Ilok Usb Dongle
Saustin Grody
Consider setting up a support ticket with Parallels support. They went through things with me and got it working on my VM (the changes are what I shared with you). They may have other things they can try with you.
Currently I have no problems routing one iLok through to a Windows 10 VM in Catalina, but as soon as I plug in a second iLok I cannot run one in Windows and one in Catalina at the same time. It causes various lock-ups, missing dongles or even dongles missing licenses. I tried with a mix of using the dock + machine ports, machine + machine ports, dock + dock ports, USB hubs, etc.
A lot of my Black Friday VST purchases require Ilok. I already had a bunch of EW sample licenses on iLok but have not used them for years. In a hurry I used the computer specific license option and installed everything on my Air. Today my MacBook Pro came in and I am debating on how to proceed. Right now I have put almost everything on a iLok 3 I purchased a few years ago and never used. Luckily I found the iLok dongle for EW and moved that over. Have not been able to find the dongle for ProTools which I have not used in over 3 years. Anyway, I'm trying to decide between using the dongle or the cloud. How portable is the cloud version? Which versions work when the power or internet is down? Which version do you use?
I may be old school in this respect, because I still think local storage is important. I use the iLok 2 dongle, which makes it easy to reconstruct plug-ins if the drive where they're installed fails. I don't store licenses on my computer in case there's a hard drive failure.
I've become much more tolerant of iLok. I remember the days when it was like willfully installing a virus. It's much better now. I knew a computer integrator who would install cracked and tested versions of iLok plug-ins if you could prove you had purchased them. He claimed it improved performance considerably.
2. Five out of six companies I purchased products from that require iLok gives me 2 activations. Akai only gives one activation for their free MPC Studio. It is stupid that they require iLok for a free product.
Likewise, although my reality involves simply skirting anything that requires iLok. I had an annoying early experience with it, which set me on that path. Its been easy to get what I needed with very few compromises. Similar thing with Kontakt. I've missed out on a few desirable items, but NI's general world feels like inviting someone to drive your car when all they've had to eat is a two peach bars of Xanax, some estrogen and 9 martinis. The olives do count as food, but they can't hold off an assault like that.
I sometimes idly ponder how those choices have colored my compositions. Not wildly, I suspect. While there are better or worse examples, a bowed bass is a bowed bass. Its up to you to position it properly and polish its tone. Synths are an ongoing growth industry, with new entrants such as the Osmose bending creativity in yet another direction. It could be interesting to hear how others perceive this cockeyed process, since the Osmose clearly speaks to its pre-buyers.
I clicked yes and then it told me that I already had iLok stuff from my Mac Mini (the fast one of the 2) and that I could move the cloud over to the laptop but I would not be able to access iLok on both computers.
I'm OK with Native Instruments but that's because I use Kontakt Player (free) and have hardly bought anything from them and then only on sale. I have bought a thing or two (still on sale) that other plugin companies were selling or giving away that run on Kontakt Player, quite a library on there by now.
I more or less do the same thing with IK Multimedia although I've bought a few things from them (on sale) - MODO Drum and Clavitube come to mind. I got the free Amplitube Custom Shop and added an Ampeg SVT and a few vintage Fender amps (the tremolo is cool on those). Still, not in very deep at all with anybody selling plugins.
I just retired my iLok 1st generation on my new Win11 machine(replaced by a Gen 3). I've never had an issue with iLok and the same goes for my eLicenser. I like the ability to change machines with a simple unplug and plug. Not a big fan of Cloud or machine activations....one relies on constant internet and the other wipes your license with a hd failure.
The only time I ever had trouble is when I installed The Sims 3 with the Origin Games installer on a computer with iLok. The two could not coexist and would crash the boot sector of the boot drive every time.
eLicenser is in end of life. Most software companies had already moved away from it, but I'm not sure what happens when a future OS isn't compatible with it. Oh well, there goes Cubase 11...guess I'll have to get 12
I used to build Sybase, Oracle, and MS data servers including software installations. None of my third party software vendors made me jump as many hoops as my Cubase DAW. I decided to screw that and went to Reaper.
I do think some companies go overboard. I recently bought a $10 piece of software from AIR, and it involved authorization codes, unlock codes, getting an account with a company that (apparently) makes its living by distributing the plug-ins you bought from someone else, and there were probably some other hoops to jump through as well that I tried to forget.
Quite a while ago I asked two companies that had used elaborate copy schemes why they decided to stop doing so. They both said that licensing the protection added too much to the cost of the product, and they weren't convinced it was justified. They also said that when they removed copy protection and went to a simple "here's your serial number, just enter it" approach, they saw zero change in sales.
It's my contention that most people want to be honest, and that the people who are going to steal, will steal. My eBooks aren't copy-protected. I have faith that people realize each book represents a huge amount of work, and they won't feel right about ripping me off for $19.95.
My personal opinion is that people who work in this business see the piracy because they see other people's computers because they work together, hear the stories, and maybe stole some software themselves when they were broke and starting out. So it seems like audio software is stolen more to them. That's JMO.
I worked for a small software company and the owner/boss told us he knew there were cracked versions out there, but he felt that it helped the company. His reasoning was that it made the products known, and if people did need tech support, they'd have to buy a real copy to get a legit serial number.
Same here. I bought some expansion packs for my MPC from Akai and they had a deal if you packaged a few cheap AIR vst's into the purchase. I still don't have them working. Creating accounts, using codes, AND iLok. Still don't have it working.
THIS, very much so. I passed on using warez from the beginning, because I already knew customer support could be vital. (Sequential and Korg were very helpful when I was all-hardware.) I thought "Its not only dishonest, but I'm such a newbie, I want to make the best of every chance to figure it all out." Cracking has seemed increasingly lazy in a world where a few hundred bucks can buy you one-third of Everything. If you had told me in 1982 that I'd have a playable software GX-1 by 2022, I would have crapped a CS-80.
I thought my iLok was safe in a pocket in my padded laptop bag. One day, I opened it up and the iLok was in two pieces. Luckily, it was just a cracked casing (which I managed to slip back together) but it was enough of a scare to know I needed a better solution for iLok storage.
I usually leave a thumb drive in my hub. This has been really useful for things like temp backup, storing documents related to a project, transferring files, or even common used sound fx. Slim USB drives are so cheap now this can be an easy way to get some bonus storage.
What it looks like without the foam (the hub will slide around). It houses my Logitech dongle (for Bluetooth devices), an old USB drive for Waves licenses, and an iLok (with a slot open for an extra USB drive)
For a while, I bought plugins with iLok, then immediately pirated them to save me all the trouble and money. Yes, it was technically illegal, but at least I felt I supported the developers and had a useable, easily installable, offline plugin.
I would love to be your customer, and would appreciate a response. I am sorry if this has already been asked. So why did you decide to use iLok? What am I missing here? Why do the honest people have to feel pestered to be able to enjoy your products?
You can create a free iLok account to use our plug-ins, there is no annual fee. An internet connections or physical dongle is not required to run our plug-ins, you can connect to the internet activate the license to your computer and then you can use the license offline.
I stand corrected, and am sorry for my tone. I thought a one-time activation was not an option. I just read how some users here have problems, and got confused when I was saw many modern plugins requiring a dongle or a constant internet connection. I am going to buy Split:EQ, then.
Yes, we offer machine activation resets. It is very fast and simple; you can either request the reset yourself using the iLok License Manager application, or you can email sup...@eventide.com and provide your iLok information.
Heads up on iZotope plugins if you're considering engaging the iLok option...
Don't, unless you're going to be using it on multiple machines (as with studios or clients) that already have the iLok licensing authorized/activated for the individual plugins.
Been using iZotope for ages and after going through several different suite upgrades now have over 100 of their plugin haunting my system.
Planning on getting a new computer I thought that going the iLok route would make my iZotope migration fairly painless - as using their Product Portal takes most of the pain out of the installation and it's the authorization process that the real pain (having to click past multiple screens for each individual plugin).
But... I was wrong. Even with iLok you still** have to manually authorize each plugin and if you engage the iLok option on an existing system using iZotope plugins you'll have to reauthorize each iZotope plugin again.
I've contacted iZotope support and they've said basically (to paraphase) "Yup, that's the way it works."