Thread: DAW's and the Internet

Just curious how most people get their updates and what not for their DAW's if technically they should never touch the net. I usually just turn my virus protection on, plug in my dsl cable, get what I need to as quickly as possible, get off, unplug the dsl cable, and turn off virus protection.

I have never updated my DAW program probably missing sumpin' but because I don't know what, I really don't miss it.

For a perfectly tweaked DAW, don't connect it to the net. Don't even install antivirus on it. Use a separate machine to download updates and burn them onto a flash drive or CD rom. Scan them on the same internet machine with antivirus software. Once you're sure they are clean then take that CDR or USB drive and load them on your DAW computer. As to the operating system, there is no real need to update it if everything is already running perfectly and it never touches other computers or the world wide web.

that's what i do.my daws computer(good old reliable XP) never sees the internet.as a matter of fact, i don't even install the lan drivers or on board audio.
all the services are turned off except plug and play and a few other.
from msconfig, i cancel all auto start ups.
in systems i use custom performance.
no screen saver or sleep mode.
bare minimun SP2 so i get hi speed usb.
no security no games, i uninstall everything that's not audio specific. i strip it right down.
it starts and runs like a rabbit. my biggest project so far was 50+tracks with several plug-ins and no problems.

I'm always connected, no problems for over a decade using Macs.

Well, without starting the whole Mac vs PC b***s***, in the past five years viruses are popping up in the Mac world too. As market share grows the target becomes more enticing to the hackers.

As to having a DAW computer connected to the web, no one who is serious about pro audio recording whether they use Mac or Windows should have their DAW connected to the web. Period. No good can come of it. Do some people multipurpose their machines? Sure. Those are not full time recording engineers though.

So how do you guys activate certain VI's like EZdrummer that require an internet connection?

Would I be considered a smart a@# if I said my easy drummer gets paid by the session or gig?

Most pro level VSTi's and plugs have options for activation other than the internet such as iLok or even key files that are downloaded to usb drives for transfer to the destination computer.

Originally Posted by llatht

Just curious how most people get their updates and what not for their DAW's if technically they should never touch the net. I usually just turn my virus protection on, plug in my dsl cable, get what I need to as quickly as possible, get off, unplug the dsl cable, and turn off virus protection.

This is like bad high school ***: "Honest honey, I'll pull out in time!" Maintain internet virginity. Transfer from one machine to the other.

Ok guys, I get it. And no I didn't think your comments were inaproppriate, they were funny - as intended....Thanks for the lesson.