Let's discuss Dongled Effects

[wasi]

I love dongles, they help me control my GAS.

I'd never buy anything dongled, for all the reasons described here. And I thank companies like 2note that don't even have undongled demos, because it makes resisting purchase just soo much easier when you can't demo a product.

It really needs no better explanation than tanabarbier's post above. No other DRM scheme would put you in such an utterly helpless position.

[Harry_HH]

One alternative is missing:
first you hate dongles, then you buy them, then it doesn't matter (or you even like them because they make other people suffer, too.
I've bee forced to buy 3 different dongles: Steinberg, iLok and iLok2.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I bump this just to use to space to rant.

F@3## ILOK:
My ilok 1 ceased to work and I have a show in one week.
I mean I hate the idea of having to pay for someone else's safety of investment but when they offer me to pay 100 dollars to have temporary licences while waiting for my brand new ilok2 that I'll have to pay 50 dollars, I just want to eat someone alive.

yeah but that's surely outweighed everytime you restore your pc and you save that 30 minutes on entering serials etc

you pay a premium to ensure a company's security and longevity and you get penalised in this manner

fcuking disgusting ....CNUTS !!

[lacandon]

i do own ilok2 and i have no problems never with it.Not so much plugins support it. But i have it mostly for Slate Digital VCC and Eventide Omnipressor.Tested few others ilok2 protected plugins like the Kush Audio ones, the compressor is good but the eq is very harsh not for me !Awaiting something new as well from Softube ,MCDSP they didn't released nothing new ! I do have and uad (Dsp is benefit) dongle have no problem with it if i need some tool i just buy it and forget.

[JJ_Jettflow]

I have no problem using dongle protection, provided there is easy access to a backup in an emergency situation. Until there is though, I will minimize the risk to my investments by avoiding, single-license, no backup, dongle-protected software.

removed

[KevWestBeats]

I try my best to avoid dongles. The only dongle product I own at this time is Reason. I'd like to keep it that way.

[ariston]

I've bee forced to buy 3 different dongles: Steinberg, iLok and iLok2.

You were "forced" to buy dongles? Have you taken this to the authorities?

@wasi: that's it - dongles are anti-GAS medication.

[schnapsglas]

There are some things I would love to get, but I have a "no-ilok" rule. So no SoundToys (I could tell myself there is no 64-bit...) and no FG-X, and no Altiverb, Softube, Eventide/Lexicon stuff.

I wonder if people could share list of plugins they cannot use because they don't want a dongle.

[JJ_Jettflow]

i do own ilok2 and i have no problems never with it.Not so much plugins support it. But i have it mostly for Slate Digital VCC and Eventide Omnipressor.Tested few others ilok2 protected plugins like the Kush Audio ones, the compressor is good but the eq is very harsh not for me !Awaiting something new as well from Softube ,MCDSP they didn't released nothing new ! I do have and uad (Dsp is benefit) dongle have no problem with it if i need some tool i just buy it and forget.

removed

[Harry_HH]

I've bee forced to buy 3 different dongles: Steinberg, iLok and iLok2.

You were "forced" to buy dongles? Have you taken this to the authorities?

@wasi: that's it - dongles are anti-GAS medication.

Yes, I've written both to the prime minister and the chief of police - but the only advice I got was to suffer alone and avoid GAS producing food supplies in my diet.

[electro]

Anyone know why Ilok costs $50.00?

[Panphobia]

Got rid of cubase + dongle, couldnt be happier. There are too many great products out there that don't use a dongle to bother with them.

[tanabarbier]

Anyone know why Ilok costs $50.00?

A good question indeed.

[MFXxx]

Got rid of cubase + dongle, couldnt be happier. There are too many great products out there that don't use a dongle to bother with them.

Shame cause C7.01 is superb

In regards to iLok for the sake of £25/30 I think its a great convenient way to use software between various systems (laptop.desktop) and on resintalling a life saver. If you have 20-30 licenses on a resintall or installation of a DAW it saves a shit load of fathing about, getting serial numbers, C/R and needing internet. Its really not that much and after all it helps the devs which also helps the consumer.

Be great to be in a world where we could all leave our front doors open, cars unlocked and wallets open...but people steal and abuse. I see as soon as waves went non ilok as soon as they update, there seems to be illegal copies on the web.

[robotmonkey]

Got rid of cubase + dongle, couldnt be happier. There are too many great products out there that don't use a dongle to bother with them.

Shame cause C7.01 is superb

In regards to iLok for the sake of £25/30 I think its a great convenient way to use software between various systems (laptop.desktop) and on resintalling a life saver. If you have 20-30 licenses on a resintall or installation of a DAW it saves a shit load of fathing about, getting serial numbers, C/R and needing internet. Its really not that much and after all it helps the devs which also helps the consumer.

Be great to be in a world where we could all leave our front doors open, cars unlocked and wallets open...but people steal and abuse. I see as soon as waves went non ilok as soon as they update, there seems to be illegal copies on the web.

Cracked Waves has been constantly on the web and on the people's computers at least since the v5 came out. This is as far back as I can remember. Maybe they finally realized that the iLok is not helping them much, but instead prevents a lot of people from buying their software? These days they definitely seem to belong among devs who actually have any clue.

I take WLC anytime over eLicenser or iLok, because it gets right all the things latter ones suck at. No need for an expensive useless piece of plastic (that itself cost as much as a decent plugin) - you can use any generic usb stick instead if you want a dongle style protection. But also no fear of loosing your licenses with software activation when something happens to you computer. Also they have a good offline support as well as license recovery procedure (no 100$ fees and waiting for weeks, you do it yourself and instantly). So basically WLC avoids all the things that make iLok and eLicenser hate-worthy. Add to that occasional great sales that actually make their plugins affordable to mere mortals and Waves suddenly seems a pretty decent option.