What's up with the activation limit on IK Multimedia instruments?

[robotmonkey]

Ok, knowing full well that IK Multimedia is a company not worth supporting I was tempted to get Miroslav Philarmonic during the discount sale anyway. I have E-MU Modern Symphonic and Virtuoso 2000 libraries so have no pressing need for it but the price was cheap enough.

Then did some research into their product registration and authorization and saw that they still have not done away with the arbitrarily set activation limit on their instruments. This is exactly the thing that would send me to look for unofficial patches just so that I could be sure that I can use my paid for software whenever I want. The authorization process in itself is not the most convenient anyway. But the activation limit is just stupid and complete turnoff. Why put your paying customers up with that crap?

So in the end decided to pass. End of story.

[glokraw]

This would likely not be enforced, without clear evidence of
piracy. Plenty of users have requested new activations, after
various cyber calamities and hardware ugrades have run their course.
Cheers

[audientronic]

Using the free sampletank player, you need not ever use a single activation. Just download the samples and play through the free player. If you have more than one library, using sampletank--free or paid--is the way to create cross library multis and in general have it all in one place.

[ghettosynth]

This would likely not be enforced, without clear evidence of
piracy. Plenty of users have requested new activations, after
various cyber calamities and hardware ugrades have run their course.
Cheers

I have no beef with IK, the only thing I have from them is some bundle ware that came with a soundcard. I might have activated it, I might not have, I don't know. If I did, it didn't survive even one computer upgrade cycle. I might have installed sample tank free once, but I don't remember.

But, in general, I hate activation limits, sorry, you're just treating your paid customers like criminals. I don't care if a vendor claims that it's not going to be enforced because I don't want to be the test case. It's the one thing that I find irritating about Ableton and I've had to email them to "explain myself" so I think that it's too conservative.

I'm really tending towards a dongle/serial only policy. I don't care at all about dongles, I don't really get all the fuss. They make installing software on multiple machines painless and hassle free. They naturally enforce the license limits, which is fine, I don't violate them. I hate C/R with a passion, and I hate it even more when their are limits. I've never had a problem with NI, but I'm always worried about my next install hitting some flag.

I replace my computers often, maybe once a year, sometimes more than that, so all of that reinstall is a PITA. Vendors take note, if you aren't compelling, and you use C/R, there's a good chance that you won't survive a computer change. I think the last two I only installed my U-he stuff which is all serial, the stuff that's on a dongle, and NI komplete.

[robotmonkey]

This would likely not be enforced, without clear evidence of
piracy. Plenty of users have requested new activations, after
various cyber calamities and hardware ugrades have run their course.
Cheers

They might not be but so far my experience with that stuff has been that if you run out of activation limits the first response you get from technical support is that too bad you have to buy it again. Then you have to jump through hoops to prove that you are not a lying thieving pirate because, you know, normal people will never run out of activation limits. This is just crap I'm not willing to put up. For example, I'm never ever going to use another Arturia product ever again because of that.

[robotmonkey]

Using the free sampletank player, you need not ever use a single activation. Just download the samples and play through the free player. If you have more than one library, using sampletank--free or paid--is the way to create cross library multis and in general have it all in one place.

Hey, that's good thinking. I might even rethink this. Like I said, it's certainly not a necessity for me. The only reason I was considering it was that I could use some choir sounds to layer with Mellotron/synth choirs and maybe some extra brass. Otherwise E-MU libraries cover everything I could ever need. For 26$ it's not that bad deal.

[robotmonkey]

if you aren't compelling, and you use C/R, there's a good chance that you won't survive a computer change.

I think this sums it up pretty well. I have all my bases mostly covered to the point I do not need anything else. So even if I get something new it must be compelling enough. Otherwise it might be discounted heavily or even given away for free but if it has a stupid copy protection I will easily pass.

What I've learned over the years is that when it comes to productive working less is more. There's no point loading up your daw with all that stuff. Better to have less and know how to use it well.

[paterpeter]

This is neither a big issue nor an IK specific one. Many companies have "activation limits" to prevent mass activation. In all cases where I reached that limit (e.g. Applied Acoustics or Microsoft), simply contacting the support fixed it quickly. I'm very sure, IK's support will sort this out quickly, too.

[ghettosynth]

For example, I'm never ever going to use another Arturia product ever again because of that.

I get that most people don't like dongles, but, in fairness to Arturia, they let you use (hardware) eLicenser and my Arturia stuff is on my Cubase dongle. My only criticism of eLicenser is that the dongles seem rather poor quality as compared to say the Reason dongle. My old Cubase 5 dongle fell apart and is currently held together with masking tape. That said, they're cheap enough and it's easy enough to move software from one dongle to another.

I have to say it, but, my favorite, so far, (other than Uhe/Cockos) is Waves, they let you use any USB key as a dongle. I dedicated a USB key to them and that's all that ever gets written to it so I'm not that worried about data loss. I only have a few Waves plugins but if they have another super sale I'll probably pick up a few more.

[CableChannel]

This is neither a big issue nor an IK specific one. Many companies have "activation limits" to prevent mass activation. In all cases where I reached that limit (e.g. Applied Acoustics or Microsoft), simply contacting the support fixed it quickly. I'm very sure, IK's support will sort this out quickly, too.

This!

[kbaccki]

Ok, knowing full well that IK Multimedia is a company not worth supporting [...]

Well, how do you do? Maybe you got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, but I think starting out your thread like this shows a little bit of bias/predisposition/whatever on your part.

I have my own criticisms of IK, but I think just flatly saying "they're a company not worth supporting" without qualification is a bit unfair. Their amp sim and effects plugs are top notch, IMO, and overall reasonably priced with various sales and 2-for-1's throughout the year. So I'd say the exact opposite: they are a company worth supporting. Which doesn't mean they shouldn't be criticized, or even lambasted, where appropriate... same with any company, software or otherwise.

In any case, they give you 10 activations per product, presumably before you have to contact them... which for C/R companies is pretty generous, I think. Lots of them will red flag before 10 activations. Also their terms allow you to install on 5 computers simultaneously (all of which you own, and can only use one at a time), which is definitely generous compared to other companies. Many allow only 2 simultaneous installs/activations, which for some reason seems to be the "industry standard" these days. 2 is generally a good limit 90% of the time, but every once in a while I wish I had 1 more install of this or that.

Try this: download the XLN Addictive Drums online installer, run it to install the AD demo... now do that on two more computers. Hint: you can't! That's right... you can install/activate the AD demo on only two computers at a time. The demo. THE FREAKING DEMO!!!. The reason is because their product activation is not per-product, it's per-machine/per-account -- you register machine IDs that you want to run the installer on, and you can only authorize two machines in your account simultaneously. Fantastic! Note: we aren't even at the point of actually activating a freaking product yet, just running the online installer. What does this mean? Let's say I own 10 XLN products, and I want to install 5 on computer A, 4 on computer B, and 1 on computer C. No can do, Bruce. You can either do A+B, A+C, or B+C, but not A+B+C. Want to talk paaaaiiiiin in the AAAAAA? IK activation is luxury in comparison...

Also, FYI... you can load all Sampletank-based products in the free player... you don't even have to activate Miroslav proper, just load the lib in ST player... in which case, you can do the math on activations...

[ghettosynth]

This is neither a big issue nor an IK specific one. Many companies have "activation limits" to prevent mass activation. In all cases where I reached that limit (e.g. Applied Acoustics or Microsoft), simply contacting the support fixed it quickly. I'm very sure, IK's support will sort this out quickly, too.

This!

Which could take hours, or days. It was not immediate when I had problems with Ableton. I find having to send an email to use software that I paid for annoying and it affects my choice to buy from the same vendor again, or from other vendors with the same policy.

[xamido]

Couldn't disagree more. IK is not the perfect company but their C/R is still pretty lenient compared to others who use C/R.

5 Activation + you can always ask them for more if u reach a limit with it. Their support respond to email pretty fast, usually less than a day for me.

Funny how IK is the kvr scapegoat because of their aggressive marketing. While other companies with more restriction on their license doesn't receive the same hatred from some of you guys.

And not worth supporting? A company that produces good quality plugin for cheap price is not worth supporting? Wow.

[kbaccki]

5 Activation + you can always ask them for more if u reach a limit with it. Their support respond to email pretty fast, usually less than a day for me.

Clarification: that's 5 simultaneous, 10 overall. My IK account shows 10 for each item... if you burn through 10 activations in a relatively short time, I might want the customer to let me know what's going on too...

[robotmonkey]

Also, FYI... you can load all Sampletank-based products in the free player... you don't even have to activate Miroslav proper, just load the lib in ST player... in which case, you can do the math on activations...

Well, just in case I checked this moment a go and guess what? Sample Tank Free also has activation limit! Go figure...