Maestro

Other DAWs and NLEs are dropping OMF support as it's been deprecated and considered a legacy interchange format for years. Newer software that never had OMF when it was actually de facto is not going to add it, so lacking AAF support will become increasingly more of a handicap, especially if you [also] work in the film post industry.

Some USB Audio Interfaces have issues when plugged into a USB 3.x Port. With PCs offering less and less USB 2.0 ports, I am avoiding USB 2.0 interfaces moving forward, because I'm lazy and like things to "just work."

I don't think there is anything in any version past 12 worth paying to upgrade to. The VST3 and 64-bit was the last thing they added to this software that actually mattered. Putting SFP12 on HB was one of the biggest marketing blunders they could have made. They should have put SFP11 there, and then 13 would have been a far more attractive upgrade proposition. I doubt many people upgraded off 12, who got it via that bundle. There is practically no reason to do so. For editing Audio, SFP is far better than iZotope RX7. RX really is for Spectral Editing and Restoration (and for the plug-ins). It's more comparable to SpectraLayers than it is to Sound Forge Pro. Sound Forge needs a multi-track "Audio Montage" like Steinberg WaveLab and Acorn Acoustica. Until it gets that, I don't think Ii'd ever prefer using it over something like Samplitude Pro X (which, in the Suite SKU, bundles it). The Event Mode is not good enough.

Most of my Cloud Storage use is iCloud, since I own multiple Apple devices. I have Microsoft 365, but it's really only the Office default save location and backup for User Guides; along with what I use to share files, since it's easy to create expiring links there. I tried Google Drive but I will let that expire after the year is up, cause I never use it ? I have enough HDDs here that I don't need cloud storage. I can't be bothered to use cloud storage for actual work. we don't have fiber here. The latency is just too annoying to deal with, and it's often a lot of data to be uploading as well (once you start bouncing things to audio, or if you record lots of tracks).

There are plug-ins that can do that. I think T-RackS has one that can be used for this (Master Match), but there are definitely others. Can't Ozone do this, as well (may need Advanced SKU, I am unsure of that - off the cuff).

That's because iLok allows installation of that version over newer versions. Steinberg's eLCC will error out if you try to install an older version over a newer version, and will update the older version with a newer version if you install in the proper order. iLok's software doesn't do that, so you end up with all sorts of issues when vendors bundle the older PACE installers into their plug-in/application installer, and don't update the installers when PACE does. That was the issue with the iLok software from AIR and SONiVOX. Also, PACE uses a different type of driver architecture for their iLok software, while eLCC installs as userland software. This is why you have a driver installation dialog when first installing the iLok software, but nothing like that with the Steinberg eLCC. This conspiracy about software running deep into your OS has never applied to eLCC, or been associated with Steinberg's hardware copy protection. Unrelatable situations. The issues with performance affected most USB dongle solutions many years ago because the tech was simply slower and less mature. Slower USB flash devices. Slower USB Ports. Slower computers, etc. This hasn't been an issue for a long time. iLok, eLicenser, Codemeter, etc. These have all been performant for years. Most issues people run into, these days, have to do with people not keeping the software up to date - or activation server issues during mad rush/promotional periods/product release or update times.... All of this can and does happen to products that have never used hardware copy protection, since that's an issue with server resources.

That's not a very elegant solution if you have to use a laptop, which is why most people don't like having to move the dongle back and forth. Even a USB Hub is better, and at least has ports for other things (thumb drives, peripherals, etc.). And wear on the dongle is secondary to wear on the USB ports from constantly inserting and removing the dongle. Those ports go bad, often long before the dongles themselves; especially on cheaper, mass-produced, OEM MOBOs and many laptops.

I think a lot of their VST Software can use the Soft eLicenser, though bundles like Absolute may require the dongle.

The PC is worthless without an Operating System. This retort is as weak as weak can be. The entire purpose of a PC is to run computer software. How are you going to use your DAW without it? Well, I guess you can always get an MPC or Maschine+... Nope. This has nothing to do with the dongle. It had to do with the activation servers being completely overwhelmed when the Cubase 11 release happened - particularly with the way upgrades work. When you upgrade a Cubase License your older license is removed and the new license replaces it. If the servers are swamped, it can time out in the middle of this happening, resulting in an orphaned license. 98.6% of people got this fixed automatically when the world stopped spamming the check button and the servers weren't completely swamped. Even people who were not using dongles for products ran into issues, because the dongle had nothing to do with it. Don't think you even understand what happened there. PreSonus and other companies have had server issues in the past when there was a mad rush to get their products after a release. This is why many companies do staged rollouts for digital products. You can say that Steinberg's Activation servers are shite... but again, this has nothing at all to do with the dongle. Even people using the soft elicenser software ran into the same issue - this is why they tend to shut down their entire store when this happens ? This can happen to any company, given the right circumstances. Servers don't have unlimited resources, and bad things happened when they are overwhelmed. If you can afford Cubase a $20 dongle is not a problem, and Amazon is everywhere. I don't think many people in third world countries are buying $550 DAWs. Ignorable "issue," really. Even faster is unplugging the dongle and plugging it into the other computer, and having it just work immediately without constantly having to move activations between PC <-> Cloud <-> PC. Even my Steinberg software that doesn't require a dongle is on a the dongle, for this very reason. No, when I lose one I will get another and use the warranty service to get a new activation code, but I won't lose access to the software because I have another. You're really relying on the worse case scenarios and then positing them as invariants... Interesting. But I don't lose them, because I have an attachment that plugs into the Kensington lock slot on my laptop, so the dongle is attached to it. It doesn't move until I unlock and detach it. But hey, not everyone thinks about these things... Maybe someone will use a fence cutter and steal it, one day? Nope. A lot of the older iLok software only gives you one activation because they worked on that assumption. Most new iLok titles give you 2-3. Even Pro Tools gives you 2-3 activations. Older items like the Exponential Audio plugins only give you 1. But they're usually on sale for almost nothing, anyways. I have tons of iLok'd software, and what you say is definitely inaccurate.

They break because Steinberg only gives one license, which means people have to take their only dongle on the road with them, or constantly unplug to movoe between machines. If they gave two activates for the software, people would keep one dongle in their desktop at all times and use the other one to move between their laptop or whatever. If one Dongle breaks, the other is still pristine in the desktop, so it's less disruptive - and owning the dongle is less risky overall. I think the policy behind how many activations you get for the software exacerbated the "complaints" about the dongle. A lot of software that uses iLok gave 2-3 activations; even when they were dongle-only.

Personally, you buy an entire PC to use your DAW, so I'm not seeing the point. The dongle isn't really that big of a deal, and I don't think that rationale is totally appropriate considering we buy hardware to use software fully ALL the time - including things that plug into our USB ports - Audio Interfaces, MIDI Controllers, etc. There is nothing with the eLCC software that interferes with PC performance or gives it additional reasons to BSOD. It has existed over a decade. We have enough data to say this - definitively. Steinberg has a Zero Downtime Policy. That is a "solved problem." Dongles are sold at Guitar Center. Many people can just drive to the store and get one. I understand why people don't like the dongle. It has clear disadvantages, on a practical level. However, I think a lot of what you write is an exaggeration of cautiousness. Even when they get rid of the dongle, I wouldn't be surprised if it remains optional and a TON of people continue to use it. I think I will likely keep my licenses on the dongle because having to manage machine licenses is a PITA - particularly when replacing machines. Frankly, the biggest issue with Steinberg licenses is that they only give you one per purchase. If they did like iLok and gave 2 licenses that you could split across two dongles (i.e. Desktop + Laptop), the dongle would have been less of an issue. A $20 dongle is simply not a consideration when buying a DAW. That is a rounding error when balancing my books.

This is a drum synth, not a drum sampler - though it does have two sampler slots. Comparing this to NI Battery is like comparing DrumSynth 500 to Strike 2. D16's 909 is a Synthesized recreation of a specific drum kit, so a bit different. DrumSynth 500 is basically comparable to the Drum Synths in Native Instruments Maschine software. I think Falcon 2 has Drum Synths, as well. They actually added this plug-in to the Akai MPC 2.9 software to compete with Maschine 2 in that area ? I wouldn't be surprised if it was developed for this purpose (and released as a plug-in to further monetize it).It's worth $9.99. Not sure it's worth the MSRP, though. You can get Maschine 2 for less than $149 (via bundle with an M32 Keyboard) and that's the price point of sound design tools like Steinberg Backbone, which are simply better pickups if you're into sound design for Drums (and other stuff). Buy at $50 or less. Skip at $50 or more and invest in something else, IMO. Skip if you already have the MPC 2 Software, since you're likely doing your beat making there if you use Cakewalk as a main DAW, anyways.

They can see how many people have authenticated Cakewalk to their account. But that would still overcount due to the number of people who probably tried the DAW, uninstalled, but didn't bother to delete the BandLab account afterwards. Also, the DAW did ship with data sharing enabled by default. Maybe that has changed, but if so that could be a way for them to check this ?

When you're missing lots of features relative to the competition, you can easily add in new features all the time. Lots of these things are solved issues, and some of the features are just ported over from other products (i.e. the score editor that comes from Notion, etc.). This makes it "easier" to develop and add them in. When you have the feature set of a DAW like Cubase, it's a lot harder to just "add new features" unless you start dipping into market niches that Steinberg doesn't really target (i.e. Adding Clip Launchers and things of that nature). Studio One is still a relatively young DAW, so they have a few years to add lots of features in updates and use as a selling point. Those will become less and less impactful as the DAW matures further. Studio One is okay, but I use it primarily as an "on the road" DAW on my laptop, though. I don't really like the UX, but it gets the job done when I don't want to travel with dongles.

I don't need that. I only need to be able to get the vocals out because I do music design for sports (Gymnastics floor routines, figure skaters, etc.) and the vocals in popular music sometimes make it impossible to get a good edit with the music. Removing them remedies that ? I remove the vocals, and then I cut it like any classical piece, etc. and I can always just at the vocals back at different places where needed.