CSistine

Even if they will have a perpetual license in the future, it differs for me whether the user can activate the perpetual license once on a system or if it is necessary to re-activate after a time interval! The latter would mean for me NO GO, because users would be completely in their hand and I am in doubt that I could trust in them on the long run! Who knows, maybe they drop Sonar once and cease the authorization servers! Who knows what "perpetual" really means for them? But YMMV!

I wonder if anyone ever paid more than $19.00 for an AAS sound pak? ?

You disappoint me, I thought you would say Melda! ?

Is this thread about Melda? ?

A subjective, subhuman subjection or a subliminal submerge? Does it substantially subsist? A subversive, suburban subversion IMHO!

@Bapu, @PavlovsCat, @Jim Roseberry, @Starship Krupa: I know that I am very awkward/clunky in explaining what I think, but I tried to express that the lifetime debacle is not the reason of my anger to the current company! It seems I have failed! The major issue that I have, is with some statements that were told in the first 2 years when BL had taken over Sonar. E.g. it was said (by Noel) that the purpose of the re-authorisation (for a free product) was only aimed to get information about what version of CbB was actually used. But recently they use the shorter timed re-authorisation to push/urge users to buy the backstage pass! Also in the beginning they gave the impression that we don't have to worry, CbB will always be free. But yes, you may state that I have been naive! It is true! In the end I am lucky compared to a lot of other CbB users that don't want to commit themselves to a sub, because I still own Platinum and X3! I can live with them (even X3 supports almost everything that I need, however I will miss some minor improvements)!

IMO your comparison lacks the real point! It was more like say you bought the name, whole production, parts and construction design of a automotive company and even a part of the employees! So almost everything, except the liabilities! This is what makes people questioning. But for me it is more important that I've lost faith in the people around Cakewalk, than the bitter pill of the lifetime purchase! IMO there were some flam statements and false impressions sowed on CbB, that are not true anymore. It reminds me of the practice of the banks with payment. In the 80s they wanted you to pay all electronically, so it was free. Then when everybody did use it and was dependent on it, it was suddenly costly!

In this case it is clear to me what to choose (Krotos), if I will purchase anything from PB! NO CodeMeter for me, too intrusive IMHO! ?

Refusing any kind of subs and having these nasty nag screen to re-activate CbB now after just a few weeks (very annoying if you're offline), I decided today to uninstall Cakewalk! I am very sad! ? After the Gibson debacle and this now they have exhausted my confidence! Will be using Reaper and Platinum (as long as possible, else I still have Sonar X3 that has offline authorisation)! My fault, I should have bet on another horse long ago!

Though with a new PC you are not bound to UAD! ?

Some times ago I had problems, because I used the same e-mail for NI and iZotope. I had to adjust to the same password to make it work on both sites! I guess it has to do with their fusion!

Somehow it reminds me of Cakewalk upstairs! ?

Frankly the new re-activation time is really annoying! On my laptop I reactivated only 17 days ago and there it is again! ? I think that their "fake" reason to change the activation server caused by "technical" changes is just not true! I suspect it was more to reduce the validity to just some days! I am close to skip CbB and jump to Platinum or X3 together with Reaper! Better to skip this re-activation nag and lose some minor (for me at least) improvements (in Platinum/X3, not in Reaper)! It is sad, so sad!

As far as I can see they are mostly in "Documents\VST3 presets\<provider>\<plugin>\*.vstpreset".

What kind of authorization/activation do they use?

If there wasn't additional tax applied in Europe, maybe I would grab a plugin! But for $37.50 they don't have anything for me right now! PA have become expensive! ?

I read it partly then! ? Though today I've read the whole post! ? You have forgotten one thing happening in such software companies: Department head: "Okay, welcome John! As initial work as junior developer you will define the specification for VST4. After that I propose you specify and develop the new Software Manager program for our customers! These are 2 tasks that are independent of our former software and they are self-contained, that's why!" I had experienced crucial jobs given to juniors several times in my development career! Horrifying!

I guess it is more likely that the VST2 spec really included the factory preset handling, because I never had a plugin/DAW that did not support it (100%)! That's completely different with VST3, where there are just some kind of recommandations! This may also be the reason why many providers implemented their own preset system. IMHO, this is very awkward from the user view, it couldn't be more diverse as it is nowadays, absolutely no standard! This is the reason why I still blame the VST3 definition, Steinberg did a bad job in my opinion! ? Also VST3 is a PITA for the users, because the plugin substitution (vst2 > vst3) and the use of old versions (settings) is not handled in a well-thought-out way! I am sure that there would have been much better solutions to introduce some technical improvements!

Grabbed this one as it sounds great, is easy on resources and has user friendly authorization! I like to support this kind of plugin providers! ?

It's easier, because you can choose them from the preset list on top of the plugin window! It's true that they are in the standard locations, but in Cakewalk you have to click on the VST3 button, search to the respective folder and then select the preset and each time when you want to select another one you have to go thru the VST3 button. Very cumbersome! (In Reaper this is not an issue, because the VST3 factory presets are shown on top of the plugin window as with VST2 presets). Though this solves the problem it is a lot of extra steps you have to do for each plugin provider that does not have an own preset management built into its plugins! But YMMV! Overall I dare to say that this is one of the big issues of VST3! Each plugin provider or DAW provider has to reinvent the preset system. With VST2 this was solved at least for factory presets.

For some VST3 plugins it is very cumbersome to use the presets in CbB (e.g. PluginAlliance). In those cases I still prefer to use the VST2 version. The VST3 version of PSP InfiniStrip crashes in CbB on mono tracks (interleave = mono), VST2 runs without problems.

Frankly, I am antipathetic to UA! First, because their installation is so weird even their plugins are iLok authorized and second, because they start processes to do updates when you are using their plugins (I did not find out how to avoid this)!

Seeing the Apple sign in his video all the time, I am not sure whether I should mistrust this guy! ? He has forgotten that the handling (UI) of the EQs is quite different and everyone has another taste! E.g. for me an EQ without direct number input is almost unusable or if the text is too small ... A user interface has to be comfortable for you as individual! He also forgets the limits of a plugin. Maybe the maximum freq is only 17000 Hz, or Q cannot go high enough ... (For example I was searching a long time to find a Gate/Expander with all the functionality required for a special task.) Other than that I believe that he is right!

As long as they're babies, but then?

Purchased DIFIX with my credits! I am surprised, how well this plugin works! Incredible, how a DI guitar together with an amp sim can sound much more realistic with this plugin!