I ordered the Neon/NeonHR/MasterComp bundle today, in spite of the iLok protection, which I also hate. I will say that I was very dismayed to see that PSP had gone to iLok, and I hope that at some point it will be dropped and these plugins will use the type of protection that PSP has always used. Much more convenient and pleasant in my opinion. I really hate that iLok hanging off my keyboard, and the extra extensions that I must install into my system.

In all honesty, I would not have bought these plugins if I hadn't been able to take advantage of the discount offerred to current PSP plugin owners.

MasterComp sounds quite good, I will definitely be using this quite a bit. However, Neon HR *and* the plain Neon are completely unusable on my dual G4 800. As in CPU overload error messages. I'm going to work on this a bit and try them out in all my various DAW's, but so far I can't get any version of Neon to work in PT LE 6.9 or DSP-Quattro. It looks good though. :-)

i dont believe photochop requires a dongle... and plenty of stable cracks of that for those who dont want to bother with it if it does... i have no software on my machine that requires a dongle. and intend on keeping it that way.

from adobe's site:
Several Adobe and Macromedia products include activation technology that helps prevent unauthorized copying of the software.

Activation is an interactive representation of the license agreement between Adobe and its valued customers. Activation protects the intellectual property and innovation at the heart of the software industry.

Adobe is committed to eliminating unauthorized use of its software in a manner designed to have a minimal impact on licensed users. Versions of Adobe software that incorporate activation are provided under the same license as those not including activation. Read the FAQ.

What happens during activation?
When a customer installs an Adobe software product that requires activation, the customer is asked to choose the method of activation (Internet or phone).

The license information is sent to Adobe through the means selected by the user, and once the license is verified, the product is activated and available for use. Read further details on the activation process.

Activation does not collect, transmit, or use any personally identifiable information or hinder licensed users' ability to use the software the way they always have under the Adobe product license agreement.

Take a step-by-step tour to see how simple and quick it is to activate a software product.
Adobe welcomes your feedback regarding the activation process. Please share your thoughts with us.


also, Altiverb CAN use iLok but was nice enough to also offer acivation for those of us who do not wish to contaminate our OS's with extra drivers.

SonicAlbert,
Pay very close attention to your plug-in sample rate. To run high and max res in FAT mode you need to increase your sample rate. You then should change the sample rate of your soundcard to match. This will result in a delay, of course, which doesn't matter because it is meant for mastering.
If doing 44.1kHz and running in max res you should change your DAW's plug-in sample buffer rate to 2048. I was having the same problem as you with CPU consumptions until I figured this out.

I second the comments made above by those who are put off buying Neon HR *purely* because of the iLok protection.

I take the points by PSP about the relative convenience of the iLok, but for me this is outweighed by the fact that:

* I'd prefer not to tinker with my DAW setup

* I object to paying for the key

* I can't even demo the software without paying for the key

* I don't want to use up USB ports

* Quite aside from the cost, it's inconvenient for me to have to purchase (and wait for) two separate products - the key and the plugin. I like software FX because I get instant delivery and gratification. Needing to get a key makes this impossible.

* Perhaps most importantly from PSP's point of view, the iLok protection on the HR version actually STOPS me from buying the normal Neon, because I don't like the thought of purchasing a product that feels 'crippled'.

I really urge you to reconsider your policy with this. I love your products, and one of the attractions of PSP VSTs for me has been the ease of purchase and registration.

Iain

I like this.

The good folks at PSP were kind enough to refund my money when I was having such problems with Neon. I also noticed that the Pace extensions did take a performance hit on my machine, and therefore didn't want to use MasterComp/Pace either for that reason. It's possible that with faster machines the hit will be small enough that it won't be noticable, but on my dual 800 G4 there was a subtle performance hit and DAW applications took *much* longer to launch. DSP-Quattro took silly long, and normally it launches fast. But again, on a faster machine this might not be noticable.

The sad part about this for me was that while I could use MasterComp on my computer as far as CPU usage, I didn't want to pollute my whole machine with Pace and deal with a dongle for that one plugin. This is an instance where the so called copy "protection" actually cost PSP a sale.

I like Alphajerk's suggestion about offering activation as an option for those that want it. I'll be first in line to buy MasterComp if that happens.

I will buy Neon HR if there's an alternative to iLok but have decided to not buy it with iLok.

Same here...

antoni;

With all respect, I googled these up. Both are from may 2006!
web page

web page


We all have spent time trying to minimize background services in windows; Is the dongle going to load on boot up and steal memory??

I found this for you to read...
web page


I'm on the fence(can't decide) on this one, I really want to try neon HR! This is a vexing problem(piracy) and I guess there is no elegant solution.

Since my original post above, I have actually got an iLok to use Waves plugins.

I didn't need to install any intrusive drivers to use this successfully; Windows briefly installed an iLok driver when it detected the iLok for the first time, and that was that.

Would it be different for PSP? Are there different ways of implementing iLok? Do some plugins require more extensive/intrusive driver installations? I'm curious.

iain m, well, here (on Mac and iLok not installed before) it was pretty smooth besides that I did not want to allow MacOSX to go to the internet - so I had to manually download it from my internet partition. after installation and copying the licenses to the dongle, everthings smooth - the iLok made less trouble than the syncrosoft or even the xskey (well, for that I do not have the latest drivers installed) until now.

So basically, if your Wave iLok is on registered iLok.com (I think for Waves this is not necessary as they have their own management system) would expect that it is a smooth ride. Or you get a second iLok, register it and use it for the PSP plugs - as the drivers are already installed this should be smooth to.

best