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Up in the AIR, SOLVED! for now


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Jan. 16 2023- Solved Again?  Air got back to me and told me to send a request to iLOk to reset all my licenses. This took about 4 hours and they responded with a long list of instructions to follow.  > If you want to see the instructions go to the bottom of this post.   But Everything seems to be working. For now at least. At least I know know what to do if it happens again. 

 

Jan.15 2023- NOT Solved. Everything worked fine all afternoon yesterday after I posted below. I had even done a Hard reboot to test. But when I opened the project this morning I get the same messages again. I tried inserting the DB-33 into Ableton and it crashed! So it's not Cakewalk and I don't think it's Air. I think it's iLok. 

 

Jan. 14 2023- SOLVED UPDATE: I'll put it up here so no one has to wade through the mess. 

Not sure exactly what did it. The list of what I did would fill a book.  I eventually got Xpand and Velvet working. This made it even more of a mystery.  DB-33 showed as successfully installed  and was played just fine in Magix Music Maker and Ableton Lite. ( ya I had to install them to test) But nothing in Cakewalk.

So I re installed it for the 4th time but this time as Administrator. At first it still didn't show on scanning. So I checked all the boxes including Re scan failed and scan in sand box. Scan dialogue showed 0 new plug ins found still, but. DB-33 is back and seems to be working fine.  

 

 

Below is my original post: 

I have used 2 Air products on 100's of projects over the last 6 or so years since I first bought them. The DB33 and Xpand2.  I have everything they make and got it all on sale at one time or another but these are the only 2 I like. And I like them over anything else I've tried.  I even have 3 different licenses for xpand2. But every time I've had to install them it's been a huge PITA.  

I just built a new machine and I more or less had all my plug ins up and running within the week after I fired it up. And I have used Xpand on a few new projects no problem since. All the ducks are in a row.   I lok is happy, Cakewalk knows they are in the Steinberg VST folder, they are on the plug in list etc. And as I say, I've used them. All of a sudden when I tried to insert the DB33 yesterday I got the notification shown below ( same one)  

I opened iLok and logged in and I found it was activated. I did notice a demo version showing too? Was that causing a conflict? 

 

I uninstalled DB33 in windows apps as well as making sure the dll. was gone from the VST folder. I checked all folders just to be sure.

I still had the old installer and all went fine and DB 33 was re installed and inserted in the project and played just fine all day.

 

Then the bad news- I shut down for the night and re open to resume and get the message again. I then tried inserting Xpand and got same message?? 

Screenshot(224).png.218b1f2bc6cb0e28dab8500d070c6e85.png

Another issue is my old computer had all there stuff installed and I forgot to de-activate before I re built it. All the other vendors responded and fixed the activations with in a day or two. Still no word from Air.  You can see all my Air products show 2 activations. The second shows as the old computer that has a new name now. There was also my Laptop I used and I went in there and deactivated all Air products and the others so I could use them on the new machine. There's another possible issue. It might have only sort of worked for Air. 

Thank you all. 

JAN 16 2023- The solution.

Go to iLok support page and submit a ticket to have all you licenses reset.  

They will reply after they do this and give you this list

1) Close any open cloud sessions (From the File menu in iLok License Manager)
2) Quit iLok License Manager if currently running, as well as any other binary that uses our protection
3) Go to the Start icon
4) In the search field type in “services” (without quotes)
5) Choose “Services” from the search results
6) Within the Services window, look for “PACE License Services”
7) Right-click it and choose “Stop” from the pop-up menu
? Leaving the Services window open, open a Windows File Explorer window
9) Navigate to the following location (this can be cut and pasted into the address bar):

     C:\ProgramData\PACE\Eden

  10) Delete all ”.sdb” files found there and then close the Windows File Explorer window
  11) Return back to the Services window
  12) Right-click “PACE License Services” and choose “Start” from the pop-up menu

The client database on Windows will be reset after completing this step.

Next, log in to iLok License Manager and from the File menu, click Preferences, then Licenses.
Click "Remove account data saved on computer"
If the button's text is already gray there's no need for this step.

Now reactivate your licenses; the products should launch as usual.
 

 

 

Edited by John Vere
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i gave up the Air products about 6 years ago because of lack of support and painful installs. 

Kontakt has two modes: Player and Full. if you have a "free" library which is for Full only and you try to play it, it typically will stop playing after 10 mins and you need to reload the instrument.  so paying attention to the free libraries which support Player (and there are  a lot and not - in terms of types and quality). so after a few years, i broke down and got the full version on a sale for $179 (including a bunch of the NI synth stuff and libraries). so, now all the worry about the free libraries which i would have to needed to try and render to audio within the 10 min time slot has gone away ? 

for Organ - CollaB3 is ok, the Arturia Lite has a limited B3 which is also ok, but also has some transistor organs which are nice (i finally bought the Pro package and the selection is quite nice). VL-122 is ok but 32-bit. not so much on the Kontakt side without paying some $$$. VB3 is my goto B3. I have the Vintage Organs library but it's not as nice (imho) as VB3. 

some nice free libraries:

Heavyocity
Sonicouture

Hammersmith Free is nice grand piano
Project Sam free orchestra

my main investment in Kontakt has been the Session Guitar series (acoustic and electric ones + basses), the Hammersmith Pro (which sounds amazing), and the AAS Strum has libraries compatible with Kontakt. with Komplete Kontrol i can play with everything directly from my keyboard (S-49 Pro). so probably about $1000 worth of libraries over the past 2 years.

look into Sine Player has some nice freebies.

Edited by Glenn Stanton
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@Glenn Stanton You must have seen my first post before I edited out the question about Kontakt. I thought I better start another thread on that topic. But Thanks for the info. I guess that's exactly why I haven't used it and I was wonder why? I see lots of posts from people who use Kontakt.  But $200 is way over my budget for VST's. I have Dim Pro collections.  Yesterday I used the free Kontakt 7 and the default library  Mallets on a project  all day and it seemed fine? 

I think I only paid  $100 for the complete Air collections. I feel sorry for anyone who every paid full price. The DB33 shows as $110. 

I am using the Colla B in the interim but it's not as good as the DB 33.  Xpand has been my horn section and it has some great ethnic stuff too. In a way I'm fine because I actually finish all my projects export them and move on. But jeeze I literally have 100's of projects with the DB33 on it.  A lot of them I was smart enough to back up with all synths frozen. But not my backing tracks,  as they are 100% midi only projects.  

I just sent in a support email to iLok and I did manage to find a backdoor to Air support and I have submitted a request to have all my licensed Computers de activated.  

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IIRC I had to re-install the VC++ redistributables after I last installed the AIR stuff - maybe not for the synths, but definitely for the effects stuff.

You may also want to re-install the iLok software. 

Whoever wrote the original installers didn't think to check for newer versions of the components, and just blasted over it with the ancient stuff in their installer.

 

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2 minutes ago, Mr No Name said:

I have just invested in some AIR stuff on KVR site, they have package deals for both DB33 and XPAND 2 + Vacuum classic synth for $9.99 until 14th jan

I'd guess it's an updated version, might be worth an investment of 10 dollars??

https://www.kvraudio.com/marketplace/air-legends-pack-by-air-music-technology

Both are great sounding VSTi's and well worth the money.

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This is the contact for AIR music technology.

 

For expert technical support installing AIR Music Technology AIR Legends Pack contact Plugivery (Tech Support for AIR Music Technology): 

 

https://help.plugivery.com/ / KVR Support Forum

https://help.plugivery.com

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A very long shot but do you have the AIR VST's on a disc different from your system disc. I ran into problems and contacted support a few years ago and the told me to move the VSTs to my C drive and they worked fine after that - including installing on a  new PC. It looks like your problem is different but thought I should mention this! 

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Thanks everyone for replying. 

If you read my OP it explains that the software is in the default location. The Steinberg VST folder. They were working just fine so I can’t see it was anything to do with any of that but you never know.

The message is pertaining to ILok authorization not a faulty install. 
So it’s either an ilok issue or an Air issue. 

I contacted ilok and they already got back to me asking for screenshots so maybe they can fix this. It’s the weekend and they keep regular hours. 

We’ll see if Air gets back to me they certainly didn’t last year but I’m almost optimistic this time. 
I know it’s on sale for $10. Why would I pay them again?  I already have 3 licenses copies of xpand. ?
 

Edited by John Vere
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14 hours ago, John Vere said:

If you read my OP it explains that the software is in the default location. The Steinberg VST folder. They were working just fine so I can’t see it was anything to do with any of that but you never know.

Apologies I missed that! I got too excited thinking I may be able to help rather than asking for it! ?  

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Update:  I got emails from both iLok and Air. Wasn't expecting anything on the weekend. 

Air deactivated the old computer. And said to contact them if it didn't work. It didn't. 

ILok seems willing to work with me and asked for screen shots of the problems.  OK. 

Here's what I tried today. 

Uninstalled everything. iLok and DB33.  

Restart computer

Re installed iLok and then deactivated the new computer. I now had 2 activations available. 

Restart computer

Downloaded DB33 from Air web site, it said it was an update but the version number is the same as my old one. Re installed without issue. 

Re activated the Air Instrument expansion pack 3  to the new computer in iLok successfully. 

Restart computer

Open Cakewalk and start scan. Same warning message regarding licenses.  And now a new warning about the Air Chorus and Phaser which turns out were in the Cakewalk VST folder so never got deleted. Note I haven't bothered re installing Xpand 2 yet. 

Total failure so far. 

I took screenshots of everything as I'm proceeding and sent them to both iLok and Air Support. Waiting for replies. 

Not one to stop trying: 

I then thought I'd see what would happen on the old computer I had just rebuilt. Now that Air had granted me the 2nd computer authorization.

I installed iLok and logged in. I activated the Expansion pack. I installed the DB33  and opened Sonar Home Studio ( I'm not bothering with CbB on this computer)  and everything works. I also opened Cakewalk Next and it too can use the DB33. I opened old projects that I knew had the DB33 in Home Studio without issue. 

Hmmm? Is it actually a CbB issue??

I realized I only have CbB on my new computer. No other DAW's. But I still had the installer for Cakewalk Next in my downloads from November and I re-installed it. It scanned for plug ins on start up and warned me about Xpand2 being not found.  As I said, I had uninstalled it.

  I opened the plug in manager and there was no sign of DB33. The Steinberg folder is on the scan list and all other plug ins are available.  

So this is one of those real weird ones and I can only hope at this point either Air or iLok sort it out. I'm actually pointing my finger more at iLok right now. 

 note to @msmcleod I saw the Visual C++ flash quickly during the install on the old computer that worked. I looked in my installed Apps and there's 11 of those installed,  2005 - 2008-2013- 2015. So not sure how one would go about messing with those. It's still a possibility because obviously there's nothing wrong with anything else - it all works just fine on the other computer using identical installers and locations.  

Oh and I also paid $10 for a new copy of DB33 from KVR that @Mr No Name posted. I now have a new serial number.  Woopy!  But it doesn't show in iLok. Still only the DB33 demo and the one in the expansion pack. I passed this along to Air support as well. 

Edited by John Vere
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@John Vere Thanks for going through the trouble of trying to sort all this out and for reporting all the back-and-forth. I appreciate your optimism (wrt to Air and iLock).  So far my Air products (installed on my previous and my current music PCs) still seem to work but I can easily imagine having these kinds of issues if I ever move to a new PC.  

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"Oh and I also paid $10 for a new copy of DB33 from KVR that @Mr No Name posted. I now have a new serial number.  Woopy!  But it doesn't show in iLok. Still only the DB33 demo and the one in the expansion pack. I passed this along to Air support as well"          OOPS!  ?

it was a legends pack I suggested, has the 3 plug ins included for $10  

 

Also when you say you put it in a Steinberg folder have you put the vst folder aswell?  On my drive the plug ins are located in ...

program files>steinberg<vstplugins

 

last thing I can think of that's not too technical is whether some remnants of the previous uninstall are left on the computer?

or ,  Win 11 compatibility issues?

 

best of luck with it.

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53 minutes ago, Mr No Name said:

Also when you say you put it in a Steinberg folder have you put the vst folder aswell?  On my drive the plug ins are located in ...

program files>steinberg<vstplugins

Thank you for your answers but you should really read the OP where all of this is explained. If you read all I have said, this is not an installation issue. It's an Authorization issue. And as I said in the OP they were working for at least a month. 

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  • John Vere changed the title to Up in the AIR, SOLVED I hope!

Just to follow up, I put the solution in the first post so nobody has to wade through the muck.

But just another note that in the end both iLok and Air showed signs of offering support.  They kept asking for things I had already given info about so it could have been AI generated stuff. But I was impressed because it was the weekend. They in the end were of no help. 

It all because the Air installers are still terrible and iLok is a stupid system for authorizing plug ins, aviod it if you can. 

 Xpand2 was the worst. here's what you have to do

Air creates a folder in programs x86 called Air Music Technology   . Put the compressed download folders in there and unpack them there. 

Now make sure to point the installer at the Air Music Technology  folder during the install or nothing will work. Do not attempt to install it anywhere else. 

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Now that you mention all this, I remember about a month or two ago (maybe more), Air Music Technology (or whatever the new name is) announced an installer/product manager kind of thing, probably to coincide with their new product line. From what I remember reading, not all of the old products were managed by the new tool yet, but they were working on it.  Not 100% sure of the details, just that some of mine were picked up by the new tools and some weren't, and there was some sort of explanation about that.

https://www.thempcstore.com/downloads/

https://support.akaipro.com/en/support/home

Never mind.  I ran the program.  Only Bassline is picked up under My Products. All Software lists Hybrid 3 (which I have, is installed, and works), but the new tool will let me get an iLok code (which I already have and is registered in iLok) and install Hybrid 3.  DrumSynth is also listed, but I have the older version DrumSynth500. 

I have a license for Velvet, but I never activated it on any of my computers.  The new product manager will allow me to get a iLok code for Velvet and Download it.  I don't have a license for the MiniGrand, but the new product manager will evidently allow me to get an iLok code and Download it. 

There are a lot of Deactivated programs that I am allowed to Download (probably trials so I can choose to buy licenses to activate them if I want).

As before, none of my other products are included in listed.  There is an Add Product button.  Maybe someday I will be able to add my other product licenses there.  Since I they are all listed in iLok and since I have them activated and I can use them on my current PCs, I will probably just wait and cross that bridge if and when I get a more modern computer.

Thanks for the details you have added here.

 

  

Edited by User 905133
fixed typo
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