Do all versions of Cubase require a dongle?

[bduffy]

I'm in the process of phasing out Waves at work, which sucks, because I really love some of their plugins, but the costs are unjustifiable

I don't understand. If you're in a position to "phase out" Waves, isn't it a sunk cost already?

No, you have to pay for "WUP" support on the products, and the newer versions cost tons of cash. And yes, I can continue to use them forever, but I have to use the PACE/iLok protection, which can cause system instability, and I just don't want to support a company like this, much as I'm trying to avoid eating at McDonalds, for instance. They say, "vote with your wallet", so that's what I'm doing.

[TotcProductions]

Not to HPC yet, but I imagine we'll be there pretty soon.

The Waves and Antares plugs are the only reason I have PACE on my system...I love their stuff...although, I don't agree some of Waves' policies either, I let it slide because of the innovation that's come from their field...I doubt they'll stop using iLok, as a good deal of their customers are on MACs, where the PACE drivers don't give anyone any problems, and the TDM versions of the plugins have the advantage of using more power than the native versions have access to...it's a goddamn shame though....Besides, its seemingly just as likely for a big software company to change copy protection methods as it is for a congressman to admit to taking money from Jack Abrahmoff. After working with Kjaerhus Audio's Spectra synthesizer though, I'm seriously looking into Torbens suite...the filters and effects on Spectra are all top notch, and I've heard nothing but praise about his other products. I'm hoping something from the smaller devs will eventually replace anything I use that requires PACE.

[bduffy]

Ironically they both work pretty flawlessly in Orion Platinum but I don't like to use OP that much as its not particularly conducive to my way of working which tends to require more flexibility, a more linear way of working and better audio management (so I can ad lib, record multiple takes, cut and paste between layers, timestretch and scratch about and do collage type work with audio etc) Some of this I can do in Tracktion which I find makes a better sketch pad for me but Neuron in particular is more unstable in Tracktion and at times just tends to make it go poof (its still not as happy as other hosts with my NI stuff either). I've been trying Podium but to be honest its becoming a drag, too much work to get anything done in it and I'm fighting the interface all the time. I want something I can sketch out ideas in. I've considered Live but from various sources I've heard its not that good at plugin compatibility and that both Neuron and KORE have a tendency to crash it at the moment. I have Project 5 /2 and am happiest with how that works apart from the niggle that it won't allow me to set up more than one audio in at a time which means I can't use all my hardware alongside soft synths (and I have to convert VSTi's to DX which I don't like really).

All I want is one host to rule them all so to speak

SONAR? Hmm, no, that's probably not the stablest for Nueron/KORE....EnergyXT? No, probably to un-linear...hmmm...Samplitude? I don't know; sounds like Cubase is your thing, but if you simply cannot abide the dongle, then I'm not sure. tracktion was going to be my next suggestion, but again, I think Cubase is more up your alley.

I've tried Sonar - couldn't even get it to record one track of audio without glitches - terrible audio engine (at least on my system). I have and use eXT but not the sequencer - just as a Modular host and chainer. Having a look at Reaper at the moment - looks promising.

Ah, the good old Reaper. How is that for stability, though? That's a brand new host, no?

[aMUSEd]

Just got through the setup process. Seems to have got off to a good start - very intelligent plugin scanning - bit of head scratching on how to insert an instrument (calls them fx it seems). Not tried it with the difficult ones yet.

[bduffy]

Not to HPC yet, but I imagine we'll be there pretty soon.

The Waves and Antares plugs are the only reason I have PACE on my system...I love their stuff...although, I don't agree some of Waves' policies either, I let it slide because of the innovation that's come from their field...I doubt they'll stop using iLok, as a good deal of their customers are on MACs, where the PACE drivers don't give anyone any problems, and the TDM versions of the plugins have the advantage of using more power than the native versions have access to...it's a goddamn shame though....Besides, its seemingly just as likely for a big software company to change copy protection methods as it is for a congressman to admit to taking money from Jack Abrahmoff. After working with Kjaerhus Audio's Spectra synthesizer though, I'm seriously looking into Torbens suite...the filters and effects on Spectra are all top notch, and I've heard nothing but praise about his other products. I'm hoping something from the smaller devs will eventually replace anything I use that requires PACE.

Yeah, you can get pretty close now. I think you can easily beat the Waves EQ's with Kjaerhus, Poshifpoit/Electri-Q, PSP, etc, and probably the compressors too. There are some really innovative things that I do use and will miss, but I think we're there the other VST stuff. If I was mastering, I'd have trouble parting with LinMB/L2, but I'm not, so I can live.

[aMUSEd]

Well I never - it loaded Neuron first time! A very good start

[bduffy]

Just got through the setup process. Seems to have got off to a good start - very intelligent plugin scanning - bit of head scratching on how to insert an instrument (calls them fx it seems). Not tried it with the difficult ones yet.

Well if this works half as much like Vegas as it looks, then it should be the ultimate in sketching out audio edits. I'm going to try it out, I'm curious...

[TotcProductions]

Well I never - it loaded Neuron first time! A very good start

The hartmann synth plugin!? Man, if it loaded that without a problem it can probably take anything!

[aMUSEd]

Exactly - loads KORE well too Maybe because its so unbloated? - makes it more stable.

Don't like how it adds another few cm of screen real estate to the plugin window though - its ugly and takes too much space (should be collapsable or have an option to load plugin instruments in their own window). And the piano roll doesn't open on the selection - you need to scroll around to find where you are (also it doesn't seem to scroll along when playing back). But these are minor niggles - its a new program.

Maybe I should take this to a different thread now?

[BERFAB]

SL and SX are dongled. SE has been too since version 3. The only dongle free version left is LE that comes with hardware. I'm not sure if they still do Cubasis anymore, but it wasn't dongled either. Anyway it's not a dongle anymore it's a Steinberg Key.

I thought I was up on this stuff, but I guess not. What's the difference between a dongle and a Steinberg Key? The dongle I have for SX2-3 is a Syncrosoft key--the same one currently being used by IK Multimedia for its new products (Amplitube 2, Miro, and CSR so far).

-B

[TotcProductions]

Exactly - loads KORE well too Maybe because its so unbloated? - makes it more stable.

Don't like how it adds another few cm of screen real estate to the plugin window though - its ugly and takes too much space (should be collapsable or have an option to load plugin instruments in their own window). And the piano roll doesn't open on the selection - you need to scroll around to find where you are (also it doesn't seem to scroll along when playing back). But these are minor niggles - its a new program.

Maybe I should take this to a different thread now?

I think the developer has a small presence here at kvr no? Maybe you could email him with feature requests like the ones you've mentioned. I'm sure he'd be welcome to any suggestions that could improve the user experience of his host.

[aMUSEd]

Yeah I might do that

btw - Have you tried Cantabile? It also handles Neuron very well and has a great midi record feature which makes it my favourite Minihost now - seems like the freebies are beginning to outpace the payware - at least in terms of intelligent programming.

[TotcProductions]

Yeah I might do that

btw - Have you tried Cantabile? It also handles Neuron very well and has a great midi record feature which makes it my favourite Minihost now - seems like the freebies are beginning to outpace the payware - at least in terms of intelligent programming.

No, I've been meaning to try it, just haven't had the time. Haven't even downloaded it yet. I've been hearing some good things about it though.....Can it match the efficiency of Tobybear's Minihost Patch Management features though? That alone makes it worth my donation.

Peace

[pdxindy]

I agree, I wouldn't mind the dongle at all if all the damn companies would just agree to use one system. Honsetly, if they all used the Synchrosoft system, I'd be happy...then I could have all my keys on 1 dongle and probably no system instability.

Peace

then the dongle fails, you lose it or break and you cannot run a single thing. One point of failure to take away all your apps is not a good idea. This is why the dongle is fundamentally flawed. Once more companies take them up, either you have a bunch of them, or you have all your eggs in one basket.

[Jason Brian Merrill]

Exactly - loads KORE well too Maybe because its so unbloated? - makes it more stable.

Don't like how it adds another few cm of screen real estate to the plugin window though - its ugly and takes too much space (should be collapsable or have an option to load plugin instruments in their own window). And the piano roll doesn't open on the selection - you need to scroll around to find where you are (also it doesn't seem to scroll along when playing back). But these are minor niggles - its a new program.

Maybe I should take this to a different thread now?

I think the developer has a small presence here at kvr no? Maybe you could email him with feature requests like the ones you've mentioned. I'm sure he'd be welcome to any suggestions that could improve the user experience of his host.

not only that, amused -- but the cockos forum needs YOU! to let him know whats up

come on over

http://www.cockos.com/forum/index.php

and get some help or suggest something. The developer of reaper is very receptive to new ideas and bugfixes...