a lot more.

It was that old Bassman like I owned back when I was 15 that got me hooked.  If I’m too lazy to turn on my Fender Princeton I use that. It’s pretty dang close. 

[sjoens]

11 hours ago, John Vere said:

Cakewalks association with NI? Wonder when they broke off?
Just thinking if they had continued we might have scored the full version of Kontakt somehow.

When Gibson took over??
NI probably never be that generous as they occasionally offered big discounts to everyone.  Mine was around $125.

[Bill Crockett]

On 2/16/2024 at 9:40 PM, sjoens said:

Thanks for the links.  Would have never found them myself.    Despite having original install files and being "Activated" with all presets, my X1 version of Guitar Rig 4 LE has been DOA for some time.

Glad I could help.  I got a lot of help from NI support and their forum about those links.

I am actually amazed that Native Instruments still have all the serial numbers, passwords dating back to 2008 (and more) on their database.   And still honour all the SONAR versions.

As a challenge, I wanted to get Guitar Rig 3 registered, and from what I read it was possible.  However, what I did not know is that it drops to the LE version once registered.  It is a poor man's version and a lot of amps and effect are now missing.

Did not know about the TH3 and found them at the Overload website.  Now the TH-U.  I like the fact they use Impulse responses like in convolution reverbs.  Pretty close to the real thing.

Edited February 29 by Bill Crockett

[sjoens]

Yes Demo lets you see the full version for a time limit but LE was the Sonar version.  It's great we're not forced to use the latest versions only AND previous versions can work side by side if needed.  Unlike Melodyne, which is why I haven't upgraded.