annual licenses

[easlern]

I took a look at the licensing, the price doesn't really lure me in. The packages are divided by product so you have to pay extra to get access to the really good reverb for example. Feels more like rentacenter than netflix right now.

 

[kcearl]

its only the reverb, which isnt their plug and retails at $400...of course its not for everyone, not even me, but I think its a good deal

 

[easlern]

I'm gonna contradict myself and reveal that I just ordered Steven Slate for two months. My iLok is on the way. The iLok costs about $50 anyway so even if I decide to cancel my sub after the two months, it was worth it.

I'm getting to want to experiment with the analog modeling now and there are tons in the subscription. That stuff ain't cheap so I'll give it a try, maybe even just to pick out one or two I want to just buy.

I'm not thrilled with iLok though. It uses one of my two usb slots and my interface is on the other. So now I need a usb hub to plug in my midi, adding unnecessary latency. I'll give it a shot though.

 

[kcearl]

lemme know what you think

 

[Bobbsy]

iLok=Spawn of the devil. I hate it when I'm forced to use it.

 

[pikingrin]

Oh, come on... Ilok isn't all that bad. Yeah, it takes up a USB port but it also allows you to take your licenses with you without lugging the whole system around (if you've got a desktop rig it makes sense anyway).

 

[antichef]

I won't go near an iLok - too many horror stories and also a nice arbitrary line for me to draw that keeps me from blowing my (entire) retirement savings on plugins.

When I think of having iLok issues that prevent me from using something that I'm paying for on a time basis my blood pressure goes up.

 

[kcearl]

no problems with ilok at all for me...I have 8 usb ports and two powered hubs with 6 ports each so no problem giving up one slot


my eventide and soundtoy plugs dont even need the dongle, ilok works on the desktop too

 

[bruiser1964]

I'm really loving the new Protools licencing deal, Getting really good support, tons of updates and free stuff what's not to like? I seem to remember paying £300 for PT9which is sitting in a drawer along with a very expensive expansion pack which are now worth nothing, so the new deal makes sense. the idea that you could just licence a plug for when you need it makes sense to in a try before you buy way or if its just a one off.

 

[easlern]

They shipped the iLok first class so they estimated 3 days but we're on 4 now and it's still in California. Nice of usps to even have a tracking page though I guess, I didn't think they were in this century already technology wise.

Slate charged me $5 for shipping but I'd rather they charged me $10 and sent it ups. I'm losing money waiting anyway because afaik the subscription started when I ordered it.

 

[Farview]

The uses tracking system is useless. It will say it's in California until a day after it arrives at your door.

 

[Steenamaroo]

I'm not sure I'm a fan either.
Was looking at ProTools 12. Their marketing doesn't have the best wording but it seems you can still outright buy PT12 but support and upgrades/updates are on a monthly renewal.

That's basically what Waves do and I only pay them the renewal when there's an update I actually want.

If PT went 100% subscription only, I'd seriously consider other DAWs.
That said, I'm a tightass. I've used PT from 6.X to 11.X and I think I've paid about £80 so far.

 

[easlern]

The iLok arrived today, so it took about 5 days. Not a real big deal. In order to use the plugins though you apparently have to be logged into media gobbler and have the iLok present, so there are two levels of copy protection? Seems pretty overkill. Gobbler is a little clunky too. iLok was easy though.

The slate plugins, I'm pretty impressed with them. They sound great. But very very cpu hungry. I had to freeze (bounce, basically) a bunch of tracks and double my buffer size to keep the sound from cutting out. I think I'm gonna have to get a better machine or save the plugins for late in the mixing. I've got them in tracks while recording and a couple times my cpu was so busy it just stopped the daw and flashed an angry message.

 

[Pinky]

The slate plugins, I'm pretty impressed with them. They sound great. But very very cpu hungry. I had to freeze (bounce, basically) a bunch of tracks and double my buffer size to keep the sound from cutting out. I think I'm gonna have to get a better machine or save the plugins for late in the mixing. I've got them in tracks while recording and a couple times my cpu was so busy it just stopped the daw and flashed an angry message.

What are the specs of your PC/laptop? For merely playing stuff back you shouldn't need to do that.

 

[easlern]

It's an i5 duo 1.7ghz. Not a beefy machine really but it's handled most things pretty well. I have a couple virtual instruments that peg the cpu too so it's not too much of a shock. One instance of slate's "grey" had my cpu pegged, must be the analog modeling. I've got a couple frozen and a couple live now and with a 128 buffer I don't get audio dropouts when listening. Recording is shaky though.

I just got a 24 bit interface at the same time so that could be part of the issue too. (I used to use 16/44 or 16/48 now it's 24/96).

 

[Pinky]

I just got a 24 bit interface at the same time so that could be part of the issue too. (I used to use 16/44 or 16/48 now it's 24/96).

There's no need for the 96khz resolution, 24/44.1 is more than adequate. That would at least help drop file sizes, but could also help with the pigginess since it will require less work overall from the machine.

Tweakheadz · 16 Bit vs. 24 Bit Audio

Ideally operate at the default/recommended setting of your interface, as the drivers are probably optimized to run most effective/efficiently at those settings. My last few interfaces ran at 24/44.1khz by default, and I rarely encountered playback issues. [recording and playing back, because of latency, is a different story] And more importantly, experiment and see what works best for your needs/setup.

 

[easlern]

Good point, the 44 rate makes sense. I'm not terribly confident in theory though so I figured even though I'm using 20/20k the 96 mode might be beneficial in a way I don't understand. What scenarios is 96 actually used in?

 

[Farview]

Marketing and superstition mostly.

 

[easlern]

Great! I think I'll go down to 44.1 and give the poor cpu a break. I didn't even think about the extra processing it has to do with more than double the samples. Now to figure out how to convert the project without warping the takes.

Edit: that did the trick, I unfroze everything and cut the buffer in half and I've still got a little cpu to spare.

 

[easlern]

As an update: Gobbler is not good, it was freezing while trying to do an installation. I emailed Gobbler support days ago and they never got back to me. Luckily I was able to figure out the issue myself last night.

Unrelated, Waves just replaced their old licensing software and now I can't install my plugins on the new computer I wanted to use.

Sometimes I wish I just went analog.