What's the problem with ILOK, BTW

What's the problem with ILOK, BTW

It's an old article but it says it all:

iLok problems

It is 4 years old articale (March 2002) and it is about old PACE copy protection system. It is not about iLok.

Antoni Ozynski

InterLok and iLok both install the kernel-level driver on the machine. It is this kernel driver that has caused problems.

I was still getting problems with iLok and InterLok working on my machine and tech support could not find a real reason but to say that it must be incompatibility with my Midi devices and motherboard configuration.

I still got BSODs, crashes and a complete memory dump. I even had a problem where Pace did not like the copy protection of another plug-in and that caused havoc with the system as well! When I uninstalled the Pace plug-in and then manually deleted the Pace registry items, the problems went away. As an experiment, I reinstalled the plug-in again and the problems returned.

Even if the Pace products were not 100% at fault (who knows how all the interactions between software and hardware behaves), those particular plug-ins were a major contributing factor to system instability. Practically everything else on my systems got along together without problems when Pace was not involved.

Over the years, Pace has improved their copy protection compatibility immensely but problems still occur for some people. Worrying about possible copy protection problems is not what I want to deal with when I am at my DAW. Because of how bad it was for me (expecially at the height of frustration a couple years ago when the crashes were really frequent), I have vowed to stop supporting Pace and any product that utilizes Pace. Even if Pace finally works out all problems and becomes totally stable, I will not support them because of past experience. Call me wary.

I finally uninstalled all Paced products and found alternative products that work with a more compatible protection scheme. When it comes to dongles, I have yet to have a single problem with Syncrosoft as I currently use some of Vienna Symphonic Library's new instruments, IK Multimedia's Philharmonik and CSR, and Steinberg's Virtual Guitarist 2, HALion 3 and HALion String Edition 2. With Syncrosoft, I have had no problems with license transfers and no computer crashes. Zero. Zilch.

On a positive note, though, I just want to say how visually stunning your new plugins look. They look utterly amazing. I am sure they sound amazing as well. You guys sure know how to make great-sounding plug-ins!

Cheers

Well, I Also think that Pace is not something I would like to deal with, if I could really avoid it.
On another computer the stupid pace stuff is in a way corrupted, that it will not let disk repair (OSX system maintenance) repair permission etc. What to do - with pace on the lowest level of the HD what can one do - reinstall the system? For repair of HD and risk that nothing that is pace protect works anymore (it is a university computer - so I am not the admin, I cannot request new strings etc.)

Pace can be summarized in one sentence: It sucks!

And isn't it the case that Pace says the end user is not our customer, so we will not support it. Great, so why should I have that stuff on my computer - and your support can be excellent, but you will not be able to deal with pace tuff, because you simply did not program it.

I do not know if Synchrosoft is that much better - I have that thing since 3 years now and since about some time it seems to work reasonably here. I would not say that it is as solid as xskey, and the end user support might be the same.

But on the other hand I find it disgusting how many people use software they did not buy - this is really alarming. Of course it should not be my problem to deal with cp then - but well - as we are members of the same society I think we are somehow responsible for that as well.

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Neon sounds like a dream eq even in the simpler version that I am able to try out. Normally I would have bought the HR version direct upon publication but it does not feel right to get an ilok just to use for one plug, even if it is a dream eq.

I will have no other use for ilok and already have a syncrosoft (for SX3) device taking up USB space. I probably will think twice about this but to be honest it's a bit disappointing.

hmmm,

the syncrosoft dongle you also just have for one software? :-)

The newest Syncrosoft drivers seem again tobe a nightmare - if you look at the VSL forum.
Until now the iLok did not make to many problems - hope it stays like that (- do not believe in that thoug).

Personally I always preferred dongles over stupid C/R copy protection like that of NI - but the old one from PSP was really nice. I do not know how much the dongle will help PSP to avoid warez, I hope that it pays off.
It would be nice if they would let the user choose which donlge (as yes, iLok is Digi land and more and more of the rest is Syncrosoft - Steinberg, Scarbee, VSL, Arturia, Korg - and I would rather compare PSP to Scarbee and VSL than to Digi). But I think support for different dongles may be unrealisitic - from the fiscal point of view.

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i preferred the old method you used for CP, and with the registration system you started, finding all my codes became a breeze [even the installers]. i was very proud of your company with that system, just so eloquently done.

but i refuse to buy into iLok or any plugins that use them. sorry, if you put out a version w/o iLok protection i will pony up the cash for the product, otherwise the more products you put on it, the fewer i will be buying from you.

i work in many industries and use software from so many vendors... ONLY the audio industry it seems needs to bother with iLok. what does that say about it all? that engineers are far more crooked than other industries? i have spent tens of thousands on software, sometimes thousands in a year on what i use. i do not expect to be punished as a legitimate user with iLok because of the paranoia they have sold to developers about how much software is pirated.

and yes, it seems cracked versions do work out better than dongled, although cracks of other methods seem less stable for some reason. maybe you could just put out a crack of you own software... i will buy it off you.

I know nothing about iLok or any other dongle so I don't know if it would be a problem on my DAW or not.

- BUT -

I have to admit that I am wary of putting anything on my DAW that might pose even the slightest problem. I want my DAW to run as clean, mean and fast as possible w/o any s/w issues at all.

So, I am quite hesitant to buy NeonHR for the dongle reason alone. I've demoed the standard vs. and would've bought it last week but since I usually work at 88.2 or 96k, it wouldn't see much service or I'd have to change my work methods.

I'd rather have HR but as of right now, I can't decide whether or not I'm willing to risk inheriting a bunch of problems...

Hmm, slowly feel I sound like a iLok-fan or promoter, but I think this statement is simply false!

In Highend 3D software (Maya, Softimage, Houdini) you have donlge since years! If I am not mistaken Photoshop CS2 also requires a dongle, think it is even iLok. We have a 3D tracking system here - how is the software protected (despite it needs a not too affordable hardware) - a dongle.

So parannoia is not only within the music softo! And in 3D or video-market - how many really small major players are left? In audio we still have some - I prefer sticking five dongles on my Mac for every PSP plugin before seeing them bought by Digi or such a company.

Maybe it could be worse :-)
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