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Genesis Pro now Available

Larry Shelby

By Larry Shelby
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Matthew Sorrels

Matthew Sorrels

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For 32bit software usually the requirement for admin access is because the software tries to write data to protected areas of the registry and/or file system (program files and the Windows directory).  Sometimes it's possible to set access rights on registry keys to allow the 32bit software to function.  It's not so much a problem with it being 32bit, but rather being 32bit and designed for Windows XP and earlier.  You can have a well behaved 32bit plugin.  Synthedit however may not be one of those.  One thing that might help is to install the plugin somewhere other than Program Files, a writable directory all by itself.

JBridge doesn't always require you run as admin any more (at least it hasn't for me), but it does have issues with this pre-Windows 8 security design flaws.  Depends on the plugin.

As far as admin mode.  One of the biggest problems is that network shares mounted under the user account aren't actually visible in admin mode.  So if you use a local network drive (I have a large, very fast NAS) running as admin those drives aren't available.  There are ways to work around this (remount the drives as admin, there are some Windows config tricks too) but I don't really enjoy dealing with that one.  Since I store a lot of my not often used ACID Loop library on the NAS, running my DAW as admin makes all that a huge mess.

Other problems involve software authorization issues.  Technically the Admin account isn't the user account.  So config files and registry settings aren't always the same.  Most software products aren't really designed to run well in a multi-user environment.  All kinds of strange missing presets/settings problems can show up.  You may be able to use Genesis Pro but some other plugin you use may not work right anymore at all.

This extends to problems with accessing things created by the admin account.  You end up files and directories that can't be deleted/renamed/moved without having to take extra steps.

And of course running your DAW as admin opens a huge security surface to scripts and plugins that aren't designed to be "safe".  The script languages available inside many plugins are crazy powerful and could easily be misused.  And no anti-virus product on earth will catch a Kontakt instrument that also steals all your browser cookies and serial numbers for music software.  They just aren't looking out for that.  Running a DAW as admin opens surface.  It's just not very safe.  Certainly not just for one 32bit synth.

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simon

simon

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16 minutes ago, Matthew Sorrels said:

no anti-virus product on earth will catch a Kontakt instrument that also steals all your browser cookies and serial numbers for music software.  

is that even 'a thing' ? 

I always run with an account with admin privileges (it makes me feel important :) ) - starting to feel a little nervous

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Matthew Sorrels

Matthew Sorrels

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4 minutes ago, simon said:

is that even 'a thing' ? 

I always run with an account with admin privileges (it makes me feel important :) ) - starting to feel a little nervous

Has it happened yet?  No I don't think so.  But I believe it could be done and I have the degree and resume to back that up.

There is a very big difference between running with an account that has admin privileges and running software as administrator.  That whole UAC asking for permission thing is to help with security silos.  You may have admin rights, but not actively all the time.

Of course in the end the real security problems are always the things you didn't foresee.   I don't think it's the biggest problem for this, but I still wouldn't regularly run my DAW as admin.  Maybe once to authorize something, but day in and day out, no that's a bit too far.

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simon

simon

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8 minutes ago, Matthew Sorrels said:

 I have the degree and resume to back that up.

I read your posts - and I don't doubt it :)

feel a little better - thanks Matthew

Actually didn't know Kontakt scripting could access the system at that level.

FWIW I think steinberg actually recommend using an account with admin privilege to run cubase/nuendo - but they don't have to fix it when your system is hijacked.

Despite the catalina farce - I do think apple are onto something security wise...but then they'll change the goalposts again on the next release.

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JoeGBradford

JoeGBradford

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Although I set up a user account for myself I do use my admin account to run CbB and other software. I tend to only use the user account when accessing websites I'm not sure about eg when doing Google searches

Perhaps I should review that although of course there is lots of stuff in my admin user area which I would have to transfer across

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Russ

Russ

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11 hours ago, cclarry said:

Well... had I read the Read Me the first time I would have seen this

- The Installer will automatically install the plugin into this folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steinberg

Please make sure your DAW scan for plugins includes these folders. Otherwise it may not find the plugin. Or if you wish to have it installed in a different folder, you can do so after the install. Simply copy/paste the files in the directory you want.

- It is important to run your DAW as Administrator (right-click on DAW, choose Run as Administrator) , otherwise the plugin will not load. It may display "connection error" or "Connection was lost to the plugin".

- If you use any of these DAWs (64-bit): FL STUDIO / CAKEWALK / BITWIG / REAPER / SONICSTUDIO / SOUNDBRIDGE or any other that has Native Bridging, please install and use the 32-bit version of the Genesis Pro.
These 64-bit DAWs have native bridging, meaning they bridge any 32-bit plugin to 64-bit without any issues.

- If you use any of these DAWs (64-bit): ABLETON / CUBASE / REASON or any other DAW that has no native bridging, please install and use the 64-bit Jbridged version of the Genesis Pro

***Happy producing***

CCLarry

If it doesn't work when you install into the Steinberg folder, make sure you copy the 2 .dll files from the Steinberg folder and paste them into :

c:\program files(86)\Cakewalk\VsTPlugins folder - it doesn't mention that in the text file.

 

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Matthew Sorrels

Matthew Sorrels

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So I figured I had to get it just to see.  $1.41 with the Paypal exchange rate.  They have removed the jBridged version from the installer.  Website says:

Quote

- PLEASE NOTE: JBridge version is currently not included in the installer - we will offer a Jbridge version very soon (fixing some bugs)

So the installer doesn't let you control where it places things.  By default it sticks it in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steinberg\VstPlugins and it places the system files and what not in c:\Program Files (x86)\GenesisPro

I moved the two plugin DLLs (only one is a plugin, the other is support) into a new directory on a Content drive that is writable by my normal user account.  Synthedit plugins love to write files just under the DLL.

Sure enough, this was enough to get around the requirement that you run the DAW/Plugin host as admin.  I suspect you could put the plugin in a directory under your 32-bit VST2 plugins and change the access rights so that it's writable and it would work without having to run as Admin.

The first time I started it in Cakewalk it wouldn't play any sounds.  I was afraid it was because I run at 48khz.  I restarted Cakewalk and tried it at 44.1khz and it worked just fine (both times the UI came up and worked just fine, just that first time it made no sounds).  Afterward I tried 48khz again and it worked.  I'm not sure if there is an issue there or not.  This is with the Cakewalk built in bitbridge.  I haven't tried the full/licensed version of jBridge yet.

It seems to work OK in CbB without being ran as Admin, if you have it in a writable directory.  I was able to play through a bunch of the presets.  The UI is very tiny on my 4k monitor.  And it's not resizable.  It also works and feels exactly like a Synthedit plugin, which isn't really a good thing.

I haven't spent any time trying it out though, but I'll be honest I wasn't very impressed at all.  But I may be judging it on a high bar against a bunch of very pricey synths.  Even WA Production's Ascension seems better to me (and it's pretty cheap).  Synthmaster, VPS Avenger, Rob Papen anything, etc.  This might have been interesting in 2010, but the world has changed.

A few of the sequence presets seem nice.  It clearly does have some things under the hood, if you can get at them. Many of the presets are kind of bland though.  I only see 128 presets, I may be missing something there.  May need to look at the manual or watch some videos.

I wouldn't have bought it for normal synth prices.  I'm not really sure what I can get out of it to be honest, but at less than $1.50 I'm OK with that.

 

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Matthew Sorrels

Matthew Sorrels

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I think the problem is he's spent many years building this inside Synthedit, himself.  And Synthedit isn't 64bit (or maybe it is now?  Not sure--don't really care).  Changing that to another development platform that works in 64bits is a hard road.  Requires starting again on the implementation.  Now in theory that isn't as hard since you have the design and maybe the art/UI layout/etc, but it's still a high bar to get over.  Kind of like remaking a movie that was shot in black & white.  It's a lot of work and the end result may not be as beloved and awesome as the original.

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Pikouš Štech

Pikouš Štech

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Hey guice. 

I am sorry cause i dont understand whats going on, when i wanna install that plugin.. I have 64 bit and i dont wanna buy jBridge. What can i do? When i run Ableton as administrator it doesnt work. Did everyone here with 64 bit buy jBridge program? Thanks a lot and again sorry for beeing that stupid :D 

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