Dongle?? WIll Philharmonik have one??

[Squids]

Please don't discuss cracks, warez or kazaa in our forum. It will only be deleted anyway. I'd against our forum rules but also... I'd appreciate it so I am also asking that you refrain from that part of the discussion.

[Squids]

It is also a problem when people who pay for it give it to their friends.

Not sure how this helps over current system IK have in place. I am a legit user of IK products and I cannot give software to friends etc as it is attached to my machine.

Yes, but sometimes people give the sounds to their friends and we suffer greatly from this. There are other reasons some of which are mentioned in my post and some of which are there if it is thought about some more situationally by any of us. Overall though the bottom line is that we get the expected return from legit purchases which in this case is even more necessary then ever. I have such a long road to recouping on this that I would even resort to begging all of our customers to please pay for the product if you are going to use it and do not give it to your friends or promote illegal copies. In many cases I will still ONLY do just that and not protect our work because maybe we don't have the ability to (if we want to support so many different samplers we have to make those sacrifices so we still PRAY that people want us around enough to respect the license agreements).

As I said before, this allows products like this to exist. It helps us all overall even if there are some sacrifices. I don't like copy protection either. I don't like USB keys, I don't like carrying a heavy B3 (or even my 88 weighted key controller) but there are some sacrifices we have to make for really good things.

[zai]

OK Squids...no Kaz** or cra*** talk from me....

Zai

[Squids]

What happens when these dongles break - which inevtiable some will - what is the user supposed to do while they wait for a replacement, I presume they will not be able to use the software.

Soeey to be so negative but I had a bad experience with the Reakrot 3 dongle which just died and which left me hung and dry with no reaktor 3 while waiting for software.

Also, are upgrades to Amplitube, Sampletank etc going to have the dongle - at least then it would be possible to have a back up.

Future IK products will work with the IKey I am sure. You can put your authorization on another key if it breaks. You can use any Steinberg Key or IKey which can be bought as spares if you need them. Your authorization information is stored in a database and your serial is still on the card that comes with the product. If you are concerned about not having a key on hand in case it breaks (which would be an extremely rare thing as I own about 10 of these keys myself and not one has ever broken on me) then you can always pick up a spare and not have to worry about this situation... just like hardware!

I had a speaker go out on me the other day and I didn't have a spare. I did have another set luckily. But, it make me think that it is not a bad idea to have a spare sometimes. Otherwise, with every piece of hardware you have to deal with being without it for a period of time if it breaks. What would you do if your computer needed to go to the repair shop? What about your keyboard? At least in this case a spare costs the price of a dinner at the local pub.

[Squids]

OK Squids...no Kaz** or cra*** talk from me....

Zai

You guys know that I am on your side right? Trust me that we never do anything to try to make those that support us suffer. This is done for the better of all of us in the big picture. Trust me, please. You don't think I think of our users every step of the way? I have been pushing for something better than the system IK was using for a long time. This makes it much more flexible for so many of the issues that have come up in the past on both the customer and developer's side. Aren't you happy I risked my butt to bring your Miroslav sounds at 10X less the price? Someone had to have guts to make that decision. I did it because I know people will LOVE to have it (as would I). So, it needs to be protected or you can kiss Squids goodbye on ever doing something like THAT again.

All we can do is make a great product, protect it as best we can and hope that people support what we do to continue. The main focus should not be on this little piece of plastic. Do I need to buy everyone hubs too? I'll work on esoundz USB hubs next. I already bought everyone the key essentially by not letting it be only sold seperately or the price be raised out of the gate. If you only knew how tough it is to try to consider everyone. Doing my best here.

[Joseph Burrell]

Hmm... This is unfortunate. I will say that its good that this will work on the same dongles used by Steinberg though. I won't say that this doesn't depress me a little. I already have one dongle in my machine and it hasn't given me trouble so far, but I do worry that the day will come when I'll have 15 of the things in a chain hanging around my neck. This is the one reason I passed on Samplitude 8. Makes this decision that much harder for me. Grrrr...

[Squids]

Well, I hear ya. I am also a user of this stuff too and have to deal with my Logic key, my ProTools key and my Steinberg key. Most people probably have just one of them. A lot of IK users have more than one IK/SR product like ST, SS2 and Philharmonik etc. So, it's no big deal to put them all on one Ikey. If they are also a Steinberg user then they can put both their Steinberg and IK software on one IKey or Steinberg Key. Ideally, if companies chose either Ilok or Syncrosoft then the most you'd have to have is two keys if you have a lot of programs. But, we can't do anything about what other companies do.

Anyway, it's not the end of the world to have a key chain of keys either. How many other pieces of hardware do we have? Do a few more pieces of plastic really make a difference in lugging anything around? Not really.

[Meffy]

Will it daisy-chain to other USB dongles?

[dougsyo]

So, let me explain why it's there and all the benefits of it that in my opinion outdo any negatives which are few.

Boy, does this sound like a salesman talking "That's not a bug, that's a feature!"

(BTW, I notice you edited my post. I'm not amused, but I guess I should have not said the K-word. My point stands, however).

Doug

[marre]

How unfortunate. It seems strange to me that you announce a new product, open it for pre-orders, writing about it in many and lenghty posts, but somehow fail to mention it will use a dongle instead of challange/response.

Unfortunately, I have to say that I'm going to ask for a refund. The reason is, if you are interested, that I use Sampletank & Sonik Synth 2 on two computers, one desktop and one laptop. As I'm a frequent traveller, using my laptop for composing, I'm not so keen on the prospect of losing a dongle. I'm sure there will be "ugly" versions available but I won't install any on my computers.

[harmony gardens]

Thanks for answering Squids. I had a feeling this would upset some people. I'm disappointed that my hunch was correct, and I'm diaappointed that there is a need for such a thing, but I do understand. I thought for a while before posting my question, because I knew there would be a lot of discussion about it, but I also knew that if come up eventually anyway, so why not clear the air right away,,, obviously you agreed, and I appreciate that.

I suppose it's up to us users to put up with a little inconvenience to ensure that companies can continue to prosper. I am also concerned about what happens if the dongle breaks. There is no question that I'm a huge supporter of your products. I have come to depend on them. If I have a problem and it costs me studio time, or the ablility to perform, it would create a hardship for me that would indeed be unfortunate. What will the policy be? I take it then we can order an extra key so we will have a spare on hand?

Is there some way that we can install the dongle inside a case, and make it less vulnerable?

I've gone through a lot of issues with my DAW in regards to pops and clicks with IRQ's and I've had to minimize my USB ports. I am wondering what sort IRQ requirements are connected to the dongle?

I won't be cancelling my order, I've always been happy with the way I've been treated by the company, and I love the products.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[jmeredith]

All future IK products that will use the IKey can also be authorized to either the IKey or a Steinberg Key.
Squids

Sorry to ask a noob question but I've never used an IKey before... does that mean I would have 1 IKey for each product I own i.e., Sampletank, Sonic Synth, Amplitube, Miroslav? If so, does the key have to be in for the product to work and would I have to switch keys each time I wanted to switch products?

The way it works is great. You only need one key and your authorization gets put on the key. You can put a ton of authorizations all onto one key. So, you can put in one key and eventually run all of your IK plugins (and it just so happens, all of your Steinberg too since it uses the same system) from that one key (when all the plug-ins support it).

Here's a good way to look at it. The authorization process used to tie the product to your computer's digital ID which I believe was obtained from the HD. That was volatile as it could be changed by reformatting or other things. Now it is simply tied to an external piece of hardware. This is GREAT!

I must really be dense cause I have one more question. So if I buy Miroslav now and it comes with a key... and next year I buy something else and it comes with a key - how do I get everything onto one key? Just trying to understand the process so please bear with me

[IK Support]

I have all my usb keys on a usb hub and they are work perfectly. I bought a 10.00 hub just all this kinda stuff so I wouldn't have to worry about swapping them out all the time.

[Squids]

Will it daisy-chain to other USB dongles?

It can be used with others on the same machine or on a hub. But, it would be cool if you could plug keys into each other (like my old Serge banana cables). For IK's purposes it doesn't need to because all IK products that use the IKey can fit onto one key. But, Syncrosoft or Steinberg or someone should make one that does that and you can transfer your license over to that if it exists. Still... not much different than hub really.